I had a hard time getting into this one, mostly because of Naomi’s behavior. A lot of lying, blaming, deception and confusion. And oh my boundaries - get some girl! I couldn’t help catching myself saying over and over ‘how stupid are you’.

Naomi is a psychotherapist who really cares for her patients but has gotten a little too close to her client, Jacob. When he disappears the suspicion is turned to her. Is it her past coming to haunt her or something else?

There are defiantly plenty of twists and turns in this book, that had me listening until the end.

Despite the mixed reviews, I really enjoyed this book. I found it to be twisty and diabolical. The plot had me intrigued the entire time and the reveal was a surprise. I did feel like that person was off but I never expected that. I was left with a few questions. There were a couple loose ends that weren’t cleared up.

I had an audio arc from Netgalley, in return for an honest review.

First line: I’m sure, as soon as I see the door ajar, that something has happened.

Summary: Naomi Chandler is a psychologist who specializes in domestic abuse victims. She wants to help people like her mother but she tends to become too involved in her patient’s lives. When Jacob finally decides that he wants to leave his abusive wife, Naomi offers him the use of her vacant flat. But then he disappears. And so does his files. As Naomi starts to worry things go from bad to worse. The police are now asking her about her involvement with Jacob and what might she have to do with his disappearance. But with more answers comes even more questions.

My Thoughts: I don’t know if I should just give up on Sandie Jones. The last few books have not been very thrilling for me. I am usually just irritated with her characters. They all act very stupid in their situations. Lots of lies and secrets. Unstable relationships. And women that should not be dumb acting dumb. I very quickly figured out how the story was going to end. It seemed rather obvious but maybe just to someone who reads TONS of thrillers. However, I stuck with the story to end. I enjoyed listening to it. I kept hoping I was wrong but when I was not, I was a little disappointed but also satisfied that I guessed correctly. Well we will see if I pick up her next one or not.

FYI: Domestic abuse.

This book was centered around Naomi, a psychologist who becomes overly attached and involved with her clients' personal lives. One of her current patients, Jacob, is involved in an abusive relationship. She convinces Jacob to leave his wife and suggests he moves into an empty apartment that is owned by her and her husband. Almost immediately after Jacob goes missing and Naomi is looking more and more like a suspect.
I felt like this book was all over the place. It has a big old back story about Naomi that doesn't really seem to come into play later unless I missed something. It bounced around with different characters and different names and I was just thoroughly confused. I couldn't connect with Naomi at all. She seems to lie to everyone just making things worse for herself and her and her husband's relationship is a joke. To me it seems like there were a lot of unanswered questions and the ending was just so hard to believe and comprehend. :Loved the plot of the book but it just didn't work out for me.
Many thanks to NetGalley for allowing me to listen to an ARC in exchange for my honest review.

JUST RELEASED!🌟🌟🌟🌟

I have the author’s first two books on my massive TBR list but was able to read her last two books. I enjoyed both but “The Blame Game” has them beat. What a wild trip. I’m still trying to comprehend the confusing, but mesmerizing and mind-blowing, twists…and conclusion. This is a one-sitting psychological thriller! The audiobook is narrated by Karissa Vacker and she is amazing.

Naomi is a psychologist with a tragic past, who is determined to help other victims. Her biggest flaw…she can’t say no. She’s a sucker for a sob story and attempts to help anyone in need. Even though her husband, Leon, is firmly opposed and she crosses professional boundaries.

Jacob needs to escape an abusive wife. She offers him an empty flat, owned by her and her husband, which they plan to rent out. Her husband is not on board with this plan so she doesn’t share this info with him…cringe. Another patient desperately needs to flee her abusive marriage. Naomi to the rescue again. She defies her husband by offering a spare bedroom and these acts of kindness place her in the center of a puzzling investigation. As the saying goes…no good deed goes unpunished.

Thank you to Macmillan Audio and Sandie Jones for providing this complimentary ARC through NetGalley. All opinions are my own.

#theblamegame #sandiejones #karissavacker #giftedARC #macmillanaudio #netgalley #stmartinspress #honestreview #justfinishedreading #newrelease #psychologicalthriller #bookreviewer #crimeandcocktailsbookcrew
#mysteryandthrills #readwithme #bookaddict #thrilleraddict #thrillersofinstagram #bookstagrammer #lovebooks #bookreviewersofinstagram #lovetoreadbooks#cantstopreading #fortheloveofbooks #bookrecommendations #inexchangeforreview

I'm super picky about narrators. Karissa Vacker is narrator in this audio book and she does a great job. This is a well paced story, though so many lies it does get confusing at times! Still, it's one of those not being able to put down (or stop listening to).

Thanks to @netgalley and @macmillan.audio for the ALC of The Blame Game. I’m only a few days late on this one, it published August 16. 😜

This was my first Sandie Jones, I have not yet read her The Other Woman, which brought her to author notoriety with Reese’s Book Club.

This story is about Naomi, a psychologist who specializes in treating domestic violence victims. Naomi is extremely gullible and crosses the line with her patients, taking their welfare far beyond the professional barrier. She’s just too nice. To a fault. Because of this, I spent most of this book shaking my head at her and her poor decision-making.

I did like the plot, though I guessed the twist about halfway through. The epilogue is the best part of this book.

If you don’t read a lot of thrillers or mysteries, then I think it would be enjoyable. There’s no blood or guts and it is quite binge-able. But, for seasoned thriller readers I think they’d be like me, shaking their head and guessing plot points before they occur. The narrator was great; I’ve listened to her before and look forward to her future narrations as well.

Not my favorite SJ. While it wasn’t boring I feel like it lacked focus. The narrator was very difficult to take. I am still processing what I read and how it ended.

Karissa Vacker was excellent as always.

This is not my favorite book from this author but it was okay. It is a fast read with a predictable twist at the end.

🎧⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Ooh, boy! Often when I’m listening to a book I can’t stop. In this case I had to force myself to stop to mentally process everything. Just as in “The Other Woman” Sandie Jones takes us literally into a psychological thriller where I was kept trying to figure out what was going on, just like Naomi. Let’s just say that Naomi pushed her boundaries as far as they could go and that is where the story takes off.

Thank you @netgalley and @macmillan.audio for selecting me to listen to The Blame Game by Sandie Jones

#netgalley
#macmillanaudio
#readmorebooks
#readmorebooksbywomen
#mybookishlife
#audiobook

This was a super fast read that kept my interest! I found the narrator very interesting in her outlook on things. I also immediately trusted no one!

Thank you @netgalley @minotaur_books and @macmillan.audio for this ARC in exchange for an honest review! I received the ebook and audio.

As a psychologist specializing in domestic abuse, Naomi has found it hard to avoid becoming overly invested in her clients’ lives. But after helping Jacob make the decision to leave his wife, Naomi worries that she’s taken things too far. Then Jacob goes missing, and her files on him vanish. . . .But as the police start asking questions about Jacob, Naomi’s own dark past emerges. And as the truth comes to light, it seems that it’s not just her clients who are in danger.

💭 It seems to be an unpopular opinion, but this one was not for me. It’s a quick read and the story line had me interested.

I didn’t like the MC. Naomi is loving and wants to fix everyone’s problems, but there are lines between a big heart and unprofessional. Her marriage is a mess, and I would say half of that is definitely her own fault. Less than 300 pages, I feel like I would have enjoyed this story if there was more to it. There was so much to this story and just not enough development. The ending left me confused. I read this one and then re-listened to the last 30% on audio hoping I would catch something I missed. I love having a physical and audio copy!

I will point out I thought the epilogue was great! I think there was just too much going on and not enough to it.

This was a mystery with a very unreliable narrator, well several unreliable narrators actually. It was a bit all over the place…which I think was the point. Long story short, it wasn’t my favorite thriller. I couldn’t keep the characters straight and was getting frustrated trying to figure out who was who and what was what.

I thought the audio narration was good. However, I think maybe this is a book I should’ve read instead of listened to, maybe it would’ve made more sense and been easier for me to follow. Books that are too twisty sometimes I think are better to read yourself versus doing an audiobook.

The story is focused on a therapist named Naomi who clearly has no good sense or understanding of doctor-patient relationships. How this woman was able to get away with doing unethical and such over the top STUPIDITY was beyond me. I mean she let her patients basically live with her…I mean, not exactly but I don’t want to give anything away but you get the gist. Usually with characters like this I’m like “oh she’s just trying to help, she just cares so much” and they are endangering in a way. However, Naomi just wasn’t likable, she was whiny and annoying…a complete idiot.

The back story about Naomi’s dad, mom and sister just didn’t hit the mark for me either. I’m like, was there a point to this? I think it was just doing too much.

The epilogue helped to make a little more sense out of everything but I still felt like something was missing in this one.

I’d absolutely read this author again, as I was entertained the entire time BUT I was also very confused which made this reading experience a bit less enjoyable.

2.5 stars. Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for allowing me to read this book early, however this was a DUD for me. It took almost half of the book to figure out what the point of the book was, but this story is about a therapist named Naomi who is notorious for getting too attached to her clients. Her husband, Leon, doesn't like how she does this so her response is just to lie and keep secrets. In this book we meet 2 clients, Jacob and Anna. Jacob is being abused by his wife and Anna is struggling to move on from the death of her son. As she does, Naomi gets overly involved with both of people. That's really the whole first half of the book. Whats the point? Well in the 2nd half of the book, one of them goes missing and we have to figure out how Naomi is involved, if she is. She has a past that may be coming back to haunt her, but we never really get a conclusive answer. The ending was a MESS and happened so fast and out of nowhere that I really struggled to understand what I just read. Even after finishing it, I am left with so many unanswered questions and places where I guess we're supposed to draw our own connections. The silver lining is that this has a readable writing style and it was short.

SPOILERS AHEAD:
When Naomi was young, her dad was sent to jail for killing her mom. We found out in the end that he did it out of self defense but Naomi wanted her dad to pay so she testified against him. Her little sister felt abandoned by her and has held a lifelong grudge so now Naomi is worried she's coming back to screw with her. Her dad is out of jail so I guess now is the time? Her sister has been free the whole time so the timing doesn't really make sense. Anywho, Jacob's actual name is Michael. Anna's actual name is Vanessa. And they're actually married to each other. Anna blames Jacob for leaving the door open which let their little boy wonder out and drown. However, it was actually her on the way out to have an affair. In the end theres a big showdown between Anna/Vanessa and Jacob/Michael and Naomi thinks she sees him kill her, but he's the one thats dead. Her trauma from the past makes the man always the villain even if its not true? Then its hinted at that maybe Anna/Vanessa is also her sister Jennifer and this was all a thing to try to get Naomi implicated in the disappearance of the guy and the crimes committed? But we have no evidence of this and its just a mess. Ugh.

I enjoyed this book. I have not read any of this author’s other books but I will look into reading more of her books. The author ends the book allowing the reader to make his/her own mind up about some things. It seems someone or a many someones are lying. Or maybe even everyone is lying. It also seems no one may be who they say they are. Naomi crosses too many lines she shouldn’t with her patients. This is the crux of the situation. If she had just stayed in the lane she belonged and not veered over the line under the premise of helping and caring for her patients then she would have kept herself out of the situations that looked very bad. Also, when the police are investigating you why give them more reason not to trust you? Why engage with people you should stay clear of. Naomi made so many bad decisions.

I did yell a few times at the book at times I though Naomi was being naive and bamboozled. I wanted her to open her eyes and realize what was happening. I also wanted her to tell the police everything. But based on her past I can sorta understand.

Would this book have been better if she had reacted differently or was her naivety necessary to the story? I am not sure. I can say I would not have wanted to pull her back into the pages by her hair when she kept wandering out of them by doing things she should know better not to do.

Even towards the end it was frustrating when she had issue with one who was telling her the truth. Maybe she was getting only some of the truths.

I cannot say I liked any character in this book. I did not wish them harm but I did not like them as people. I would not be friends with them. I say if you are having issues with this book keep going. See if your guesses are correct. I will say my quests at 50% where partially incorrect.

This is my fourth book I have read by [a:Sandie Jones|3917070|Sandie Jones|https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1566343107p2/3917070.jpg] and looking back, [b:The Other Woman|38318767|The Other Woman|Sandie Jones|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1525957772l/38318767._SY75_.jpg|57846205] has been my favorite with a four star review.
I also review generously due to I DNF a ton of books, and if I am able to finish a book that should tell you it’s entertaining if there isn’t anything else.

This is an example of one of those books that I was able to quickly finish, but I moaned and groaned the whole time, cussing at the unrealistic stupidity of the MC who is supposedly a professional psychotherapist! The plot of the story is one that would NEVER happen in real life to a professional and I did feel the author made a bad decision to make the MC this profession, because it could have been better otherwise.

The author did try to put doubt into the readers head by including a by story, however, that story was left swinging in the wind completely and it leaves readers wondering what was the point in the first place? That story was more interesting to me anyway admittedly.

All in all, I was able to finish this book in one day. It is an entertaining read and a book that will be easily forgotten.

Thank you NetGalley & Minotaur &Macmillian Audio for my gifted copy.

This is one of those wtf did I just read books and not in a good way.

While I enjoyed the last two books that I read by this author, this one was a huge swing and a miss for me.

I think my biggest issue with this book is that I’m really over the unethical therapist who lacks any sort of boundaries. I feel that it just further serves to undermine the importance of mental health, but that’s just me.

Back to the book, I just wanted to scream at Naomi during so much of this story. The decisions that she makes are not only incredibly inappropriate but also so irresponsible for someone who is literally paid to help people. Naomi specializes in clients in abusive relationships, and she just invites them into her home while hiding it from her husband, and you can imagine the sheer chaos that ensues because of it.

As far as the plot and big reveal, this was a huge no for me. The whole thing was just so far fetched and really left me asking myself why was this even thought of. And don’t get me started on the half haphazard epilogue that makes ZERO sense.

All in all, this book was not good. Not at all. Read at your own risk.

Thank you to Macmillan Audio for providing a review copy. This did not influence my review. All opinions are my own.

This book follows a therapist who literally doesn't care about her the future of her career and has no clue about boundaries....oh and who has zero chemistry with her husband. I called the entire twist from the very beginning bc I had a feeling this would be the direction of the plot.
I loved how fast paced and quick this book went, though I didnt love how once dimensional the characters were.

This was such a nice surprise! Such a quick read. Really enjoyed this twisty little book.

I did spot a twist early on but i wasn’t sure how it would play out or who was telling the truth. Or who to believe. Even the main character had me questioning everything. She made some iffy decisions. A lot. And that would be my only annoyance. I didn’t get the reason for her lying. And her choices as a therapist were questionable. I think with her background, understandable maybe tho.

But i loved the end. I didn’t know how this all would conclude. And the red herrings were really throwing me. But the last line got me! I couldn’t put this one down!

I thought the narrator was fantastic as well and she did great with the accents.

This was a fast and enjoyable listen, but I was left confused with a lot of questions at the end. I am fond of this author’s writing!