One Year Gone is a roller coaster ride of a book! So many twists and turns!
This book is such a fast read. Once I was able to sit down and actually read, I zipped right through it. If you are looking for something outside the typical ‘cheating husband/wife trope’ this is definitely the book for you! If you like multiple point of views, this is also the book for you!
The story is revealed in alternating points of view. The three main ones are Wyn in the past, Jessica in the past and Jessica in the present. There are a few other chapters with other characters point of view. I believe that really adds to the story.
There are so many layers and threads to One Year Gone. It kept throwing me for a loop. I would think I figured something out and then something new would be revealed. Everyone was so suspicious.
I am also loving this cover! So pretty.
I received an ARC of this book courtesy of NetGalley and Lake Union Publishing. This review is my own unbiased and honest thoughts.
5 stars ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️
Releases August 10, 2021
#letstalkbookspromo #letstalkoneyeargone #oneyeargone #booktour #bookreview

Told in alternate viewpoints between mom Jessica and daughter Bronwyn (Wyn), it works from both ends from the present when Jessica wakes up to a text from Wyn asking for help back on the night Bronwyn disappeared. I gave this book a solid 3 stars because it did not keep my attention like I was hoping it would. The pacing and how the story is written made it difficult for me to be thoroughly engaged in the storyline. The ending was just a bit over the top. Just not one of my favorite reads. Thanks to Avery Bishop, Lake Union Publishing, and NetGalley for the opportunity to read One Year Gone.

One Year Gone is every parent’s worst nightmare.

It starts the night Jessica Moore’s seventeen year old daughter, Wyn goes missing. Everyone tells her teens will be teens. Maybe her absence is an act of rebellion and she will turn up soon. But as the days drag on with no leads in sight, Jessica fears Wyn is gone for good.

Then a year later and out of the blue, Jessica starts receiving scary texts from Wyn. In them are cries for help-and clues to who her captor might be. Now Jessica has not only the task of finding out the truth about her daughter, but also the job of trying to figure out who she can trust to help her bring her daughter home.

One Year Gone is a recommended read if you enjoy lots of twists and turns that keep you guessing. The reader has to put the pieces of the puzzle together along with Jess in present day and Wyn in the past. There are shady characters a plenty to keep you on your toes as well. There were some twists I predicted correctly, but there were others I definitely didn’t see coming.

This is the first book I read by @averybishopbooks and my first buddy read with the @letstalkbookspromo team. Thanks to @netgalley and Lake Union for providing me with a copy of this page turner that kept me up way past my bedtime! Readers will see what I mean when this book comes out in August!

I flew through this book shockingly quickly for an ebook. I was hooked early on by the premise and the mystery of the texts that Jess was receiving. The split timelines worked really well for the story. The POV switches between Jess “now”, Jess right after Wyn’s disappearance, and Wyn before she disappeared. I thought this was a great way of approaching the truth from both sides, and loved how it came together. I always enjoy when thrillers attack the plot from two converging angles.

Both of the main characters--Jess and Wyn--certainly had my sympathy. Both were struggling with grief without any kind of support system. Jess’s desperation to find Wyn was palpable. I particularly liked Wyn’s character, and thought the high school scenes were portrayed well.

As much as I enjoyed the first three quarters of this book, the ending really didn’t do it for me. I think the author tried to throw too many twists together, and it ended up being totally unrealistic.

I'm a huge fan of Avery Bishop. 'Girl Gone Mad' and 'Dear Seraphina' were both excellent reads! So I was very much looking forward to reading this book. It's not as good as Bishop's previous two efforts, which is really confusing to me. If this had been Bishop's first book, I could let a lot of things slide. But it's not, and 'Girl Gone Mad' was written much better. This feels like a step back in that it feels like a completely different writer for the first half. The second half was great-pretty much on equal standing with 'Girl Gone Mad' but I can't discount some of my gripes when I review this book. So I'm going to highlight what I liked and disliked.

Dislikes:
~There's so many unneeded lengthy descriptions of things. And this started very early on in the Prologue:

"The town's name was Bowden. A rural town located in North Central Pennsylvania. The kind of town that's not big enough to have a Walmart, because there's a Walmart one town over, but still big enough to have two grocery stores, three banks, a bowling alley, a four-screen movie theater, a gun shop, a diner, and two restaurants, not to mention a McDonald's, A Burger King, and a KFC, as well as a Subway in the small strip mall that also hosts a gym and Chinese restaurant and nail salon and a Radio Shack that would one day go out of business, leaving behind the husk of a storefront sitting empty for years."

There's no need for this level of description. We all know what a small town looks like.
Additionally, there were multiple instances were iPhones, VPNs, varies technologies were overexplained.
There's so many examples of this wordiness, and it really hurt the pacing of the book in the beginning.
Thankfully, as the book progressed, this wasn't as much of a problem. But this book could do with a good edit before its publication.

~Another small gripe I have (and this is just a personal opinion) but the town being named Bowden and one of the main characters being named Bronwyn keep throwing me off because they sound so similar.

Likes:
About 30% in, the story shifted focus and stopped being so wordy. The pacing was much better and the story became something I was much more invested in. So, if you're reading and thinking about putting it aside, stick with it because it does get much better. The longer I read, the more I liked this book. It was engaging, keep me interested and I finished it in a day.

~I like the past/present narratives. Jessica is what you expect from these types of books-an unreliable alcoholic narrator. Nothing really new or fresh there. But Wyn's chapters really shined for me. What Bishop does very well is paint a vivid and realistic picture of teenage life, angst and the high school hierarchy.
Yes-I was totally that high school outcast. But reading things like this makes me glad I graduated high school before the age of social media.

~I liked the ending. Some parts were predictable, some parts were dynamic. But the ending was full of heartbreak, shock and a satisfactory (if a bit convoluted) conclusion.
The Epilogue I both like and dislike. I wish the fates of some of the characters had been fleshed out and explained. However, it was a sentimental and poetic conclusion that I did enjoy. (And I'm not the kind for sentiment).

I give this book a solid 3.5 stars.
I do feel like the demographic for this book may be off. Most people who read psychological thrillers have long graduated high school and can't fully relate to this kind of storyline. This is very much like a Karen M. McManus book and would appeal to a YA audience more IMO.
Overall, I'd say give this a try if you're a fan of Bishop's other work and/or are a fan of mature YA lit.

Wow! This was one that really kept me turning the pages! I loved getting to see all the perspectives and what happened then and now! I did actually guess it, but that was totally a fluke. It was quite a ride to get there!

Quick Synopsis: One year ago, Jessica's seventeen year-old daughter, Wyn disappears without a trace. As the search for Wyn turned up nothing, Jessica moves on with her life but never gives up on her hope to see Wyn again one day. Then one morning, she receives three terrifying text messages from Wyn asking for her help. Without wasting a minute, Jessica begins her search for Wyn.

My thoughts: This was my first book by this author and oh boy, what an incredibly amazing book! I was hooked right from the beginning! The suspense was killing me and I had to keep on reading. The plot may be simple but it was the writing, all the twists and turns, and the characters that made this one entertaining read!

I could feel Jessica's desperation looking for Wyn. It was heartbreaking and being a mother myself, I could relate to her. I think that other characters are done well too.

This story is told from different POVs mainly from Jessica and Wyn. The non-linear timeline however was a bit confusing to get used to in the beginning but I appreciate that it was done this way. It definitely added more depth and suspense to the story especially when you begin to see the truth behind Wyn's disappearance. It was so well done and I loved it!

All I can say is that I loved this book and it was better than I expected! If you're looking for a plot driven and character driven story, this is the book. I personally think it has the perfect mix of both! This page turner is a solid five stars read for me!


Pub. Date: Aug 10th, 2021

**Thank you Lake Union Publishing, author Avery Bishop, Let's Talk Book Promo and NetGalley for this gifted copy to read and review.***

Teenager, Wyn, goes missing mysteriously one evening after a truly horrible day at school. Everyone, the police and community included, all think she ran away and will return once she's ready - everyone except Wyn's mom, Jessica. One year after Wyn's disappearance Jessica receives an ominous text message from Wyn's phone that leads Jessica down a path to discovering what really happened to her daughter.

I really enjoyed this one! Avery Bishop does a phenomenal job making this a true thrill ride all the way through to the ending. We're lead through the stories in altering timelines (and perspectives) which in this case was a strong tool for telling Wyn's & Jessica' stories. It also made it A LOT harder to put together all the pieces and spoil the ending.

I realy enjoyed Bishop's character building - I started to really feel like I was getting to know them and Bishop kept me on my toes and showed me their true colors. It had me thinking no one could be trusted and just about everyone could've had something to do with Wyn's disappearance - another star for the author as this really kept me guessing. Avery Bishop weaves together so many stories, timelines, and dramas throughout in a truly masterful way.

While I did put together a few pieces towards the end, it had me mostly surprised and literally every loose end in the story was tied up in a neat (well as neat as a thriller about a disappearance in a small town can be) little bow.

I really enjoyed this one and will definitely ready more by Avery Bishop.

This book did not grab my attention like I was hoping it would initially. Although it did pick up, the pacing and how the story is written made it hard for me to be throughly engaged in the storyline. I am a fan of this author however so will see what they bring out next.

Thank you to the publishers and NetGalley for providing this ARC in exchange for my honest review.

I was not really interested in the plot. I did like different POVs but the pacing was too slow for me.

A compelling read. Beautifully written, emotional and heart-wrenching, and characters that have a depth to them. I truly enjoyed this one!

What a roller coaster ride! After my last serious and emotionally draining read, this was just what I needed – a well thought out thriller! i want to recommend this to everyone. Yes it was that good. I love this author

Oooh, a cheeky twist at the end of this book that I wasn't expecting at all.
I didn't anticipate the ending to be like it was at all, but I enjoyed it. I loved the different people who were involved and how each chapter was their own words.

I liked this better than Girl Gone Mad. The structure was initially a bit confusing (there are two POVs in three timelines, with alternating chapters between all three until the last 20% or so), but I also found it kept my interest and pushed me to keep reading. It's a pretty great setup, and even though the payoff is kind of ridiculous, there are so many twists that it was impossible for me to fully guess how things would end up. So kudos for unexpectedness, even if it came at the expense of believability.

All in all, I'd recommend this for a lazy summer afternoon read. I ultimately enjoyed it, even if I didn't love it.

Why 2 stars? I give it two stars because I reserve one star ratings for books I can't finish. Did I finish this book? Yes. Am I mad about it? Also yes. I needed resolution on Bronwyn's story but every plot twist in the second half just made me angrier and angrier. The first half gave me such hope for what could happen and then the second half just ripped it all apart and I think that's why I'm so upset. I had such hope for this book. The cover is beautiful. The synopsis is fascinating. The hype just wasn't lived up to with this one.

#OneYearGone #NetGalley

Maybe I have been reading too many mystery/thriller type books lately. Or I just expect too much from what I read. Most of the reviews I have seen on Net Galley and Goodreads have been really great, and that is wonderful. I am very happy for the author getting positive reviews. I have also heard wonderful things about his debut novel "Girl Gone Mad", which I have not read.
Sorry to say I am in the minority on this one. The story premise sounded gook and interesting so I thought I would give it a go. I just couldn't get into it. I couldn't connect or seem to really care about any of the characters. Yes, you have the poor functioning alcoholic, single mom, Jess, still looking for love and losing her daughter. There is the daughter Wyn, who vanishes one night when mom is looking for that love it seems. Wyn is not heard from for over a year. You have the police with an "Oh well, these things happen sometimes, she probably just ran away attitude ". Really? ( I have never seen police be that cavalier about anything, sorry ). Then the sporadic text messages a year later from Wyn, "Mom, help me, he's going to kill me, he's a cop". We have bad cops, mean girls, Wyn, the not in the cool crowd unpopular girl, it just all fell flat for me. It seems like it has all been done ( and overdone) before. There are a few minor twists at the end, but for me not enough to redeem the book.
Maybe with some re-wording, more editing, I don't know, it just misses the mark somehow.
I am sorry, I do not like giving negative reviews, I tried my best to like this, but I just can not give more than 2 stars, I would not recommend.
Thank you to Net Galley and Lake Union Publishing for the free ARC, I voluntarily leave my honest review in return.

I wasn't the biggest fan of the book. I felt the two timelines was a little over done and that the book was at times all over the place.
The story could have been good, a young girl goes missing but no one suspects foul play but there is more to it then meets the eye.

I just feel like it tried to hard to be something it isn't.

It’s not only girls who are mean.

Jess, a functioning alcoholic, is understandably devastated when her daughter, Wyn, disappears. The police assume she ran away. Given what has been going on with Wyn that leads up to the day of her vanishing, that could very well be the case...

...Until a year later, when Jessica gets a string of text messages from Wyn.

“Mom...please help...I think he’s going to kill me...”

I was a huge fan of Avery Bishop’s previous novel, Girl Gone Mad, and was initially very excited to read this one. However it was mostly a letdown.

I never felt bored reading this, but the novel is wordy where it doesn’t need to be, and not descriptive enough where it should be. Besides Jess, none of the characters are likable or have much substance. I honestly didn’t even care too much about Wyn, which is not a good sign.

While there is some tension here and there, most of the book (besides some scenes with Jess) reads like YA, and I’m just not into that. Some of the characters really give a whole new meaning to the word, “mean”, and I felt so many actions were over the top and mostly unrealistic.

The final “twists” are excessive and fully unbelievable when all is said and done. I almost always enjoy stories with dual timelines, but this one bounced back and forth, and further back, and forth. There was too much yo-yo’ing. I almost got whiplash.

Despite that, I can see how this book would appeal to some readers. I think a bit more editing and maybe a darker tone would’ve made it more enjoyable for me.

Thank you to Lake Union Publishing and NetGalley for an ARC in exchange for an honest review. This book will be published on: 8/10/21.

Review also posted at: https://bonkersforthebooks.wordpress.com

Well, if we needed more proof that police are corrupt trash, this book is it! In pros, the pacing of this book was solid and while the narrative switching between several characters and before and after was a bit hard to follow, it was manageable enough. The ending, however, was a bit of a mess. The rationale for this whole series of events is absurd, from the death itself to the first text sent and everything after. The author was going for a surprise twist but for me I’m just feeling disappointed that the build up wasn’t clever enough. Meh, I’m getting more annoyed just thinking about it now.

Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

I am in awe. This book kept me on the edge of my seat from start to finish. I loved the varying perspectives and the non-linear timeline. The writing was engaging, thrilling, fast-paced, and mysterious. I couldn’t put it down. I will be recommending this book to everyone! I cannot wait until it publishes and more people will be able to read this! 5/5 stars.