''Because She Loves Me'' by Mark Edwards

My rating: ✪ ✪ ✪ ✪ ✪ ✪ ✪ ✪ ✪ ✪  7/10

Book cover rating: ✪ ✪ ✪ ✪ ✪52/5

One book in one gif: 

Brief Opinion

And as I've promised last week, I'm back with my book reviews! Excuse me a moment, I feel emotional. 

But yeah, this book is a great thing to talk about for my comeback as a reviewer. There is so much to say I don't know where exactly to begin. Psychological thrillers are my favourite genre, and if it's a well-written stalker/obsession-love themed story, I'd be like 

Like literally, God bless the authors who have slain this genre and who have gifted us hours of blissful insight into a psychopath's mind (very few authors, by the way). I find it really fascinating to read stories like this, with huge creep factors, crazy sanitarium people, love that turns to obsession, all that mastermind planning, shocking plot twists, and more. 

I mean, it's not like I am in for those things in real life, but at the end of the day, this is all fiction. So, no harm done, right?

In ''Because She Loves Me'', there is everything that makes a brilliant stalker novel. And it is with the deepest regret that I give this awesome book which I couldn't put down until I was done a 7 star score. The gult is so big that it feels like I'm apologizing as if I was the author myself. 

But no, honestly Mark Edwards' writing was superb and outstanding and it was a pleasure to have read that book! And yet, it is the ending, which I believe, was the ultimate downfall of this masterpiece of a story. I love it and I hate it. Without giving away to many details, all I can say is that the plot twist element was a good one and so unexpected, but I wish it didn't happen.

Summary

Andrew Sumner has had his share of bad luck throughout his life, even more than his fair share he might say. When he meets the beautiful and bold Charlotte Summers, or Charlie as she likes to be called, the two are immediately attracted to each other. Andrew can hardly believe how his luck had started to change when they start dating. He loves Charotte a lot, and lets her have a very dominant part of his life. Their affair soon turns to be more intense and headed for the roller coasters. In addition to things going missing in his apartments, the constant feeling he gets that he is being followed at night, and unexplainable tragedies befall  his closest friends and Exes, Andrew is forced to name a suspect and get to the bottom of this. Is Charlie really who she seems to be? And if she does have something to do with all this, how is Andrew going to cope with it and let go of her? 

Discussion and Thoughts + SPOILER ALERT!

I would like to call for a round of applause  for Mr. Mark Edwards to praise him for the way he started the first few chapters of  the book. As an aspiring writer, this is something I can learn and cherish from his book. What a brilliant technique! - He writes the first three chapters (if I remember well) narrating the events of the beginning of the novel, where the story starts, and then drift forward for a brief moment to the end of the novel, at the point of the climax, without giving anything away. We see the moment where all the strings of trouble and drama begin and in the next, we as readers get a taste of how things will be escalating to dangerous mode pretty soon.  The narrator and point of view are Andrew's, and he reflects on how things could have been had he done things differently. Clever.

We, as readers, were completely fooled, weren't we? Ha! All the time I was reading, I always had to take a moment to remind myself to think outside the box (like the good detective I like to think I am) and the rule that the obvious is never that obvious. But the amount of evidence against poor, sweet Charlie was overwhelming! I mean, I am sure all girls are overly-protective and a little bit nuts at some point when it comes to their boyfriend, and Charlie just happened to be in some hilariously coincidental circumstances. Poor thing, but wow was that brilliant. Her actions were 100% shady and all clues led to her possibly being the villain. BUT it's never that easy, is it?
I know this section is meant to be with spoilers, but I really really feel compelled to not give it away. It might ruin the whole experience for any of you who are looking forward to add this book to your reading list and I don't want to be THAT person. However, I do want to say that I would have preferred Charlie as the villain. For me, the ''surprise-plot-twist-you-think-you-know-but-you-don't'' factor wasn't really necessary. Charlie's character was so well-written and developed that I would have been happy to read that we were right to suspect she was the mastermind behind everything all along. Putting another person as the villain and making them go full level crazy in the ending seemed like a desperate move. Great (because nobody would have ever thought of them!), but lame (because it lacks a bit of background in my opinion).
The aftermath of the last chapter also deteriorates from the original thrill, but it is expected as every roller coaster must come to a stop eventually. I am almost starting to think that the last chapter was written by a completely different author. Don't get me wrong, I have nothing but positive remarks about most part of this novel. It is hard work to come up with something like this and make it work up to this extent. As an amateur writer, I get that! But ugh, am I the only one who thinks there is something missing and off about the ending? 

But I'm going to let it step aside anyways. I don't think this review of mine is doing enough justice to ''Because She Loves Me'', so go and read it for yourself and let me know what you think. As this is the discussion section of my review, I am going to end it here because I really do not want to give anything away. Trust me, you will thank me later! 

Memorable Quotes

“In this alternative future, I wouldn’t be sitting here among the smoking wreckage of my life, wondering about what might have been. Nobody would have got hurt. Nobody would have died.”