Taken by Tuesday

As a member of Net Galley, I occasionally get to read books before they are released. Such is the case with Taken by Tuesday  by Catherine Bybee. Nice, right? I also am not required by Net Galley to write a positive review or any review at all for that matter. Hence, I only review what I truly like. Even so, for the sake of integrity, I still denote both here and on Amazon reviews written from Net Galley reads.

Taken by Tuesday was written by a new author to me. It is also not the first book in its series, but I had no trouble reading it as a standalone. To start with the only complaints I had regarding this book, I really never got how the title actually related to the story, and the cover ( while cute) really didn't exemplify the content of the book in my opinion. Otherwise, I have nothing negative to say. I really enjoyed this story and was pleasantly surprised to find way more suspense than the cover would indicate. Judy, a spunky independent recent college graduate, finds herself the object of a violent stalker. In a harrowing attack and its aftermath, Judy loses much of her confidence along with her independence. Stepping to the plate to offer protection is Rick. He is a former marine turned security specialist who works for Judy's famous brother. Rick has known Judy for a while and has been attracted to her for longer than she knows.

From a psychology perspective, I thought the author was spot on in how she portrayed the characters' emotions, especially Judy's post traumatic issues. The creepy descriptions of the villian's thoughts and motivations also read very realistically. The couple's chemistry was wonderfully flirty and consistent.

Overall, I really enjoyed the book and found myself hooked on even the peripheral characters. Driven by my need to know how some of the characters met and how other characters might connect in the future, I suppose I will now need to read the rest of the books in this series. Hopefully they will be just as interesting and suspenseful as this one.