Every Breath You Take: A Novel

Digital audio read by Laura Dean

Excerpted from the book jacket: Kate Donovan never dreamed that a chance romantic encounter on a tropical island paradise would involve her in a high-society murder case. But after she tangles with the darkly charismatic Mitchell [Wyatt], Kate finds herself a player in a lethal game of guilt and deception.

My reactions
Okay, I knew it was a romance novel going into it. Still the writing was just dreadful – full of stereotypical characters, romance tropes and clichés. I kept laughing out loud as I listened because it was so bad. However … it’s is markedly better than the publisher’s blurb on the book jacket (though that’s not saying much).

That being said, it was hugely entertaining. It was a show more fast read (or listen) and I enjoyed it. I can certainly see why McNaught is a best-selling author.

The audio book is read by Laura Dean, and she does a fine job. Too bad she doesn’t have better material to work with. show less

This book was awful. What follows is a rant of epic proportions, it was just that bad. The first half of the book is like the two days Kate and Mitchell get to know each other, most of it is the first night even. And nothing even happened! They would make progress and then slide back. Kate is utterly useless. I think she actually surpasses the Bella Swan Stupid level. She was extremely blasé about cheating on her boyfriend of four years, which already started me off hating her. And her excuse was she was that thinking of breaking up with him anyway. Okay.

Then, when the epically stupid misunderstanding happens (fueled by way too many coincidences to be believed – even though we know they are), she's too stupid to figure out that this show more new impression of the guy she was 'OMG so in love' with after 26 hours wasn't wrong and just thinking about it clearly would have given her the right answer (and it was hilarious that she was so in love with him when she didn't know all that much about him because he kept evading most of her questions on anything personal). Then when everything implodes she still agrees to marry the boyfriend she doesn't even love! Cue the cliché´ and pedestrian plot twist (which isn't a surprise at all, two books I've read by McNaught and no one uses a condom to screw someone they just met). Then everything becomes Mitchell's fault for her. She feels bad about herself because of Mitchell. She's inept at running her father's restaurant because of Mitchell. She might not ever love her baby because it's Mitchell's. I usually don't skim, but I started skimming through any part that featured Kate and then started skimming hardcore by the end so I could just finish this mess.

I was hoping that Kate's best friend, Holly, would provide perspective. Usually, they're outside the situation and will say something like, "okay, he checked out of the hotel, you were supposed to be meeting at the wharf. Did you check there first?" Or, "after he was so very blunt with you about where this relationship could and could not go before changing his mind, what makes you think he'd be so cruel as to send you off to break off your four-year relationship and then disappear on you? Come on now." Or, "So, you were breaking your long-term boyfriend's heart and you just believed everything thing he told you about the guy you were leaving him for? You didn't think he could have been lying about any of it?" But, nope, she listened to the story and took it at face value and acts like a raving lunatic along side Kate. They were both entirely useless.

Kate is so wrapped up in herself that when she and Mitchell confronted each other at a fundraiser she didn't actually listen to any of the words he said. Everything he said indicated a guy who had been unceremoniously dumped. Not the "monster" (yes, she kept calling him that, because that's what a monster is . . . yep) she thought he was. And on top of all of that, no matter how gross of an elitist pig her fiancé was she still stayed with him. That is, until he dumped her for not aborting Mitchell's spawn.

Mitchell was the least stupid of the two. I could actually feel bad for him and take his side on most things. It was mostly just his slutty behavior and not doing something basic that could have helped avoid the whole misunderstanding plot line (though his failure there was far less egregious than Kate's). He simply didn't think to leave a note at the hotel for her because he had just found out his brother was dead, she has the depth and intelligence of a thimble. It's amazing how he kept being blamed in the end, even after what Kate did. These characters were horrendous.

What did Kate do? This next part is going to contain a lot of ranting, screaming and profanity. Yes, it got so much worse. I didn't think I could hate Kate more, but apparently the loathsome piece of dirt had more in store.

So she gets evidence that Mitchell wasn't what she assumed him to be. And instead of doing something about it, confronting him, acting like a decent human being she just packs it away. The story jumps two and a half years then. So she has a two year old son WHO DOESN'T KNOW WHO HIS FATHER IS, AND WHOSE FATHER DOESN'T KNOW HE EXISTS. The horrible bitch kept Mitchell's son from him! That is absolutely unforgivable. She is officially worse than trash in my book now. And I have so much fucking rage that if I were reading a physical book and not an ebook I would have thrown it across the room, then lit it on fire.

Her excuse is that he let his first wife divorce him because he didn't want to have kids. It never occurs to her, a fucking social worker, that just because he didn't want to bring one into the world with someone he didn't love (which she knew, because he told her) didn't mean that he wouldn't want to know about a child of his that exists! It also didn't occur to her, the motherfucking social worker, that it would strike a very harmful chord with him that he grew up not knowing his family, isolated and unloved, and now he has a son who doesn't know about him! I JUST CAN'T EVEN WITH HOW TERRIBLE THIS WOMAN AND STORY ARE.

So through a stupid storyline the kid gets kidnapped for a huge ransom Kate can't pay. What to do? CALL HIS FATHER, OF COURSE! The father that doesn't know he exists. The father who has lost two years of his child's life. So to find him she calls his friend. This is the end of their conversation:

She'd started to take the phone from her ear when he added, "I'm very sorry about your son."
That snapped Kate from pleading to ire. "Danny isn't just my son; he is also Mitchell's son."

OH, IS HE? IS HE REALLY? ARE YOU KIDDING ME WITH THIS? How can she have the audacity to say something like that? THAT is a perfect example of how unbelievably stupid she is.

Poor Mitchell is livid when he finds out, as any normal person would be.

She didn't have the decency, or the courtesy, to let him know he has a son!
Of course she doesn't have decency or courtesy. Terrible people usually don't.

She is raising his son just as he himself had been raised–without any idea of who his father is!
And I don't even have a degree in psychology. Anyone with half a brain would know that would be the primary issue for him.

I wished that Kate would have run into the street like the moron she is and been run over by a bus and Mitchell lived happily ever after with his son. Of course not. Even though they knew each other for a grand total of three days, three years ago, thought the worst of each other, and then she does the unforgivable OF COURSE they get their HEA. There was barely a discussion about everything that went down between them, no resolution of the lies, or idiocy, or her betrayal, and they're in love again and getting married within two days!

This book was an absolute chore to read. It was slow, boring, and flat in the beginning as their "relationship" was established. Then when the story started moving the main characters were too stupid to deal with. Like I said, I don't usually skim books, but I had to in this case to get beyond Kate's drivel. And to try to finish this book as quickly as possible so I could move on to something that wasn't making me angry. I was reading this to relax during study breaks. Fail. Also, the synopsis of the book, at least on Goodreads, is absolutely wrong. They make it sound like the murder whodunit is the entire plot of the book, especially Mitchell and Kate being wrapped up in it. That's really not true. Literally the first 54 percent of the book is their first two days together. Mitchell was being followed by police, but that's about it. The crux of the whodunit really only lasts a chapter, because he's questioned on something stupid, and had an airtight alibi for the evidence against him that should have been investigated before he was even brought in. They asked Kate like five questions and nothing again because there was no case and it was easy as all get out to figure out who the real killer was. This is another book where the summary needs to be changed, badly.

If you want a good book by McNaught, go read Perfect. Even for all of it's problems in characters and plot, I still gave it four stars because it was extremely enjoyable for me to read and none of those characters reached even the minimum level of idiocy the characters in this book exhibited. show less

When I pick a book up and can only make myself read it for 10 minutes before putting it back down - repeatedly - this is a sign of (in my humble opinion) a bad book. Unfortunately, this is the case with this book. I managed to read up to page 205 before I put this book down for good.

I found the characters incredibly "unrelatable" and arrogant all around. Maybe that was the author's intent. But I finally put the book down for good when Kate, after being a complete idiot and deciding Mitchell had been playing her simply because he had checked out of the hotel that HE had not been staying at, not only didn't follow through with their agreed upon meeting to see if he would show up, but to add insult to injury she agreed to an engagement show more with a man she is not in love with just because she is disillusioned EVEN THOUGH SHE NEVER GAVE MITCHELL A CHANCE TO SHOW UP FOR THEIR MEETING!!! This is the kind of heroine I just cannot stand.

Sorry Judith. This book is rubbish. show less

Oh no! After McNaught's impressive SOMEONE TO WATCH OVER ME, I thought the old Judith might have returned. Alas..... this book was pretty disappointing. Kate wasn't very admirable. I don't want to sound like a prude, but it is hard to root for someone who is cheating on her boyfriend. I know, I know, her boyfriend is a scoundrel and deserves what he gets, but SHE didn't know that when she starts her fling with Mitchel.

This book was weak on the romance and weighed down with a lot of glamorous parties, vacations, etc. Yawn. I know these things are expected in a McNaught novel, but they aren't the reason I read them. I read McNaught for her wonderful characters, the fantastic dialog, the chemistry that sparks off the page. This book just show more fell a little flat. show less

I must have read this back when it first came out and then forgot about it. That's why I'm on Goodreads! Still I liked it at this second reading. Plenty of angst. I don't really like books where there is a big misunderstanding that separates the characters but every once in a while it's okay if the rest of the book is well done. The writing is good here. The emotions are realistic and intense. The end could have been a bit longer. The mystery could have been stronger.

I've been in a nasty reading funk. So what do I do to get myself out of it? Re-read!

It's been years since I read this book. I recall liking it the first time around, but not loving it. I think that's because I read the hardcover version, which is missing some key scenes. The paperback, which I always enjoy more, has quite a few deleted scenes along with some bonus material. If you're going to read it, I highly recommend you read the paperback.

As with all McNaught novel, this is angsty and filled with misunderstandings and miscommunications. And as with all her other novels, McNaught makes it work. I wish she'd release her next book already.

I liked this book as a whole. I enjoyed the story line and was anxious to see how it ended but its' large time gaps and leaps into the future without logic made it difficult for me to grasp the story as reality sometimes. I suppose this is just a personal preference, but I like a story that flows so seamlessly that I believe it might be happening nextdoor. This was stilted and jerky in places. I did, however, enjoy it overall - I just had the feeling the editor made the author trim the story to fit onto less pages.