monicatdwyer's review against another edition
2.0
It had great potential, but as the story continued the female protagonist didn't do anything and just relied on the male protagonist, so girl power was lacking which sucked.
savagekate89's review
mysterious
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.0
rbharath's review against another edition
4.0
The book starts with a bang for sure. Lisa wakes up to find her husband dead on their wedding night. The dagger is in her hand and they have just had a fight the previous night. Former FBI agent and now media reporter Sam gets on her trail. He believes she is innocent. What follows is a lot of running around and danger as a killer pursues them.
While the book was a good read overall, the last few pages could have been better. A recommended read..
While the book was a good read overall, the last few pages could have been better. A recommended read..
chaotic_aesthetic's review against another edition
3.0
Изумена съм как е възможно такава хубава криминална история да има такава ужасна корица.. и име. Човек би помислил, че е поредната любовна боза.
Този роман ми допадна и въпреки супер излишната “романтика” има страхотен out of the box сюжет.
Прочетох я на един дъх и я препоръчвам за моменти в които ти се чете но не знаеш точно какво. Впечатли ме, но имам твърде високи критерии за 4 или 5 звезди
Този роман ми допадна и въпреки супер излишната “романтика” има страхотен out of the box сюжет.
Прочетох я на един дъх и я препоръчвам за моменти в които ти се чете но не знаеш точно какво. Впечатли ме, но имам твърде високи критерии за 4 или 5 звезди
bhavya25's review against another edition
1.0
1.5 stars
It was one of the books which start out good, not great, but good enough...and then go into a hole there is no salvation from.
So yeah, here's to wasted potential.
It was one of the books which start out good, not great, but good enough...and then go into a hole there is no salvation from.
So yeah, here's to wasted potential.
musicalmuppet's review against another edition
5.0
I thoroughly enjoyed this novel. It was different to 'Passion', the first Bagshawe book I read, for me to get into the story. The two main characters - Lisa and Sam - and their interactions are brilliantly written. I would've liked a bit more at the end in the form of an epilogue to just neaten the ending but that would be my only critique and purely because I didn't want the story to end!
leahmichelle_13's review against another edition
3.0
Lisa Costello is leading what you might call a charmed life up until she waves up the morning after her lavish Thai wedding to find her husband dead in bed beside her and no recollection of what happened the night before. All Lisa does remember is seeing her husband Josh being unfaithful to her and realising just what a sham her wedding actually is. Realising that things are looking increasingly bad for her she does the only thing she can think of and she flees. Ex FBI-man Sam Murray is quickly on Lisa’s trail though and as Lisa ends up in Europe, Sam isn’t far behind her believing that Lisa could indeed be innocent. The two eventually join forces and it soon becomes a race against time to unearth the truth particularly since there’s a disgruntled assassin on their trail…
I’ve become quite a fan of Louise Bagshawe in the past few years. I really enjoyed Sparkles and thought it was a very well thought out and absorbing read. I then read Tuesday’s Child which I just plain old loved before finally getting my hands on her last release Passion which was touted as a James Bond for girls. I thought Passion was just as absorbing as Sparkles and I loved how much of a thriller it was. Chick lit books rarely have thrills and assassin chases so it’s fair to say that Louise Bagshawe proves a welcome distraction. I was obviously thrilled to receive a proof of Louise’s newest book Desire and I finally succumbed to reading it.
Most of Bagshawe’s novels revolve around a similar style plot – a strong female heroine ends up in a difficult situation of sorts and ends up needing to have a man by her side to help her through it. But all of her plots differ – Sparkles was about the diamond industry, Tuesday’s Girl was more chick lit than usual and Passion was James Bond for girls. Therein lies my problem with Desire – it’s not dissimilar to Passion. In both Passion and Desire you have Melissa and Lisa respectively finding themselves on the run from an assassin and having the help of a man to guide them through it. Will in Melissa’s case and Sam in Lisa’s case. Although Lisa is also on the run from the law it just seems that Louise Bagshawe has trotted out the exact same plot from her previous book.
Much like Passion, Desire begins by introducing us to our assassin and the client who hired him (although we don’t find out who the client is until much later) before bringing us back to Lisa’s story and her wedding in Thailand. After Lisa discovers her husband being unfaithful before her very eyes, Lisa then wakes up the very next morning to find her husband dead. The reader of course is well aware that Lisa didn’t do it but thankfully the unravelling of the plot is still worth reading. What I think is done well in Desire is the descriptions of all of the countries Lisa – and later Sam – find themselves in. Lisa is a Brit living in America but there’s not much time spend in America and the book flits from Thailand to Hong Kong to Europe and I very much felt like I was there with Lisa and Sam. I also liked the inital chase between Lisa and Sam as Sam tries his hardest to track Lisa down until it becomes apparent that Lisa actually needs Sam to help her prove her innocence. From then on they make a very good team.
I quite liked Lisa. She’s, as I said, a Brit girl living in America looking to make her life better and then Josh comes along and literally sweeps her off her feet. We learn how their relationship came along and we learn how it all came to the sticky conclusion of Josh’s murder and I thought it was a shame Lisa had to put up with so much. I also liked how her survival instict came rushing up to her once she discovered Josh’s dead body. Enjoyed might be the wrong word for someone running away from a crime scene and evading the cops but I liked how smart Lisa really was in knowing that she had to get away to be in with a chance of surviving. I also liked Sam, he seemed very much in the mould of Will from Passion, but he was still a likeable character despite the similarities. I liked the way he managed to track Lisa down and I thought he was wasted as a celebrity journalist as his tracking instincts were fab.
Louise Bagshawe’s writing is as good as always but as I was reading I just couldn’t help comparing it to Passion. There are subtle differences – particularly why both Melissa and Lisa end up on the run – but bar that the similarities are seemingly endless. I had my suspicious about who it was that had hired the assass-ing right at the beginning of Desire and it turns out I wasn’t too wide of the mark so when it was eventually revealed I didn’t feel too shocked as I kind of saw it coming. There are lots of action scenes throughout the book which I thoroughly enjoyed though. There’s nothing like a chick lit action scene and Bagshawe excels at writing the action scenes. I could feel the tension between Lisa, Sam and the chasing assassin.
Overall I thought Desire was an OK read. It loses by being so so similar to Passion and I agree with the review I read on Amazon – it was as if Louise had changed a few points of the plot as well as the characters and title name and came up with Desire. Had I not already read Passion then I would have thought this was an outstanding and original read. As it is, I thought it was far too same-y. My advice would be to read either Passion or Desire and personally I’d pick Passion having read them both.
I’ve become quite a fan of Louise Bagshawe in the past few years. I really enjoyed Sparkles and thought it was a very well thought out and absorbing read. I then read Tuesday’s Child which I just plain old loved before finally getting my hands on her last release Passion which was touted as a James Bond for girls. I thought Passion was just as absorbing as Sparkles and I loved how much of a thriller it was. Chick lit books rarely have thrills and assassin chases so it’s fair to say that Louise Bagshawe proves a welcome distraction. I was obviously thrilled to receive a proof of Louise’s newest book Desire and I finally succumbed to reading it.
Most of Bagshawe’s novels revolve around a similar style plot – a strong female heroine ends up in a difficult situation of sorts and ends up needing to have a man by her side to help her through it. But all of her plots differ – Sparkles was about the diamond industry, Tuesday’s Girl was more chick lit than usual and Passion was James Bond for girls. Therein lies my problem with Desire – it’s not dissimilar to Passion. In both Passion and Desire you have Melissa and Lisa respectively finding themselves on the run from an assassin and having the help of a man to guide them through it. Will in Melissa’s case and Sam in Lisa’s case. Although Lisa is also on the run from the law it just seems that Louise Bagshawe has trotted out the exact same plot from her previous book.
Much like Passion, Desire begins by introducing us to our assassin and the client who hired him (although we don’t find out who the client is until much later) before bringing us back to Lisa’s story and her wedding in Thailand. After Lisa discovers her husband being unfaithful before her very eyes, Lisa then wakes up the very next morning to find her husband dead. The reader of course is well aware that Lisa didn’t do it but thankfully the unravelling of the plot is still worth reading. What I think is done well in Desire is the descriptions of all of the countries Lisa – and later Sam – find themselves in. Lisa is a Brit living in America but there’s not much time spend in America and the book flits from Thailand to Hong Kong to Europe and I very much felt like I was there with Lisa and Sam. I also liked the inital chase between Lisa and Sam as Sam tries his hardest to track Lisa down until it becomes apparent that Lisa actually needs Sam to help her prove her innocence. From then on they make a very good team.
I quite liked Lisa. She’s, as I said, a Brit girl living in America looking to make her life better and then Josh comes along and literally sweeps her off her feet. We learn how their relationship came along and we learn how it all came to the sticky conclusion of Josh’s murder and I thought it was a shame Lisa had to put up with so much. I also liked how her survival instict came rushing up to her once she discovered Josh’s dead body. Enjoyed might be the wrong word for someone running away from a crime scene and evading the cops but I liked how smart Lisa really was in knowing that she had to get away to be in with a chance of surviving. I also liked Sam, he seemed very much in the mould of Will from Passion, but he was still a likeable character despite the similarities. I liked the way he managed to track Lisa down and I thought he was wasted as a celebrity journalist as his tracking instincts were fab.
Louise Bagshawe’s writing is as good as always but as I was reading I just couldn’t help comparing it to Passion. There are subtle differences – particularly why both Melissa and Lisa end up on the run – but bar that the similarities are seemingly endless. I had my suspicious about who it was that had hired the assass-ing right at the beginning of Desire and it turns out I wasn’t too wide of the mark so when it was eventually revealed I didn’t feel too shocked as I kind of saw it coming. There are lots of action scenes throughout the book which I thoroughly enjoyed though. There’s nothing like a chick lit action scene and Bagshawe excels at writing the action scenes. I could feel the tension between Lisa, Sam and the chasing assassin.
Overall I thought Desire was an OK read. It loses by being so so similar to Passion and I agree with the review I read on Amazon – it was as if Louise had changed a few points of the plot as well as the characters and title name and came up with Desire. Had I not already read Passion then I would have thought this was an outstanding and original read. As it is, I thought it was far too same-y. My advice would be to read either Passion or Desire and personally I’d pick Passion having read them both.
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