Really enjoyed! Plenty to keep me engaged and turning the pages. Really recommend. I was surprised! Will post on blog shortly.

I found this book to be intensely creative. With the popularity of high school and college sports, I think a lot of people wonder if there is something underhanded going on. When Caroline's Aunt Lanie asks to see her brother Hoff one last time, she goes on a mission that leads her to a scene of a crime. I loved that this book was written from different points of view and had many different stories entwined. I have read from this author before and will continue to read and recommend her as an author. She is an original. Thanks for the ARC, Net Galley.

Tell No One is the latest book by Barbara Taylor Sissel. In Tell No One Ms Sissel tells the story in two different voices. I really enjoyed this story, but at times it moved too slow. Fair warning, there will come a time it's impossible to put down, and there may be a few tears. I was given an early copy to review.

Thanks Netgalley and the publisher/author for this ARC for my honest review.
I wanted to like this book. I really did. It was a really slow read for me. I normally like alternating narrators and dual POVS, but this book just didn’t work. At times, it was difficult to grasp what was going on. The storyline is great, but the story itself needs work. Sorry!

This was a slow read for me.
I have enjoyed the storyline and the writing style is very well done,, compliments to the author.

Caroline wants nothing to do with her father who had abandoned her as a young girl and then vanished from her life almost thirty years ago. When her father’s sister and her loved aunt Lanie is close to her last breath, Caroline is determined to find her father to reunite them at the end of Lanie’s life.

Caroline heads of in search of her father’s past relationships and friendships, not knowing what to expect. Secrets, loosing her marriage and meeting up with an old flame, who helps her find her father and uncover secrets that can tear her heart apart.

Thank you to Netgalley, the author and the publisher for this ARC.

I could not get into this book. I felt confused some of the time, switching back and forth between narrators, confused by their own problems and how everything connects. Sometime, I enjoy that feeling. What will I find out along the way? But each alternating narrative dragged on and I couldn’t get sucked in. This felt like it would be the book for me. Trying to find a missing father is something I can relate to, but mostly I just was bored and ready for it to be over. This book had all the elements of a great story for me and I chose it because I felt I related. The deep love of an aunt and an absent father, unresolved issues and deep hurt. But it truly missed the mark for me.

I struggled with this book a bit. I didn't really like any of the characters - the main character, Caroline, was okay, but I didn't really like her enough to really root for her in her quest to find her father. The best part about her was her dedication to her dying aunt and her desire to protect her daughter from the fallout of a broken home. Otherwise, I found her to be kind of annoying. The other main character, Harris, had so many issues and dealt with them in all the wrong ways. The story itself was ok, but I found that parts of it seemed to go really slow.

Thank you to Lake Union Publishing and NetGalley for providing a copy for review.

Come back, come back, come back, as if his return- her family’s restoration to their once-upon-a-time life- were a matter of asking, or begging, or any words at all.

Caroline’s aunt Lanie is dying and desperate to see her brother, Garret “Hoff” Hoffman before she passes away. Caroline’s mother tells her ‘it’s a fool’s errand’ to even try, no one knows where he disappeared to, only that he left a trail of heartbreak behind. What caused her once loving dad to walk away? But Caroline’s beloved aunt is more like a mother to her, salvation during the years after her parents divorced. Caroline’s tender early memories seem to arise more lately and when she returns to the past and seeks out coach Kelly, she finds it troubling that his son Jace seems to be hiding something, protecting his now elderly father. Once a boy she spent happy days with, he seems to want to dodge ever question she puts to his father, even though the old coach wants to reminisce, adamantly telling her ‘dad needs to rest.’ A warning comes soon after in the form of an ‘accident’, someone really is trying to keep her from finding out what happened to her father.

Harris is the child who Hoff raised for a time when he abandoned his old life, and Caroline. Harris looked up to Hoff, with football in common as Hoff was a recruiter, he finally had a man to emulate and love, but those days are buried and he is haunted by his own terrible guilt now that he himself is a father. One thing Caroline and Harris have in common is their failing marriages. The cracks in Caroline’s life is all about her husband Rob’s lies and betrayals, his devious business dealings but for Harris it is his increasing nightmares, closing his wife Holly out. There are some shameful secrets that cannot be told, not even to his wife but there are other things to turn to when trying to tame one’s demons. His life appears perfect on paper with his career, his beautiful sons and loyal wife. But the past can’t be buried.

Truth will out, but it isn’t always what you imagine. Bad guys, good guys sometimes the distance is only a hair’s breadth between the two. If grave moments could only remain hidden and not rise up to torment us, then the past wouldn’t haunt. In seeking answers, Caroline must come to terms with what she built up as her father’s reasons in her mind with the truth. Harris was everything Caroline could never be, the perfect son! Right? Accidents and incidents have long reaching consequences. Many of Caroline’s choices of the heart stem from feeling discarded by her father, as far back as her high school years. We are shaped by other’s actions sometimes, even when we consciously attempt to remain unaffected. At times the hand of fate, chance turns us into someone we’re not, and there is no reasoning with it. This novel dips into several stories, Caroline and her daughter reeling after discovering Rob’s deceptive crimes, while she is trying to confront her past and find her father. Holly and Harris drifting apart because he cannot confide what disturbs him. Their sons Kyle and Connor his pride but there is a wild struggle within Harris to be a better father than his own influence and yet he is failing, railing against himself. Everything that has happened returns to the moment when Caroline was still the apple of her daddy’s eyes, until her father’s fall in the stands.

This is a solid story, engaging but sometimes I wanted to stay in Caroline’s world and felt pulled in many directions. Hoff’s tale is interesting, sometimes the biggest threat doesn’t come from outside of us, but within.

Publication Date: May 14, 2019

Lake Union Publishing

I love author’s that can describe a scene and you are immediately there, you close your eyes and you picture the scene. This author does that for me.

Family drama told in voices of two step siblings, who had never met. Both are faced with hard issues...do they do what’s right or do what’s easy? Caroline finds out her husband is doing something illegal and it could land her in prison. Harris has an addiction and has seen a robbery. Now, he’s being blackmailed. A lot going on in this book: addiction, marital issues, missing person, the dark side of college recruiting, and lots of secrets. It unfolds at a pace slow enough to suck you in and takes off from there. Characters are situations are raw, true, flawed.

I received an ARC of this book. Opinion is mine alone.

Though this wasn't as fast paced as I expected it to be, it was a great read that was hard to put down! Harris' chapters were hard to get through.

This book was an easy read. Family drama and relationships with a little Texas football. It has me guessing where it was heading until the end of the book and it took a stranger turn than I was expecting. Not a bad turn, it just made me stop and pause to wonder if I was reading the same book. In the end I was hoping for a little bit more closure with the crime storyline. Thank you NetGalley for an ARC copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

Tell No One by Barbara Taylor Sissel is the story of one woman’s determination to find her father and one man’s desperate attempts to keep dark secrets hidden. Caroline Hoffman Corbett is searching for her father, Garrett “Hoff” Hoffman at the request of her dying aunt. They became estranged 30 years ago and her father suddenly vanished. No one has had contact with him since. As she tracks down people who knew her dad, she discovers the man beyond the father she knew. She learns that there are some people who may not want her father to be found. At the same time, Harris Fenton is a man with deep, dark secrets that he is desperate to keep hidden. His life is falling apart around him as he struggles to keep his secrets and keep his family together. As their stories growing closer together, Caroline and Harris must face the truth about the past. Will Caroline find her father? Will Harris be able to continue to hide his secrets? Or will the truth force itself to be told?
Tell No One is a riveting story of one woman’s search at all cost. Caroline is a great character who battles her own regret and anger toward her father as she tries to grant her aunt’s wish. When she learns disturbing information about her father, she must put the two images of the man together: one is the father she knew and loved and the man everyone else knew. Harris is a man battling chronic pain and deeper demons. The story switches back and forth between Caroline and Harris, as I read, I was wondered how these two people were related and when it was finally revealed, I gasped in surprise! I also enjoyed the realism in Caroline's responses as she learns information about her dad which challenged the image she had of him. I was hooked from the opening chapter to the final sentence. I highly recommend Tell No One.

Tell No One
will be released May 14, 2019
in paperback, eBook and audiobook

I received this book "Tell No One" from NetGalley and all opinions expressed are my own. This book was okay. I don't really care for sports at all and this book had lots of sports related information. I like the story line for the most part and it did keep me guessing. It was a bit slow at times - probably because of the sports related things. Also there was a lot going on the book in general. More of a drama than thriller. Overall it was an okay read.

I found this book a slow burner and nearly gave up when I realised that American sports- both football and baseball- were going to be central to the plot. I persevered as I’d agreed to review the book in exchange for an ARC, so felt compelled to finish it. I’m glad I did, as the plot took a few twists, and became much more interesting from a human point of view. The hints about the mystery surrounding Huff led me to guess at the ending but I hadn’t got it quite right and there was still an element of surprise. There’s a lot of human interest packed in here, a degree of mystery but no thriller type ‘thrills’ so don’t read this if being scared is your thing... Overall I’m not sorry I persevered as the book is well written, but the slow start and the glut of plotlines (with abandonment, divorce, burglaries, business and sports fraud, abuse, ptsd and drugs) all lost it some points for me.
Thank you to Lake Union Publishing and NetGalley for an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

This book was absolutely bursting at the seams with secrets. I was intrigued from just reading the description but I really wasn't expecting the story line to go as deep as it did.

The book jumps between the two main characters Caroline and Harris. I don't mind books being layed out like this but when it's not clear and it confuses me it's a real pet hate of mine. However Sissel kept the layout clear and easy to follow in the book by stating at the start of each chapter who's point of view this chapter is from.

This book started off great, the mystery of what had happened to Caroline's dad and perhaps why he didn't want to be found at all had me hooked from the get go. The further I got into this book the more I realised that there was a lifetime of secrets lying under the surface of all the main characters lives.

The end of the book hit me with an enormous plot twist that I honestly didn't see coming at all. With mystery/thriller books I always end up guessing what's going to happen, but with Tell No One I was guessing until the very end. This proves that the plot line was well thought out and I loved the way all the secrets ended up entwining together.

There was unfortunately a large chunk in the middle of this book that seemed to have alot of description and backstory information that didn't need to be there. I found myself reading parts of the book and feeling like I didn't really need to know anything I'd just read. The book also focused a lot around sports which personally doesn't interest me so I found these parts a bit lengthy.

Overall a good book full of twists and turns that just goes to show how far people will go to keep their secrets buried.

I am a HUGE fan of this author, having read the majority of her books so when she contacted me to see if I would like to read an eARC of her newest novel, the answer was an overwhelming YES!!!!!! And I will admit I also did a happy dance!!

As the synopsis states, Caroline Corbett sets out on a mission to find her father that she hasn't had a relationship with for close to 30 years. The reason being is because his sister, her aunt Lanie who helped raised her wants to see her brother one last time before she passes and time is running out.

However, during her search, Caroline doesn't realize that she has opened a Pandora's Box on many fronts and there are some people who want to stop her from pursuing her search (sorry for being vague but don't want to even let one smidgen of a spoiler to slip through).

Lies, betrayals, love, tenacity, fraud, bribery, murder, trust, bribery, inner demons, family, and a promise that spiraled out of control. And this reader felt each and every emotion that the characters felt.

Without giving anything else away, Ms. Sissel weaves and interweaves storylines that had me trying to guess how all the characters were connected. A writing style that is in all her books and I have yet to figure one out.

Her writing is fluid and descriptive, which allowed me to create such vivid imagery in my mind. Characters that are flawed but relatable. The story had me trying to read faster because I wanted to see how it all came together, but then, on the other hand, I didn't want the story to end because I was invested in all of the characters. The suspense was taut throughout.

If you haven't read one of her books, TRUST ME, you are missing out!

And like I say with every book that I read by this amazing author, I now have to try, to patiently wait for her next novel, which is always the negative after finishing one of her books. And in the meantime, I will ponder how this phenomenally talented author writes one book after another that is truly captivating.

Posted to GoodReads on Feb. 25th: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/42445061-tell-no-one?ac=1&from_search=true
Will be posted on my blog May 14th: http://cmashlovestoread.com/?p=20023

Caroline is on a search for her estranged father, Hoff, to fulfill her aunts dying wish to see her brother one last time. She hasn't seen or spoken to her father in 30 years. Harris, Hoff's son-in-law (who disappeared on him and his mother) is working through issues of his own besides being without Hoff. He's struggling with addiction and his poor decisions have caused strain between him and wife and sons. Their search for Hoff will uncover secrets and bring to surface old wounds.
This was a good read but more of a drama than mystery/thriller.
Thank you to Barbara Taylor Sissel, Lake Union Publishing and NetGalley for the ARC of this book.

In Tell No One, readers are drawn into an intricate web of family secrets, abandonment, and deception. The story is told from two points of view: Caroline, who is looking for her father who disappeared 30 years earlier; Harris, a trusted coach and mentor who is caught up in something that can destroy everything and everyone he loves. One thing that sets Barbara Sissel’s books apart from other suspense novels is the depth of emotion that I feel for the characters, their struggles and their demons. In this book, my feelings for Caroline and Harris and the supporting cast were as tangled as their own complex set of circumstances. This book left me pondering so many issues—the sacrifices parents and children will make to protect each other; the fact that right and wrong are not always clear cut; that the consequences of our actions, both big and small, can have far-reaching effects; is it sometimes better to not know the truth? Book clubs will have much to discuss after reading this novel! Thank you to the publisher and net galley for providing a copy of this book.

Thank you to Lake Union Publishing and NetGalley for an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Once I started this book, I quickly realized that it was not a mystery/thriller (as I had thought), but a drama. Well-written, certainly, but not my thing at all. Plus I have absolutely no interest in sports, and so all in all found this hard going. If you like dramas, then you will probably enjoy this book. Unfortunately, not the case for me - which is why I did not rate it higher.

A twisting turning thriller. Did not see that end coming. A quick read because you'll have to finish it in one sitting!