Unfortuantely I had to DNF this one just shy of 50% complete.

I've read two previous novels by Megan Miranda: ALL THE MISSING GIRLS, which I *loved*, and THE LAST HOUSE GUEST, about which I was very "meh". THE GIRL FROM WIDOW HILLS definitely fell into the "meh" category for me as well, and with so many great thrillers on the market, I can't get myself to finish one that's not stellar.

Main issues: the unreliable narrator thing has been done SO much. I also struggled to connect to the protagonist, less because I wasn't sure if she was trustworthy and more because she was just boring. Better luck next time, I guess.

Swept away while sleepwalking, Arden Maynor quickly became a household name for her disappearance, and suprising being found alive. As she got older and the fame returned with each anniversary, she couldn't wait to leave that life and move on - changing her name and starting her career and life far away.

That is until it all catches up with her, 20 years later. A suspenseful story that kept me guessing, I really enjoyed this Megan Miranda title!

Well written characters that kept me guessing what had happened in her youth, to the who and what for the current happenings years down the road - Arden/Olivia was surrounded by incredible supporting characters.

A quick page turner that I read in a day, made me a Megan Miranda fab forever, she'll be an auto read for me in the thriller genre from now on!

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I plan to share this title on my blog, Instagram and Amazon on pub day!

20 years ago, Arden Maynor went missing. Three days later, she was found in a storm drain.

Now, Arden is Olivia and doesn't share the story of her past. Until the past comes back to her.
Arden starts sleepwalking - something she hasn't done since her childhood. The night after she's found by her neighbor Rick, she wakes up again - only this time, near a body.

What follows is an insane story - with three to four leads on who is intent on harming Olivia - is it the neighbor? The strange man from the quick stop? The best friend?

Megan Miranda has made a career out of writing thrillers and this is sure to be her next hit. The last....5% of the book twists into an insane conclusion that I can't even understand. It's been hours and I'm still thinking about it.

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

When Arden was six years old, she disappeared for three days while having an episode of sleepwalking. The townspeople of Widow Hills searched and prayed she would be found alive. Miraculously, Arden was found alive, holding on for dear life to a storm drain. She had some injuries to her arm and was unable to remember exactly what happened. Over the years, Arden found the events of her past to become a curse. She was hounded by reporters and people who felt she was undeserving of her "fame." Eventually, Arden legally changed her name to Olivia, moved away, and attempted to start her life over. When the 20th anniversary of her rescue approaches, some strange events begin to happen that put Olivia under a microscope. Are these events somehow related to what happened all those years ago? Can Olivia continue keeping her past hidden?

For me, The Girl from Widow Hills moved along at a bit of a slower pace until the ending, which had a good twist. There were several characters where suspicion was cast - Olivia's neighbor, friends from work, the son of the man who saved her. I thought I had a piece of the puzzle figured out, but I didn't (and I enjoy being wrong). I've read several titles from Megan Miranda and she'll continue being one of my go-to authors.

I had a hard time putting this book down! The author masterfully weaves several plot lines about Liv’s childhood trauma, her new life, and a recent ex. This made me think of Gone Baby Gone, but after the missing kid grew up. Megan Miranda does a good job of keeping readers who are fond of the genre guessing, and the first person POV makes you wonder what’s really going on alongside the protagonist. As someone who lives in Appalachia, this book truly captures the spirit and mystery of the area.

This is another great thriller from Megan Miranda! I love her writing style and this book did not disappoint. It kept me guessing until the end and has a nice surprise that I thought might happen, but didn't really see coming. She does a great job of flipping back and forth between events 20 years prior, but still creating a story that can easily be followed. This book kept me up at night to see what happened next. It was a quick read for me because I wanted to find out what really happened so bad!

Thank you to the publisher for an early copy of this highly anticipated book. The Girl From Widow Hills by, Megan Miranda is a 3 star read for me. It definitely is not one of my favorites by this author. I felt myself not following the story nor caring about the characters. I also felt that the romance took the front seat for this one, and felt that the thrilling aspects were not there. Unfortunately it was not a page turner for me like the rest of Megan Miranda’s books, but I look forward to reading more from her in the future.

The Girl from Widow Hills is a psychological thriller filled with plenty of twists and turns. There is plenty of family drama. This is my second book to read by Megan Miranda. I enjoy her quick-paced writing style.

This was my second book by Megan Miranda after The Last House Guest and I went into it with only a vague look at the description, eager for a thriller to lose myself in. Unfortunately I thought this book was just ok. I didn’t really feel a true mystery was being unraveled until the last quarter of the book. We know from the start that the protagonist has been sleepwalking and stumbles upon a body that she may or may not have killed. We also know that there’s a past she is trying to escape from, so clearly these two things are connected. However I didn’t feel that the connection between the events was well established even when we find out who the dead body is. This further solidified that the events are connected and are intimately tied to the narrator, but the reasons why are not laid out in a way that kept me on the edge of my seat, desperate to figure it out. The writing is solid, I just felt the connections from point A to Z - the little clues constantly building and unfolding that you want in a great thriller - were meandering and not too engaging.

THE GIRL FROM WIDOW HILLS has a compelling mystery at its heart, as well as a sympathetic and yet inherently unreliable narrator, which combines to make for a fun read. I liked that Olivia/Arden's unreliability was based more in trauma, PTSD, and faded memories as opposed to actively trying to hide something from the reader, and her inability to recall various facts and truths felt believable as opposed to your usual run of the mill purposeful deceit you sometimes find in narrators like her. The mysteries also kept me guessing and wondering, and I'm pleased to say that this time around it took me a long while to suss out what was exactly going on. By the time we got to the ending, even if it seemed a little farfetched, I felt that enough groundwork had been laid down that I could ultimately get behind it. I also quite liked the idea of how these high profile victims of disaster who have a very public triumph or 'happy ending' can become victims of that high profile. The way that the public turned on Arden for not being grateful enough that she was rescued as a six year old child may have seemed cynical to some, but I absolutely believed that such a thing could happen in real life.

THE GIRL FROM WIDOW HILLS was a solid thriller, and while Miranda and I have a hit or miss relationship, it encourages me to keep on going back to her books.

Gripping story of the mom from hell. When Arden was six years old she was swept into a storm drain for 3 days while sleepwalking. After her ordeal, Arden became a household name and not always for the right reason. With an addict for a mom, Arden desperately tries to escape her past and all the notoriety that comes with it. When Arden is finally settled and happy with a new name and a new start her past comes back to haunt her. Excellent mystery thriller that was very fast paced and impossible to put down.

Can you ever escape your past? What do you do when people won't leave you alone and everyone wants something from you?

Arden Maynor became known to the nation when she was swept away by flood waters during the night when she was six years old. Police, firemen, rescue squads and townspeople in her town and the surrounding areas searched for her and prayed for her. She was found three days later, clinging to the grate of a storm drain. Her life would never be the same again.

As the nation celebrated, Arden struggled to get over the trauma of what she went through. With reporters and TV shows calling all the time, Arden just wanted to be left alone. Her mother, however, felt differently. She enjoyed basking in the attention, and was all too happy to cash in on offers from newspapers, magazines and TV shows. She even got a book deal. But with the fame also came the strange people, the stalkers, the creeps; and with every milestone anniversary it started all over again. It is no wonder that Arden moved hundreds of miles away Widow Hills as soon as she was old enough. She changed her name hoping to start afresh, never telling anyone about her past.

But the past doesn't let go that easily. With the 20th anniversary of her rescue approaching, Olivia finds that she is reliving the trauma of what happened to her. She feels as if she is being watched, and she's not wrong. When she stumbles over a corpse in her back yard one night, she finds herself cast into the spotlight once again.

The Girl from Widow Hills is a very entertaining and suspenseful read that is well worth your time. The author keeps the suspense at a level that makes you want to read on and on. A perfect escape from the stress of our global pandemic!

My thanks to NetGalley and Simon and Schuster for allowing me to read an ARC of this book in exchange for an unbiased review. All opinions expressed here are my own.bookbub.com/reviews/1556891300

Megan Miranda writes good suspense. This novel is no exception. Miranda does a fine job of possibly implicating various characters and then throwing a twist into things. She did nice work here of creating flawed, but understandable and relatable, characters. And she doesn't tie everything up in a neat little bow, which for some may be off-putting, but I found it to be very much a positive.

This was my first book by this author, It was pretty enjoyable. I would give this book a 4.5 star rating! It was a pretty Quick and easy read!

20 years ago 6 year old Arden was swept away by a flood while sleep walking. She was missing for 3 days, but was miraculously found. Her story was a media sensation. After this incident she was given medication and stopped sleep walking. Now, 20 years later, she has started sleep walking again. She wakes up, feels something very sticky on her hands, realizes she is outside, and then sees a dead body. What happened in her backyard??? Megan Miranda's writing and her fast paced story line made this book a very quick and enjoyable read. A great book to read on the beach!

I have read books by Megan Miranda before but this one has to be my favorite. At first, I didn't see myself rating this book too high. As I continued reading though, I grew to like it even more. There were twists that I seriously did not see coming and I was pleasantly surprised by the ending. This read was very fast paced and I loved how small things that didn't make sense to me in the beginning came full circle and were explained by the end. Miranda really did a great job with this one!

I kept hearing about this book
I was excited to read it!
I started it at bedtime and had to finish it next day, I did not want to stop reading.

Girl needs to protect
-herself
-her past
-her story
Nobody can really know.

Two worlds collide - dream/reality … one echoes in other

I admittedly was not a fan of the authors last book. I think I may have given it 2 stars. 🙈 But WOW, the author has redeemed herself with The Girl From Widow Hills! This was a rollercoaster of a story that left me with my jaw dropped. I read this in a buddy read and I’m so glad we chose this for our buddy read! This book gave us a lot to discuss! I actually used the word “shook” when discussing the final twist...I’ve never used that phrase before in my life! But y’all...it left me SHOOK!⁣
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Arden was swept away in a rainstorm one night as a child while sleepwalking. She was found alive days later, clinging to a storm drain. The fallout over becoming an overnight celebrity led to Arden changing her name and disappearing from public view as soon as she was old enough. Now it’s the 20th anniversary and she begins sleepwalking again, leading to her jolting awake in her yard. But she’s not alone...⁣
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This book of suspense had me frantically turning pages. I suspected everyone and trusted nobody. The twists are executed fabulously and the conclusion was a shock and a delight. This was a 5⭐️ for me. My thanks to @simonandschuster for the gifted copy.

First off, I want to say thank you to Netgalley for Providing me this ARC. I LOVE Megan Miranda and flew through ALL of her other books.

Secondly, I could not get into this book sadly, I wanted SOOO much to like it and I have been on the edge of my seat waiting to read this but it just didn't hit the mark for me.

The Story is based on a little girl (Arden) who disappears during a storm and Miraculously found three days later alive. With the Miracle though, comes the nobility. It was all to much for Arden, and when she became of age, she legally changed her name to Olivia in hopes to have a fresh start, But soon after, Olivia finds out her mother is dead and a mysterious box shows up on her door step with belongings from her mother that trigger the nightmares and sleepwalking all over again. With a man dead and Olivia's memory practically gone of the event. Who will be the killer?

I really liked this concept and I did like Arden/Olivia as a character. But, at the beginning oft the alternating time period chapters there were interviews/ new articles of the past story. This would have been a really neat build to the story But I felt the articles/interview didn't lead anywhere and were repetitive..

I do think this book was over all an easy read, and Megan Miranda's writing is affluent. If you can get past the Repetitiveness of the book, overall it was a great story with a shocking end.

Run of the mill mystery/thriller. Keeps you going, but not much depth. At times, repetitive. Here’s a question. Do publishers require a specific word count? Just askin.’

Thanks NetGalley for allowing me to read and review.