Girls Without Tears
⭐️⭐️⭐️
Genre: Thriller
Format: Kindle eBook
Date Published: 8/9/22
Author: T. L. Finlay
Publisher: Crooked Lane Books
Pages: 336
Goodreads Rating: 3.47

Thank you to NetGalley and Crooked Lane Books for providing a copy of the book for me to read in exchange for my honest opinion.

Synopsis: When six-year-old Skye disappears from Everglades City, Noa is hesitant to return to her hometown to help with the search effort. Skye is the daughter of Noa’s ex, Zack, and Taylor, the girl he dumped her for. Going home also means facing the townspeople who have always misunderstood Noa’s medical condition, Congenital Insensitivity to Pain, and dealing with more of their ignorant comments. As Noa gets closer to the truth of who kidnapped Skye, she starts to uncover secrets about her hometown that she didn’t expect. Nothing and no one are what they seem in this small Florida backwater—and any good friend can quickly become a deadly enemy.

My Thoughts: With Florida being my home state, I was very excited to dive into this book. Unfortunately, the descriptions of the area was not detailed as you usually see, it fell a little flat for me. However, Noa’s condition intrigued me. This starts out face-paced and then turns into a slow burn for me throughout the book. It did have some twists but still slow moving. The character development was okay, I understood who everyone was and their role, but was left with wanting more. There were twists in the book, however,some were predictable. I believe the concept the author wanted to achieve was amazing, it just fell a little flat for me.

Listen Up, Buttercup!! 😳😯🤯😳😯

Well heebeegeebeeies! Yank my dog leash! This was definitely a crazy, interesting premise I jumped into and loved the quick pace it expended. It was like a cat & mouse game I was here for and I went back and forth constantly between who I thought could be behind it! Some of these twists were unreal and made me question Noa quite a few times!

Noa lives in Miami, part of a big construction company. She also suffers from a condition called CIPA, which means she can't feel any pain or injury, and also can't produce sweat or tears. Noa hasn't been home to the Everglades in years but she gets frantic calls from her Dad alerting her to Skye, a six year old, who has gone missing in the town, who happens to be the daughter of Zach - her first love; & Taylor, the woman who took him away from Noa. When she comes back home to try and help with finding Skye, an already bad idea turns worse when horrible things happen to Noa and those around her and then she becomes a suspect in Skye's disappearance. As Noa starts to piece things together, it may not be just Skye's life at risk.

I will say just after the middle section seemed a bit of a halt but it picked up 3/4 of the way through and boy did that get entertaining & compelling. The ending was a major treat and even intense. Totally scrumptious like a banana split with extra chocolate sauce!

Thank you to NetGalley & Crooked Lane Books for this ARC.
Release Date: August 9, 2022

I give this 4 / 5 Lily's! 🪷

Noa is called back to her small hometown in Florida Everglades, to help with the search of a local 6 year old skye, This hometown haunts her with past traumatic memories of being a young girl with a health condition nobody understands; A life she has left behind since graduating highschool.

The story opens with Noas medical condition; congenital insensitivity to pain (CIPA). Sooo hooked with her accident and trip to the E.R. she discribes what it's been like growing up feeling no pain, dealing with being misunderstood and all the assumptions others around her made growing up. Really hard to put down. Then she gets the call from her parents asking her to come back home to help search for skye, her ex boyfriends daughter.

It then kept me wanting to find out more, anticipation In hopes to find some really interesting or twisty secrets about Noas past. Unfortunately it slows down and gets into the disappearance of Skye which doesn't pickup again till about the last 10 chapters. Not super twisty although very entertaining plot.
Overall I did enjoy this book and it made for a great ending. Great read!

Thank you Netgally for the opportunity to read this copy in exchange for my honest review.

The plot was great, I thought the idea was super original. While starting off strong, the story started to fall flat for me. The ending was also of little satisfaction for me. Thank you netgalley for the arc copy.

Thank you to NetGalley and Crooked Lane Books for an advanced electronic copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

Noa is living in Miami when she hears about a missing child in her hometown. The girl, six year old Skye, is the daughter of Noa's high school ex boyfriend, who broke her heart all those years ago. Hesitant to return because of the judgement she received growing up there with Congenital Insensitivity to Pain, she eventually decides to do what she can to assist. After all, this is a child's life. But the closer they seem to the truth, the more dangerous everything seems to become...

I can't truly recall why I requested this, but I can say for sure that Noa's medical condition and how it was portrayed intrigued me from the start. I had only ever seen this portrayed as a borderline superpower, and having it described in a way that outlines the dangers of it made it more interesting to me.

The story was interesting to follow, and I found myself becoming more invested in Noa's part in everything. I did not truly expect the twists, and I would definitely recommend this book to those who don't mind darkness in their mysteries.

CW: murder, kidnapping, violence, infidelity, torture, gaslighting

The beginning of the book kept me interested till 25 %.But then it started to drag and somehow felt silly. Sorry, but I DNFed it at 48%

This is another one that unfortunately fell flat for me. For a book that takes place in the Everglades, there was much description that really made me feel strongly about the setting. The pace of the plot of was slow, and while I can appreciate a slow burn, this just wasn’t it. The twist wasn’t there and I felt it was a bit predictable.

Hooked me from the start and kept me anticipating. I couldn’t put it down. The characters were fun and relatable. I grew up with a very naive mother and boy could I relate to her in Noa.

This was a perfect paced nail biting thriller. Enjoyed the twists and turns. By the end I didn’t see that coming. You had me blindsided, T. L. Finlay! Bravo!

Highly recommend! Can’t wait to read more by this Author. Gimme me! Gimme me!

Girls Without Tears by T.L. Finlay is gripping mystery I devoured in one day with an unique main character, Noa, that literally cannot feel pain. Noa has Congenial Insensitivity to Pain & Anhydrosis (CIPA) & it obviously affects her entire life. When her ex childhood best friend & first love’s child goes missing, she returns to her small hometown that she usually avoids because of heartbreak from said first love.
Thanks to the interesting condition & twisted mystery, I was immediately hooked into this story. There were quite a few shocking twists. I was able to figure some out, but I still enjoyed how everything came together.
This was a very fast paced & quick thriller in which I felt the author cleverly taunted its’ readers with this devious cat & mouse game. I enjoyed the author’s writing style & appreciated the flow of the novel. This is. 4 star book for me!
If anyone is looking for a disturbing mystery with an extremely unique main character, I would check out Girls Without Tears by T.L. Finlay! It comes out August 9, 2022!

Massive thanks to NetGalley & Crooked Lane Books for allowing me the opportunity to read an arc of this book in exchange for an honest review!

Extra things:
I had heard of Congenial Insensitivity to Pain & Anhydrosis (CIPA) thanks to an early episode of Grey’s Anatomy where Abigail Breslin’s character has it. I also have neuropathy & lost sensation in my back so I can imagine a tiny fraction of what someone with this goes through. There were so many things I’ve never considered about the dangers of the world when you can’t feel pain. It’s mind-boggling & the conversation with her Uber driver really hit home with me. Thank you to the author for writing this book with this main character. I live in a body that doesn’t work like “regular” bodies do, so I’m always glad & grateful when there’s people like me represented in main character.

Trigger warnings: This book mentions &/or contains gore, violence, kidnapping of child & adult, abuse, murder, ableism & graphic, detailed medical descriptions & trauma.

I will post my review on my Instagram (titaniumtammyreads) & TikTok (titaniumtammy) about a month before publication. & I will post my review on Amazon & Barnes & Noble on the day of publication.

Okay rhis book had me all over the place with my feelings.i enjoyed and defliked this book more than the last one i read from the author. I need more

I enjoyed reading this book. Maybe I just have a different view about what a good mystery story is having read some of the other reviews. Set in South Florida, Miami and the Everglades, this story is about relationships revolving around a child kidnapping and returning to a small hometown where the main character failed in childhood to fit in due to CIPA. The pace of the story is good, there are enough possible kidnappers, twists and clues to look out for. Thank you to Crooked Lane Books and NetGalley for sending me an ARC. The honest review is mine and freely given.

This book had a lot of potential but ultimately fell flat to me. I was really looking forward to reading a mystery that took place in the Everglades - what a cool setting. However, there was very little description of the setting which made it hard to picture and get wrapped up in. The author would often name a specific location within the Everglades they were going to without describing. I've never been there so naming it didn't help me. I was disappointed this book was not more atmospheric.

The main character caught my interest in the beginning but as the story progressed I felt she didn't have much personality. The other characters were also pretty flat.

The plot was very slow and the book felt unnecessarily long. I figured out very quickly who was responsible for the kidnapping, and it felt like the journey to the reveal was endless.

Overall I would not recommend this book to others.

I was so excited when I got the chance to read Girl without tears by T.L. Finlay, a huge thank you to NetGalley and Crooked Lane Books for this title.

It started off with a good amount of suspense that constantly had me thinking and turning the pages, I finished this book in only a few hours as I was so invested in the storyline.

I really liked Noa, I’ve never read a book that features a main character having a CIPA - (Congenital Insensitivity to Pain) so it was informative and I at times felt for her. She returns to her hometown to help find a missing girl who is the daughter of her first love and one who broke her heart as a teenager.

There was a lot of twists and turns, I was first shocked when we found out who the actual kidnapper was, I really wasn’t expecting who it was, I had an idea but was wrong. The amount of suspense and the twists fit well together and the ending of the book was written well and had a bit of a heartwarming(?) ending. I would highly recommend and give it a 5 star.

Once again thank you to NetGalley and the publisher Crooked Lane Books for the chance to read this title.

I will be reposting my review to my platforms (goodreads) as well as B&B and other book platforms close to the publication date.

Girls Without Tears
A Novel
by T. L. Finlay
Nothing and no one is what they seem in this small Florida backwater—and any good friend can quickly become a deadly enemy.

This ARC was provided to me via Kindle, Crooked Lane Books, and by #NetGalley. The opinions expressed are completely my own.

I read the book, but it seemed to drag far too long. Finally the ending just didn't add up .

I read this entire book in one sitting, which is saying something because it’s not short. I needed to know what was going to happen!

This could have been a 5-star read for me - but the ending, though riveting and action-packed, knocked it down a bit. Without spoiling anything, it was disappointing that the “excuse” for the villain was a disability, especially since Noa’s disability was played out in so much detail and with such genuine repercussions that many wouldn’t ever have considered, including how it impacts relationships.

The story was enrapturing and had just enough twists to keep you continuously guessing. The ending ties everything up into a neat little bow (with one last almost-sucker-punch). The explanation for Skye’s disappearance just fell flat for me personally. I will say that I would reread it though, just to see if I could find any hints I missed the first time around!

This started off very promisingly and had me hooked from the start. I did feel like the story started to peter off slightly in the middle section so I did start to lose a bit of interest.

Noa’s life has always been impacted by her condition, Congenital Insensitivity to Pain (or CIPA). In a small town like Everglades City, CIPA was never truly understood, so, with that and a broken heart, she decided to leave it and put her past behind. At least until Skye, the six-year-old daughter of her ex, Zack, disappears, and she decides it is time to go back. But nothing is what it seems.
The novel starts with a bang, the characters are quickly presented, the board is set and then… it kind of loses its pace, repeating situations, dragging conversations that could have been finished after two sentences. I was really intrigued by CIPA. I had never seen it depicted in written-form before. The descriptions of its influence over day-to-day’s life were really interesting and well put, and even if sometimes it felt like maybe Noa was enduring more than humanly possible, I believed it and thought it made sense in the world presented by the author. Sadly, there was other choices that did not enjoy as much, the naivety of the main character being one of them. It felt really plot-driven and nothing else.
In general, this is an easily-read thriller for those who just want to evade from real life and enter someone else’s. It has its twists and turns (some more obvious than others) and a couple of scenes that some readers could find difficult to stomach, but made for a solid, fast reading.

This book wasn’t the best but wasn’t completely horrible either. It did keep me intrigued for the most part, I just wish there was more to it.

I was anxiously waiting for this approval!
So much thanks to CLB for this title!

This story has all of the elements of solid suspense
It starts off really strong and is well-written, but seemed to taper off in the middle without much action before wrapping everything up in a hurry toward the end.
As much thriller/suspense novels I've read, I was able to guess some of the outcomes but not all of them, which is always nice.
My issue was the ending was wrapped up so fast and some things were pointless and didn't pan out at all. 

Crooked Lane Books,
I can't thank you enough for this eARC!
I will post my review to B&N, platforms, blog and Waterstone close to pub date!

Semi-disappointed review is coming up after the strong and promising start and slow, bumpy progression which made me think leaving in the middle and skip to another book and rushed, a little haphazard conclusion left me unsatisfied!

The book’s plot truly intrigued me! The main character: a woman suffers from Congenital Insensitivity to Pain with Anhidrosis (CIPA) returns back her shitty hometown to dig out the mystery about missing girl whose daughter of her ex who cheated on her was interesting
enough to lure me!

I wish Noa’s illness may fit into the entire story’s progression but sometimes seeing her testing her pain tolerance made me scream! Entire execution was truly painful. And I also wanted to hold from her shoulders, shaking for hours and screaming to her face to gather her senses. Why she let the same guy kidnap her twice! Why is she so naive!

Well, at least she doesn’t have imaginary boyfriend which is a big relief!

Overall: the subject choice and promising beginning were the strengths but entire execution failed and conclusion was semi satisfying which earned my three solid: there’s wasted potential but I still love to read another works of the author stars!

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