The Girl Before

Devoured this in less than 24 hours.
A page turner filled with interesting characters that will keep you guessing.

This kept my interest. I neglected all my daily responsibilities to keep reading and find out what really happened.

Initial thoughts: I wouldn't put this down after I started, which is better than I had anticipated. The mystery kept me entertained, but not so much guessing, but I felt satisfied with the ending.

Overall this one was also a mess. I'm starting to think maybe I just don't like domestic thrillers? Again, characters unlikable, annoying, making stupid choices. I definitely liked “Playing nice” much much more. Also...what is JP Delaney's grief with the NHS? Lol. Seems to be a theme in all the books.

3.5 rounded up because I read it in one sitting and could NOT tear myself away! Eyes were drooping and even though I was annoyed and thought about stopping I just KEPT GOING.

Very conflicted about this one. I vacillated between giving it 2 or 3 stars. It certainly kept me hooked, and there were a lot of good elements. Unfortunately, not everything about it worked for me. It was an enjoyable enough one-time read, but I won't be recommending it to anyone - or seeing the movie.

This is a dark twisty thriller that was fun to read. The concept of the story was unique and it moved at a fast past. Would recommend to readers who enjoy this type of fiction.

Thanks to NetGalley for a digital advanced review copy of this book.

2.5/5 Stars

One Folgate Street is not your ordinary home. It comes with a very specific set of rules that the occupant MUST adhere to - no questions asked. Edward Monkford - owner and architect of One Folgate - carefully chooses the occupants and is quite frankly, a sociopath. He's insanely controlling and has a pattern of seducing the occupants and falling in love with them. This book got quite erotic quite quickly and I honestly was not prepared for it. It was like 50 Shades of Gray-esque with a hint of thriller, but not a healthy mix of both. It was like a roller coaster of sexually innuendos and, well, sex that heightened toward the middle of the story and then faded out toward the end of the book. I was actually a bit bashful reading this, as 1) I'm not too into eroticas and 2) I was sitting on the train reading this during my commute and I swore the commuters next to me were reading over my shoulder, judging me. However, I did appreciate the thriller aspect of this, as I typically do in my bookish picks. There was a touch of mystery and suspense, as we try to piece together what had happened to Emma. I would say that this was a quick read, being that it flipped between characters Jane and Emmas' POVs quite frequently. However, I was not blown away by the writing or the overall story. I felt as though there were a lot of loose threads and that the story just kind of ended. There was a minor plot twist right at the very end, but not the kind of plot twist that blows your socks off, just an “oh interesting” type twist. Overall I don't say that this would be in my top 5 recommendations to anyone, whatever the preference.

I liked this one well enough, but there was just something about it that left me meh. Maybe it was the ending with Jane, you know the part where suddenly she seemed all calculating and cold where Edward was concerned. Maybe it was the first time Emma called Edward ‘Daddy'. Which, ewww. (Dear authors, There are LOTS of names out there. Can we please stop naming everyone Edward? I blame Twilight for this.) Maybe it was because I never trusted Simon, mostly because I could never figure out why he was hanging around the story so much, unless to end up being the bad guy. Mostly though I think it was because Emma and Jane sounded almost identical in their POVs. I don't know how many times I had to flip back to double check who's name was at the beginning of the chapter. I know they author was trying to convey the idea that Edward was trying to make them into the same person or at least the newest version of his ideal woman, but the women in their own heads were different people. Their outlooks and experiences were different and should have been shown, even if only in the little things like tone or word choice, as such.

The story veered a little too much in the Christian Grey direction (I'm going with what I've heard about those books, as I couldn't bring myself to get to the halfway point of the first book, the writing was so bad). It would have made a better psychological thriller if the author not made it all about Edward setting up the same sexual situations with different women.

Why does it seem like every Brit authored mystery/suspense novel to come out lately is full, from page one to the author's picture on the back cover, with crazy people? Because holy cow were all of these characters immensely unlikable and mentally unstable. Except maybe the neighbor with all the kids. In that way this book reminded me of The Girl on the Train (not only are these books full of crazy, they have ‘Girl' in the title).

Fun, lightweight read on a snowy weekend. Definitely not great literature. I'm sure I'll have forgotten all about it in a couple of weeks.