Series: Standalone
Release Date: May 1st, 1998
A talented painter in hear early thirties, Paris Sweeney has achieved enviable success: her work sells at an exclusive New York City gallery, and her popularity is at an all-time high. Life is good, and Sweeney, as she prefers to be called, is content.
But lately, Sweeney’s dreams — lush, vivid, and drenched in vibrant hues — seem to echo a growing restlessness that has taken hold of her. Suddenly, impulsively, Sweeney falls into a night of intense passion with millionaire Richard Worth. Now, the true dangers of her all-consuming urges are about to be revealed where Sweeney least expects it: in her paintings.
After a creative frenzy she can barely recall, Sweeney discovers she has rendered a disturbing image — a graphic murder scene. Against her better instincts, she returns to the canvas time and again, filling out each chilling detail piece by piece. But when a shattering, real-lfie murder mirrors her creation, Sweeney falls under suspicion. With every stroke of her brush, she risks incriminating herself with her inexplicable knowledge of the deadly crime. And every desire — including her hunger for Richard — is loaded with uncertainty as Sweeney races to unmask a killer.
• BIPOC characters
• LGBTQIA+ characters
• characters with a disability
And doesn’t address fatphobia
• Violence
• Death
• Does have OW drama
– The Hero’s ex-wife wants more in the settlement and attempts to use the Heroine to get what she wants
– The Hero and Heroine met while he was still married but didn’t get together until after he was divorced
– The Hero stayed in his marriage (and had sex with his wife) despite knowing his wife had affairs
• No descriptive sex scene with OW/OM
• No pushing away
• No separation between the Hero and Heroine
– But, the Hero and Heroine met while the Hero was still married. Then, they met again later, after the Hero’s divorce; that’s when they started dating.
• See Ending for HEA status.
• See Possible Triggers for Abuse and OTT sad parts.
Rating: 4/5 stars
Now You See Her seemed like it was super short because I read it so fast! It was unreal how much I liked this book, figuring how out there it was. Plus, there was the fact that Sweeney (the heroine) knew and was kinda sorta friends with the soon-to-be ex-wife of Richard (the hero). I found that odd. But I seriously loved this book. There was just enough of everything (the romance, the mystery, and yes, there’s a paranormal aspect) to keep the story entertaining; it was never unbelievable. And the suspense! I love romantic suspense books since they tend to focus more on drama not directly related to either the hero or heroine, like evil exes, although this book did have that.
The character development between Sweeney and Richard was incredibly realistic, which was contradictory to the many reviews that Sweeney always had her head up in the clouds. Although fast in some ways, their relationship was incredibly sweet, and they did know each other for a long time, it just took Sweeney a while to catch up to what Richard’s been feeling.
A thing that Howard is the queen at is giving a multi-perspective book. You don’t just get perspectives from the hero and the heroine, but also the antagonist and sometimes even secondary characters. I think this makes the book more exciting since it gives you a lot of foreshadowing, but you don’t know if it’s good or bad.
I have to admit that I didn’t really grasp the paranormal part of the book, finding it odd that no one just shouted bullshit and ran the other way. But then again, Howard did a great job making each character hesitant to believe and allowed Sweeney to prove that she wasn’t crazy.
Overall Now You See Her was a quick read even though it’s over 300 pages. It was a rapidly-paced book and seemed to have romance, suspense or mystery on every single page. It is a perfect book to relax with if you need a change of scenery.
