3.25 Stars* (rounded down)

A Slow Burning Mystery/Suspense.

When Erin’s husband Perry dies, Erin falls apart, while her teenage daughter Shorie keeps it together - all while starting her Freshman year at College. A few years ago, friends Erin, Perry, Ben and Sabine formed “Jax” an uber successful online budgeting company that helps people keep track of their finances. With Perry’s death, Erin wants to sell, something her partners don’t agree with. The thing is, that Erin hasn’t exactly been herself lately (Surprise, Surprise!) and no one trust her to make sound business decisions. Her partners think the best plan of action is to send Erin off to “Hidden Sands” a rest and rehabilitation retreat in the Caribbean instead. Ahh.. can you feel the sun, and the sand? Feels heavenly!

Shorie is a computer whiz thus she can’t help but keep tabs on Jax while she’s away and that’s when she starts noticing a few things that appear to be suspicious. Meanwhile, things at Hidden Sands aren’t magical after all.

What started out as an interesting ride, quickly became predictable and somewhat confusing. “Until the Day I Die” is the second novel I’ve read by Emily Carpenter and while this one wasn’t as far-fetched as “Every Single Secret,” I found it lacking in intrigue. I’ve been reading a lot of thrillers these last few years so perhaps this was just a case of my highly anticipating this novel and it not quite meeting my expectations.

This was a another buddy read with Kaceey!

Thank you to NetGalley, Lake Union Publishing and Emily Carpenter for an arc of this novel in exchange for an honest review.

Published on NetGalley and Goodreads on 2.20.19.

This was a real page turner with crazy levels of tension and action. The super-fast pace made it easy to overlook plot holes and things that just didn’t make sense. This is not a realistic story and that’s part of the fun. I think our intrinsic mistrust of technology and new apps that we allow to access way more information than seems prudent makes one aspect of this story feel plausible. The situation on the island however is total inventive fantasy. This isn’t a situation that could happen in real life as I’m pretty sure someone would catch on. This didn’t matter one whit to my enjoyment. In terms of sheer suspense and excitement this was a 5 star read. You could not find a more entertaining and engaging book. I do have to say that I wasn’t a fan of the ending. Everything wrapped up too quickly and neatly and the epilogue was just infuriating. Despite this small complaint I did very much enjoy this book and I see it being a big hit with summer time beach readers. Just make sure you watch your drink!

Thank you to Lake Union Publishing for providing an Electronic Advance Reader Copy via NetGalley for review.

Erin Gaines might be spiraling a bit out of control. She is recently widowed; her husband, Perry, died just months prior in a car accident and Erin has been struggling to cope. Erin and Perry's daughter Shorie is also feeling the loss and is resentful of her mother for being such a mess. Erin is pushing Shorie to follow through on her father's wishes and attend Auburn on her full-ride scholarship. Shorie wants to stay home and work at Jax, the tech company that Erin and Perry created with their best friends Sabine and Ben.

When Ben and Erin drop Shorie off at Auburn, Erin shows up at a frat party Shorie is attending, makes a scene, and blacks out. Her friends and family decide that something must be done. Ben and Sabine, Shorie, Jax's corporate lawyer Layton, and Erin's in-laws Arch and Gigi stage an intervention. They push Erin into going to Hidden Sands, a glitzy "restoration" resort on a Caribbean resort. Erin arrives and quickly realizes that Hidden Sands isn't a normal rehab facility. Meanwhile, Shorie is keeping tabs on Jax from school and realizes that there's something shady happening with the app.

Now Shorie is set on figuring out what is happening and if someone is sabotaging Jax from the inside while Erin is beginning to worry that someone is trying to make sure she disappears for good.

I thoroughly enjoyed Until the Day I Die and found it to be a quick, engaging read. A few implausible moments in the resolution of the storyline kept it from being a five star read for me, but it was an entertaining novel and would be an excellent poolside/beach read.

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Shorie and her mom Erin are still grieving her father, Perry’s, death and trying to live life in the way he would have wanted. Shorie is going off to college with hopes of returning to work at her parent’s software company. Erin, in her role as CEO, is trying to make decisions for the company that her and her husband started with their best friends a few years ago. The four were meant to work together until the end but Perry’s death has put Erin in a majority shareholder position and unsure if she has it in her to continue with the company. Maybe she just needs some rest and time away. Enter Hidden Sands, a place for rehabilitation and rejuvenation on an island in the Caribbean. It sounds perfect and might just be the thing to take Erin’s attention off of her company.

This modern psychological thriller was engaging enough to read beyond what my body was telling me was enough time. The character struggles felt real and the secondary characters also felt very realistic. The story, while at some points became a little too soap ‘opera-ish’ for me, was fresh and kept me guessing. I enjoyed the mostly 2 character perspective. I give this book 4 stars for it’s ingenuity and characters and recommend it for anyone looking for a tense thriller with a modern twist.

Thank you to @netgalley and #lakeunionpublishing for this book in exchange for an honest review.

B1DC6E77-1D30-4CC7-82F4-9C828D69284EThank you to Lake Union Publishers for providing me with a free digital copy of Until The Day I Die in exchange for my honest review. All opinions are my own.

Until The Day I Die is the third book by Emily Carpenter that I’ve read and I think it’s my new favorite! Ms. Carpenter has become the queen of the atmospheric thriller, in my own mind at least. She develops such strong settings that not only transport you to another place but also give off the creepiest of vibes. The Weight of Lies and Every Single Secret both take place in old mansions with so many quirks that I was scared for the characters. In Until The Day I Die, the tropical resort where the main character goes is so unnaturally perfect, I was left wondering what the catch was.

What made this thriller work so well for me was the realistic nature of the plot. The horrifying reality that Erin was facing could very well happen in real life. Thrillers can sometimes get a little far fetched but what happened in UTDID could probably actually happen to someone. I don’t want to say much more for fear of spoilers, but just know that UTDID is another great thriller from Emily Carpenter and a five star read for me!

I thought this story took too long to get into, there was a lot of build up that I didn't care for unfortunately. The author's writing was addictive and made it easy to get through but did not find the story thrilling or mysterious enough.

This book tells the story of a mum and her daughter torn apart by death and lies that are threatening to destroy them both.

It looks at grief and how different people deal with it. The consequences of their decisions are also affecting the family business.

Absolutely riveting suspense! An explosive story of loss, lies and betrayal. Emily Carpenter takes us on a wild ride from beginning to end. This story is told in the alternating voices of Erin and Shorie, mother and daughter. Perry, husband and father, recently died in a car accident. Was it really an accident or was foul play involved? Who can they trust? This book is full of twists and turns. Every time I thought I knew what was happening I was wrong. This book will keep you guessing. It kept me turning the pages well into the night. Full of richly woven, complex characters, some you love, some you question. It is a story of strength and survival. Emily Carpenter has woven a multi layered story that is a blockbuster. A true nail biter that will have you on the edge of your seat. This is one you don't want to miss! Highly, highly recommend!

Shorie and her mom, Erin, are grieving the loss of husband and father. Nerves are frayed as they try to continue a very successful tech company and also get Shorie ready for her first year of college.

Erin seems to fall apart over Shorie starting college and her business buddies intervene and send her off to relax a luxurious spa in the Caribbean.  So we have Shorie at college, and her mom without technology on a remote island, an island where she is supposed to be relaxing and recovering.

But almost immediately Shorie discovers a discrepancy in company figures. But where is it coming from? Is it possible there was a bigger reason to get her mom out of the picture?

The fast roller coaster ride begins!

My Thoughts

What Concerned Me: When I saw that one review called this a roller coaster ride, I jumped on board. This book starts out slow, in fact for me (a person who feels the need to be caught up in a story quickly), I wondered if I could make it through the whole book.

Yet, soon the story captured my interested and I was zooming through the pages, only to get to the end. A VE-R-Y S-L-O-W ride back into the roller coaster’s main platform. And this slow ending had several chapters untwisting the plot, by now a plot of far too many coincidences that I wasn’t sure I cared too much about.

As an avid reader, I engage "suspension of disbelief," but this felt over-the-top unbelievable.

What I Liked Most: To be honest, this is a really hard book to rate since the writing is very good. And much of the story is page-turning.

Since it has lots to offer and the things that concerned me might not bother you, definitely give this book a try.

3.5 stars rounded up. Would have been 4 stars but I really didn’t like the epilogue. It kind of threw off the entire book for me. Overall I really enjoyed this book though. It drew me in from the beginning and kept me on the edge of my seat trying to figure out who was behind everything. Everything I want to say would give a spoiler so I will just say go ahead and read this book!

Erin Gaines is overwhelmed. Her husband is dead and their company, Jax, which they started with their friends, is doing well, yet she is considering selling. She is insisting that her daughter, Shorie, attend college classes and not stay home to work at Jax. Erin appears to be distracted and is making mistakes at work and it is affecting her relationships. When her friends and daughter have an intervention for her, it is determined that she should go to spa resort to get back on track.

This is a book that I was highly anticipating. I had very high hopes and was so intrigued by the description. I dove in and found the beginning to be slow but was convinced that this book was going to pick up. It did. The middle became interesting but then things slowed down again. I found the ending to be convenient and not plausible.

This book picked up for me when Erin arrived at the Spa retreat. The characters there were interesting, and the pace picked up for me. The middle had that something-is-going-to-go-down feel to it. I could just feel that something was going to happen. But what? Just what the heck is going on? This section of the book was fun and slightly campy (bad pun) and at times felt like a made for TV or lifeline movie.

Then things slowed down for me again. My biggest two issues with this book are that I did not feel connected to any of the characters and the slow sections. I have enjoyed other books by this Author and will keep reading, this one just didn’t live up to my high expectations. The beginning and the ending took away from my enjoyment. I could look past the slow beginning, but the ending didn't work for me. In a lot of books, I can suspend disbelief when things seem far-fetched, but I had a hard time with it in this book.

I can't fault the writing. Emily Carpenter is a talented writer and I look forward to reading more books by her.

Thank you to Lake Union Publishing and NetGalley who provided me with a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review. All the thoughts and opinions are my own.

I very much enjoyed this book! An original, innovative suspense novel - would definitely recommend. I flew through this one!

At first I trusted no one and was really concerned who was surrounding Shorie and Erin. When Erin went to the island that was crazy with a capital C. About halfway through I didn't want to stop reading and then the ending came fast and unbelievable. I mean Shorie is a very capable 18 year old but seriously it was a bit much. I keep thinking about the island. The nightmare is haunting me.

I won an ARC of this book from @netgalley, below is my honest review:

This book receives solid marks, but doesn't top my thriller charts. I liked that the story alternated between the voices of Erin and her daughter Shorie to at first cast doubt on Erin's sanity and to later add credibility to her concerns. This book had a laundry list of characters, arguably too many for me to keep them all straight in my head, but there was never a lack of people to suspect and I do love to be kept guessing in a thriller.

The thing about thrillers is that I like is for my anxiety to build throughout, but I agree with a lot of other Goodreads reviews that I've seen about this one: that it read like fiction for most of the first half because we had to wait for the suspense to ramp up. I also felt like the book was so far-fetched that it was hard to connect to. Despite those critiques, I did enjoy guessing who would float to the top of the suspect pool and figure out who was behind what was happening both in Birmingham and in the Caribbean. I would rate this book 3.5 stars (rounded up to 4 stars).

Melodramatic, imaginative & a rocky ride!

First off I really need to say that I have thoroughly enjoyed this author’s previous books and will continue to read her books regardless of not enjoying this one as much as I would of liked to.

UNTIL THE DAY I DIE by EMILY CARPENTER is a slow-moving, sinister and suspenseful novel that was a quick and easy read. Although, I wouldn’t necessarily say that I was totally engaged but I was entertained and interested enough throughout this book to keep me turning those pages but I was never truly invested in this story though.

It took me on a rocky ride that definitely had me a little excited to start reading but then the slow climb up stayed on a steady slow incline for most of this novel and never really picked up the pace for me. There was one point in the novel that did have me a little excited and I was enjoying the ride but then it just mellowed out again and I was just along for the ride waiting for the end.

I love an imaginative storyline and totally embrace an unrealistic or far-fetched angle to it but I have to totally believe what the author is selling though and I’m not exactly sure that I “believed” it with this one though.

Expected Publication Date: March 12, 2019

* Traveling Sisters read *

Norma’s Stats:
Cover: Intriguing, eye-catching, appealing, ominous and a fitting representation to storyline.
Title: Intriguing and like how it played into one part of the storyline but unsure how it fits into the whole storyline in general though.
Writing/Prose: Well-written, engaging and readable.
Plot: Slow-building with an interesting and imaginative premise.
Ending: Lackluster, over-the-top and a little disappointing.
Overall: Even though I feel like I wasn’t quite the right reader for this one, I still recommend giving it a try!

Thank you so much to NetGalley, Lake Union Publishing and Emily Carpenter for the opportunity to read this ARC.

I think Emily Carpenter is the first author to keep me in an extreme state of trepidation through at least half of a book. A slow burn at first, this book truly takes off as soon as Erin arrives at the “restoration” facility. I couldn’t read fast enough and the anxiety just continued to build. I was suspicious of everyone and everything; I was ready to accuse Ben’s dog, Tiger, by the last quarter of the book.

I had a bit of trouble with the timeline at the beginning due to the changes in POV between Erin and Shorie but eventually, I was able to settle into Carpenter’s story-telling. I was in awe over how authentic Erin and Shorie’s voices were. Subtle changes in vocabulary and tone made such a difference that I wouldn’t have needed the chapter headings to let me know which POV we were reading. The emotions, particularly the anxiety felt by Erin and Shorie’s angst and frustration, were brilliantly written and relatable. I would love to listen to this as an audiobook!

This thriller had me hooked. I don’t necessarily enjoy being held up in suspense for the entirety of a book so I tend not to read many thrillers but I am so glad I made an exception for this book. I would love to listen to this as an audiobook!

I really enjoyed this book . It is a good fast paced mystery that has enough twists and turn to keep you guessing till the end.
Thanks for letting me review this book to the publisher and Netgalley

Such a great book! I absolutely loved the character of Shorie and how she never stopped trying to prove something was going on. She was a great character!

Emily Carpenter did a great job moving this story along, making me wonder who/what/why about a character and then changing it up just a little so that I started to wonder if the "bad guy" was another character. There was plenty of suspicion to go around, that's for sure.

The author has a wonderful way with descriptions. I felt like I was actually visiting the rehab place because the area was described so well and so beautifully.

This is a very well done psychological thriller that I never wanted to end. Pick this up and have fun figuring out who done it and why!

Thank you to Netgalley, the author and publisher for a review copy. My thoughts in this review are my own.

I have been meaning to try more of Emily Carpenter's work ever since I read The Weight Of Lies. It took me longer than expected, but between the gorgeous cover and the intriguing blurb I found the perfect excuse to read her newest upcoming title Until The Day I Die. I bet Caribbean paradise and death are not exactly the first association you will make, but the cover and title fit this story perfectly. Until The Day I Die is a very unconventional read and I'm still trying to wrap my head around what I actually think of this story. The plot is very original and it is one of those stories that is really hard to place in just one genre. College experience? Grief and moving on? Family focused? Mental health? Geeky elements? Conspiracy? Crime? Dystopian feel? Survival? International setting? Somehow all of these elements and more are squeezed into one story, and somehow they all seem to fit together. I do have to say that this was a slowburner for me and the first half tended to drag a bit in parts. The second half was a lot faster, mostly because we get more island scenes and the college location is mostly put in the background. I liked Erin's POV better than Shorie's, mostly because I wasn't expecting a YA/college feel POV in this story and the college cliches distracted from the more interesting parts of the plot. The lack of connection to the characters didn't help either... But I can't deny the part set in the Caribbean and the whole conspiracy plot is fascinating. I can definitely understand the Lord Of The Flies inspiration! This has been a difficult review to write, especially since even after a few days I have still been unable to pinpoint exactly why I wasn't as blown away with this story as I thought I would. If you are looking for something different to read, a story that mixes women's fiction with a good and honest crime thriller with a tropical setting, Until The Day I Die would be a perfect fit.

After her husband’s sudden death and the runaway success of the tech company they built with their best friends, Erin Gaines’ world has become overwhelming. She’s overworked, her daughter is pulling away, and her friends are becoming worried. Erin decides that maybe everyone is right & a few weeks at an exclusive Caribbean resort is exactly what she needs. But her daughter is beginning to have doubts about how the company is being run & Erin is beginning to think that someone wants her out of the way.

Emily Carpenter’s latest mystery/thriller starts off slowly, but quickly picks up the pace once Erin’s mental decline becomes evident & Shorie begins to have serious doubts about the company’s app. I was so impressed by the amount of time that Carpenter spends developing the tech company and its signature app, Jax. The story would not have flowed nearly as smoothly if I could not have envisioned the app as well as I did. Because the story alternated between Erin & Shorie’s perspectives, the reader is able to follow Erin’s journey to survive on the island, as well as Shorie’s investigation into how her parents’ app was being misused. Each alternating chapter provided information that fit together but still left me guessing until the end. The relationship between mother & daughter was well-developed. While parts of the plot were not necessarily realistic, I didn’t think that the unbelievableness of some aspects of the retreat took away from the twists & turns of the plot. I could not put this book down.