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shyan's review against another edition
challenging
dark
mysterious
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.5
artichokey47's review against another edition
2.0
Why did I read this? Why does it always rain so much in her books?
michm1123's review against another edition
2.0
I was kind of bored throughout this entire book. The main character wasn’t very likeable to me and I found myself not really caring much about how this story ended. I only finished it because I’ve never DNF’ed a book before and I’m not about to start now.
crystalsparkles's review
challenging
dark
emotional
mysterious
reflective
sad
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Racism, Blood, Grief, Death of parent, Murder, Gaslighting, Colonisation, and Classism
book_reviews_only's review against another edition
3.0
This was an interesting story.. I'm not quite sure how to take it..
Coco was the only survivor of her family.. Her family was brutally murdered one night while she was a teenager out with friends. She came home and found them and could do nothing but hide. Going through a nasty divorce as an adult, she flees back to the town where her family was killed. She is looking after her aunt, who is getting older and forgetful, when she starts to notice odd things happening in this small town that everyone loves so much.
There are some weird things happening and while the storyline never really seems to give you a clue as to how everything is connected or even remotely related, it does all line up eventually. I don't think the ending this story received is right for the book. There are no clues that lead you to who is actually doing all of this. The other piece of this story that hasn't been covered properly either is the whole thing with her ex husband that she ran from. The whole story she thinks that he is coming after her etc., but never does, and never gets cleared up in the end either.
Perhaps there were just too many ways this story could have gone and too many ends to tie up neatly at the end. I will recommend this book to other readers, however be aware that it isn't the easiest book to keep up with. Her mind wanders a lot and talks about things barely relevant to the storyline.
Coco was the only survivor of her family.. Her family was brutally murdered one night while she was a teenager out with friends. She came home and found them and could do nothing but hide. Going through a nasty divorce as an adult, she flees back to the town where her family was killed. She is looking after her aunt, who is getting older and forgetful, when she starts to notice odd things happening in this small town that everyone loves so much.
There are some weird things happening and while the storyline never really seems to give you a clue as to how everything is connected or even remotely related, it does all line up eventually. I don't think the ending this story received is right for the book. There are no clues that lead you to who is actually doing all of this. The other piece of this story that hasn't been covered properly either is the whole thing with her ex husband that she ran from. The whole story she thinks that he is coming after her etc., but never does, and never gets cleared up in the end either.
Perhaps there were just too many ways this story could have gone and too many ends to tie up neatly at the end. I will recommend this book to other readers, however be aware that it isn't the easiest book to keep up with. Her mind wanders a lot and talks about things barely relevant to the storyline.
bookishwelshie's review against another edition
3.0
What Never Happens was one of my Amazon First Reads picks for July. Decided to start it just before the month was up, I’d seen mixed reviews but was curious to see how I’d rate it myself.
Twenty years ago, Colette “Coco” Weber was the sole survivor of a home invasion - her parents and brother were all brutally murdered. Now she is returning to Catalina Island to return to her old family home, where her Aunt Gwen now resides.
She takes up work writing obituaries for the local newspaper that her best friend Maddy runs. A lot of elderly residents of the island seem to be dropping dead of mysterious circumstances, but a lot of islands-folk don’t want to believe that murders could happen there, even though the murders of Colette’s family happened there in 2001! It’s like they have forgotten, or simply don’t care?
Things take a more sinister turn when Colette receives a piece of mail; her own obituary. She suddenly starts to feel like she can’t trust the people around her. Who is out to get her - her obsessive ex that she fled L.A. to get away from? Or somebody else that is on the island? The clock is ticking and Colette is left fighting against her past and against meeting the same fate as her deceased family.
This is an easy and fast paced read, the writing style is engaging - 400+ page can easily fly by at this pace. Colette is a strong black female main character - some girl power representation that we love to see!
However, it didn’t really blow me away. Even though its set in March 2020, the references to COVID feel tired at this point. I guess it was to make it feel more “real world” as I’m assuming this book was written during the pandemic.
The twist near the end was quite good, made sense as one character shows signs of being quite uncaring throughout which make sense once this is revealed.
A solid 3 star thriller.
Twenty years ago, Colette “Coco” Weber was the sole survivor of a home invasion - her parents and brother were all brutally murdered. Now she is returning to Catalina Island to return to her old family home, where her Aunt Gwen now resides.
She takes up work writing obituaries for the local newspaper that her best friend Maddy runs. A lot of elderly residents of the island seem to be dropping dead of mysterious circumstances, but a lot of islands-folk don’t want to believe that murders could happen there, even though the murders of Colette’s family happened there in 2001! It’s like they have forgotten, or simply don’t care?
Things take a more sinister turn when Colette receives a piece of mail; her own obituary. She suddenly starts to feel like she can’t trust the people around her. Who is out to get her - her obsessive ex that she fled L.A. to get away from? Or somebody else that is on the island? The clock is ticking and Colette is left fighting against her past and against meeting the same fate as her deceased family.
This is an easy and fast paced read, the writing style is engaging - 400+ page can easily fly by at this pace. Colette is a strong black female main character - some girl power representation that we love to see!
However, it didn’t really blow me away. Even though its set in March 2020, the references to COVID feel tired at this point. I guess it was to make it feel more “real world” as I’m assuming this book was written during the pandemic.
The twist near the end was quite good, made sense as one character shows signs of being quite uncaring throughout which make sense once this is revealed.
A solid 3 star thriller.
jt793's review against another edition
challenging
mysterious
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.75
meljenkins's review
2.0
The plot of this book though simple on the surface becomes so confusing with all the pieces which don’t seem to fit together until the final moment and even then it seems like such a stretch of “oh yeah I need to work that in some home”. It was so hard to read and weirdly structured. I was confused half the book.