caitlandrenee's review against another edition
3.0
I liked Liz, even though she was obviously a fairly annoying and uppity person in real life - I can imagine someone like her... the other characters were very meh. The general idea of the book of the little girl being dropped off from one sister to another without so much as a single word just befuddles me. How hard is it to say, "Please protect her - there's someone dangerous after her and I'll try to fill you in when I can?" Not very hard. More so, I'm not really sure why she thought Donovan would get custody of Everly because he's not her father in any capacity, and Nora obviously knows that she is actually related to Everly in *some* fashion - so why couldn't she just get custody? I'll give it 3 stars just because it actually kept me reading, and the writing was decent.
kjones77's review
mysterious
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? N/A
- Diverse cast of characters? N/A
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
whimsicallymeghan's review against another edition
3.0
The Sanford family have always been prim and proper, living a façade as the perfect family to the world. But now, as all their children are grown, secrets are starting to slip out. When Nora shows up to town after years of irregular contact with her sister, Quinn, she drops off a little girl, Lucy, and leaves without a word. Now left to take of Lucy, Quinn has more questions than answers. Who is this little girl? Why did Nora leave? Slowly, the web of lies that held their family together for so long is beginning to unravel. This could have been a great novel, but it lacked in areas, so it was just a good novel. It had good moments, but it was hard to find them between the way this felt poorly executed. This could have been a great mystery novel, but it felt like the author kept certain key plots and information a secret for the sake of the element of surprise. Things would happen that would leave the reader guessing and wanting more, but it would take forever to get an answer, then when we finally did get an answer, it just felt like it was blown out of proportion all for shock value. The reader didn’t care for that; they also didn’t care that there were so many things happening at once because it made it confusing and hard to keep track of information. The actual bare bones of the story were good, but all the layers that were added on top, and the way it was told, were not. The reader also didn’t exactly care for the characters. Yes, they were developed, to a point, and they went through a lot, like talk about unpacking trauma and again, used for the shock value, which felt a little icky to the reader, these characters did grow from start to finish. The mother was probably the biggest transformation; the reader couldn’t stand her when she was first introduced, but over the course of the novel we started to realize why she was the way that she was and how she’s slowly unpacking that, so the reader could appreciate that. It was interesting to see that the one character who ruined the majority of these character’s lives, was dead (not a spoiler). But that was helpful to the plot and to the characters because it let them move away and move on and heal. This novel focused too much on being a suspense/thriller and it could have been such a beautiful novel about healing from abusive people and finding the help and resources in the people you love. This novel gets points for effort because it did have quality moments, but it spent too much time being something it wasn’t.
illidia316's review
5.0
This book had me hooked from the first page. It was one where I stayed up later, woke up earlier, put off things I needed to do so I could read another fantastic chapter or two. The characters were all so great, the bad guy was especially bad, and the story itself was amazing. Loved it!
sneakyawe's review
2.0
Disappointed by this book. Not even really sure why it was on my TBR but I saw it was available and grabbed it. I feel like there was SO much more to this story and these characters, but instead it was focused around this one weird story line that literally had nothing to do with any of the people that narrated the story. Unimpressed.
shelfreflectionofficial's review
4.0
I had the mystery aspect of this book figured out fairly early on, but it didn't take away from the suspense or quality of the story. It was an interesting and unique plot, a page-turner. A couple times the characters made some questionable choices given the circumstances, but I still enjoyed the book and will definitely read more of her work. I read more about the author after I finished. Her multiple adoptions and work through her non-profit no doubt add to the reality of her stories and characters and an understanding of the psychological journey people go through in these circumstances.
Sidenote: Turns out Baart also lives near my old stomping grounds which is kind of cool. The Midwest references are fun- especially being one of the few who will know what a Hy-Vee is! :)
Sidenote: Turns out Baart also lives near my old stomping grounds which is kind of cool. The Midwest references are fun- especially being one of the few who will know what a Hy-Vee is! :)