Allie finds herself living in a suburban nightmare- surrounded by mom cliques and no way to join.
At neighborhood party, Allie sits by herself, wondering how her husband can just start talking and make instant friends. While watching Mark, Rob stands next to Allie and starts to flirt. When he utters her high school nickname, Allie walks away. Only for Rob to push her back into the bathroom, push her against the sink and begin to grope her. As she flees the bathroom, Mark comes up the stairs, to see them both stumble out. Rob makes a snide comment to stay off Tinder.
Allie grabs Mark and leads him home, reassuring him it was just an altercation all women find themselves.
In the morning- Rob is dead.
Sucked me in. Not just the plot. But a woman's entire experience after an assault. Shame. Loss of diginity and privacy. Her actions displayed. No repercussions for revenge porn. Primarily, Mark's reaction to the assault and someone targeting Allie.
The ending - I was hoping for more.
Great book.

It all starts at neighborhood party: Allie, a married mom of one, is flirting a bit with Rob, a guy from the neighborhood. Harmless flirting turns dangerous when he follows her into the bathroom, but things take an even worse turn when Allie wakes up the next morning to the news that Rob is now dead.

Somehow Allie is suddenly embroiled in a murder investigation. Her new neighbors turn against her as more and more evidence piles up to prove that she is the killer.

Each page filled me with dread and I could not stop reading. loved it. I also loved the way that Ms Thompson deals with Allie’s feelings around a harmful and illegal relationship Allie had with a teacher when she was in high school. I felt that Allie’s feelings were portrayed very true to what a survivor in her situation might feel.

Thank you to NetGalley and Tom Dougherty Associates for this captivating ARC.

I could not quit this book! Such an engaging book from start to finish.

Why is Allie Ross being targeted for the murder of a neighbor? Why did this neighbor try hooking up with her at the latest neighborhood gathering and then huff off telling her to stay off of tinder? How did he know her old nickname?
Who is setting her up and how are they making every arrow point towards her? Could it be someone exacting revenge from her hidden prep school scandal? Could it be a new neighbor she wronged? Her judgmental in-laws? Her husband? If only Allie could make everyone believe she isn't who she seems to be online...and that the tinder account is fake...and the Facebook account is fake...and she really isn't so forgetful...then maybe she could get to the bottom of it.

Zippy frankly scary thriller because, well, it could happen to anyone. Allie is struggling a bit with living in suburban Bethesda but she loves her husband, her son Cole, and her job as a photographer. Then what should have been an ok, albeit awkward, evening with other parents turn into a nightmare when she's assaulted by one of the dads. And then he's found poisoned the next day. And then when social media starts to point to her, beginning with a fake Tinder account and then a fake FB account. And then there's more. Even as she's trying to figure out what's happening, she's got to cope with her mother Sharon's descent deeper into dementia. Who is so angry at Allie that they've decided to blow up her whole life? No spoilers from me but it goes back a long way. I'll admit that I guessed wrong- big time wrong- about the culprit so many points for Thompson. She does a great job with building tension and Allie's understandable paranoia. Thanks to Netgalley for the ARC. Great debut - highly recommend for a good read.

woah!! this book was INSANE !! Talk about a revenge story, dang !!

What would you do if someone was trying to ruin your life... and it was working ??
Allie Ross lives a simple life with her husband Mark and their son Cole in a nice suburban neighborhood. Or so she thinks!! While at a neighborhood party, Allie get sexually assaulted in the bathroom by a guy she was flirtatiously talking to-- the next day this same man (ROB) , is found murdered in his home. As if thats not strange enough, he called her by a name she hasn't heard in 16 years-- Lexi. All of this is freaking her out because Allie hasn't told ANYONE about her past and is very confused and worried about how he knew, and now hes dead!!

Everything falls apart after this-- she becomes the prime suspect in Robs murder, she discovers someone created a fake tinder and Facebook account and are going crazy on them, her husband Mark doesn't believe her that its all fake, her mom is doing worse with her dementia, and the list goes on.. literally everything that could go wrong does do wrong plus more. Her marriage, her son's life, her job-- everything has been affected. The only people there for her are her friends Leah and Daisy. The whole neighborhood is convinced she was having an affair with Rob and killed him because of it.

I was literally so worried about Allied the whole book. No one believed her and everything horrible was happening to her, one thing after another !! I have never been so pissed off at a character either- you'll know who when you read it. The ending and the twist made is all worth the ride.. sooooo good and insane. I think what made it even more thrilling is to think about this actually happening. People get their identities hacked and stolen all the time, but this was Personal and it was so scary. I could not put this book down!! I was hooked from the start and really wanted Allie to win the whole time! Loved it. I cant wait to read more for Aggie Blum Thompson!!


Thank you to Netgalley and Macmillan- Tor/Forge for the advanced reading copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

When Mark and Allie Ross and their son Cole move to an exclusive, close-knit neighborhood in Bethesda, MD, they are looking forward to a perfect suburban life. The schools are the best in the area, Mark’s law firm is doing well and Allie’s career as a photographer is about to take off.

Everything falls apart at the annual neighborhood social. Allie begins a conversation with a man she calls Wine Guy, enjoying the innocent flirtation. Wine Guy has something else in mind and assaults her in the bathroom. The next morning, Rob Avery, Wine Guy, is dead. It gets worse, much worse for Allie. Someone has posted pictures to the Facebook neighborhood page, pictures from a fake Facebook account where Allie is portrayed as a playing around partygirl. And there’s the fake Tinder account. And texts. Could this be related to a secret from her past? Or is the danger coming from someone in her family? And can Allie unravel these online lies before they destroys her marriage and her life?

I Don't Forgive You makes you want to quit all social media, even use a burner phone, as one character suggests. It’s a mystery full of twists and turns, false clues and with a conclusion you won’t see coming. 5 stars.

Thank you to NetGalley, Macmillan-Tor/Forge and Aggie Blum Thompson for this ARC.

I

Paranoia? You are my new friend. I’m kidding (but not really.)

This book is messed up. I say that with love, because it’s very good, but now I want to throw my phone, laptop, Kindle and every other internet-based device I own into the nearest river and move to the middle of nowhere, where I can entertain myself talking to trees or something.

What we know: Allie Ross, along with her husband and son, have recently moved into an upscale DC community. One evening at a neighborhood dinner party, Allie engages in some mild flirtation with a fellow neighbor, Rob, she hasn’t interacted with before - only, before the night is over, he addresses her by a nickname she hasn’t heard since her prep school days and desperately wanted to leave behind … Lexi. How does he know that name?

Without saying too much, he’s found dead the next day and poo hits the proverbial fan for Allie, as a seemingly never-ending chain of online and physical “evidence” piles up against her. To clear her name, she’s forced to reckon with her past, and figure out who’s trying to destroy her life before it’s too late. I won’t go into details, because it’s so much better to discover them yourself, but seriously - if you weren’t paranoid about the internet and social media before, you might be after!

This thriller has its tropes: your classic unreliable narrator, mean moms, a husband who constantly doubts his wife (grrr), an MC trying to escape her past, the requisite “weird” character you’re not sure what to make of, and red herrings galore, but that’s OK because author Aggie Blum Thomspon has used them so effectively! I was tense ALL the way through this book, because the train of circumstances threatening Allie was barreling down that track at every moment, and there was NEVER a moment where things felt safe.

So why not give it the full five stars? As much as I love the writing and felt fully invested in the story, I found the unrelenting nature of threatening circumstances a bit exhausting and repetitive after awhile, and the threats extending to other characters muddied the story a bit and drew my attention in too many directions. Having said that, it didn’t ruin my enjoyment of the story at all - it’s just a me thing. I highly recommend this exciting debut and will eagerly wait for Thompson’s next book!

Now … off to find that river.

★★★★ ½

Thank you to Forge Books, NetGalley and author Aggie Blum Thompson for this ARC in exchange for my honest review. This is due for publication on June 8, 2021.

Picture this, you, your husband and your son move to a new town hoping to fit into this competitive suburban neighborhood. You go to a party hoping to meet your neighbors and people in the community and instead you have a weird, aggressive and sexual confrontation with a local Dad who calls you by an old nickname no one knows about. The next he’s found dead and you’re the number one suspect because someone is framing you. Pretty interesting premise, right? I have a weak spot for domestic thrillers and this one sounded too interesting to pass up.

I was captivated by what was happening to Allie and really into trying to figure out who was messing with her, but she’s not one of those characters that you’ll really like. She makes questionable choices and isn’t really together, but I still felt bad for what she was going through. While I wouldn’t call this one fast paced it was still steady and it kept me engaged, there were lots of red herrings and plenty of suspects to pick from keeping me on my toes and making me change my mind quite a bit. Overall a solid thriller despite a few moments of predictably but still a fun guessing game.

I DON'T FORGIVE YOU By Aggie Blum Thompson
Thriller suspense
352 Pages

Allie Ross has just moved to the DC area with her husband and young son. Their new upscale neighborhood is not what Allie is used to. The parents are competitive with each other on who's a better parent. Allie is struggling to fit in when she and her husband go to a neighborhood party. What starts off as innocent flirting with an unknown man ends in murder. Someone is framing Allie and she doesn't know why or who. Especially seeing as how she doesn't know anyone here.

This is a debut thriller that this reader predicts will be a bestseller hit!!!!!!! I thoroughly enjoyed this niece and am excited to see what the author writes in the future.  I love her style of writing and keeping you in suspense and leaving you more confused than when you went in. I highly recommend this book.

This was a stressful book and I enjoyed it thoroughly! I was captivated from the beginning and while it may not have been the thrillerest of thrillers, the drama was real and the mystery was interesting.

Wowza! This book was a true nail biter from the first page. Allie has moved to a suburb of DC with her husband and son just before her life begins to unravel. At a neighborhood party Allie has a bizarre encounter with a man she has never met, this encounter ends with her almost being attacked in a bathroom. This attempted attack is the beginning of many strange occurrences that threatens Allie’s life and sanity. Allie realizes that her past is back with a vengeance and there is someone out there that won’t stop until she is ruined. This book was non stop twists and turns, suspenseful, and impossible to put down. Excellent debut thriller, I will definitely be on the lookout for more books by this author.

Sadly this book wouldn’t open for me in the app. I was intrigued by the summary, so I will check it out when released.

Too many books that are listed as thrillers are just soaps in book form. Maybe lifetime movies? This one was basically just that. Predictable. The novel version of a gossip magazine.

This was an okay whodunit. I liked that I didn't figure out the culprit and that the main character was a woman of strength and depth of character. I found that the story line was engaging and readers will find themselves concerned for Allie and the fake on-line world that has taken over every aspect her life. Aggie Blum Thompson highlights how a persons life can be ruined with just one or two clicks.

What I didn't like was the fact that in one chapter Allie has handed over her cell phone to the police and in the next she is using said cell phone. There was also an issue with the teacher and whether he was married or not. In one chapter Allie is calling him her married teacher and in another chapter she is telling an old school friend she didn't know that he was married. Unfortunately this type of thing ruins a book for me, hopefully it will be edited in the final draft.

The whole time I was reading this book, I was angry.
Not angry at the writing (which it was amazing , by the way), or the story itself. I was angry at the things that happened to the main character,
Allie Ross is married and has a little boy whom she adores. The family moves to the suburbs where several stay-at-home moms live, and the couple goes to a neighborhood party where a guy flirts with her and then tries to grope her in the bathroom. But the strangest thing about all this, is that he says that she provoked him, and complains that she shouldn't have made a profile on Tinder, since she wasn't so "not into it" like he thought. The next day, the guy is found dead and Allie is a suspect.
It becomes very clear as the story goes on, that even when many things are out of her control, Allie feels guilty. It's a burden that women generally carry, like, "a guy grope me because I sent him mixed messages, even though he wasn't sure I was in the mood, but it's my fault obviously, because he didn't know that". And this is wrong, so wrong. No one has the right to touch you if you don't want to, NO ONE.
Something in Allie's past catches up to her, and it defines the present, and it's really well addressed (I won't say anything about it, because SPOILER). A lot of cyberstalking happens and reading it scared me a lot, because most of the time we think we're safe on the internet, but that's not entirely true.
Anyway, Allie was a strong character and I like her a lot, I didn't like Mark, her husband that much. But in overall, the characters are well written and important for the whole story. The title is fitting: you can't forgive anyone, if you don't forgive yourself first.
I received a copy from the Netgalley for a honest review. (4 stars!)

#Me Too?

Allie Ross recently moved to the upscale DC suburb, Bethesda with her husband and five year old son, Cole. When she attends a neighborhood get together, she meets a man who claims to know her, using her old nickname. However, she has no idea who he is or how he knows so much about her. Later that evening, he assaults her in the bathroom. When he turns up dead the next morning, the police question her, believing that she is their prime suspect. Soon after, Allie finds that her social media accounts have been hacked and someone has set up a fake profile on Tinder. Things go from bad to worse as Allie struggles to figure out who is setting her up for murder.

This is a fantastic debut domestic thriller from newcomer Aggie Blum Thompson! It is fast-paced and has you questioning all of the suspects multiple times. There is a distinct authenticity in the interactions between the neighbors in this community as well as believable exchanges between mother and whiny five year old, pink obsessed son. While I was rooting for Allie to figure out the mystery, I did find myself questioning her denial of the crime that was committed against her many years ago. This was slightly problematic for me, but is ultimately explained in the end. Overall, I wish that this book took sexual assault a little more seriously, but the clever plot twists and suspense-filled writing won me over in the end!

4/5 stars

Thank you to NetGalley, the publisher and MacMillan-Tor/Forge for the ARC of I Don’t Forgive You in exchange for an honest review.

O Boy – O Boy – O Boy!! This was a doozy and a half!! Very well crafted novel of mystery and suspense and revenge and cyber crime and good ole suburban-mom gossip! Just when I thought it was going in one direction, the plot veered off into a more devious path.

Sadly, the whole story was entirely plausible in today’s world. This could easily have been a front page news item instead of a novel.

Characterization was excellent. The characters all maintained the foundations laid by the author and all the various plot strands were woven together nicely in the end.

I will definitely be looking for further books by Aggie Blum Thompson!!

I’m most appreciative of this ARC from NetGalley and the publisher, Forge Books. All opinions are my own.

Allie Ross has recently moved to an upscale suburb of Washington D.C. with her husband, Mark, and her young son, Cole. Allie finds herself having a tough time making new friends, so one night they decide to attend a neighborhood party to make an effort to meet the people in their new community. Unfortunately, things go terribly wrong when Allie is assaulted in the bathroom at the party. The next day the man who assaulted her is found dead and Allie is a person of interest in the police investigation. A fake Tinder account is revealed in Allie's name and shows evidence that she was interacting with the victim prior to his death. Things just escalate from there and Allie's life starts to fall apart, bit by bit. It seems that someone is out to get Allie...but why? Does Allie have secrets she has kept hidden from everyone?

This was a real page turner for me and I couldn't put it down. I had to find out what was happening to Allie and it kept me guessing until the very end. Plenty of mystery and suspense here, so I would highly recommend this one.

Many thanks to NetGalley and Forge Books for my ARC in exchange for my honest review.

This review will be posted to my Instagram Blog (@coffee.break.book.reviews) on June 8, 2021.

I Don’t Forgive You is one heck of a debut novel from author Aggie Blum Thomson. It is a tense, suspenseful and heart-pounding read that thriller fans will find very appealing. I enjoyed this twisty ride and look forward to reading more from the author, who had previously been a newspaper crime reporter.

Rated 4.25 stars.

I Don’t Forgive You stressed me out so much I had to take multiple breaks to read super-low-angst romance novels. I got very invested in Allie, who has seemingly triumphed over her troubled past when a mystery person sends her life crumbling with the suddenness of a landslide. It really was like watching a natural disaster - that quick, powerful and unstoppable. One aspect of this book I appreciated is that no one is completely blameless or completely at fault for any of the bad things that happen. Every character makes poor decisions, and many of those decisions have good (or at least understandable) reasons behind them.

Thompson does an excellent job of tying in Allie’s past and the pain she’s still going through because of an incident that happened when she was in school. You can really sense the insecure teenager still inside the adult woman, especially since whoever has stolen her identity is using that same incident to further discredit her. Her various relationships with her sister and mother, her husband, her son, and her neighbors are also really well drawn, emphasizing how she plays different roles to all of these people and how easy it is for their trust in her to be destroyed. Definitely read this book, and check your passwords and privacy settings!