I only found this book to be okay. It was great and the pacing was slow at times, but if you are looking for a book to pass the time then this would be a fine choice.

I also felt like the characters stayed the same throughout the book so there wasn’t a lot of character development which is one reason why it was slow.

The premise of Lies That Bind was heartbreaking and intriguing. The two main characters Jess and Frankie are siblings. Frankie calls Jess telling her their dad had committed suicide. After their mom received the news she was then in a fatal car crash. She and her five your old daughter, Lily were killed but her nine-year-old son Tommy survived.

Jess is the oldest and assumed the role of guardian. A lot of the story is about how Jess needs to change her life and figure out how to make an income to even get to be their legal guardian. A lot of this I did not find interesting.

Frankie had a lot of his own drama with bullies at school and girls which mostly was uninteresting as well.

Tommy is where some of the interesting moments happened. Tommy was convinced he was seeing the ghost of his parents at night. He was not the only one feeling that something was going off. You are trying to figure out if this is something paranormal, sinister, or just in their heads. That’s where the story excelled. Some of it was scary, some of it was unsettling, and all of it was tense. However, the way this concluded was definitely rushed and failed to explore all the aspects.

I do understand we need to learn about the characters for the story to hit emotionally. I just wish this story had fewer explanations about the characters and more drama with the house.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the ARC.
I enjoyed this audiobook. Finished it in about two days actually. Both narrators did a good job.
The book definitely kept me guessing and I was quite surprised by the ending as well.
Good job on keeping the reader/listener guessing.

Thank you to NetGalley and Dreamscape Media the e-audio book in exchange for an honest review.

Audiobook narrated by Gail Shalan; Chris Devon

I thought the voicing of the audio book was great and matched the characters. I do recommend the audio book if that is your choice of book.

On a horrible day, Jess, a university student, gets a phone call from her brother. Their dad has been found by her brother hanging in the garage. On their way to the hospital, Jess and her brother find out that her mom and sister were killed in a car wreck but that her younger bother survived.

Why did their father hang himself? Where was her mother driving to so fast?

The siblings are trying to get past their grief, Jess taking care of them. But soon strange things are happening like noises, items going missing and a sort of dark presence looming. What really happened? Are the siblings safe?

The storyline was ok. I found it a bit slow as it dragged in the beginning and there really was not much character development. The pacing was too slow as well. Aside from typical arguing, we know nothing about the parents or why their deaths happened. Frankie is not relatable and despite family offering help, Jess is on her own. I expected all of the characters, especially the younger brother who survived the crash to be more traumatised but they just slogged through it.

I didn’t find the big twist in the end that revealing or unexpected. Just an OK read.

Thank you to NetGalley, Dreamscape Media and CJ Stone for providing me an advance copy of this audiobook in exchange for my honest review.

The story takes on 2 POVs, that of Jess and her brother Frankie. The female narrator was great, I had no issues. The male narrator however I found very monotone and not properly conveying emotion in the story.

Jess gets a call from her younger brother Frankie, who found their dad in the garage having committed suicide. At the hospital, Hess learns her mother and younger sister, Lily, died in a car accident, her other younger brother, Tom, survived.

The story follows the aftermath of the tragedies, as strange things happen around the house and secrets are discovered by Jess and Frankie.

The story was quite creepy - do we believe in ghosts, or something even more sinister going on?

I think the ending was quite rushed, so much of the story was built up being really creepy with Tom seeing people in his bedrooms, things moving around, Jess’ scary dreams. The ending was really fast and barely dusted over a lot of these facts.

I went through thinking this would be an almost solid 4 star book but the ending was just really unsatisfying so I’d say this is closer to a 3-3.5 star read.

Jess’s life at college is brought to a screeching halt when she first receives new that her father has committed suicide and then that her mother and little sister have been killed in a car accident. Her two younger brothers have been injured, but they are alive and Jess decides she will do anything to keep her remaining family together. As Jess takes on the role of caregiver for her brothers, she’s troubled by a feeling of dread hanging over the house. Where was her mother going at the time of the accident and why was she driving so fast? When things in the house appear to move around on their own and Jess hears strange noises, she begins to wonder if the house is haunted. It’s either that or something much closer to home and Jess doesn’t know what’s worse

Lies That Bind by CJ Stone
Narrated by Gail Shalan; Chris Devon

Not long after twenty year old Jess had been home from university for her father's birthday celebration disaster strikes. Her seventeen year old brother Frankie calls her that he's just found their father hanging from a rafter. Then there is a car wreck that kills Jess's mother and five year old sister. Her nine year old brother, Tom, lives but is injured physically and emotionally. Getting to listen to this story was the way to go for me. Both narrators did such a stellar job, with Shalan narrating most of the story as twenty year old Jess and Devon narrating as her seventeen year old brother, Frankie. Even though this story takes place in present day and the family lives in a typical upper middle class house, there is a gothic feel to the story, with a death in the garage, creaking floors and stairs, dark corners, strange sounds, the visions that both Jess and Tom seem to be having, and the sense of being watched. Tom is not going to be convinced that what he is seeing is not real and Frankie is blaming Jess for some of what is happening.

Jess is determined to keep the house and Frankie and Tom out of care but it's an uphill battle. Frankie wants to know why their father would kill himself as does Jess. The grief of the siblings overwhelms everything and Jess fears for their future. Frankie thinks that Jess knows more than she is telling and they both realize that their parents must have had secrets, had been hiding things from everyone. There is also the sense of something in Jess's past, which might be mixed up with her avoidance of alcohol.

This was a stressful story for me even though I did enjoy it and wanted to know what was going on. There is very serious and dangerous bullying, the sibling fights hurt when this is a time that the three should be pulling together with so much trying to pull them apart, and there is a sense of dread and fear, not only in the house but outside of the house and in Jess and Frankie's interactions with others. Jess might have her own lies and Frankie seems ready to go down some dark paths, if he hasn't already done so. Tom is hurting in more ways than one and he's defensive when the others don't believe the things he's seen.

I do wish we had a lot more answers by the end. There is so much that I am left wanting to know. But I was certainly entertained by this story and I cared that the siblings would make it out of this trauma together. It was hard hearing Jess and Frankie at such odds when everything else was going so badly for them. The narration added that much more angst to the pile with the great job that Shalan and Devon did.

Thank you to Dreamscape Media and NetGalley for this ARC.

I devoured this novel within a day. The story was suspenseful and eerie. It had me grasping for answers. I only wish the author didn't rush through the ending. Everything wrapped up extremely fast. Too fast for my liking. Other than that, it was a well-written novel that fans of mystery and thrillers will enjoy.

***I would like to thank NetGalley, Cj Stone (the author), and Dreamscape Media for graciously sending me the audiobook to review. As always, all thoughts are my own.**

ARC audiobook provided in exchange for an honest review.

I really enjoyed the dual narration of this book! It was nice to get both male and female voices for the two main characters and really helped bring the story to life for me. I really liked the plot of Jess having to leave college and coming home to take care of her younger brothers Frankie and Tom when their parent die tragically. Then she tries to figure out the mysteries surrounding their deaths and how to cope with having to put her life on hold to raise her siblings. It was very intriguing with lots of twists that I didn’t see coming! I would definitely recommend to anyone who likes psychological thrillers about families and their secrets.