What WAS that epilogue? Like, really... -1,000,000 stars for that epilogue. No. Don't read it.

(Hopefully the epilogue was omitted from the final published copy?)

5⭐ for the book, erasing the epilogue

•Multi 3rd person POV
•Single timeline with many flashbacks

Setting ⭐⭐⭐⭐
Characters ⭐⭐⭐⭐
Suspense ⭐⭐⭐
Whodunit -1,000 ⭐
Ending (before epilogue) ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
Overall ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ (extra star added for making me care and feel)

~

Setting

Spooky, old mansion with little light and consistent blackouts 🖤

Characters

There are A LOT.. which is the point. There are 5(?) generations and even 1 MC talks about the ridiculousness of how many people there are. However, there's only a handful who get page time so it's relatively easy to keep them all straight.

Cyrus' Alzheimer's 💔 My damn heart

Favourite Character: Alex; she's a real hoot!

She has a tumor called Persephone

"Alex had definitely picked the perfect moment in time to grow a gender-confused brain tumor — when the whole world was losing its collective shit about biological realities that'd been accepted by every person who had ever lived throughout the entire course of human history until about fifteen minutes ago."

Also Alex, "So, here's the TL;DR"

And that dining table scene... Surely she wasn't the only one at the table who had those opinions.

😂

Least favourite character: Maddie 🙄 Why is she even there? They aren't even friends! Nothing makes sense!... At least make them friends so it makes sense! I absolutely hated her.

Favourite side story: Spencer & Jude

Whodunnit: (view spoilers on Goodreads)

I really liked the ending (before the epilogue). It was tense and emotional AND I CARED WHO LIVED! I CARED! YESSSS ⭐

The writing is solid, creating a vivid atmosphere, but the plot is a mix of captivating moments and predictability. Characters are well-developed, though some lack depth. Pacing fluctuates, making it a decent but not outstanding read.

The Gap is a wide sweeping novel told from multiple point of views, not all of them telling the truth.

The plot is huge and I found it quite complex to follow, so much so that I felt a certain element of relief when I got to the end.

Usually love thrillers, I just found the plot line to complex to follow.

I found this book to be a little tricky to get into. There were many characters and a lot of separate storylines that I felt like I was never going to be able to sort them out. This was a DNF for me.

I really wanted to like this book. But for me personally I struggle when there are a lot of characters and it jumped around a lot. Also a lot of political views this book was confusing for me and hard to get through it just wasn’t for me.

Told from multiple POVs, this story was enthralling and exciting, especially if you prefer family dramas. I enjoyed the unfolding of the family members secrets and woes, and how they played into each other, thus leading to the ending. Some questions were left unanswered but overall I thought this was a great family drama that was enticing with it's different stories.

I enjoyed the Conservative, Southern humor in this book, but most of the characters are selfish, despicable human beings. All everyone seemed to be after was the family Inheritance and they acted like a bunch of spoiled brats. This book isn't even that suspenseful and it's more of a cozy mystery, which I hate. After I read the last page, I couldn't help thinking I finished this book and for what? What a stupid ending. This is one of the worst books ever!!

I did not finish this one, it was not for me, I couldn't relate to the characters, and just did not care for the story.

a really great thriller! I couldn't put it down

Thank you to the author, publisher, and netgalley for this review copy.

DNF at 20%. There are too many characters to keep track of and not enough action to make it worthwhile. The premise has promise and would be a good read for me if there were only 3-4 characters to keep track of.

Thank you NetGalley, Sterling & Stone, and author Ninie Hammon for the opportunity to read this ARC in exchange for my honest review.

Avery Chambers has a big family. Big is an understatement. Her family is gigantic. As the Harrington family prepares for their matriarch's 100th birthday, they find themselves with another reason to gather. Just days before she plans to donate her vast jewel collection to a museum, Hannah Harrington, Daughter in law to matriarch Olivia Harrington, is found dead by her husband Cyrus, seemingly having passed away in her sleep.

More than three dozen family members have now arrived at the large estate that's been cobbled together over generations. When an unexpected family member shows up, tensions arise as the family tries to sort out their differences.

Ninie Hammon does an excellent job of weaving in new characters and twists that continue to pay off as the book goes on. With so many people in the book she does a great job of establishing the main family members, while also organically introducing facts and information about the rest of the family.

This was a very long book, with lots of characters. It was a bit hard to keep track of some, but the story and twists were great.
Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for the ARC in exchange for my honest review. All opinions are my own!

I was not able to finish this one. I gave it a good try to about 20%. It reminded me a lot of the same premise that is used in other books. The characters were very hard to keep track of as well. I appreciate the opportunity to read this book and provide an honest review.

I truly wanted to love this book, but I just kept waiting to really get into it and it never happened. There were far too many characters to keep straight and it was incredibly confusing.

3.5 Stars rounded up.

When "Grandma Hannah" dies, the whole family gathers at family matriarch. 100-year-old, Olivia Harrington's home to bury her daughter-in-law, presumed died of an insulin overdose. But in this family, nothing is simple As the many, many there are, family members and multiple generations assemble and their stories unfold, it becomes apparent that nothing is what it seems, because the more people there are, the more secrets there are. For example, Hannah's sister-in-law is hiding what happened one rainy night many years ago from her son, Gabe who continues to have PTSD from the flashbacks he's convinced himself are just nightmares that seem so, so real. And Avery is disgusted to see her convict father at the funeral, but then a photo appears that could change everything...... Everyone is hiding something, and it's up to everyone to try and stay alive.

The book is told from various family members' POVs.

With a book with this many characters, at first it can be difficult to keep everyone straight, but I think the author does a good job of distinguishing everyone, and a couple chapters in, you really get a flow for the main players in the drama that we are going to watch unfold over the course of the book And what a saga it is! This family has as much drama as a Dynasty-style soap opera, perfect for their oil-money Texas status. There isn't a big "central mystery" per se, it's more about all these little conflicts that we're party to throughout the book - though Olivia does have a "big secret" that she's going to drop on the family (though it's not hard to guess what it is).

But the little conflicts are exciting enough to keep you guessing until the end. They're actually pretty high stakes and I wanted to find out what was going to happen. They were pretty exciting! I just didn't like how things sort of just....ended. I wish there was more of a full resolution to some of these stories we became so invested in.

But we did get most of the answers that we wanted in the end, maybe not a full-on ending with most of the characters. But that happens with some books, and this ending was at least an ending, unlike I've sen in some other stories.

So I do recommend this book for fans of family dramas. It was a good story with lots of juicy drama and plenty of wild characters. However, I could have gone for a better ending. So just be warned on that part.

Ninie Hammon creates an atmospheric goth read with The Gap.

While I didn't love it as much as I had hoped, I did still enjoy reading it. Some parts and characters felt a little underdeveloped, but overall the creepy vibes and great descriptions kept me reading.

Fans of Darcey Coates will enjoy this one.

While not at all what I was expecting (there wasn't a supernatural element), I did very much enjoy this book.

The story never gave you pause for breath, while the family bond captured was impressive.

A bit over the top in places but it worked.

“When no one ever listened to you, really listened, you could begin to lose the ability to tell whether or not you were making sense when you talked.”

One of the best books of 2023! Kept me wondering what was happening next and very well written! Def 4⭐️ rating for me.
Will read more from this author!
Thanks for letting me read and review !

No one could ever accuse Ninie Hammon of not packing every bit of mystery/ thrills/ excitement in her books. I've read several of her titles and each has one thing in common. They are a great read! In THE GAP, the characters range from the 100 yr old Grandmother who holds the checkbook and the keys to the family history to a 4 year old that really needs some active supervision. Each of the characters brings their own mystery to a plot that twists faster than you can say.....I figured it out!!!.....and you'd be wrong. As Ms Hammon chases these characters from one tense moment to the next, she proves again that she's a master at keeping her readers coming back for more.

Thanks - this wasn’t really for me but I will be sure to mention that it’s out now in my monthly wrap-up. I don’t post reviews unless they’re five-star reads but I did want to share that I’d read it!

Thank you to Netgalley for providing an ARC of this book in exchange for a review.
This book hooked me in from the first line, but, unfortunately, it went downhill from then on. The story itself isn’t much impressive. The writing was okay. Got really bored reading this one as it was a bit longer than it was necessary. Wouldn't recommend it to anyone.