wow

loved it and was great with every twist and turn that I just didn't see coming, just when you think you worked it out bam another twist x the ending was a bit blunt

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1 person found this helpful

Gave up

It's a good enough story and the narrator is good at accents and additional characters but I gave up listening because the narration was so weak for the main character...too slow, almost whispered..'softly spoken' is okay up to a point but this went to far imho..it didn't hold my engagement with the main character.

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Tense psychological thriller

This excellent psychological thriller is the first book I have read by Ms Perks, but certainly won't be the last.

I loved the setting of Evergreen Island, where there are only about 100 residents and everyone knows everybody's business. The book alternates between 1993 and the present. In 1993 when Stella was just a child, she and her family left the island in the middle of the night during a storm and she never understood why. In the present bones have been discovered on the edge of the property where Stella used to live and she is drawn back to the island.

I really enjoyed this story of secrets and lies.. The story was intriguing and the tension grew as the book progressed and kept me listening. I loved the descriptions of island life. I tried to guess where the story was going but Ms Perks had me fooled.

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Come Back for Me

Cancelled all plans for the weekend and ploughed through - could not put this book down. No spoilers , just read it , deserves my 5star review, and this is the 45th book I've read this year. The narration was engaging and I felt empathy with the characters and am left wanting to know their story after the book has finished.

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Closets Open, Skeletons Everywhere

🧡 The isolated island of Evergreen is an intriguing setting for this tale of family secrets, lies and murder. With no phone service, streetlights or easy access to the mainland, it’s both idyllic and the ideal place for a psychological thriller.

💜 I was instantly drawn in by the catalyst of a body discovered near the childhood home of main character, Stella Harvey. In fact, Perks is fantastic at immediately creating tension with this along with the islander’s mistrust of outsiders and Stella’s memories of leaving Evergreen.

🖤 The main mystery is intertwined with secrets uncovered along the way, providing a steady flow of revelations before the final phenomenal twist.

💚 There are times when this story is slow and there is some repetitive use of language (“snapped” is overused). What’s more, Stella is slightly too rigidly righteous at times. But these are all forgivable in the grand scheme.
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SOUNDBITE

🎧 Both Sally Scott and Nathalie Buscombe deliver good performances. Clear and expressive. Stella is wistful and forlorn, while Maria is pragmatic and edgier.

🎧 It’s great that there were two narrators. It allows the listener to differentiate between Stella and Maria’s perspectives. However, the voices chosen were slightly too similar. In fact, when I tried to use other audiobooks to determine which narrator read each character, I just couldn’t tell. And they were not credited according to their roles.

🎧 The chapter listings didn’t specify where there was a prologue and thus the chapter numbers were off by 1. They also didn’t separate the credits. Not a massive issue, but worth noting.
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SHALL I COMPARE THEE TO...

There’s a little bit of gothic in this psychological thriller, bringing to mind Heathcliff’s isolated home, Wuthering Heights.

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nail biting suspence from the start.

twists and turns to keep you on your toes. would definitely recommend this book to anyone who likes a mystery.

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A Good Listen With Reservations

Mostly I liked it. At times the conversational plot content lost me.. a little too vague but the book did keep my interest. Not over keen on the main narrators voice. So a mixed review from me really.

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Decent plot spoilt by sanctimonious heroine

Found the main character so lacking in empathy and full of self righteousness that I found myself becoming increasingly irritated with her which was a shame as I loved the settling and the plot line; found it totally unbelievable that she was a trained counsellor. Overall I don’t think I will be reading any more of this author’s work.

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Tedious

Hard to concentrate on the content because it was so slow - far too long and too much filler.
Had to keep rewinding in case I’d actually missed something happening.
The only audible book I have not enjoyed so far.

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Insipid

The main character was full of herself, so bloody righteous insipid little miss goody two shoes.
She needed to be tougher to play the part. Please don't tell me that people keep scrap books of photos hidden and treat them like a guilty secret ! I found her so annoying a let down too woman, she was weak and pathetic.

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