Elise and her lifelong best friend, Lavina, take a Caribbean cruise when all sorts of strange things take place in The Bitter Taste of Betrayal by CeeCee James. The first night in the dining room, some of the other ladies at her table point out a man to Elise as a childhood TV star who now is worth millions of dollars and is a true philanthropist, giving away 90% of his income. Lavina tries to set up Elise, who has just had her divorce finalized, with various men on the ship, even tricking Elise into dressing up for a Marilyn Monroe/ Elvis costume party. Trying to escape the chaos, Elise stumbles out of the room to the outside deck, where she encounters the philanthropist, who looks very sick. When he faints, Elise runs back into the ballroom to find a doctor, only to find the man missing when she returns. Worried about the man, Elise asks questions of her steward and those around to figure out what is going on. But each time she gets different answers. What has happened to the missing man? Is he safe? Or even alive?
This book grabbed my attention from the start and kept me going, preventing me from being able to go to sleep because it was so riveting that I had to listen to the whole book in one sitting. The plot moves quickly and with real creativity. Some of the characters come across as lively and fun to get to know, making me wish I could know them in person, in particular Elise and Lavina’s room steward and housekeeper. But some other characters didn’t come across as memorably as these particular ones.
Jennifer Groberg performs the audio edition of this book. She takes what is already an existing, exciting manuscript and turns it into a book that immerses you, the listener, into the world of Elise and Lavina.
I am very happy that I was able to listen to this book. The Bitter Taste of Betrayal gave me a lot of fun to listen to. I liked the previous book, The Sweet Taste of Murder, but I loved The Bitter Taste of Betrayal. The solution showed creativity and cleverness. I give the book five stars!
Disclaimer: I was given this audiobook by the author, but that in no way had any effect on the content of my review.
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