With The Couple on Maple Drive, Sam Carrington has crafted a truly unique plot and it will keep you guessing until the very end.

This book was really good! It really kept me guessing all throughout. The ending fell a little flat for me, which is why I gave it four stars instead of five. It felt like towards the end it all got a bit too convoluted. But I would definitely recommend reading it!

Isla is attacked while walking home from her party celebrating her work promotion. She has a concussion and a broken wrist, so her boyfriend Zach moves in to help her recover. Isla has no memories of what happened that night and becomes increasingly more paranoid, confining herself to the house. Isla turns to true crime podcasts to help her fill the day. Will her favorite podcast team Christie’s Crime Addicts help her solve who attacked her that night?

I really enjoyed the podcast aspect of this book. The characters were interesting, and I felt connected to discovering what happened to Isla. However, the twists and turns were a little too predictable for me. I figured out who the culprit was early in the book, but it was still an enjoyable read. For this reason, I give the book 3/5 stars.

I loveddd the podcast parts of this book. So well written and so intriguing. I truly did not expect that ending! 5 stars, loved it!

Firstly I would like to thak NetGalley for allowing me the opportunity to read a free ARC of this book.

"The Couple on Maple Drive" is fantastic. The book details are quite vague, so without giving anything away, read this book! Isla is basically homebound since a vicious mugging that left her with retrograde amnesia. Her attacker has not been caught, so Isla is worried that they could return to finish the job. As Isla starts to dig into her mugging and beating on her own, she begins to suspect everyonen around her and uncover secrets someone would kill to keep buried.

This was my first novel by Sam Carrington, but it won't be my last.

Carrington has managed to develop a completely unique plot design which will keep you guessing until the very end. Great twists and turns and whenever you think you know which character is the “bad guy” you will be thwarted as is the heroine! Have fun.

The Couple on Maple Drive by Sam Carrington dragged a bit for me. First of all the characters are extremely unlikeable and unpredictable. As a psychological thriller, this one kind of missed the mark. Overall, a fast read, but one that didn't grab me from the beginning.

This was my first book by this author. It was a quick read as I couldn't wait to see how it would turn out. The end was twisty, which I loved! I will definitely be reading this author's next book.

3 decent, didn't-quite-keep-my-interest, interesting stars~

This one seemed so promising and I was really looking forward to reading it, but didn't quite live up to the hype I set for it.

I felt that the amount of detail and suspense that would have kept me hanging on just wasn't there, and the characters were not very remember-able. Overall it was a decent thriller with a good plot, but had some holes here and there.

Thanks to NetGalley and Harper 360 for the digital ARC!

This book was overall decent I don’t regret reading it, the pace is slow to begin with and it’s the second half before the pace picks up. The culprit is revealed earlier than expected. Isla listens to podcasts which are both harmful and helpful to help her as she tries to piece together the events that took place on the night of her attack. The characters are interesting and the plot line was intriguing but there honestly wasn’t enough thrill or excitement and suspense for me. This was the first book I read from this author I may give it one more chance.

The Couple on Maple Drive
⭐️⭐️⭐️.5 (rounded up to 4)
Genre: Thriller
Format: Kindle eBook
Date Published: 5/3/22
Author: Sam Carrington
Publisher: Avon
Pages: 368
Goodreads Rating: 3.60

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

Synopsis: Isla barely leaves the house after her brutal mugging. Her boyfriend Zach moved in with her after the attack. To look after her. But something else has happened now. Right on their doorstep. I don’t want to say that someone’s out to get her… I just hope they find out the truth before it’s too late.

My Thoughts: The chapters are xxxx. The story is narrated by Isla and told mostly from her POV. This book didn’t live up to my expectations of the greatness that usually comes from Sam Carrington, I usually love his books and breeze through them. My favorite part of the book is the true crime podcast, it is a scenario that is not used too much in books period, I loved it. The book did start as a slow burn, but picked up and kept me engaged. The characters were described very well with a hate/love situation. Overall, this was a good book that I throughly enjoyed. I would recommend it to anyone who loves a thriller.

Thank you to Harper 360 and NetGalley for this ARC in exchange for an honest review!

The Couple on Maple Drive by Sam Carrington is a fast read with nonstop twists and turns. The story revolves around Isla and her boyfriend Zach. After a traumatic incident in which Isla is mugged, she's scared to leave her house. Her boyfriend Zach decides to move in to look after her. But what will they do when it seems like someone is out to get Isla? Will they find out who it is? And what secrets are they hiding from each other?

Here is a gripping excerpt from Chapter 2, which introduces us to Isla:

"Isla was fearful, though. As much as she argued against the reasoning, she couldn’t shake the anxiety created by the person who mugged her. He’d taken away her right to feel safe. He’d not only stolen her mobile phone and handbag, he’d stolen her confidence. Forced her to put up a protective wall. And with each day, tucked away from the real world, cocooned within her own four walls, she was becoming something less.
She’d lost control of her life through the actions of someone else. And despite the therapy suggesting she would be able to take it back, her mind had yet to believe the claim. She knew she had to focus on herself, on the steps she could take, but for now, she was obsessing far more about the actions he’d taken.
And whether he would strike again."

Overall, The Couple on Maple Drive is a thriller that will appeal to fans of Kiersten Modglin and B.A. Paris. One highlight of this book was the addition of the true crime podcast segments. Considering how popular true crime podcasts are nowadays, the addition of those segments in between chapters added a dose of realism. They were also interesting to read. If I had to complain about 1 thing, I would say that the big reveal was a bit disappointing, and the book ended with a fizzle instead of a bang. If you're intrigued by the excerpt above, or if you're a fan of thrillers in general, I highly recommend that you check out this book, which is available now!

I received an arc copy of this book from Net Galley in exchange for my honest opinion of it. I just could not get into this book and I finally gave up. It was so slow moving and I did not care for either of the main characters.

The Couple on Maple Drive is a well-written, quick-read psychological thriller about Isla and Zack. On the night of her promotion party, her boyfriend Zack -- son of the company's owner-- had to work late. His rotten relationship with his father means he can't turn him down if he orders him to work late. Isla decides to walk home from the party and wakes up in the hospital. She was mugged and Zack moves in to take care of her. Isla has post traumatic amnesia from a concussion and a broken arm, so she's stuck at home for awhile. She begins compulsively watching crime shows and listening to "Christie's Crime Addicts - True Crime Podcast," broadcast by four up and coming amateur sleuths. Isla is clever, a fan of Escape Room scenario games and she starts working on what happened the night of her attack. She has several suspects. Carrington intersperses the podcast with the evolution of Isla's personal crime solving effort to good effect. All in all this is a solid 3.5 star book, rounded up.

Loved, loved loved this one. Had me guessing to the end. I could not turn pages fast enough, Awesome! Thank you netgalley and publisher for this arc in exchange of an honest review.

Isla is attacked on her way home from a party to celebrate her promotion. Her boyfriend moves in with her to help with her recovery, but she finds more help from a true crime podcast. As she tries to figure out who did this to her and why, she ends up asking the team behind the podcast to help her solve her own case.
Pretty much all of the characters were unlikable, but the plot is kind of fascinating because although you think you have it solved pretty early on, the why isn’t clear. And I enjoyed the chapters that read like a transcript of the podcast.

Thanks to Avon Books and NetGalley for this eArc in exchange for my review.

This one kept me interested and had me making a new guess at every corner. The short chapters held my attention and had me zooming through this book not wanting it to end. I definitely recommend this to any thriller lovers out there.

Thank you to Netgalley for an advance copy of this novel in exchange for my honest review.

After being brutally attacked, Isla suffers amnesia for the events leading up to the attack. As her memory begins to return, Isla starts to question if her attack was random and wonder who she can trust? Her attentive boyfriend that moved in to care for her after the attack, her best friend, or her colleagues? Who was responsible for the attack or did they all play apart?!

The cover for this book instantly drew my attention and the synopsis sounded like a great story! However, this one fell very short for me! Much of the writing was insubstantial to the story and just felt wordy and I found nothing unique in the storyline.

Thank you Harper 360 and Netgalley for the advance copy in return for my honest review.

Sam Carrington has done it again! Another stellar domestic thriller that I absolutely loved! Told in alternating POV in third person from Isla, the victim of the assault, and her “caring” boyfriend, it just all worked so well together and I couldn’t put it down! I wanted to know more and more and I loved Isla’s character arc! And the sinister twists had me gasping again and again!

This was a fast paced little mystery. The perfect type of read to just sit back and relax with. The drama is spread throughout with moments of anticipation as to who, what and why. Isla was likable and I could understand her fear of getting out and about after suffering such a traumatic incident.

While I was riveted to this in the beginning, I did grow a bit tired of the flip flopping between Isla’s and Zach’s point of view, the jump in timelines, and the addition of the podcasts. Add in the brevity of chapters that became a bit tiresome after some a while and I was ready for a conclusion early in the second half of the book. However, all of that is based on my own likes and dislikes and nothing to do with the development of these characters or the storyline.

There were a couple of small twists that I didn’t see coming and a few surprises when I expected something or someone and was wrong. Overall, a nice mystery.