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justjoel's review against another edition
1.0
Yikes.
I knew early on that I should have DNFed this, but it was my last remaining audiobook credit for the month, and I was too lazy to open a different app and find another listen.
I really don't have much nice to say about this. I didn't like any of the characters. They made stupid choices, never explained their motivations, and seemed like they existed just to exasperate me. The actions without explanations bugged me most, but there were very few things about this that didn't bug me. And I guessed the twist super early, so that wasn't even working in its favor.
Too trite, too convenient, too bad it couldn't even muster 2 stars.
1 out of 5 stars.
I knew early on that I should have DNFed this, but it was my last remaining audiobook credit for the month, and I was too lazy to open a different app and find another listen.
I really don't have much nice to say about this. I didn't like any of the characters. They made stupid choices, never explained their motivations, and seemed like they existed just to exasperate me. The actions without explanations bugged me most, but there were very few things about this that didn't bug me. And I guessed the twist super early, so that wasn't even working in its favor.
Too trite, too convenient, too bad it couldn't even muster 2 stars.
1 out of 5 stars.
winglady's review against another edition
4.0
Suspenseful, but some of the characters didn't quite ring true. Others were well-drawn, however.
l3m0nad3's review
slow-paced
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
2.0
I hated the mother I wanted to love the book but that mother is horrible
mindfullibrarian's review against another edition
4.0
This family suspense story was satisfying and had just enough family backstory and relationship details to keep this from being simply a dark and twisted tale. A quick read ~ I definitely recommend this to suspense fans!
notesonbookmarks's review against another edition
3.0
My biggest critique of this book is that there are so many women in it with different relationships to one another that it gets a little hard to keep track of everyone until you really get a handle on the characters. Tiffany and Nora are friends who moved away from their hometown, where Nora's mom Liz and sister Quinn live. Nora drops off Everlee, who she calls Lucy, to Quinn's house, owned by their mom, and tells her not to let anyone know she's there. Got all that? After you can wrap your head around all of the ins and outs of the relationships, you're pretty much good to go on this ride, where we wonder who Everlee's dad is, why she has to hide, etc etc. The mystery element is well-plotted if the buildup is a bit convoluted.
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 against another edition
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 against another edition
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!