TV reporter Erica Sparks has become a superstar overnight. Is it due to her hard work and talent, or is she at the center of a spiraling conspiracy?
Erica Sparks is a beautiful and ambitious reporter who has just landed her dream job at Global News Network in New York. And while it was hard to leave Jenny, her cherished eight-year-old daughter, in the custody of her ex-husband, Erica is determined to succeed in the cutthroat world of big-time broadcasting. She can only hope her troubled past won’t come back to sabotage her dreams.
Although the wounds from her divorce are still fresh, Erica can’t deny the chemistry between her and her new producer, the handsome and empathetic Greg Underwood. But a relationship is the last thing she wants right now. On her very first assignment, Erica inadvertently witnesses—and films—a horrific tragedy, scooping all the other networks. Mere weeks later, another tragedy strikes—again, right in front of Erica and her cameras. Her career skyrockets overnight, but Erica is troubled. Deeply. This can’t just be coincidence. But what is it? Erica will stop at nothing to uncover the truth. But she has to make sure disaster—and her troubled past—don’t catch up with her first.
★ ★ ★ ☆ ☆
Television journalist Erica Sparks is fresh off of a divorce while still trying to break glass ceilings in the male-dominated field of news broadcasting. She’s plucked from her small New Hampshire station and recruited to come work for an up and coming cable network in New York City. Her first assignment out in the big leagues, she nabs an interview with visiting royal, Kate Middleton. While waiting to meet the Duchess of Cambridge for their interview near the harbor, Erica and hundreds of other people witness a ferry crash right in front of them. Shaken but not deterred, Erica scraps the planned interview with the duchess and instead plunges into a weeks long investigation on what might have caused that crash. What she discovers goes farther than she could have guessed, bringing up ties to cyber-terrorism and possibly even Mafia connections. Everyone she starts to associate with during her investigation ends up either dead or near death. She also starts to sense that the more she digs up, the more her new boss tries to keep her away from the truth, instead trying to lure her with the stuff of her wildest dreams – her own cable show, a yearly salary in the millions, jaw-dropping real estate options. Just the sort of life situation reboot she’s craving in her life, but can she trade her morals and need for the truth in or to obtain it?
When I was first getting to know Erica in this story, she felt like a mash-up of Veronica Corningstone from Anchorman and Michelle Pfeiffer from Up Close & Personal with a little bit of the sweetness and humor of Rachel McAdams from Morning Glory. And much like in that news network kind of film, she is instantly pitted against already-established NYC news anchor Claire Wilcox. At first, Erica tries to defuse Claire’s competitive cattiness with small town charm but it doesn’t seem to take her too long to drop the small town and embrace her new big city edge. Still, I couldn’t help but smile at Erica’s decision to go to the Correspondent’s Dinner wearing a gown designed by a friend and red paste clip-on earrings she found on Etsy. Can’t take the girl outta…
Even though Erica had her moments of likeability for me, the edge and thriller aspect I think this story was trying to go for seemed faint. Much of the focus was Erica stressing about the details of her divorce or making dinner plans with a cute co-worker she starts dating. People in the story would tell her her journalistic instincts were brilliant, her stardom set to skyrocket, but I don’t know… I found those instincts a little meh myself. Especially when she’s trying to track down the Irish real estate woman. She’s given a list of company names and the very last one she thinks to check out is Celtic Home Realty? Really, girl?!
The biggest thing that brought my rating down for this one was the writing felt a little stiff and bland and there was too much telling rather than showing. But the dialogue though. The dialogue was SO BAD. So bad. The flow of the banter felt stilted at times and the witticisms just weren’t landing for me. Too forced. The moments of flirting too cheezy. Yes, flirting is supposed to be a little on the silly side, I know, but you know when you’ve heard the kind that goes too far and makes you cringe. And who gets right into their Gulf War experiences on a first date?! Just felt weird and over the top.
The mystery part of the series, as far as Erica trying to discover the cover-up was decent enough, but a little cliche in parts. Apparently, this book is the first of what’s intended to be a series, though I’m not sure this one left me pumped enough to eagerly anticipate the next installment.
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How far will a candidate go to become president? Erica Sparks—America’s top-rated cable-news host— is about to find out.
Mike Ortiz is a dynamic war hero favored to win the White House. Standing by his side is his glamorous and adoring wife, Celeste. But something about this seemingly perfect couple troubles Erica. Is Celeste really who she seems? And most importantly, what really happened in that squalid Al-Qaeda prison where Mike Ortiz spent nine months? But more than the nation’s future is at stake. Erica’s relentless search for the truth puts the life of her preteen daughter Jenny in danger, even as Erica’s own dark past threatens to overtake her.
★★★ 1/2
Senator Mike Ortiz is a POW / war hero and presidential candidate. He and wife Celeste seem like the perfect couple -- loving, glamorous, the ultimate power couple. At least on the surface. But just under the surface, the truth is bubbling up. Something seems off. Television journalist Erica Sparks is back on the scene to investigate, determined to bring the truth to light.
When we met Erica in the first book of this series, she had recently been given her own news talk show, The Erica Sparks Effect. Wealth and stardom came swift, but now, some time has passed and her boss is pressuring her to keep the ratings up. There are fresh-faced competitors coming onto the scene, but Erica stays strong and mentally regroups. She has a lot riding on this job remaining successful -- her luxury apartment, her daughter's expensive schooling... not to mention just a new found appreciation for the finer, more expensive things Erica's come to develop a taste for. So our girl gets steely-eyed and thinks herself up a winning game plan.
Erica nabs the position of moderator on the all important presidential debate between Senator Ortiz and his opponent, Senator Lucy Winters. Set on filming an exclusive mini-interview with Ortiz prior to the debate, but someone else made other plans that day. The crowds at the debate venue are rocked by a bombing, even leaving a few fatalities in the aftermath. Having witnessed the horror firsthand, Erica becomes even more set on uncovering just what is going on. Who was the bomb really meant for? Are Ortiz and his wife behind the attack?
As Erica begins to dig further, the story she uncovers begins to grow darker than she ever imagined. Suspecting that some serious damage might have been done to Ortiz's mind during his POW days, she meets with various specialists... who one by one end up either dead or seriously injured. Then come the threats to her family's safety. Now it's not just about the job, but Erica's very survival. It becomes increasingly difficult for her to know who to trust or go to for help.
It doesn't always happen this way for me when I'm reading a book, but this one had a very clear breakdown in ratings in my mind:
* The character of Erica, I give her a 3. I think I liked her a bit better in the first book. Here, there was just something about her that grated on me. One thing being her frequent phrase of "say more". Something about that just bugged me. I prefer "Do tell" or "Go on". Something about "say more" didn't flow as well and just sounded stupid. And then she had other characters doing it! Dialogue once again was an issue for me. I remember in the first book I found it pretty awkward. It's gotten better in this second book but it's still a little off for me. The dialogue often has too much of a scripted sound, the characters sometimes speaking as if they are dictating a letter rather than having a conversation.
There's a small portion of the story where actor Robert DeNiro is written in as a character. Even there, I tried reading his lines in his voice and it still didn't seem to ring entirely true (believable) to how you'd expect him to speak.
* The plot I give a 4. Solidly good story arc with lots of intrigue and layers. The chapters are also generally pretty short, typically running only 3-4 pages a chapter, which helped keep the pace moving at a nice clip. Overall, good fun!
Soooo... I guess this makes this about a 3.5 overall for me!
FTC Disclaimer: TNZ Fiction Guild kindly provided me with complimentary copies of these books in exchange for an honest review. The opinions above are entirely my own.
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THOUGHTS.... TBD!
STAY TUNED!
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