Member Reviews
A couple of twists- but somewhat predictable. The parts written in scottish slang were difficult to work out.
F*** f*** f***ing! Honestly? I was barely into WATCH OVER ME when I was assaulted by the overuse of this f***ing expletive. Sure, plenty of books use the f-bomb but NOT to this extreme and I found it totally unnecessary. It was disappointing because the premise sounded interesting.
As my first read by Jane Renshaw I was so looking forward to reading this. The premise was intriguing, the story compelling, right up my alley. I was wrong. The story was slow moving, the characters detestable, the language overused and unnecessary...even if the Scottish vernacular can be difficult to understand, this was nothing compared the constant use of the f-bomb!
Whilst the vernacular takes a bit of getting used to, I do think the glossary of Scottish slag should have been supplied at the beginning for readers to refer back to. I can understand more than most, and if I don't I have a Scottish friend who enlightens me to their meaning...but not everyone does or can understand Scottish slang. It may have been overused in this as well.
I can't even begin to give you and insight what it's about because I never got far enough into it to tell you. I gave up very early on and no amount of "stick with it, it gets better" will change my mind. I felt like I was on a council estate with bars on my window and living in fear of the burly grandmother with a sewer mouth on her! I'm all for being transported to the scene of the story but this was too much.
Despite the loads of time everyone has for reading right now (due to the self isolation and lockdown across the world) I still did not have the time to waste on WATCH OVER ME. There are so many other books out there to read and enjoy...I wasn't going to waste it on something as sadly as deplorable as this.
428 f***ing pages of f***, f***ed, f***ing would do my head in. I reckon the f-bomb was probably on 300 of those pages at least. Too f***ing much!!
For a book I barely started, this review is longer than I would have thought it'd be. I, for one, would no recommend this book to everyone. It's not in everybody's taste, and certainly not in mine. But again, the language just spoilt what promised to be an intriguing tale...maybe.
If I could give less than 1 star, I would.
I would like to thank #JaneRenshaw, #NetGalley and #InkubatorBooks for an ARC of #WatchOverMe in exchange for an honest review.
This title keeps you guessing for a bit. I knew one character was somehow connected to the mobster like family trying to get Becki back. But, I didn't suspect how!
Interesting read overall.
I couldn't get fully into this book and so kept starting and stopping reading this. I haven't finishedit. That said it was written well.
"𝐇𝐞𝐫 𝐝𝐚𝐮𝐠𝐡𝐭𝐞𝐫 𝐥𝐚𝐲 𝐨𝐧 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐠𝐫𝐚𝐬𝐬 𝐢𝐧 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐨𝐫𝐜𝐡𝐚𝐫𝐝, 𝐨𝐧 𝐡𝐞𝐫 𝐛𝐚𝐜𝐤, 𝐡𝐞𝐫 𝐚𝐫𝐦𝐬 𝐟𝐥𝐮𝐧𝐠 𝐨𝐮𝐭 𝐭𝐨 𝐞𝐢𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐫 𝐬𝐢𝐝𝐞. 𝐇𝐞𝐫 𝐟𝐚𝐯𝐨𝐫𝐢𝐭𝐞 𝐲𝐞𝐥𝐥𝐨𝐰 𝐭-𝐬𝐡𝐢𝐫𝐭 𝐰𝐚𝐬 𝐬𝐩𝐚𝐭𝐭𝐞𝐫𝐞𝐝 𝐰𝐢𝐭𝐡 𝐫𝐞𝐝 𝐬𝐩𝐨𝐭𝐬 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐜𝐨𝐥𝐥𝐚𝐫 𝐚𝐫𝐞𝐚 𝐰𝐚𝐬 𝐬𝐚𝐭𝐮𝐫𝐚𝐭𝐞𝐝."
This one was a slow burner. I found the first 40% a little dull if I'm honest.
But then it really picks up. Plenty of shocks and suspense. There was also a lot going on aside from the main storyline, which made for an interesting read.
Thank you NetGalley for allowing me to review this.
Well written psychological thriller.
Well developed and interesting storyline. It's dark, has bad language, and I loved it.
Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the ARC of this book. This is my honest review. All opinions are my own.
Thankyou to NetGalley, Inkubator Books and the author, Jane Renshaw, for the opportunity to read a digital copy of Watch Over Me in exchange for an honest and unbiased opinion.
The extremely excessive bad language I could have done without. That being said, I did enjoy the storyline.
An interesting dark thrilling book that takes many turns. I struggled at some points with the language and writing sytle, but it takes many twist and turns that I kept going. Not something I think I would normally pick up but glad that I got the chance to read it. Thanks NetGalley for the ARC.
Watch over me by Jane Renshaw.
A dark and moving read. It does have a lot of bad language. I did find it slow in places. But wow didn't expect that. 4*.
This was a well written story and keeps you guessing for awhile. The only problem is the language can be hard to understand if you are not Scottish. I enjoyed the ending!
I tried my best to get into this book however I had to DNF at 20% because I found myself losing focus and the book just was not keeping my attention, I will keep this book on my shelf and may come back to visit it on a later date.
Stunning dark psychological thriller!!
Brilliant story, couldn't put it down until the ending.
Thank you NetGalley for this lovely copy!!
3 for neutral, a book that I just couldn’t get into without being confused which ultimately led me to decide I couldn’t finish. Will update if I’m able to get into, understand, and finish.
This was my first read by Jane Renshaw. I requested this book as I liked the sound of it. The premise was interesting a sounded right up my alley. Oh, boy, was I wrong. Watch Over Me, started out alright but quickly went downhill. It was very confusing and I couldn’t connect to the book or the characters. I really wanted to love this novel, but I did not like it at all. The language (constant f-bombs) - the dialogue - the slang - it was all so bad and just too much! I’m not a fan, it just wasn’t for me. A review copy was provided by the Author and Publisher via NetGalley in exchange for a fair and honest review. This did not affect my opinion of the author, the book, or the content of my review.
This is an intricate tale of biological and adopted families.
Social services deem the notorious criminal family the Johnsons unfit to look after little Beckie after her mentally ill mother commits murder. She is removed from her biological family and subsequently adopted by Flora and Neil, however it is not a case of happily ever after. The Johnsons are enraged by Social Services assessment and vow to do anything to get Becki back whether by legal or non-legal means..
I thoroughly enjoyed reading this book, the sections written from the prospective of Lorraine Johnson using her Scottish slang was a little difficult at first but didn’t detract from the storyline.
Many thanks to the publishers and netgalley for the advanced copy in exchange for an honest review.
Holy Moly! Learn another curse word, would ya? Seriously, this book could've had more of an impact if I didn't get distracted by the continuous use of one word in particular. Now, I don't get offended easily, and the use of that word didn't offend me here, but good grief, after the oh, 200th time I read it, it started getting a bit distracting. Finally, I used that handy little magnifying glass to search it, and I got 500 hits. One word used 500 times in a book that is just over 400 pages. No other way to look at it, it's repetitive. Then we have the Scottish slang written into the story with a glossary at the end of the book. That was odd to me, but it didn't bother me like the repetition already mentioned. The story is a bit of a slow burn with some interesting twists. Truly, it's not a bad read, but it didn't wow me like I was hoping either. I would caution to be aware of the language, and if you have a problem with suspension of disbelief, I would move on because this does require a fair amount of it. In the end, I'm on the fence about the story and the author, so I'm not sure if I'd read a future book by Jane Renshaw or not.
Really wanted to enjoy this book but sadly I just got too confused from the very beginning. Didn't really get the dialogue. Gave it a go but sadly not for me.
Thank you Inkubator Books and NetGalley.
Flora and Neil are delighted when they are given the daughter they have always yearned for. Through a closed adoption Becki is removed from her family the Johnson's and into home of Flora and Neil. The Johnson's are an extremely dysfunctional extended family with a criminal background and are accused of neglect of Becki. However they are desperate to get their little girl back and Flora and Neil face life where at times they need to go into hiding, as well as having to watch over their shoulders as the family stalk them.
Alongside this, the case originally presented by the social worker is called into question when it surfaces that she may be responsible for hurting Becki herself.
I found this book initially quite slow and difficult to read at times when told from the side of the Johnson family, strong Scottish dialect as well as some strong language. However loved the twist at the end of this book.
This book just wasn't for me. The speaking style and the slang wordsreally turned me off and made me not want to finish it. I gave up pretty quickly.
I was given this book by NetGalley for an honest review -
Becky was taken from a bad home situation and adopted by Ruth.
Ruth worried about the adoption as she had issues from her childhood she was afraid would come to light.
Becky's parents don't want to loose her and they stalk Becky and her new family.
Follow along and be shocked as they devise new ways to ruin or change Becky and her new families lives.