I was so impressed and taken with Audrains debut novel, The Push, so I am thrilled to have been able to read an advanced copy of the much-anticipated The Whispers. This book was captivating and I hungrily made my way through the pages. The Whisper left me with a ball of dread in my stomach as I made my way through the story, recognizing what I may be about to uncover as cracks in the lives of the characters were revealed. Four women, neighbours, linked in this story of motherhood and struggling to belong and fit the mold that society has made for them. I will continue to read anything Audrain writes in future and hope she is already working on her next novel.

As in The Push, Audrain is exploring those deep, negative, socially unacceptable emotions that human beings share at times. Unfortunately, one needs to root for the protagonist/s, even if you disagree with their choices or behaviour. In The Whispers, I was not convinced to root for anyone, even Rebecca, who is portrayed in the beginning as a sympathetic character. The character development for all was two-dimensional and stifled my involvement. I also would have liked to see some more unusual complications in characterization that would make them rise above a type. There are also a few loose ends that did not make me suspend my disbelief.
Yet, Audrain still gives the reader a good page-turner of a novel. Her pacing is fine, and there are enough twists and turns for the psychological thriller reader to enjoy. I'm sure the novel will do well. Three stars for The Whispers.

Thanks to Penguin Random House Canada and NetGalley for an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

…”maternal worry is the resting state of her mind”

Let me say first of all, the book doesn’t really fit into the mystery/thriller category that I believe it is being marketed as, it felt more like a drama/Lifetime made-for-tv movie. And, it honestly gets worse the more the book goes on.

This is a book about mothers and also one not-yet-a-mother. It was raw and although extremely “readable”, it took me way longer than normal to read it. I kept picking it up, reading a bit and then taking days to start reading again. Normally that is a sign for me to stop reading altogether but I kept hoping it would get better….sadly, it did not.

I’m not sure if it was the pacing of the book or the fact that I felt it was way over the top at some points… with some very cringe-y moments (ex. snooping in her neighbors house, nooooo) and also a bit crude in some of the descriptions and thoughts and actions of the women. I even felt a bit repulsed at times. It felt too personal, too raw, too gross, too graphic, too terrible, too YUCK.

While the inner dialogues and experiences of these women were surprisingly relatable at times and even maybe a bit understandable at times, there was still a huge disconnect for me. I did not find the different story lines/characters to be confusing per se, as they were each very well defined and written. It’s more that, I am not even sure that i could pick one character that I really liked and felt connected to. The levels of dysfunction in the characters was just too high.

I should have been part of the demographic that would have loved this book, but unfortunately, I just didn’t. I definitely can’t see myself recommending this one.

My thanks to NetGalley and Penguin Random House Canada for this advance copy of The Whispers. My opinions are my own.

Ashley Audrain’s The Whispers was a fun, page-turner of a domestic thriller that kept me interested and guessing. I liked her 2021 outing The Push so I jumped at the chance to read and review this one. This is the story of four families on a suburban street that have to deal with a shocking and tragic event that exposes the stresses and strains of their myriad relationships, secrets and betrayals.

The Whispers is an example of a thriller that does its job well. Audrain knows the genre and does it justice. She speaks to motherhood again, just as she did in The Push, but more widely, with four families in the spotlight, and with older kids in the mix. Some of her observations about the stresses of parenting and of questioning one’s choices were spot on, but I liked that Audrain could also see the value in sacrifice for family and acknowledge the good in parenting as well as the hardship.

There were characters I didn’t really like, and those I did. Two plot lines that resonated with me were Mara, an older woman that I really felt for and that unfortunately we saw the least of in the story; and Rebecca, an ER doc who longs for a child but has recurrent miscarriages. Trigger warning for pregnancy loss, BTW. It’s pretty graphic but very real, and treated sensitively. The anger, resentment, longing and reality of the loss is front and centre on the page.

The pacing was great. There were no boring bits! The writing was certainly decent, and though I’d have preferred a few longer sentences and a bit more depth to the characters, it fell well on the side of tolerable for me. The bad behaviour that these neighbours indulged in was a bit far-fetched, and occasionally made me cringe, but that’s what made it good fun.

This was a worthy second novel from Audrain, and I’d recommend it if you need a dose of thriller in your life. I see a trend developing in her choice of theme and genre. It’ll be interesting to see where she goes next!

Thanks to @netgalley and @penginrandomca for an advanced copy!

Special thanks to NetGalley and the author for a free, electronic ARC of this novel received in exchange for an honest review.
Expected publication date: June 6, 2023
Bestselling author of “The Push”, Ashley Audrain returns with “The Whispers”, a gripping suburban suspense novel about the secrets people keep, and what happens when good people do terrible things.
The residents of Harlow Street are gathered together to try and enjoy the remaining days of heat and freedom, coming together for an end-of-summer barbecue. Until Whitney, the enviable mom and perfect host, is overheard screaming at her ten-year-old son, Xavier, saying terrible things that the entire neighbourhood overhears. So, when Xavier is terribly injured in a fall a few months later, all of Harlow Street is asking, “was it really an accident”? Would picture-perfect Whitney be the kind of Mom who would hurt her son?
Audrain touches the emotional chords of motherhood in “The Whispers”, as she did in “The Push”, honestly depicting the struggles of biological parenting as well as infertility. The women who narrate the novel are; Blair, the seemingly perfect PTA mom and Whitney’s best friend; Rebecca, the doctor who struggles with infertility and Mara, the elderly woman of the neighbourhood who has suffered the loss of her son. Each character is unique, and they are all tragically flawed as they struggle with motherhood (or the desire for motherhood), and the expectations of family life.
The story has two timelines; the party where Whitney is heard yelling at her son, and months afterward when her son is in the hospital. Although the plot jumps from the “before” to the “after”, it has a seamless flow, and Audrain slowly builds suspense with each page.
As if the accident doesn’t cause enough drama, Audrain’s co-storyline of the supposed infidelity with one of the husbands and Whitney’s nymphomania makes sure that once you start reading- you won’t be able to stop.
The ending hits with a wallop, and I was desperate to know how it played out after the final chapter, but Audrain leaves just enough to satisfy, while still dangling some unanswered questions. After the unprecedented success of her debut novel, Audrain had quite a lot to live up to, but she managed to deliver with “The Whispers”, and I look forward to her next work.

It's amazing what you can learn about people when you're more or less invisible. It's the things they don't want you to see that tell you the most.

The Whispers by Ashley Audrain
Release Date - 06/06/23

Quick Summary
In this dual timeline that brings you to the lead up of a tense three days. A neighbourhood of people and their secrets start coming to light.

Final Thoughts
At first, I didn't jump on the Ashley train when her first book was released. I can't really explain why, but something made me keep putting it off. However, when the opportunity came to receive this eARC in exchange for my honest review, I figured why not. The setting of the story isn't something I would initially pick up right away, but I am so glad I gave it a chance. Ashley's storytelling is so gripping that it kept me tense throughout the entire read. It's like I was living in the neighborhood with these characters, sharing their secrets as if they were my own. This experience has definitely convinced me to go back and read her first novel.

ARC provided by NetGalley and the author in exchange for an honest review.

Ashley Audrain has become an auto-buy author for me! This was a gripping tale told from the perspective of 4 mothers, each dealing with the tragedy of the story in their own way while also dealing with the hardships that motherhood can bring.

Blair is battling her desperate need to encroach herself into Whitney’s life, obsessing over her home and her belongings while also not entirely trusting her character as a mother. She questions her husband’s faithfulness, wondering if the mundanity of her life and day-to-day routine has caused her to let him slip into the arms of another woman.

Whitney is struggling to maintain her “perfect” life, while also not being fulfilled or happy with motherhood in the slightest. Wanting to keep up appearances in her neighbourhood but wanting to be as distant from her children as possible. The whole time you are wondering what really happened when her son Xavier “fell” out the window. Or did he?

Rebecca is the doctor on call at the hospital when Xavier is brought in. She’s trying to be as helpful to her neighbour Whitney as she can in terms of medical care and information of her son, but she’s also dealing with major infertility issues of her own, and a possibly crumbling marriage.

Mara is the old bat across the street seemingly privy to everything (with a couple secrets of her own as well)

The only thing I didn’t love about this book is that between the varying POVs and the varying timelines within each POV it was sometimes hard to keep the story straight.

Solid 3.5 stars from me!

Great character building to make you really feel for every person in the book. I would have loved to see how some of the truths revealed themselves with all of the cheating scndals!

Oh wow! We follow 4 couples with or without kids, in their fourties and older. Author mainly focuses on the women, the way they live motherhood, marriage, friendship until a tragedy happens. Ashley Audrain has a great ability to convey the diffferent feelings, frustrations of mothers and women. This is an intense story, a page turner for sure. I immensely enjoyed. Thanks to Netgalley and Penguin Random House Canada for the review copy.

First, this book needs content warnings! Pregnancy loss, pregnancy, infertility, infidelity, trauma, and others that I can’t remember at the moment, that should most definitely be mentioned before reading. The descriptive details of pregnancy loss, although not usually a trigger for me were to a lot. Anyone who has had to go through that should be made aware of what they are about to read.

As a huge fan of The Push, The Whispers was one of my most anticipated books of 2023. Like The Push, I was expecting The Whispers to be more of a thriller, but instead its more of a drama told from the view of four women who are neighbours. I STRUGGLED with this one. It did keep my attention and I kept reading because I wanted to know the twist, but I’m not sure it was worth it. Even with four main characters I found it hard to like or relate to any of them and sometimes I couldn’t remember who was married to who! At times it was difficult to follow, and I wasn’t sure if we were in the past or the present which really interrupted the flow of the story.

The whole book was a lot of mom trauma and just didn’t hit the mark for me.

Thank you to NetGalley, Penguin Random House Canada and Viking Press for an advanced copy in exchange for my honest review.

Thank you to Net Galley for this ARC. I am a big fan of Ashley Audrain. I devoured her first book The Push so I was very excited for the opportunity to read this book. I found this book a bit slower than her first book. It took some time to get into the characters and get to the point where I just needed to keep reading to find out what actually happened. It took me about halfway to get to that point where I couldn't put it down. Most of the characters were unlikable but that is what made them interesting. There were twists and turns and some things I didn't see coming. I ended up really enjoying the ending of this book and I am tempted to give it a 4.5 stars if that were an option. Another strong novel by Ashley Audrain.

I read and really liked The Push and was so excited to read the next title by Ashley Audrain (also love that she's from Toronto!) -- and it didn't disappoint!

The book is about four women who are experiencing - and dealing with - their personal burdens of motherhood in very different ways. The main plot centers around Whitney's son who fell from his third-story bedroom window and is now in a coma, and moves from each of the four women's POVs, both leading up to and during this tragedy.

I was hooked from the beginning and ended up reading more than half of it in one night because I simply couldn't put it down. Audrain's writing is so captivating - she has such a talent for depicting emotions, developing really complex characters, and also eliciting emotions from the reader. I had so many feelings while reading, mostly anger and shock at just how far the characters would go to maintain the status quo of their lives and/or blow it up at any second. There was also a bit of a plot twist, which I always appreciate. Finally, the ending was really intriguing and I wish I could have seen it play out a bit more.

I felt really good about reading this one and def recommend it - and am so thankful to have gotten an advanced copy from Net Galley :)

This wildly enthralling page turner took me on an emotional roller coaster that I was not prepared for. Following the existence of a few main characters and their families, I was shocked to see parts of myself, good and bad, in all of them. Being given an insiders view of these women's lives was so relatable. Ashley Audrain allows us to see the enviable front that women put on but also the self-doubt and feeling of inadequacy that can creep into our minds. We are taken on a journey with Blair, a doting and patient mom who suspects her husband is cheating. Whitney, a picture perfect woman who struggles with the 'task' of being a present mother, abd Rebecca, a doctor who struggles with carrying pregnancies to full term. As neighbours, their lives are intertwined and focused around one horrendous accident involving one of their children. Be prepared-this book kept me guessing the entire time while also questioning myself and what I would do in each scenario. It is not a 'pick-me-up' but it is definitely a 'can't-put-down.'

No doubt that women, mothers, wives feel this way. Each MC fighting some sort of inner battle with feeling like they can’t be it all to everyone. But under all of that is the jealously that runs rampant and the secrets they hold close.

I would be lying if I didn’t say this was a little too close for home for me. Strictly speaking on the desperate heartache that filled Rebecca’s days. The graphic descriptions had me putting the book down because I know these moments of obsession well. And it’s a painful part of my own journey to being a mother.

I’m not going there with this review except to say that the author does explain this in detail that will 💯 be hard for people to read. Perhaps if they’re lucky enough to have not experienced this pre term pain, then it will shed the light on what actually happens… BUT (and this is a huge but), if the reader has been in this moment, no matter how many times, or even just once, I think it may leave you in tears of the past.

It’s no secret on here that I’ve experience loss. Nor is it hidden that I said goodbye to a daughter in my second trimester. But what people don’t know is the details of that day. It’s not one I can share. And it’s one that took me years of therapy to deal with.

So I guess I’m not sure how to review this one. The Push had me captivated. And the premise behind this one made me want it, but I think, I just need to focus on making sure that others need to know there are major loss triggers in one storyline. Because it may be hard to read.

One small note I need to say is that I feel like the author must have some sort of experience with this, because of a line “you’re used to this stuff”…. It could have been taken from a comment someone made to me: “after this many, you must be used to it”. And I’m gonna say this very clearly, if you have to say anything at all to someone who has lost a child at any stage of growth, say nothing but “sorry. And how can I help”. Never give platitudes. Never say that you can try again. Never ever say you must be used to it. Full stop. The End.

So writing 4.5 stars
Subject was hard for me. 2stars
Ending with 3

Do you remember being a child and hearing your parents talk about neighbourhood gossip, or trying to listen in on party chatter, and just thinking "why do these grown-ups care so much about this stuff?" That's exactly the feeling The Whispers left me with. As an autistic lesbian, I think it's extremely clear that I am not the target audience for this book. I would have loved to believe that we've moved past plots like "I hate my stupid husband" and "I hate my stupid husband, but also I'm hot," but those seem to be the only real pillars of this book. And then to read other blurbs/reviews that are saying things like "Ashley Audrain understands the secret world of women"?? WHICH women??? Do they need help??? Blink twice if you want me to save you!!

Also, it would be irresponsible of me to not talk about Marcus and Xavier, two of the sons featured in this book. These boys were clearly meant to represent an autistic/neurodivergent experience, but not only were they written identically (down to having the same special interest?? Come on, did Audrain just google "what do autistics like" and go from there?), it seemed The Whole Point of them was to illustrate the horrors of motherhood. All Audrain achieved was demonstrating how miserable life can be when you're abused as the result of your neurodivergence. The final line of the book cements Xavier's status as A Problem instead of what he actually is: a terrified, horrifically abused 10-year-old child.

A miserable, dragging, plotless book that I would best summarize as "the straights are, in fact, not okay."

'She'd once heard them described as whispers - the moments that are trying to tell you something isn't right here.'

Audrain has written a very good thriller that kept me reading and engaged in an assortment of characters - many who were not at all likeable - yet I was invested in finding out their situation. . The neighbours all have whispers they are avoiding and Audrain has woven the different perspectives into a very good book. The book is well written and despite being full of some heavy topics the author does not glorify nor minimize them.

'She needs them to remind her that despite how much she wants it, becoming am other is the most foolish thing a woman can do. That a love like that will inevitably hurt her more than she could possibly imagine.'

'But there are risks people take when they want something badly enough. There are things they learn to ignore.'

Thank you to Penguin Random House Canada and NetGalley for an early copy in exchange for an honest review.

This book exposes some of the most explicit, selfish, and dangerous thoughts women could have about their own shortcomings, their marriages, and their kids...I mean, wow. The author does not hold back. LOVE THIS!

I thought this book was a great kick off to the (almost) summer season! The author switches between narrators seamlessly and it keeps the reader constantly on their toes.

Then…the conclusion. That last sentence! Loved it!

I thought this was a great novel. I loved the Push , so I immediately jumped at the opportunity to read this.
I loved the raw look at women and motherhood and tragedy.
I thought it was thought provoking and edgy.
Highly recommend.

Audrain once again explores motherhood, this time in raw, tense, and emotional detail through the lens of four women, all living on the same street. The small moments and secrets that every neighbourhood has are clearly delineated and explored in this compelling thriller, and the characters will strike uncomfortable chords in each of us.