Violent and creepy and too 'could be real' scary! The story dragged a bit for me and I didn't really care about any of the characters but it was well-written

I had lots of difficulties to engage in the story.

It was a very difficult reading. I have been attracted when reading the summary description but definitely it was not the kind of story I have expected.

I have fought a lot to continue reading. I unfortunately stopped and I put the book down just after the few first pages because things went into a totally different direction. The plot is unbelievable, full of violence and chaotic. The characters are confusing and not realistic.

As it is not the kind of literature I usually read, I wish this novel could meet its audience.

This book grabbed my interest and attention from the start. It was a fast enjoyable read. It had cults, murder, secrets, and mystery. What more could you ask for? I would have liked to see a bit more character development but I was invested in how the story was going to play out. Thank you to NetGalley and Atria for the ARC.

Though I enjoyed reading this novel, I could not recommend it for school aged students. I feel as if it romanticized mass shootings enough to be deciding factor for a student who may be leaning towards violence and an outlet.

From my blog: Always With a Book:

Last year, I read and loved Nathan Ripley's debut novel, Find You In the Dark. So of course, I jumped at the opportunity to read his sophomore novel...and I thought it was a great slow-burning psychological thriller that is eerie and downright sinister at times.

I loved the Manson cult vibes that this book gives off. It definitely add an extra layer of creepiness to an already dark story. At it's very basic level, this book asks the question, can you truly escape your past? That is what Blanche is presented with when she finds out her mother has been murdered and she returns home to her childhood home. Deciding the police are not doing their job effectively, she plays detective and starts nosing around, learning far more than she bargained for.

I loved the way this story was told, giving us just the right amount of information about Blanche's past as needed at the right times. We would get flash backs periodically as they are needed, and see how she moved forward with her life and become a film producer. I also liked that it was just the right amount of suspense, mystery and even a bit of police procedural mixed together.

There are quite a few twists and turns that keep you glued to the pages, trying to figure out just where the story is going to end up. There were some twists I guessed at, and some I definitely did not see coming, but this all ended up coming together to provide a good, entertaining read and I know that I am definitely going to be keeping Nathan Ripley on my list of authors to read, for sure!

Blanche Potter never expected to face her past again—but she can’t escape it. Blanche, an up-and-coming filmmaker, has distanced herself in every way she can from her father, the notorious killer and cult leader, Chuck Varner. In 1996, when she was a small child, he went on a shooting spree before turning the gun on himself.

Now, Blanche learns that her mother has been murdered. She returns to her childhood home, where she soon discovers there’s more to the death than police are willing to reveal. The officer who’s handling the case is holding information back, and a journalist who’s nosing around the investigation is taking an unusual interest in Blanche’s family.

Your Life Is Mine was a very quick read for me, mainly because I love reading about cults. There were a few parts that were slightly predictable and I felt like the middle slowed down a little, but overall it was a good read!

Thank you #NetGalley for the ARC of Your Life Is Mine by Nathan Ripley
Pub Date: 04 Jun 2019

3.5 stars (rounded up)
This book was very readable.
I find that I quite enjoy novels that tell stories like a 'true crime' documentary.
I won't give much away, plot wise, best to just pick it up yourself, just know that the writing style works well and the characters are well formed.
I didn't have any 'omg, that was the best book ever' feels at the end, but it was still good.

An enjoyable story that is also predictable. Your Life is Mine is a quick read that kept my attention.

Your Life Is Mine by Nathan Ripley is a dark and disturbing story of cults and mass murders. It is not an easy book to read and I did struggle to engage in the story. It was slow and confusing in the beginning and did take me a while to finish it. I did not hate it but I can't say that I would read it again.

Blanche Potter can't escape her past, no matter how hard she tries. When she was little her cult leader father Chuck Varner went on a shooting spree before killing himself. Now Blanche has found out that her mother has been murdered and she returns to her childhood home to finds out more. The local police are not saying a lot about it at all. Has the cult returned?

Thanks to Atria Books and Netgalley for my advanced copy of this book to read. All opinions are my own and are in no way biased.

One of my new favorite books! This author has such a way with words the pages flew by in no time! I can’t wait to see the next work by this author! This was such a joy to read!

This book read like something straight our of real life. The writing style kept me interested from beginning and mostly to the end but things started to drag a little. . We learn more about the main characters past and how that is coming back to haunt her. The character's past was explained which was interesting and made her very real in my mind but that personality was lost once she was an adult. I can't quite put my finger on it. The ending was also very predictable.

It's a good thriller and I would still recommend it.

Your Life Is Mine was my first Nathan Ripley novel and it captured my interest from the start. It had a great opening and from the beginning, was very engaging. The plot-line for this book was on another level!. The story was incredibly fast-paced and the twists kept me turning the pages to see what would happen next. Nathan Ripley's writing style was so impressive and I really appreciated the descriptive quality. I also loved the characterisation of Blanche. who was smart and tough, if a little bit impetuous, All in all, this was a really great book and I shall be looking out for more by Nathan Ripley. Rating: 5 Stars.

I received a complimentary digital copy of this novel, at my own request, from Atria Books via NetGalley. This review is my own unbiased opinion.

There is nothing more terrifying than mass shootings. Real life is much more disturbing than made up monsters and serial killers. In a shooting you can’t fight back or try to reason with the killer. You are completely at their mercy. It’s a difficult subject to read about and I’m sure it’s a minefield for writers. In “Your Life is Mine” we spend a lot of time with one of these shooters (Chuck) and the cult-like group of boys, plus his wife, that admire him and want to be just like him. All of Chuck’s nonsensical ravings are taken as gospel by his followers. His crazy manifesto is then repeated and expanded on by his wife. The B.S. was mind-boggling. How do people believe this kind of garbage? (I’m well aware that they do.)

From birth they train their daughter Blanche to complete Chuck’s dream, which is basically to kill even more people. The story is really about this daughter and how she deals with this as an adult. Does she struggle to break out of the brainwashing or does she embrace it? I had a difficult time warming to Blanche because she was so cold and almost alien. She reacted so differently from anyone I have ever known, but of course she had a past unlike anyone I’ve ever known. I had compassion for her to some extent, she was just a kid after all, but she was not an easy character.

At first I wasn’t enjoying it very much. Because I didn’t connect to the main character I wasn’t sure this book was going to be for me. I have no problem with darkness and serial killers but this was an infuriating version of evil, mostly centering on Blanche’s crazy parents and all the terrible things they did to her and others. Sure it’s scary, but mostly it just made me angry at the parents. They are the absolute worst.

Closer to the conclusion I started to become very invested in Blanche and how her story would turn out. I wouldn’t say that I liked her but I hated the people she was up against. The enemy of my enemy is my friend, as they say. She became more tolerable and I was glad for her competence and toughness. In the end this was a fast paced, suspenseful read but also a very uncomfortable one.

Thank you to Atria Books for providing an Electronic Advance Reader Copy via NetGalley for review.

3.5 stars rounded up.

Your Life is Mine, although nothing new under the sun, much less on psychological thriller/mystery book, offered me an insight to a cult mind of Chuck Varner. How people could brainlessly followed him was up to a debate and unfortunately I didn't get any explanation (it would be interesting, wouldn't it?). Instead I walked the path of Blanche Porter, the daughter of mall mass shooter and leader of a cult, Chuck Varner. Blanche wanted nothing to do with her family but the death of her mother brought her back to the place she hated.

Your Life is Mine was interesting, immersing, and superb in the writing area. Although the antagonist's POV should be deleted, it's too overdone. I liked Blanche and rooted for her. I liked Jaya more and everyone else, including Chrissy, the death mother of Blance and supposedly 'recruiter' for Varner's cult.

As for the twist, it was just meh or something reader could smell from the first chapter (exaggeration, I know). I didn't really care about the twist, but thanks for making me stick with Blanche. Usually, I'm either wanted to bury the protagonist myself or high five-ing them. Blanche was neither, but I guess her character came across as more sympathetic with an annoying strike, rather than a badass one. It work as well.

Stella Varner was only seven years old when her father, cult leader Chuck Varner took her to Harlow Mall in Stilford, California.
He sat her down in a chair at the food court, told her he loved her and then he took out his Beretta 92FS gun and proceeded to walk through the mall and kill nine people and then himself.
She went home to her mother Crissy before the police arrived. As she grew up, they followed Chuck's code: Your Life Is Mine.
Stella left home as a teenager to live with her best friend Jaya and her mother. She changed her name to Blanche Potter to hide her relationship with the infamous Chuck Varner.
Blanche and Jaya begin to film and produce documentaries.
At the premiere of their film The Marigny Five, Blanche is approached by writer Emil Chadwick. He breaks the news to her that her estranged mother has been murdered.
When she contacts the police to find out the circumstances of her death, they withhold information.
As Blanche investigates, she concludes that the Chuck Varner cult is planning something big. She'll have to figure it out and stop them before people end up being massacred.
This dark, slow paced thriller had an interesting plot line, but never really engaged me. The characters were not very likable or appealing.
And I honestly did not understand the cult philosophy as explained in the book.
With the rushed ending, it was only an ok read for me.
Thank you to Atria Books and NetGalley for the free ebook in exchange for an honest review.

Thanks to NetGalley for a Kindle ARC of Your Life Is Mine.

This was not what I expected.

The premise was intriguing; a young woman, the daughter of a promising cult leader is now a burgeoning documentarian.

Blanche returns home when her mother is murdered, where she learns her father's fame and disgusting rhetoric has given rise to a new wave of worshippers.

Someone is following in her father's footsteps, and he wants Blanche out of the way.

If the story had focused on how Blanche dealt with the aftermath of her father's heinous acts and why and how the new cult is rising, I would have been more drawn into the story.

There is a lot to suspend disbelief for, and I had a hard time understanding why certain characters were included, such as the entitled hack writer who gloms onto Blanche.

The characters spend more time repeating the twisted and befuddled philosophy of Blanche's father, which sounds like the ramblings of a sick man, not a diabolically twisted one a la Charles Manson.

How her father, Chuck, wanted to build a cult is never fleshed out or explained. It seems his only followers were Blanche and her mother.

I didn't like Blanche very much, either; she spends a lot of time saying she was just a child accompanying her parents' on their deviant deeds.

I get that she's messed up. Who wouldn't be having the childhood she did, but though I sympathized with her, I found it hard to find a quality I liked about her.

This wasn't for me but some people might like it.

3.25 out of 5 stars

I would like to thank Atria Books and Netgalley for allowing me to read an advanced copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

Blanche Potter is an acclaimed documentary film maker but she also happens to be the daughter of cult leader Chuck Varner. In 1996 when Blanche was a child he took her to a mall and told her to go find her Mother, began to shoot up the mall and ultimately turned the gun on himself.

After Blanche's mother is murdered she must return home and face the demons she has been running from for years.

I really am a huge fan of psychological thrillers and though I went into this novel expecting to fall in love but I ended up just walking away entertained. I really enjoyed the writing style of Nathan Ripley but there is just something about this book that didn't hook me the way I wanted. Blanche was fine as a character but I really didn't care for her the way that I wanted to. I would say that this is much more of a slow burn kind of novel. I did see a lot of the twists coming but the novel was enjoyable.

I would say that this is definitely a solid 3.25 star book. I would suggest picking it up. It's a really good Summer read!

Received an ARC from Netgalley in exchange for a honest review. I voluntarily read and reviewed an advanced copy of this book. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

I found this to be an okay book. Slightly boring at times but somewhat enjoyable. Was a bit disappointed about the whole cult angle, was expecting something more.

"That's when life can feel most chaotic, when things that you aren't controlling keep falling into place..."

Last summer I was simultaneously shocked and thrilled by Nathan Ripely's debut thriller Find You In The Dark. It was the kind of book that dared to explore the darker sides of society, a part of the world that you always knew exist but couldn't bring yourself to look into. I remember breathlessly turning the pages, appalled by what was taking place, but too enthralled to stop. I was so taken by Ripley's writing that I eagerly awaited his next offering. When his publisher offered me a copy of his latest novel Your Life Is Mine, I jumped at the chance to review it.

Parents are supposed to be a model that we strive to emulate. When we're young, we look up to them, copy their actions and mannerisms, confide in them, and love them. Young Blanche Varner is no exception to this rule. She loves and obey's mother, but she absolutely adores her father. The family of three live a simple life in their rent-by-the-month trailer park, but Blanche knows of nothing different. Her father Chuck has taken her by his side and molded her into the person he wants her to be. Blanche dutifully does her part by attentively listening to his lectures and completing all the tasks and activities that they do together. One afternoon, Chuck takes her to the local mall and patiently sits her at a table in the food court. He tells her to watch him carefully and to stay quiet. Then he pulls the gun outs and starts to shoot.

Years later the shadow of Chuck's horrendous acts still haunts Blanche. She's changed her last name and moved away from the town where the nightmares happened, but it is hard to completely purge herself of a childhood of horror. The worst part is that after the mass shooting that took the lives of many innocent victims, Blanche quietly walked back to her home as if nothing had happened. So entangled in the cult-like web of Chuck's "Your Life Is Mine" teachings was she, that Blanche continued to adhere to his strict guidelines for years to come. In an ironic twist of fate, she now is carving out a career as a true-crime documentarian. For obvious reasons, Blanche keeps her past tucked neatly away from the public, but the death of her mother threatens to reveal all of her secrets. Chuck's teachings live on and Blanche is about to see that her life is still very much intertwined with them.

In Your Life Is Mine, Nathan Ripley once again dares to shine a light in the darkest recesses of his imagination. With this second novel, he proves that he is unafraid to tackle the taboo. Frankly, it is this willingness to cross lines that others fear that makes his writing so endearing. The best part of all of this is that Ripley shocks and frightens without ever needing to be graphic or obscene. The mere suggestion of events is enough to chill you to the bone. All of this darkness melds with the very real emotional drama and turmoil that helps ground the story in undeniable humanity. Blanche walks a thin line between innocent bystander and willing accomplice. She is always morally questionable, but I couldn't help but empathize with her. On the surface, Your Life Is Mine looks like any other summer thriller, but I found it to be deeper than the summary would have you believe. If you're willing to lose yourself in Ripley's writing, you just might discover the kind of book that lingers long after the last page.

Your Life is Mine has a great hook. Blanche, the daughter of a famous deceased cult leader tries to solve her mother’s murder many years later. Was it simply a random home invasion or has her father’s cult returned to complete his mandate? At the same time, a journalist is threatening to expose Blanche as the cult leader’s daughter, which could destroy her own journalism career.

Your Life is Mine has such potential. However, I didn’t relate to any of the characters—not even Blanche. Despite being about a murderous cult, the story dragged for me. Finally at about 90% into the book, the pace picks up to page-turning. There is the obligatory twisty reveal and then a quick wrap up of all the other loose ends. It was underwhelming to a frequent thriller reader like me and, sadly, a missed opportunity for the author. 2.5 stars rounded up to 3 stars.

Thanks to Atria Books and NetGalley for a copy in exchange for my honest review.