3.5 stars
Sibley Bradford is the only female divorce attorney at her firm, and she's excellent at her job. She also has a drinking problem and had an affair with a client.
But first, we are introduced to Sibley's estranged mother Deborah. With a host of issues of her own.
Thank you to author Marin Montgomery and Netgalley for the eARC for review!
Sibley's drinking forces her workplace to send her to rehab. But first, she diverts back to her hometown and home farm to confront events of 16 years earlier leading to the death of her father.
Well, well! This slow-burn suspense has tension and darkness throughout and alternating points-of-view from Sibley and Deborah are both intriguing.
But are either of them reliable narrators? There are a lot of factors at play here - addiction, abuse, cognition issues and sorting through layers of betrayal.
It took me awhile to figure out the titular reference. With the huge turn of events right to the end, seems there can be more than one interpretation! Recommended!

<i>"Sometimes, what we forget is more important than what we remember."</i>

I wish I'd liked this one more. I don't mind an unreliable narrator, but I want a little mystery about what they are unreliable about. Instead, these 2 main characters were just...off. Constantly seeing or not seeing, never sure what they did last night or even last hour - and there are TWO narrators that are this all over. It definitely made the plot convoluted and hard to follow. As the time line jumped to the past and then to other characters, all the names and situations, it was hard to figure out what to believe and follow and what was not important. It just made it all feel jumpy and confusing.

Thank you to Netgalley and Thomas and Mercer books for an early review copy.

This was a quick read. I did enjoy it, although at times I did get confused on who was who. Perspectives changed throughout chapters too. It started off a little slow, but did pick up. I really enjoyed the ending.

This book has a lot of backstory and suspense to it. Although not the best thriller i've read , it did keep the pages turning.

The book was a little slow to start but once it got going it was a great ride. I had no idea what was actually going on my thoughts were going everywhere and I definitely didn’t know how it was gonna end when it did. I really liked this book.

"'Sometimes what we forget is more important than what we remember.'"

Holy unreliable narrator Batman.

Sibley and her mother Deborah are estranged, and both have their own problems. Sibley is an alcoholic headed for divorce and possible disbarment, and Deborah has been attacked in her own home and is having trouble believing what she sees and hears. Together, these two are the queens of all unreliable narrators. The entire time I was reading I kept saying whatttttttt? Did that really happen? Did she imagine that? And toward the end I actually cursed out loud because there was a twist I was NOT expecting. Honestly though, I really didn't see any of the twists coming and the whole storyline really kept me on my toes. The reason this is a three star, rather than a four star read is just because the narrators were SO unreliable that there were times I was tempted to put the story down and just forget about it. I am happy I finished it though, especially because I enjoyed the ending so much.

I found this thriller to be dark and twisty, but honestly hard to keep track of events. It involves a mother and daughter trying to reconnect, and uncovering lots of family secrets along the way. This was a decent thriller.

Such a good book from one of my new favorite authors. I really enjoyed this twisted story. One of her bests

Sibley's life is out of control, both professionally and personally. She is forced to take a leave of absence from her firm. She tries to reconnect with her mom Deborah but soon realizes why she left so long ago.
Thanks Netgalley and the publisher for the advance ecopy.

This is my first book by Marian Montgomery and I plan to read more!!! This was a great psychological thriller that I wasn't able to put down!! I just finished and I know I will be thinking about it for a while now. It was such a 'whodunnit'!! I loved the writing and the characters were realistic too!! Thanks so much for allowing me to review this!

The Imposter, by Marin Montgomery is a suspenseful thriller that asks the question can you really deceive your past and those around you?

This is my first book by Marin Montgomery, who has many other books that I will have to check out.

Told by multiple narrators, this book is about a mother and daughter who are both struggling with their past. One is apparently crazy and the other, though seemingly has the perfect life, husband, and job, but turns out to be an alcoholic that is on the verge of losing it all. The story is based on their estranged relationship going back 14 years and the current drama that brings them back together again. They are both struggling but can the overcome the secrets and the unraveling mysteries of their family?

Though both narrators were unreliable and confused at times, it really kept me guessing about what had happened in the past, what was happening currently and what would a future for them look like. There were several twists that I didn’t see coming and the ending was satisfying with all the loose ends tied up.

Thank you NetGalley, Thomas & Mercer and Marin Montgomery for this ARC in exchange for my honest review. ❤️️

The synopsis sounded good and I appreciated being contacted by the author to read this psychological thriller. Unfortunately the book was not a good fit. The book features two unreliable narrators who are very unlikeable. The story does not flow and jumps all over the place making it confusing to follow. While I enjoy a good twist, the story was a bit unbelievable.

The book releases March 9th. Thank you to the author and Netgalley for my advanced copy of this book.

A slow to start read, focusing on mother and daughter Deborah and Sibley, who have been estranged for 16 years ever since Sibleys father died.

Sibley’s marriage and job are both on the edge of failure and Sibley decides it’s time to reunite with her mum, to find out what happened the night her father died.

Initially the book is telling the story of the women’s lives separately before bringing them together, Although at times this part is slow it is necessary to bring the story together later.

Both characters seem to be unreliable narrators as the story alternates between their points of view it’s quite difficult to know who is telling the truth. Parts of the story are told in 1st person other parts in 3rd person.

It’s difficult trying to work out what the motivation for some of the actions is as you are reading, with several red herrings to throw you off into a different direction, then draw the reader back in again. Despite there being a fair few characters in the story it’s still easy to see where they all fit, it doesn’t make it confusing.

Overall a good story with a clever ending, a book you need to keep reading as the pace does pick up after a slow start. Ideal for anyone who enjoys a psychological thriller.

I would like to thank #netgalley and #Thomas&Mercer for an eARC of this in exchange for an honest, fair and unbiased review.

Good Morning friends! I hope you all are having a beautiful Wednesday morning wherever you are. I want to shout out to Marin, this is your second book I’ve read and I am beyond excited to read MORE of your works of art. You ma’am are a true thriller author! I also want to thank Thomas & Mercer (Amazon publishing) and NetGalley for this review copy, this GEM will be available on March 9, so grab it when you can.

So let’s chat about this twisty, page turning psychological thriller because y’all, I’m still thinking about it and I finished it last night. If every author could write something and hold out on the truth until the end, what a world we’d be in. I truly had no idea “whodunnit” until it was revealed at the end. The psychology in this book was fascinating, I’m a psych/English major and it thrilled me!

Sibley, a brilliant divorce attorney with a wee drinking habit is forced to take a leave of absence from her job due to her habit. Her marriage is in shambles and she’s forced to go into rehab. Except she doesn’t go, she ends up at her Mom’s farmhouse, which she hasn’t seen in many, many years. Her Mom seems to not be doing so well. Meanwhile, Sibley still sneaking the vodka and her Mom drowning in pills seem to come together for a bit, Sibley’s on a mission to find out the truth of what happened the night her Dad died. Lots of weird things start happening and both women contemplate if they’re losing their minds. The truth always comes out though.

I know I’m a little nice sometimes and give 5 stars to a lot of reads that most wouldn’t but, I believe I’ve really been reading some amazing stories lately. This one is no different, it’s a definite ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ for me. Pick it up or get it on your kindle and let me know your thoughts. It’s super good and like I said, a page turner!

DNF @ 10%. Not connecting to the writing, characters or the storyline. I can already tell that this won’t be for me. The dialogue and storyline seem cliche and cheesy. I don’t want to eye-roll my way through any more of this. I am clearly not the intended audience. The cover is very appealing and intriguing. Thank you for the opportunity to read and review.

No review rating given on Goodreads. No review posted on Bookstagram.

I sadly cannot bring myself to keep reading The Imposter. This book was such a hot mess for me and one wild and confusing ride. In the first two chapters we have all the events that would make a complete book without any context, reason, or background information. I could not understand the plot, the characters and didn't care to see how the story would turn out.

I liked the writing style in this book, but that's about it.

Thank you to Netgalley and Marin Montgomery for this book.

Attorney Sibley Sawyer's life goes down in flames when her drinking finally catches up with her. Forced to take a leave of absence from her firm, Sibley seeks the perceived source of her problems: her mother, Deborah. The two have been estranged since Sibley fled home in her late teens. But when Sibley returns to the Midwestern farm where she grew up, she realizes her mother is acting odd. Perhaps it's due to her recent attack, when an intruder brutally beat her. Either way, as Sidney tries to make peace with Deborah, she starts to recall why she left in the first place--and uncovers even more shocking secrets about long ago happenings on the farm.

Well, the synopsis for this one sounded interesting, but this was a hot mess for me. I did not like much of this book at all, but kept reading because I needed to find out what happened. I think I was as confused as these hapless and unlikable characters, honestly. Deborah is clearly disoriented and bewildered throughout the book--alone and terrified on the farm--and it's nearly impossible to muddle through what's going on in her brain. Sidney is drinking heavily, and while I have complete sympathy for the disease of alcoholism, having lost a beloved relative to it, I'm tired of authors using the trope to give us an unreliable narrator with no real effort for a backstory or anything else.

Neither character comes across as particularly sympathetic, and I got rather tired of reading a book with my brow perpetually furrowed. It was not exciting, just confusing. The plot is truly bizarre, with some weird twists, but I felt I was reading to work out a bad puzzle. Maybe all this befuddlement would have been worth it if the probable "bad guy" had not been telegraphed from a mile away, but I had the outline of this figured out from the start.

Overall, as much as I regret it, this thriller did not work for me at all. It's confusing--but not in an exciting, psychological way, predictable, and filled with narrative threads that never seem to link back together. Others seemed to enjoy it more, so I hope that's the case for you if you pick it up.

When Sibley Sawyers life starts to fall apart, she makes an impulsive decision to visit her mother Deborah. Its been years since they have talked and Sibleys unexpected reunion couldn't have happened at the worse time.
Deborah is recovering from a recent attack at her home. Her head trauma has brought back bad memories she has never dealt with. When Sibley shows up, she panics. She is not ready to deal with Sibley's questions.
Together they need to go over what happened that night that tore their family apart. The truth needs to come out before someone else gets hurt.

This Imposter is a slow build thriller filled with buried secrets and deciet. The two main characters, Sibley and Deborah, are both battling inner demons stemming from an abusive relationship. Alcohol and domestic abuse play a huge part in this book, making some of it hard to read.
The last 20% of the book was a little confusing. The big twist was so unexpected I'm not sure it worked as well as it could have. I felt like all the secrets and the big reveal were kind of thrown out all at once to close out the book. All my questions were answered, but I was left unsatisfied.
I do think the book would make a great Lifetime Movie.

Thank you to NetGalley and Marin Montgomery for the advanced copy in return for my honest review. The Imposter is available to read on March 9, 2021!

Sibley is at the lowest point in her life - she was suspended from her job, on the brink of divorce, and sent to rehab by her husband. Instead of rehab, she takes a detour to a small town to visit her mother. It is here when she realizes that her mom is struggling mentally and Sibley is unsure of how to handle the relationship with her estranged mother. While visiting, Sibley also uncovers a major secret from her past that leads to other secrets being revealed.

This was a really tough read for me. I didn’t connect with any of the characters and honestly just found the plot to be really boring. I wasn’t interested or invested in the outcome of the story line and was just wanting to get to the end for it to be over. I had a bit of a hard time following when it came to timelines as the story would jump backwards in time without warning from one paragraph to the next. Unfortunately, this one fell extremely flat for me.

**I always cringe when I have to give a poor review as I know the author spends massive amounts of time creating something for the world to see. As an avid reader, I have the utmost respect for authors and am grateful for the content they create for us.

This is an amazingly mind boggling story of mothers & daughters. It has so many twists & turns you are surprised by every chapter!!!!!!!!!!!!!! It is an amazing story and I highly recommend it!!!!!!!

The first section of this book was a little tough for me to get through but I am so glad I did! This book kept me guessing and had me hooked! Such a great read.