Has anyone seen the movie titled The People Under the Stairs starring Brandon Adams 👀, Wendy Robie, and Ving Rhames??? This book SORTA KINDA reminded me of that movie. It has the deranged mother who is obsessed with cleanliness and the fact that she actually raises the child she kidnapped is just too much to take on! I guess the only thing we don’t have is the weird brother/husband that she calls “daddy”! 😂

Anyway, this book had a sprinkle of that, mixed in with a crazy cult-like religious group and an interesting story surrounding a kidnapped child. (Much like the Carlina White case).

To give some backstory: Rosie is the younger sister of an abducted child (Emily). Her family has tried for years to locate Emily with no luck. Rosie decides to take it upon herself to figure out what happened to her before her sister’s trust expires (which is the last monetary resource Rosie and her family has in the hopes of getting Emily back).

The story is written from 2 perspectives. Each POV presents multiple secrets that slowly unfold to a much bigger and disturbing backstory no one saw coming. I know I didn’t!

I know it’s so easy to point the finger during a kidnapping case, but this story made me feel SOOOO sad. The wretched events that unfold little by little brought on serious feelings of empathy for all parties involved.

A GIRL NAMED ANNA is in stores now!!!! This was my stop on the blog tour! Thanks @harpercollinsus for sending me over a physical copy in exchange for my honest review!!!!

Welcome to my stop on the bog tour for A Girl Named Anna. I knew upon reading the synopsis that this was going to be one I’d have to read. I have a bit of a thing for mysteries revolving around strange and powerful religious cults. Books involving child abductions almost always prove to be emotional and gripping reads. I went into it with fingers crossed that one with both would be a win-win. I was not disappointed.

The first thing I’ll comment on is Lizzy Barber’s writing style. It’s difficult to put a finger on but it’s elegant and eloquent without being flowery. I found myself drawn in from the very first paragraphs. Dual perspective books written in the present tense can be difficult to pull off. I think it worked very well here and serve to intensify the level of suspense.

As for the story itself, it provided just the right amount of creep factor. I loved that I was not required to suspend disbelief in order to become invested. This also speaks to the fact that A Girl Named Anna is really more dramatic suspense than thriller. Don’t let that fool you though — there were a few moments that were as edge-of-the-seat suspenseful as any in a classic thriller. The page-turning factor was high and lasted from the first page to the very last! I personally loved that, though perhaps somewhat unlikely in terms of exact timing, etc., this is a story that could actually happen. (Yes, I watch a lot of Investigation Discovery.)

The characters were incredibly well-drawn. It might have been easy to stereotype certain characters (religious zealot, cult leader, pastor’s family) but Lizzy Barber thoughtfully avoided doing so.

I really loved this book and give it an enthusiastic recommendation to fans of a multitude of genres from thriller to women’s fiction and even literary fiction if the reader is looking for something with a little extra twist. It was an impressive read by an standards but even more so as a debut. I am already looking forward to Ms. Barber’s next book!

Many thanks to MIRA Books for providing me with a free copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

As the temperatures drop and the mornings come with a chill in the air, there’s nothing I look forward to more than sinking into a mystery. Something dark, something intense and gripping that will thoroughly rope me in and hold me captive until the Big Reveal is announced. When I was approached to review A Girl Named Anna, I had high hopes: a sister’s disappearance, a cult-like religion obsessed with cleanliness, a Mamma who must be obeyed above all else. Dark, intense, and gripping, hello!

Anna has just turned eighteen and made a secret wish with her pastor’s son of a boyfriend: she wants to visit Astroland. For fifteen years it has been Florida’s biggest theme park, yet Mamma has forbade it for some unknown reason. Locked in a house with little in the way of entertainment apart from gardening and reading the Bible, Anna seems more like a young woman from a much earlier era.

Growing up in the spotlight hasn’t been easy on Rosie. When she was just a year old, her older sister suddenly vanished while the family was on vacation. Back home in England, the family continues to search fifteen years later, hoping with each media appearance that someone, somewhere, will finally come forward with a new lead.

Told in alternating chapters, A Girl Named Anna is an extremely quick read; I finished in roughly three hours – at around 330 pages, 100 per hour is a rapid pace for me! The chapters are short, brisk, and easy to read. There really isn’t much of a mystery: it’s clear from the start Anna is the missing sister; there are only two narratives in the book. I wish there would have been a third, a reporter perhaps? Mamma? The journalist who first has suspicions all those years ago? Some outside voice to break up the two girls’.

A Girl Named Anna is a debut novel and reads as such. Much of the plot relies on coincidences and suspension of disbelief. I mean, how else is a reader expected to enjoy a book where a sixteen-year-old solves a 15-year disappearance in less than a month when police and PIs – not to mention a slew of Reddit-esque detectives – couldn’t? I still feel the story could have been aided by another voice in the mix, rather than just Rosie and Anna. That said, while I’ve certainly read far more entertaining and, well, thrilling novels, A Girl Named Anna was good for a few hours before bed.

My Highly Caffeinated Thought: A compelling read with secrets, complicated family histories, and the emotion behind losing a child.

A GIRL NAMED ANNA is an addictive story filled with some many lies and twists, adding tension and intrigue to this mystery of a missing child. Barber eloquently weaves together the pain of loss, the desire for the truth, and the more sinister aspects of human nature.

Though I will admit, there were no real surprises in this tale. It is the journey our narrators take to unravel what happened to Emily, which makes this book good. Each has a unique perspective as they head down the path to the truth. As a reader, I loved experiencing how the pieces of the puzzle revealed themselves in different ways to both Anna and Rosie. The author allows the reader to feel the emotions conjured as each of them deals with revelations are uncovered.

The author brings all her characters to life with every detail, each quirky action, and every lie unearthed. However, it is Anna who struck me as the most authentic character. I believe the author beautifully captures her essence through honest and sometimes naive eyes. Even though Anna is occasionally fearful of her mamma, there is still a strong bond between the two. This makes it difficult emotionally for her when she starts to discover who she really is.

This book is one of those reads which will pull on your heartstrings as well as keep you gripped to the mystery unfolding. The voices are candid, and the story is spot on — all in all, a solid read.

A Girl Named Anna begins to question her whole world after visiting the Astroland amusement park.

“Today is my eighteenth birthday and, for the first time, I am lying to my mother.”

So says Anna before sneaking off from her religious mamma to visit the park with her boyfriend. Meanwhile, Rosie misses her sister who was three when she disappeared from the same park fifteen years ago.

It is hard not to see Piper Laurie, from the original Carrie movie, playing the bible-thumping mamma of Anna. Just a few more blocks down the crazy street, if you get my meaning. The missing child plot is identical to several other, better, books I’ve read recently. Overall, I didn’t see much originality in A Girl Named Anna, though the writing was good. I would read the next tale by this debut thriller writer. 3 stars.

Thanks to MIRA, Harlequin Books and NetGalley for a copy in exchange for my honest review.

A thrilling adventure that'll keep you on your toes! This is the perfect for fans of thrillers and mysteries. Days later and I still get chills thinking about this book, but I couldn't put it down until I finished. It's definitely a story that will haunt you.

Not a twisty as the suspense led me to believe with an abrupt ending. Was good, easy enough to follow, buut the conclusion was just so smooth and fast.

Copy provided by NetGalley for honest review.

This story is told from two perspectives, Anna and Rosie. Anna has just turned 18 and has lived a very careful life with her mother. No dirt was allowed in the house, no fun activities, just constant focus on God and ensuring everything was clean and pure. Her boyfriend, William, decides that they're going to sneak to the amusement park Astroland and have a fun day for her birthday, only for Anna to have a panic attack because she's been there before. Rosie and her family have been struggling for the last 15 years trying to find their missing daughter/sister, who was taken from Astroland one day and hasn't been seen since. Rosie tries to be good and make sure her parents have nothing to worry about with her, but having the perfect older sister hanging over her head for the last 15 years has made it difficult. She wants to be good for her parents, but she also wants to find Emily before there is no more money to dedicate to the search.

Each sister tells their side of the story as they both get closer and closer to figuring out what happened those 15 years ago. It's a quick read and does hold your attention, but once it gets to the climax it wraps up in just a few pages and feels very abrupt. I don't feel that there's enough of a resolution or conclusion to this, and we don't see what happens to Anna/Emily and Rosie after the ending, which is what I really wanted out of this. If you're looking for a book that shows how dangerous cult religions can be, this is a book to recommend.

Wow this book was so good! I had a very hard time putting it down. It is described as a suspenseful thriller and while it does have those elements I felt it was more of a character study and a really sad story. It was very well written and you could see the difference in tone from the two different POVs. I do feel like there were still some loose threads at the end but wow this was a wonderful book.

Well.. what can I say about this book?

My hopes were extremely high going into this book. For one I LOVE that cover! But, the story inside wasn't as juicy as I was hoping :(.

The first half the book dragged on for me and I just couldn't connect to the characters. I don't necessarily think this should be marketed as thriller more dark women's fiction in my opinion. So, please know that going in that this isn't a thriller.

Also, there was major content warning... if you're sensitive to child abuse and animal abuse I would probably take a hard pass on this. I don't think I would have read this unfortunately if I would have been aware of the triggers.

It was also marketed about having sinister cult.. which it does but this doesn't really come into play until maybe the last 90 percent of the book.

Overall, was a tad disappointed in this one.

2.5 stars rounded up to 3.

Thank you to Netgalley and Harlequin/Mira for the arc in exchange for an honest review.

Publication date: 9/3/19
Published to GR: 8/31/19

A Girl Named Anna is actually the story of 3 girls: Emily, Anna and Rosie. Emily was kidnapped from a Florida amusement park at the age of 3. Rosie is the sister who has constantly had to live in Emily’s shadow with the knowledge that she may never live up to her parents’ expectations. Anna lives a very sheltered life with her mother and has always questioned certain things. The three girls merge in this suspenseful fiction.

I really especially enjoyed the first 3/4 of this and it flew along for me. I love missing children fiction and was very excited to hear about this. The chapters with the alternating narratives of Anna and Rosie moved the plot along nicely and created a good amount of tension. The last 1/4 was ok but took on a bit of a different twist that I didn’t enjoy quite as much as the beginning and middle. Still, the writing was superb and the overall theme of this very much resonated with me. I look forward to more from Lizzy Barber.

Many thanks to Netgalley, MIRA and Lizzy Barber for my complimentary e-copy ARC in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own.

Many thanks to NetGalley, MIRA Books, and Lizzy Barber for the opportunity to read and review this wonderful debut novel - 4.5 stars for an engrossing read!

Anna has been raised in Florida by a single mother in a very strict, religious household, never being allowed to do the things normal children do. On her 18th birthday, her boyfriend. William, takes her to the nearby amusement park, Astroland. There she gets a weird sense of deja vu - impossible since she has never been. She also receives a mysterious letter in the mail that day that has her questioning her background.

In London, Rosie has been raised in a family that was torn apart when they visited Astroland years ago and her older sister, Emily, was taken. The trust account set up to look for Emily is about to run out and Rosie feels that this is her last chance to find Emily and save her family.

Told in alternating points of view of Emily and Anna, this is a gripping novel of loss and love. Fabulous debut and can't wait to read more from this author!

I received an ARC of this novel from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

A young girl is stolen by a woman with mental health issues. Her family searches for her while dealing with their own pain.

2.5 Stars

Once again, another book marketed as a thriller that is really not. My Name is Anna is much more a story of a kidnapping and the search for answers and reality than a true thriller. From the synopsis this book offers, I expected twisty cult drama and taut suspense, which was not what I got with this one. The writing was sharp but I picked this one up looking for some good suspense and being that in that mindset, I truly felt let down. Be sure to go into this one knowing that and I think it’ll be more successful for you.

A story told by two sisters, separated by abduction and geography. The dual POV was effective and kept me reading, waiting for the two stories to connect. At the heart of the story is a cult called The Lilies. They are clearly using scripture in destructive ways. What I was missing in the narrative was an agent for biblical truth. The "normal" church represented really took a back seat and I would have loved to see them use scriptural truths to take down Father Paul.

Thank you to Harlequin-Mira and NetGalley for a digital ARC in exchange for an honest review.

This book is getting a lot of hype/push on both social media and in the book community. I've seen the cover multiple times; I requested when I forgot that I am not a Lizzy Barber fan. Upon starting the book without first reading any descriptions, I realized this wasn't the book for me. Being from a small rural community myself, I'm never pleased with the descriptions in literature. I also abhor calling mothers Mama! (Just kidding but not really). Not for me.

A Girl Named Anna is jammed full of one suspenseful revelation after another enticing you to not put the book down until you finish it in one sitting. Lizzy Barber is a promising new voice in mystery literature.

This was a really well written and detail oriented book. The author has a beautiful writing style.
Plot was predictable and at times, just a tad slow moving.
Good read overall.

I was anxious to finish this book and read through the night! I had to know what was going to happen to Anna?! Although the author does a good job of creating interest, a sense of danger, and has a main character that it's easy to sympathize with, ultimately I was disappointed because the book ended just as the part of the story I was particularly interested in was just beginning.

Anna made some baffling choices that I found puzzling, but I'm sure this book has appeal for many readers.

<i>My Name is Anna</i> is one of those novels that you feel like you may have read a few times - the story may have even been a Lifetime movie or two. But Barber’s take on the tale does add a few new twists and turns.

In the depths of South Florida, only child Anna is celebrating her eighteenth birthday with her overtly religious (think <i>Carrie</i>) Mom and then heading out with her pastor’s son boyfriend for some good ole shenanigans - an amusement park (which has been forbidden by her mother!).

Across the pond, Rosie and her family are celebrating a different type of day - the anniversary of something dark, that shook their family to the core and has left Rosie damaged and trying to pick up the pieces.

That day begins what is a somewhat predictable ride, though I did enjoy Barber’s writing and dual perspectives from Anna and Rosie as their worlds eventually collide. It was a fast read, though the religious element seemed like filler and I mostly skimmed those parts.