It took me a while to finish this book. While it is my normal thriller type book, I really just couldn't get into it.

This book should be packed in your holiday bag or you should just get it for a rainy day. It is everything you hope from a book with a story like this. There are multiple suspects, people that are supposed to be helping but from whom you are not sure they are and hope and happiness that come from strange places.
Chloe wakes up and while talking to the people in her surrounding you know immediately that something is not right. Her confusion, her struggle to get her memory back is obvious and it is easy to feel for her.
I did focus on the right suspect early on in the story but this did not ruin the developments. It did make me more focussed I think on some parts of the story that I picked up that might be overseen if you are on the wrong track. Be prepared to get angry at people you think are the allies.

I was mesmerized by the suspenseful tone throughout this book! Chloe was involved in a terrible car accident. When she wakes up, she has no memory of what happened before or during the accident. She only knows the little bits and pieces that her family has told her. Although still weak from her injuries, she tries to piece together what really happened to get her life back. The people surrounding Chloe all seem to have something mysterious and dark about how they are acting. Unfortunately, Chloe is not strong enough to be on her own and is stuck with them. The tone is set where it feels as if something terrible will happen any moment. So many lies!

Great book. On the edge of my seat with who can be trusted. Between the Lies kept me guessing the whole time. I will check out this author again for sure!

In Between the Lies, Chloe Daniels wakes up after a car accident with no memory of who she is or how the accident happened. Her father happens to be a psychologist who specializes in memory, and he keeps her at home with their family, claiming that he's helping her get better. However, as memories begin trickling back in, Chloe realizes that they don't quite match up with what people are telling her, and she has no idea how to parse out the lies from the truth.

I love psychological thrillers, so this one seemed completely up my alley. It's a compelling concept and a solid thriller, but it never quite gripped me. I sympathized with Chloe's predicament. I thought her father was downright creepy, and the first few chapters revealed twist after twist, such that the reader is kept off-balance almost as much as Chloe is. Adams also does a good job in making it plausible how Chloe is unable to escape her family's home and figure out the truth on her own. But I think after a while, it just got a bit much, and the revelations in the first half of the novel started to lose my interest.

The novel did pick up in the second half, when Chloe connects with a friend and starts delving into her own investigation of the truth. The bad guy and their motivation weren't too difficult to pinpoint and while Chloe's cluelessness was understandable, it also did get a bit irritating after a while. Still, it was a solid, enjoyable read as layers are finally stripped away from the truth, and the novel speeds on towards its conclusion.

+

Thank you to St. Martin's Press for an e-galley in exchange for an honest review.

Would there be anything more terrifying than waking up and not remembering who you were?

When Chloe Daniels regains consciousness after a car accident, she doesn’t recognize her own family, and she isn’t sure they are telling her the full truth of what happened before her accident. The premise of this book is so chilling and suspenseful. It truly stands out from other books that deal with memory loss as well. Michelle Adams has a unique voice and perspective, and I enjoyed Between the Lies so much I purchased my own finished copy! This is a fantastic psychological thriller!

Reflection

Chloe Daniels wakes in a hospital with no memory of what happened before. She doesn’t recognize her family. She doesn’t know who she is. She doesn’t remember who she was. A car accident is what they told her. But now she is isolated at her family’s home, trying to regain her strength and sense of self. But things don’t quite add up. Her family isn’t telling her something. They are lying to her. And what about her father and his therapy sessions he conducts with Chloe? The more Chloe uncovers, the more she realizes she can’t trust those she is supposed to love the most.

Chloe is a truly fascinating character. As opposed to how readers connect with most leads, Chloe is actually sort of a non-character at the beginning. She doesn’t know exactly who she is or what her life is, so through the early part of the novel, we get to know Chloe as Chloe gets to know herself. It’s an interesting way to develop a character, because we are shocked by the details of her life we learn right along with her. We are placed in her shoes.

As Chloe learns more about her life, there are these fascinating moments where Chloe’s moral compass kicks in and we see her doubt whether she was the type of person she wants to be. She is often shocked by behaviors or actions other describes, and without context, motive, and feelings, she doesn’t always know how to reconcile those stories with who she is now. It’s truly a fantastic and gripping way to learn about a character, seeing her question what she learns about herself. And all of that contributes to her confusion over who is lying to her—because what she hears about her life doesn’t sound like who she is at all. And maybe it isn’t who she is!

I don’t want to say much else, because I don’t want to spoil any of Chloe’s stories, but I will say I loved this novel! Very suspenseful and unique, and Michelle Adams is so talented as a writer. It was so compelling learning about Chloe’s life as she does, trying to make sense of the stories she is told and the fragments of memories that come back to her. A fantastic thriller that readers will love!

Thank you to St. Martin’s Griffin for my copy of this book. Opinions are my own.

Thanks Netgalley and the Publisher. What a page turning thriller which had me hooked from start to finish. Highly recommend this to other readers

The characters, setting and plot of this story made for such a compelling read. I was rooting for Chloe so much and I felt so connected to her. She has such a heartbreaking story and her family is terrible. Especially her father but her mom and sister aren’t that much better. Her father really irritated me and I know he served a specific purpose to the plot but I was just so tired of seeing him. Which I guess means kudos to Adams because she did such a great job writing such an unlikeable character.

Part of the reason this thriller works so well is that we, the reader, are figuring things out at the same time as Chloe. I also really enjoyed the progression of Chloe as she gets stronger throughout the story. As mentioned above, the setting is another part of the book that I really enjoyed. There was a lot of rain and storms which just helped to make everything feel darker and spookier. Also, the pacing was perfectly done. Nothing ever felt stagnant and things were moving along so well that I couldn’t wait to find out what was going to be revealed next.

I only gave this book four stars because I figured out the big twist about a third of the way in, although there was a lot of other stuff surrounding the big twist that I didn’t see coming. This is a thriller that really lives up to its name and I recommend this to anyone who is in the mood for a well fleshed out domestic thriller.

Chloe Daniels wakes up from her coma in the hospital confused. She doesn’t remember her name, the people claiming to be her family or if she’s married. She’s told she was in a horrible car accident and now suffers from amnesia after her head was injured in the accident. Her parents along with her sister take her back to her childhood home. After a few days of rest , her parents refuse to allow her to leave or visit her own home. Chloe feels like their hiding something from her. Her father is a doctor and is helping her with her treatment along with forcing meds on her. The more questions she’s asks it seems like her father gets angrier and her mother seems to walk on egg shells. As her memories start coming back in pieces she begins to question her own sanity and the more she digs she starts to realize that everyone is lying to her. This is told mostly in Chloe’s POV along with an anonymous person writing a love letter to Chloe that is quite creepy! The chapters were short so it made it a quick read for me. I loved that as I was reading I felt just as confused as Chloe! This is for any readers who love psychological read along with thrillers! Four stars!

This was a great book! One I didn’t want to put down! I would highly recommend curled up with a glass of wine and taking the day off to read !

Book starts off with the after effects of a car accident and the main character Chloe Daniels waking up not knowing what happened or having any memory of anything. She ends up going home with her parents and her sister and still feels out of place. Her family comes off as very sketchy like they are withholding information from her and you are not really sure if it’s for her own good or not.
We find out that she was married and had a son and according to her father, her husband died a week before the accident and the son died in the accident. She eventually goes to the police as little snippets come back to her and to let them know what she remembers. The police inform her that her husband is in fact not dead and that her father lied to her. Also according to her father, her husband Andrew, took a blank check and didn’t turn back.
I am not going to lie, her father came across as a creep not someone who was looking out for her but more himself.
Chloe tries to remember the missing pieces and then there is Damien, the apparent owner and driver of the other car who she meets up with. She is trying to figure out who ran her off the road and Damien drops the bomb that she was the one driving his car. So who was driving hers with her son in the backseat? I won’t spoil who the bad guy was in the end but I didn’t see him as the culprit.
Overall, I thought the book was really good and kept my interest. Thanks to netgalley for the ARC for me to read and review.
4 stars!

A romantic suspense tale wrapped in a psychological thriller, Between the Lies takes the domestic thriller in a new direction.

Chloe awakens after being in a coma for over a month. She had a severe head injury after surviving a car accident. Amnesia prevents her from remembering the accident and everything before it.

After leaving the hospital, she moves in with her family. Her father, an award-winning psychiatrist, tries to help her recover her memories. However, all it does is give her nightmares about a young boy, a rainy night, and a car crash into trees. Her family is evasive when questioned about the boy. Chloe vows to discover what really happened that night.

The twists are frequent in Between the Lies. All are fairly foreshadowed allowing amateur detectives to solve the mystery before Chloe. This book is recommended for fans of Nora Roberts and Alice Feeney. 4 stars!

Thanks to St. Martin’s Press and NetGalley for a copy in exchange for an honest review.

3.5 stars

What would you do if you woke up one day and couldn’t remember a single detail from your past life? Not only that, the people taking care of you, who claim to be your family, you find out are actually keeping secrets from you about your past life and even outright lying to you, feeding you one lie after another after another? This is the exact situation that Chloe Daniels, the protagonist of Michelle Adams’s newest work Between the Lies, finds herself in after she wakes up following a horrific car accident. As she slowly recovers from the trauma, both physically and mentally, she starts to remember bits and pieces of her life, faded memories of events and people, as well as glimpses into the person she was before the accident. When getting closer and closer to the truth also means putting herself back in harm’s way, Chloe must decide whether it is a risk worth taking.

Given the above premise, this book definitely started off quite strong. With the story being told mostly from Chloe’s point of view, the author did a good job keeping the suspense element going by putting us, as the readers, into Chloe’s mind and unravelling the truth of her life alongside her, pretty much every step of the way. The story continued to be intriguing as Chloe unraveled one lie after another and at several points in the story, initially at least, it was actually hard not to feel sorry for what she was going through, for the sheer helplessness of her situation. Unfortunately, around the midway point or so, the story started to drag a little and there were certain points where I kind of questioned Chloe’s actions in terms of how realistic it was for her to be doing what she was doing given the circumstances. The suspense piece also fizzled out a bit for me at that point, though it probably didn’t help that I had already figured out the ending early on and had already guessed who the “unnamed narrator” was whose thoughts were interspersed sporadically in between Chloe’s narration of events. Not sure if the story was too predictable or perhaps I’m just getting better at figuring these things out now after reading so many thrillers / suspense novels the past few years – I wasn’t surprised at the way everything played out and when “the truth” was finally revealed, it felt anti-climactic because I already expected it.

With all the above said though, one of the things I appreciated most about this book was the writing. As the title implies, much of the book was about the protagonist trying to figure out the truth in between all the lies and the way the story was written, the lies actually blended in so naturally that, at times, it truly was hard to distinguish between the two. Also, the story was compelling enough to keep my attention throughout, despite some of the parts that dragged, which I feel is important in this case because I didn’t really like most of the characters all that much and couldn’t relate to any of them.

Overall, this was a good story that is definitely worth a read, though don’t expect an “edge-of-your-seat” thriller because this definitely is not that type of book. I would categorize this more as domestic suspense, as there was no roller coaster ride of twists and turns and not much in terms of a “big reveal” (though of course, opinions may differ on this, as it depends on whether you figured out the ending early like I did). I would recommend checking this one out for yourself to see if it’s worth your time, as the story is certainly compelling enough to make this a relatively quick read.

Received ARC from St. Martin’s Griffin via NetGalley

I received a free e-copy of Between The Lies by Michelle Adams from NetGalley for my honest review.

Chloe wakes up in the hospital with no memory of who she is or how she got to the hospital. She is staying with her parents while she is recovering from her car accident. Her family seem to be lacking information and details that they are giving her. She feels like she is locked in at their property. She know that things aren't as they should be and that everyone is lying to her. Who can she trust or is everyone lying? She slowly unravels the truth about her accident and everything else.

The book is slow moving to start but picks up pace as you read along. Glad I stuck with it.

This was a well written but relatively slow paced psychological suspense thriller, set around the South Coast of England, which explores the effects of amnesia. It required some suspension of disbelief if you know anything about psychology.

Chloe Daniels wakes from a coma after a road accident with no knowledge of what happened or even who she is. Taken home by the people who claim to be her family, she struggles to come to terms with the thought that the accident could’ve been her fault. Her father, a psychiatrist whose work involves treating post traumatic stress patients, is giving her medication and insisting on conducting her therapy himself, but when she finds out he has been lying to her, she no longer knows who she can trust. As flashes of memory begin to return, guilt, fear, loss and anger take hold as she fights to find out the truth.

I personally don’t like the first person present style, but was willing to overlook this for a good story. Initially it wasn’t clear which way this was going to go, is this a case of gaslighting or is Chloe the person she thinks she is, but as more is slowly revealed, the guilty party will be rather obvious to anyone who reads much in this genre. The middle part dragged for me as Chloe becomes increasingly histrionic and unreasonable, and while it did speed up at the end, it was all a bit predictable. 3.5 rounded down for lack of originality and plausibility.

My thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for the arc in exchange for an honest review. Between The Lies is available now.

This book me some time to warm up to. The beginning is really slow, but where some books lose the plot in the middle, this one picks up. I enjoyed watching Chloe navigate one lie after another as she tries to find out what happened that fateful night. Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for the ARC.

Perfect psychological thriller! It moved at a fast pace with twists and turns throughout! I couldn’t put it down! Highly recommend!

Lies, lies, so many lies!
Chloe Daniels wakes up from a month-long coma with no memory of her life before the car accident. Living at home with her mom, dad and sister does not seem to be helping her remember anything, the accident that put her in the coma, or her life leading up to it. What she keeps discovering is that what they've been telling her has been lies. What are they trying to cover up, and why won't they let her leave the house? The plot in this story is everyone's worse nightmare. What would you do if you couldn't remember or trust the people closest to you? This book kept me wanting to read more, as the truth began to unfold. It was a quick read, a page turner that I would recommend.

I do know: you can't bring the dead back to life. The old Chloe is gone, and I'm afraid I might never get her back. 

I'm more afraid that my family don't want me to. 

ABOUT THIS BOOK: What would you do if you woke up and didn't know who you were?

Chloe Daniels regains consciousness in a hospital with no memory of how she got there. She doesn't recognise the strangers who call themselves family. She can't even remember her own name.

What if your past remained a mystery?

As she slowly recovers, her parents and sister begin to share details of her life. 
The successful career. The seaside home. The near-fatal car crash.
But Chloe senses they're keeping dark secrets - and her determination to uncover the truth will have devastating consequences.

What if the people you should be able trust are lying to you?

MY THOUGHTS: I am at that age where I sometimes forget things. I swear I put something somewhere, and find it somewhere totally different. I leave the room to do something and, halfway to wherever I am going, forget what it was I was going to do. Frustrating and annoying as this may be, it palls in comparison to forgetting your whole life, at having to rely on what people, whom you don't remember, tell you is the truth. But then, why would they lie?

I felt that I was being swept along by an avalanche as I read Between the Lies by Michelle Adams. I started it when I went to bed last night, and finished it before bed tonight. It has all the ingredients of a great read: secrets, lies, memory loss, manipulative people, death and deceit. 

Told mainly from Chloe's point of view, with occasional input from an unknown character, the pace is relentless, the plot full of surprises. Trying to unravel the identity of the unknown character had me accusing character after character of being 'the one'. Yes, I did get it right, eventually. . . 

This is a really good read, not a perfect read, but a really good one. Good enough to have me chasing up other books by this author. It is not always entirely plausible, there are a couple of smallish holes in the technicalities, but overall I really enjoyed Between the Lies. 



THE AUTHOR: I was born in 1981, the youngest of five and the only girl. For a short period of time after that I might have been my mum's long awaited princess, but it became obvious that I was the kind of child who was more into mud pies and catching insects than I was pretty dresses. I loved my purple Doc Marten's, hated my floral wallpaper, and was never allowed to paint my bedroom black. No, not even the ceiling.

I went to school in Warwick, UK, and throughout my school years I loved art, music, and English, yet somehow managed to end up studying clinical science at university. Despite my graduation and subsequent employment as a physiologist in cardiology, my creative tendencies were never far away. And the one aspiration I could never let go of was that of being a writer, so on a wet new year's eve sometime around the turn of the millennium, I announced to a friend that I was going to write a book. It took another five years of note taking and day dreaming, but eventually I sat down to complete my first manuscript. It didn't get picked up, but it drove me into writing the second, and third, and so on and so forth. By early 2015 I had finished writing MY SISTER, and I was offered representation by the Madeleine Milburn Literary, TV, and Film Agency. MY SISTER became my debut, and it is hotly followed by BETWEEN THE LIES in July 2018.

Now I write almost every day, starting at nine, finishing at some point in the afternoon. Sometimes people ask me where I get my idea's from, and it's a hard question to answer. Lot's of things inspire me, but if I had to sum it up in one word the answer would probably be people; the things we do, say, and the different ways in which we behave towards one another. When I’m not writing I love to read. The first book that I didn't want to end was Margaret Atwood's The Handmaid's Tale, and the first book that broke my heart was Captain Corelli's Mandolin. Gerald's Game by Stephen King was the spark that made me want to write in the first place. I think I was probably about nine when I read that.

I like people who don't give up on their dreams, and those who show compassion for other people. I am crazy about my cat, and fortunate that the other people in my house tolerate him. I love travelling, and am lucky enough to live close to Greece which has to be one of the most beautiful places in the world. I'm currently training for the London marathon, so if you've got training tips, or ideas on how to avoid shin splints, I want to hear them. Finally, if you love Game of Thrones you can count me as a friend, but if you shared my theory regarding the Tower of Joy before you watched THAT episode, or have access to a pre-release copy of The Winds of Winter, you can count yourself part of the family. 

DISCLOSURE: Thank you to St Martin's Press via Netgalley for providing a digital ARC of Between the Lies by Michelle Adams for review. All opinions expressed in this review are entirely my own personal opinions. 

Please refer to my Goodreads.com profile page or the about page on sandysbookaday.wordpress.com for an explanation of my rating system. This review and others are also published on my webpage

BETWEEN THE LIES by Michelle Adams looked intriguing from the synopsis but I had no idea how fast it would suck me in. This is one of those "clear the calendar" types of books where you HAVE to know what will happen. I finished this in 2 nights and it killed me to put it down to go to sleep after I got through the first half.
From the moment the main character Chloe Daniels wakes up after a car accident, she remembers nothing. With the "help" from her family, she starts to piece together the life she left...but is everyone telling the truth? Chloe begins to discover heartbreaking lies her family has told to "protect her" and how the perhaps the ones she trusts most are the ones not to be trusted.
This book is like a run-away train (in the best sense!) and has you hooked from the first sentence until the very last. A fabulous read for those who love psychological thrillers! Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for an e-ARC of this book. All thoughts and opinions are my own.