At age 8, Tara is adopted. Now 22, Tara has suffered many years of abuse and torment from her Mother. Her only respite comes from watching a perfect family on YouTube. Tara wishes she had a family just like them.

When the opportunity to become an intern for this perfect family presents it self, Tara sees it as her perfect way out.

Can she leave Mother and live happily ever after? If she leaves, will Mother track her down?

I found this book to be fast paced, hard to put down, and heartwrenching at times.

Thank you to Lake Union Publishing and NetGalley for the opportunity to read and review this title.

#WhatItSeems #NetGalley

This was a interesting shocking psychological thriller that at times was very difficult to read. I have read her prior works and always enjoy her books .
My feeling is the author should have a warning in the beginning advising of the extensive abuse as many women would read this book . That being said I had to skip many parts of it but got through it . I did not care for the main charcter and especially the trauma she suffered. was unbearable to read about . The author writes with a good fast pace and if your not shocked by graphic violence you would probably enjoy this book more then I. It is recommend for all who enjoy psychological thrillers. It will definitely keep you reading into the night.

Thank you to the publisher and to Net Galley for the opportunity..


My review opinions are my own . .

This was an unsettling and creepy read. As the story went on, it seemed less thrillery and more modern contemporary. I didn’t really like this book. I almost DNF ed it.

What it seems is a compulsive, suspenseful story of what seems to be a “perfect family”. This is my first read from Emily Bleeker and i loved her every word. The story flow is awesome. I felt odd to be excited and thrilled after reading this dark and intense novel! All credits to the author. The story gets heavy at some places.. but I didn’t loose any interest nor felt bored! Gripping psychological thriller. Gonna watch out for Emily!
Thank you NetGalley, Emily Bleeker and Lake Union publishing for an ARC! This review is my own and is not influenced in any way.

An odd story, but compulsively readable! The story reminded me of B.A. Paris in terms of it being told in first person, with the main character being manipulated by someone else. That is apparent from the first chapter. The story is told by Angela/Tara who was adopted by a cruel foster mother when she was 8. She is now 20 and obsessed with a semi-popular family on YouTube. She ultimately applies to be their intern, which takes her life in a completely different turn. Where this book fails is that multiple aspects of the story are far-fetched and unrealistic. Like if she has unsupervised access to the internet, it seems unlikely that she wouldn’t do any Google searches for her name/family, etc. Overall, a very quick and intriguing read that kept me turning pages.

Thank you NetGalley and Lake Union Publishing for providing this ARC.

An addictive novel about family, secrets, lies, betrayals, and deception.

Meet Angela. Angela is raised by a woman known as Miss Lila, whom she calls "mother". Angela was abandoned by her birth parents at the age of 8 and rescued by Miss Lila who took her in and raised Angela as her own. One of Miss Lila's rules was that Angela now had to go by the name Tara. Not only did Angela now have a new name, but she also had a new birthday.

We learn that Miss Lila is vindictive, mean, abusive, and cruel. She would mistreat "Tara" often, punishing Tara for being bad by locking her in her room, withholding food, etc for different periods of time for different reasons.

When Tara has the chance of a lifetime to not only escape her current situation but also to live with one of the families she follows on social media, Tara is thrilled to begin a new chapter in her life. I loved reading about the secrets of this new family Tara finds herself immersed with. They have their own share of secrets and deception. I also loved reading about her relationship with Henry and seeing it evolve and grow.

With an ending that left me wanting more I absolutely loved this book!

You can never trust the "reality" people present online. This was a good story but there were no real surprises. From the very beginning you know pretty much how the whole thing will unfold. I just wanted to shake Angela to make her see the truth. I did like Henry and felt like he was trapped from the very beginning. At the end I just felt sad for everyone involved.

I received an ARC copy of this book from Net Galley in exchange for my honest opinion of it. I really wanted to like this book but I just could not relate to or like any of the characters and could not finish it.

From the author of: THE WAITING ROOM and WHEN I’M GONE comes WHAT IT SEEMS. Another great read by Emily Bleeker.

This book starts out strong and keeps going throughout. I was not sure if I was going to like this because of the theme but it is definitely a good one.

Angela is only a small child when she becomes a foster for MOTHER. She is put through so much pain and sheer torture that I wondered how she endured it all. From the very beginning MOTHER started playing mind games with Angela who she renamed Tara. She had to have total control over this girl and make her do what she wanted and she didn’t care how it was done. She was a true evil woman and Angela/Tara was terrified of her. She knew she had belonged to a wonderful family before the accident but after is when it all fell apart. She could not remember much and MOTHER would not let her forget that she was not wanted by anyone except her anymore.

At the age of 20, Angela had a fascination with the Freely family who was a You Tube sensation and soon became a part of their life. She was living a lie but didn’t know how to tell anyone. Her whole life was based on the only things she knew, stealing, shoplifting for items to sell online. She got involved with the Freely family and dreamed of being one of them. To her they were the perfect family. So full of love and caring.

Things are not always as they seem. Angela finds out some things that may turn her life around. She may be happy again. Or will she? Can she run from her past. From the twelve years she’s been taught by the best. Been taught how to steal, lie and hid. Taught by her MOTHER? Will she ever find the happiness she longs for. The love she desperately needs? Will her life ever be normal again?

This book as some characters you will hate. Deeply hate. But it has some that you will love and you will root for. I loved Angela. I felt for her. I cried for her. I cringed when she was hurt so badly. When she was forced to lie to save herself. This book will make you feel some things that you won’t soon forget. It’s so full of emotion. It’s a sad one for sure.

Thank you to #NetGalley, #Lake Union, #Emily Bleeker for the ARC in exchange for my complete and honest review.

I give this one 4 stars and do highly recommend it. Just have plenty of tissues handy.

I really wanted to like this book. I liked the premise, but the delivery fell flat for me. Given the level of abuse Tara is subjected to, I would expect to at the very least sympathize with her, and I suppose I do when it comes to what she's endured, but try as I might, I never warmed up to her. I think a large part of that is due to the story being over the top and it stretches my suspension of disbelief well beyond my limits. We're supposed to believe that this woman runs an eBay seller account, her product pictures are some of the best on the platform, and she understands how to cover her tracks online so her mother can't find out what she does on her computer. But at the same time, she's quite childlike and accepts whatever punishment this woman doles out. I could go on, but rather than give spoilers, I'll stop there. In the end, this one had an interesting premise, but it didn't quite get there for me.

Unfortunately, this book didn’t work for me. I was interested based on the blurb, as I am an avid YouTube viewer and enjoy a good thriller but the two stories didn’t connect as well as I’d hoped.

It was hard to root for any one character, as everything felt a bit grey and flat. I liked the beginning story, a girl who is raised by Mother and knows her life isn’t exactly normal, but in the end I just couldn’t suspend my disbelief enough to enjoy the story. The reveals were done well enough but I had predicted things early on so there wasn't as much of a punch when the truth came out.

I read this book in one day! It was pretty gripping from the very beginning and had me rooting for Tara through this whole thing. I sympathized with her struggle to just find a place in this world after getting the internship with the Feely's. Tara ended up being a strong person despite all the circumstances that made her appear "weak"

I have been waiting for this book!!! I have read a few books by Emily Bleeker. I love her ideas and her storylines. I especially love her characters. She has people in her book that you absolutely HATE but it brings the story together so well! .. I especially loved this book because it was up with the times of youtubing and blogging families. Everything that you see on the computer or on YouTube is never what it seems. And all that Glitters is definitely not gold!

What It Seems was a solid 4 star read for me. While I probably shouldn't have, I felt terrible for Tara, but I also spent most of the book wondering why she believed all the things she believed. Of course, people can suffer from something similar to Stockhold syndrome or just flat out be lied to and they believe the lies. It happens every day.

Tara's fascination with the Feely family was understandable given how many people in this crazy world we live in also devote a lot of time to "famous" YouTubers, vapid celebrities and some of the bizarro-world TV shows tha twe see every day.

I found this story to be a good look into how people believe the beautiful, polished, isn't my life perfect? image that people on YouTube and other social media sites would like you to believe.

You do have to suspend your sense of disbelief for parts of this book, but overall it's a very interesting story and I'd recommend it to people.

I've enjoyed other books by Emily Bleeker and am looking forward to her next book.

Thank you to Netgalley, the publisher and author for an ARC at my request. All thoughts in my review are my own and freely given.

Review of eBook

Tara, now twenty, has spent twelve years with her controlling adoptive mother, frightened into obeying her demands to shoplift in order to escape cruel punishment. Locked in and drugged to sleep each night, she finds her only freedom in the hours Mother sleeps and she’s alone in her bedroom, free to talk to her dolls, to feed Sampson the sparrow, and to watch the Feely family’s online vlog.

A series of fortuitous events allows Tara, who’s often dreamed of freedom but never actually tried to leave, to see her way clear to escaping from Mother’s home and accepting an internship with the Feely family. Although the Feely family warmly welcomes Tara/Angela, it isn’t long before she discovers they aren’t quite as they’ve portrayed themselves on the vlog.

Has Tara/Angela moved from her imprisonment in Mother’s home to a new trap with the Feely family? Is Mother relentlessly tracking her down? Will she ever be able to claim her own life?

Life has taught us that, in certain circumstances, kidnappers are able to keep their victims for many years and, although readers want to think it’s improbable, real-life kidnapping victims have been held for more than eighteen years before being freed and returned to their families.

Traumatized Tara/Angela tells her own heart-wrenching story, slowly revealing the important backstory that helps readers understand her thoughts and actions. Tension builds throughout the narrative and, although there are a couple of unexpected twists, the grim, creepy, trauma-filled story generally unfolds as readers expect. While Angela’s apparent ease at adapting to life outside Mother’s control, especially near the end of the story, tends to perplex readers, they are sure to be cheering for her to succeed.

Recommended.

I really enjoyed ‘What It Seems’, I got serious Rapunzel retelling vibes from this book which my mind kept making references to but I think that was a personal thing! It has such loveable characters and I really cared about Angela. It’s fast paced and interesting throughout and the ending was nail biting. I’d happily read another title by Emily Bleeker.

Hmm. This was more of a hate-read than anything else. Tara is foster child who is still being held captive by her foster mother. She's forced to act pregnant and steal from stores. She spend any free time, watching YouTube videos about a 'too good to be true" family.

Then a job opportunity with the family opens up and Tara finds out that nothing is the way it seems.

So - Tara stinks. Like - that's a point in the book. She smells. - okay. This is a weird thing to share and frankly - what family would hire something who smells for some unknown reason.

Eh, it wasn't great.

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for the opportunity to read and review this book.

Another fantastic Emily Bleeker book. Finished it super fast! Tara/Angela was adopted by "mother" when she was young and the details are never fully revealed to her. Tara grows up stealing for mother and is locked away at night in her room. Her only escape is with the seemingly picture perfect Feely family on YouTube. She jumps at an opportunity to become their intern in hopes to break free from mother, and gets it. Free at last, Tara has to keep the secret of who she really is. Unlike the title, this book it not what it seems!

Thank you NetGalley for this ARC.

If I had to describe this book in one word, it would be "tense". Teeth-grinding, edge-of-your-seat, watching TV while your hands are covering your eyes, TENSE.

The highly disturbing and traumatic premise of this book is mixed with exquisite storytelling. An abusive parent/child relationship, escapism via internet, a literal escape, and slowly the walls of secrecy start crumbling and the truth is finally revealed.

Families are complex, and "What It Seems" digs into the dark family dynamics of abuse, using two different facades to cover similar problems. When it comes to what you're shown on the outside, nothing is quite WHAT IT SEEMS.

First I would like to thank Netgalley for granting me the ARC of What It Seems. I read almost nothing but domestic/psychological thrillers so it’s getting harder to find a plot that I haven’t already read 100 times. I can say that didn’t happen with this book! The plot was different straight from the beginning and kept that flow all the way through. I felt for Tara/Angela and couldn’t imagine being in her shoes. We all think we know social media personalities like we know our own personal friends and families, so imagine how scary it would be to realize we know nothing at all! I’d recommend this book to any lover of this genre, you won’t be disappointed!