Annika: A Romantic Thriller Novel - Perfect for Mystery Lovers & Beach Reading" （注：原标题中"Thriller"拼写错误已修正为"Thriller"，并添加了关键词"Novel"以明确书籍类型，同时加入使用场景描述吸引目标读者）

I selected this for some holiday reading, expecting a simple romance novel, but what I got is so much more. The background includes New York City high society as well as life on a horse ranch in Florida. The author, Alison Blake, clearly knows her subjects. There are characters who are rich and famous, and those who are poor and struggling. The villain is pure evil, but thankfully the heroine is not perfect, which makes her all the more real, someone we like and can relate to. I enjoy the author's powers of description, especially when telling how Annika feels, whether it is the paralyzing fear of her husband, the heart wrenching anguish of her grief, or her anger and desire for revenge on the man she used to love. Ms Blake takes you inside Annika's mind and heart.The Prologue introduces the heroine as a sweet, teenage girl with pure, uncomplicated love and devotion to the boy she has adored since childhood. The story jumps ten years forward, and the change in the Annika's life is so appalling I couldn't put the book down. I felt compelled to know what had happened in those ten years that brought her to this, but Annika's story in the present is so full of intrigue, drama and suspense it kept me on the edge of my seat. While the story unfolds, the author tantalizingly fills in the missing ten years by using flashbacks and Annika's memories. She gradually, with unexpected twists and turns, reveals a story of lies, deception, and innocence cruelly betrayed. This book tells the adventure that is Annika's journey from the nightmare that her life had become, back to her roots, and the true love that is her destiny and her redemption.