This book started slow but I ended up liking it and appreciating the relationships between characters.

Again, this started off slow and you're hit with the knowledge of a strained history that keeps you interested beyond the funeral. However, that "history" turned out to be less dramatic than I expected. I found the story slow spaced and thought of DNF-ing around 40% but kept going and it does pick up, like most books around 60%.

This is not a thriller or a mob book, somehow I had those expectations going in and once I let go it got better. Reading it I was iffy but finishing it and letting it sit I liked it more.

#IMeanYouNoHarm #NetGalley

special thanks to NetGalley and Imbrifex books for providing me with ARC.

This book is so boring, i don't know where is the Mystery or the Thriller in it, this is the first novel to me by Beth Castrodale and i don't love it plus Layla character is so annoyed to me.

I wanted to read a mystery and going by the blurb this one would be right up my alley. Unfortunately, the blurb is a little misleading for me, or I completely misunderstood the entire book, but that seems rather unlikely.

Layla has never really known her father, but she is attending his funeral, in hopes to come across a man she has found in her mother's drawings. A man she believes killed her mother. Her mother's death has been ruled a suicide by the authorities, but Layla and her grandparents never believed it. At the funeral Layle meets up with her half-sister Bette. Bette urges her to go home with her because she has a gift from their dad for her. It's an inheritance Layle isn't sure she wants to take. Their dad, Vic, was a criminal and she doesn't want to take dirty money. It's also becoming clear Bette is not well, but she is on a mission to get something for her son. Layla offers to go on the road trip with her to retrieve the package. It soon becomes clear not all is as it seems and Bette's illness is more severe than she let on.

As thrilling as the premise of this book sounds, I found it a tad boring and highly predictable. Layla's character annoys me to no end and Bette seems pretty cool, but she isn't the main of this story. I think I would have preferred switching POVs for this book, I think it would have added to the mystery. Even with all its predictability and lack of true suspense, I found this to be an ok read. Perfectly fine to breeze through it in a couple of hours. It's 2.5 stars for me, but I'm feeling generous so 3.