SPENT IDENTITY
Annalisse Series, Book 2
by
Marlene M. Bell
Genre: Mystery / Suspense / Light Romance
Publisher: Ewephoric Publishing
Date of Publication: December 11, 2019
Publisher: Ewephoric Publishing
Date of Publication: December 11, 2019
Number of Pages: 378
Scroll down for the giveaway!
A body, a disappearance, just another hot summer in upstate New York. It’s July when antiquities appraiser Annalisse Drury reaches her family’s small-town farm to consult with the trusted aunt who raised her. She learns that her beloved homestead—the one she expects to inherit—is for sale. While Annalisse reels at the betrayal and her shattered dreams, the Walker Farm ranch manager discovers a corpse in the barn. Officials close the suspected murder scene, and Annalisse seeks refuge with her aunt at Alec Zavos’s rural estate in New York’s Catskill Mountains.
Then Aunt Kate vanishes.
Annalisse solicits the help of Greek tycoon, Alec Zavos, even though their rocky romance has dissolved into routine separation. What began as hope on Crete nine months ago has eaten away at Annalisse’s hope for a future with him.
In Spent Identity, Annalisse and Alec come together for the second time and find themselves in the center of not one mystery, but several. Where is Kate, and why sell her farm now? Is the dead man a coincidence or a clue to the aunt’s disappearance? John Doe’s identity may hold needed answers to solve the puzzle before Kate’s unstable health issues make her rescue impossible. The clock ticks, and a vengeful murderer is in charge…
WATCH THE BOOK TRAILER FOR SPENT IDENTITY:
CLICK TO ORDER ON:
AMAZON ┃ BARNES AND NOBLE ┃ SMASHWORDS
┃ DRAFT2DIGITAL ┃
AMAZON ┃ BARNES AND NOBLE ┃ SMASHWORDS
┃ DRAFT2DIGITAL ┃
HALL WAYS REVIEW: What hits readers from the very first lines of
Spent Identity is the smell. Reading Spent Identity is as
much an olfactory experience as anything else. Whether an aroma emanates from
food or folk or flora or fauna, readers can count on experiencing scents right
along with the characters in the book. I have a particularly sensitive sense of
smell, so I read and wrinkled my nose at the descriptions of death, decay, and
body odors (of both the dead and the living, who may “smell like old corn chips
and onions.” Ha! Spot on!) Smells can be such a powerful trigger, and author Marlene Bell incorporates
them perfectly into the story as a mechanism to give readers extra information and
make the scenes realistic.
Bell sneaks in small details
that careful readers will notice (like the worn copy of Annalisse’s favorite
book that she always carries). Many are red herrings, but some are real clues
to completing the many puzzles readers will discover in Spent Identity. There
are several layers of mystery and at times, the threads of information seem disconnected, wispily floating in the air like spider’s silk. Wonderfully, the threads
all find each other and connect so that motivations are exposed, and questions
are mostly answered – quite a feat considering the main characters’ propensity
for self-sabotage, finding danger, and getting injured.
There are five key players
in Spent Identity, and while Bell fleshes-out some more completely than
others, none are ever fully revealed to readers. That’s a little frustrating, resulting in my feeling less sympathetic or even ambivalent about the characters. I want to care more,
but I just don’t know enough about what makes any of them tick. Additionally, some
of the characters’ actions and reactions puzzle me and/or feel false,
particularly in terms of their lack of professionalism or acting illogically
given all the surrounding factors and prior experiences that they bring to the
table. Happily, the action-packed, rapid pace of the story combined with my
desire to see how it all would turn out kept me fully engrossed in the story so much that I shirked work duties and read it in two sittings.
Spent Identity can
stand alone even though it’s the second book in the Annalisse Series, but the
author brings a lot of broad details from the first book into the second book. I read (with my ears) book one, Stolen
Obsession, and so I knew the references in full and enjoyed the
reminders of the chaos and calamities that these characters have already endured.
Having this prior knowledge enriches the reading experience, and I recommend
that readers start with book one. Honestly, some of the full background
information that can only be gleaned by reading the first book seems vital to
fully understanding Spent Identity, particularly when it comes to
relationships between characters. Without that insight, I can see how some
readers starting with book two might not have patience for Annalisse’s or Alec’s
(or even Chase’s) behavior. Plus, everyone needs to know Generosa Zavos! Read
book one.
The ending of Spent
Identity is fully satisfying and allows readers to breathe after holding their
collective breath through the dizzying pace of this roller coaster ride of a
book. Bell leaves readers gratified -- and intrigued with a bit of a
cliffhanger and a well-placed page at the story’s conclusion announcing book
three, Calico Raven. Hooray! I am in!
Thank you to the author and
Lone Star Book Blog Tours for providing me a print copy in exchange for my honest
opinion – the only kind I give.
Marlene M. Bell is an acclaimed artist and photographer as well as a writer. Her sheep landscapes grace the covers of publications such as, Sheep!, The Shepherd, Ranch & Rural Living, and Sheep Industry News. Ewephoric, her mail order venture, began in 1985 out of a desire for realistic sheep stationery. A color catalog of non-fiction books and sheep-related gifts may be requested on her website or www.texassheep.com.Marlene and her husband, Gregg reside on a wooded ranch in beautiful East Texas with their dreadfully spoiled horned Dorset sheep, a large and lovable Maremma guard dog named Tia, and Hollywood, Leo, and Squeaks, the cats who believe they rule the household -- and do.
GIVEAWAY! GIVEAWAY! GIVEAWAY!
$350 PRIZE PACK / ONE WINNER
Autographed copy of Spent Identity & companion notebook, Mary Poppins-style bag (18x13” tapestry carpet bag with leather trim, handmade in Israel), $100 Amazon gift card, and 18” freshwater pearl necklace.
JANUARY 7-17, 2020
(US ONLY)
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