Guilty

by Heidi J. Thomas

Danny 'The Destroyer' Edwards, promising amateur boxer, was neither looking for nor wanting a girlfriend when he first laid his eyes on Natalie Edwards, the beautiful, seductive exotic dancer who stole his heart in an instant. A self-confessed ladies man out for a good time, in a split second he is smitten, transformed and head over heels in love.

Two brutal murders later he is seventeen years into a life sentence when he is visited out of the blue by Kate Marshall, a woman with an agenda of her own.

Expecting to be repulsed by this man depicted by the press as a cold, calculated killer, she is stunned and annoyed to discover how easily he is able to affect her, climbing under her skin like he belongs there, igniting a fire inside her she finds harder and harder to ignore as she falls hard and fast in love with this gorgeous, complicated and utterly dangerous man.

Will she be the one person who can get him to open up about the truth of what happened the night his wife lost her life, and what will the consequences be for everyone involved?

314 pages, Kindle Edition

First published November 4, 2013

Reviews

[Goddess Of Blah · Rating 2 out of 5]

I initially picked this up because the author attempted to challenge the norms – we have a working class couple with a challenging past – no silly girl and billionaire hero. It promised to offer a real plot with a touch of romance.
The couple were not just the token working class type either - but the whole criminal hero (boxing champ no less), single mum mature student who uses "ain't" frequently etc

The couple belong to the "mature" category (i.e. 39 year old female and 42 year old male).

However, I found the pace of the romance tedious and unsettling which deterred one from the actual plot. Additionally the author made it so obvious that the hero hadn't murdered his wife – it would have been better if there was some ambiguity from the beginning.

There was minimum character development. For this story - the dynamics between the protagonists ought to have been tentative (initially), particularly considering the circumstances – not a perfunctory Mills & Boon "flutters lashes" "cocks eyebrow" one-dimensional encounter.

The instant attraction thing didn't work well. It would have been a mature, intelligent and convincing love story if both characters were reserved rather than all flirty at the first scene (a reserved quiet and cynical hero would have worked better than a cocky Jack the Lad). It made the attraction superficial (she's blonde, vulnerable and pretty, he's tall, dark, handsome and tough – clichés that didn't work in this instance). And their first encounter was cringe worthy.

I think if the author had built up the story (and we had the opportunity to understand and empathise with the characters) and ONLY then the chemistry was introduced (a slow build up) it would have really worked.

[Kath · Rating 5 out of 5]

I enjoyed this book. Nice to see older characters used in a love story. Heidi seems to be able to write so you become emotionally involved within the characters and you care about what happens. I enjoyed it

[Jen Wainwright PA · Rating 5 out of 5]

Danny Edwards, 42 years old and 18 years into a 25 stretch for the murder of his wife Natalie and the biological father of Emma, Danny's and Nat's baby daughter. Alone, angry and believing he deserves nothing, Danny keeps himself to himself and shuns the outside world and accepts no visitors. That is until he agrees to talk to mature criminal psychology student, 39 year old Kate Marshall. Kate's thesis is uxoricide and thinks Danny the ideal subject for her study. As Danny opens up to Kate they become friends and Danny actually begins to feel a glimmer of hope for the future, until Kate reveals the truth for her visits. As the date for his parole hearing draws closer, will Danny's natural self-destructive guilt get in the way or is there a happy ending for Danny Edwards? An unputdownable story with twists along the way, Guilty will have you enthralled from page one. I loved this book, loved Danny Edwards and found myself rooting for him and really hoping he found that illusive happiness. I truly believe he paid his price and deserves now, to be happy.

[Lynda Kelly · Rating 1 out of 5]

Another one not for me. Full of mistakes. It clearly hasn't had a proper proofreading exercise done. The worst problem I found was the author's total misuse of commas. Missed where they're needed then added where they're not ! Like these-"Maybe I have Kate"....or "..almost lustful Kate thought". Sloppy.
Apostrophes were also missing or misused, too. For example,'the couples baby' followed by 'Mother's pushed their children'. then be was used in place of he. I packed it in when Danny mentioned he was a lady's man.....wrong again.
I did like the dedication at the beginning, though. That was very sweet.

[Abbi Saxby · Rating 5 out of 5]

At first, the writing style of this book really put me off. I know it's set in London and they are meant to be proper cockney but the over use of "don't", "aren't" and "weren't" really bugged me! As well as poor editing.
However, I'm glad I kept at it as it turned out to be a really good story with some good twists.

[Sarah · Rating 4 out of 5]

Kate and Danny's emotional journey was maddening and heart breaking but ended beautifully.