This book just wasn’t for me.
Rating: 2.5/5
Looks can be deceiving
Mom says a beautiful girl can do anything…
While on vacation on a picturesque Greek island, reporter Maddie Ribeiros meets a stunning 12-year-old girl and her mother. The pair are on their way to visit the girl’s “uncle” on a nearby private island.
Mom says the man can help us, but he can also hurt us…
But soon, Maddie suspects that the girl is being trafficked to the island, which is owned by brilliant, eccentric, reclusive billionaire Dexter Hunt. Rumors about him abound—none of them good.
Mom says we can never tell anyone what happens on his island…
Determined to help the girl, Maddie joins forces with a charming but secretive local man and an arrogant coworker with whom she has an uncomfortable attraction.
Unraveling the mysteries of the “untouchable” Dexter Hunt, she finds they run deeper and stranger than she ever imagined.
Maddie may have checked into the billionaire’s notorious island—but can she ever leave?
Content Warning: Grooming
This has me captivated by the first page. However, this felt like two books smashed together and they didn’t connect well. And the twist we see feels a bit like a bait and switch. Everything leading up to this major twist felt like one book, and after the big reveal, the remainder of the book had just a completely different vibe. Afterward, it felt like an entirely different book.
...this felt like two books smashed together and they didn’t connect well.
And that was so disappointing to me because I was really enjoying the story up until that reveal. I loved the setting, we’re on an island in Greece. I could easily imagine what our characters were seeing.
But that twist! It just lost me after that. Once we finally got to that reveal I was just frustrated. I want to say I’m glad it wasn’t obvious, but this twist is just so far-fetched. Way too far-fetched. And there’s nothing in the first part of the book that even hints towards this twist. What I was expecting from the twist and what we got, I honestly would have rather had something obvious. Everything after the twist was just downhill for me.
...there’s nothing in the first part of the book that even hints towards this twist.
The entire premise sounds like a rehash of the Epstein Island case. We see a young girl heading to a private island in Greece, where rumors are it's owned by a billionaire, and what happens there is anything but good. I mean doesn’t that just scream Epstein Island? I would totally have enjoyed this more if it stuck to that sort of story.
This book just wasn’t for me. I’m usually fine with shocking twists, but this was more annoying than shocking. It just changed the vibe of the story way too much for how the entire beginning was set up. As I said, it felt like an entirely different book after the reveal.
This book just wasn’t for me. I’m usually fine with shocking twists, but this was more annoying than shocking.
What makes this especially hard to review is there is literally just one word that I can’t say otherwise it would simply spoil this major twist. But at the same time, I feel that without knowing what that is, this could lead other readers down the same path I went down. Expecting a certain story and seeing it’s not at all that. And that’s only because this twist is that far-fetched. It’s definitely one of those catch-22 scenarios. From the start, I was truly hoping for a sinister twist of sorts, something along the lines of The Butterfly Garden. So if that is what you’re hoping for, let me just say this is NOT that kind of book. So if you’re looking for something dark and sinister, look somewhere else.
Though, I do have to give it credit for managing to captivate me from the start. It sucked me quickly and kept my attention, up until the twist that is. Just as a whole, this missed the mark for me. But if you’re the type of reader who’s open to reading anything and aren’t against far-fetched twists, you might enjoy this one.