Thank you to Netgalley, St. Martin's Press and Minotaur Books for the ARC of He Said/She Said in exchange for my honest review.

Another great book by Erin Kelly. I have previously read her other books: The Burning Air, The Poison Tree and The Dark Rose. He Said/She Said is an alternating point of view dark thriller that explores some heavy themes about rape and the way victims are portrayed and treated. The landscape and interactions in the book are written in a way that feels so vivid and gives you a sense of unease as you constantly change your mind about whose version of events you believe and who is really trustworthy and reliable. This book kept me guessing with perfectly executed twists and revelations. The ending was chilling, right down to the final sentence.

Wow! This book was amazing! More intense and emotional than I was expecting - this book had me so engrossed I forgot to make my kids dinner. A must read!

Wow! This is one of the best books I've read in a while! The twists and turns didn't stop! When I thought I had it all figured out, the bombs just kept dropping! Our library has a copy of this book set to arrive when it's released!

I could list numerous adjectives to describe He Said, She Said, but none of them can adequately do it justice! This was, once again, a book I wanted to read because of all the wildly enthusiastic reviews I kept reading about it, so I put my request into NetGalley and prayed fervently for approval. I was ecstatic to see it on my shelf the next day, especially since I was looking for my next big read. I was not disappointed! No, I was riveted!

Erin Kelly is an outstanding writer. He Said, She Said is the first book that I read by her, which seems to be a theme this week, and she immediately became an auto-buy author for me. I’ve already added every one of her books to my TBR list.

*Trigger warning: There is a brief rape scene in the book, and the rape is also mentioned in conjunction with the rape trial. *

The story is told from the alternating POV’s of both Kit and Laura and takes place in two different timelines from 1999 and 2015. The story begins when Kit, who has been a serious eclipse chaser since he was a young boy, and his girlfriend Laura are in Cornwall, and Laura comes across a woman being raped (or is she??). Although Kit doesn’t witness the actual attack, he believes Laura and goes after the perpetrator. They both immediately report the attack and get help for the victim. It is this event that forever changes their lives in ways they could never have imagined!

We see just how enormous the impact of their involvement in the rape trial is when the timeline moves forward to 2015, and Laura is now an emotional wreck and overwrought with anxiety caused by severe psychological stress. At times, she even seems crazed in her actions and thoughts. Kit may not be as outwardly anxious as Laura, but it is obvious he is struggling just as severely with the same stresses and trauma. The couple has also changed their identities and is in hiding. But, who are they hiding from? What happened from the time they reported the sexual assault and were witnesses in the rape trial to fifteen years later that has completely overturned their lives?

Trust me, this is one book you’ll want to read without knowing too much about the overall storyline and characters because it will be a much more pleasurable read that way! I would be doing you a terrible disservice if I told you anything more about the plot! You really must experience every minuscule detail of this intense and mesmerizing foray on your own. It is quite a journey—one that is amazing, riveting, and quite scary at times!

I will say that the book was slow to start, and I was a little worried at first that the rave reviews that I’d heard were wrong! But, I’m so glad that I did not put He Said, She Said down! Kelly is a smart writer; she paces the story perfectly so the suspense builds and builds with mind-blowing twists and turns until the explosive ending! The intensity becomes so strong that I could not put the book down until the final page! He Said, She Said is more than the title, it becomes one of the questions you ask yourself as you read the book! Who is right? Who is wrong? Are the events in the book just a case of he said, she said? And who do you believe? You’ll be asking yourself these questions until the very end of this very unsettling and shocking book! It’s one book you won’t be able to put down.

Thank you NetGalley, St. Martin's Press, and Erin Kelly for an ARC copy of He Said, She Said to read in exchange for my fair and honest review.

3.25 Stars* (rounded down)

Has there ever been one single event that shaped the course of your life thereafter? One event that you couldn't erase or hide from no matter how hard you tried? One where you thought to yourself, if only I'd gone left instead of right? .. but alas, we do not get to have do overs, and neither do Kit and Laura, who were faced with such an event in 1999, and as of 2015, they have yet to escape its aftermath.

As of 2015, Kit and Laura are a married couple, who, after being together for what seems like forever, are expecting twins. For most of his life, Kit has been fascinated by Solar Eclipses. He started chasing them with his father, and has kept doing it ever since. Upon meeting Laura, they started chasing them together. In 1999, they trek to Cornwall for an Eclipse Festival. There, Laura witnesses a young woman being brutally assaulted and comes to her aide. The woman, who she comes to know as Beth, says and does nothing. Laura, believing Beth to be in shock, and takes over and gets Kit to find help and gets the police involved, thus changing the course of their lives forever. The case goes to Trial. Laura and Kit testify on Beth’s behalf against her accuser, Jamie, with Laura being the key witness. It is her testimony that leads to Jamie’s conviction.

Thereafter, all of lives their become intertwined, for better or worse. Beth seeks Laura out. She is drawn to her and though they build a friendship, something is off and both become mistrustful. Things go bad quickly and both Kit and Laura take off, changing their name and from that point on, nothing is as it seems.

For me, this was a very slow paced, long winded and hard to read novel. The first half of the book was extremely slow and because of that, it failed to grab my attention. The second half of the book was almost as slow, though it had more unexpected twists and turns, but unfortunately, it just didn’t live up to the hype.

Thank you to NetGalley, St. Martin’s Press and Erin Kelly for an ARC of this novel in exchange for an honest review.

Published on NetGalley, Goodreads on 6.5.17.
*Will be published on Amazon on 6.6.17.

I really enjoyed this story, even though it wasn’t quite what I thought it was going to be. Upon reading other reviews, I learned it had a slow start, so I went in prepared. I was immediately intrigued, though, and felt the “slow burn” was necessary for the author to delve into the complexity of the charters, building suspense along the way.

This story revolves around a couple of eclipse chasers, which I thought was unique and exciting on its own. During one of their eclipse adventures, they witness a horrible crime that changes their lives forever. Hard decisions await them, and some bad choices are made, permanently changing/altering relationships.

Erin Kelly did a fabulous job with the dual narrative jumping between Laura and Kit, past and present. Usually, these types of narratives can be confusing, but this was easy to follow and made the plot more exciting.
This story focuses around interpersonal relationships, diving into the character’s minds, and there are plenty of twists toward the end making for a big finale.

I highly recommend reading this emotional thriller!

This book could have easily been a 5 star book. It has all the markings: not-perfect characters, a great plot, and it is well written. The basic story is about Beth, who is raped at an eclipse festival, and Laura, who witnesses it, and the unusual friendship that comes of this event. Two things, however, keep me from giving it a 5: too much foreshadowing and Ms. Kelly starts off at the beginning making the reader question Beth as a victim. It is really hard to buy in to a character and feel sorry for it, so that any future twist is felt full-impact, if even the author doubts the character’s motives. On the upside, I learned a whole lot about eclipses and will reminisce about this book and wonder what has happened to the characters when the next one comes in August 2017.

“I knew exactly what I was doing as my fingertips bounced the knife his way, and I watched with satisfaction as his faithless hand closed around the hilt.” Erin Kelly KILLS IT in her latest novel, He Said, She Said. I have to say, I went in to this book blind. This cover has been everywhere on Instagram and I was curious as to what all the fuss was about. I was lucky enough to get a Netgalley arc and now I absolutely understand all the hype. I will say it starts off slowly and it is much more character driven than it is violent thriller. It took a while for it to take off for me but once it did, I could not turn the pages fast enough. I went through a range of emotions as the plot slowly unraveled – it was extremely complex and it makes you examine your own perceptions and beliefs. As Susie Steiner said “Kelly brilliantly uses the eclipse metaphor, exploring the fact that though we long for black and white, the partial view is all we ever get.” I think the not knowing the background of the story was beneficial in reading this, so you aren’t going to get many more details from me, other than YOU ABSOLUTELY NEED TO READ THIS BOOK. 5 mind blowing stars.

Strange things happen during an eclipse....at least in this story! A very clever tale of deceit, cover ups, and personal motives. The choices that we make in life can change the path our life will take. Laura and Kit become involved in a web of chilling events after Laura witnesses a brutal attack of a woman named Beth during an eclipse festival. When Jamie is accused of the rape, you might think you have this crime solved, but not so fast. because everyone has a motive! The ending is very revealing and chilling!

From the moment I heard the premise of this book I was intrigued. We live in the path of totality for the 2017 solar eclipse, and much of the time in my Astronomy classes has been spent telling students about the phenomenon. So I was so excited to get to read it.
This thriller is divided into the four stages of an eclipse, which I felt worked really well. It also switches between present day and flashbacks, both centered around a solar eclipse. Something happens at the first eclipse, and the repercussions follow the main characters throughout the book. There were twists a- plenty, it kept me guessing & second-guessing (and third & fourth) right through to the very end. It's a lot more of a psychological thriller & darker than what I usually read, but it was so well done.

An atmospheric psychological thriller with a masterfully crafted plot. This book was impossibly hard to put down. The clever twist and turns throughout the book will leave you speechless!

Written under different points of views and alternate timelines, the story is revealed as the phases of the lunar eclipse unfold. It is the summer of 1999 at Cornwall’s Lizard Point. Kit and Laura are going to a festival to experience the lunar eclipse. But in the quiet of the night in a deserted part of the event Kit and Laura witness a couple engaged in an intimate act. Laura concludes that this was a rape. He said she said. The phone call is made to the police- an act that will change and shape the rest of their lives. I am giving you only the skeleton of the story as to not reveal the plot. I highly recommended this thrilling summer read by Erin Kelly.

Thank you Netgalley and St. Martin’s Press for the ARC in exchange for my honest review.

He Said/She Said is a dark psychological thriller that kept me interested from beginning to end. I am a huge fan of Kelly's other work as I've read The Burning Air and The Poison Tree so this review might be a bit biased as I loved them both. This was a story about a couple called Laura and Kit, the narrators, who witnessed a rape in progress. Or did they? The story goes back and forth between events that occur in 1999 and 2015 and throughout the book you see the events as they occur from both perspectives. Kelly did a fantastic job of giving you bits of information along the way that left me feeling a bit paranoid and creeped out. I was completely surprised by the ending, which is something I look for in a book. I highly recommend this novel as well as Kelly's other works. She is one of the great literary mystery writers.

This is the best thriller I've read all year hands down! I could not stop reading as there were so many twists and turns. I definitely did not see the ending from the beginning which you can with so many books. I would definitely recommend to anyone who asks!

I absolutely loved this book! Aside from the main storyline which is told alternately from husband and wife, Kit and Laura, we see the mirror images as they relate to the stages of a total eclipse--as the couple have vowed to follow and watch every eclipse no matter how far they must travel. But when Beth and Jamie enter their lives unexpectedly, the secrets and lies multiply until we are never quite sure who is telling the truth about anything in the marriage. The many twists and turns caught me off-guard and the final pages left me gasping. This is my kind of thriller!

Suspense builds throughout the entire novel and never lets up, like the unstoppable stages of a total solar eclipse, a phenomena studied and observed all over the world, from Cornwall to the Arctic, by Laura and Kit. A rape at the Cornwall event in 1999 results in a trial, the HE SAID/SHE SAID of the title. The rape and trial consume the lives of Laura and Kit, and of Beth, the victim and everything culminates 15 later in a violent and surprising confrontation of all involved.

Anne was happy to feature this book in her 2017 Summer Reading Guide!

I so badly wanted to like this book. The plot had so much potential, but the action was wrapped up in to much science for me to really enjoy it. I understand the science played a role because of the main act taking place at an eclipse festival, but I feel like the science overshadowed the action of the trial and the rape. With all the recent rape events happening in our world, this book is timely.

The author is good at building suspense and disclosing details little by little. An unpredictable story with some very good twists. I enjoyed this book from beginning to end.

I put this book down after progressing about 18% and went onto other books. Then I read a blurb about witnessing an attack, suspenseful, secrets, etc. And I was wondering to myself, do I have the same book. The one I was reading was going on and on about chasing ecliptic phenomenons as it is Kit's hobby.

So. . . I picked up the book again and there it was, just like the blurb said. I really think the author needs to start in on the action part a whole lot sooner. I did like how she would go from present time back to the beginning of Kit and Laura's relationship. The author would tell part of a story and then come back, little are you realizing that you are not seeing the secrets and "the rest of the story". When the author does open your eyes, your jaw will drop. I know mine dropped several times over the course of reading this book.

I also think there are instances where the stories could be shortened and it would not take away from the story at all. Sometimes the story just seemed to drone on and on with really nothing being said.

I found this to be a decent read and I enjoyed it. However, had I not read that blurb, I would not have gone back to finish it and give it that second chance.

Thanks to St. Martin's Press and Net Galley for providing me with a free e-galley in exchange for an honest, unbiased review.