Your Life for Mine opens well: a text to a woman, on her birthday, saying this was the last birthday she would ever be alive to celebrate.

Alas, the rest of the book does not quite live up to the promise of this opening. There are likely spoilers galore here.

Beth, the birthday girl and recipient of the message, is a walking ball of anxiety. Her boyfriend therapist is annoying when she relays the message to him. She wonders if this has anything to do with "what happened to her" when she was a child - and that "something" isn't laid out until we're a third of the way into the book.

I found this book VERY annoying, mainly because of Beth, who seemed to need intensive therapy, and because the author holds back the good details until halfway through the book and then in the last 20-ish pages. No one acts like a real person would act, and the impetus behind the would-be murder is not credible at all. Nor is the end, for the would-be murderer.

Didn't like it, wouldn't recommend it unless you had nothing else at all to read. The only good thing about this book is that it is a fast, fast read: 80 minutes for me, even without skipping Beth spiraling into yet another meltdown about something like a spoiled child.

Two out of five stars: one for writing and another for there at least being some cohesiveness in the story, despite the ridiculous motives.

Thanks to HQ Digital and NetGalley for the review copy.

Your Life for Mine is a book that keeps you guessing. Karen Clarke makes you suspect so many people in this thriller that it compels you to keep turning the page to find out how it all ends.

In Your Life for Mine someone blames a woman in her 30s for almost drowning when she was a very small child. And to pay her back for being a very small child, they start threatening to kill her. On her birthday. I guess this could have worked as a premise, but for me it did not. Most characters seemed to be there so the main character could think it was them for a few pages before she moved on to someone else. Yes, a man who tried to save her did die. A grown man who could swim but drowned after going out to save her. Someone who was an adult and made choices (most of which she finally finds out in the last quarter of the book) I couldn't get past how ridiculous it was that anyone would want to kill someone for almost dying as a child. I would have tried to like it for other reasons but the main character was unlikable, her child was one a flat and stereotypical, her boyfriend was boring, and her ex was there to try to add some drama about their marriage (which seemed to end because she told him it wasn't working so he left....and then she got mad that he left). I didn't actively hate this book, but I didn't like it.

Thanks to the publisher and Netgalley for the opportunity to read and review this book. Unfortunately this one was not for me and not for the want for trying I simply could not get in to it. I gave up reading half way through

Sorry this story was overlong and silly.
Beth had nearly drowned as a child, and a man tried to rescue her, in doing so he drowned, and another man rescued Beth.
She had always been terrified of water since then,
Beth started receiving notes threatening her life, and was terrified someone was out to kill her, but why.
It then went on and on through all friends and family trying to find out who wanted to kill her.
Sorry this book was not for me.

Author # Karen Clarke has a new novel #' Your Life for Mine'. A novel of suspense that will keep you guessing. Because Beth has a secret that has haunted her. A stranger died once because of her. Times up....
Thank you,
#Netgalley, # Karen Clarke, and # H.Q. Digital for the advanced copy

This is a really good, keep you guessing kind of read. It is well paced that makes you want to keep reading until the end. Thinking I knew early on was a big mistake in my eyes, you won't be prepared to find out who it actually is. Everyone is actually suspiciously and everyone is a suspect but who is it really? I was gripped from the first page and was shocked by the ending to this chilly and tense story.

Thoroughly enjoyed this book. It was the perfect jumpy, fast paced thriller full of twists and turns.

This was a fast-paced thriller that hooks you from the very first page. It centers on Beth, who gets a scary text message on the way to her own birthday party, threatening her. Other scary things start to happen and it's clear that the threats are tied to Beth's near-drowning incident as a child- the man who saved her lost his own life and she never knew who he was, but is convinced that someone in her life currently must be tied to him somehow. S

This story is very twisty because Beth is suspicious of everyone, and there are a lot of options. The author did a great job throwing out some very believable red herrings that made me think I had it all figured out, only to be surprised later. When the villain was ultimately revealed, I was completely caught off guard.

Beth herself got on my nerves a bit, as she made what I thought were some pretty stupid choices. She wasn't unlikeable, per se, but kind of like that one flighty friend you have who you wish would talk to you before running off and doing something silly.

Overall, I think this was a good book and I'd recommend it for those who like mysteries and domestic suspense. I'd be interested in reading other books by this author. Thanks to Netgalley for providing me a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

WOW!! 5 STARS!!! I loved this book!! Not much to tell you except that you won't be disappointed except when you have to put it down to do chores!! Highly Recommend

#YourLifeForMine #NetGalley
It's like a delicious meal with all the essential ingredients in it which makes it a outstanding psychological thriller.
Beth Turner is going home to celebrate her birthday when she received a text which said "Enjoy your birthday Beth, it will be your last". And then the psychological thriller picks up pace which binds the reader to the last word of the last page.
A life for a life. That's what written on her car. Now one thing is clear to Beth that someone out there wants her life but who? Someone connected to that stranger who saved Beth when she was seven. Now whom can she trust? Vic, her love or Rosa, her brother's girlfriend who is an inspector? Or Jude, Lewis, Pam and Rory, her colleagues?
Someone is out to take revenge from Beth but who?
I was completely hooked by this psychological thriller. I loved Beth, Vic and Rosa, they're so complicated and meticulously created characters.
Narration of the story is buttery smooth.
Thanks to NetGalley and HQ for giving me an advance copy of this outstanding psychological thriller.

This is my first book by this writer but not my last. The story of Beth. A mum. An artist. A woman who has separated from her husband but who has found happiness in a new relationship. All is fine until her past creeps up on her...
A cast of characters all under Beth's microscope. Someone's trying to kill her but who?
Strong writing. Strong plot. STRONG!

This book was the perfect who done it. There were so many suspects at one point I thought they were all in on it. I really felt sorry for the main character, being scared of water is a massive phobia of mine so I could relate to how she was feeling and what she must have gone through. This was a great thriller.

Your Life For Mine by Karen Clarke is the first book I have read by Karen Clarke and I must thank Harper Collins UK, the author and NetGalley for the ARC.
We meet Beth, a woman whose life hasn't been what you could call normal since being saved from death by an innocent person twenty six long years ago.Since that day she has lived with the guilt being saved has caused her. She has kept this a secret from almost everybody for such a long time and now she has a perfect life, gorgeous house and beautiful daughter too. Until the day comes when she discovers some one wants revenge. That someone has made it crystal clear they are going to get it as well, but who? Beth herself has no clue so, everyone is a suspect in this edge of your seat story.
The story is told in first person so we are as confused as Beth, not being able to pinpoint anyone.This creates so much tension in the story and I couldn't stop reading , the pages were being turned at such a speed that I read it overnight!
I enjoyed all Karen Clarke's characters, they were crafted so realistically and they could be almost real. Noone was perfect and that's always good! I loved the flaws that everyone came with, it made them even more realistic.
In conclusion a thriller that grips you and won't let go until the last page.
Thanks to HQ and NetGalley for the book.

Sorry this book just felt a little too cheesy and fake to be real. I'm terribly sorry. I did not finish x

Karen Clarke is a welcome new voice in suspense fiction. Here, unlike some other authors who have recently tried (thrillers are now all the rage, as we know!) she makes the transition from romance to suspense seamlessly, building great tension, and not belaboring the romantic aspects of this suspense novel.

The plot is a familiar one but well-executed. Beth is being stalked and threatened with death because of a secret from her past. The premise of this reminds me of the YA books I read as a kid (I Know What You Did Last Summer, Slumber Party, etc.) only instead of the menacing note with letters clipped from magazines, we have anonymous text messages that mysteriously disappear. Well done. The story does a great job moving your suspicions around the cast of characters. I was wrong about whodunit and the actual perpetrator came as a surprise to me. The plot and dialogue are good, and Beth sleuths a little on her own without being ridiculous or unrealistic as a volunteer detective.

Solid 3.5 stars, rounded up for the good writing. Thanks to HQ Digital, Netgalley and the author for the advance copy.

DNF as the writing style was not for me and didnt like any of the characters or the story,apologies but did try twice

I really enjoyed this book. It was gripping and although I had my suspicions I did not see the ending coming. The characters were interesting and meaty. Overall a very good thriller and definitely a page turner!

As a big fan of Karen Clarke's romcoms I was excited to check out her change in direction. And, this was a great solo debut in another one of my favourite genres - psychological thrillers.

As expected it was another well-written, nicely paced story from the author. I liked that pretty much everyone was a suspect, but I did have the eventual culprit pegged as the clear front runner from the start.

I couldn't decide if I liked the ending or not. 'Not' because I typically like justice but it did seem fitting for the character - after all everyone loves a disturbed vigilante on a crazy mission.

I read an advance copy of, Your Life for Mine, by Karen Clarke. This book is a page turner. Somebody saved Beth's life, but they died in the process, now someone is trying to kill Beth. This is such a gripping novel, I loved it.