Book Review: Gwyneth by J.M. Zuniga

Synopsis

When infatuation turns into obsession...no one is safe. 

For the past few months, an admirer has been showering Gwyneth with unexpected gifts. At first, she is flattered, but when the gifts turn into more than just tokens of affection, she reaches out to the police. With Detective Aaron Tate leading the investigation and keeping a close eye on Gwyneth, she begins to feel safe and more relaxed—that is until things go from being creepy to downright dangerous. With her life in peril, Gwyneth becomes her own protector. However, will that be enough to keep her safe?

Review

Although I enjoyed this book as a whole, I found some issues with the way things played out. I would give this novel 3.5 stakes.

Gwyneth is a normal woman who goes to work, has friends, a dog, and a normal love life. However, she has a secret admirer who leaves her presents. Over time, the presents become more odd and begin to take a sinister note. Gwyneth gets an eerie feeling about them and decides to call the police. As the police investigate, Gwyneth falls in love with the detective, receives more gifts, and her life is threatened by the secret admirer. Overall, the concept of the book seemed great but I didn't like some of the aspects. It wasn't that I didn't enjoy the writing, I just thought that at many times throughout the book Gwyneth was just dumb.

For instance, the secret admirer itself was a big red flag for me. I don't know if it's just me and my cynical nature but I feel like in this day and age you should be freaked out by a complete stranger sending you presents. It wasn't like Gwyneth has a boyfriend or a guy she was flirting with who was sending her things. It was a complete stranger. But she had absolutely no problem with it until she receives a gift made of human hair. Even then she was reluctant to call the police.

I think Gwyneth was completely naive and sometimes stupid. She didn't really care about her well-being. She was reluctant to call the police, wouldn't tell them the entire story, and refused to believe that someone close to her could be the stalker. After the stalker becomes more violent with killing pets and people, Gwyneth becomes convinced that everyone is the stalker. Even Detective Aaron who is randomly assigned to her case. She was also very self-involved. Even after dangerous things would happen to others, her thoughts would just come back to how it affected her.

I liked Detective Aaron because he was smart and genuinely wanted to help. He also had plenty of emotional baggage that would be difficult for him to enter a healthy relationship. But, he is attracted to Gwyneth and wants to start a relationship with her.

I was happy that this was a stalker thriller because I really enjoy this type of book but this one was alright. It wasn't one that I just couldn't put down. I enjoyed it but I won't rave about it. I really liked the overall story and Detective Aaron but Gwyneth and her thought process is just too much to handle and the book is centered around her so I probably won't read this again.

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About J.M.

J. M. Zuniga has been passionate about reading since childhood, but it wasn't until one of her college English professors suggested J. M. write a book that the seed of writing was sown. Even then, it took J. M. another year before she actually decided to give it a try. Inspired by the surge of YA novels proliferating the book market, J. M. decided to choose that genre for her first project, Winter Rayne, which was published three and a half years later in August of 2013. 

During a break from writing Winter Rayne, J. M. began to write The Diamond Mini-Series, a dystopian mini series of two novelettes and one novella. The Diamond Mini-Series was first published individually, in ebook format, with the following titles: Under Ground (May 2012), The Core (July 2012), and Ransom (November 2012). Subsequently, they were all three published in a print book titled TDMS Collection (2013). J. M. has two award winning poems. Her First Place "Untitled" poem was published in Voices of Compton: Compton Literary/Arts Journal 2008-2009. Her poem "The Importance of Love" won a Third Place Virtual Ribbon for Romantic Poetry in July 2011 on Writing.com.

J. M. resides in Long Beach, California, is a dedicated mother of three and works as a Traveling Teacher. It is her family and best friends that inspire her to continue writing and dreaming. Most of the time when she is not writing, reading, teaching, or spending time with her family, J. M. can be found watching a wide variety of movies. She's not sure which is larger, her collection of books or her collection of movies. 

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