Love Made Me Do It

Happy Tuesday, fellow readers! Can you believe that we are halfway through November already? It's crazy! This week, I bring you a thriller called Love Made Me Do It by Michele Knight. This is a zero spice one for those who like a clean book.

First the trigger warnings:

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Clean

Triggers:

Mentions of infidelity

Abuse

Being trapped

Death

Violence

Haunted location

Mentions of rape

Alright, now we can leap in. The trigger warnings might look intimidating on this one, however, most of the instances are very brief and not very detailed. It is clean of actual sexual activity. It brings an old school horror/thriller feel which I love.

The beginning is a bit odd, as it rushes through each of the male characters with seemingly no rhyme or reason. It does get better as far as following a plot line. I referred to this book in my review as House on Haunted Hill with a twist. I won't spoil it here, of course, but if you've seen this classic movie then you'll have a good idea of what to expect in this book.

Love Made Me Do It definitely had it's twists, turns, and secrets which made me keep turning those pages. It has great bones. I did find quite a few errors that could use further editing. The tense of the story being present tense didn't seem to work for me. It bounced to past tense at times and right back to present tense. The present tense made some sentences seem awkward that I think would have flowed smoothly in past tense. It made the story a bit harder for me to get into at first. I am glad that I pushed past it though, because it is an enjoyable book.

The ending is indeed an ending, however, it definitely leaves room for another book. I did also find that there could be more detail and world-building. I also noted in my review that the book could do without some of the jumping out of the asylum setting to visit outside characters. I love intensity in a thriller, and I think that just focusing on what's going on with the main plot would lend to a more intense book.

Here is my official review:

A House on Haunted Hill feel with a twist.

Love Made Me Do It has good bones. It is twisty, mysterious, and has that classic horror aspect. There are betrayals, secrets, and deaths. I went with four stars instead of five because the book would benefit from more editing and proofreading. The choice to go with a third person present tense didn't seem to work with this story. The tense jumps from present to past and back again. There are also quite a bit of spelling errors including inconsistencies with character names. I would have left out Brandie's dad and his wife as it did nothing but distract from the main story. To me, the author's choice to jump back to outside characters took away from the intensity that was created in the asylum. Overall, it is a good medium paced thriller. I did enjoy reading it.

Overall, I did enjoy this book. I look forward to seeing if the author grows more in the second book or even goes back to rewrite this one as some authors do.

If you'd like to grab a copy, you can do so here: https://a.co/d/i2nA2Xf

That is all for me this week, dear readers. Please join me next week for another wonderful read. Until then, curl up with a good book.