So much melodrama. So much happening with so little build up. So not surprised by how it ended.

I'm having such a hard time articulating why this didn't do it for me. But from the first few pages I just didn't like how it was written and it only got worse from there. It felt contrived.. the main character, the dialogue, the plot developments. Nothing was subtle or happened organically. It was so distracting that it was difficult to even care about the case.

This is a fairly fast-paced "mystery lite" with a policewoman who turned from her bad girl ways after an incident in her teen years that resulted in a stint at a juvie detention center. Miranda has put her past behind her and is now a well-respected member of the force.

When a beloved college professor, the son of a prominent member of the community, is murdered Miranda and her partner are called to investigate. Miranda's past comes back to haunt her when she finds a news clipping of her teenage incident in the professor's home. Before long, Miranda becomes the prime suspect. I won't say more to avoid posting spoilers.

So why the 3 stars? There was a lack of depth in the writing, plot, and the characters, plus a declaration of love that came out of nowhere and had me rolling my eyes. However, I did finish it and turning the pages were like eating potato chips....I wanted more. It was an easy read and would be a perfect book for when you don't want to think too hard and don't mind a little predictability. I would consider it a 'romantic suspense beach read' - and there's nothing wrong with that as long as you know up front that's what you're getting.

Randi Rader was a rebellious teenager from the wrong side of the tracks. With her history of lies and her low-life parents, she is placed in juvenile hall for six months when no one believes her story of being abducted on a back road by some monster. Lack of evidence at the scene of the supposed abduction and an ounce of weed in her pocket seals her fate. Flash forward to the present and Miranda Rader is a model officer in the Hammond PD. When she and her partner investigate what appears to be a revenge killing, evidence at the scene points to the night Randi can never forget. Why is someone setting her up?

This was a disappointing read considering the promising blurb. The police chief sends mixed signals from the moment he appears on page. He is proud of Miranda. She’s his best investigator. He doesn’t believe her. He reminds her she has lied in the past.

I never bought into the relationship between Miranda and her partner Jake. He tells her he loves her then rats her out to the increasingly questionable Police Chief? Is that love? Was the romance between these two just added to make this a romantic intrigue novel? Their whole relationship just never rang true for me.

And don’t get me started on Miranda, the best investigator on the force. She makes some dumb procedural moves which sabotage any chance of success she might have had on the case. Only when her back is up against the wall does she finally begin to ponder why someone has implicated her in two murders. By that point I had lost all faith in her investigative skills and didn’t care for her or Jake enough to root for them.

I’ve read Erica Spindler novels in the past and enjoyed her fast-paced thrillers.

The Other Girl missed the mark for this reader.

ARC received with thanks from St. Martin’s Press via NetGalley for review.

I received an ARC from NetGalley for an honest review.

I think the reason I like mysteries and thrillers so much is that a good one is hard to put down. They are fast paced, and leave me thinking about them, even when I am not reading.

This book did not disappoint. Right from the first page it dives into the story with a satisfying pace.

I would love to read more books with this main character. Hopefully a series is possible!

I've been trying to figure out why, for the life of me, I have not read anything by this author before. I thoroughly enjoyed this book. I was quickly swept up in the story and didn't want to put the book down. I thought the story was intriguing with interesting characters. The author kept me guessing what was going to happen next. There was plenty of suspense that kept me on the edge of my seat. I will definitely be reading more written by this author.

I received a copy of this book from the publisher through NetGalley. My review has been voluntarily submitted.

NetGalley ARC

While I enjoyed reading this fast paced thriller, in the end it was pretty basic.

Miranda is a typical lady cop character. Her troubled past makes it difficult to open up to those around her. She is estranged from her family and has defies authority for the sake of justice.

When a local professor is murdered it dredges up memories of her abduction and near rape as a teenager.

The plot hinges both on long intricate planning by the perpetrator as well as incomprehensible coincidences. I also guessed most of the end early on, although it ended up being more convoluted than I imagined.

This is the first book I have read by this author and, on the face of what I read, it won't be the last.
Miranda Rader, police officer, is hiding from her past. Something she has worked hard to forget. She is called to the scene of a gruesome murder, that of a college professor. On investigating the scene, she discovers a clipping that brings her past back into the present. A second murder, the officer involved back in her past is also killed and it soon becomes apparent that she may be the missing link. Then this is confirmed when further evidence comes to light and she is forced to face her past once and for all as she becomes a key person of interest. Can she prove her innocence and put her past to bed once and for all?
This book had me spinning around all over the place. We flitted between the present and the past almost seamlessly as we follow the investigation in the now along with cleverly inserted flashbacks to Miranda's past. Miranda's partner Jake really make a good team. I absolutely loved the way they worked together both professionally and personally to get to the truth. There were the obligatory twists and turns, some of which were completely unexpected, others I had already worked out but this didn't spoil my overall journey through this story.
Pacing was consistent with the story which, at times, moved along at a fair lick making it quite a hard book to put down. This was aided by the intriguing nature of the crimes being investigated which also kept me on my toes nicely.
Characterisation was also well done. I connected with both Miranda and Jake right from the start which is always helpful when starting a new author whose style I was unfamiliar with initially.
There seems to be a glut in books following detectives with a past which crops up in current investigations however this book is a great example of the type and the storyline and characters depicted within made this a satisfying read overall.
I am not sure whether we will be seeing Miranda again in a future book as I can't see anything saying that this is the start of a new series. I for one would love for her to come back, even if only as a bit part player in a future book.

My thanks go to the Publisher and Netgalley for the chance to read this book.

This was a solid thriller that I was able to read in basically one sitting. It was definitely predictable, but figuring out the ending didn't ruin the story for me in this case. The book kept me interested and was the perfect length for this kind of thriller.

The Other Girl by Erica Spindler is a recommended police procedural.

Officer Miranda Rader of the Harmony, Louisiana PD is called in to investigate the brutal murder of popular English professor Richard Stark, son of the powerful university president in this small town. The murder has every indication that it was one of great anger and planning. While Miranda is now a successful, respected police officer, she has a past. When a newspaper clipping from her past is found at the scene along with her fingerprints, it seems that someone is trying to set Miranda up, but why?

The clipping is from 2002 when she was a teen. At that time she was known as Randi, and she was from the wrong side of the tracks. After an assault that was never confirmed and an arrest for possession, she spends some time in juvie. This was the impetus that propelled Miranda to turn the direction of her life around. Now someone is trying to set her up. But the case is more complicated than that because Miranda realizes that the victim was also a sexual predator and has likely been abusing woman for years. To complicate matters even more, now is the time her partner, Jake, decides to confess his love for her.

The Other Girl starts off strong with Randi's misguided actions in 2002 and the present day brutal murder of a man who has a hidden past. Chapters continue to jump between the past and present to explain the connection. The novel, however, soon veers off course and becomes a mash-up of subplots. If you want a little romance with your police procedural and don't care about surprising evidence being uncovered or a shocking conclusion, this is a well-written book. Yes, it relies heavily on several tried and true plot devices and stereotypes, but it flows smoothly and is a quick read. Spindler brings it all to a conclusion.

There were problems that made me feel The Other Girl is just an average mystery. The fingerprints at the scene, the chief questioning her integrity, the chief's cowering before the university president, combined with her personal life, the sudden romance, the estranged family, etc. (there are more issues) all resulted in the feeling that generic subplots were all mashed together in this one novel. This culminated in more than a few eye-rolls. The whole romance portion could have (and should have) been left out. The idea that Miranda is a smart, intuitive investigator never makes sense because she's not approaching everything in an intelligent manner.

Spindler has written better novels, so, for me, this is a good airplane book. It'll help pass the time.

Disclosure: My review copy was courtesy of the publisher/author.
http://www.shetreadssoftly.com/2017/08/the-other-girl.html
https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/2098693167

5/5 stars

To be completely honest, I've never read any other books by this author so I wasn't sure what to expect when reading this book. I wasn't disappointed.

This book starts off with a girl named Randi who gets picked up by one of her brother's friends. As the story goes on the friend doesn't understand the word no and Randi runs away and starts walking on the road. A little later a car with a guy and girl stop and pick her up. They suggest that she can go to a party with them and Randi agrees.

We find out a little later that Randi is actually Miranda, the cop that the book follows. She gets a case that she's sure has something to do with that night 14 years ago.

Richard Stark was murdered and the murderer planted evidence that made it look like Miranda had something to do with it. She's kicked off the case and suspended but that doesn't stop her from finding out what happened.

I really enjoyed this book. It was fast paced and a binge worthy read. It will be released on August 22, 2017 and I definitely recommend that you pick it up. You won't regret it.

Thank you to NetGalley for a copy in exchange for an honest review.

Miranda Rader has outgrown her wild days and is now an upstanding citizen and police officer, but when a murder in the small town starts bringing up pieces from the past, she must confront it head on.

There are only a few chapters that take place in the past, but they were perfectly timed and just enough to get the glimpse of what happened to Miranda and why she is who she is now and even a peak into the people who were around then and now. I loved them, but didn't need any more than were provided.

I have to say although through it all I loved it, I was disappointed in the main character because I feel like she didn't go down a route of questioning until late in the book and not to give much away but the title of the book was a semi giveaway!

I still loved the book and the writing and how the whole book came together and I would completely read another book by Erica Spindler and will be passing her praise to all my friends and family who read the mystery/thriller who dun it genre.

3+ stars. I like eating candy every now and then, but it always leaves me feeling a bit sick, or hungry for real food, or with a weird chemical taste in my mouth. Reading The Other Girl was a bit like eating candy. I liked it while I read it, but it wasn't particularly nutritious or satisfying in the end. When Randi was 15 years old, she ended up in a "juvie" centre because no one took her cry for help seriously. Now, at age 30, Randi is Miranda and a cop and she ends up caught up in the investigation of a murder that brings her back to what happened when she was 15 years old. I won't say more about the plot to avoid spoilers. I read plenty of mysteries and some psychological thrillers and I've come to think that it can be an under appreciated genre. There's lots of room for complex characters and plots that engage with challenging real life issues, so it's not the genre that has me comparing The Other Girl to candy. It's the depth of the story and the quality of the writing. This was an entertaining read, but it felt both a tad too predictable and improbable, including alienation from a difficult family and a romance that came out of nowhere. I expect that I will never stop eating candy -- always lured by the promise of something immediately tasty -- but I need lots of nutritious food too. Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for an opportunity to read an advance copy.

Somehow Erica Spindler has stayed off my radar before now and looking at her back catalogue I’m not quite sure how?! She writes the exact type of books that pull me in and the premise of The Other Girl has many of the elements I love, I’ll definitely be reading more of her work in the future.

I totally devoured this book, I would’ve easily read it in one sitting but had to force myself to put it down because it was so late when I started it. It was one of those effortless reads where the pages just keep flying by and before you know it you’ve finished! There are some flashbacks to 2002 and a night where Miranda had a terrible ordeal but the bulk is told in the present. The pacing was spot on, things move quickly and I was so eager to find out what had happened previously and what would happen next. Here’s what’s weird, at least for me. I predicted like ninety nine percent of the twists and instead of being annoyed and disappointed like I usually would be I wasn’t bothered in the slightest. This was so entertaining that I just kind of brushed it off and patted myself on the back and kept reading. So bizarre but I think it just speaks to what a fantastic storyteller Spindler is.

This was a tense, addictive and suspenseful read that kept my attention, I was pretty glued to my Kindle throughout. Miranda had an interesting and heartbreaking backstory and I was rooting for her the whole time. She was a well drawn character and the secondary characters were also multidimensional, I especially liked her partner Jake. I didn’t totally predict the ending and I was satisfied by how things came together, again Spindler has a new fan in me and I’ll be adding some of her earlier work to my TBT list!

This is the first Spindler novel I’ve read in a while, and I kicked myself for it repeatedly as I read THE OTHER GIRL. I’ve enjoyed reading other books by this author, so I have no idea why I let myself miss out on so many while I was busy reading other things. I’m going to chalk it up to temporary bookish insanity (defined as neglecting to read books by authors you love to read), brought on (as always) by the distraction of other books. Luckily, all it took was a pre-approved Netgalley widget from St. Martin’s Press to cure me of this terrible condition, and I’m eternally grateful!

All joking aside, I’m glad I didn’t miss out on reading this one. I’m really loving crime thrillers lately, and this one is especially good. Miranda “Randi” Rader has a rich back story that is crucial to the entirety of the story. She is a “bad” girl gone good… as a teenager, she was a juvenile delinquent from the wrong side of the tracks, a known liar up to no good. Her life changed after the night she was held against her will—along with another girl—and managed to escape to find help that never came because no one would believe her. This was the turning point in Miranda’s life, culminating in her becoming a detective in the Harmony, Louisiana Police Department. During the investigation of two murders, Miranda realizes that—despite having changed her life and becoming a respected officer and person in the community—the specter of “Randi” Rader still loomed large enough to cast doubt on her integrity as an officer when evidence found at the crime scenes appears to tie her to the victims of both murders.

I love it when a character has to prove they’re not the person they used to be, so I enjoyed seeing Miranda fight her way through the ghosts of her past. The sub-plot of the story, having to do with Miranda’s relationship with her family, was as good as the main plot. There were times I wished that aspect of her life was explored in more detail, even though it wasn’t the main story, because it was so fascinating to read. Equally compelling were the scenes with Jake, her partner, both on and off the job.

All the characters in this novel—both major and minor—are well written and easily pictured in the mind’s eye as you read. I found myself wanting to know more about all of them, no matter how minor a character they were, because they were all so interesting. In many books, minor characters are easily forgettable once their small role in the story is complete, but that’s certainly not the case here, in my opinion.

I was able to figure out the murderer’s identity, but it wasn’t easily done. Spindler made use of subtle misdirection that cast doubt on my suspect-of-choice many times, and it wasn’t until I’d almost reached the big reveal that I felt certain I’d figured it out. For this reason, I didn’t let it affect my rating… THE OTHER GIRL definitely earned every one of the four stars I’ve given it!

If you’re a Spindler fan currently suffering from temporary bookish insanity, or a fan of crime thrillers who hasn’t yet had the pleasure of reading one of her books, I highly recommend that you read THE OTHER GIRL. I think you’ll enjoy it as much as I did!

I received an advance review copy of this book courtesy of St. Martin’s Press via Netgalley.

This book was sadly an amalgamation of a hundred other tropes used before in detective-driven thrillers. While there was an attempt to be attention grabbing with the brutal nature of the murder, it couldn't hide the weak writing and especially weak characterization. The interactions were forced and the dual storylines not interesting enough to stay invested in. Overall, a miss in terms of being a fast-paced, attention grabbing thriller.

Miranda / Randi is a successful police detective after surviving juvenile delinquency and a kidnapping that no one believed her about. But, the past is back to haunt her when the harrowing incident is brought back to the surface in her newest murder investigation. This is my first Erica Spindler book and I am glad I read it. Other than feeling like she took a couple easy outs at certain points in the book, I liked her complex characters well developed plot lines. Following Miranda as she tries to determine what is going on behind the clues that are presented to her was enjoyable and made for a thoughtful, engaging read. I think I need to go check out a few other titles from Ms. Spindler.

This was my first time reading an Erica Spindler book and I have to say I really enjoyed it! I will definitely be reading more of her books very soon!

Miranda Rader is a police officer with the Hammond PD in Louisiana. She is a good cop, known to be honest and trustworthy – but that wasn’t always the case. Miranda had a tough life, she came from the wrong side of the tracks and was known to be wild. She worked really hard to get her life back on track and leave that wild girl behind. Unfortunately, Miranda and her partner are called in to investigate a gruesome murder of a popular college professor. Will her past come back to haunt her? Will Miranda’s honesty and trustworthiness be questioned?

The Other Girl is suspenseful and entertaining with many twists and turns and great characters - everything I was looking for. Even though I did predict the ending, I found this book to be a page turner and I truly enjoyed every minute of it!

* I want to thank NetGalley, St. Martin’s Press, and Erica Spindler for an ARC of this book.

I love the way Erica Spindler tells a story. She's able to put me in the setting, so I experience what it's like to live in the characters' world. That was my favorite aspect of this particular story.

The opening immediately gets our attention. A well-liked, handsome, wealthy man is found murdered in way meant to cause a sensation. From there we delve into Miranda's past, as it tangles with the present. Unfortunately, most of the plot direction and twists, for me, are obvious. Miranda is supposed to be a great detective, yet she continually misses all these obvious clues. When she finally does put the pieces together, the ending feels anticlimactic.

Miranda is a well developed and interesting character. The other characters felt a little flat. A romance blooms out of seemingly nowhere. I would have liked to feel more of the build-up there. Also, we learn about Miranda's troubled past with her family, yet I didn't get more than a vague sense of those family members in either the past or the present. That part of the story initially felt important, yet the resolution was like a firecracker that fizzles out instead of exploding.

In the end, the complex subject matter had a superficial feel. I prefer more depth and intrigue, but that's specific to me. I have no doubt that lots of readers will love this story.

This was a quick read and not in a bad way. I really enjoyed this book and didn't want to put it down. This book is about a murder that happened 14 years after a terrible night for the main character. Miranda has to figure out why that night 14 years ago and now are connected to solve this murder but also to bring justice for a lot of women. There is a lot of small town politics that get involved which play a major role in this story.

How have I never heard of Erica Spindler before?
Thank you Netgalley and St. Martens Press for introducing me to this very talented author with a free copy of the ebook for review.

This book is filled with suspense and mystery, lots of twists and turns. Just when you think you figured out the mystery you will be in for a surprise, I sure was! I love how this book goes back and forth from the main character Miranda Vader's past as a rebellious teenager to the present as a Police Officer.

Miranda has a secret, something devastating that happened to her one night as a teen that comes back to bite her as an adult, when she discovers a dead body and the investigation finds her finger prints all around the crime scene, leading to her being the prime suspect.

This book kept me up well into the early morning hours flipping pages, needing to find out what was going to happen next in the story. I love it when a story isn't so obvious, I was a bit fearful that this might happen with this book, but it kept me guessing and changing my mind and leading to a surprise ending that I definitely wasn't expecting.