He Will Be My Ruin by K.A. Tucker – Blog Tour Review

Posted 16 June, 2016 by Heather in Blog, Blog Tour, Book Review, Bookworms, Heather, Heather Book Review / 2 Comments

I received this book for free from the TLC Book Tours in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.

He Will Be My Ruin by K.A. Tucker – Blog Tour ReviewHe Will Be My Ruin by K.A. Tucker
Published by Atria Books on February 2, 2016
Genres: Adult, Contemporary, Crime, Depression & Mental Illness, Friendship, Law & Crime, Mystery, Psychological, Psychological Suspense, Suspense, Thriller
Pages: 352
Format: eBook
Source: TLC Book Tours
Buy on Amazon
Goodreads
4.5 Stars

On the surface, Celine Gonzalez had everything a twenty-eight-year-old woman could want: a one-bedroom apartment on Manhattan’s Lower East Side, a job that (mostly) paid the bills, and an acceptance letter to the prestigious Hollingsworth Institute of Art, where she would finally live out her dream of becoming an antiques appraiser for a major auction house. All she had worked so hard to achieve was finally within her reach. So why would she kill herself?

A man who was supposed to be her salvation . . .

Maggie Sparkes arrives in New York City to pack up what’s left of her best friend’s belongings after a suicide that has left everyone stunned. The police have deemed the evidence conclusive: Celine got into bed, downed a lethal cocktail of pills and vodka, and never woke up. But when Maggie discovers a scandalous photograph in a lock box hidden in Celine’s apartment, she begins asking questions. Questions about the man Celine fell in love with. The man she never told anyone about, not even Maggie. The man Celine believed would change her life.

Until he became her ruin.

On the hunt for evidence that will force the police to reopen the case, Maggie uncovers more than she bargained for about Celine’s private life—and inadvertently puts herself on the radar of a killer. A killer who will stop at nothing to keep his crimes undiscovered.

 Thriller

I love a good mystery and books full of suspense and thrills really glue me to the pages. K. A. Tucker’s He Will Be My Ruin didn’t met my expectations and then some in every way–from not being able to nail down who the murderer was to a great cast of supporting characters to a strong heroine that didn’t back down without being annoying. I was immediately trying to guess who killed Celine Gonzalez from the very beginning of the book, and my choice kept changing until the big reveal.

Two Very Different Girls That Are Great Friends…

Maggie and Celine had been best friends ever since Celine’s mother was hired as Maggie’s nanny when the girls were young. The girls were fast friends despite their financial differences, and their friendship endured even as Maggie heads a non-profit that provides and builds things in third world countries with Maggie taking a very active role and being away from the States for months at a time while Celine has moved to New York City to pursue her dream of becoming an antiques appraiser. But while Maggie has always been fast to share her money with Celine, Celine is too proud to ask for help when she needs it–especially when her mother gets cancer and the bills start to mount. And that’s when Celine turns to something dangerous to make extra cash, something that she keeps secret from her mother and Maggie. When Celine is found dead in her bed from an apparent overdose of pills and booze, Maggie doesn’t buy the official story and she begins to dig into Celine’s life–and she finds that she didn’t know much about Celine in the last few years at all.

A Mourning Best Friend Comes to Take Care of the Apartment and Estate…

As Maggie packs up the antiques-filled apartment that Celine has left behind, she finds Celine’s diaries that she’s kept since she was a teenager. But the last diary is missing, as is Celine’s cell phone. Since the police won’t reopen Celine’s case as a suspected homicide, Maggie hires a private detective to look into Celine’s life, and she takes matters into her own hands as well–delivering her right into the killer’s grasp.

A Flawed, Headstrong Heroine That You Can Root For…

Maggie just wouldn’t let the idea of Celine killing herself go since she knew that her friend had too much to live for, and she definitely believed that Celine wouldn’t put her dying mother through the pain of her suicide. Some of the things that Maggie did along the way, like get romantically involved with the super of the apartment building, and tangle with Celine’s super rich and powerful maybe-ex-boyfriend investment banker. But she’s a loyal friend and she trusts her gut, which does help her out. Even though her family owns an energy company and she has a giant trust fund, she’s trying to do something good for the world by getting her hands dirty with her non-profit.

Such a Great Supporting Cast of Characters…

The secondary characters really shine here. The private detective, Doug, and his tech guru Zac were a little quirky but so smart and savvy. The seemingly nosy old lady neighbor across the hall, Ruby, turns out to be so much more than she seemed, and the trio of Doug, Zac, and Ruby giving Maggie suggestions on how to investigate the murder was quite clever and sometimes conflicting between themselves. The only characters that weren’t all that likeable were Celine herself and the banker. Through Celine’s diaries, she definitely had a gold digger streak and a bit of a resentment towards Maggie, who’d never done anything but be her friend and help her out.

I give He Will Be My Ruin a 4.5 out of 5. You really get to know both Maggie and Celine since Maggie narrates her part of the story and Celine’s life is filled in with her journal entries. I went back and forth between who I thought killed Celine, and there was a time that I even thought she just might have killed herself. The suspense built perfectly throughout the entire book until it just exploded in the end. I’m a little sad that this is a standalone since I really want to see Ruby, Doug, and Zac work together on something–with Maggie footing the bill. I was really glad to see that in the end, Maggie had matured and learned that she could do something when her gut tells her that someone is lying–and that phone call to Doug or Zac made me very happy. I highly recommend this to lovers of suspense and mysteries.

About K. A. TuckerKATucker

K.A. Tucker is the USA Today bestselling author of 14 books, including Ten Tiny Breaths and Burying Water, and her latest Adult Suspense novel, He Will Be My Ruin.

Born in small-town Ontario, K.A. Tucker published her first book at the age of six  with the help of her elementary school librarian and a box of crayons. She is a voracious reader, and currently resides in a quaint town outside of Toronto with her husband, two beautiful girls,  and a Chug.

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K. A. Tucker’s TLC Book Tours TOUR STOPS

Friday, May 27th: Buried Under Books
Monday, May 30th: Kahakai Kitchen
Tuesday, May 31st: Fuelled By Fiction
Wednesday, June 1st: Why Girls Are Weird
Thursday, June 2nd: Reading Reality
Friday, June 3rd: A Splendid Messy Life
Monday, June 6th: The Book Wheel
Monday, June 6th: No More Grumpy Bookseller
Tuesday, June 7th: Books a la Mode
Wednesday, June 8th: A Dream Within a Dream
Thursday, June 9th: A Fantastical Librarian
Friday, June 10th: Books & Bindings
Monday, June 13th: The Well Read Redhead
Monday, June 13th: BookBub – author guest post
Tuesday, June 14th: Luxury Reading
Tuesday, June 14th: Jenn’s Bookshelves
Wednesday, June 15th: Worth Getting in Bed For
Thursday, June 16th: Bewitched Bookworms
Thursday, June 16th: FictionZeal
Monday, June 20th: All Roads Lead to the Kitchen
Tuesday, June 21st: Time 2 Read
Wednesday, June 22nd: Mockingbird Hill Cottage
Thursday, June 23rd: Just Commonly
Friday, June 24th: A Chick Who Reads
Monday, June 27th: Books that Hook

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Heather

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I'm a PhD chemist who loves sarcasm, music, and books-paranormal, mystery, thriller, suspense, horror, and romance. Most of my free time is spent at the martial arts studio these days--whether practicing Combat Hapkido or reading books while watching my son's Taekwondo classes, or even working up a sweat with Kickboxing for fun. Goodreads

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