Review: Review from The-Not-So-Literary Heiresses
Rating: 4 out of 5
Date: 11 1, 2013
IntroductionI am not a big fan of the New Adult genre. There's just enough books about a "young, vulnerably scarred woman with a dark past who ends up falling for a brooding, mysterious bad boy who coincidentally also has a dark past" before the storyline becomes a dime a dozen. Sometimes, it just feels too much like disguised erotica. Then again, I'm not one to just cross off a whole genre just because I've had a few disappointing reads, so if a book's blurb interest me then I'll try it out.That's the reason I read Stalking Sapphire in the first place. From the get-go, it was certainly not your typical NA storyline. A Beverly Hills heiress by day and a vigilante Serial Catcher by night? Hell yeah! It was definitely a fun, enjoyable debut from Ms. Thompson and since I've already reviewed the book, I'd rather not talk about it in detail.Rating: ★★★ - Like it!Silencing Sapphire started with the introduction of a new serial killer. In addition to that, an enemy from the past is determined to seek revenge. On top of that, Sapphire Dubios is feeling more trapped than ever. She is somehow still engaged to a rich, pompous man whom she can't stand and she can't stop pining for the bad-tempered detective that saved her life. Detective Aston Ridder is in no better shape either. Somehow, the heiress that he had a one-night stand and then subsequently kicked out of his apartment got under his skin... where no female has ever gotten before. He can't really do anything about it though, since she's engaged to marry a man from her own upscale world.This series is definitely best to read chronologically but I like the book's subtle summarization of the events that took place in the last book because it gives readers a bit of a refresher/introduction to Stalking Sapphire.I would have to admit that the first half of the book was a bit bumpy for me. The first chapter showed promise in how suspenseful it would be as it's from the POV of the new serial killer. Unfortunately, aside from going undercover as a stripper (who's comically bad at it) to catch him, Sapphire's skills for baiting and catching were a bit subpar. It is understandable though, because the first half focused on both Sapphire and Aston's inner turmoil. How they struggled for what they felt for each other, their roles in Beverly Hills society and the Serial Catcher case. To Aston, apprehending the Serial Catch was his ticket into the FBI and away from the heiress he just couldn't stop thinking about. Sapphire knew that Aston was hell-bent on catching her, the vigilante, and she couldn't let that happen. I liked seeing their characters develop before my eyes but there was also just less hunting of serial killers and more randomness.Stalking Sapphire kind of felt like a ticking time bomb because there was a girl being tortured and held prisoner throughout the whole book. There was an underlying suspense in finding out if she was going to make it alive or not. This was not the case for this book and because of that, certain quirks that were also present in the first book were much more blatant and became a bit annoying after some time. Like how the constant celebrity name dropping and the constant jibes about people's accents got irritating after a while.When all the seemingly random events that happened in the first half started to connect though, the thrill and suspense I was waiting for came back tenfold! There was just revelation after revelation and we finally got a glimpse of Sapphire's murky past which even she did not know about. We also saw a different side of the douchey, bad-mannered Aston and as much as I was a bit annoyed of them pining after each other like lovesick fools, the fact that Aston only shared his past and this side of himself with Sapphire... well, it made me root for them to finally get together. I felt so sorry for these two, their relationship was just doomed from the start but damn it, they deserved each other!The ending is slightly evil. No, a lot evil. It ends with a semi cliffhanger, you are left with a lot of questions about certain characters' fates and an introduction to a new serial killer... someone who would definitely screw up an already screwed up Sapphire. Still the book's ending is a great premise for the next one in the series.Silencing Sapphire was more dark comedy for me than suspense compared to Stalking Sapphire. Despite a bumpy first half, the thrill and revelations of the last half was definitely worth the buildup. Am I still excited for Sapphire's next mystery? Hell yeah.A copy was provided by Diversion Books via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.This review is also available at: [...]