Reviews

The Night Before by Wendy Walker

sleepytimebooks's review against another edition

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mysterious tense medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? It's complicated
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated

3.0

ariiiibaby916's review against another edition

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3.0

While the narrator was awesome, the fact she said the name Jonathan Fields so many times drove me INSANE. I loved the multiple POVs. Interesting plot. Also, the ending was NOT wrapped up well.

creepylilbookworm's review against another edition

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4.0

Omg what a wild ride! That was crazy, you didn't know who to trust or what to trust. I didn't know where this was going and I didn't think I had it figured out til almost the end. So good!

clareswindlehurst's review against another edition

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5.0

Excellent pace - plenty of twists and turns - and an ending I did not see coming.

briannanicole4's review against another edition

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3.0

3.5, loved it. Didn’t see any of the twists coming. Really liked Laura and her story. Felt terrible how it ended for her and Kevin. Would love to know if her and Jonathan become friends or more. If he forgives her. Just wow, another great read by Wendy Walker.

eablick's review against another edition

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5.0

HOLY MOLY!!! This book gets FIVE STARS from me! What an amazing read. Throughout the story, I had sweaty palms, had to take breaks, and was literally yelling out-loud at so many moments. Wendy Walker knocked it out of the park with this one!

I received a digital ARC of The Night Before from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

I feel like I need to keep this review fairly brief and not quite as detail oriented as I usually do. This story has many twists and turns that I would hate to ruin anything for future readers.

The main description of the book is:

Twelve hours earlier, she was...
Hopeful.
Excited.
Safe.

Now she's gone.

WHAT?!?!?!

Laura has recently moved back home to live with her sister, brother-in-law, and her nephew. Laura should be happy to be around her family again. She loves spending time with her nephew, but she has always been chasing something that she doesn't feel she could ever have. She feels broken, unloveable, and unhappy. She always gives too much of herself too quickly, even when she feels it isn't right. She hasn't divulged why she has decided to move back from New York City, but her sister knows it had something to do with a guy who broke her heart. A story she is all too familiar with. Laura feels like she is ready to date again, and joins a dating website. She meets a man and they quickly set up a date. Laura's sister, Rosie, isn't sure that Laura is ready for dating, but Laura reassures her that she will get it right this time. Don't worry, Rosie....

How many times have you felt uneasy, and had that nagging feeling in the pit of your stomach, and not spoken up? Laura lands herself in this type of situation that will have you screaming at the book, thinking, "how could she be so stupid?" But there's more....oh, so much more!

The next morning, Rosie goes to look for Laura, and she is no where to be found. Her bed hasn't been slept in and the van is missing. The story then turns into frantically trying to find Laura with concerns of what could have happened to her, as well as, concerns with what Laura has done.

The story moves back and forth from present to past, and from Rosie's point of view, and Laura's point of view, which is the cherry on top of the story. The book flows nicely and I could barely put it down. I will be reading the rest of Wendy Walker's books STAT.

Thank you NetGalley, St. Martin's Press, and Wendy Walker for the opportunity to read this book.

outsmartyourshelf's review against another edition

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dark mysterious medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? It's complicated
  • Loveable characters? No
  • Diverse cast of characters? N/A
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

Laura Lochner is always choosing the wrong men & they always leave her. After the breakup of her latest relationship, she goes to her sister, Rosie's, home in the Connecticut suburbs where they both grew up. Rosie is married to their childhood friend, Joe, & they have a young son, & Laura takes up residence in their attic room.

She decides to take a chance on a date with an older man, Jonathan Fields, & borrows Rosie's car. Rosie is concerned that Laura is jumping back into dating far too soon & when Laura hasn't returned by the next morning, her concern seems justified. Rosie delays in calling the police though as she is less worried that a man has hurt Laura, & more worried that Laura has hurt him. After all, it's not the first time.

I thought it started off well - the first 100 pages were riveting, but it soon turned pedestrian. Laura (who seemed like she might turn out to be a bit of a badass at first) was revealed to be a drip who kept saying that she was going to leave the date as he was not being truthful with her, but kept talking herself into staying. Truthfully Rosie was a more intriguing character. If I had to sum up this book in two words it would be 'daddy issues'. 3 stars for the good beginning. 

taylorardoin's review against another edition

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3.0

Meh.

I thought this was a great story premise. It was actually one I was really excited about. Once the reviews started pouring in, I got a little discouraged and didn't want to read it immediately.

Now that I'm done with the book, I can say that I do agree with all of the reviews saying this was a mediocre book. It was a great story, nothing majorly exciting or unlike anything I've read before. But this was just enough of a great story to keep me interested enough to finish the book.

I'm still willing to give another Wendy Walker book another chance though!

HOW I RATE BOOKS (for reference):
5 stars: an amazing book. a book that will stay in my mind days, weeks, months later. typically an all-time favorite, although not always. Most likely to reread
4 stars: a great book, but is just missing that one thing to set it over the edge. would be somewhat likely to reread
3 stars: meh book. was able to get through it and the story was okay, but not something I'd likely reread
2 stars: just no. a book I did not enjoy, but was able to get through without DNFing
1 star: did not like it at all, was bored and couldn't get through it, DNF'd

mbcovarrubias's review against another edition

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2.0

The twists did make this book unique, but I think that it still fell back upon the genre tropes. The constant shifts made it tough to follow at first, but eventually you get used to the time, location, and perspective shifts.

moneisreading's review against another edition

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5.0

Wow… what a fantastic book!
This was my third book from Wendy Walker and I loved it!

She did another amazing job with this book, and this story was so well written.

It kept me guessing the entire time, heart pounding, and so many twists! And that ending! Just wow!!

I highly recommend this book