What a twist. Miranda writes an unreliable narrator better than anyone! Page turning and compulsively readable

Thank you to Simon & Schuster and NetGalley for a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

A fantastic mystery full of twists and turns! I found this mystery to be very perplexing. A girl sleepwalks into the night and is washed off into the dark to be found 3 days later. What happened?! It is not as it seems when almost 20 years later Olivia revisits her memories when she learns that her mother is dead.
The constant leads really had me guessing in this one and the side stories seemed to come from nowhere , until they are weaved together in the end.
Well done and would be enjoyed by fans of thrillers and mysteries! A great summer mystery read!

I did like this book. I liked the setting and the characters. The plot was kind of slow and the end got a little confusing. The hospital setting seemed unrealistic. It seemed like a quiet hospital with not much happening. First book I have read by this author. I will probably try another at some point but this one was average.

I thoroughly enjoyed this psychological thriller by Megan Miranda. The story kept me guessing the entire time. The ending was fast paced and satisfying.

This book hooked me from the first page. What a great thriller. And the ending! I did not see that coming. Highly recommend this book.

3/5 stars

Thank you to the publisher and Netgalley for providing this e arc.

I really thought that i would like it but, i guess thriller isn't really my genre

I love Megan Miranda, at this point she can write a phone book and I'd read it! This book was so freaken good! Once I started I could not put it down. Great writing, great characters, left me on the edge of my seat and a fantastic ending! All the stars!!! Thank you!

Author Megan Miranda twists a bizarre story around Arden Maynor who 20-years ago, disappeared while sleepwalking during a torrential rainstorm and was miraculously found 3 days later by a reluctant hero. Afterwards she was a marked girl. Wherever she went through her life, until college, she was known as the girl from Widow Hills. Her mother seemed to enjoy the notoriety, she wrote a book that sold well. She went on talk shows and made lots of money off of Arden’s story, but somehow the money, in the end, was gone.

But by changing her name to Olivia Meyer, she had hoped to leave the past behind. She went to college, got a job working for Central Valley Hospital in Heath Care Administration, and found a home in the middle of nowhere next to a neighbor, Rick Aimes, who has his own twisted past. But, at least she has someone to watch over her. Then things happen. First a man seemingly recognizes who Olivia really is. Second, she learns that her mother, who she hasn't spoken to in years, is supposedly dead. As hard as Olivia has worked to shed any association with her past, when she receives a box of her mother’s belongings, her past is reawakened, leading to murder, mayhem, and craziness.

Third, Olivia begins sleepwalking again. She wakes up one night to find herself with a dead body. The media and others begin digging into what really happened to Arden 20 years ago, and if she had anything to do with the man's murder. The worst part of this whole thing is that Arden doesn't remember anything about 20 years ago. Why doesn’t she remember anything about her disappearance? There are so many holes in her story, that someone should have pieced them together before now.

On top of everything, one of her friends quits from her job, disappears, only to turn up dead. Olivia isn't necessarily a suspect, but the cops are keeping a close eye on what happens next. To make matters worse, the dead man’s identity comes out and Olivia is shocked to learn that he's been looking for her for years to warn her. Warn her about what, exactly? The story is narrated by Olivia in the present, media transcripts, newspaper reports, book excerpts, voice mails, & pieced together fragments of the past. Olivia is an unreliable narrator, and there are a lot of holes in her story, some of which are left unresolved in the end. Absolutely blown away by the ending. I was lingering over my review until that ending just smacked me upside the head.

This is what I call a slow burner for sure. Not too much happens to really grab you in the first half of the story if you are like me and don't particularly love slow burners. I kept with it and the second half definitely picks up speed and interest. It kept me guessing until the end. Definitely worth sticking with.

Thank you to NetGalley for my advanced copy of this book for my honest opinion.

This one was just okay. I didn’t love it but I didn’t hate it either. I will continue to check out other books by this author, though.

Actual rating: 2.5 out of 5

I really enjoyed the author's previous books (All the Missing Girls and The Perfect Stranger). This book was a total miss for me. It started slow and never picked up. I kept reading, hoping it would get better and more interesting. Nope. The whole story was boring.

Thank you to NetGalley, Simon & Schuster and Megan Miranda for a copy of "The Girl from Widow Hills" in exchange of an honest review.

When 26-year-old Olivia wakes up in her front yard with a dead body at her feet and blood on her hands, she's more than just terrified -- she's worried her past is catching up with her. Olivia was just a little girl named Arden when she made national news when she survived three days in a sewer drain after being swept away by torrential rains while sleepwalking. Twenty years later, and still running from a past that she barely remembers even though it clearly remembers her, Olivia doesn't know what to believe or who to trust, including herself. She thought she knew everyone she kept close -- well, as close as she could considering she keeps everyone at arm's length trying to hide her past from everyone. And she thought she had her sleepwalking under control considering it hasn't happened to her since college. Waking up in her front yard with no recollection how she got there is enough to scare anyone. And it turns out she's not the only one keeping secrets or hiding their past. Olivia's whole life is about to be turned upside down, and in quintessential "crime fiction fashion": Everyone is a suspect... Even Olivia.

Thoughts: This is probably my favorite book by Megan Miranda! There are plot twists for DAYS! Chapters alternate between Olivia's present day and the search/rescue of her as 6-year-old Arden twenty years prior. And seriously, EVERYONE is a suspect! I didn't know whodunnit until the absolute very end. Granted, I try not to guess endings of books because it ruins the reading experience for me, but I honestly thought every single character could have been the killer. Every. Single. One. There were some character relationships and developments I would've liked to see developed further, but was still left satisfied by the outcome. Especially since I did not see it coming AT ALL. I wouldn't say the ending was mouth-dropping shocking, but definitely not obvious in any way, in my humble opinion. Fans of Megan Miranda will enjoy her trademark ever-evolving plot twists, and readers picking up her work for the first time will likely become new fans thanks to a plot that never stops, constantly leaving you wondering just what exactly is going on.

This was my first book by Megan Miranda and it totally took me by surprise! It took me a little bit to fully sink into the story, but I loved the premise and the atmospheric vibe surrounding Olivia and her past. I also did not at all guess where Miranda was heading with the story, and I love being surprised like that. This is a great atmospheric, beach read mystery!

The Girl from Widow Hills by Megan Miranda

**Thank you to Net Galley, the author, and the publisher for the chance to review this novel. Thank You!**

Description

Arden Maynor was just a child when she was swept away while sleepwalking during a terrifying rainstorm and went missing for days. Now a young woman living hundreds of miles away, Arden goes by Olivia. Soon Olivia feels like she’s being watched and begins sleepwalking again, like she did long ago, even waking outside her home. Until late one night she jolts awake in her yard. At her feet is the corpse of a man she knows—from her previous life, as Arden Maynor.

Review
The Girl from Widow Hills is my first book read by this Author Megan Miranda. I was excited to be able to review this as my first story by her. The synopsis sounded interesting plus a lot of people really love reading her work.

The story for me started out a slow which cause some struggle in the beginning to keep my attention. I liked the character developments, and the idea behind the story and was really interested to see how it ended and turned out. There were some really good twists and turns that kept you engaged in the second half of the book. The ending was somewhat predictable as I was able to guess it before hand.

I was able to enjoy the book an I will read more by Megan Miranda before I form a lasting opinion on her writing. This was not my favorite book read this year so far, however it was certainly not the worst. I rated the overall book 3 stars from beginning to end. A fun summertime read for sure.

This is the first time a Megan Miranda has grabbed me from the beginning. I always enjoy her books, but this one definitely grabbed me from the beginning and I enjoyed the ride.

I love Megan Miranda's books, and this is another winner. Suspenseful and a great twist at the end. Highly recommend!

This story totally reminded me of the Jessica McClure story from the 80s. In this a little girl who was sleepwalking gets swept up in the drainage system to be rescued by a young man. What happens when this girl becomes an adult and then strange things start happening around her? Life isn't as simple as it seems. Thanks to netgalley and Simon & Schuster for the book to read and review.

With the use of TV transcripts, newspaper articles and voice mails Miranda creates a path leading to the truth about what really happened to a 6-year old rescued from storm pipes. Arden, who legally changed her name to Olive to escape her past runs head-first into that past 20 years later. Its creepy and it’s a compelling mystery with lots of red herrings and a totally unexpected conclusion. It has me rethinking about a real rescue, Baby Jessica who was rescued from a Texas well. Is she still struggling to remake her life?

As usual, Megan Miranda did not disappoint!! I loved her last book “The Last House Guest” and have since read all of hers and this one was just as amazing!

The main character was involved in a “baby Jessica in the well” type story (hello, my fellow 80s babies) as a child in rural KY (yayy for bringing in my home state) and her sleepwalking story went national even though a lot of her actual memories of the event were gone. She grows up, changes her name, moves on, but then, sleepwalking one night, falls over a body in her yard.

As with her last sleepwalking incident as a child, she can’t quite remember what happened...did she kill this guy? Why was he there? Who was he? Who did it?

It’s unstoppable the entire way through and I loved it!

Loved it and it’s a total ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ for me!!

We have all seen those iconic pictures on the news, magazines and book covers, and social media: the fireman carrying the baby after the Oklahoma City bombing, Jaycee Dugard, Baby Jessica, Madeleine McCann. But do we ever stop to think about how their lives changed? Not by the event that catapulted them into the news, but by being in the limelight forevermore. And not only their lives, but the lives of their spouse, children, parents, and/or friends. Just about the time things may return to some semblance of normalcy for them, the ten; twenty; or even thirty-year anniversary creeps up on them and they are thrown into the media again. It is never ending.

“The Girl from Widow Hills” by Megan Miranda delves into just what happens to someone who is thrust into the limelight and how it affects everyone involved.

Arden Maynor, the girl from Widow Hills, was only six when she was swept away during a flash flood while sleepwalking. Miraculously, she was found three days later by a member of a search party; she was clinging to the inside of a storm drain. What happened to her during that time? How had she survived? How did she receive the odd injuries?

Flash forward almost twenty years. Arden has changed her name to Olivia, moved from Kentucky to North Carolina, and managed to create a life separate from that event. She lives in a remote area with only one neighbor nearby. Strangely, she remembers nothing from the event other than being found.

However, with the twenty-year anniversary looming in the back of her mind, and the recent death of her estranged mother, she begins sleepwalking again. She feels like someone is watching her, hears strange noises, and also has more night terrors. She awakens late one night in her yard and stumbles over a body. A body that she later finds is connected to her past as Arden Maynor.

The story is told with a mixture of current events and old transcripts, interviews, and press conferences from 2000 and shortly after. Loved the mixture that gave the reader background info.

“The Girl from Widow Hills” is a great thriller that kept me up late into the night to find out just what happened to Arden when she was six and what was happening to her now. As with Megan Miranda’s books, she weaves a excellent story and ties everything up satisfyingly at the end.

Publication Date: June 23, 2020
Genre: Suspense, Mystery, Psychological Thrillers, Family Secrets
Cover: Perfect
Rating: 4.5 stars
Source: I received this book from the publisher via NetGalley in return for an honest review. Thank you for the opportunity to read this great book!
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