Monday, February 13, 2017

"Six of Hearts" Book Review

Title: Six of Hearts
Series: Book 1 of Hearts
Author: L.H. Cosway
Stars: 5 out of 5
Book Blurb:
Step right up and meet Jay Fields: Illusionist. Mentalist. Trickster.

I think in triangles. You think in straight lines.
I show you a table and make you believe it’s a chair.
Smoke and mirrors, sleight of hand, misdirection. I trick and deceive.
But most of all, I put on a good show.
The world thinks I killed a man, but I didn't. Bear with me. It’s all a part of the plan.
Revenge is what I want. I want it for me and I want it for her.
I want it for all six of us.

She doesn't remember me, but she’s the reason for everything. She’ll be my prize at the end of all this–if I can hold onto my willpower, that is. Maybe I’ll slip up a little, have a taste, just a small one.

So go ahead and pick a card. Come inside and see the show. Look at my hands, look so closely that you can’t see what’s happening while you’re so focused on looking. I’ll be destroying your world from right here in the spotlight.

You’ll never see me coming until it’s too late.

I've only got one heart, and after I've pulled off my grand deception I’ll hand it right to her.

So, sit back, relax, and let my girl tell you our story. You’re in for one hell of a ride.


***

Who doesn't love a good magic show? L.H. Cosway's book Six of Hearts was a performance in and of itself. The blurb is from the perspective of Jay Fields, illusionist extraordinaire, but the book is written from the perspective of Matilda, the heroine of the story.

Matilda is a great character who hasn't had the easiest life. As a child, masked men broke into her home, killing her mother, injuring her father, and leaving her with a scar that she's self-conscious of. Now, she's a secretary for her father's legal practice and in her free time she sews dresses that she sells online. Matilda is caring, kind, and I think it's awesome that she sews (I wish I could), but she's also lacking in self-confidence and we get to see her grow a bit during the book. Though I would  have loved to be in Jay's head during the novel, it was fun to be an audience member and see the magic and big finale as a spectator alongside Matilda.

Jay is a multi-faceted and magnetic love interest. He's charming, tenacious, very intelligent, kind, and a talented performer. He inserts himself into Matilda and her father's lives with some mysterious agenda. While he's a stranger to Matilda, a very attractive one at that, she grows to trust and care for him, despite his secrets. And Jay helps Matilda to come out of her shell. There are some great scenes between Jay and Matilda that are fun, sweet, and sometimes hilarious, like when he accompanies her to a conference for women to help them with dating. Jay is a good guy who sometimes does some sketchy, not-so-good things to accomplish an impressive goal (which I won't say anything about in the interest of not giving away spoilers). While Matilda is trying to unravel his mystery and is falling further for Jay, so are readers.

The plot centers around Jay's grand deception and we see how Matilda and her father are pulled into his plan. As the story progresses, Matilda starts to piece together clues and while she is concerned, she trusts Jay when he asks her to wait to find out what's going on. I like that Matilda isn't totally oblivious but figures out that there's more going on than what Jay is saying on the surface. I myself, was much further ahead of Matilda in figuring out the big surprise, but I wasn't disappointed because how everything came together in the conclusion was still surprising.

Not only were the characters and plot of this story interesting, the book was also well-written. The pacing was quick, but not so fast as to leave readers behind and the writing flowed nicely. I found the dialogue to be realistic and there were some good, quotable lines.

Overall I really enjoyed this story (enough to read it two times!) and I will probably be re-reading it again in the future. If you love illusions, mystery, and romance, then this story is definitely for you.

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