Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for the advance copy. This book was a mixed bag for me. I liked the way the chapters alternated between the two sisters. I also thought the author did a beautiful job of describing the island and the cottage. I could picture the setting so vividly the whole time I was reading. The character development was pretty weak; the reader ends up knowing basically nothing about either of the sisters. I also felt a lot of the plot was pretty implausible. The fact that June was in the dark about absolutely everything her entire life was too unbelievable. She was a teenager (or maybe middle school age?) when all of the drama happened, yet the reader is supposed to believe she went through almost 30 years of her life believing her dad just walked out on them? Like she never once Googled her dad or Avril Island and saw any old newspaper articles? Overall, this was an interesting premise and a pretty fast, enjoyable read, but the reader really has to suspend disbelief.

What You Never Knew by Jessica Hamilton was a good, engaging book. The story alternates between two POV’s. The characters were slowly developed but their relationship was interesting. This was a quick read and a bit predictable, but fun, nonetheless.

***** I received an ARC from NetGalley, the publisher, and the author for my honest review. *****

I received an advanced reader’s copy in exchange for an honest review

This book was a bit predictable and formulaic but it’s very engaging and the characters are like able and fun enough that it keeps you sucked in and turning pages through the plot. Solid 3.

Read through netgalley

Quite an atmospheric read - think sharp objects type mystery.
Characters were good and book well written. Few plot holes but the story was entertaining enough to be a good read.

Would recommend

Family secrets abound between the living and the dead - yes, similar to The Lovely Bones since one main character dies at the beginning and then helps tell the tale. A lot of intersecting characters and hidden secrets that unfold as the story progresses. Very typical of small communities that have generations of residents, everyone knows everyone's history, or at least a version of it. Will keep you reading ...

There were things I really liked about this book, and things I didn't.

Starting with what I liked.

I loved how the chapters alternated between a living person, and a dead person. I thought it was a unique way of giving us some of the back story that we needed.
I thought it was very descriptive and I could picture the island and I could picture the characters and what was happening.
I loved how there was more than one mystery happening.

What didn't I like?
We don't know anything about the sisters, which makes it hard to relate to them. We find out - in the 2nd half of the book - that one sister was a famous photographer and the other wrote a book as famous as Catcher in the Rye?? And why dont either of them have any friends? It's like they were created out of nowhere.
I also though the dialogue was odd - it didn't really ring true. It was as if the author was telling you what they said rather than the characters saying it. It was oddly stilted or something - it just didn't ring true.

Overall, I did enjoy the book and I was drawn into the plot and would recommend reading it.

I want to thank the author, the publisher and #netgalley for the advance copy which did not impact my review.

Loved everything about his novel! The characters spoke to me, the setting was haunting and lovely. Looking forward to Reading More by Jessica Hamilton.

“My father bought Avril Island for my mother as a wedding present. Her very own island complete with a five-bedroom cottage and acres of land. Where we spent every single summer until the summer when I was fifteen years old. That year we left in a hurry, never went back “

This is the kind of thriller that reminded me of an old Hitchcock movie. The kind that slowly reveals all of its secrets through memories, it’s characters and the place itself. I enjoyed the dual point of view of the sisters as narrators. May’s ghost was an interesting narrator, that seemed fitting against the haunting backdrop of Avril Island and recollections of the past. It was not only a discovery of the secrets that Avril Island held but June’s own path. Whilst one of the reveals was easy to pick up early in the story, the way it played out still felt satisfactory. It was the book that I’ve read written by this Author and I enjoyed it so much that I read it in one sitting.

Thank you to the Author, Publisher and NetGalley for the Advanced Reader Copy. I am voluntarily reviewing this complimentary ARC and all opinions are my own and unbiased.

Omggggg Jessica Hamilton is phenomenal! This book was just way too good. Suspense and a great thriller all in one! Go read this one!

Thanks Netgalley for allowing me to read this book. Avril island was a place where the Bennett family have owned a cottage for years. June that the property was sold after her father went missing. When her older sister dies in a car crash she decides to visit Avril Island. June starts to remember different things that occurred when she was young. This book is told from the perspective of her older sister when she was a young girl and June in present tense.

When I saw the premise for What You Never Knew, I found myself, for the second time in as many weeks, faced with a thriller that had me hooked within the first few sentences of its utterly intriguing synopsis.

Like The Dark and Secret Places, another publication by Crooked Lane Books, I knew that I simply had to read What You Never Knew.

Both novels, interestingly, feature life-shattering revelations about their respective protagonists’ mothers. The former tells of a woman who discovers that her mother has been corresponding with a serial killer for decades. The latter—this novel—alternates POVs between June Bennett and the ghost of May Bennett, her older sister, as the mystery surrounding their mother’s past unfurls in the present day.

◻️◻️◻️◻️◻️◻️◻️◻️◻️◻️◻️◻️◻️◻️◻️◻️◻️◻️◻️◻️◻️◻️

I enjoyed the descriptiveness of the prose, as Hamilton deftly captures the nostalgia of childhood summers and the passage of time between then and June in the present. I liked as well how it portrayed May and June’s relationship with their charismatic and emotionally manipulative mother.

There was, however, a weirdly stilted and staccato quality to the narration that really didn’t work for me, especially when characters were dialoguing. Ultimately, it prevented me from buying into the characters’ stakes or connecting with the events of what had initially promised to be a compelling story.

And gah—the over-exposition!

There was so much telling; it was especially bad in May’s chapters, when she describes what it’s like being dead/a ghost. As a result, the whole The Lovely Bones element—i.e., narrating from beyond the grave, which I was very excited about—fell completely flat.

June also felt like a poorly rendered simulation instead of a flesh-and-blood woman. On page 88 we suddenly find out that she’s apparently a one-time smash-hit novelist….?? It’s at this point I realized that I knew pretty much nothing about either May or June, apart from what each sister info-dumped about the other. We’re told that June wrote “the female version of Catcher in the Rye” in her twenties, and yet I don’t even know what she’s done for a living in the two decades since.

And how does the woman have ZERO friends?? When they reconnect on the island, she tells Ezra—her best friend from when she was twelve—that apart from May, he’s been her only best friend (….they haven’t seen each other in 30 years).

Personally, I would’ve enjoyed knowing more about June’s backstory, or more about her, period.

Finally, that HOT MESS of an ending! I saw one of the big plot twists coming from 20% in, though I have to admit that what I’d imagined was worse than what actually happened. The rest was pure info-dump, absurd details heaping upon each other, each more baffling than the last. You’re going to need a healthy amount of suspension-of-disbelief to get through it.

◻️◻️◻️◻️◻️◻️◻️◻️◻️◻️◻️◻️◻️◻️◻️◻️◻️◻️◻️◻️◻️◻️

Other things—that I’m sure will be fixed with editing before publication—included weird placement of commas: a conspicuous shortage of them when needed, their appearances between words that didn’t require commas, and also numerous comma splices. There were also some typos, more than I’m used to with my e-ARCs. I haven’t factored copyediting issues into my star rating, but I did want to note down that this was my experience with my advance copy.

Bottom line: There was so much potential for the Lovely Bones-esque narration to add to the plot, but it felt almost extraneous. And though I devoured it in a day, I was really disappointed by how contrived I found parts of this story—the ending especially. :(

This may be my favorite book I’ve read all year. Realistic characters in a story that’s so intriguing that you can’t help but keep reading. I highly recommend this book.

This kept me entertained, though one of the twists was pretty predictable. I also wanted more time spent in the past with May and June at Avril Island.

Kindly received an ARC from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

I really liked the alternating views between Jessica and the dead. Its hit or miss with me if I like an alternating view, it can be hard to follow along at times, but the author handled it beautifully. This book had me guessing until the end which is super rare but i really enjoy it when it happens!

This was such a good fast read! I was hooked from the first pages.
I really enjoyed learning about the sisters more. The mystery behind them was intriguing.
The writing will keep you glued to the pages. Jessica out did herself with this story!

More like 2.5. I would like to thank Netgalley and the publisher for an advance copy in exchange for an honest review. I loved the premise of the book, but unfortunately I had a hard time getting into it.

June is deeded Avril Island, a place she loved but thought her family sold years ago. Going there to get away from recent loss she finds the memories of long ago summers with her sister, mother and then best friend, Ezra, overwhelming.
It’s not going to be easy for me to review What You Never Knew as I had mixed emotions about the book. I put this book in a gothic mystery category, and it’s done very well. When the first sentence starts, “One hour before I died I was sitting in a stuffy lawyers office....”you know you’re going to be pulled into the book immediately.
The plot itself was wonderful with multiple layers of mysteries, who’s telling the truth, who isn’t done beautifully. The author ties the mysteries together really well and up until the end you’re still not sure who is doing what, and what really happened in the past. Great use of red herrings.
What’s also done really well is the voice of May, June’s dead sister and their alternating chapters. To me May is the most interesting of the characters.
But the rub for me was I didn’t like any of the characters, and found them not redeeming at all. True, the author says at the end of the books, none of us are all good or all bad, but that didn’t cut it for me. I know June and May’s mother had to be written as unlikable, but I didn’t like June’s character either. I didn’t care about her or what happened to her, thought she was shallow and really needed AA. The same was true of Ezra, and the other small town characters, and that ruined my enjoyment of the novel. So while I give the plot 5+, I have to give the characters a 2.
Still I’d say it’s definitely worth the read. Thanks to #Crooked Books and #Netgalley for the arc.

Avril Island was owned by the Bennett family for generations, but June Bennett believed the island and cottage was sold the long ago summer when her father disappeared. It’s only when her older sister is killed in a car accident that June discovers that she still owns the island and cottage. Back on the island, she discovers her father is believed to be a murderer by the locals; digging for answers, she encounters the strange reappearance of long lost family possessions. What else, one considered lost may turn up next?

A haunted story narrated by two devoted sisters: one of them is dead, the other one barely faces shocking realities of her distorted past!

A big family secret, tormented lives, lies, suppressed memories and unsolved murder!

After losing her sister May, June realizes the summer cottage located at Avril Island she’d spent her childhood hasn’t been sold as their mother told her after their father’s sudden disappearance. June was only 12 when they left the place. She didn’t question anything about the past, deciding to move on her life with her children, adjusting the ending of her dysfunctional marriage.

But now she’s all alone! Her partner in crime, her best friend sister is dead at a tragic car accident. And she just inherited the nearly 100 years old cottage / their summer house she’d thought it’s already gone decades ago. Entire island was the gift to her mother from French grandparents. And now she is the owner of island but the locals may not welcome her with opened arms as you may imagine. And the reason is not the nearly 3 decades of time lapse. She finds out the islanders think her father might have been involved into murder and he just escaped before getting convicted!

She starts digging around and this investigation also bringing out more childhood memories! She starts to see things from different angle and she has hard time to digest the things she finds out!

I think I loved both sisters’ emotional and meaningful bounding more than the mystery part of the book. June is the last one left behind of the family as May already left the earth but via her narration we learn more about their family dynamics and we get more reliable look at their lives.

It was one of my quickest reads! It’s hooking you up and you breathlessly keep on turning ( or sliding) the pages!

I am giving my four islander, riveting, exciting, family drama stars!

Special thanks to NetGalley and Crooked Lane for sharing this reviewer copy with me in exchange my honest opinions.