Roses are Red - Book Review

Roses are Red - Book Review

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Posted 2023-11-23 by Jennifer Muirheadfollow


Lydia Palmer is the co-owner of a successful craft business that she built from the ground up. However, her marriage is on the rocks and it's started to affect her work life as well as making her miserable at home. When her husband, Adam, dies suddenly, foul play is suspected but the investigation stalls due to lack of evidence.

A few months later, Lydia meets Patrick, a handsome, successful business consultant and after a whirlwind courtship, they get married. Lydia's best friend warns her that Patrick seems too good to be true and when strange things start to happen, she starts to wonder who to trust.

Roses Are Red has been republished as part of a box set of psychological thrillers by Miranda Rijks, containing three of her novels. I didn't like this novel as much as The Visitors , the previous book I read by the author because I found Lydia a less relatable character and the setting was a bit less interesting than the isolated holiday cottage in The Visitors. Lydia was frustratingly naive. As a crafter, she could have knitted herself a lovely scarf out of all the red flags Patrick was giving her from the very start!

The bit with the red roses, which Patrick gives Lydia after each date, felt like it was thrown in for the sake of having a catchy title. Personally, if a man gave me a single red rose after each date I think I would feel a mixture of wariness and disappointment at his lack of imagination. But hey, Lydia was lonely after a bereavement and a bad marriage and apparently Patrick's charm made up for a lot.

I found the plot a little far-fetched but for this genre, that's okay if you know what you're getting into. The melodramatic dialogue was a bit cringy in places ("You've stolen my love! I want revenge"). Overall though, this book is enjoyable as a sort of guilty pleasure. If you want gritty realism, then it's not for you but if you're looking for a page-turner with betrayal, lost love and murder, then it ticks all the boxes.

Disclaimer: I was given a complimentary copy of this book by Inkubator Books, via NetGalley, in exchange for an honest review.

Originally Published: 2020
The Box set of Psychological Thrillers was published on January 12, 2021.

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84429 - 2023-06-11 06:54:22

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