Eyes are everywhere . . .Look at the recently toppled powerbrokers in Hollywood, Washington, and Silicon Valley. Eyes somewhere saw their stupidity. From eyes to mouth to headlines.When iconic Silicon Valley CEO Michael Romanov discovers his cheating wife flirting in public with an obvious loser, he tears her apart. But he slices and dices her with such civility none of the coffee drinkers … none of the coffee drinkers notice. They’re too in awe of the legend’s presence.
One busybody, though, picks up immediately on his controlled fury. Sly as a fox, she begins to share her observations of his wife’s past trysts. She can’t believe that the “older gentleman” so often with AnnaSophia isn’t her husband.
The more the witness divulges, the more she proclaims her discretion. Ready to explode, Michael sets a trap she walks into. That trap will render her permanently discreet.
Three children. An ailing father. No work history for the past fifteen years. No friends. No money. Despair keeps AnnaSophia shackled to a charismatic wolf in designer clothing. She has no hope to escape his hold. In a divorce, he’ll take the kids and let her father die. Every day, she lives in dread of igniting Michael’s short fuse. When he shows up at the coffee shop, she fears for her yoga instructor’s life as well as for her own.
His revenge is surprisingly mild. Then, she learns of the murder of the girl in the coffee shop . . .
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Read all of the books in The MisFit series:
The Early Years
The Lost Days
The In-Between Years
The Reckless Year
The Dispensable Wife
The Broken-Hearted Many
The Whole Truth
more
The Early Years #1 – My first book by this author and it’s a kick. Michael makes Brooke Shield’s and Bettye Davis’ look like normal, bible study children. The story is well written but with some vulgar language and deviant sex scenes. The story moves at a fast pace and the reader is intrigued with what unfolds. I wouldn’t want to read more books like this, but I will finish the five books of this series. Interesting prologue. Minor editing needed. 4*
The Lost Days #2 – The pain and gain and loss that come from the actions performed in The Early Years come to head in this book. Michael for all his intelligence is still a little boy that didn’t cover all the bases in his plans. His mother wasn’t at her best, either. The story is well written and intriguing. The characters continue to grow and the plot twists with surprises not expected. Interesting prologue. Minor editing needed. 4*
The In-Between Years #3 – Another interesting and intriguing story. The characters are steady growing and still with interesting dialog. The plot manages to keep the reader interested until the last page. Interesting prologue. Minor editing needed. 4*
The Reckless Year #4 – The intrigue and interest still abounds in this story. The reader has to wonder about Michael’s love interest, but it’s not his IQ that’s running the show here. The characters continue to develop; their dialog is realistic; and the plot while not the best of the books, is keeps the reader involved in the story. Interesting prologue. Editing needed. 4*
The Dispensable Wife #5 – I had a few days between the first four books and this one. I didn’t care to much for the beginning of the book, several chapters of wasted words and repetition. The reader is now seeing his and her sides of the story and it takes a while for the book to become interesting. I didn’t care for the last two or three chapters; I didn’t find them interesting or flowing. Interesting prologue. Minor editing needed.
Update for The Dispensable Wife #5: As of February, 2018, I’ve had the chance to proof Broken-Hearted Many #6. While I was disappointed originally with Wife, because it changed the main characters from the first four books, I found Wife and Many were about the wife and children and their future without Michael and the secrets they carry inside themselves. So I’m changing my previous review to acknowledge that Wife is better with the addition of reading Many. I still think a better transition in Wife would not have been as shocking/distracting/confusing/pick your word to find Michael and Dimitri tossed in the background. They were the reason I was reading the series. Wife and Many fit together as #1 – #4 fit together; I just had to get used to Michael as a minor character in these books. I found Wife on AXP and volunteered to review it, since I already owned the other four books. Since then I’ve purchased Wife. 4*
Broken-Hearted Many #6 – This book puts The Dispensable Wife into a different light. It begins two years after the death of Michael. The family has begun a new life and have to work on the problems and effects from the past. Well written, dark but intriguing, this book holds the reader’s attention. It makes up for the disappointment of Wife, while actually enhancing Wife. The reader just needs to ignore the way this “offshoot” of the series began. The characters have developed somewhat and their dialog is realistic. There’s hope, even among the despair faced by the family. New friends appear, as well as old enemies, as the well thought out plot immerses the reader in the pages. This book was difficult to put down. 5*
The Whole Truth #7 – Dark ride ahead! The final book of the Misfit Series and boy, is it filled with all kinds of happenings, twists and turns. The ending is painful with the sacrifice one of the main characters made to save another and a good decision was made in the end, too. The characters are still interesting and the author’s vivid descriptions leaves no doubt about their thoughts, actions and fears. There are secrets that will surprise some readers, but also some humor, and peace is found along with a touch of a spiritual being. It was hard to put the book down and it was worth reading. I’ve enjoyed all seven books, even though I had a little problem with book #5 until I read #6. 5*
The Boy Nobody Loved – The prequel, which I read after I read the first five books of the Misfit series. It’s a good choice to read first since it lays the foundation of Michael’s beginning years and what he lived through. The story is well written and intriguing. The characters are developing and their dialog is realistic.
Michael and Dimitri’s friendship has always grounded Michael.
In this fifth book, we see less of Dimitri, as Michael also seem to do. Michael really should trust more in his friend’s judgement, guidance and help.
If I had met Michael’s character in this book, I probably would have been cheering for the apparently cowed wife to free herself from her bullying husband. I would have thought Michael’s accusations of her betrayals paranoid and controlling.
Since I met AnnieSophie in the previous book, and found her annoying, duplicitous and manipulative, I really don’t have as much sympathy for her as I might otherwise.
Don’t take that to mean that I endorse domestic violence in any form. Certainly, spousal abuse between weathly power brokers and their spouses can be a real blood sport of damages to those who are ill equipped.
In another recent read, I championed the divorcee who sought creative revenge and recompense on a divorcing spouse who hid funds, assets, and manipulated family against his wife.
But AnnaSophie ……
Her character rubbed me the wrong way from her introduction, and I found it agitating that this highly educated women was so inappropriately touchy-feely with her own father and good friend Ari.
The flirting with all the wrong people seems automatic to her. The statement by Michael that she should have studied drama rather than medicine felt true to her character to me.
Unlike a similar character in Faye Kellerman’s Detective Decker fiction, AnnaSophie doesn’t read as a struggle mom trying to get by, and to negotiate relations with the father of her children.
Kellerman’s young Dr Mom does what she can to keep her son safe and leave him with friends and family to protect him.
Not quite Dr, Drama Mama AnnaSophie manages to focus men’s attention on her, and fornicate her way through a bevy of men to try to leverage against Michael. She doesn’t read as a victim or survivor, but as a co-conspirator . Her focus is only tangentially her children.
So who in this book is truly the victim?
My greatest sympathies lie with the children.
With two Narcissistic parents with manipulative and dark tendencies, what good can come to them and for them?