This engaging mystery delves into the mother-daughter relationship dynamics. There are many ethical dilemmas throughout the novel which could make for great book club discussion starters.

Sarah has written some of my favorite books, The Wife Between Us and Anonymous Girl being two of them. I couldn’t wait to dive into her newest novel and it didn’t disappoint! A great story about how far a mother would go to protect her child while also recognizing that those choices have consequences for the relationship. I also appreciated how she divulged the biggest secret pretty early on unlike many novels where you have to wait until the end, so refreshing! I could have used a little more character development and it was a tad predictable but I still really enjoyed it. Thank you to @stmartinspress and @netgalley for my copy!

Ruth & Catherine Sterling have relied on each other, often moving from place to place. Ruth has always found a way to provide for her daughter.

Catherine is a nurse and works with Alzheimer's patients. Catherine is looking forward to moving and starting a new career when her mother's diagnosis suddenly halts her dream.

Ruth is a waitress and is still young enough to date. Ruth doesn't date, nor does she go out much. Her life goal was always to look after Catherine. Ruth doesn't like talking about the past and has only stated that her family discarded her once they learned she was pregnant and Catherine's father wanted nothing to do with her.

Ruth's diagnosis changes the dynamics of the relationship. Catherine wants more information about her mother's past because she knows there will come a time when her questions will never be answered. Ruth counts on Catherine's loyalty not to push for more than Ruth is willing to give.

A Pandora's box is opened when Ruth refuses to do testing or help plan for the future. Catherine is going to make plans with or without Ruth's blessings.

I enjoyed how the storyline was revealed and how a main point was missing until the shocking end. The reader has the illusion until a twist is revealed that sheds new light on the situation and also has one rethinking the bits of concern Ruth poses early on.

I received an advance reader's copy and voluntarily read and reviewed this book.

I have read several books co-authored by Sarah Pekkanen but this was the first of her solo books I’ve read. This mother-daughter story is told from both of their perspectives in alternating chapters. There are also journal entries that help weave the back story. Although it has thrillery vibes, it also has a relationship study between these two women. There were points in the book where I had sympathy for and alternately, annoyance with both of the main characters. Definitely worth picking up! Out 8/1/23!

I'm a fan of Sarah Pekkanen's work with Greer Hendricks so I was eager to try Pekkanen's new solo book and I really enjoyed this mother-daughter suspense story.

Ruth and her daughter Catherine have always had just each other. But when Catherine is ready to move to a new city and start a new career, her mother seems ready to do anything to stop her.

I enjoyed figuring out the secrets in this one. I liked the mother-daughter dynamic and thought the suspense was good!

🪞GONE TONIGHT by Sarah Pekkanen🪞

📆PUB DATE: August 1, 2023
➡️Swipe for synopsis
Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️💫
Format: E-book
Read if you like:
📖Any of the books co-authored by Greer Hendricks and Sarah Pekkanen
2️⃣Dual timeline and dual POV
🤯Mind blowing thrillers

It’s hard to find a unique thriller these days, so if you’re looking for something fresh and new, pick up Gone Tonight when it releases on August 1st! When I first started reading, I wasn’t sure how this was a thriller. Catherine is living with her mother, Ruth, who has been diagnosed with early onset Alzheimer’s. Ruth has always been very closed off about her past, and now that her memory is starting to decline Catherine wants to find out all she can about the family her mother came from.

You won’t have any idea where this story is going to go. As Catherine starts to unravel her mother’s past, the twists just keep coming and coming. I was hooked until the very last page and felt satisfied with the ending.

Thank you @stmartinspress and @netgalley for the gifted copy of Gone Tonight in exchange for an honest review! Pick this up when I’m comes out on August 1st.

Thank you to St. Martins Press for providing me a copy of Gone Tonight by Sarah Pekkanen. I Have read other books by this author, when she was a co-writer I loved them and the enjoyed the writing. Gone tonight was a page turner POV book which questions do you really know who your mother.. It was a twisty thriller that I could not read fast enough. The mother and daughter were great characters and the structure of the book was alternating chapters well developed was a plus. I will gladly read another book by this author and I think she did a great job in writing her first book by herself.

📱”Gone Tonight” by Sarah Pekkanen

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️💫
To Be Published August 1, 2023

Thank you @netgalley for this early kindle edition.

I love a good book that surprises me when I go in blind. Told from a mother and daughter’s point of view Catherine Sterling thinks she knows everything she should about her mother. But their relationship is dysfunctional, overwhelming, and somewhat obsessed.
Ruth Sterling is quiet, hardworking, and lives for her daughter. All her life, it's been just the two of them against the world.

But now, Catherine at 24 is ready to spread her wings, move from home, and begin a new career. And Ruth will do anything to prevent that from happening.
When Ruth starts showing signs of Alzheimer’s Catherine just can’t leave her mother to start her new life.

Great character development, full of emotions and well-written. Shows the darkness a person hides behind and how far a mother will go to protect her child.

#somanybooks #readsomemore #audiobooks #bookstagram #bookrecommendations #readersofinstagram #readmorebooks #booklover #bookishlove #readersgonnaread #bookishaf

I loved this book!! Extremely well written and the characters had depth and were both likable and unlikable at the same time. Between mother and daughter, I had no idea who to trust.

This book is full of secrets and lies and when you think you have it figured out, well, you don't.

This book is out soon and is a must read if you've enjoyed previous books by Sarah Pekkanen and Greer Hendricks.

It’s always been Ruth and Catherine, not her and daughter duo. They don’t have any other family to speak of and hardly any friends. However, as Ruth starts to experience some concerning symptoms, Catherine starts to wonder more about who her mother really is and questioning her past.

This was such a fun read and the alternating chapters really had me flying through pages to learn more. I binged the ending, anxiously waiting to see how it all played out. I thought this book was well written, gripping, and entertaining. I have one minor issue with how quickly Catherine seemed to start to put all of the pieces together, but otherwise really loved this read! 4.5⭐️

WOW!! I loved this book. I was hooked from the first page and couldn't put it down. I really enjoyed the different POV’s we got from Ruth and Catherine. The chapters were short, which in turn kept me turning the pages faster. This was overall a well written book!

So good! felt at first like it was going to be a little predictable but I think that was the point, both the mother and daughter were pretty unreliable. The whole story kept me hooked until the end.

This was such a great read! Sarah is quickly climbing to my list of must reads. I have read everything by her so far and this didn't disappoint. Definitely 5 stars. I can't wait for the next one! I don't fully live the title but it didn't exactly hurt the book it just didn't really fit right.

I switched between audio and ebook, but the audio was really well done and I found myself drawn to that more.

Ruth and her daughter, Catherine, are close. Almost obsessively close. But all of Catherine's life they have only had each other. They have moved a lot. New towns, new jobs, new schools. But they were each other's constant through it all.

Catherine has just graduated with her nursing degree and is about to take a job at Johns Hopkins and move to Baltimore and live on her own for the first time. And then. She goes with Ruth to a doctor's appointment and learns Ruth has early onset Alzheimers. And later Ruth tells her that her own mother, who Catherine never knew, suffered from it also.

Catherine decides to stay and care for her mother. But this turn of events has her longing to know more about her mother's life and past, and she starts investigating. And begins to uncover things her mother didn't want her to know!

What would you do if you found out your whole life might be one elaborate lie? And how far would a mother actually go to protect her child?

This one drew me in and I could not stop until I knew the whole amazing story!

Many thanks to Netgalley, St. Martin's Press and MacMillan Audio for both an ARC and ALC in exchange for my honest review!

I was not the biggest fan of this one. I have loved all of the other books I have read from this author. This one didn’t feel much like a thriller to me.

Having previously only read works by Sarah Pekkanen when part of the Sarah Pekkanen/Greer Hendricks writing team, I wasn't sure what to expect from her solo work, but I was not disappointed! A story about secrets, and the way they can both damage us and save us, was compelling and interesting. I was invested in the characters, even though you had to wonder throughout who you were really supposed to trust. The dual narration kept the pace up and was an intriguing way to see the insights of both the main characters in the book. I will definitely continue to read Pekkanen/Greer, and will look forward to more of Sarah's individual work!

Thank you to NetGalley and St. Martin's Press for an advanced reader copy in exchange for my honest review.

This book has a very slow start and was not what I was expecting, but the plot was original and piqued my interest enough to keep me reading.

Told in alternating chapters by the two main characters, we follow the thoughts and actions of Ruth, a single mom with a concealed past who is beginning to show symptoms of dementia and possibly Alzheimer's, and her daughter, Catherine, a nursing student. These two have been living a quiet nomadic life together since Catherine was born, with no family to support them. With Ruth's new diagnosis, Catherine becomes keen to learn more about her mother's past which she knows very little about, before her mother's mind is gone. However, what she finds out is that nothing is at all as it seems and their lives are full of lies and secrets.

The surprise reveal in the story turned out to be more of a mediocre moment and not very surprising. Unfortunately, moving forward, I felt that the suspense and drama were also lukewarm, and I never really found the characters or their actions to be very believable. I know that many of my GR friends loved this book, but it just didn't turn out to be a winner for me.

Many thanks to NetGalley and St. Martin's Press for giving me the opportunity to read a DRC of this book in exhange for an honest review.

As someone with experience with both a complicated mother/daughter relationship and also Alzheimer's, this one was a trip! You just never know what to expect as Gone Tonight has plenty of twists and turns. I think this would be great with a sequel. But, really a quick thriller with plenty of family dynamics to keep you on your toes.

Thank you NetGalley, St. Martin's Press, and Sarah Pekkanen for the advanced copy of Gone Tonight in exchange for my honest review.

4.5 stars rounded up.

I'm not going to lie, this one really took me by surprise, and I mean that in the best way possible! I absolutely loved it and could not put it down. I equally enjoyed both POV chapters, which is not always the case with alternating viewpoints but these were excellently written.

I thought the plot pacing was very well done, too. Once I finally understood what was happening I was so invested in how everything was going to play out it didn't stop me from continuing to flip pages like crazy. I even cried a bit at the ending!

Don't miss this one on US bookshelves next week, August 1!

GONE TONIGHT review

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️/5

▪️After reading and loving a few books that Sarah Pekkanen has co-written, I knew I wanted to check out her latest release. The cover of this one is giving me maaaaajor fall vibes and making me even more eager to bust out my Halloween decorations. 🎃

▪️Here’s a summary of the plot:👇
Catherine and her mother Ruth have always had a very close relationship. Growing up without a father figure, Catherine has depended on her mom for everything. But Ruth has never shared details of her past with Catherine. When they are given heart breaking medical news, Catherine is even more determined to learn about her mom’s life. But if Ruth’s past is brought to light, it could be the very thing that severs their relationship.

▪️I thought it was refreshing to read a thriller focused on a mother/daughter relationship. Soooo many thrillers I’ve read lately are centered around couples or groups of friends so this was a nice change of pace! The first part did a good job laying the groundwork for the rest of the story. In part 2 I had no idea who to trust and my head was spinning. Part 3 when it all came together was so satisfying. 👏

▪️I did think that at times the book felt more like a mystery/family drama novel versus a thriller. Not a bad thing, just not what I was expecting! I also thought the ending was a little tooooo wrapped up for my liking. I like a little mystery/intrigue still left once I finish the book personally. Overall I really enjoyed this one and would recommend checking it out!

▪️Thanks to @stmartinspress and @netgalley for my advanced copy of this one! It publishes next week on August 1st!