3.5 I liked the premise of the book but the writing and the story dragged in quite a few places. There were some twists and some easily guessed secrets and the resolution was good, showed growth of the main character that was alive. The style created more distance, more in the head than i like.

(3.5 stars)

40-year-old June Bennett returns to her childhood home in Avril Island after receiving news of her older sister's death. May Bennett had visited the family's lawyer regarding the property left by their late mother but unfortunately she died in a fatal car accident on her way back. The two sisters had always believed that their mother had sold off Avril Island ever since their father's disappearance decades ago but now that May has gone, June has no choice but to return to the Island to search for some answers.

June couldn't remember much of her childhood memories at Avril lsland, but the residents do remember the Bennetts clearly. She later learns from the residents that they believe her father may be murdered instead of disappeared as what her mother had claimed. June didn't know what to think of this new revelation, but she did reacquaint with their caretaker's son, Ezra, and soon find herself attracted to him. As June continues to dig into the past, strange things start happening around Avril lsland. First, the unexplained noises in the night and shadowy figures disappearing into the woods. Then, missing family possessions showing up and doors locking on their own. What secrets do Avril Island hold that the residents are reluctant to talk about it?

This story has a few elements that held my attention. The atmospheric Avril lsland, the secrets and deceptions, and then there's the bond/dynamics between the two sisters and most of all, the alternating POVs between June and May, who's dead and seemed to be hovering around June. May's narrative was vague but it isn't without reason as her voice adds part of the intrigue to this story. Despite a thriller, I felt the strength lies instead in the relationship between the two sisters (their childhood in particularly) and the family dynamics of the Bennett family. Avril Island was another draw as it was well described. My only complaint was I wished there was more developments between the sisters in their adulthood. While June was an interesting character, she's not really likeable in some ways and some of her actions really puzzled me, to say the least. Nevertheless, it was an engaging read and I'll be curious to see what the author has in store for her next book.

The perfect "ghost" story. As I read, I was watching the motion picture in my mind... and I may just have a few nightmares. Don't read this one right before you go to sleep if you're not a fan of scary books.

Sometimes, it's the smallest things that change or happen, or that our mind tells us has happened. And the way we realize how different things really were once we are grown. I feel like this summarizes June's experiences with Avril Island. What she pictures and a great childhood experience, save for the summer her father took off, doesn't seem so beautiful now that she's an adult and owns the island.

However, we all know that the bumps in the night almost always have explanations and these explanations will leave your jaw on the floor. At least, for this thriller addict, I didn't see that ending coming - which is my favorite type of book!

I can't wait to read more from Jessica Hamilton and until April 13th when the rest of the world can read this one!

I really enjoyed the writing in the book, it was very lyrical. I also loved the setting and the idea of a mystery surrounded by the recent deaths of two close family members. The idea was a good one too as one of the points of view is from a dead person. But...

The story seemed to drag for me and a lot of it just didn't fly with me. I mean how many times can a person drink lots of wine, forget to charge their phone and not see what's right in front of them? I had this figured out pretty early on and by then end I was just bored with it. Jessica Hamilton has talent, that is not in question...But this book just wasn't for me. Three stars for great writing and that wonderful cover!

While not written in the classic style of suspense and mystery, What You Never Knew manages to keep the reader on their toes and invested throughout the story.

The story follows two sisters May and June, not only takes the reader into the dark secrets surrounding their past, but also allows the reader to understand each of their motivations. From the first chapter, we begin to understand that a dark secret is tied to the family's summer house on Avril Island. A journey to the island brings back as many childhood memories as it does questions, leaving them to follow the steps of the past to find the answers that have been hidden away for years.

Ms. Hamilton stepped outside the normal constraints to tell this story, but it works not only to tell the story, but to demonstrate the close bond shared between these two sisters.

I don’t like jigsaw puzzles but I like to figure mysteries out. What You Knew is a mystery. Why did June’s mother and sister lie To her for years about Avril Island? What happened to June’s father? And West, another man who disappeared a few days after her father. Returning to the island may be churning up too much of, the past. This was a good read. The pace was fast and it kept my interest. I had my suspicions, but it wasn’t until almost the end that I figured out the real secret. Although at first I didn’t like the ending, I realized it had to be that way.

What You Never Knew by Jessica Hamilton was a haunting mystery I won't soon forget. It is the story of sisters May and June. Their mother April has died and left something in her will for May, the older sister. May finds out that Avril Island, a gift to their mom from their dad, is still owned by her mom. Years ago when June and May were teens, their dad disappeared from Avril Island. April told the girls their dad left voluntarily and would never be back. They left Avril Island and their beloved lake cottage never to return.
Not a spoiler because it is mentioned in the first paragraph of the book, May is killed in a car wreck in the first chapter before she can tell June about the island. In turn, June inherits the island. She returns to get some closure and see what's been going on there all these years. When June arrives she runs into Ezra, a boy who was her best friend all those years ago. His dad was the caretaker of their island and cottage. June soon finds out Ezra's dad disappeared also, right after her own dad went missing. June is in for a rude awakening when she gets back to the island. It seems her dad's disappearance may not have been of his own free will. It also seems the townspeople have a low opinion of her mom April too. Secrets and lies abound on Avril Island!
I loved this story so much! The character of June was easy to relate to and her revelations about her past were so exciting to read. May is also a main character even though she dies at the beginning. Her ghost is following June and has arrived at Avril Island. In fact, May might know more than she ever told June. Please don't miss this book! If you love books about family secrets, lies, unreliable narrators, and lake houses this is not to be missed! Thanks to Net Galley and the publisher for the advanced copy of this book. All opinions are my own.

Murder, lies, secrets , betrayal and one dysfunctional family.

What is not to love.

The story of how their dad disappeared one day from the family cottage is told from June and May's view point . The trick being May was recently killed in an accident and has now left the family cottage to June

Both girls have their own set of memories but what they can agree on is their Mom who had so many secrets and so many people were not fans of hers.

June returns to the family cottage and things begin to happen.

I loved the view point May, she can't remember that fatal night but as things begin to go wrong she is there to protect June.

I felt like I was sitting on the dock with June, listening to the waves and you can just picture the town and its citizens .

Who could June trust? Not many I would say. I changed my mind several times as who was trying to scare June away .

I must say I was not right.

The pages turn quickly and the ending is perfect.

Thanks to NetGalley and Crooked Lane Books for an adventurous read.

This was a slow-burn mystery that kept me intrigued from the start. I liked the dual narrative with one living sister (June) & one dead sister (May) and how June copes with with death of May. As she spends more time on Avril Island, we see June uncovering secrets about her mother & the night her father disappeared. I like the slow reveal of what happend all those years ago, and the ending had some shocks that I did not see coming. I'm looking forward to read more from Jessica Hamilton in the future.

If you love thrillers with a touch of the supernatural, take a look at this one!

What I enjoyed the most about this book is the imagery of the summer lake house. The warmth of the dock and the rustic wood of the old cottage were painted so vividly in my mind. The touch of May as a ghost was just the right amount and portrayed just as I would imagine it could be like. While I did guess a good bit of the ending, I was never confident I was correct. The author kept the storyline moving, piecemealing bits of new information throughout the book.

There is one loose end that was never tied up...WHERE IS SIMON'S BODY??? West and April clearly took it out to bury it in the woods, but why did June go find it like she found West's body? Why did she not get to mourn the death of her father (even if not biological)?

From a technical aspect, the April, May, June names were a bit corny, and it took me a minute to adjust to reading them as names versus months. There were a fair number of typos throughout - more than I am used to seeing in an ARC. Hopefully, they will get picked up before publication.

Something was strange about the night June’s mother hurried her and her sister away from Avril Island and told them their father had left for good. They never returned to the island and were later told it had been sold. Family secrets are unlocked when both June’s mother and sister die, and she is willed Avril Island. June returns to her childhood summer home to try to solve the mystery of her father’s disappearance, untangle her mother’s lies, and find herself again.

I received an advanced copy of this book from #NetGalley and @crookedlanebooks to review. It releases April 13, 2021.

<<IG post is scheduled and will show up on account below at a later date>>

This novel hooked me right off the bat. It starts with a woman named May going to a meeting with an attorney to learn the contents of her mother April's will. She discovers at that meeting that her mother has left her their old summer cottage, which May believed had been sold a long time ago, as well as the island on which it sits. The cottage was the place where May and her sister June last saw their father. They were only 11 and 12 at the time, and all they know of their father's disappearance was what their mother told them. While May is trying to wrap her head around the news about their old cottage and worrying about how she will tell June, BAM! She's killed in a car crash! That is one helluva of a Chapter 1!

In subsequent chapters we meet 40-year old June. Reeling from May's sudden death and the news that she is now the owner of their old summer cottage and island, June decides to travel to Avril Island, site of the cottage, to decide on her next steps. She quickly learns that the islanders are holding on to a lot of old grudges and, in fact, seem to believe that her father may have murdered another man who disappeared around the same time. Suffice to say, she does not get a warm welcome. Moreover, June starts noticing weird stuff around the cottage, and she decides to hang around and dig into history to learn the truth.

The story alternates between June's POV and the POV of the ghost of May, who is watching over June. What You Never Knew is a quick read, well-written, and a solid mystery. It kept me riveted.

Thanks to NetGalley and Crooked Lane for providing me an eARC in exchange for an honest review

The premise of this book sucked me right in. An abandoned house on an island? yes, please! Family secrets? Murder? Mystery? I was here for it. Then I started reading the book and it was weird, the dialogue felt forced and the jumping around in the narration because the living sister and the dead one did not work for me. June, the main character we are reading about never truly takes form in this book. She is more a shadow of her sister and mom, repeating their mistakes and lost in their world. She was also vaguely annoying and to be honest, I just didn't like her. The writing style also just did not work for me. It was far too much telling and now nearly enough showing. I skimmed the last half of the book to get to the end and it wasn't as surprising of an ending as I had hoped. I had high hopes for this one and I did love the setting but the story was a let down.

This was a great debut! Completely riveting and amazingly written! I found this book to be very gripping, from page one until the very last page! It was very well written, unique, and thrilling! The character development was amazing and I thought it was quite original and unique in its entirety! Will definitely provide the thrills, chills. And twisty turns I love in thrillers. Highly, highly recommend!

I wanted to like this book. The premise is great and had me excited. However, I found myself thrown off by the fragmented sentences. Sometimes the dialogue wouldn't be in quotation marks, so the suspension of disbelief was also off. The last straw for me was that I couldn't really relate to the characters. It isn't until about page 80 that we really start finding out the depth of the characters, such as that one of the sisters was a photographer and the other wrote a "Catcher In The Rye"-type book, which was her only work. I felt discombobulated and couldn't finish it, sadly.

An incredible debut, this book is a superb piece of nostalgia that transported me to my own childhood summer. Unfortunately, that was where most of the similarities ended because I would love to have my own family mystery to unravel. The back and forth between the two sisters’ point-of-view, in addition to the paranormal aspect, gave this book a fun twist that I hadn’t expected nor seen since reading The Lovely Bones.

With innumerable moments of nail-biting suspense, it was difficult to put this book down. Character’s and their dialogue are so expertly crafted, you come to love or hate them with an abrupt intensity.

The best part of this book was that you never knew what was going to happen, despite your best theories, and it was refreshingly unconventional in its conclusion.

Meet the Bennett family. June, May, and their mother. Imagine finding out that everything you believed about your family was a lie.

The book is told from the POV of May and June. One is dead and one is alive. June is all grown up now with her own family. When her sister dies, she finds out that the place they loved the most, Avril Island, which her family owned and where her father disappeared in a mysterious way had not been sold as their mother told them, but is still sitting waiting for her.

Feeling lost and looking for answers, June heads to the island. But not everyone is welcoming and there are as many secrets as trees. Things begin happening that are hard to explain. And the answers she gets are shocking.

The point of view May tells is rather disjointed, but then she is dead. I have to say the ending left me unsatisfied. The writing seemed a bit stiff. This is not anything like The Lovely Bones that it is compared to.

NetGalley Reviews/ April 13th, 2021 by Crooked Lane Books

I have been discussing with my bookish friends that actually, we would need new sub-categories for thriller novels. Such as: creepy, can’t-put-down, atmospheric, character-driven - and so on. We can't put them all into the same pot, calling them simply "thrillers".
Today, I would like to present a thriller novel, which had a very soothing and meditative effect on me.

Plot Summary:
June has just lost her sister in a terrible car accident and has fallen into a state of depression. When she receives the news that long-forgotten childhood retreat Avril Island has been inherited to her, June decides to re-visit this vacation retreat where the last event she remembers, is her father suddenly, disappearing overnight. Ever since that had happened, nobody from her family has returned to Avril Island ever again.

My Thoughts:
I loved the sensitivity with which June’s character was drawn, she felt like a real person coming with weakness and flaws. Her stay on Avril Island and the events that help her solve the mystery – the process which also, shapes and supports her to find a way out of the depression .. all this, has felt beautifully calming.
But don’t be all smoothed in, because this story does contain a dark secret, at its very core. And also a special POV which I definitely, do not want to spoil.

What You Never Knew
by Jessica Hamilton
My Rating: 4 stars
Recommended as the perfect palate-cleanser, something for a weekend when you just want to get lost in a thriller novel that also comes with a sensitive touch.

I will keep looking for Jessica Hamilton's upcoming works - her ability to write a thriller novel in such a calming and sensitive way, has definitely left a mark.

[ Note for the publisher: This review will also be posted on my Bookstagram Account - I am planning to post it end of this week 12~14 Feb 2021, and will tag @crookedlanebooks ]

This is exactly the kind of book I want with me on an airplane. Despite myself I am a sucker for the tried and true tropes of the mystery/thriller genre. They're classics for a reason; because they work. Still, despite all that, this story managed to throw a couple of curve balls at me near the end and I was pleasantly surprised by the "who-dun-it." The author did a good job of developing a creepy atmosphere and keeping me engaged throughout and I would probably recommend this book to anyone that needs something quick and easy to read at the beach.

3 stars

Readers learn early on that June, the m.c.,, has experienced a great deal of loss: estrangement from her father, the death of her older sister (May), and the death of her mother, April. Upon her mother's death, June returns to a family home/location and all of the attached people and memories.

I was skeptical about the dual perspective of a living and dead character, and for me, this just did not work. The dead character brought way too little to the table; I kept waiting for some sort of pottery wheel or even moving coin moment a la _Ghost_, and there was...not enough to make this character a worthwhile inclusion, at least in a p.o.v. role. At times, I found this choice distracting.

What I struggled with more is the predictability of the central mystery (really all of its parts - there are _Oedipus_-style hints here in form not content), and the central romance took a really horrifying turn with some of the later questions and descriptions. I'm keeping this vague to avoid spoilers but eeeeew. No thanks.

I was entertained by this read, but I struggled with a number of essential aspects.

I don't read many mysteries or thrillers, but this book pulled me in from page one and would not let go. I loved it. The chapters alternate between sisters. May, who is dead, and June who is not. Even death can not break the bonds of sisters. The book centers around the mystery of the disappearance of their father from Avril Island when they were teens. Oh the tales we weave when trying to hide the family lies and secrets. This book is a definite must read. Add it to the top of your to read list. A big thank you to author Jessica Hamilton, publisher Crooked Lane Books, and NetGalley for providing a copy of this book for a honest review.