Whatever After

From Goodreads:

"Chloe’s got it all: a happy marriage to Hollywood A-lister, Jason Vanderholt, her first child on the way, and the chance to be the maid-of-honor in her best friend, Lori’s, upcoming wedding. The stresses of the past year are behind her… almost.

Chris Winters, Chloe’s half-brother, still isn’t in jail, even though he’s the main suspect in a double homicide. The police don’t have enough hard evidence to charge him with the crime, but Chloe is certain it was him. After all, he tried to kill her when she was a child.

When Chris begins to stalk Lori, Chloe is furious and decides it is past time he was locked up for good. She has the best security team money can buy, yet she knows they’re missing something, and mistakes in this business can be deadly. The deeper she digs, though, the less the facts add up.

Chloe’s got mere weeks to figure out how to keep her best friend safe, save the wedding from disaster, and get Chris back in jail where he belongs. That is, if she can gather enough evidence before he strikes again."

***

My goodness, I love the cover to this book. It perfectly captures the personalities of calm and stoic Chloe and bubbly Lori. The story itself is an excellent entry into the Someone Else's Fairytale series, providing layers to the mystery surrounding Chris and wrapping it up fairly well, with a villain who was unexpected, but absolutely made sense in the context of the story. And that villain was downright freaky.

As with the last couple of books, most especially My Wicked Half-Sister, the story relies heavily on dialogue to move forward. Personally, I don't find this appealing--I want action!--but it doesn't take away from the plot.

I really enjoyed Lori's musings on "happily ever after" versus "whatever after"--basically, the difference between movie endings and real life. In real life, the happy couple has to recommit to choosing to love each other all the time. Movies are one-and-done. But I digress. The book made me hungry for a good chili and wrapped up well. I really enjoyed it.

Gentle Reader Alert: I found nothing of concern.