Member Reviews
A new author to me, I was intrigued by the plot summary of this book (and loved the cover) and I wasn't disappointed.
Diana was in a car accident 5 months ago and now suffers from anaesthesia-induced amnesia. What she does know is that her husband is having an affair with her best friend and that her mother in law, who she has always had a good relationship with, is becoming a little overbearing. Troubled with nightmares, Diana is trying to piece together the past and exactly what happened - is everything as it seems?
Told from multiple points of view, with a cast of generally unlikeable and flawed characters, but interesting nevertheless, the book is full of twists and turns - and just when you think you have figured it out, there is an ending I defy anyone to see coming! I raced through this one and if you are a looking for a fast-paced thriller that will keep you guessing I recommend it.
After All I’ve Done is a fast paced thriller that will have your heart racing and rapidly turning those pages!
Right from the start, the story had me in its clutches. It didn’t let go till the very end. This book is one crazy ride and I was there for it! There are many questions about what had happened to Diana. As the story went on, I found myself not liking any of the characters. They were all bad people and some were more irritating than others. This might be weird to say but it didn’t take away from the story. In fact, it enhanced the story and the mystery in solving what happened that night. Towards the end, there was an urgency to find out how all the pieces fit and boy was I surprised! That was one twist I did not see coming. Very nice Miss Hardy.
This is a fantastic and thrilling read! It’s entertaining and an ending you won’t see coming. I can promise you that. The cover is very eye catching and pretty. I know this author is using a different pen name and I hope she continues to write more of these types of books. I look forward to reading more by Miss Hardy. I give this 5 stars.
Thank you to NetGalley and Crooked Lane Books for the ARC of “After All I’ve Done” by Mina Hardy in exchange for my honest review!
Diana is confused. At least she thinks she’s confused. Five months ago, she was in an accident and now everything is hazy. There’s a large chunk of those last few months that she can’t remember, can’t even guess at. Now, in the after effects, Diana attempts to piece together her broken world. One thing is certain though: she’s lost her best friend and her husband. Is she also losing her mind?
This book was a wild ride. Diana feels like a smart character, but her lack of information and knowledge puts her a step behind. Repeatedly, you get the feeling Diana is being gaslighted, but the real question is how and by whom. More importantly why? Diana already knows her best friend and her husband are sleeping together, what else could be hidden in those erased months?
I think this book becomes addictive because Diana is surrounded by so many suspicious characters: her husband, her best friend, and her mother-in-law. These three are a big part of her world and would have access to so much of her home and her possessions. I spent the entire book trying to figure out if Diana was paranoid OR if someone was really toying with her and it was very tricky. I managed to guess it before the end, but I wasn’t confident in it.
Overall, I gave this book 5 stars. I love the unreliable, messy nature of these kinds of mysteries. It hits the shelves on the 10th, be sure to check it out!
I mostly enjoyed this. I felt it drag a little in the middle and the ending was rather bizarre but it was a twisty thriller. I worked out most of the ending, but the twist was a shocker!
Diana lost her memory as a result of anethesia induced amnesia after a terrible car accident. What she now knows, though, is that her husband Jonathan and her BFF Val have been having an affair. What she doesn't know is what actually happened the night of her accident. Jonathan's mother Harriet is taking care of her- an awkward situation to say the least. Then there's Cole. What's his story? Not telling you. Nope- no spoilers from me. This is told by Diana, Val, and Cole and all I can say is that not everything is as it seems (or as you might want it to be). Hardy (whose T/N is Megan Hart) is an expert at both ramping up tension and keeping you guessing. Thanks to netgalley for the ARC. This is a really twisty read that kept me engaged and turning that pages during a period when distraction was especially welcome.
The first 1/3 of this book is a struggle. While it was written well, unfortunately it did not hold my attention. The biggest problem was that the main character kept talking about how she lost her memory, more than trying to figure out why. While she does eventually figure it out, it seemed to take a long time to get there. Besides which, even though Diana should be very sympathetic with her accident and trauma, I had a hard time connecting to her. And the ending was very predictable.
Well that ending was an expected twist!
Diana is in a car accident and loses the last 5 months of her memory, other than the fact that she knows her husband is cheating on her...with her best friend.
This story is stole from Diana’s point of view and her best friend Val’s point of view. Diana is recovering from several injuries and memory loss, while Val is with Diana’s husband. We learn about their childhood and their relationship over the years.
The story is engaging from the start and keeps building until the end, when you get to the twist! What exactly happened the night of the accident? Did Diana hit something or someone?!
I don’t want to give too much away, but it’s definitely worth the read!
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Thank you @crookedlanebooks and #netgalley for an ARC for my honest review.
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I found this a fast-paced and very entertaining read.
Diane suffers from anaesthesia-induced amnesia after an accident and there are months she can't remember from before the accident.
What happened to her and why is she feeling animosity towards her mother in law that she adores and who is the only 1 looking after her.
I did see most of the twists coming and I found the ending a bit far fetched but I still enjoyed the read.
Thank you to NetGalley and Crooked Lane Books for the ARC in exchange for my honest opinion
3.5 stars rounded up
We all have tropes in books that we don't like, 2 of mine are memory loss and dreams, just find them boring. So when I realised that they were 2 of the main plot points of this novel, I thought great, im going to loose interest before the first chapter has ended.. until I realised that actually, I was really enjoying it! And thats because of the characters, all very flawed and unlikeable, but at the same time you can't help but sympathise with elements of their individual stories.
This book was really entertaining and fast paced. I did find the twists a bit predictable, and had worked out the eventual outcome really early on, which is why its a 3.5 as opposed to the full 4 stars, but it didn't take away my enjoyment.
Many thanks to netgally for my gifted copy
I found this to be a creative storyline. It's told from three different points of view which enriches the reader's experience as they get more information and different insights. The main character, Diana, has been in a car wreck and is suffering from a type of amnesia. They can't fully explain why she's missing certain parts of her memory. To complicate things, she also seems to lose time months later.. She's often disoriented and left feeling confused, afraid and alone.
As if all of this isn't bad enough, Diana can't really confide in the two people who should be there for her....Jonathan, her husband and Valerie, her best friend. These two are having an affair. Diana often finds herself spending most of her time with her mother-in-law, who can sometimes be overbearing. Diana has dreams and is confused about what really happened on the night of her accident. There are several mysteries wrapped together and the pieces come to Diana slowly, a little at a time. When she finally remembers everything, it's possible she may wish she didn't. Some secrets really can destroy.
I really did enjoy this book. The characters weren't exactly likable, but I was still able to connect with them. The whole situation was quite simply...a hot mess. I was definitely planning to give this book a solid 5 star rating until the end when some things were revealed in the plot line and I felt like one part was just a little too much. I appreciate an author's vision, but I felt like this "part of the book" could have been modified and still been shocking. Regardless, I would still recommend this book for those who enjoy domestic thrillers because it was twisty with a clever plot..
Thank you to NetGalley and Crooked Lane Books for this ARC. I voluntarily chose to review it and the opinions contained within are strictly my own.
I received an ARC from the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own.
After All I’ve Done starts off feeling fairly straightforward, even mundane. And were it not for the fact that Diana had lost her memory, presenting some ambiguity, I felt there was no question what had happened and who the culprit was. But then, the twist came and that changed everything, not just about what had happened, but the very nature of the character dynamics themselves.
I don’t know that I felt fully connected to anyone, and it can be hard to write domestic thrillers with so many characters doing scandalous things (even the protagonist) while having them be sympathetic on a deeper level, especially since I didn’t know if I could trust anyone.
However, I do feel that, if you don’t mind very flawed people, it does make the final execution worth it, in spite of any stumbles in the middle. My jaw dropped at the final reveal and how others’ lives had been manipulated to a disgusting degree for the benefit of another character.
I enjoyed this one, even if mostly for the shock factor. I think readers more well versed in domestic thrillers will like this one, but I also wouldn’t discourage anyone who finds the premise interesting from picking it up.
Holy Crap. I don’t think I will ever truly get used to psychological thrillers. This one was super creepy. Without giving too much away, this story is about Diana, Jonathan, Val, Harriet, and Cole. The way that Hardy sets up these characters and their importance to the story was masterful and twisted. I was correct is trying to get this finished during the day, because, where nightmares are a theme to this story, I didn’t want to have any! It comes out in 11/10 and if you love thrillers, you must read it!
Loved this book
Couldn’t put it down
See my review on good reads
Thank you so much NETGALLEY for the book!
After All I've Done by Mina Hardy is a highly recommended domestic psychological thriller.
Diana Sparrow was in an accident five months ago that left her missing two months of her memory. What she does know now is that her husband Jonathan is having an affair with her best friend, Valerie. Jonathan's mother, Harriett Richmond, lives in a guest and comes over daily to help Diana. Diana is slowly recovering but is becoming tired and annoyed by Harriett's constant presence. She is also having nightmares about the accident and burying something. Divorcing Jonathan isn't an option because of their prenup. Diana seems to be on the road to recovery, but she keeps having setbacks. Her sessions with her psychiatrist don't seem to be helping either.
Chapters in the first part of After All I've Done alternate between narration by Diana and Valerie; a third narrator is added after this providing a new twist to the story. All of the characters in this novel are unreliable narrators. Diana says she doesn't remember, Val talks of a scheme, Jonathan is a sleazeball, and Harriett is the worst of them all. It's clear everyone is lying about something and odd occurrences seem to be multiplying. Most normal people would start the confrontations, but then everyone's sanity - and angle - is also at play here.
All the characters are disagreeable - every single one. In a novel like this I'd normally like at least one person to trust and that's purposefully not happening here. The plot does get more interesting once the third narrator is added along with a whole other side to the plot. Hardy keeps the action moving quickly, though, which takes some of the pressure off a lot of character development and focuses it all on the current situation involving all these characters.
You'll likely know where this one is going long before the denouement, but it is a twisty entertaining ride to get there. The writing is good, the plot is engaging, and while you'll dislike all the characters, you'll keep reading simply to find out if what you've guessed is happening is in fact happening. (You're guessing correctly. It follows a tried and true formula.) Hardy throws plenty of surprises and action into the mix of this domestic thriller to keep it entertaining and suspenseful until you reach the conclusion you saw coming.
Disclosure: My review copy was courtesy of Crooked Lane Books
After publication the review will be posted on Amazon and Barnes & Noble.
This book will definitely throw you off balance. She loses her memory and it spins out of control! A very good psychological thriller!! A must read!
I received this as an eARC to read for free in exchange for my honest review. Thank you to NetGalley and Crooked Lane Books for giving me access.
We follow Diana Sparrow and the fact she wants to leave her husband. She even has the proof she needs to void the prenup. What we don't know is that we are on a rollercoaster of secrets that are kept from everyone, including some of Diana's secrets.
This book was intriguing! I wasn't sure how things were going to end, until the very end. I had my suspicions but they didn't make sense because there wasn't and answer to "why". I have that answer now and I still didn't see that coming.
Such a remarkable and sit on the edge of your seat read.
So many twists to this psychological thriller. Having a mystery in which all the characters are difficult to identify with (unless you, the reader, had some despicable characteristics, too) makes it fun to read. As you try to unravel the mystery, they are all capable if misdeeds. Your emotions will remain on alert for the entire book, and do not plan on easily closing the book near the end. That is where all the action is!
Diana is injured in a car accident and has lost months of her memory. When she starts having nightmares about the accident she doesn't know if they are the truth or just her mind playing tricks on her. She can't even talk to her husband or her best friend because they are having an affair!!!! Will Diana figure out what really happened that night? Is she in danger? This was a pretty thrilling thriller that I read quickly. I received an advanced readers copy and all opinions are my own.
3.5 stars, rounded down. As a mystery/suspense book, I recommend going into this book without too much information. Knowing too much about the plot will only ruin this type of book, and I think that it is a lot more fun to just read it (also, I am too lazy to introduce the book since Goodreads already does it so well). :)
"After All I've Done" did a lot of things right for the suspense/thriller genre. A bit of an unreliable narrator, a "shocking" twist, and a definite mystery that pushes the plot forward. At the same time, "After All I've Done" fell into a lot of tropes that really made the story feel like something I had already read before: amnesic MC, lying/cheating husbands/wives, boring rich people meeting for coffee a lot (maybe this one shouldn't count, but I swear I've read this a million times before), obvious hints to the reader that take a long time to resolve.
This book read really quickly and well after the 50% mark- things finally started clicking into place. Before that point though, it was difficult for me to get into the book. The two main male characters were never given much characterization and the female characters were petty and childish. I know that these characters needed to act like that in order to 'solve' the mystery, but it wasn't much fun to read a long the way.
As for the resolution, I loved the twist! It was close to what I expected, but definitely more surprising. The epilogue felt disjointed after the mystery was resolved-- sort of a "...and this is what happened. The end" feeling. This would make a nice weekend/quick read for many, and recommend this book to those who are new to the genre or who enjoy the types of things I mentioned in the first part of my review. Mina Hardy wrote an interesting book with "After All I've Done" and I would consider reading another by her in the future.
Thank you Netgalley and Crooked Lane Books for an advanced reader's copy in exchange for an honest review.
There were definitely aspects of this one that I enjoyed. I was not expecting the ending and I definitely felt for Diana and her struggle with her memory loss. Her memory loss led to big reveals throughout the story that kept me intrigued.
There were some factors that I was able to figure out pretty early one, which took away from it a little bit, but overall, it was still a fun read.