Last year, Jessica Strawser's debut, Almost Missed You, was one of my favorite debut novels of the year. Happily, Not That I Could Tell is, if anything, even better than her first book. It's a thoughtful book about the complications of living so close to people who you may never really know, and the tension of worrying about what has happened to someone and who may be responsible. Strawser doles out details about the characters' personal lives slowly and steadily, right up until the final twist at the end. Definite similarities to Big Little Lies will make this a great readalike suggestion.

Not That I Could Tell by Jessica Strawser is a domestic drama mixed with a bit of suspense. This one would be another of what I’m starting to call my popcorn books in which you just sit back with your popcorn and watch the drama unfold in this neighborhood.

One Saturday night Clara decided to invite all the ladies in the neighborhood over for a bit of a girls night. A little wine and adult company around the fire pit sounded perfect to the busy mothers of the group. Izzy who had just moved didn’t have children to chase around but she was all for making some new friends in her new neighborhood after having her heart broken when the man she loved married her sister.

On Sunday most of the group found themselves nursing hangovers after getting a little too carried away with the wine in which they weren’t used to having. But on Monday morning everyone was completely shocked to hear that one of their neighbors had gone missing after their party. Kristin’s estranged husband had called in the police when he couldn’t get in touch with her with it looking like she had packed up her twins and left.

One might think this would be more of a thriller with a missing mother and her children with no clue where they had gone or what had happened to them but their story is somewhat background to getting to know the drama of the neighborhood. The story mostly follows Izzy and Clara but you do get to know all of the neighborhood including a very ambitious twelve year old that gets involved investigating. It was all quite captivating with an easy flow to the story and great characterization. I’d count this as another winner from Jessica Strawser that had me engaged all the way to the end.

I received an advance copy from the publisher via NetGalley.

Not That I Could Tell is the first book I’ve read by Jessica Strawser and I enjoyed it.

A group of neighbourhood women gather around a fire pit enjoying a child free Saturday evening, but come Monday morning one of the is missing. Its a small town where everyone seems to have an opinion but ta down to Detective Bryant to try and find out what happened.

This book is well written and the story flows along at a nice pace. I read this over a couple of days and found myself eager to progress through the chapters.

Thank you to NetGalley, St Martin’s Press and the author for the chance to review.

While I can see myself recommending this book to others, it just wasn't the book for me. I didn't care for the writing style and felt like the setting didn't ring true. I was also distracted by sloppy details, although they really weren't details that were important to the plot.

Unfortunately, this book was not at all a good fit for me. I found the first two thirds of the book to be dull and the last third did not add anything to the premise of this novel. While I am fully aware that domestic violence is a huge problem, I felt as if this book did not do the topic any justice.

So sorry to say that this book was not for me.

Thanks you to the author, the publisher, and NetGalley for making an advanced copy of this book available to me.

This book had a lot of promise. I was hooked immediately and found myself not able to put it down. I have to say I was letdown by the ending. I saw it coming but had hoped there would be a blindside I didn’t see coming. All in all it was very well written and had me on the edge of my seat for most of the book just felt the ending was anticlimactic.

Neighbor women (Clara, Kristin, Randi, Rhoda, and Izzy) enjoy a GNO only to discover that one of them has gone missing over night! Where has Kristin disappeared to, and why? Does her soon-to-be-ex-husband, Paul, know anything about why she left?

Kristin is the seemingly perfect stay at home mother of twins, Abby and Aaron, school volunteer extraordinaire, and in the process of divorcing her OB husband, Paul. Clara is a stay at home mom busy with husband Benny, preschooler Thomas, baby Maddie, and caregiver to neighbor Natalie's precocious 12 year old daughter, Hallie. She was also Kristin's closest friend, but will soon wonder how well she really knew her. Rhonda and Randi are busy with baby Adele and their boutique, Moondance. Izzy is a single, radio station's morning producer, and is grieving the loss of her best friend, Josh, after he recently married her sister, Penny. Yes, she was secretly in love with him.

Each woman is, of course, wrapped up in her own life, but once they discover Kristin—and her twins, Abby and Aaron—are missing, they will do anything to help find her! After Kristin's disappearance, the women all felt "off balance" and Izzy "supposed scrutiny could do that to a group of people." But, alas, "in Yellow Springs, good vibes bubble up," so surely Kristin and the twins will be found safe and sound, won't they?!? Read this suspenseful story to find out!

A year ago, I read the author's debut, Almost Missed You and rated it 3 stars. I enjoyed the writing style but the ending seemed too contrived for me. This time, I loved seeing how her writing style and story had matured and grown, and it earned 4 solid stars. I would recommend this one for fans of the Desperate Housewives TV show and Big Little Lies!

Thank you to the author, the publisher, and the Great Thought's Ninja Review Team for a free advance copy of this book! All opinions are my own.

This book's description really had me intrigued. It was supposed to be about friends who had a night around a fire to have a break from the kids and just chat and be social. Then, the next day, one of them is gone and nobody understands or knows where she might have gone. She has taken the kids, too. Or, is something else going on? Sounds exciting, right?


Well, it started off that way. I was really excited to see what was going on. However, in my opinion, it started to drag and get really predictable. The bad part for me was this was supposed to be a "thriller" and it just did not deliver on that front.


There were other aspects of the story regarding the other women on the street. One has been through a traumatic experience herself, but you don't find out what until later. One of the others is running away from unrequited love and the other is dealing with a very precocious daughter who stirs up a little trouble on the street. Then, there are Rhoda and Randi, the couple who has a new baby and runs a shop in the small town.

There was ONE small surprising thing and I won't spoil it here. The book kept me interested enough to finish it, but it was no big shocker and it certainly shouldn't be called a thriller. This is more like Women's Domestic Fiction, but not Chick Lit.

When a group of neighborhood women gathers, wine in hand, around a fire pit where their backyards meet one Saturday night, most of them are just ecstatic to have discovered that their baby monitors reach that far. It’s a rare kid-free night, and they’re giddy with it. They drink too much, and the conversation turns personal.

By Monday morning, one of them is gone.

Everyone knows something about everyone else in the quirky small Ohio town of Yellow Springs, but no one can make sense of the disappearance. Kristin was a sociable twin mom, college administrator, and doctor’s wife who didn’t seem all that bothered by her impending divorce—and the investigation turns up more questions than answers, with her husband, Paul, at the center. For her closest neighbor, Clara, the incident triggers memories she thought she’d put behind her—and when she’s unable to extract herself from the widening circle of scrutiny, her own suspicions quickly grow. But the neighborhood’s newest addition, Izzy, is determined not to jump to any conclusions—especially since she’s dealing with a crisis of her own.

As the police investigation goes from a media circus to a cold case, the neighbors are forced to reexamine what’s going on behind their own closed doors—and to ask how well anyone really knows anyone else.



My Thoughts: A story that could have been ripped from the headlines, Not That I Could Tell was a reminder that secrets, lies, and possible violence could be hiding behind any of the doors in a friendly neighborhood.

From the police and the media presence to the suspicious behavior of several normally sociable neighbors, there is a sense hovering in the neighborhood that nothing will ever be the same in the quiet small town of Yellow Springs, Ohio.

Izzy is new to the neighborhood, and smarting from her own feelings of betrayal when her best friend and potential love interest marries her younger sister. Clara, who hosted the party and who has her own past connections to domestic violence, is suddenly hypervigilant. Then there is Paul, the almost ex-husband of Kristin, moving back into the house after his wife has gone missing…and acting sad and victimized by it all. But what is really behind his behavior? What had happened between them? How would the neighbors learn to cope with events?

As the story winds down and with the police unable to close the case, a few things happen unexpectedly that bring out the final secrets and reveal everything that was unknown. The story was interesting, with some characters I enjoyed…but I figured out much of what was happening long before the end. However, there were some missing pieces that I enjoyed watching unfold. 4.5 stars.***My e-ARC came from the publisher via NetGalley.

I loved this book. So well written. I found this book unputdownable!!

3.5 stars

I really enjoyed Strawser’s first novel, but this one didn’t quite hit the mark.

A group of neighborhood women gather, wine in hand, for a rare kid-free night. They drink too much and by morning one of them is gone. Each of the women have their own stories, which could fill a book all on their own, but this story focuses on Kristin’s disappearance. She vanishes without a trace with her twins, leaving her husband under the watchful eye of the police.

While I wanted to know what really happened to Kristin, I kept waiting for the “Wow!” moment, the twist that would make my jaw drop. While I was surprised with a slight twist at the end, it wasn’t enough. It was a “That’s it?” moment instead of a “Holy crap!” moment. Not That I Could Tell didn’t feel much like a mystery, but more like women’s fiction. Don’t get me wrong, women’s fiction isn’t bad, but I opened this book with anticipation of a mystery and I didn’t get that.

Despite my disappoint with the lack of mystery, Strawser has still written a good book and I look forward to her next.

I guessed what happened to Kristin at the 3% mark, but that's not what ruined the book for me. It was the situation with Izzy loving her best friend Josh and then having him marry her sister. The whole thing was painful. And I know that this is just a side story, but it made my heart hurt in a way I didn't like. [I would've felt better if Izzy fell for Detective Bryant, he wanted to date her after all, but she refused him because of his job. I didn't like her line at the end when Clara asked her about a potential romance with Detective Bryant: "For once, I just want there to be a story with a happily-ever-after that does not involve ending up with a love interest." What's the fun in that? (hide spoiler)]

‘Not That I Could Tell’ exemplifies the fact that nobody ever really knows what goes on behind closed doors. Kristin Kirkland’s neighbors thought they knew her well until one day she was missing. Questions arose as to whether she ran away to escape domestic violence, or if she was too late. It turned out that her neighbors didn’t really know her at all. I enjoyed how the author developed the relationships between the neighbors and I also enjoyed the slow build up of suspense until the satisfying conclusion. The author gave you just enough to keep you reading and keep you guessing.
I received an Advance Review Copy of this book. All opinions are my own.

This is a reasonably straightforward psychological suspense thriller which delves into the relationships between neighbours, who are sometimes friends, and how they can replace family bonds, sometimes successfully, sometimes not.

A group of women living on the same suburban Ohio street get together for drinks and gossip around a new firepit on a late summer Saturday night. By Monday it becomes apparent that one of them, Kristin, has not been seen since, and her twin toddlers are also missing. Her estranged husband Paul, a successful obstetrician, is frantic with worry, but the police see signs that she left voluntarily so are initially more concerned that she has taken the children.

The story is told mainly from the point of view of two of the women - Clara, who hosted the party, is sure that Paul had something to do with the disappearance, but no evidence. She had a bad experience years earlier, which has coloured her view of broken relationships, and made her deeply suspicious. Izzy, single breakfast radio station producer, is still reeling from the recent marriage of her best friend Joshua, to her younger sister, when she had been secretly in love with him for years. Recognising her own loneliness in Paul, she befriends him, contrary to the advice of the other women.

The main mystery here, is whether Paul is an innocent victim of a scheming manipulator, or a domestic abuser whose actions led to his wife’s flight. There were a few too many clues meaning that the reveal was not a surprise, and the small twist not really that shocking either. The more enjoyable part of it for me was the way the neighbours all interact, from the lovely lesbian hippies, who have “all the tools”, to the precocious 12 year old wannabe journalist. This was a bit like a Liane Moriarty novel, without as much humour and satire. Nothing particularly original, but a satisfying read. 3.5, rounded up for good writing and sympathetic characters.

Thanks to the publisher and NetGalley for the ARC in exchange for an honest review.

This book started off a little slow, but then picked up speed. It was a really good plot!

I wanted to read this book but the font was set too small for me to be able to read it at all. Sorry.

A group of friends gathers around the fire pit for an evening to gossip and drink wine without husbands and kids. What could be better than this for a group of young over-stressed women. Until the next morning when the police show up at each of their houses to tell them that one of their friends has disappeared. Kristin, the mother of twins and soon to be divorced wife of a doctor has disappeared with the kids and no one has a clue where she is, whether she left voluntarily or was forced. As the tension builds in the neighborhood due to police questioning and the media presence, we learn that each of the women has secrets that she hasn't shared with her friends. I really can't say much about the plot without a spoiler but I will say that this is a wonderful books. The characters are well written and were a great representation of women everywhere. The plot is fantastic and a real page turner. Don't think you have it all figured out too early in the book because you will be wrong. I highly recommend this one!

I received an advance copy from the publisher. All opinions are my own.

4.5 stars
I received an ARC of "NOT THAT I COULD TELL" from NetGalley for an honest review. I wish to thank NetGalley, St. Martin's Press, and Jessica Strawser for the opportunity to read this book.

This is the second book that I have read by Jessica Strawser and this was better than the first one!! This is a thriller about a mom disappearing with her kids and the dad is suspected. The story twists and turns so much into a very satisfying ending.

Jessica Strawser definitely has a career for herself writing thrillers. I thought that the story was going several different ways until the ending when she had me hook, line, and sinker!! This was a fast, frantic, and satisfying novel. It will be one of THE books of the Spring break season. I imagine that it will be read by many pools in warm places!!

Definite RECOMMEND!!

This book was about a mother and her 2 children who disappeared after a neighborhood barbeque. It is told not from her perspective, but from the neighbors. I gathered information but could not piece it all together to the end. I liked the characters and found them realistic. There was lots of drama and side stories, Clara's being very interesting. I also liked how the author started each chapter with some kind of quote or tidbit of information. The ending was a surprise for me, not what I expected, but fit the story well.
Thanks to NetGalley for providing this book to be in return for a review.

If you like books that are suspenseful, while not actually being a thriller, this is your book. The author made sure to really develop characters in a way that allows readers to connect and hope, pray, or whatever you believe for them. While not my typical book, the mystery part kept me reading and I was actually very surprised by the outcome.