I decided to go into this book blind. Well, kind of. I’m sure I read the blurb when I first downloaded it, but I had forgotten what it had said by the time I went to read it. But, seeing as the book was published by Crooked Lane, I knew I was likely getting something in the suspense/crime/thriller/mystery area of things, so I decided to just dive right in without giving myself a refresher course on the synopsis.

I was quite happy with what I got! The book has some issues with it, but sometimes there’s nothing better than reading about desperate people willing to go to desperate measures to protect what is most valuable to them. And, in this book, there are four different people who are willing to do desperate things to protect either people or things more valuable to them than anything else in the world: Jewelann, Eli, Ken, and Christian. These are the four players in a dangerous game where everyone has a decent hand to play, but no one has the winning one.

The book is a page-turner for sure. It’s compelling, intriguing, and I do love when everyone’s got secrets and they just keep getting dropped or found, like easter eggs in a video game. Just when you thought you knew everything about a character, you find out something that makes things worse or better. Just when you thought a character’s secrets were all out in the open, out comes another one. There are characters you think would have secrets but then they don’t, and then there are characters you think don’t have secrets but then POOF they totally do.

See, but that’s part of where this book has some issues. There’s a lot of this secret solving, dropping, unfolding, unboxing, and such in this book, but there are a few of them I thought were definitely either over the top or maybe even inappropriate. Revealing ANY of them would be a huge spoiler, so I won’t go there, but for me it was cringe-worthy. Not because it triggered me, but because there were so many different solutions to the issue than the one that was chosen, and the one that was chosen simply seemed completely at odds with that character’s disposition.

The book also had a rather rushed ending that seemed incongruous with the tenor of the rest of the book.

Overall, it was a cool read, with plenty of thrills and suspense to keep you engaged, but the ending simply didn’t meet up with the rest of the book.

Thanks to NetGalley and Crooked Lane Books for granting me access to this title.

File Under: Domestic Thriller/Psychological Thriller/Suspense

A very entertaining read about a woman caught in a tangled web of a life when the guy who broke her heart in high school shows up to rent her carriage house in her backyard. Jewelann is in a mess of her own making and it became a fun journey to read, until the ending that is. Overall, I think this will be a fun and complicated drama that will hook you from the get go. If domestic thrillers are your thing then give this one a try!

Thank you to Crooked Lane Books and NetGalley for an ARC in exchange for an honest review. Expected Publication Date: 12/6/22.

Many thanks to NetGalley and Crooked Lane Books for gifting me a digital ARC of the new book by Mina Hardy - 4.5 stars!

When Jewelann attends her class reunion, she wants only to make her crush, Christian Campbell, realize what he lost. She ends up in a hotel room with him and two of her sort-of friends from school, hoping to hurt Christian like he was hurt. Shortly afterwards, Christian shows up in her life again - this time, invited to live in their carriage house by her husband, Ken. Jewelann is struggling to keep all her secrets away from her husband and son, only to find everyone is keeping secrets.

While parts of this were over the top, it was a very entertaining ride along the way, especially all those twists! I thought it was well-written and suspenseful and the story kept me turning the pages as quickly as possible to see how it would all end up. The half star is because the story was set in Dayton, Ohio, near where I grew up - it was fun to see familiar places show up here!

Moly this woman can write thrillers! Just like her previous one, I couldn’t stop reading and needing to know what happens next! I loved the first person and the WTF moments and then WHAM! She clobbered me over the head with that ending!

We Knew All Along by Mina Hardy is a recommended domestic thriller.

Jewelann Jordan attends her 25th class reunion hoping to see the high school student who broke her heart, Christian Campbell. She does connect with him as well as a few other women she previously knew in school. After the reunion, Christian inserts himself into her life and somehow has her husband, Ken, renting him their carriage house. Jewelann is certain Christian's plans include threatening her marriage to Ken, hurting her son, Eli, and ruining her life.

As Christian's presence becomes increasingly oppressive and complicated, there are apparently other things going on with Ken that has Jewelann questioning his odd behavior. She is worried that he will discover her shopping addiction, let alone her latent feelings for Christian.

The novel is well written with a strong opening that pulls you in. Then it slows down to a melodramatic crawl until the novel is almost over. Yes, it returns interest with a strong ending that presents some huge, unbelievable twists but that doesn't make up for spending most of the novel with a group of very shallow disagreeable people. Admittedly, shallow disagreeable people can be entertaining, as can all manner of unbelievable plot elements where you are required to suspend your disbelief.

Yeah, I'm all over the place on this review. It is sort of a domestic thriller but also kind of a romance novel focusing on bad behavior. If you can find a histrionic, but surprisingly entertaining plot, with unappealing characters fascinating, then give it a try.
Disclosure: My review copy was courtesy of Crooked Lane Books via NetGalley.
The review will be published on Barnes & Noble, Google Books, Edelweiss, and Amazon.

Jewelann is determined to make sure her old crush, Christian, sees what he lost years ago, and the class reunion is the best occasion to do so. But then he is himself determined to get his revenge and comes after her, her husband and her son...
I DNF'd it. This psychological/domestic thriller was not very thrilling, filled with unlikeable characters and a strong need of suspending disbelief. I couldn't care less what happened to Jewelann, who was immature and shallow. This was definitely not for me.
I received an advance review copy for free and I am leaving this review voluntarily.

Honestly- reunions! Jewelann has one goal when she attends her college reunion. She intends to see and somehow diss Christian, who broke her heart back then. She's in an unhappy marriage with Ken, has a teen son Eli, and a number of issues she's hiding. Imagine her surprise when she discovers Ken has given Christian their carriage house to live in in return for Christian doing the needed renovations. You know this isn't going to turn out well. But what happens- no spoilers from me. There are some good twists as well as over the top ones. Thanks to Netgalley for the ARC. A fast paced read.

Jewellann attends her high school reunion with one goal in mind: spot Christian Campbell (C.C.), seduce him, then turn him down. Make him hurt the way that he hurt her years ago.

It seems she’s done just that, until she comes home to find her husband, Ken, sitting at the table with Christian, agreeing to rent him the carriage house that holds many memories from high school where she used to meet C.C. Ken has already made an agreement with C.C. to barter rent for him to fix up the carriage house.

Jewelann’s marriage to Ken is on the rocks. They have a teenage son, Eli. Jewel is terribly unhappy but can't afford to leave or divorce her husband. Her son is a loner due to a past incident that he still suffers nightmares about.

This felt a lot to me like 50 Shades of Grey with some extremely horrifying and insane twists. I really enjoyed it!

Thanks to Mina Hardy, Crooked Lane Books, and NetGalley for this arc in exchange for a fair and honest review.

Jewelann attends her school reunion with the sole intention of making her ex, Christian, jealous. She succeeds but it doesn’t end there when Christian shows up back in her life unexpectedly.

I didn’t love any of the characters in this book and especially despised Christian. There was an entertaining plot that kept me turning the pages, but the ending unraveled quickly. I was surprised by the twists at the ending but it was not very realistic to me.

“I’d been a fool to think that just because I’d been able to keep some of my darkest secrets, that if be able to keep them all.”

We Knew All Along comes out 12/6.

Twisty, turning, fun. I loved this book. Domestic suspense thrillers are easily some of my favorites. I love seeing the underbelly of a failing marriage and the life of having kids. Then add an old flame into the mix, with a twinge of a revenge plot? Oh yes.

I initially felt sorry for the main character but then lost patience with her and her choice and realized she really is just unlikeable. I was surprised at the ending, but didn’t really care. Thank you netgalley and publisher for this arc in exchange of an honest review.

I loved this! I received this as an ARC as well and this was such a fun read! I highly recommend this book to anyone who needs a little something different to read!

Jewelann Jordan (Jewel) gets dressed up in designer clothes and shoes that she buys from estate sales to attend her high school reunion. It's one person she hopes to get the attention of because of how he hurt her. It doesn't take long for Christian Campbell (C.C.) to spot her. She has no interest in C.C. other than to make sure he knows what he lost.

Jewelann is married to Ken and they have one teenage son, Eli. Ken travels a lot and their marriage is on the rocks. Jewel can't afford to leave or divorce her husband. Her son is a loner due to a past incident that he still suffers nightmares about.

Jewelann leaves the reunion feeling like she had the last laugh at C.C. only to have the rug pulled out from underneath her when she returns home one day to find C.C. sitting at her kitchen table with her husband, Ken. Unknown to her, Ken, put in an ad to rent out the carriage house that holds many memories from high school where she used to meet C.C. Her husband has already made an agreement with C.C. to barter rent for him to fix up the carriage house.

Jewel frets about how to get rid of C.C., and unknown to her is that her son Eli has formed a friendship with him.

The house has had bad plumbing but with the added tenant the plumbing has gotten much worse.

One bad thing after another starts to fall like beads from a broken necklace.

This story initially had me feeling sorry for Jewelann, who made terrible choices in her youth, who had suffered from an addiction, and hung onto a marriage where she didn't trust nor love her husband for the sake of her son. As Jewelann got desperate, she chose to make poor decisions hoping to use people which made it hard for me to feel sorry for her after that. I was surprised at the ending, I didn't expect that! I thought this was a fast-paced entertaining read!

I received an ARC from NetGalley via Crooked Lane Books and I have voluntarily reviewed this book.

This book had a very intriguing premise. Unfortunately, the characters were all unlikeable and it felt like the plot got away from the author at some points. The pacing was inconsistent and I found my mind wandering making me needing to re-read passages.

I don't think this was a bad book, it will just be forgettable.

We Knew All Along starts with a college reunion plot where Jewelann was dressed up rich from all the items she bought from a estate sale and she wish to take revenge on Christian for making her his little secret whenever he had a relation with her. Jewelann has a son named Eli who is introvert because of the childhood incident where his friend Billy who went of from home was never found.

Jewelann was a woman who changed a lot for her husband and built a right family step by step. Things started changing after her husband Ken provided the carriage house for rental to Christian.

The character building was most part of the story and at the end we can find the mystery and suspense at the last few parts. The story was good but should have been more engaging with twists & turns. There should have been some background story of Ken how he had an another life which no one can believe and how he did those heinous crime and he the police got clue. These were some missing elements.

This book was SO MUCH BUILDUP and suspense. Nothing was even really happening until the very end, BUT I was so intrigued and curious to see where it would go. It went in a direction I was absolutely not expecting, but not necessarily in a bad way. Honestly, it felt like this book could have been two separate books, one with Christian and Jewelann and the other about Jewelann, Ken and Eli to really flesh out both plots a bit more. It was a really good game of “Which awful male should I keep more of my eye on?” during each chapter. I would have liked a bit more of Jewelann’s backstory because there was so much mention of who she used to be and while we did get some detail, it seemed a little vague at times. BUT as a character, I found her really compelling. Very flawed and at times, unlikeable, but very relatable. This was a really interesting domestic suspense that absolutely kept my attention the whole way through. The ending was a little abrupt, but I was fine with how it ended. Overall, I enjoyed it!

TW: death

Thank you to NetGalley and Crooked Lane Books for an advanced digital reader’s copy in exchange for an honest review.

⭐️: 2/5

Jewelann had one goal in mind when attending her high school reunion: make her old crush Christian Campbell see what he missed out on. After a night of bad decisions, Christian is moving into the carriage house on her property, trying to befriend her husband and bond with her son. Determined not to let Christian ruin her carefully built house of cards, she begins looking into his life, and finds evidence that he’s not all he’s making himself out to be either.

The nicest thing I can say about this book is that it was not for me. Looking back, I still don’t get the “why” of literally any of the plot. It’s billed as a mystery/thriller, but it was more of a soap opera plot, complete with bad dialogue with unrealistic, strange, and out of character sexual innuendos for the sake of ~drama~. I’m all for an unreliable narrator, and I love books with unlikeable or flawed heroines, but Jewelann as both of those things, plus selfish and stupid, which just ruined it. All the men in the book were just so strange, and it led to dialogue that made literally no sense in the scope of the book or the relationships of the characters having the conversation. One of my least favorite characteristics in a book is when I don’t understand the motivations of the characters, and not a single one of these made sense. They were seemingly just written to make as little sense in their actions as possible for the “shock value” or something. The twists at the end? While I guess they were ~unexpected~, they were also kind of…unforgivably unrealistic, which feels just lazy to me. Lastly, literally everyone had names like “Christian” or “Beth” or “Lisa” and then there was our MC with the effing name of “Jewelann” like honestly…what?

I’d skip this one. I wish I did.

Thanks to @netgalley and @crookedlanebooks for this eARC in exchange for my honest review!!

I received a gifted copy and am providing a review.
Jewelann has been married to Ken for a good thirteen years now, ever being the ‘perfect’ wife, or so she hopes. They have a son, Eli. Eli is one of those kids who just does not fit in no matter how hard he tries. Jewelann, being the mom that she is, will go to great lengths to protect Eli. Jewelann has also inherited the family home and absolutely refused to move. There is a carriage house behind the main house. Jewelann also has a bit of a shopping problem, so there’s the issue with storing things in the carriage house along with the ‘secret’ storage unit. Things come to a boiling point between her and Ken when Christian Campbell (C.C. back in the way) rents, to Jewelann’s dislike and delight, the carriage house with Ken’s approval.
This calls into question Jewelann’s unrelinquished feelings toward Christian. Not to mention Lisa and Beth’s shock that C.C. is still around. Lisa is Jewelann’s best friend from days long past, and she is not too fond of Beth, but with Lisa there is Beth so she does her best. Christian … he’s quite the eye candy, so to speak, but he’s also quite sneaky … and a liar. Ken … how does one explain Ken? He’s not what he appears to be. There is a past incident that ties all of these characters together, a tragedy really that happened a long time ago, but no one quite forgot.
The twists that pop up near the end of this tale sure weren’t expected. The truths that were revealed are quite intriguing. The ending seemed a bit rushed to me, but this was a twisted read which I quite enjoyed overall. If you like a mind twister - add this one to your TBR.

This book is great! Would definitely recommend. Thanks so much to NetGalley and the publisher for the ARC.

A great read! This was my first by this author and won’t be my last. Exciting and thrilling. 4 star read!