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Beguiled
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Archived Buddy Reads > ❀Abbi and Caitlyn❀ Beguiled by Deeanne Gist and J. Mark Bertrand

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message 1: by Megan, ☘I Lost My Shoe ☘ (new) - rated it 4 stars

Megan (celtic_girl) | 6323 comments Mod
Abbi and Caitlyn will be buddy reading Beguiled by Deeanne Gist and J. Mark Bertrand

When novelists Deeanne Gist and J. Mark Bertrand first met in a Houston critique group, they never expected where friendship would take them. She wrote romance; he wrote crime novels. But growing respect for each other's work culminated in the decision to try blending their talents into this wonderfully engaging story merging romance and mystery.
Rylee Monroe walks dogs in old-money Charleston, a part of the city recently targeted by a daring thief. Logan Woods works the crime beat for the local paper but dreams of a life as a nonfiction writer. When the string of robberies takes a strange twist, Logan sees the making of a once-in-a-lifetime book that seems to circle around this charming, eye-catching dogwalker. But pursuing the truth means ignoring that he seems to be falling for her. And what is she hiding in her past that could crack the story wide open?


Caitlyn Santi | 811 comments I'm finished with the first half! Ready to discuss whenever you are, no rush! :D


Abbi I didn't get this comment till just now-so sorry! I still haven't started since I've been in a combo of busy, reading slump, and really wanting to finish another book I was reading. I will do my best to have it finished within the next few days. We are busy pretty much all day tomorrow but I'll try to finish at least by Friday. Again, so sorry!


Caitlyn Santi | 811 comments No worries! :) I have had those kinds of weeks too!!! :D
Like I said, no problem. And I'm not in any rush, take your time. I think you will like it, I had a hard time putting it down, that's why I finished the first half so fast, I just couldn't stop! :D


Abbi Finally done! So sorry that it took me so long!

So I never really paid too much attention to the synopsis of this book and I guess I was expecting something very different from this, mainly because to me the cover doesn't really fit all that well. And I think the fact that I was expecting something else through me off and so I haven't fully embraced the story. All that rambling aside though, I am really enjoying the book it's an interesting story.

Ok so I absolutely loved Logan's actions after Rylee called him when her car was broken into! The way he literally rushed to her aid, kept her on the phone till she was safe, let her drive his car (and programmed in her seat settings!), made sure she got home safe, and took her car to be repaired!

I love Rylee's relationships with her employers and how they don't treat as a lesser person but more like family.


message 6: by Caitlyn (last edited Aug 11, 2013 12:45PM) (new) - rated it 5 stars

Caitlyn Santi | 811 comments I agree, the cover doesn't fit the story at all! In fact, when I first found out about this book I didn't realize that it was contemporary, I thought it was set in the 1930's or something because that was the impression I got from the cover! :)

Oh, I loved that so much too!!! :) I was completely charmed when Logan saved her seat settings!

I completely agree! It's awesome that they treat her the way they do! :)

I've got a really bad feeling about Detective Campbell, in fact I wouldn't be surprised if he is either involved in the robberies or knows something about them! What do you think?

I wonder why the robber keeps targeting houses that Rylee has a connection with? Probably the obvious answer is to frame Rylee, but I have a feeling there is more to it than that!

The opening scene was kinda scary! I can't even fathom what it would be like to walk in on a robbery like Rylee did!

What do you think of Karl? He seems kinda cool, but I share Logan's opinion, I'm not sure he can be trusted! :)

The tidbit about the narrowest house in the city was really interesting! :)


Abbi Yeah something is definitely off with him. Not sure if he's involved or not, I'm leaning more towards not but I wouldn't be shocked if he was.

That has me curious too!

Yeah!

I have the same opinion.

I don't remember that....

If I were Rylee I would be much more scared and would definitely find someone to go with me on the night walks! Especially after being followed!

I feel so bad for all that Rylee had to deal with at such a young age! To have your father just walk out and then your mother kill herself would be so horrible!

Part of me kinda wonders if Rylee's father is somehow involved since they keep mentioning him but the other part thinks it's a little ridiculous. What do you think?


Caitlyn Santi | 811 comments I agree! That's what I would do too! :)

I know, I feel awful for her too!

I don't think that's ridiculous at all! I have been thinking the exact same thing! :D

It's interesting that the burglar is passing over the most expensive items in the houses; and then donating what he does steal to charity! :D That's a very unique angle!

I can't remember for sure, but I don't think it has been mentioned why Logan is afraid of dogs! I wonder what happened to cause his fear!

The conversation between Logan and Rylee about her car being named Daisy was fun! I wouldn't be surprised if his car ends up getting named too, I'm curious to see what the name will be!

I understand that it does logically sort of make sense, but I can't believe that Rylee is being considered a suspect in the robberies! :D


Abbi Haha good!

Yeah that is a very interesting angle and I'm very curious to find out the reasoning behind it!

No they haven't mentioned it and I've been wondering what caused it too!

It was! Yeah his car definitely should get a name!

I feel the same way!

"The Cherub" is a strange character. He seems harmless but then he acts all creepy and it's weird.


Caitlyn Santi | 811 comments I agree, he is very strange!

I thought it was really interesting that Rylee's father had been a partner in Karl's law firm! I really liked that we were told that early on in the story! :D

I'm really intrigued to discover why that jewelry casket means so much to Karl! :D


message 11: by Abbi (new) - rated it 5 stars

Abbi It was interesting and I agree it was nice to have that info early!

Me too!

Well I can't think of anything else-you?


Caitlyn Santi | 811 comments Nope, I can't think of anything else either! :)


message 13: by Abbi (new) - rated it 5 stars

Abbi Ok! I'll probably try to get the second half finished sometime tomorrow or Thurs!


message 14: by Abbi (new) - rated it 5 stars

Abbi I'm done and ready to discuss whenever you are!


Caitlyn Santi | 811 comments I just finished! But I'm too tired to attempt discussing tonight *Eyes blur so I can hardly see what I'm typing* :-D
Feel free to start the discussion if you want! :D
Good night!


message 16: by Abbi (new) - rated it 5 stars

Abbi Haha ok!

So first off I have to say that I literally laughed out loud when Campbell wanted a sample of Rylee's handwriting and she wrote that "Detective Campbell is a doofus with a badge"! So funny!

And oh my goodness when all the guys on Logan's team hired Rylee after she was fired from her jobs-so sweet! I especially loved the guys who bought a frog just so they'd have a pet for her to take care of! I had a stupid smile on my face for that whole scene!

So I totally didn't see the end coming! I never would have guessed that Karl was the burglar or that he was the creepy murderer that he was! I thought he was a little off but I never saw that coming. And that he watched Gibbons kill Rylee's parents and kept her dad's cufflinks as well as other souvenirs from his other victims.

I can not imagine coming home to find your home so thoroughly destroyed! She had so little and he took it all away! I'd have been so furious!


Caitlyn Santi | 811 comments Sorry for taking so long to reply! :)

Haha! That made me laugh out loud too! I was actually in the car when I read that and my mom wanted to know why I was laughing, so I told her a little bit of the background and then read it aloud to her and she cracked up too! :D

Oh, yes that was so sweet! I loved that too! It was so fun when she realized they had bought the frog in order to help Logan out! Plus, I don't know why but I was really charmed that they named the frog Shamrock!

Yeah I had no idea how evil he was either!

I can't imagine it either! I felt so bad for her!

The thing with Karl stealing her bra and underwear, then returning them, was spooky! But him leaving them floating in the bathtub was one of the creepiest things ever, that actually gave me chills!

I probably shouldn't have been shocked to find out that the things that were being stolen had belonged to Rylee's family, but that really surprised me! Especially the fact that the Sebastien's house was Rylee's childhood home!

This is totally random but I loved it when Logan went to pick Rylee up and Liz was in her pirate garb and said that she had offered to get Rylee a job and Logan thinks, Over My Dead Body That was so cute!

I was kinda surprised that Nate Campbell wasn't as bad as he seemed! I really liked it when he apologized to Logan, and was willing to make public and personal apologies to Rylee!


message 18: by Abbi (new) - rated it 5 stars

Abbi Yeah that was utterly disturbing!

I was surprised by all of that too! I was trying to figure out how the items were connected but couldn't come up with anything.

It was cute!

I felt the same way!

I thought it was sweet how Logan went and checked on Nonie when Rylee was in prison. Though I wasn't too happy when he too the album I understood why he did.

I was really impressed with how Logan was willing to scrap the book rather than expose Rylee's story but I was glad that she wanted him to include it!

I really liked how Logan's parents trusted and supported him and it was really cool how his dad was willing to loan him the money for Rilee's bail.


Caitlyn Santi | 811 comments I also thought that was sweet of him! I felt exactly the same way.

Ditto what you said!

I liked that too! His parents were really cool!

I was surprised to discover that Rylee's dad had been murdered, I honestly expected him to pop into the story! Also, I don't know why but I did not see it coming that Rylee's mom had been killed rather committing suicide!

It was awesome how Logan faced his fear of dogs and offered to take care of Toro while Rylee was in the hospital!

It really annoyed me how quickly all of Rylee's clients except Toro's owners, fired her! I can kinda understand where they were coming from and that they trusted that the police would only have arrested the person responsible but still it would have been nice if they could have given Rylee the benefit of the doubt; or at least not been so mean and snippy about it! :)

I absolutely adored the proposal scene! It was so sweet, and I loved when Logan said that from now on all her kisses belong to him! :D


message 20: by Abbi (new) - rated it 5 stars

Abbi I was surprised by that too but I was kinda wondering if her mother was murdered.

That was great!

Yeah that annoyed me too! After all most of them treated her like family!

I loved that too!

So Gibbons was way creepier than I originally thought! He weirded me out but I didn't expect that he was an evil killer.

Liz was a great friend and it was cool how she let Rylee stay with her no questions asked!

I loved how Logan never really doubted that Rylee was innocent.


message 21: by Caitlyn (last edited Aug 17, 2013 05:34PM) (new) - rated it 5 stars

Caitlyn Santi | 811 comments I didn't expect him to be a killer either!

Yeah she was! Ditto!

I was really glad of that too! :)

It was so sweet of Logan to buy her that dress! I was so glad she accepted his invitation, for a minute there I actually kinda thought she might refuse to go with him! :)

I absolutely loved it when Rylee realized that she had been treating God the same way she thought her parents had treated her! Or at least if I remember correctly that's what she realized, but I could be wrong! Anyway, that scene was really thought provoking to me! :D


message 22: by Abbi (new) - rated it 5 stars

Abbi That was sweet! I thought she'd refuse too but I was glad she accepted!

Yeah that was cool!

Well I can't think of anything else-you?


Caitlyn Santi | 811 comments Nope, I'm out of things to discuss too! :D


message 24: by Abbi (new) - rated it 5 stars

Abbi :) This was a really good book and it was fun discussing it with you! It has been on my shelf for awhile now so I was glad to finally read it!


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