Sounds like a great book but unfortunately I didn't read it in time and it has disappeared from my kindle library

Thank you to Book Sirens for the free digital ARC in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own.

Only Lies Remain is a Psychological Thriller that had me hooked from the start. I love a book that keeps me guessing and this one did just that. I never guessed who was responsible until the very end. Well written and an enjoyable read.

This book had me rushing to get back to it. Very good read and holds your interest. I will be looking for more from this author. Thanks to Netgalley, the author and the publisher for the arc of this book in return for my honest review. Recieiving the book in this manner had no bearing on this review.

This book started out slow for me and I thought it was just OK but as I started getting towards the middle it picked up and it started pulling me in and got very interesting I didn’t see the twist coming

Unfortunately I hated this book. I will not post a public review as I feel it is unfair on the author.
This just hasn’t been the right book for me

This was a cleverly crafted story and well written. The plot kept me engaged as I wondered who Danny’s killer was.
Many thanks to VCB Publishing and to NetGalley for providing me with a galley in exchange for my honest opinion.

An interesting story and some lovely characters, especially the main character Aoife. The author has written a great whodunnit with some family drama thrown in. The main issues I had were slow start and some points were confusing. But as the book progressed, I absolutely enjoyed the twists and turns. Overall, loved it. Thanks to Netgalley, the publisher and the author for providing me with an ARC of this book.

I was glad the author explained the Irish names Aoife and Tadhg at the start of the book. It would be even more helpful to have a flow chart of the many characters. If you like family drama you will like this book.

I subtracted one star because I was annoyed by Aoife’s husband. His character was extremely immature and self-centered. It drove my crazy how patient Aoife was with her husband. For that reason, I am not sure I would want to read the first book Val wrote.

The first book, “Girl Targeted” takes place before this book and I am assuming her husband is the main character. The plot sounds similar to “Only Lies Remain”. I would be interested to hear how Val involves Aoife in murder and intrigue again.

There were a lot of good twists and turns in this book. I would recommend this thriller due to its originality and complex characters.

I received this galley from NetGalley.

While this book was a bit of a slow burn, there were plenty of twists and turns along the way and it kept me wanting to read to see what happened next. This was my first time reading a Val Collins book and it won’t be my last. Thank you to Netgalley and Xpresso Book Tours for the free copy in exchange for an honest review!

Thanks Netgalley and the publisher for the advance ecopy. This is a twisty, heart pounding book! The plot twists just keep on coming. A quick read filled with drama and emotion.

Sadly, i couldn't finish this one. I really wanted to like it and kept trying but it falls apart...things get convoluted and repetitive. the story just doesn't seem to flow to point you can get invested in it and really enjoy.

Danny Walsh was thought to desert his family 15 years ago. They were wrong .... someone stumbled over his remains today. The cops are looking at his widow ... Maura ... as the prime suspect.

Aoife rushes to her mother-in-law's side ... she doesn't believe for one moment that Maura killed or had her husband killed. But Maura's story is changing a bit.

Now she declares that someone she thought was Danny has been sending her money every month ... for 15 years. If Danny has been dead all these years .. where did the money come from?

Aoife decides that since the police don't seem interested in looking for any other suspect, she will investigate on her own.

But someone doesn't want her investigating. Threatening letters are delivered to her home. Her estranged husband doesn't want her doing anything. Her best friend has become distant ...has she also been threatened?

Not all is as it seems. There are years-old secrets, and no one wants to talk about what was happening in their area all those years ago. And then someone close to Aoife is murdered.

The characters are quite interesting, even though more than one of them had my hackles raised. The plot is complex, and unpredictable. Held my attention from the very first to the very last.

Many thanks to the author/ VCB Publishing / Netgalley for the digital copy of this crime mystery. Read and reviewed voluntarily, opinions expressed here are unbiased and entirely my own.

Thank you to NetGalley for the copy of this book in exchange for my honest review.

I would like to start off by saying I was worried this book would fall into the 'typical thriller' category and let me down. After devouring this book in 24 hours, I was very, very wrong.

Aoife's Father-in-Law was murdered 15 years ago, but his remains were just found. So many questions arise all these years later, leaving her Mother-in-Law to deal with the repercussions and accusations. While she takes on the investigation herself, she uncovers a lot of skeletons that were never meant to be let out of the closet. Aoife now has more questions than ever about her already fragile family, friends and co-workers. How far will she go to figure out the truth?

I 100% did not see the ending coming. I had suspicions throughout the whole novel, which never turned out to be accurate and kept me guessing the whole way through. I absolutely loved that this book was not your typical 'poor young mother who relies on medication to not be crazy', but instead featured a strong but silent mother who would go to the end of the earth for her child and her family. There were a few different storylines to follow, but they all centred back to focus on the murders and whodunit, which made the book easy to follow, while also very interesting and full of depth. The characters were beautifully written, even when you didn't know who you could trust. Val Collin's writing style is extremely unique and refreshing in the world of thrillers and I can't wait to go back and read her other novel based on Aoife!

In Only Lies Remain, Aoife has never known her father-in-law, Danny Walsh. He disappeared when her husband, Jason, was a child and it was assumed he abandoned his family. However, his body has recently been discovered and now her mother-in-law, Maura, is being looked at as a murder suspect. Aoife is determined to prove the police wrong. However, she has other problems to handle. Her husband is useless, her best friend is acting weird and a lot of secrets are being revealed.

I liked how the author explained at the front of the book the fact that even though some of the names appeared strange, they were commonplace in Ireland. She even included pronunciations and if you wanted to hear it, she provided a link to a video of her saying the words.

I could not stand Jason. From the beginning, he seemed to be quite immature and selfish. He just got worse during the book in my opinion.

What threw me off as well was Aoife referring to Detective Moloney as “Moaney” in her inner thoughts

Recurrent themes: Murder. Deceit. Kidnapping. Accusations. Teenage pregnancy. Serial killings

Violence: Mention of a serial killer and strangulation.
Sexual Content: Kissing
Profanity: None
Religious Themes: None
Alcohol/Drugs/Smoking: Discussion about a character’s smoking habits.

I wanted to like this. I started out liking it. Then it became tedious details that had to be explained over the last 10% of the book by the villain. This was one of those stories where a woman just bungled around making terrible decisions until the bad guy explained 15 years worth of crimes to her and then someone eventually saved her.

"it's not like I wanted to kill him. These things happen...... It was fate. His and mine. You can't fight fate. You just have to accept it"

A great mystery thriller that's keeps you guessing till nearly the end.

The remains of Danny Walsh is found 15 years after everyone thought he ran off. Who killed him and is it linked to money going missing at the bank where he worked? Who had been sending his wife money every month?

Aoife is caught in the middle of things. Trying to help her mother in law and having problems with her husband who does not want to give her space and work out their problems. Will she be able to figure out what happened.

Thank you to Netgally and VCB Publishing for the ARC in exchange for my honest opinion.

This book draws you in immediately. I like the fact that the characters aren’t confusing and it takes little explanation to figure who each person is. The story starts off with finding out that Danny died 15 years ago, which is a contrast to what everyone believed which was he ran off. The main character Aoife seems to be the glue in the family. She helps her mother in law and her husband.

There’s plenty of secrets going around and plenty of people to feel suspicious of. Aoife’s strange boss, her mother in laws secrets, or the accusations from family. There’s enough drama and questions to go around. Aoife’s asking questions and there is definitely someone who doesn’t like it.

This was a great read and I was very surprised at the end. I highly suggest reading this if you like suspense and mystery.

This book is more of a crime thriller than a psychological thriller. The story is about the daughter in law trying to solve the death of her father in law. But the author doesn’t talk about the relationship between her and her in-laws as to why she would be carrying out her own investigation. The suspense is well maintained but the characters are superficial. An easy read.

This book was just OK for me- though the premise was interesting, the story itself dragged along. It centers on Aoife, who seeks to help her mother-in-law, Maura, clear her name when her father-in-law, Danny, turns up dead after having been missing for 15 years.

The mystery itself in this story was OK, but I never got a good idea on why Aoife was so set upon helping out Maura when her marriage was not in a good place and there was no clear strong relationship between the 2- I just couldn't figure out what made her connection with Maura so sound where she was willing to put her life aside to help her. Likewise, I never felt that I knew Aoife enough in general to understand any of her relationships, or why she made the decisions she made. I actually never felt like I knew any of the characters enough to empathize with them throughout the book.

Also, this is a small nit, but I was somewhat annoyed that when Aoife's young daughter started calling the detective Maloney "Moaney", Aoife started referring to him that way as well in her inner thoughts- this is a small thing but just didn't ring true to me when I tried to put myself in her head. I thought it was cute that her daughter pronounced it that way, but don't know why she automatically started thinking of him by that name.

I figured out who the villain was early, but partly because the author tried so hard to lead me in another direction, which gave me reason to question the less obvious choices. I would have enjoyed the story better if there hadn't been such a push in one direction, presumably to throw us of the scent of the real culprit.

All in all, I thought this book was just OK. It was a decent mystery that had trouble drawing me in from the beginning but became somewhat more enticing as the story went on. I did appreciate the author's guide to pronouncing the Irish names at the beginning of the book- that definitely helped me read the story. I don't know that I'd recommend this book to those in the psychological thriller genre, but it was a somewhat decent read.

Thanks to Netgalley for providing me a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

I read Val Collins’ first book when it came out and was excited to read her next book about Aiofe. I have to say that I did like the first book better, but I did enjoy Only Lies Remain as well!