I have reached the saturation point on books about recovering alcoholics. I had to say I was disgusted with the heroine and all her shenanigans. Yet, as I read I found this book to be extremely well-writen and it graged more than a few red herrings across the trail. Thankfully I have never had to deal with severe addiction, and the events that unfold oin this story make me very thankful that I haven't. Despite the role played by AA in the story, the results came from caring people, not a loving God.. The book is engrossing and grabs the emotions.. The end was truly heart-warming.

Astrid a recovering alcoholic has moved in with her mother at Flinstead a small seaside town, where everybody knows each other’s business.

Astrid hasn’t had a drink for 190 days and attends AA meetings, where she meets Rosie and Helen. We know she has a secret and it is to do with her ex Simon. She becomes paranoid, she feels like she is being followed, then menacing notes appear.

The story is full of secrets and twists that keep you guessing until the surprising ending. I was so engrossed and sure where this book was going, that I didn’t see the twists coming and was left guessing again!!

This opened my eyes to the world of addictions. The topic of alcoholism was told in a frank and honest way, explaining how the daily battle can affect everyday life and how close family can be affected too!!

Thank you to Netgalley for my copy in exchange for a review.

Who Did You Tell is about young Astrid, her challenging recovery from alcoholism, and the mysterious stranger that is stalking her. Psychological suspense is definitely on the menu while reading Who Did You Tell and Lesley Kara builds the suspense gradually.

We get to know Astrid and see the life she is trying to create for herself with the support of her mom and the assistance of AA meetings. The relationship between Astrid and her mom is really realistic, it shows the sarcasm the layers of guilt, desire to please and ultimate love between them in powerful ways. The novel has depth - and this is evident in how Kara shows us Astrid's guilt and desire to live right. We meet characters who could be suspects and we meet new people who could have it out for Astrid as well.

Whew this book was quite the read. I learned so much about being in recovery from this book - and the mystery/suspense was intense! I appreciate how the chapters just flow, seamlessly and the character development is amazing! Well done, Lesley Kara! I can't wait to read The Rumour, as I am very impressed with the writing.

Thank you to NetGalley, author Lesley Kara and Random House Publishing Group - Ballantine for this temporary digital advance review copy for me to read and enjoy. As always, my reviews are voluntary and opinions are my own.

This book hits on some hard topics. Family members of alcoholics, how to help them. Alcoholics themselves and things they do while they drink. So if this is a trigger for you it may not be the best book. However it was a great read, I did enjoy it. Astrid has a drinking problem and has been sober for some time. She has moved back home with her mother and goes to AA meetings. Each day is a struggle yet she is doing it. She starts to see that she can live without the drink. Then things start to happen, things that make her wonder who knows about her past. She is not very open about it. So as far as she knows there are very few people. So who did someone tell??

There was not one dull part of this book. I was engaged the whole time and looked forward to the next page.

Astrid returns to the small town to live with her mother after a stint in rehab for her alcohol addiction.
She is attending AA and trying to pull herself together and get going on her new sober self. Then she begins to feel as if she is being followed...which brings up memories from her drinking days and the awful secret she shared with her deceased ex boyfriend, only she can't remember all of the details about that secret, she knows it was bad.....then the harassing notes begin, even as she is trying to move on with her life.
She develops a friendship with one of the AA people , has an ambivalent relationship with another and develops a romantic relationship with a young man that seems to be promising in her new life.
Then it takes a turn...she has to sort out who is friend and who is not.
A very well written story, well plotted.
Enjoyed every minute of it.

Who Did You Tell? is a thriller of the someone-knows-your-secret variety. Astrid is an alcoholic who is 192 days sober. She has hit what she thinks is her rock-bottom, has come home to live with her mother whose disapproval and distrust is constant background static. She is attending meetings and doing her best, but someone knows her deepest secrets.

She occasionally recognizes her ex-boyfriend’s scent on the air. One of his shirts is on display in the second-hand clothing store and then it’s gone. Meanwhile, there is one woman at AA who is too focused on her. Thankfully, another befriends her but with demons of her own to battle, it’s not Astrid can burden her with her fears.

Who Did You Tell? succeeds in building suspense and making me care about Astrid. It is weakened, however, by Astrid being as dumb as a rock at times. I mean, seriously, she is afraid someone is after her, wanting to harm her, so she encourages her mom to go out of town? Yeah, that’s as smart as running in high heels in the wood on a dark and foggy night.

So, yes, I was caught up in the story and I liked Astrid’s toughness and her coming back to life out of deep despondency is admirable. However, when the plot needs the character to have the self-protective instincts of a moth by a flame, then I think a bit of plot revision is in order. Certainly, there is some way to get her in jeopardy without her being a ninny.

I received an e-galley of Who Did You Tell? from the publisher through NetGalley.

Who Did You Tell? at Ballantine Books | Penguin Random House
The Rumor – also by this author
Lesley Kara author site

“Who Did You Tell” was the first book that I’ve read by Lesley Kara. This book was full of twists and turns. At times, it was difficult to read because the main character, Astrid, is struggling with alcohol addiction. This is definitely one of those books that it is best to go into completely blind. The less you know, the better. I found some things to be a little bit predictable, but it could be because I read a lot of thrillers/ suspense. Overall, it was entertaining.

3.5 rounded up to 4

Thank you to Netgalley, Random house Ballantine and the Author, Lesley Kara for an ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review.
While this book started out a little choppy for me, once I got the story and the players it all came together in a great cat and mouse thriller.
My second read from this Author and certainly won't be my last!

You can’t always run from your past. This is the theme of Who Did You Tell by Lesley Kara. Astrid is back home, even if that is the last thing she wants. As a recovering alcoholic, she is trying to get her life back on track. But what secrets is she hiding and whey doe someone not want her to forget? The story is full of twists and turns and will keep you captivated from start to finish.

Happy reading!

Astrid is an alcoholic who has lost it all. As a last effort toward sobriety, she has returned to a small town to live with her mother and join AA. Actions from her past haunt her….have they also put her in danger?

This was a fast, engrossing read with strong character development, well developed plot, and some unexpected twists.

Astrid just moved back with her mother following rehab for alcoholism. Being with her mother helps her to keep up with her AA meetings. But Astrid has a secret that she doesn’t like to share with anyone, even Josh, a nice guy she has met who really seems to like her. She is reluctant to make new friends, even though some of the others who attend the AA meetings offer to talk with her and to spend time with her. Astrid is receiving threatening notes also, and she feels like she is being followed. Someone knows her secret. There are some twists in this story that I never saw coming. I will look for more books from Lesley Kara. Thank you to Net Galley for the advance copy

It is very rare that I give a negative review, and I still will not do so here. I loved the description of this book, however I just could not get into it. I made a decision about 30% in not to finish it as I just could not connect to any of the characters and felt for me it was too drawn out. I really wish I loved it as much as I loved the synopsys

I really enjoyed this book. Character development was good. The plot was very interesting. Not a lot of typos.

I have never read anything of Kara's before, this is an engaging read from the start. Narrator Astrid is 32, recently released from rehab for her crippling alcoholism and living in a small seaside town with her mother. As she struggles with her reliance on alcohol, Astrid also makes new connections in the town, trying not to be so haunted by her past. But, it soon becomes clear that there may be something more behind these haunting encounters.

And while the pacing moves along pretty quickly, Astrid is not in a good place with her life, making this not exactly as much fun as I'd hoped. Astrid's not an unsympathetic characters, and while it's easy to root for her at times, I never felt a strong connection to her. I just didn't enjoy reading this. Plus, the plot is pretty easy to figure out from very early on. There are a few moments of surprise, but for the most part this is a straightforward story. I never hated it, and I did finish it, but I just didn't love it - I guess fictional alcoholics aren't that much fun to read about.

Who Did You Tell is a slow burn, and a fabulous one at that. It wasn’t always easy to read, and Astrid wasn’t the easiest to root for, but eventually I really started to like her as a protagonist. I loved the streams of consciousness that Kara used as an insight into Astrid’s behavior. Once I got to about 80% in the book, so many things started to happen quickly, and needless to say, things didn’t end up as I expected them too. It was quite a surprise, and a welcome one (in that I didn’t see the ending coming.

Who Did You Tell is out now! Grab it, my fellow thriller fans, and prepare to be freaked out. In the meantime, I’ll be checking out Lesley Kara’s other books.

This book depicts the struggles of an alcoholic...the reader sees inside the character's mind, their thoughts and their longings and the internal battle that they deal with each day. I've read other books that showed alcoholism but this one explained it better than most of the others I've read.

There are also a few mysteries that flow through the story. The intensity gradually gets turned up as the story progresses. I was surprised by a few of the revelations, which is always nice because as an avid thriller reader, it can be difficult to be surprised by books.

Overall, this was a solid story that kept me interested and turning pages. Recommended!

I received an e-arc of this book from Ballantine Books and NetGalley to read and review. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

Who Did You Tell? starts out a bit slow for a psychological thriller, but Astrid is such a thought-provoking character that it was easy to fall into her story. Most of us have been touched by addiction in one way or another, whether it's gotten its hooks into us personally or someone we love. Either way, Lesley Kara handled that element very well in my opinion. Astrid's inner monologue rings quite true, and I feel like the author gives us a pretty sharp look at some of the long road addicts face. Once things pick up, the story has a fair amount of twists, some predictable, some not as much, but predictable or not, the story held my interest. In the end, the story kept me turning pages, and while I still feel like it was more drama than thriller, it was certainly worth the read.

Starting this book, I felt in the dark about what happened to Astrid before we meet her. We know the she is a recovering alcoholic actively going to AA meetings and now living with her mom. She keeps smelling her ex-boyfriend's aftershave and seeing him around the town she is living in. It's unclear what happened to him until we get further into the book. I liked that I was in the dark a little.

I think the author did a good job capturing the mindset of a recovering alcoholic and constantly struggling with the urge to drink. Astrid is constantly trying to hide the alcoholism from other people she meets. Part of me just wanted her to be honest because she is obviously recovering and making amends. I also realize that this is probably how many in recovery feel.

What I didn't love about the book was that the relationships Astrid built with her new friend and her love interest. I felt that all of a sudden she had a best friend and boyfriend. They relationships felt a little contrived and not well formed.

The last quarter of the book is really fast-paced with some heart-pounding moments and was hard to put down at that point.

Many thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for this eARC in exchange for an honest review.

A woman struggling with addiction is stalked by someone from her past. As she fights to stay clean, she must also deal with the fallout from the wrongs she’s committed against people even as she tries to start building a new life for herself. Author Lesley Kara’s newest novel starts slow but picks up steam in her newest novel Who Did You Tell?

Astrid Phelps has hit bottom, and she knows it when she moves from London to the small town of Flinstead. She’s left behind the charms—and temptations—of big city life. As dull as Flinstead is right now, it’s exactly what she needs as a newly-sober alcoholic.

After some apprehension, her mother’s agreed to let her move back home. At first Astrid doesn’t quite know what to do with herself. She’s going to AA meetings, yes, but it’s depressing and disheartening to be surrounded by the sad people who show up. One person in particular, Rosie, has taken a shine to Astrid and keeps trying to convince her that God is the solution to all of her problems. But Rosie’s been sober for eight years, and Astrid doesn’t think she would understand her kinds of problems.

Every day Astrid carries the weight of a secret. That secret makes her think of her ex-boyfriend, Simon, a fellow drunk who used to party it up with Astrid. They loved each other. They were also terrible for each other when it came to their alcoholism. Until the day Simon decided once and for all to get sober.

Now Astrid is trying to focus on her own future. She’s constantly fighting the urge to drink, and meeting a nice guy helps. Josh is sweet and funny and caring. He even helps Astrid get a job in art, something she thought she’d lost forever.

Everything seems to be turning around…until the messages start. Someone from Astrid’s past is sending her signals, pictures and menacing messages that tell her they won’t let her forget the horrible mistakes she’s made. Because Astrid has made mistakes that have changed—and ended—lives. She’s determined to free herself from her past, but someone apparently doesn’t think she deserves freedom. It seems like they believe she should be held prisoner to what has gone on before.

Author Lesley Kara takes time in leading readers through the opening chapters of the book, which is where the novel’s one main weakness lies. For the first third, readers follow Astrid as she attends meetings and spends a lot of time taking long walks and pondering her life. It might be tempting to let the book go, yet Kara includes just enough to keep readers engaged.

After that first third, however, with a startling reveal of a key piece of information, the pace picks up. As Astrid’s stalker comes closer, her compulsion to drink grows. Kara doesn’t give Astrid an easy way out, and readers will hold their breaths every time Astrid finds herself within the vicinity of alcohol. The author details with authenticity the immense struggle recovering alcoholics most likely experience every time they face a pressure point that would previously induce them to drink.

Astrid has made errors grave enough to make readers pause, yet her flaws are exactly why the audience will cheer her on. She takes full responsibility for her actions and agonizes over them day and night. She also understands that giving in to the longing to drink won’t erase the past, and as she fights those urges readers will hope for her to win.

The end comes with a satisfying number of twists and turns, and readers will find themselves guessing with glee at the answers to the questions that arise. This is a fun summer book worth the time. I recommend readers Bookmark Who Did You Tell?.

What a great England author! I did not know how the book would be knowing that the author was England base but it was great! I did not have a problem following along at all. A great story about love and hurt. I would recommend this book to anyone who likes to be in the guessing game till the end.