I had never heard of this book before the owner of my favorite local independent book store, The Romantics Archive, recommended this book to me. All she had to say was that it was a loose Ted Bundy retailing to pull me in. I immediately went home and downloaded it onto my kindle while I waited for them to stock the physical book in store. I have since finished the book and purchased a physical copy for my shelves, this is a testament to how much I enjoyed this book.
“On a date that isn’t going well? Do you feel unsafe or just a little uneasy? Ask for Andrea at the bar. We’ll make sure you get home safe.”
Noelle W. Ihli, Ask for Andrea
About The Book
Author: Noelle W. Ihli
Publisher: Dynamite Books
Published Date: September 1st, 2024
Page Count: 295 pages
Main Genre: Thriller
GoodReads Rating: 4.08
Format: E Book
“There is no room for questions. The worst is coming, and these words combined with your exact obedience are your only hope for safety. ”
Noelle W. Ihli, Ask for Andrea
Synopsis
Meghan, Brecia, and Skye have just one thing in common.
They were all murdered by the same man.
He hunted them online, masquerading as an eligible bachelor. Then he played the perfect gentleman, a thick layer of charm and a thousand-watt smile hiding the fact that his first dates end in shallow graves.
He’s gotten away with murder three times now.
The only thing that might keep him from killing again? The women he murdered.
Meghan, Brecia, and Skye might be dead, but they’re not gone. They’ve found each other. And they won’t rest until they find a way to stop him.
The haunt is on.
Synopsis From GoodReads
“It’s the tapestry we wove together. The threads still bind us.”
Noelle W. Ihli, Ask for Andrea
Rating
I really appreciate how this book highlights the, often uncomfortable or dangerous, reality of online dating. It also raises awareness of a common getaway strategy that many bars and restaurants have in place.
Have you ever been to a bar on a date and seen a poster that says something along the lines of “Is your date making you feel unsafe or uneasy? If so ask you waitress for (Insert name here).”? This will signal to the workers that you need help getting out of this situation in a safe and inconspicuous manner leaving your date none the wiser.
* (If you frequent a popular date night space this is your sign to ask them if they have anything in place for these situations. If they don’t, encourage them to adopt one of the many that are out there.) *
This book opens up with that exact scenario and snowballs from there.
I really enjoyed the rotating POV of the three girls. Each POV was quite different from one another and also left you on a bit of a cliffhanger. This made reading the book quite fast paced as I was dying (Yes, pun intended) to know what was happening to each girl.
If I had to change anything in the book it would have been what was leading up to the end. I felt like it was going in the right direction but the Girls “helping” out the next victim just didn’t feel like it had as much pay off as I would have liked. I wish the girls had possessed more ghostly powers. It felt as if the girls were merely just there watching things unfold but the author was pushing too hard for us to feel like the girls had power to change things with little to no pay off. Maybe if we did indeed get confirmation that things were happening because of the things the girls were doing I would have given the book a better rating but nothing felt concrete.
Even with that small set back to my rating, I did enjoy the majority of the book and did appreciate the ultimate conclusion to the story as everything came full circle.
Overall, I could see the new age connection to Ted Bundy that the author was going for and appreciated the differences. It makes me wonder what other serial killers people have loosely based books on that I am missing out on.
These kinds of books always make me question what the after life will look like and sometimes I even hope some of their theories are true. But this story mostly left me questioning “What would I do if I were in their shoes?”. I like to hope I would have Asked For Andrea.
“He was the kind of beautiful that drew you in before you even considered the fact that beautiful things can be poisonous.”
Noelle W. Ihli, Ask for Andrea
QOTD: Have you ever been on a date that felt like it was going sideways?
World of Bai 