Book Review #51 After he killed me

After he killed me

Author : Natalie Barelli

Publisher: 

Language : English

Genre : Psychological thriller

About the book

Emma’s friends are close. Her enemies are closer.

Emma Fern has won at life: she’s a prize-winning author and she’s blissfully happy with her husband, Jim. It wasn’t an easy rise to the top, but Emma knows you can’t achieve success without sacrifice. The trouble is, Jim knows that too.

As her literary triumph starts to fade into the past, Emma comes under pressure to write a second bestseller. But her big secret is that she didn’t write the first one. She’s a fraud, and the only people who ever knew the truth are…no longer a problem.

What Emma didn’t count on was Jim playing the long game too. He has his own secrets—and a dangerous plan that could derail her beautifully orchestrated life. Faced with the loss of everything that defines her, Emma is forced to take increasingly desperate steps.

She won’t go down without a fight. And as Jim should know, she won’t fight fair.

About the Author

Natalie Barelli can usually be found reading a book, and that book will more likely than not be a psychological thriller. Writing a novel was always on her bucket list, and eventually, with Until I Met Her, it became a reality. After He Killed Me is the second and final book in her Emma Fern Series.

When not absorbed in the latest gripping page-turner, Natalie loves cooking, knits very badly, enjoys riding her Vespa around town, and otherwise spends far too much time at the computer. She lives in Australia, with her husband and extended family.

My take:

'After he killed me' is a beautiful sequence to the author's first novel, 'Until I met her'.

Emma Fern, who is now a Poulton prize winning author, is now under the pressure to write another one, lest she fades into oblivion. But she knows she can't write one. Especially because she hadn't written the first one either.

As luck may have it, she meets a man who works as a ghost writer. Emma gets ready with a plan for her second novel. But the ghost writer seems to be smitten with her.

Her problems don't appear to cease. Someone is sabotaging her life, trying to harm her.

Her husband Jim is not aware of her secrets. But he too has secrets of his own. What happened in the past between the two of them starts resurface.

So what happens next? 

This book is a roller coaster ride filled with doses of adrenaline.The twists keep coming even before we can recover from the first one. The story is so gripping that it keeps us on the edge of the seat to know what more is coming. I enjoyed the twisted story.

The language is easy flowing and fun to read. The cover page is befitting.

I rate it 5 stars.

Book Review #50 Until I met her

Until I met her

Author: Natalie Barelli

Publisher: Thomas and Mercer

Language: English

Genre: Psychological thriller

About the book:

She should never have said ‘yes’…

When Beatrice said she wanted to publish her next novel under Emma’s name, Emma couldn’t believe it. Why on earth would Beatrice Johnson Greene, the famous crime writer, not want to publish her new book as herself?

This time, Beatrice explained, she wanted to write something different, and publish it as an unknown author. She was too famous—and she needed Emma’s help.

After everything Beatrice had done for her, Emma could hardly refuse. But what was meant to be a favour has turned into a betrayal, and now Emma has done something terrible, something shocking, and the consequences are terrifying…

About the author

Natalie Barelli can usually be found reading a book, and that book will more likely than not be a psychological thriller. Writing a novel was always on her bucket list, and eventually, with Until I Met Her, it became a reality. She hasn’t stopped writing since.

When not absorbed in the latest gripping page-turner, Natalie loves cooking, knits very badly, enjoys riding her Vespa around town, and otherwise spends far too much time at the computer. She lives in Australia, with her husband and extended family.

My take:

This is the first book in the Emma Fern series.

Emma is the owner of a simple store that sells unique items, and is living a happy life with her husband. Her life turns upside down when her most favourite crime writer Beatrice Johnson Greene visits her store and asks her for a small favour. Soon their meetings turn into a kind of friendship and before Emma knows it, Beatrice has taken her under her wings. Emma has been trying to write a novel since a long time, and Beatrice promises to be her mentor. But in return, she asks for a highly unusual favour.

She asks Emma to be the author of her next book. Emma cannot fathom why Beatrice would want to give her the credit for her own hard work

 But Beatrice has her own reasons, and she succeeds in convincing Emma.

Soon the novel releases, and as it hits the market, all equations change. Now Emma is faced with a big predicament that will cost someone their life.

The novel is absolutely gripping right from the beginning, as it begins with the funeral of one of the main characters. As we read on, the twists and turns don't seem to end, and the book keeps us hooked page after page.

The characters of Emma and Beatrice are beautifully developed, so are other supporting characters like Hannah, Emma's husband Jeremy, Emma's publisher and  Beatrice's husband George.

The language is easy and lucid and the flow of the story is seamless. The cover page is attractive and makes us want to take a look. 

I rate this book five star!