I am torn by this book. I did enjoy it and the thriller part of it, but I really didn't like the main character or have much sympathy for her. I liked the dual points of view, however, and the sister was very good. Maybe it's something about the welfare of children or dealing with people who always think they know best for everyone... It's hard to say. Good book for me, but not great.

An extremely well-paced and gripping thriller, author Roz Nay has written another superb “must read” novel.

“Hurry Home” features two estranged sisters desperate to keep their deepest and darkest secret where it belongs - in the past. With dual narratives offering perspectives of both Alex and Ruth, readers are effectively able to empathize with both sisters as the story evolves and questions who to trust begin building. This is one of the greatest strengths of the novel, that although each sister has reason for us to question their nobility, we trust in their stories and are thus left unsure who to believe.

There isn’t much I can say about the plot or these main characters as the novel is riddles with reveals as the pages turn. However, I do believe the flaw of the novel falls on some weak easily changed peripheral characters. Both Chase and Sully play important supporting roles in this twisty and emotional book. Sadly, both come off as somewhat one dimensional with pivots of personal mindset and morals somewhat easily made. Although I recognize that “Hurry Home” is the story of Alex and Ruth, I feel these men could have had stronger foundations in their characters that would have equally lead them to play their parts. Sully, in particular, was a character I grew attached to and wish the author had given us more.

Overall, Roz Nay has proven herself to be an author to add to the ever-growing list of superb female thriller writers. Can’t wait to see what she has for us next. “Hurry Home” is a great read and a perfect choice for losing yourself in during this sweaty muggy summer days.

Sincere thanks to Simon & Schuster for an advanced readers ebook copy via Netgalley in lieu of an honest review.

Hurry Home, by Roz Nay, is the intriguing story of two estranged sisters Alex and Ruth, both broken by a tragic event in their past.
After 10 years, Ruth unexpectedly shows up at Alex's door seeking protection from the trouble she's in. Alex agrees to help her on one condition - they are never to discuss the past. But when trouble befalls a child, both women are forced to confront the secrets they've promised to keep buried.
Told in alternating chapters between Alex and Ruth, each telling their own version of events, it was interesting trying to figure out who was telling the truth amidst many twists.
A riveting storyline with a fabulous, shocking ending.

Thank you to NetGalley and Simon and Schuster Canada for an arc of this novel in exchange for my honest review.

Fantastic book and was a great read from start to finish. Really enjoyed the pacing and how everything was tied together in the end

This was my first time reading Roz Nay and I really enjoyed Hurry Home. The story is about two sisters that are quite different and have different lives. There are quite a few twists and turns that I really enjoyed.

This gem came out this week and I was so lucky to get an advanced copy from the author and my friends @simonschusterca ! I will officially read anything and everything @roznay writes. ⁣
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Alexandra Van Ness seems to have a perfect life. But when her estranged sister Ruth suddenly shows up at her doorstep, her carefully cultivated world starts to come apart. I don’t want to get too deep into the plot here because you should go into this one blind. ⁣
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This is an intimate thriller about a family and the impact of tragedy. It’s a type of book that straddles the thriller and domestic suspense genres and I’ve been loving this style of book recently. ⁣
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I really liked the alternating POVs of the sisters. I love hearing alternative versions of one story and trying to figure out the truth (insert childhood dream of working for the FBI even though I’m Canadian 😂). While I did figure out some of the twists, it took nothing away from my enjoyment of the book. ⁣
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Definitely recommend this for fans of family-focused thrillers and domestic suspense. I can’t wait to see what Roz Nay does next !⁣

I was eagerly anticipating this book by author Roz Nay. This is a family drama/suspense story. Alex works in child protection and lives with her boyfriend Chase. She has been very selective in what she has told him about her past and he thinks she is just a private person. Things start to change when her estranged sister, Ruth, shows up at her door. Alex has blamed Ruth for problems in their childhood with their parents and claims Ruth was always wild and disobedient. As it turns out Ruth is pregnant and is on the run from the criminal father of her baby. This only further proves Alex’s points about Ruth. As the story evolves we start to see cracks in the stories Alex tells and we learn more about Ruth’s version of past events. With Ruth staying with Alex and Chase he starts to be unsure who to believe as he learns more from each sister. This story was fast paced and well written. The suspense really increases as we learn more about the sisters. I really enjoyed this book and was very engaged with the story start to finish.

What an amazing book!! This is my first book by Roz Nay and I can't say enough of her wonderful storytelling.

She has built a story around two very different sisters, added on a personal tragedy, secrets, lies, manipulation and spun a story that will keep you tight in its grasp. Seriously, right to the very end.

Alexandra (Alex) and Ruth are two estranged sisters - joined by blood but separated by secrets. Both are haunted by memories, but Alex fears the secrets of the past will damage the perfect life she has built. The closer it’s tucked the safer she will be. Right?

Hurry Home truly is an intense and addictive thriller. Right from beginning when Alex finds Ruth on her doorstep.

A big thanks to NetGalley and Simon & Schuster for the advance copy.

I went in to this book completely blind having not even read a synopsis. All I needed to see was the author’s name and I couldn’t request this one for review fast enough! Roz Nay is an auto-buy for me no questions asked. It worked in my favour because I think this is a story that is best gone into with as little information as possible. You don’t want the surprise ruined for you. I did feel a little blindsided by the topic though so fair warning to future readers, this was really dark and really sad. It involved child abuse, child neglect, and multiple child deaths. This was very stressful and not even a bit relaxing so make sure you are mentally prepared going in to this one because it is not an easy read.

Hurry Home isn’t a typical mystery where you gradually put the pieces together until you know what happened; it was the opposite. At the start you think you know where things stand but piece by piece it falls apart and you realize that you actually knew nothing. I pretty well got whiplash from the radical transformation between the beginning and the end. It was truly shocking! Leading up to the conclusion the tension was almost unbearable and I actually felt kind of sick about what was happening. My gut was twisted into knots and I was prepared to be absolutely devastated by the ending. I won’t give away any hints but that last chapter was a real gut punch. This was one of the most emotional, nerve-racking, and suspenseful thrillers I’ve read this year. It is a really incredible piece of writing; heavy and pitch dark but so terribly good!

Thank you to Simon & Schuster Canada for providing an Electronic Advance Reader Copy via NetGalley for review.

This was a great read. Riveting. Lots of plot twists and turns. I was kept guessing till the end. I was drawn in from the first page till the last.

Alexandra has what she thinks is the perfect life. A great job as a social worker, an amazing boyfriend and awesome friends. Everything is going as planned until one day her sister Ruth shows up on her doorstep, pregnant and obviously running from something. Ruth has never had her life together. She was always running with the wrong crowd and getting into trouble, and that’s why the two sisters have been estranged for years.

When Ruth shows up, Alexandra vows that she will help her sister get back on her feet and out the door as soon as she can. She can’t have her upsetting the perfect life that she has worked so hard to achieve.

The one thing the sisters do share is a secret from the past that Alexandra does not want to surface. She will do everything in her power to keep the secret safe.

This book is one you just can’t put down. As the story unfolds you have a hard time knowing which sister is telling the truth. Ruth is definitely keeping secrets, but so is Alexandra. Only at the very end of the book do you find out the true story of the secret the sisters are hiding. I did not expect the twists and turns as the story begins to unfold, and I seriously could not put this book down. It was a fabulous unexpected read. Thank you so much to the author Roz Nay, Simon & Schuster Canada and NetGalley for an advanced copy of the book to read and review.

My first Roz Nay novel and I’m mad because I have her previous novel and have been sitting on a pot of gold it seems. This amazing story told from multiple POV’s with unreliable but likeable characters will keep you glued from the beginning to the end! I highly recommend this slow burn suspense story! Roz Nay is a superb writer who knows how tonget inside her readers minds and spook them.

If you like your characters unreliable, do hurry to check out Hurry Home!
Roz Nay's second book grabbed my attention from the first chapter.
Thank you to Netgalley and Simon & Schuster Canada for the eARC in exchange for an honest review.
The story is told in alternating voices from sisters Alex and Ruth Van Ness. And we as readers are left wondering of their pasts and motivations throughout.
Alex is a social worker for Family Services, dedicated to protecting the safety of children in at-risk homes. Sister Ruth appears back in her life after a decade, a history of drug abuse, bad relationships and incarceration tainting her news of pregnancy.
These characters are so easy to fall into, as they are frustratingly real and damaged. Alex struggling to work within a flawed system is heartbreaking, and you can nearly feel her shut down upon Ruth's return.
But is all as it seems? The story of manipulation and tragic family relations is addictively readable amidst many twists.
The writing here is smart and absorbing, and I will definitely check out future books from Roz Nay (as well as my copy of her first book, Our Little Secret).
Recommended!
For release on July 7, 2020.

This was certainly a twisty book, and I found myself not being able to choose which sister to root for. This was my first novel by Roz Nay and I'm definitely a fan of her writing style. It was a bit of a slow build and felt more like a family drama than a thriller, but I very much enjoyed the ride. The switching POV confused me occasionally when I forgot to pay attention to which sister it was focused on, but that's my fault for ignoring chapter headings. Overall, I'd definitely look for more of her works.

Thank you to Net Galley and Simon and Schuster Canada for an eArc of this book in exchange for an honest review.
Two sisters... a secret past ... social workers ... drugs ...a thug

To be honest this really didn’t feel like a mystery thriller to me - it started off so slow I was tempted at one point to even DNF it but I kept going .

It eventually picks up, but you kind of see the twists coming a mile away.

I know many folks love this book, but it just wasn’t for me at all

› Alexandra Van Ness shares a beautiful loft with her boyfriend, Chase, in a Colorado town. She takes her work as a child protection worker very seriously and isn't afraid to speak up when she thinks a colleague is making a mistake. She often butts heads with Minerva, who tends to give parents the benefit of the doubt. Alex turns to Sully to talk about work instead of her boyfriend Chase because Sully has been a cop for ten years so Alex feels that he's more able to understand where she' coming from (it doesn't hurt that she's attracted to him either).

› Alex had a horrible childhood and hasn't spoken to her sister in a decade. When her sister Ruth turns up pregnant and fleeing an abusive relationship Alex decides to let Ruth stay with her but never let her guard down. She knows Ruth is bad news and warns Chase to not share too much with Ruth.


"There's a reason I can't talk about the past even though I'm tied to it with a hundred feet of rope. Over the years, I've learned to swallow the long coil. What happened in Horizon sits piled in the deepest pit of me: I push it down; I keep it there. But my sister found the end of the rope, yanked it with all her might. And now here comes everything, rancid and foul as it's ripped upward, pulling all of my insides out."


› Hurry Home is about Alex putting her career on the line to help a baby who she feels is being neglected by his parents, keeping an eye on her sister, dealing with her feelings for Sully and Chase, while trying to keep deep, dark secrets in the past.

› Told in alternate points of view between Alex and Ruth, Hurry Home somehow feels like a slow-burn but page-turner at the same time. With excellent character development and world building, the loft gave a claustrophobic feeling while reading, making me feel even more uncomfortable as horrible secrets are revealed.

› Rating ★★★★

› Final Thoughts
• I wouldn't call Hurry Home a thriller...this is more of a compelling psychological mystery/drama about family secrets with flawed characters and a tragic story that will have you switching sides more than once. I definitely want to read Nay's first book, Our Little Secret.


Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for the complimentary copy in exchange for my honest review.


*Quotes taken from an ARC copy and subject to change*

Hurry Home is my first book by this author. It is listed as a mystery/suspense/thriller. But to me it was more like a combination between a family drama and a psychological thriller.

The book is divided into 3 parts. The book is about two sisters and it takes place in Moses River (in the Rocky Mountains).

The narrators are Alexandra/Alex (25) and Ruth (30) (both are 1st person POVs).

Alex is a child protection social worker. Ruth ran away from home in disgrace years ago.

There are a lot of secrets and lies in this book.

I was really intrigued by both sisters. And it was very interesting to get to see each of their POVs. I liked finding out more about their childhood. But the present was definitely the most compelling part of the story.

Certain things were definitely a bit predictable. But I really enjoyed the story.

Overall, this was a quick read. It was an interesting story about two sisters. And I really enjoyed the extra reveal at the end.

Hurry Home by Roz Nay is more family drama than thriller, but it definitely had some suspense in it, and it was good.

First, let me thank NetGalley, the publisher Simon & Schuster Canada, and of course the author, for providing me with a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own.


My Synopsis:   (No major reveals, but if concerned, skip to My Opinions)

There once were two sisters who grew up on a farm in Horizon North Dakota.  As children, they were very close.  One day when Ruth was 13, and Alexandra was 8, everything changed.    Eventually, Ruth left home, never to return.

Alex now lives in a remote skiing village with her boyfriend Chase.   She works for Family Services, and is dedicated to saving children.

When Ruth turns up at Alex's door asking for help, Ruth can't turn her away.  But she makes it clear that the past cannot be discussed, ever.

Things are strained between the sisters.  There have been so many secrets, so many lies, and the past continues to be on their minds.


My Opinions:   

Rose Nay created some very real, flawed characters, and although some flaws were quickly evident, others were buried deep.

With the chapters alternating between the two sisters, the reader quickly becomes aware that at least one of them is lying, maybe both.  So, dealing with at least one unreliable narrator, it becomes a challenge to break down the lies, and figure out who we should be cheering for.  Personally, I found that my allegiance changed a few times, and I alternately hated and felt sorry for both of the sisters, and more importantly for the people around them.

The story is about lies, secrets, and deceit, but it is also about sisters, and love, and families.  It is about abuse of power, and it is about doing whatever it takes to keep children safe.

The writing was good, the plot engaging and the suspense continued to build.

Overall, it was a very fast, compelling read.  I thoroughly enjoyed it!

Alex has made a new life for herself in Colorado after the death of her parents and disappearance of her older sister, Ruth. When Ruth suddenly appears on her doorstep pregnant, her world gets turned upside down. While trying to mend their relationship, things from their family history get dredged up that Alex tried to bury once and for all with her move. Her relationship with her boyfriend starts to suffer and so does her performance at work as a Child Protection worker. How much is Alex willing to sacrifice for her sister?

This novel is a quick and gripping read. Alex and Ruth are fascinating as the complexity of their relationship is excessive. Nay’s novel explores the theme of blood being thicker than water as Ruth throws Alex’s seemingly organized life into a haphazard mess. As the reader, you honestly never know what’s next as you eventually realize the novel has two unreliable narrators as we hear from Ruth and Alex. The ending was satisfactory but a little unrealistic for my liking. I have to say that this is a short and snappy thriller that grabs you from the start and that any thriller lover would enjoy!

𝑩𝒖𝒕 𝒊𝒕'𝒔 𝒔𝒐𝒎𝒆𝒕𝒉𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒅𝒆𝒆𝒑𝒆𝒓 𝒕𝒉𝒂𝒕 𝒅𝒓𝒊𝒗𝒆𝒔 𝒎𝒆 𝒃𝒂𝒄𝒌 𝒕𝒐 𝒉𝒆𝒓...𝒂𝒏 𝒊𝒏𝒔𝒕𝒊𝒏𝒄𝒕, 𝒂 𝒔𝒉𝒂𝒓𝒆𝒅 𝒃𝒍𝒐𝒐𝒅...𝒉𝒂𝒓𝒅 𝒕𝒐 𝒆𝒙𝒑𝒍𝒂𝒊𝒏 𝒊𝒇 𝒚𝒐𝒖'𝒓𝒆 𝒏𝒐𝒕 𝒘𝒊𝒕𝒉𝒊𝒏 𝒊𝒕.'
This is my first book by @roznay, and I can say I thoroughly enjoyed her writing style.
The story involve two sisters Ruth and Alexandra and their haunting past. The story begins when Ruth shows up at Alex's apartment after many years and their childhood secrets are unveiled finally revealing the true personality of both sisters.
The book is an easy quick read with some interesting twists and turns. Although half way through, the ending becomes predictable but what I loved is that book still remains compelling till the end. Not for an instant I felt like it's getting dragged or boring with unnecessary details.
Its like a movie that you can sit back, watch & relax, and it leaves you with a satisfied feeling that you invested your time in something good and entertaining!

Official publication date for Hurry Home is July 7th, 2020. Thank you @netgalley and @simonschusterca
for sending me an advanced reader copy of this book.