Blog Tour: Roses Are Red by Miranda Rijks

I received this book for free from the Publisher in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.

She wanted a second chance at happiness. She got a first-class ticket to hell.

Lydia Palmer seems to have it all - a thriving business, a beautiful house, a picture-perfect husband and two wonderful kids. But things are different behind closed doors - Lydia is desperately unhappy and wants a divorce. Then, shockingly, her husband Adam dies.

When her grief eases, Lydia starts online dating and almost immediately meets Patrick. Handsome, successful, loving, he’ll make the perfect second husband.

But is Patrick too good to be true? Can you really find prince charming online?

These are questions Lydia is forced to ask when her world begins to collapse. First, the police say Adam may have been murdered. Then her daughter turns against her, her business disintegrates…

Lydia is convinced that someone is trying to destroy her happiness. She’s wrong. They want so much more than that…

Roses are Red is a gripping psychological thriller that will keep you up until the early hours. Perfect for fans of K. L. Slater, Teresa Driscoll, and Andrew Hart.

We all want to think that money and wealth wouldn’t change the type of character that we would want ourselves to aspire to.  Roses Are Red delves into the impact that emotional trauma can run rampant upon a vulnerable individual.  Despite kindness and a gentle soul, there will always be someone lurking in the shadows, ready and willing to take advantage of a heart-breaking situation.  Miranda Rijks has created a story that made me sick to the stomach and incandescent with rage.  She laid the Easter eggs out to find and I put on my sherlock Holmes persona, ready to discover the truth.

Inkubator books just hit the nail on the head time and time again.  I am a frequent reader of their publications and each and every time they kill me with their plot twists, broken characters and immersive narratives.  I’m happy to report that Roses Are Red is no different.

Marriage can be bliss.  It can also breed stresses routine.  Lydia has known that her marriage to Adam has been over for years but only now are they talking about divorce.  It’s not straightforward they have two children who could do without the upheaval at this point in their lives.  Lydia is a shareholder in her business, there’s the house, shares, everything.  A divorce would be especially messy.  However, someone wishes Adam gone for other reasons.  Can Lydia navigate the murky waters of Adam’s suspicious death and keep herself, the children and her business afloat?  It is clear that Lydia becomes shrouded in a cloak of loneliness especially having spent years in a loveless marriage, can she move forward and share her wealth and big heart with the right person. 

Lydia meets Patrick via online dating and its immediately obvious they are both what the other has been searching for.  It moves forward at breakneck speed and they quickly become engaged.  She has serious trust issues…again who wouldn’t after enduring the mistreatment that Adam had subjected her to.  Patrick is everything that Adam was not.  Quickly things take a downward turn.  The business doesn’t seem as secure as it once was, and she has serious issues with her business partner.  Strange phone calls in the middle of the night.  Her children seem to becoming more and more detached from her.  Can these events be linked to someone or is it just pure bad luck? 

Miranda Rijks has taken us on a journey.  We are given a snapshot into someone’s life.  It isn’t domestic bliss, but it is far from boring either.  It is everyday life, but the author has taken it and bent it completely out of shape until you cower and wonder just how a life can become so spiralled out of control.  Lydia was a wonderful character but incredibly naïve.  She was so desperate to regain that feeling of being needed and loved that she couldn’t distinguish the facts that were under her nose.  Roses Are Red is a story of sadness and the author has ratcheted up the tension so far, you’re worried that a slight movement might cause it to snap.  The pieces come together, and the climax makes the investment worth it. 

Roses Are Red is pure escapism with utterly compelling characters and a plot that is born from a deep-seated sense of unease.  It is sharp and atmospheric, and I blasted through it.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Miranda Rijks is a writer of psychological thrillers and suspense novels. She has an eclectic background ranging from law to running a garden centre. She’s been writing all of her life and has a Masters in writing. A couple of years ago she decided to ditch the business plans and press releases and now she’s living the dream, writing suspense novels full time. She lives in Sussex, England with her Dutch husband, musician daughter and black Labrador.

Miranda is the author of YOU ARE MINE and I WANT YOU GONE. ROSES ARE RED will be her seventh novel published with Inkubator Books.

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