Missing kids, a wife with a secret past and a husband with another family. Sounds like the making of a great suspense novel. Unfortunately for me, it wasn’t so great.
Thank you Netgalley and the publishers for the ARC for an honest review.

A solid read! It wasn’t enough of a thriller but I also felt at arms length from the main character even as we got to know her background. Just didn’t feel super invested. It was interesting and I was surprised by the twist and enjoyed trying to guess what was going on, but ultimately it just wasn’t compelling enough to garner a high rating from me. This was a 3.5 and I’m going to round down to 3.

This book was well written in parts but overall the plot didn't work for me. I spent the beginning being confused about what the book was about and then when i figured it out, things seemed unrealistic and out of nowhere. And the ending was unclear. It was a debut novel so maybe her next books will work better for me and I would give them a try

I know this was an ARC and this book isn’t due to be released until October. But the errors in this copy were hard to get past without mentioning. The chapters weren’t separated. Information was contradicting and there were type-o’s. I know these will all be straightened out before publishing but felt it was worth mentioning!!

The story was great. I had truly no clue what to expect with this and fell in love with it. The mystery from both timelines sucked me in and truly I felt like I had it figured out up until the very end when it turns out, I didn’t! There were a ton of characters to keep straight and I did feel that there was a bit of info thrown in that was unnecessary for the story. But all in all I was interested from the very beginning and surprised by the ending! Be on the lookout for this one to drop on October 17!

Thank you NetGalley and Crooked Lane Books for an ARC of Leave the Lights On. This was an interesting book to read. Emma was a gullible, naive young woman. A little over the top sometimes and unbelievable. However, the dual timelines worked well. There did seem to be a lot of unfinished storylines and an odd ending.

I have a lot to say about this book. In the beginning I was so confused at the flash backs and that Emma and Beatrice were the same person. Also it bothered me soooo bad she stayed when she could have left. But about 40% into the book is when it really picked up and kept me intrigued. I did not expect then ending but I usually can’t catch those lol. But I didn’t like the ending as she was like whatever let me just throw my life away for a crazy person that she honestly barely even knows?!?! I still think it’s a 4 star book due to the interest I had in the “who done it” sense.

Leave the Lights On is a solid thriller/domestic noir. The plot was as expected, though not predictable, for a thriller. The pacing was steady meaning there was little in the way of tension. This is the first Liv Andersson book I read so it may be the writing style that I find a little bland or it may not be the best representation of the author's ability.

All in all, I would definitely read another Liv Andersson book.

I received an ARC of this book from Crooked Lane Books via NetGalley in exchange for my honest feedback. I don't think the synopsis really represents the true action of the book. The synopsis makes it sound as though the main premise is how Beatrice deals with her husband's second family. The second family is actually barely a part of the book. Also, I get frustrated when authors constantly refer to something in the past that we don't know but dangle it in front of us for so.many.chapters. There is a fine line between building suspense and cultivating boredom. This book leaned towards the latter.

When we did finally get to the reveal of Beatrice's past, I was skeptical. It is tough to describe without spoilers, but to me, it was absurd and not credible. It also did not make sense how quickly Beatrice was able to find the person she thought was responsible for the kidnapping and other recent events. Supposedly she had no idea how to track down these people from her past and then poof looks once on the internet and there they are?

Hated the ending - again absurd and not credible.

On the positive side, Ms. Andersson definitely knows how to write and craft scenes. Her words flow, and she did a great job creating the atmosphere of Maine and the island.

This book kept me rivited Could not put it down.will be looking for more work by author
The characters and story line great
Excel read

Thank you Liv Andersson, Crooked Lane Books, and NetGalley for an ARC of Leave the Lights in exchange for my honest feedback. I LOVED this book and I could not wait to finish it! I love that it was a shorter book and kept me on the edge of my seat the entire time I read it. I did feel that sometime a bit of time was wasted on irrelevant things, such as Beatrice hunting down the professor about the medical files. The author spent quite some time talking about that and then in the end it was completely irrelevant other than the two files she took out of it? And this is completely personal preference but I hate ambiguous endings and this left me wanting more answers. I also wish she would’ve gone into detail more about Beatrice’s husband and his mistress. Other than that, I absolutely adored this book. 4.5/5 stars.

First, I’d like to thank Crooked Lane Books and NetGalley for this ARC in exchange for an honest review.

This was a difficult book to read, which is a shame because the writing itself is good. The issue was the plot and how absolutely terrible the protagonist was at any sort of critical thinking. The beginning sounded intriguing… a woman is being cheated on by her husband, that husband’s love child goes missing, and then some psycho serial-killer-vibe guy makes an appearance by taunting the mistress with a doll that has some sort of meaning to the main character. This set the book up fairly well for a decent story.

But then it all fell apart. We somehow went from Netflix binge worthy crime drama to a mess of government conspiracies and a failure to understand basic psychology (like Stockholm Syndrome). The main character kept making foolish decisions, and the ending literally left more questions that it provided answers.

If you like far fetched stories and don’t mind giant leaps from reality, then my main complaints probably won’t bother you. It WAS well written in a general sense, but overall this book was just not for me.

I HATED Beatrice! I think if she was an older women or the book was set in different times I could understand her but in this day and age women don't need to turn a blind eye. All the characters were awful which made it hard for me to pity them. Beatrice could've walked away but she wanted the millions and the mansion. She was blinded by her own greed which ultimately cost her.

The timeline also jumped around a lot which made it difficult to follow especially when I'd put the book down and pick it back up again. There was just a bit too much going on and I really struggled to follow all the various dysfunctions of each one and how they tied into the kidnapping.

Beatrice Wicker is content in her life. She knows her husband is having an affair, but she needs a quiet, unthreatening life after being on the run for so many years.
Josh doesn't know that Beatrice knows that he has a child by his lover, and is devastated when the child is abducted.
The child is found, unharmed, and it is not long until Josh's longtime housekeeper's Grandson is abducted.
Beatrice realises that the abductions are happening because of her past secrets.

I am not sure that this would even rate a 3 star read for me. But I will give 3 stars because it was well written.
I did not like the characters very much, and feel that Beatrice was quite cold, except for her relationship with Grace, the waitress/artist.
Her 'love' for Gabriel was a clear case of "Stockholm Syndrome".
The ending, in my opinion was unsatisfying.

Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for the opportunity to read this book in exchange for an honest review.

I received an ARC of this novel from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

A woman is kidnapped and indoctrinated by an angry man who is convinced that the government has stolen his research. After betrayal, she switches identities and creates a new life. The past comes to haunt her in a devastating way.

Pipe bombs, kidnappings and creepy dolls oh my. In this domestic suspense, a woman running from her past has to confront her demons from the life she left behind. Beatrice Wicker moved to Maine and married a small-town millionaire, providing her with a safety net of money and comfort from running. As a distraction, there is an explosion at the elementary school in town, diverting people's attention away from a kidnapping. The boy taken belongs to Beatrice's husband - and his mistress. Beatrice knows her husband's secret, but cannot reveal it, or why the kidnapping happened to this particular boy, without revealing her past.

This was a page turner for me, and I loved the depth of Beatrice's character, and the small town secrets.

Thank you Crooked Lane books and NetGalley for a copy of this ARC in exchange for an honest review.

A favorite of mine is dual timelines, so I’m was glad this book had it. It was a little confusing keeping track of all of the characters between the time hops though.

It is a chilling book that explores how past trauma and choices can come back with a vengeance. When a boy is kidnapped, Beatrice’s life is upended. She has pretended not to know her wealthy husband is cheating on her and that the kidnapped child is the result of his ongoing affair. But Beatrice has good reasons for turning a blind eye, ones that involve emotional security and a need for a sense of family and home. Those same secrets drive her to help search for the child, though she is a prime suspect.

This book did take me quite a few days to get through, my 4-5⭐️ books usually take 1-2 days to finish and this was closer to 6-7. I did enjoy the last quarter of the book where I finally was hooked.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the opportunity to read this book.

This fell flat for me. The writing itself was great, the plot just wasn’t what I thought I was going to get from the synopsis.

Wellllllll, it was pretty well-written and it kept me entertained...but it felt a little contrived and not realistic. The main character was pretty unlikable (at least for me) -- now that I'm thinking about it, there was perhaps one character to whom I was even sympathetic. I liked the Maine setting, and it sort of felt like the author was writing for Netflix, not that that's a horrible thing.

Overall it held my interest, but I wanted a little more.

I received a complimentary copy of the novel from the publisher and NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

Wow, just wow. This kept my entrapped from the very first page. From secret families to lies and deception- #10drama factor

The author is a good storyteller and the book feels well written . That's where it ends for me. I read the synopsis and was intrigued- thriller set on the Maine Coast? Yes please. A philandering husband? Yes please.
But that's not what the storyline ends up being. It's very contrived and implausible and it felt like it wasn't what I signed up for. Thanks to NetGalley and the publishers for the ARC in exchange for my honest review.