From the first sentence, we know someone is going to die. A girls weekend is about to end in tragedy but who is going to die? And for what reason? The truth, amid the many lies, is revealed over multiple story lines that weave between present and past. Just when you think you know the truth, another lie will be revealed.

I enjoyed the plot twists but felt the story lines needed some re-working to be more cohesive and I felt misled by one story line in particular.

Thank you to St. Martin’s Press and NetGalley for letting me read an advance copy of this novel in exchange for my honest opinion.

RATING SCALE 1 (LOW) TO 5 (HIGH)
Unputdownable-ness: 3
Ugly Cry Potential: 1
LOL: 1
Steaminess: 3
Character Development: 3
Originality: 3
Quality of Writing: 3
Intellectual Depth: 3
Emotionally Trying/Hard to Read: 3

Goodreads Synopsis:

But it’s the lies that keep you safe.

Single mother Lee has the daily routine down to a science: shower in six minutes. Cut food into perfect squares. Never leave her on-the-spectrum son Mason in someone else’s care. She’ll do anything—anything—to keep his carefully constructed world from falling apart. Do anything to keep him safe.

But when her best friend Grace convinces her she needs a small break from motherhood to recharge her batteries, Lee gives in to a weekend trip. Surely a long weekend away from home won’t hurt?
Noah, Mason’s handsome, bright, charismatic tutor—the first man in ages Lee’s even noticed—is more than happy to stay with him.

Forty-eight hours later, someone is dead.

But not all is as it seems. Noah may be more than who he claims to be. Grace has a secret—one that will destroy Lee. Lee has secrets of her own that she will do anything to keep hidden.
As the dominoes begin to fall and the past comes to light, perhaps it's no mystery someone is gone after all…

My Thoughts:

Lee is a single mom to Mason. She runs a hair salon out of her house to make ends meet. Everyday is a struggle. Nobody but Lee knows who Masons dad is.

Noah is Mason’s tutor. He has a strange (to me) connection with the child. This is was a creep factor for me. I’m sure tutors grow close to their students after awhile, but this was just an odd relationship to me.

Grace is Lee’s best friend. She’s always there to listen to whatever is on Lee’s mind, but she gets tired of it. Lee is not the only one with problems.

When the idea is thrown out about the girls trip, Noah wants Lee to go. He even talks her into letting him watch Mason while she is gone. Lee is in love with him, so she’s not going to see the weirdness of how eager Noah seemed. I saw it, and everything in my mind said don’t do it!

When Grace finally works up the courage to tell Lee what has been going on, mouths will drop! I side with Lee on this one. What a betrayal from someone you trust and thought you knew! However Lee is not so innocent herself. More about her past will come out later.

By the end of the trip, only three of the four women come back alive and the plot thickens.

Did someone jump off the mountain or were they pushed?!

After the trip the book dives into the PAST , and gives us more background on Noah, Lee, and Graces lives. This is where it gets interesting. This is where the truth comes out.

I assumed so many things while reading, and I don’t think any of my assumptions turned out to be true except for one!

The ending of this book was shocking! I felt the last page should have said To Be Continued, because there needs to be a follow-up!

Also kudos to the author for putting her sexual assault out there for all to read.

Thank you NetGalley and St. Martin’s Press #partner for the digital ARC of this suspenseful page turner!

I enjoyed Rea Frey's debut novel Not Her Daughter last August while on holiday and was excited to see that she's back with her sophomore novel, Because You're Mine.

This novel boldly begins with the author sharing an emotional and deeply personal note - an experience which influenced this story surrounding a young autistic boy. But even with that emotional beginning, Because You're Mine didn't pack quite the punch I was expecting.

First, there's a lot going on - some big issues, multiple POVs, different timelines and a sometimes confusing convergence of a few genres (Is it contemporary fiction, women's fiction or suspense?) giving this reader the feeling that this book was trying to be too many things at once. Readers are baited along with characters revealing in a whispered "Shhh, I have a secret!" kind of way as the smaller twists were set up. These twists were obvious to me early on, but I give Frey credit for her final, big twist. That one I didn't see coming. It was a doozy but its revelation was abrupt followed quickly by the ending. An epilogue to wrap things up would have been nice.

I'm left feeling a little torn about this book. Overall, I'd say it's a good sophomore novel that was a quick read that addresses some bigger issues and ended with a solid final twist, but it just misses its mark with a lack of depth to its characters and its slightly disjointed execution. Good but not wow for this reader.

Disclaimer: My sincere thanks to St Martin's Press and NetGalley for providing me with a digital copy of this book in exchange for my honest review.

Lies, lies, lies, yeah. That song kept playing through my mind as I read this story. Two best friends with so many secrets between them, both unaware. We know someone dies from a fall right away but the getting there, that was a thing of beauty.

Lee is raising her son Mason alone. He is a very special child with the brain of an adult and some very special needs. Grace has been the one friend she can count on, even introducing her to Noah. He works with special kids and he has been a Godsend. Lee needs him in more ways than one. Grace has her own secrets and one that might just push Lee over the edge.

The past comes into play in the story and we find out how both of these women and Noah came to where they are. It plays big time into everything and is really the meat of the story. I was fascinated by it. Then comes the ending. The ending is extremely chilling and very surprising.

This is another good outing from Ms. Frey. She has a wonderful way with a suspenseful thriller and the story that gets you there. Not Her Daughter was another good read. I look forward to reading more from her.

Thanks to Netgalley and St. Martin’s for a copy of this book. The review is my own humble opinion.

Wow, what a thrill ride! Because You're Mine started out with a bang, but then slowed up a bit in the middle parts. I thought I knew where it was going and I thought I knew the characters. As I read, I sorted out the puzzle pieces. But as the pages flew by, the realization dawned on me that I had been wrong about all my theories!

Go into this book without knowing too much about it. Thrillers tend to be memorable for a short time and then they fade away with the next book on my TBR. Not this one. This one will stay with me for awhile.

I highly recommend this one for all the thriller fans out there. Not to be missed!

Thank you to St. Martins Griffin for my copy.

I’m sitting here trying to figure out how to write my usual two sentence synopsis and I just can’t... there are so many twists and turns and the book felt like it pivoted to a different genre at least three times.

So much happens in the last third of the book. I flew through the last 20 chapters or so. The main issue I had was that the plot depended on one thing that I found really unrealistic. I can’t say more without giving it away, but this decision the character made that spurred the remainder of the story just wasn’t remotely logical to me coming from a supposedly mature, grown woman.

The ending was crazy and unexpected and the shock of it almost made up for the fact that it’s not the type of ending I typically prefer. 3.5 stars but it deserves the round up.

Thank you to NetGalley, St. Martin's Press and Rea Frey for the ARC ebook read of this fabulous book!

This is a story of Lee and Mason, Grace and Noah. Lee is a struggling hairdresser who is a single mother to Mason who is in the spectrum. Her life is lived in pin-point precision, timing and order. Grace is her best friend who convinces her that a girls' week-end trip is long overdue. Handsome and charismatic Noah who tutors Mason agrees to care for him during this week-end outing. The story is told in 3 POVs in the past and in the present. Each character has a surprise, a secret, a hidden flaw. The story is highly suspenseful with an incredible ending that will be impossible to guess even if you tried.

This is my first read from Rea Frey and I am now a fan and will be reading all her other books.

A definite 5/5 for me.

While starting off strong, this book stalled midway. I found myself skimming and struggling to finish. I did like the chemistry and breadth of characters with interconnecting relationships but as time went on and a deeper dive into secrets of the past brought answers, I wasn’t buying it, especially when it came to the ‘look alikes’.

The reader is warned of sexual situations yet I think this aspect could have been more subtle and still raise a reader’s suspicion of a trusted character.

Amazing! This story, with all it's twists and turns, is absolutely amazing!

I knew there were going to be twists. And secrets. And lies. I knew someone was going to end up being the bad guy, or gal. As I got deeper and deeper into the story, my idea of who that bad person was going to be kept shifting. It got so I didn't trust hardly anyone's story. But there were are so may likable characters, I didn't want any of them to be bad.

Because You're Mine is definitely a book that will keep you up late as you try to figure it out. And then the ending. Boom! Did not see that coming. Totally fooled me! And I was suspicious from the get-go and I still got sucked in.

Put this high on your TBR list, you really need to read it!

This story concerns the friendship of two mothers with young children, one of them a special needs kid.. This was a compelling story, although I must admit I found the ending a bit off. I liked the characters in this book. My favorite thing about Rea Frey’s books are the descriptive. Writing that make you feel you are right there in the story. Thanks to @stmartinsoress and #netgalley for the opportunity to review this book before publication.

What a good, twisty, fast paced read. When you think you know, just know that you don't. Thank you, NetGalley, for allowing me to read this book in exchange for an honest review!

This was another hit from Rea Frey! This one is even better than the last one!

Everyone is keeping secrets, but it is crazy how intertwined all these secrets are! I read this one in one night, keeping me up way past my bedtime yet again! I definitely did not see the ending coming, but I loved it. I knew there was something more with one of the girls, but I just couldn't put my finger on it.

I highly recommend this book. Thank you #NetGalley and #StMartinsPress for an early copy of #BecauseYoureMine for review!

I really enjoyed this story. I was interested in the plot the whole time and was invested in the characters.

Because You’re Mine by Rea Frey. What a whirlwind of a book. Kept you on your toes. Has a good plot.

Holy crap! This book was so unexpected, and I don’t think I could love it anymore.

Because You’re Mine is a suspenseful story about a single mother, her autistic son, and her very best friend. A weekend trip that changes everything for so many people.

Rea Frey tells the story of Lee through “past” and “present” sections, keeping us completely enthralled without ever giving us the final pieces.

This book overwhelmed me in many ways, and I cried more tears than I have in a long time while reading. I just, woooo, quite the doozy, that part is!

The ending came as such a shock that I literally gasped! How did I not see that coming? Honestly, I have no words for the monumental way Frey finished this book. It was unexpected, devious, and delightfully surprising. I loved this book so, SO much!

I’m thoroughly impressed, and highly suggest picking up a copy.

Disclaimer-ish: I found Because You’re Mine to be a lot better than Not Her Daughter.

It's not that I have a kind-of love-hate relationship with this book, exactly...but I do have some issues, I guess. Do I have strong feelings about this book? Definitely. Did I enjoy reading this book? Mostly, yes. Were there some (potentially glaring) issues for me? Well, yeah. And I'll get to those.

But my main takeaway is this: even though this book had some potentially big issues in my mind, I still really enjoyed the journey. And for me, that's often the most important thing in shaping my overall feelings and impression of a book. This book gave me all the things I need to make me love a book: good writing, likeable characters, action, emotion, plot twists, secrets galore, and a plot that kept me guessing and never wanting to put it down.

Single mother Lee needs a break. Her on-the-spectrum son, Mason, is a wonderful kid, but what mother (especially a single one) can't use a little time away every now and again? Lee's best friend, Grace, convinces her to go on a weekend girls' get-away with her and their other two friends, while handsome tutor, Noah, watches Mason. Within 48 hours, someone is dead.

The book alternates between three points-of-view (POV) (Lee, Grace, and Noah). It also alternates between multiple time periods - in the first half of the book, the chapters alternate between present day, and "one week before the fall." In the second half of the book, the chapters alternate between present day and "the past."

What did I love about this book?

Really good writing. Entertaining plot. Suspense, mystery, heartache, betrayal. And So. Many. Secrets. Each of our three main characters carry secrets that shape the events of this book, for better or (usually) worse. Some reveals were kind of predictable, and some were more surprising.

Surprisingly for me, I actually really liked all of the characters - this is unusual for me, especially in some of the books I've been reading lately. I genuinely found the characters to all be likable, despite (or maybe because of) their quirks. And they are all so well fleshed out. We're given enough time in each of their narratives to really feel like we're getting to know them.

Ok, so why did I start this review off saying that I have a kind-of love-hate relationship with this book. What didn't I like about it?

The ending was a HUGE (like, super huge) out-of-left-field, couldn't-have-guessed-that, never-saw-that-coming twist. And you know what? Generally speaking, I'm okay with that. I've seen people complain about that before, saying it's lazy writing, there should have been SOME kind of clues leading up to that. And I don't always agree. HEAR ME OUT. If the story isn't being told in the POV of the character who shocks us, isn't it understandable that we wouldn't have seen it coming? If we are in the POV of a character who is being shocked by something or someone, clearly they didn't see it coming, so why should we?

My problem with this book is that we ARE given the POV of the character who shocks us (too spoilery?) Granted, I should probably go back and re-read that character's chapters to double-check, but from what I remembered, the character's thoughts contradicted the surprise ending, so there is no way we could have guessed it. Which makes for a great surprise, I guess, but seems unfair in a way. I get that you want to keep things a surprise so we can't see them thinking evil, nefarious, spoilery things, but then either don't give us their POV at all, or don't give us contradictory thoughts. These are the character's personal, inner thoughts - they shouldn't be contradictory to what we're told the character was really feeling and thinking in the end. Again, I should go back and re-read those chapters to see if this was really the case, but I honestly had no inkling that anything was off with this character.

The other thing that was hard for me (and this is just a personal opinion) was Mason. He's a 7 year old boy and has to be told a pretty hard truth. The scene is emotional, and heart breaking, and honestly, I held the book kind of at an angle while reading it because I thought it might be easier if I couldn't really see the words super easily. It did not make it any easier. It's not a bad thing about the book - just something that was really hard for me to read.

So, did I have some issues with this book? Yes. Did it detract from my overall enjoyment or opinion of the book? Actually, no. This is one of those books that I've been thinking about a LOT since finishing. The author, I think, did an amazing job of really making you feel strong emotions: love, hope, betrayal, regret, heartbreak....so many things. And, even though I may not have been totally on board with the twist ending, it didn't take away from the fact that I really enjoyed the journey of this book. To me, that is the hallmark of a really good writer. I will definitely be checking out her previous book, and will keep an eye out for her future works.

*This review appears on GoodReads and Amazon, and will be posted to my personal blog 8/12/2019.*

I thank you for the opportunity to read and review this book. This author was new to me and I was not let down. It was a great story and very well written. The characters were easy to relate to and I thoroughly enjoyed it. I highly recommend this to everyone!!

Many thanks to NetGalley, St Martin's Griffin and Rea Frey for the opportunity to read her sophomore book, following Not Her Daughter, which I also loved. Another 5 star read!

Grace and Lee are both single mothers. Grace is divorced, raising Luca; Lee is never married, raising Mason who is on the autistic spectrum. Mason's therapist is Noah, who is able to reach and relate to Mason so well. In fact, Lee starts having feelings towards Noah. Grace and Lee, along with a few other friends, decide to take a much-needed long weekend vacation, with Noah offering to stay with Mason. But someone dies on that trip. And everyone has secrets.

I was quite cocky - sure that I had figured out all the twists in this book. Until the ending. The story is told in both past and present points of view from Grace, Lee and Noah. Highly recommended!

Let me start off by saying that this is one book you should DEFINITELY not judge by its cover. I thought this would be a sweet mother-son tale.

It is anything but sweet.

It is disgusting, devious, twisted, and a little psychotic.

I loved it!

This novel explores how we handle grief, how we blame ourselves for the actions of others, and how we cope. None of it is pretty (true to life).

I really enjoyed this one, though I guessed the twist long before it was revealed.

I became a huge fan of Frey’s after reading Not Her Daughter. I was thrilled to give her latest a go and see what she had up her sleeve for us. Well, she certainly had plenty up Her sleeve. This book deals with so many triggers including; alcoholism, grief, autism and betrayals. It was a bit hard to keep up with it all. I didn’t particularly like any of the characters so I didn’t feel invested in the story. It dragged until about the 40% mark for me. I think I would have dnf’d it if I hadn’t been giving the push by friends to finish. Am I happy I finished? Still debating but I do appreciate the insight she gives to autism. I would read another book by her.