Bella by Steve Piacente
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Title: Bella
Author: Steve Piacente
Length: 268 pages
Publisher: CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform
Published: June 13, 2010
Genres: Fiction; Political Thriller; Mystery/Thriller

Visit my review: http://chorleychronicals.blogspot.com

My Rating: ✮✮✮

Synopsis:
A striking widow intent on proving the military lied about her husband's death lures a Washington journalist into the investigation. Working together, they discover the power of temptation, the futility of revenge, and the consequences of yielding to either.

My Review:
I have thought and thought about what I was going to write for this review, and just wanted to put out a disclaimer that this probably has to be one of the hardest reviews that I ever had to do.

I instantly thought I would love this book when I read the description, even though there are quite the conflicted reviews. I now understand, because I am still quite conflicted over a month after finishing this book!

I did really like the book, but there was just something about it that made me give it 3/5 stars. I think it was my distaste for Isabel Moss. And lack of respect for Dan Patragno.

I found the plot to be wonderful and shocking and just full of twists and turns that kept you wanting to turn the page and find out exactly what happened. However, the idiocy and total lack of thought or consequence on Dan's part, just really irritated me, along with Isabel's total disregard for anyone or their feelings. Granted, I understand she had been through a lot, but that woman is ice cold!

As for the characters, I think they are a diverse group! Piacente did a really good job with creating the type of characters that we don't read about often, if ever. However, I have often found in my reading, that if I don't like a character, what they do, or what they about, it turns me off from the book a bit, so I seem to find characters quite important to me for me to be able to enjoy the book.

This was the hardest story for me to rate because there are parts of it that I really like and would love to give it a higher rating, and there are parts of it that I really do not like. Overall though, I'd say I'd get it a 3.75 rating! This book shows me that Steve Piacente has great potential of providing me with a fantastic reading, so I would not hesitate to read another of his books!

Disclaimer: I was provided a copy of this book by the Author in return for an honest, unbiased review.

View all my reviews