Almost Dead

I liked the book but found that it had a lot of similarities to book one in the series. It seems like little time has passed since book one as that situation is not completely resolved. Cassie is searching for her Sister who seems to be running from something. Both grew up with an abusive father and Cassie also had an abusive ex-boyfriend. So she sees the signs of abuse in the children of new family she is caring for. The Mother is also physically abusive to her as they disagree over minor issues with the children. A final confrontation leads to tragedy and Cassie is nervous that her previous employment issues will make her a suspect in the death of current employer.

This 3rd book in the series was enjoyable but not as good as the previous two. The story wasn't as clear as I've come to expect from this author. If this was my first book by Blake I'd still come back for more! Having said the negative the positive is that it's still well above the quality of most other books of this genre that I've read, and I've read a lot! The characters are very believable and the story holds together. The writing is as good as always and everything is richly imagined. I received a free copy of this book via Booksprout and am voluntarily leaving a review.

3.5 STARS Cassandra Vale is in Italy looking for her sister .. with no results. She's running out of money, but she plans on staying until she either finds her sister there .. or follow her to wherever she went. She sees a notice .. a woman wants to hire an au-pair for her two young children. She's had this kind of job before ... with disastrous results. But the mom seems to be the answer. She's a high-society divorced mother and she pays well. With a new family come new children, new rules, and new expectations. Cassandra’s determined to make this one last - until a horrifying discovery pushes her to a breaking point. The suspense starts on the very first page and only increases until the totally unexpected conclusion. It's a page-turner with characters that are fully fleshed out and lend an air of credibility. Although 3rd in the series, it does well as a stand-alone. However, starting with the first book is beneficial to totally understanding the main character. There is a slight cliffhanger which will be picked up in the next book. Many thanks to the author / Booksirens for the digital copy of this mystery/crime fiction. Read and reviewed voluntarily, opinions expressed here are unbiased and entirely my own.