Suspicion

by Alexandra Monir

A modern-day twist on the classic thriller, Rebecca, with a dash of the supernatural, a powerful romance, and a deadly family mystery.
 
“There’s something hidden in the maze.”
 
Seventeen-year-old Imogen Rockford has never forgotten the last words her father said to her, before the blazing fire that consumed him, her mother, and the gardens of her family’s English country manor.
 
For seven years, images of her parents’ death have haunted Imogen’s dreams. In an effort to escape the past, she leaves Rockford Manor and moves to New York City with her new guardians. But some attachments prove impossible to shake—including her love for her handsome neighbor Sebastian Stanhope.
 
Then a life-altering letter arrives that forces Imogen to return to the manor in England, where she quickly learns that dark secrets lurk behind Rockford’s aristocratic exterior. At their center is Imogen herself—and Sebastian, the boy she never stopped loving.

Combining spine-tingling mystery, romance, and unforgettable characters, Suspicion is an action-packed thrill ride.

Genres: Young Adult, Mystery, Fantasy, Romance, Paranormal, Historical Fiction, Gothic

305 pages, Kindle Edition

First published December 9, 2014

About the author

Alexandra Monir, Iranian-American author and recording artist, has published seven popular young adult novels to date, beginning with her internationally-bestselling debut, TIMELESS (a Barnes & Noble Bestseller and an Amazon.com “Best Book of the Month”). She published the hit sci-fi novel THE FINAL SIX with HarperCollins in 2018, with Sony Pictures optioning the film rights in a major pre-empt deal. A sequel, THE LIFE BELOW, followed in 2020 and the series has been published in numerous countries and languages.

Alexandra was recently selected to write the first-ever YA novel about DC Comics superhero Black Canary, joining global bestsellers Leigh Bardugo, Marie Lu, Sarah J. Maas and Matt de la Peña as the fifth author writing for the New York Times-bestselling DC Icons series, published by Penguin Random House. BLACK CANARY: BREAKING SILENCE was released on December 29th, 2020 to rave reviews from critics and comic book fans alike, and a new paperback edition arrives in December 2021. Alexandra was also selected by Disney to write a historical fantasy YA novel about Princess Jasmine, which will publish in Fall 2022 as the third book in The Queen's Council series.

Alexandra is additionally a screenwriter, recording artist and composer, with both screenplay and musical adaptations of her own work in development. Her musical roots run deep, as she is the granddaughter of the late Monir Vakili, Iran’s foremost opera singer. She is a frequent public speaker at book festivals and literary conferences, fan conventions and schools. Alexandra currently lives in Los Angeles with her husband, toddler son, and one fluffy Shih Tzu, where she is at work on her next novel.

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AUTHOR LINKS:

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/AlexandraMon...

Twitter: https://www.twitter.com/TimelessAlex

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/AlexandraMonir

Reviews

[Khanh, first of her name, mother of bunnies · Rating 1 out of 5]

I don’t need to be afraid. My differences are what make me special. He knew I was different all along.

I'm sure this book tries to pay homage to the great Rebecca. Personally, I think the late, grand dame Daphne Du Maurier would say "Lol, no thanks, bitches." to this book's sad attempt at imitation. Rebecca is my favorite book of all time. It beats Harry Potter (I know, I know), and since I was 13 years old, it has held an incredibly dear place in my heart. As an homage to my favorite novel, this book fails completely, utterly. It is a cheap discount store knockoff of my beloved classic into which some random ass paranormal elements and a love triangle between a dumb fucking Mary Sue and two brothers is inserted.

It takes place in modern day, but reads like a fucking Regency novel. It is the most ass-backward, unrealistically laughable portrayal of present-day England (do British townspeople really line up outside a noblewoman's country home to celebrate her homecoming in this day and age?) that I've ever read. It is the story of a 17 year old girl who becomes a duchess and it makes The Princess Diaries read like motherfucking Anna Karenina.

Seriously. It's terrible. It is a dumb fantasy, if one can call a situation in which every single fucking family member dies in order to make a young woman an orphan (an orphan? So shocking. So original) a fantasy, made even more ridiculous by the fact that she automatically becomes an emancipated minor. The plot goes something like this. Little Ginny (short for Imogen) is the daughter of the brother of the future Duke of Wickersham. Instantly, everyone but her cousin, Lucia is killed, and Ginny is shipped off to New York, so she gets the good ole' American spirit as well as the awesome blue-blooded British Ancestry. Well, isn't that just fucking special?

Ever since she was little, young Ginny has always felt different, special because she's got the green thumb to end all green thumbs. Plants grow around her. Flowers bloom! So pretty! So completely fucking useless! Whee!

The rest of her family may be dead, but cousin Lucia is still alive, living in England as the new Duchess, and probably bonking Ginny's childhood love, Sebastian. Ginny has had a girl boner for Sebastian since she can remember, and the dashing Sebastian is so dashedly unrealistically portrayed that he utters words like these...as a 13-year old boy.

"I’ll miss you every summer and every holiday if you don’t come back,” he says, looking at me earnestly. “I’ll miss you every time I see a bell-flower or anything else that reminds me of my friend Ginny Rockford.”

EVERY TIME HE SEES A BELL-FLOWER, HE'LL MISS HER. *dies laughing* What an amazing fucking 13 year old.



Flash forward 5 or so years later, LUCIA IS DEAD!!!!! YAY!!!!!! I mean, BOOOOOO. BOOOOOOO. Now all of a sudden, we revert back into the 18th century as Ginny adapts to her new roll. Pardon me a second while I get a pot of tea, put on my white fucking gloves, and sip my tea with a pinky sticking out. For what does Ginny's life (in 2014 England as the new Duchess of Wickersham) entail?

Well, for one thing...an etiquette coach.

A few days after my fateful meeting with Harry Morgan, I arrive at a conference room in the Tribeca Grand Hotel, where Basil Crawford, the esteemed etiquette expert, is waiting for me. He looks like some kind of Victorian gentleman off to the races, with his navy suit over a pale blue vest and silk ascot, topped off by an actual top hat.

And Ginny's new position enables her to be the a royal Lady-in-waiting, among other things, la-fucking-di-da!

“As a duchess, you’ll make numerous appearances per year, from lending your support at charity dinners and Oxford events to hosting festivities for the Wickersham locals at Rockford Manor, and potentially following in your grandmother’s footsteps by serving as a lady-in-waiting at royal ceremonies. You’ll certainly be at the next royal wedding, whenever Prince Harry decides to get himself hitched!”

And in 2014 England, it's good to know that some things still remain the same, like the class system. Come on, all my British buddies. You can be honest with me. This is what it's still like over there, right?

“The British peerage has existed for centuries, and might I add that it’s worked quite well for the most part,” Basil says, arching an eyebrow. “We British like to have a purpose, a role to play, on the great stage of society. Everyone from a duchess to a housekeeper has her own important place in this world, her own unique set of superiors and inferiors. Categories and titles are simply what we’re accustomed to, and we’ve found that they help society run smoothly.”

Apparently, in this still-existing class and social hiierarchy, I would be a peasant.Ginny has a personal maid.

“You’re the duchess; of course you have your own maid,” Alfie says with a grin. “Her name is Maisie Mulgrave. You’ll like her—she’s only a couple of years older than you. And you mustn’t ever feel uncomfortable on her behalf. Maisie considers it a real treat to shop for her mistress. She told me on the way home that it was the best day she’d had in a long while.”

A butler. Scores of servants. And of course, in the 21st century, naturally, an entire fucking town still lines up to welcome home their itinerant Duchess.

Alfie rolls down all four windows, and a deafening cheer erupts. I smile shyly at the men and women flourishing their banners, and I wave to the children jumping up and down alongside the car.
“Those are your townspeople and tenants,” Alfie tells me. “On occasions like weddings, or a new duke or duchess stepping into the title, they gather for a formal welcome to pay their respects. It’s tradition.”

This IS the 21st century, right?

And in the middle of all this, you have a love triangle. I don't recall there being a love triangle in Rebecca. Young Adult books these days, I swear.

Imitation is not always flattery, and in no way is this more evident than in this book. A good retelling meshes. A good retelling doesn't fucking recycle everything into an absolutely nonsensical paranormal-tinged plot. This book has almost every element of the original, without the atmosphere, without the characters, without the Manderley, without the mysterious spirit of Rebecca, without the life, without the intrigue. It is a hollowed out shell, and I am frankly, insulted at what it has tried to twist itself into. Rebecca will never have a comparison. Some books try better than others. This book contains one of the worst attempts that I can ever recall.

Sebastian is Max. The suspected murderer (who, if you're read the original, isn't exactly squeaky fucking clean himself).



While the original Max was dashing, dark, mysteriously assholish...Sebastian is so fucking dull that I can't recall him at all.

There's the mysterious Mrs. Danvers, here knows as Mrs. Mulgrave. She who clings on obsessively to Lucia a.k.a. Rebecca's memory, who preserves her room, her scents, her every memory, to a much less creepy extent.

Every indication points to the person who inhabited this room still being among the living. Fresh flowers spill out of crystal vases on Lucia’s bedside table, above the fireplace, and on the corner of her desk. I shudder at the realization that Mrs. Mulgrave must be changing her flowers every day. What a macabre ritual.

There's the stately old butler, Alfie (Frith), the jovial, eager to please brother Theo (Jack), the gardener (Max's best friend Frank).

Even the situations are similar, but incredibly forced. There is the ball scene...here presented as a sad...present. Entirely nondescript and desperately anticlimactic.

“She gave me a gift for the Stanhopes that turned out to be one of Lucia’s belongings—a present from Sebastian. She made me look like a total bitch, trying to hurt him by reminding him of Lucia. What kind of person does that?” I shake my head in disgust.

The affair. The fire. The suspicion. The near-arrest. All sad, weak, entirely nonsensical attempts at recreating the classic.

And the heroine? She makes the original "Me" seem like a Rhodes scholar.

“Well, I’m definitely grateful, especially considering I don’t have your fashion sense. Where did you get it from?”
I cringe as soon as the words are out of my mouth; I didn’t mean to sound so condescending. But I do wonder—how could a girl who’s been raised as a maid have such exceptional taste and know so much about high-end designers?

Save your money. Skip this book. The original can be found for free at every library across the land, even if you don't enjoy it, I can guarantee you that it will still be exponentially better than this piece of trash.

[Anne · Rating 2 out of 5]

First off, how fabulous is that cover?!
Stunning! Beautiful, haunting, gorgeous. etc..
I seriously wish I had a hardback edition of this book, because I'd display the shit out of it.

I really enjoyed the writing, the pace, and the whodunnit murder-mystery aspect of it.
I picked it up yesterday afternoon, and I finished it before bedtime.
It's not a short book, so that says something right there. So, even with all of the flaws, I couldn't bring myself to 1 star this book for that reason alone.

Sadly, there were issues.
Issues that simply cannot be overlooked and swept under the rug, regardless of how quickly I devoured it.

The magic.
This was downright hokey.
Her hands crack open, and water comes out? WTF?!
As a plain mystery, this would have been a much better story, but whatever this 'elemental power' thing was, just kind of ruined it. It was campy, ill-explained, and ultimately mostly unnecessary.

The romance...
Ok.
And I'm being totally serious when I say this.
It was such a calf-eyed insta-love, that I thought it was a red herring to throw us off the trail. I assumed that there was no way for this to be an actual romance worth taking seriously. The end would clear it out of the way, she would find someone else (or not), and I didn't need to worry that this bullshit was for real.
Whoops.
Ridiculous doesn't even begin to explain how awful it was. I just can't...

The ending.
Did no one care enough to step up and tell the author that this was a wad of unbelievable nonsense?
I have a hard time believing that anyone out there would be able to cheerfully swallow that down as a remotely reasonable explanation.
I'm wrong. Of course I'm wrong, because I see several 4 and 5 star reviews for this, so, yeah.
Some folks bought it.
The whole thing hinges on your ability to believe that two tweenage girls could successfully swap lives. One girl is next in line to be a Duchess, and the other is her maid's daughter. They are half-sisters, not twins, but the author seems to think that a house full of staff members who have known them both (most since birth) wouldn't notice this.
Why?
Well, they went off to boarding school together. None of the adults charged with the future Duchess' safekeeping caught on, because she staying in her room when they first arrived.
Riiiight. I guess the staff didn't meet her when she got there?
Then they dyed their hair.
Awesome disguise!
They took 'lessons' from each other.
Just like Parent Trap! Except they're not identical twins...
And when they came back home a few years later, everyone just assumed that the 'subtle' changes in...oh, I don't know...BONE STRUCTURE was just due to growing up.
Everyone? Even her best friend/boyfriend, and Oscar the observant family butler?
WTF?!
No. NO!
Maybe, just maybe this could have worked if the 'maid' hadn't returned with the Duchess. But both girls under the same roof?
The reasoning is that no one notices maids.
Ok. Perhaps the other aristocrats might not have paid any attention to her, but the other servants in the house most certainly would have.
Are you kidding me with this shit?!

In the end, I'd say the writing is good, but the unbelievability of some of the plot elements really took its toll on me.

I received a digital arc from NetGalley, in exchange for an honest review

[Steysha · Rating 3 out of 5]

Suspicion is like a paranormal Princess diaries, only it’s also a gothic thriller. Alexandra Monir, the author of Timeless series, creates a spooky mystery surrounding the Rockford family, which, as every rich and powerful family, has a few skeletons in wardrobe. This is also a YA retelling of Rebecca by Daphne du Maurier, which I haven’t read, so no further comments about it. This book is either love or hate. You can do as I did, which is to ignore all the plot holes and enjoy the story. But it won’t be easy.

Our main heroine is Imogen Rockford – a grand-daughter of the Duke of Wickersham. It`s not her parents who will inherit Rockford and the title, but they are still pretty important. The story starts with 10-year-old Imogen coming to visit her grandfather. All the Rockford family gathers in the Manor in England, but the party is spoiled by the big tragedy: her parents and aunt with uncle die in a fire. There is no one left, except for her, her old grandfather and her cousin Lucia, with whom they were great friends in childhood. After it Imogen moves to her adopted family in NYC and decides to cut the ends with her previous family because it’s too painful to think about them.
Then we meet a 17-year-old Imogen. She’s a typical teenager thinking about graduation and her future. But all her plans collapse when she is informed about the death of the last two members of her family. Now she’s a Duchess and is supposed to move to Rockford Manor. Struggling with her new role, Imogen starts to unravel secrets about her family and herself.

Imogen is not one of those characters that seem to come to life from the pages of the book. She has no personal traits, no hobbies, nothing in particular to say about her personality. More like she was created just to tell the story. The only exception is that she can do magic, which is also not a developed topic in this book. She used it only when it was convenient to the plot, never tried to train herself, wasn’t curious about her abilities. They were based on mythology, but I still don’t understand their extension. (Like, she could control the earth, but since when this kind of power gives you the ability to project a memory on a bush?)
It was told that Imogen moved to NY because she couldn’t bear life in a place where her parents died. Okay, I can understand that. But she totally dismissed her cousin and grandfather, though they were her only remaining family. She never called or wrote to them, even on holidays! I can hardly believe that you can just cut the threads that connect you to people with whom you’ve spent your life in one day.
Still, it took her only a minute to decide to become a new Duchess. A teen who is now close to the royalties. It’s unbelievable how easy it was to set up a new heir. Imogen starts her training, visits such events like polo games and invites all the important people to a ball at her estate. It seemed like her new role came to her naturally, though she never did anything like that before.

Coming back to England, Imogen meets her childhood crush – Sebastian. That’s where all the fun stuff starts. She and Sebastian were besties before her parents died, and the girl was deeply in love with him, never mind that she was only 10-years-old. But Sebastian was with her cousin Lucia, becoming a forbidden fruit. Imogen claims that she never forgot him and didn’t pay much attention to the other guys, though she and Sebastian didn’t talk for seven years and weren’t supposed to meet again. That’s hilarious! Anyway, all those years he was Lucia’s boyfriend, and now that she’s dead, hooooraaaay, the place is available. It annoyed me so much! There was nothing to like him for. I can say nothing about his character, except that he is good at playing polo. This romance was based on nothing, just another insta-love.

Nevertheless, I’ve read this book in one sitting. The main reason I couldn’t turn my eyes away from it was a mystery behind a not-so-accidental death of Imogen`s family. There were so many suspects; I couldn’t wait to find the truth! And I liked the idea of a final twist, though that’s where the major plot holes are. I give the book three stars because, even though there are many cons, I still enjoyed it.

SPOLERS AHEAD!

Moments that made me laugh like hell:

- So you like me? Well, maybe I wasn’t THAT fond of your cousin. Even though we were together for years.

- My brother might have killed your sister. Tsss, don’t tell anybody!

- So, I and your cousin decided to switch places. We dyed our hair and guess what? Nobody noticed that we changed our identities! Yes, all this time we were living with people who knew us all our life. Who cares? We have one father, we’re practically twins!

- Want to know who killed your family? Hedge TV will show you some memories and light the way to killer! Our sponsor: the Elemental magic.

What are your favorite parts? Leave the comment below :)

*This beautiful fan art was made by my dear friend geborn-zu-sterben

[Catherine · Rating 5 out of 5]

WOW, this book blew me away. I'd just re-read my favorite book from childhood, REBECCA, and then won an ARC of this and was so excited to see it was a twist on REBECCA! Beautiful writing, great characters (I <3 Sebastian) and a twist that will blow your mind but makes TOTAL sense when you go back and reread from the beginning! I want to say more, but I don't want to give away any spoilers- so many secrets in this book! I truly couldn't put it down and only wish it was longer, sigh!

[Danielle (Love at First Page) · Rating 1 out of 5]

1-1.5 stars

Friends, I don't usually write a review immediately after finishing the book, but I'm making an exception here because I want this one out of my system as soon as possible. I want to be done with it and move on and not have to think about it any longer. Sounds harsh, I know, but Suspicion is not only one of the most ridiculous books I've read this year, but one of the worst. (If only I could end my review there, right?)

This is supposed to be some dark and romantic mash-up of The Princess Diaries, an Alfred Hitchcock movie, and Rebecca. No. Just... no. This is about a girl who, after the death of her parents and years later her beloved cousin, inherits an estate and becomes a duchess. Well, that happens about 40% into the book, but other than the first chapter nothing at all noteworthy happens until then. When she arrives back in England, she reunites with the boy she's always had a crush on, discovers new things about a magical gift she possesses, and tries to solve the mystery of her cousin's death. Spoiler: it's all. So. Ridiculous.

I'll be honest and say that up until the 80-ish% mark, I was ready to give Suspicion 2 stars. It wasn't TERRIBLE, just terribly uninteresting and not very well written. The main character, Imogene, I didn't particularly care for - she seems to have decent head on her shoulders and a good heart, but I could not connect with her on an emotional level. Her narration was just so dry and superficial. I felt like she was just telling me a story for a newspaper, reciting facts and completely devoid of passion. It doesn't help that characters' reactions throughout the book make very little sense. I was baffled by their responses to certain events, and then it's like the story would immediately hop onto the next topic at hand. There's no flow, and everything is surface-level. I don't understand you, book. Then Imogene would make these grand declarations or wild assumptions and I'd literally have no idea where she was getting her information. We just had to believe her because that's what would further the plot along. There's also very little romance to speak of, despite what the blurb may tell you. Imogene and Sebastian probably share 5 scenes together before they are saying "I love you" and I felt nothing. It's all telling, no showing. Lastly, there's a fantasy element here that, for whatever reason, I didn't expect. Maybe it's because I just finished reading Blue Lily, Lily Blue, where the magic feels completely organic to that world, but it doesn't work here. It seems like an afterthought or something added on, rather than running smoothly through the narrative. It's also awfully convenient when Imogene needs to solve her cousin's murder.

Which brings me to the last part of the book. I could deal with all the rest of it because at least I wasn't bored and I did want to see how this would be resolved. Fail. Honestly, Nikki warned me about the abysmal ending, but I still had no idea it could be this bad. Thankfully I wasn't invested in what was happening, so I could have a good laugh rather than being truly frustrated. I think it's one of those you need to read it to believe it, because I honestly don't understand how anyone could ever write this resolution. It makes absolutely no sense and in no way would it ever work in real life. It blows my mind. Then Imogene uses her powers for good, we're given a dull message about misconception, and the end. It's just so bad, guys. Laughably, catastrophically bad.

So obviously I can't in good conscience recommend this book, unless you're in the mood to write a snarky review. Just don't go in expecting any sort of atmospheric, richly-woven, romantic tale, and instead be prepared for one for one of the most ridiculous endings ever. But I say just skip it. I'm sorry if this review isn't all that coherent, but I'm officially wiping my hands clean of it.

Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

This review can also be found at Love at First Page.

[Alyssa · Rating 3 out of 5]

***Review posted on The Eater of Books! blog***

Suspicion by Alexandra Monir
Publisher: Delacrote Press
Publication Date: December 9, 2014
Rating: 3 stars
Source: eARC from NetGalley

Summary (from Goodreads):

Mysterious. Magnificent. Creepy. Welcome to Rockford Manor.

"There's something hidden in the Maze." Seventeen-year-old Imogen has never forgotten the last words her father said to her seven years ago, before the blazing fire that consumed him, her mother, and the gardens of her family's English country manor.

Haunted by her parents' deaths, Imogen moves to New York City with her new guardians. But when a letter arrives with the news of her cousin's untimely death, revealing that Imogen is now the only heir left to run the estate, she returns to England and warily accepts her role as duchess.

All is not as it seems at Rockford, and Imogen quickly learns that dark secrets lurk behind the mansion's aristocratic exterior, hinting that the spate of deaths in her family were no accident. And at the center of the mystery is Imogen herself--and Sebastian, the childhood friend she has secretly loved for years. Just what has Imogen walked into?

Combining a fresh twist on the classic REBECCA with a spine-tingling mystery and powerful romance, SUSPICION is an action-packed thrill ride.

What I Liked:

This is my first Monir read - she has a duo published (Timeless and Timekeeper), but I was never interested in those two. This book caught my attention, because it seemed to deal with historical events and paranormal occurrences and a gorgeous, haunting labyrinth. I loveeeeee labyrinths, so I was all over this one when review copies were made available. I think my expectations were a little too high, but I still enjoyed the story.

Imogen's parents were killed in a fire at the Rockford manor in England ten years ago. Now, her grandfather, the Duke of Rockford, is dead, and her cousin, the heiress duchess, is also dead. So the Rockford manor and title belongs to Imogen. So Imogen goes to England, but she finds out that things are not as they seem at Rockford. Not to mention Imogen's supernatural power - she finds out that she is an Elemental, able to control the elements. But how can she use her power to find out the truth at Rockford, and discover the mystery of the labyrinth...

I really liked the dual setting of New York and Rockford. It's interesting to see Imogen go from a typical American teenage girl in New York to an heiress duchess in England, with a well-known title, family, history, property... I liked seeing her adapt to the endless etiquette rules and proper dress code and whatnot. Very well-written by Monir.

The author really had me going with the mystery and the creepy occurrences at Rockford, at least for about half of the book. I wanted to know what was in the maze. I wanted to know how Imogen power fit into anything. I wanted to know how her parents' death, the grandfather's death, and Lucia's death were tied together, and why Imogen was supposed to stay away from Rockford.

Unfortunately, most of my questions were not answered. But I'll get to that in the next section.

The romance is pretty obvious, though I thought the author was going to take it in a different direction (I don't mind the direction she took though). It's obvious that Imogen won't end up with anyone in New York - the boy would have to be from England. I liked Sebastian a lot, but he was dating Lucia... I also liked Theo, but he seemed more of a cute friend.

NO love triangle, don't get me wrong. There were just two different directions Monir could have gone, early on, and she chose the one way. I liked the romance. Even if it was obvious.

Up until everything started to be revealed, I was really pleased with the mystery and the story in general. I wasn't as happy with the amount of questions I had through the end, and how the author didn't really explain things, or go into depth. I'll explain below!

What I Did Not Like:

Like I said above, I had a lot of questions by the end of the book, and most were not resolved. Monir doesn't do a good job of tying things together. For example, how does Imogen's power help her in the big climax, when trying to clear up certain truths? How does her power help anything at all? It seems very random and not helpful to the plot. Like, if you completely take out that aspect of the book, it would not make a single difference.

Which is a problem, obviously. You want your paranormal aspect to actually affect the plot.

I'm also confused about how the death of the two sets of parents (Lucia's and Imogen's), Lucia's death, and the grandfather's death, relate. Like, it's never really clear as to how the deaths relate, if it was all just a coincidence, if like, spirits influenced the manner of their deaths, etc. I'm totally inventing the spirits thing, but I'm just saying: how did all of these sinister deaths just happen? Who or what caused them? How did so many people die, leaving Imogen to inherit the property?

I'm confused by the labyrinth. You could take out the labyrinth aspect of the novel, and it would not make much of the difference. I love that the labyrinth is a thing, but I expected it to have more of an impact on the story. So people died in front of the labyrinth. Okay. It had nothing to do with the labyrinth.

Continuing that thought - so there is supposed to be something mysterious in the labyrinth. THAT reveal is so anticlimactic and cliche. Literally, the timing of the reveal in conjunction to another event is so cliche. And another thing - I don't actually know if Imogen retrieved the thing from within the labyrinth? She had to go into the labyrinth to, um, bring someone out, but did she actually retrieve the thing hidden in the labyrinth? I'm not sure. It's not explicitly stated.

A lot of things aren't stated. A lot of things are glossed over. Especially in the end, when the culprit/villain/bad guy gets away. Like, what?! Sorry if you consider that a spoiler. But it makes no sense - the ending is so open-ended, yet this novel is a standalone (as far as I know). Standalones shouldn't really have open-ended endings, like, THAT open-ended!

Basically, I'm confused about things.

Would I Recommend It:

This one is a hit or a miss. Honestly, I think it lacked a lot of depth, so you could skip it and move on with your life and there would be losses. The cover is GORGEOUS, but the story, meh.

Rating:

3 stars. I liked the story - I enjoyed it while I was reading it. But I wouldn't re-read this one, or buy it. It's not the most impressive use of the elemental magic or a labyrinth that I have seen.

[Grace (LovingDemBooks) Z. · Rating 3 out of 5]

Buy this book HERE on Amazon or buy this book HERE on BookDepository with FREE WORLDWIDE SHIIPPING

I received a free advanced reader's edition and free hardcover of this book from the agent/publisher in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own.

3 of 5 stars (Please read my rating system further below).
Click HERE to watch my review on my YouTube channel LovingDemBooks


My rating system: (I do use half stars.)
5 - I do not use the 5 star. Not because a book might not be worthy, but because a book is never perfect.
4 - I loved it! There weren't too many flaws, and I had no trouble getting through it. (A 4 star rating is the highest rating I've ever given a book.)
3 - I enjoyed the book, but there we're flaws that made me enjoy it less.
2 - I finished the book, but there were too many flaws for me to enjoy it.
1 - I could not finish the book, and I probably did not finish it....

[Jane · Rating 5 out of 5]

A new novel from the author of one of my favorites, Timeless, and I managed to score an ARC!! This one just might be even better than Timeless?! Gorgeous writing, great pacing, unique world and mystery, and a reveal and climax that wowed me. This is up there with We Were Liars as my favorite reads of 2014!

[Colleen Houck]

Wow the setting was amazing in this book. I felt like I was living at the old estate myself and wandering the maze with the heroine. Love her ability and the cover is perfect! Also I think me and Alexandra have the same taste in men. ;)

[Brit Fraser · Rating 4 out of 5]

I couldn't sleep until I finished this book! What a great mystery, and I loved the setting- a modern-day Downton Abbey is such a cool idea. I wanted to pick up and move to Rockford myself by the end of it! I pride myself on being able to predict twists (I've watched a lot of TV!) but I actually didn't figure out the twist on this one, and like another person said, I went back and reread Suspicion after I found out The Secret, and it was so much fun to get a second read with this new perspective. My only reason for not giving it a full 5 stars? I wanted more time with Imogen & Sebastian!

[Evie · Rating 2 out of 5]

Suspicion is a very hard book to review. Very hard. This is a supernatural mystery set in England and dealing with English aristocrats, creepy mazes, family secrets and quite a handful of dead bodies. At least that's what it is by definition, because in truth, it really isn't any of these things. The idea and the elements are there, yes, but the execution is so messy, so utterly far-fetched and unrealistic (even for a supernatural mystery), that, ultimately, this book is about everything and nothing at the same time.

I finished this book an I sat there wondering: what exactly did I just read and what in the world was the point of it all?

The story starts off when Imogen is only 10-years-old and visiting her grandfather's manor in England. One day her dad tells her: "There is something hidden in the maze" and on the same night he dies in a fire. So does Imogen's mother, uncle and aunt. And here's where it all starts to fall apart. Imogen moves in with a family in NYC and she is very determined to put the past behind her. She shuts out all of her remaining family members - including her grandfather and her cousin, Lucia - and refuses to ever go back to the manor again. Ever. Never-ever. Until, 10 years later, she's informed about her cousin and grandfather's deaths and the fact that she is now a duchess and a sole owner of the mansion. And the decision to go back is made literally on the spot, in a blink of an eye, and screw all the years she's been swearing never to go back again. Screw character consistency, let's go completely nonsensical!

We then suffer through about 200 pages about nothing in particular. We read about Imogen learning the etiquette and some English history, we go to a polo game, we listen to her obsessing over Sebastian, interacting with her friend from New York, discussing a gap year and unwillingness to study at NYC.. And it goes on and on. Non of it - or almost non of it - is relevant to anything and could easily be edited out. Because, really, it just makes focusing on the plot line very difficult and eventually you lose sight of what really matters - the deaths, the maze, Imogen's mysterious powers that she is so good at ignoring. Instead, it's all about Sebastian and the fact that he chose Lucia over Imogen.

Imogen is probably one of the least likeable characters I've been introduced to. Possibly ever. She is just so self-absorbed, she can't see past the tip of her nose. Everything is always about her and her one-sided love or affection for Sebastian. She is back at the manor where so many of her family members have mysteriously died. She is now a duchess, responsible for running the entire place. She needs to get education, she needs to figure out her duties, she needs to start asking the right questions about the past. And then there's also her own mysterious ability - how come she's not curious about that? But instead of asking: How did my parents die? What really happened to my cousin? What in the world am I going to do about the whole duchess business?, she is asking this: "Why were Sebastian and his parents so aloof, yet Theo so friendly? Why are they going ahead with this dinner party that they so clearly don’t want to host? And most of all, why does Sebastian still have this hold on me—as if no time at all has passed?" Oh my gosh, girl! Get over yourself and get over this guy! He chose your cousin, he never wanted you, don't you have any self-respect?

And that's even beside the point, because how can we even talk about things like one-sided love or choosing one over the other, when these are just kids we're talking about. Imogen was 10 at the time, Lucia and Sebastian were 12, for sanity's sake! They are just children, they don't even know what love or affection is. It's more of a "I like playing with her better than you because she has better toys" at this point. Even at 17 you can't talk about true love, not in most cases. And she really should be more interested - of affected by - the deaths of her parents, than some snotty little boy.

And don't even get me started on that ending. Seriously, it just boils my blood. Sebastian spends 10 years dating Lucia and everyone sees just how much he loves her and how heartbroken he is by her death. But when Imogen shows up, he says to her - and I kid you not - you are the one I should have been with, you are the one for me, I'm falling in love with you! Now, where do you find such dedicated, noble young man, I shall get myself one ASAP, for they seem like wonderful and trust-worthy life partners *snickers*

But the awkward and distasteful "love" story aside, what about the maze? What about the deaths? What about Imogen's powers? When will I get some answers? When will she finally start asking the right questions? Well, not until the last 50 pages as it turns out. And I actually thought the author had something cool there, a good idea that could have made for a really exciting and compelling read, if only it was executed better. If it wasn't all crammed into the last section of the book and completely overshadowed by irrelevant nuances and boring events. But the idea was ultimately wasted. The twist at the end was kind of cool in a weird, sketchy way that fans of V.C. Andrews would probably appreciate (and no, I'm not talking about the incest, don't get your hopes high), but it was all too messy, too unrealistic, and too am-I-seriously-supposed-to-buy-that?!

So, to sum it all up, Suspicion had plenty of potential, but sadly almost non of it was realized. The writing isn't horrible, but it's far from mesmerizing, it's just decent. And if only the plot line was more organized and the pacing more even, this could have been a decent story. Instead it is a mess, and one that is likely to give you a bad headache. And I am sorry to say all those things about someone's hard work, but I really feel that this book is not ready to be released into the world just yet. Some parts should be re-written, some edited out altogether, and, if cleaned up, this really has the potential to be a great story. The way it is now, I am glad to be done with it.

[Allie Hocks · Rating 5 out of 5]

Loved this one!!! I'm a big fan of classic mystery novels, like Agatha Christie, and this was such a great throwback to that, with twists and turns that made the book impossible to put down. I actually read it in one sitting. The twist was OMG! and made me want to go back and read the book all over again- which I did. :) Still hasn't beat The Maze Runner as my favorite YA- but close! And there's a maze in this one too, ha! (Received an egalley copy of this)

[Jana (Nikki) · Rating 1 out of 5]

This review can also be found at my blog, There were books involved...

-----------------------------

I'm honestly not sure where to even start with this review.

Should I talk about the first 80% of the book, which was sort of a mash-up of Princess Diaries and a paranormal-tinged murder mystery - neither of which was that great? Or should I just skip to the end, and tell you how the last 20% (most emphatically, the last 10%) ruined any potential this book had of getting even a 2-3 star review, which I had been considering because the beginning wasn't awful?

Honestly, I'm tempted to just skip to the end, because it was the end that made me realize that I could never in good conscience recommend this book to anyone.

It's true that the writing in the beginning is pretty good. It's totally readable, often quite pretty, and does a good job of setting the stage for a very Princess-Diaries-esque, modern-day, "lost heir inherits beautiful foreign estate and becomes a duchess" story. Things are complicated and made more dramatic by the fact that our duchess, Imogen, lost her parents in a fire at the estate when she was 7, and her cousin who was supposed to inherit may have actually died under mysterious circumstances, not the accident that everyone believes.

I was on board for this story for about the first 40% or so. Then I started to get suspicious. Wasn't there supposed to be some romance? Where was that? Then, at 66%, I went back to Goodreads to double-check the blurb. Yep, there it was: "a spine-tingling mystery and powerful romance". Well, that hadn't happened yet. Also, where was the "action-packed thrill ride" I was promised?

And then the last 20% of the book happened. And I questioned my decision to ever start reading it in the first place.

It's gonna be hard to talk about the ending without giving away major spoilers, but I'll try to be vague. The characters say and do things that are completely ridiculous, and which made me re-think my prior belief that they had any common sense whatsoever. Imogen was an okay character! I didn't find her particularly interesting or terribly compelling, and it's true that her growth throughout the book was mostly just told and not shown. But I thought she had a good head on her shoulders! Apparently not.

Also, the "resolution" to the mystery was so. Completely. Unbelievable. And I mean "unbelievable" in the sense that I cannot explain to you the amount of suspension-of-disbelief it would take to believe some of the revelations at the end of this book. I just... I cannot explain. One of the blurbs in the Goodreads' description, from another author, is "an ending that you definitely won't suspect" — yes! Because it makes NO SENSE! It was so bad that, at 94%, I actually seriously considered DNFing this book, I was so done.

 
In conclusion...

I wish I'd followed my gut when I sort of considered skipping this book altogether, based on the fact that I'd heard from a couple people that the end was a bit "WTF". Yeah... just a bit. Just a teeeeeny tiny bit. -_- The Princess Diaries storyline lacked sparkle and life; the murder mystery lacked suspense; the paranormal elements were wayyyyy under-developed and seemed kind of thrown in there for the heck of it; the romance was so lacking in actual chemistry (and, again, believability) that it lent no redeeming qualities to this book whatsoever. And I will forgive a lot if there's a good ship.

I just... no. This book. No. And the end leaves it open for a sequel and I just... No.

This book gets an extra half-star for being okay in the beginning, and because I'm feeling generous. But that's it.

--

There were books involved...

[~Tina~ · Rating 4 out of 5]

I quite enjoyed this one! I've heard about Rebecca, but never read the original story, so I went into this book with only a little knowledge to it's inspiration, but I think that's why I enjoyed it so much. I've read Monir's Timeless books and was drawn to the history and details she put in them but at the same time she spins them into something unique and romantic. Suspicion, was like that for me. I fell in love with the history of the Rockford family and the myth of Lady Beatrice and how it entwines deception and heartbreak. I loved that gothic flavor, haunting memories and I especially loved the supernatural twist and a touch of romance to add to an already mysterious, engaging and intriguing escape. Beautifully blended, beautifully done!

[Anatea Oroz · Rating 3 out of 5]

This review is also posted on my blog, Anatea's Bookshelf.

I have been seeing a lot of negative reviews of Suspicion lately. I'm glad I didn't feel about it like majority though, but then again, I could see where they were coming from. I did like Suspicion and the main idea, but I couldn't help but feel that this book could have been SO MUCH BETTER! Sometimes it felt like some of the really important things are missing, or are left unexplored.

The story starts when Imogen was just 10 years old and we learn all about the fire and all about the death of her parents and her uncle and aunt. It is continued 7 years after the fire that happened in Rockford Manor, and Imogen is living in America with friends of her parents when she learns that both her grandfather and her cousin Lucia are dead and that she is the next one in line to inherit the Rockford Manor and become the new Duchess of Wickersham. She decides to accept it, thinking it is her, duty and even if she's only 17 years old, she moves across the world to live in an old, but still magnificent Rockford Manor. Soon, some mysterious things start to happen and she and the boy she likes are caught in the middle. Will they solve the mystery that lies behind the old Rockford Manor, or are they also going to become victims of the Manor?

My main problem with Suspicion, like I said before, was that the things were left unexplained and unexplored. The whole concept was pretty much amazing, but the focus was on things that weren't of that big of an importance. Monir spent too much time on the first half of the book describing Imogen's life in America and her childhood, while it would be better is she focused a little bit more on British aristocracy, their life and everyday duties since it was a big part of Imogen's new life.

The mystery in this book also had the potential to be really great, but instead, everything was pretty much rushed in the last 50 or so pages and it can leave a reader unsatisfied. If it was brought to us in bits during the whole book, I know I would have been more engrossed in Suspicion than I really was. Then, there is this paranormal twist, but I'm really not sure what is the meaning of it in this book. Like with all the other things in this book, it is not explained properly, and I probably have about hundred questions that were left unanswered.

Then there is the romance. I think this is the only thing in this book that I really liked, even if it did have a bit of insta-loveish feeling, but then it wasn't an insta-love. It's kinda hard to explain this, but I think it didn't feel entirely like an insta-romance due to their friendship when they were children.

All in all, I did enjoy Suspicion in the end, but I was hoping for a lot more from this book.

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[Rachel · Rating 4 out of 5]

Alexandra Monir’s SUSPICION is more than just a gorgeous cover. Beautiful, wonderfully descriptive writing, a captivating mystery that delivers a few twists, turns and surprises to keep readers guessing, and a touch of the paranormal to add intrigue make this story an incredibly engaging page-turner.

Told in three parts, readers will be introduced to Imogen Rockford, learn of the tragedy that befell her at a young age, discover her family’s dark history, explore Rockford Manor, its gardens and maze, meet the characters whose motives and intentions are suspect, and uncover the secrets that could pose an even greater threat to Imogen, the new Duchess of Wickersham.

The prologue immediately grabs with the promise that not everyone will have a happily ever after. It piques curiosity and invites readers to step back in time in Imogen’s life to the events that set things in motion. It sets the stage for an eerie and suspense-filled tale.

The author did a fantastic job of creating a lush and idyllic yet haunting setting to serve as backdrop for her story. She constructed a fascinating and detailed history for the Rockford family. She added a number of elements throughout to create doubt, cast suspicion, build tension. And she brought to life a heroine that is likable and relatable with much more to her than meets the eye.

The light romance wasn’t this story’s strong point and felt a bit rushed in its development. But as it wasn’t a focal point, it didn’t take away from the read. The story’s paranormal aspects were some of its more interesting ones and a longer look would have been welcome. But the way they were incorporated gave this story that extra layer that made it stand out.

SUSPICION blends mystery with the supernatural in a story that is spellbinding, thrilling and throughly entertaining. And with a quick pace, a cast of both appealing and disturbing characters, moments that are dark and chilling, others that are enchanting, others that are shocking, and still others that are heartbreaking, Alexandra Monir’s latest novel is a fabulous addition to the genre.


Original GR notes:
Loved this story. Such a quick read and a fabulous mystery. Would have loved it to be a bit longer with more of the author's wonderful writing about the manor and the abilities. But it was engaging and a great read. One side of the romance seemed a touch rushed but that wasn't the focus of the story so it didn't detract. Am so curious if there will be another story with these characters. Would definitely read it! Review TK.

[Mlpmom (Book Reviewer) · Rating 4 out of 5]

Even though I have read retellings before of Rebecca, I have never actually read the original, which just might be why I seem to like the retellings so much and why this worked so well for me.

Throw in a well done retelling with just enough hint at a solid mystery and a paranormal aspect and you pretty much have me at “go”. Not to mention the alluring synopsis and of course that absolutely gorgeous cover and okay, I was pretty drawn in from the get go. But, I have been deceived by a pretty face before and burned so I did try to go into this with very little expectation.

Did I mention the gorgeous England setting in an even better manor house? No? Well I should have because that too just added to the appeal of the story. The beauty of it and of course the atmosphere.

Like I said, I haven't read the original tale of Rebecca so I didn't have any expectations at all going into this other than I knew it had a gorgeous cover and a synopsis I just couldn't resist.

And I know this read just won't be for everyone but, it was for me. I loved it and the crazy part is that I can't even tell you why other than I just really did.

It has just enough mystery, a hint of romance, danger, and of course the unknown paranormal side that it had me completely enthralled even though it wasn't even fully explained. But once I started reading, I just couldn't put it down. I was constantly guessing what was going to happen next and I loved it.

This might not be a great piece of literary work or will ever become a classic and that is okay because I had a great time reading it and it was just so much fun not to mention entertaining and because of that, I can't possibly rate it any lower than the four stars that I think it deserves.

[Giselle · Rating 2 out of 5]

Suspicion starts off with Imogen and her family when she was just ten years old. Being happy to see her cousin Lucia at their summer palace. When tragedy strikes her family, she is shipped off the United States to live with her godparents and her friend Zoey. She realizes that her adopted parents are keeping something from her and when she finds out, the life that she knows is gone. She's going back to the United Kingdom to be the Duchess herself.

There is something about her writing that just made me keep reading and wanting to read until the very end. Told in a forward voice and reason, I felt like I was never bored. The beginning started off good and I was interested in the whole British aristocracy and the life that she would be leading. Only it plummeted from there. I couldn't understand how Imogen was acting afterwards. It didn't make any sense. I also loved the supernatural elements at play, and even felt chills during one part.

I did have issues though, quite a lot of them to be honest. I didn't quite understand the love story that was happening. No one falls in love at ten years old and continues to. I felt like it was rather unrealistic the romance that sprouted from her childhood friendship with Sebastian who is too “good-looking to be legal.” The amount of times she said he was handsome or cute bordered on excessive. Then there's the fact that even though she says she doesn't want the title or the maids and the help, she is still very rude and condescending. I don't think she thinks before she speaks. Also, I was upset about why the supernatural appearances that happened had no explanations whatsoever. The mystery behind the Shadow Garden and her cousin was just a little too much. I don't know how people can mistake the differences between the two. There was also the lack of emotion coming off of Imogen when she learned the truth that troubled me. Eeps! It would have been even more interesting if the main character was the culprit.

The people have spoken.. I actually enjoyed the first half of this, but then it just plummeted from there. I did like the supernatural elements at the end, though they were never explained as to how or why they were happening. Also the romance was borderline umm unnecessary. Read it for the creepy mystery and chilling supernatural occurrences! Don't expect a slow burn romance, because this one had me shaking my head. Overall, a good story but lacked execution and realism.

[Jenny · Rating 4 out of 5]

Suspicion is a page-turner from beginning to end, the mysterious circumstances of the prologue blending seamlessly with a flashback in the first chapter to a devastating night seven years prior to pique our curiosity instantly. The flashback not only introduces us to the eerily gorgeous grounds of Rockford Manor, a character unto itself in this tale, but also to young Imogen’s heartbreaking crush on Sebastian, the son of the equally wealthy family in the neighboring estate. It’s this seemingly unrequited love–enormously painful despite the fact that Imogen is only ten at the time–that connects us with Imogen immediately, hoping that the subsequent pages will take us on a journey that ends with her every romantic wish granted...

Full review available at: supernaturalsnark.blogspot.com/2014/1...

[Wendy Darling]

Always a little suspicious of these things, but REBECCA. My favorite.

[Nasty Lady MJ · Rating 1 out of 5]

To see review with gifs for this piece of elephant excrement click here.

After reading the article about how Richard the III might’ve not been as a legitimate heir as previously thought…well, it gave me hope for my royal aspirations (they were shot down previously when Will married Kate and produced the spare spare and now the spare spare spare…so that makes still single Harry the spare spare spare spare). If only a genetic test from Ancestry.com shows that I have some distant cousin related to William the Conquerer or whoever maybe I can usurp those Windsors and…never mind. The point is, that British royalty and nobility has always interested me, so a book that deals with modern nobility.

I so should eat it up.

I don’t though.

Probably because it suffers from Princess Diaries 2 stupidity disorder (and when I state Princess Diaries 2 I mean the shitty movie where Mia gets with that weirdo who’s not Michael Moscovitz not the book where awesome things happen like Mia dressing up as Glinda the Good Witch).

What is this disorder? It’s where you think your audience idea of the upper crust sect is akin to something that most four year-old’s know is unrealistic.

It’s true I’m not a member of peerage-the closest I come is being distantly related to a former US president (and when I mean former, I mean one who’s been dead for over a hundred years)-but I still know that most servants aren’t going to act this stupid. They’re not going to deal with/depend on a little shit for support.

But what do I know?

I’m a bloody American. I get pissed when some rich snot calls my sister the help just because she’s her teacher. I mean, seriously. The help. This is not an Oscar winning film. This is reality where most people don’t make up the one percent.

And this book seems to take this approach with the masses. Our main character-the ever boring and stupid Imogene-is a member of privilege and we hear constantly feel bad for the help (she sacrifices her gap year so they won’t get sacked).

Eyes rolling yet?

Mine were till like Tina Fey’s character in Mean Girls, they got stuck. I mean, you want to read something that is so stupid that you feel like you are a superior species, this is your book.

Otherwise….NO!

This is the sort of shit that gets me angry. To be fair, there’s limited hate on the main character. She’s so boring and goody goody-ish that there’s really not much to say about her. Other than she’s a dumb ass. But hey, everyone in this book is a dumb ass so I’ll give her a pass on that.

Love interest: dumb ass who’s essentially a mancessory.

Villain: the most fucking stupid villain ever.

Without spoiling the ending that much, I will say that it was: Stupid. Stupid. Dumb. Dumb. Fucking stupid. Fucking dumb. Dumb. Dumb. Stupid. Stupid.

There’s really no need to continue.

But seriously?

That had to be the biggest load of b.s. I’ve read. I am really trying hard to not go into particulars, but it illogically made no sense.

Any decent detective could get a clue with this one. But since our main character’s main tool of deduction is Wikipedia, I guess…well….

Sigh.

I really need to work on keeping my blood pressure down.

Okay, where were we:

1) Stupid characters and plot twist.

2) Unrealistic depiction of working class people.

3) No FUCKING research.

Oh, yes, number three. No fucking research. I’m not even going to go into a long winded discussion of legalities here. Forget about the fact, the legalities are complicated even more since this does not only involve US law but British law as well.

But who fucking cares?

I know that’s what the trolls are going to tell me when they defend this shit.

Well, excuse me that I care. I think not dealing with these sorts of problems is ridiculous. I know, I might sound like I’m nitpicking, but I feel like laziness marked the entire book and this is just a good example to point out.

The idea of Suspicion is intriguing, but when it came to the execution. Big time suckage.

[Julie · Rating 4 out of 5]

Check out my other reviews at Little Miss Bookmark!

I was super excited to receive this book from the publisher a couple of months ago. Instead of picking it up right when I received it, I had to set it aside. Usually, I try to stay away from reviews of books I'm getting read to read because I don't want it to influence my own thoughts and feelings on it. But this time, one of my friends on Goodreads basically said it was a waste of time. That really made me take a step back and wonder about reading Suspicion at all. But a couple of days ago, I decided to give it a shot. And I'm glad that I did!!

Hopefully by this time, you've read the blurb for the book and you kind of know the premise of the whole thing. This girl (the main character, Imogen), looses her parents in a horrible fire and she moves to NYC then something happens and she's propelled to go back to England when she's older. There are tons of twists, turns and surprises along the way that really keep you on your toes. The characters are endearing and the plot is pretty good.

And this brings me back to what others are saying ... I just don't get it. I had prepared myself for a disaster and that just isn't what I came away feeling like I had endured. I really enjoyed this novel. Far more than I had expected and I found myself sad that it was coming to an end. I was hoping that it would be open-ended so that the story could continue in a following novel but unfortunately, everything was buttoned up pretty securely.

This is not a fast moving story, it's slow on the build up but I wouldn't want to have read it any other way. I think that it takes time with some stories to build up the suspense in a way that coincides with the characters and that is what Monir did with this one. I was just pretty impressed. I actually would have given this one 5 stars if I hadn't kind of picked out what was going to happen about 3/4 of the way through and even then there was a major twist in the end that really surprised me. All in all, a great novel, one I will read again and I'm excited to see what else this author has up her sleeve with upcoming novels!

[Britt · Rating 2 out of 5]

WTF?!?!?!?!?! The first part of the book moved along well enough but after becoming invested and waiting for this big reveal, I was sorely let down by an absolutely ridiculous plot twist. Ugh what a bummer.

[Brooke · Rating 2 out of 5]

I want to thank Delacorte Press for providing me with a copy of this book to read and give an honest review. Receiving this book for free has in no way altered my opinion or review.

I had great hopes for this book. First I off, I had complete cover lust. I mean look at it. It's just so pretty. And I knew there was going to have to be symbolism in it. There just had to be. So that pulled me in. And then the premise reeled me in. Paranormal element, check. Takes place in England, check. Hot boy, check. And then I found out it was a retelling. And while I never read the book it's based on, I was hopeful it would play out well.

Imogen has lived the last seven years in America trying to keep herself out of any spotlight. Ever since her parents died, her guardians have made sure she has been taken care of, and that includes not having contact with her relatives in England. But her pull for Rockford Manor, the place she spent summers as a child with her cousin and best guy friend. When tragedy strikes, Imogen returns to her roots to take her place in the royal family.

My issues with Imogen started while she was still in New York. She snuck around behind her guardians' backs to find out information that was being kept from her. While I understand her curiosity, I don't agree with how she went about it. I don't think a teen would do what she did. I also felt no real connection to her. I could not sympathize with her. And I didn't feel her connection or respect for her guardians. I did see how she was very loyal and protective of her "sister." My next issue was with her love for Sebastian. I just didn't get it. She's been in love with her since she's ten, really? And even though she's been apart from him for seven years, she still feels the same, immediately upon seeing him, even though she doesn't know him? I just didn't buy it.

Sebastian was a nice enough character, but I will say I cannot picture him in my mind at all. I have no idea what he looks like. And he made me mad the way he treated Imogen and then turned around and confessed himself to her like it was there all along. I didn't feel that tension or pull that he had toward her. It just didn't feel real.

I liked Lucia's character. I liked the twist. But I wasn't convinced that they could pull it off, no matter how much Rebecca and Lucia looked alike. Given the fact that she and Imogen were so close I would have thought Imogen would have figured things out sooner than she did. Or at least have been suspicious of it.

The writing was really good. I think Monir did a great job of world building. I really liked the imagery she presented when describing NYC. Being a native there, I could really picture it in my mind. I would have liked more about the property in Rockford, though. And I didn't feel like the Maze was a necessary part of things. I mean, it had it's secrets, but I feel like it could have been the house itself, which would have really make more sense to me. But once I learned about the maze, I did understand the cover of the book.

I liked the idea of the paranormal element, but I felt like it was lacking in it's building. I knew something was off, as we kind of get a glimpse of it at the beginning of the book. But I don't really see how it fits in the story completely. Why was it important to it overall? It didn't seem to lend anything to the plot and it didn't seem to really help the main character solve the mystery.

From what I can see this is a stand alone. It started out with a big bang and pulled me in, but it didn't really follow through. And the ending certainly wrapped it up that way which is nice as I am not sure I would continue to read if it were a series. 2.5 stars.

[Jen Ryland (jenrylandreviews & yaallday)]

I love and adore Rebecca by Daphne Du Maurier. Even though some aspects of it are a little dated, the core of the story is something great. I think that in many ways, this book made some great retelling choices. But I also think that Suspicion tried to be too many things at once -- a romantic suspense, a Cinderella-slash-to-the-manor story, and a paranormal story. While I thought some of the retelling choices were interesting, the fact that the book sticks to a major Rebecca plot point without the requisite set-up may baffle and annoy readers who aren't familiar with the source material.

WHAT I DID LIKE:

Manderley/Rockford: The original story begins and ends with Manderley, and I liked the fact that Manderley has become an English country manor with a supernatural vibe.

Rebecca/Lucia: In the original story, Rebecca and the narrator have no prior connection to one another, and I really liked the fact that they were cousins in this version.

Mrs. Danvers/Mrs. Mulgrave/Maisie: In the original, the narrator is tormented by the evil Mrs. Danvers, and I thought it worked well to give her a teenage daughter.

Supernatural elements: In the book, there's the sense that the ghost of Rebecca haunts Manderley, so I liked the paranormal stuff that was added in Suspicion.

NOT SO MUCH FOR ME:

The romance:

In Rebecca, the narrator is young and poor, working as a traveling companion to a cranky old lady, and is swept off her feet by the rich and charming Max de Winter. She sees that he's her ticket out of her dreary life, and she grabs it (or him) without thinking about the consequences.

In Suspicion, Imogen grows up visiting her cousin Lucia at Rockford and meets Lucia's handsome and charming (and titled!) neighbor, Sebastian. After Imogen's parents die, she doesn't see Sebastian for seven years. But suddenly, she's a rich and titled heiress. That "Princess Diaries" aspect of the story was fun (though there was way too much brand dropping for my taste) but it also took away all the vulnerability of the main character that worked so well in the original. Plus, the fact that Imogen suddenly falls madly in love with her dead cousin's boyfriend kinda makes her seem like the creepy one. Yes, the book sets up that she had a childhood crush on him, but she was like ten years old at the time, and hasn't seen him for seven years, so it didn't really work for me.

The intrigue:

Suspicion tries to have it both ways: to include the murder plot of Rebecca and to add a new subplot about supernatural powers. The main murder suspect makes complete sense in the original, but feels a little WTF-y in Suspicion and comes so close to the end of the book that everything felt rushed and confusing. There's also a new twist Lucia/Rebecca isn't really dead? Huh? And Lucia has been pretending to be Maisie all this time and NO one realizes this at all? What??? that made no sense to me and also felt crammed in at the end. You can read more spoilers on my blog review, below.)

Review of Suspicion @ YA Romantics

Thanks to Random House for allowing me to read an advance copy.

[Tiffany · Rating 5 out of 5]

*4.5 stars*

I really enjoyed reading Suspicion. From the second I started it, I knew it was going to be everything I wanted it to—a modern gothic novel complete with the perfect country manor house and a hint of magic. And that’s exactly what I got! At least for the first half of the novel. The second half turned toward more of a mystery, which I really could have done without. While I didn’t enjoy the second half of the novel as much as the first, it’s really more of a disagreement on where the book should have gone, rather than an actual issue with the book.

My first impression of Suspicion came from the prologue, of course, which was written perfectly in the Gothic tradition. From that moment on, I was captivated. We follow Imogen Rockford as she discovers she must return to her family’s English estate and tries to make sense of the events that changed her life seven years ago. She starts to question if everything that happened was truly what it seemed, or if there could possibly be something paranormal going on. I loved every second of it.

But then the story turns a bit and Suspicion becomes more of a murder mystery than gothic lit. It was still a good story, but it simply wasn’t what I was looking for. I’m not a huge murder mystery fan to begin with, and since I love gothic lit the departure was a bit heartbreaking for me. The characters, writing, and plot were still good, but they were simply not what I wanted them to be.

If you’re looking for a YA gothic novel, Suspicion is a wonderful choice. It is the closet book I’ve found to a traditional gothic story in the YA genre, and even though it didn’t stay true to that for the entire story it was still a great read.

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[Gisbelle · Rating 3 out of 5]

My thanks to Delacorte Press and NetGalley

Point of View: Single (Imogen)
Writing: First Person | Present Tense
Setting: New York/Oxfordshire, UK
Genre: Young Adult | Paranormal/Mystery

There were parts of this book that I adored, but again, there were parts that I didn't like. Generally, it was an interesting read. I enjoyed the suspense and creepy, eerie scenes.

Imogen was not a very intriguing character in my idea. She was just too plain. Other characters were forgettable as well.

The pace was too slow, but the storyline was decent enough. However, I find it was too far-fetched that Maisie succeeded in taking over Lucia's life, and Lucia had to be a maid instead. Because I still don't see how they could pull it off just by Maisie changed her hair color. The ending was okay; I liked the mystery part of it, not the romance, though.

Overall, it was an okay book.

[Rayne · Rating 2 out of 5]

2.5 stars

My relationship with this book was a rocky one. I actually enjoyed the first half of the novel, but the second half of the book left me very disappointed, a disappointment that was made even greater by a misunderstanding caused by the incomplete description of this book that was provided by the publisher. I was not aware of the nature of this book and what inspired it - (Rebecca)- simply because, apparently, nobody else was, and that left quite a mark on my impression of the novel. Having acknowledged now that my strongest negative feelings for the novel were not the book’s fault, but rather the publisher’s incomplete description, I still have to award this book a considerably low rating, because, in the end, this book was still disappointing all on its own.

After an exciting and engaging first few chapters, the book tapered off into dull, over-dramatic, familiar and clichéd YA territory, followed shortly by a vastly disappointing and underwhelming ending made up of ludicrous plot twists that had no believable foundation to stand in the novel and were there for shock value alone. Admittedly, I still had some fun reading it and I still liked the idea behind the book, but it didn't take me long to realize that the apparent brilliance of an idea can only take a mediocre execution so far, and that a concept alone should not warrant a good rating when the novel itself failed to not only meet expectations, but even satisfy.
The first third of Suspicion is very easy to get through. It kicks off with paranormal mystery, intrigue, family feuding and tragedy - and that's the first chapter alone. Similar, nicely-written and even somewhat spooky scenes did show up further in the novel, but they were sporadic and far in between, so it didn't take long for the entire tone of the novel to change and become very typical P/N YA, with a perfect girl with a secret who thinks she's not perfect, lusting after another perfect and mysterious guy that doesn't seem interested in her because of the perfect image of a dead girl, and all the angst such a situation ensues.

The main plot of this novel follows closely that of Rebecca from beginning to end with only minimal variations, all of which were there to transform the story into something more YA appropriate. As far as retelling goes, this is a supremely faithful one, but this novel lacked the atmosphere and profundity that made Rebecca a classic and made me love the original so much. This book took the bones of Rebecca and assembled them admirably into a YA form, but it robbed the original of its soul. This book made it all about the romance and teenage drama instead of taking from the original the genius of the development of a childish and naïve girl into a strong and frighteningly unbendable one, the discovery of the darkness in humanity, and the exploration of a dark, twisted character with a presence stronger after death than any of the other characters that are actually alive in the story.

Contrary to what I expected of a story about a girl that's always been in love with her childhood friend, this novel features some pretty heavy insta-love, particularly on the guy's side, since even considering that his love went as far back as Imogen's has some pretty uncomfortable and even illegal connotations. And even if he had loved her since she was 10 and he was 12, the fact still remains that he hadn't seen her in almost a decade and that he had been dating her cousin the entire time. So the time that elapsed between reuniting and confessing their eternal love for each other was far too short to be categorized as anything but insta-love, and besides, there was zero chemistry between them and the dynamics in their relationship become even creepier as certain plot twists were revealed.

Sebastian is the typically mysterious and tortured but perfect and gorgeous guy that we are used to seeing in YA – honestly, there’s really absolutely nothing special about him, in spite of how hardly the author worked to show him that way. The thing is, the more the author tries to present him as this unbelievably perfect guy, the less appealing he was to me. Moreover, as the plot unfolded and things were revealed about Sebastian, his image became creepier and wrong, no matter how much the author tried to clean up his image and still present him as perfect. He did unbelievably stupid things, ridiculously cowardly ones, and justified his terrible decisions and actions with the actions of others, going as far as to claim that he did it for the good of others, and still he was continually glorified and is never made accountable for the terrible and stupid decisions he made. We are supposed to see him as this self-sacrificed, tortured, perfect guy, but really, he's just a creepy idiot.

Imogen for her part was a pretty standard YA heroine, nothing special about her either, prone to making stupid choices for the sake of the plot and often unbelievably dense to what was going on around her. Her obsession with Sebastian made her somewhat irritating, but, all in all, she was a tolerable main character. I took issues with her powers. Severely underdeveloped, based on an almost nonexistent mythology and only used as a plot device, the paranormal aspect in this novel added almost nothing to the story and was used only when convenient. Sure, the idea of the power is important for the mystery, but the powers themselves are hardly relevant to anything that happens in the novel.

There are several mysteries in this novel, from Imogen’s powers to what really happened to her cousin Lucia. The first, as I explained, was relevant to the story only in theory, and its development relied on Imogen finding the most ridiculously written articles and books for dense, long-winded scenes of exposition. The second, what happened to Lucia, differs exclusively from what happened to Rebecca in the novel of the same name only in its resolution, and it’s one of the most ridiculous, ham-handed and shameless plot twists I’ve read about. With no believable foundation in the plot of the novel and, quite honestly, no logic behind them, these plot twists were just thrown out there and left to fly on their own for the sake of shock value. They depended entirely on unrealistic and incredibly stupid behavior from some characters, a complete disregard of physics and biology, and absolute suspension of disbelief. By the end of the book I felt betrayed and insulted. To top it all off, the book features one of the most anti-climactic and nonsensical climaxes I’ve ever read about in which nothing is at risk, a character behaves in an utterly erratic and illogical way and it is all simply solved with minimal damage to anyone.

When I first finished the novel, I was only focused on what could’ve been. This book had a lot of potential and I firmly believe it was within the author’s ability to fulfill that potential, but then the book lost its spark of originality and became a mess of instant love, ludicrous plot twists and ridiculous character behavior. It's not so much that things don't make sense or that they don't connect, because they do, it's that they relied on character inconsistencies, plot holes and conveniences, which is something that had quite an impact on my impression of the novel. The ending was left open enough to force a sequel, but it is highly improbable that I'll ever read it, if it does come out, which I doubt. I know a lot of people will enjoy this book, since, as I said before, the book is very readable and enjoyable enough, but it was simply not for me. Imitation might be the highest form of flattery, but this book proved that, as hard as it may try, the imitation will always dull in comparison to the original.

[Melissa Souza · Rating 3 out of 5]

One thing I would like to make clear about this book is that it is nothing like Rebecca which is one of my all time favorite novels. With that being said, this story was an okay read. I found the supernatural element mixed in with a bit of mystery to be great. Imogen as a MC was likeable. She showed real spunk and level-headedness throughout. Her romance with Sebastian was a tad bit cliché with it all being insta-romance (I do not qualify a 10 year old having feelings as the makings of a great love story especially as there isn't any follow up afterwards except when she comes back to the Manor). The worldbuilding although not stellar was at least existent and we catch a glimpse of the opulence that is Rockford Manor. I liked how the book shows Imogen navigating the British peerage and coming to term with her life as an heiress.

However, this book did have its faults. The ending was deporable. One of the worst I have come across. After all the build up, it just falls flat. I also would have liked to see more of the side characters' stories. We get heavy doses of Imogen but the others seem to just fade in and out of her life. I needed to see more of her relationships and more backstory. Other than that, I did find the novel reasonably enjoyable. It's good for a one time read. I think if you try to compare it to Rebecca you would be majorly disappointed. So, I would suggest putting it out of your mind and reading it as a whole new and different story.

[Jennifer · Rating 3 out of 5]

The Good: Suspicion contains a wonderful murder mystery. Had the book focused solely on the mystery and cut all the other distracting nonsense, it could have easily been a five star book. An orphan girl raised in America becoming duchess and uncovering the hidden details of why her entire family is dead is more than enough to carry a book.

The Bad: The aforementioned nonsense. A unrequited love, from 10 years previous, who she never even looked up on social media? Right. He dates her cousin for an entire decade, until the cousin dies, and then just maybe realizes he really loves Imogen? Sure. Randomly thrown in supernatural gobbledygook, in a feeble attempt to make the book more marketable? Great. Wrap that all up in a tidy Princess Diaries ripoff bow, where Imogen has duchess lessons in etiquette or whatever. Wait, that could have worked, I guess, if she had cared a whit about being duchess rather than pining over some boy who'd been banging her cousin forever. All unnecessary attempts to appeal to current book trends that ultimately drag the book down to barely a 3 star rating.