Sarah Pakkanen delivers another addictive title. This book had me at the edge of my seat wanting all the answers. This is the story of a mother who has given up everything to keep her daughter safe. My heart breaks for these two people and their story, but this book was such a wild ride through and through. Reccomend to all thriller lovers!

Not going to lie, this started out a little slow for me and I had my doubts. I shouldn't have doubted it though since Sarah Peekanen has never failed to deliver on anything else I've read by her, but I did start to doubt it. Right when I was starting to question if I could carry on or not, bam! It took off an all my doubts were gone. Keep that in mind when reading this. Give it some time before calling it quits.

I thought this had the perfect balance of revealing just enough information for you to slowly start figuring out what's going on but still having questions. There really was no huge twist which I was slightly disappointed in, there were some twists but you could see them coming.

All in all, this was a very enjoyable read! I look forward to reading more books by Sarah Pekkanen.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for this ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Gone Tonight by Sarah Pekkanen was an excellent mystery/thriller that keeps you guessing until the very end.
The narration by Kate Mara was excellent. I would highly recommend listening to this one if you can.
A story about family and sacrifice and how far you are willing to go for those you love.

Wow, where do I even begin?!? I finished this yesterday and I'm still thinking about it. It's a good story for those who love vigilante type stories. Sickening how common favoritism is on sports teams. Unfortunately sexual abuse is a common thread for some of these girls. It's awful and it's something that people need to speak up about. No one should ever suffer in silence. I liked the characters, but I did think the ending with the Dad would go differently. I just kept saying....wow. Only element that was a tad unbelievable was when she searched for her Dad on FB and she found him and heard from him the same day....and he had just made the account that day. Other than that I enjoyed the story of survival and protecting ones child to the end! I listened to the whole thing in one day because I couldn't stop! It definitely held my attention and it was a great story!

Thank you to NetGalley for allowing me to listen to the audiobook. The reader did an excellent job.

I have been a fan of Sarah Pekkanen for some time now, so I jumped at the chance to read Gone Tonight and it did not disappoint. I thought the plot was very original, ailing mother desperate to keep her only daughter close. What follows is nothing short of a ball of lies to be untangled. It was a fun read.

Not only that, the audio narration was beautifully done. I thoroughly enjoyed the listening experience!

Ruby just wants to protect her daughter Katherine. Katherine doesn't understand her mother. Ruby never shares anything of her past. Katherine feels as if her mother is a stranger.
After Ruby announces that she has early onset dementia, Katherine begins to dig into her mother's past. She wants to know where she came from and see if she can find out about any family history
But be careful of the skeletons you dig up. They may just come back to haunt you

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

𝘼 𝙣𝙤𝙫𝙚𝙡 𝙖𝙗𝙤𝙪𝙩 𝙖 𝙢𝙤𝙩𝙝𝙚𝙧'𝙨 𝙨𝙚𝙘𝙧𝙚𝙩𝙨 𝙩𝙤 𝙥𝙧𝙤𝙩𝙚𝙘𝙩 𝙝𝙚𝙧 𝙙𝙖𝙪𝙜𝙝𝙩𝙚𝙧 𝙖𝙣𝙙 𝙬𝙝𝙖𝙩 𝙝𝙖𝙥𝙥𝙚𝙣𝙨 𝙬𝙝𝙚𝙣 𝙩𝙝𝙚𝙮 𝙗𝙚𝙜𝙞𝙣 𝙩𝙤 𝙪𝙣𝙧𝙖𝙫𝙚𝙡...

I absolutely loved 𝗔𝗻 𝗔𝗻𝗼𝗻𝘆𝗺𝗼𝘂𝘀 𝗚𝗶𝗿𝗹, which was co-written by this author. I still find that book to be a favorite thriller of mine, therefore, I was so excited to pick this book up.

This story does focus a lot on the relationship between a mother and daughter… and how far a parent would go to protect their child.

The book itself is told in alternating timelines and POVs, which I did find confusing at first. Once I got the idea of what was going on, I felt so emerged in the story.

It was really interesting reading about Ruth’s past and what led to the way she and her daughter live. I think both characters, Ruth and Catherine, were very well portrayed. I liked the psychological aspect of the book.

While the ending wasn’t my favorite + a bit predictable, I did find it to be wrapped up smoothly. I did a combo of the ebook and audio and found both formats to be super interesting.

This was a fun read with a mother/daughter relationship. It’s a bit slow and not super thrilling, but it did have me on the edge of my seat. I’m glad I ended up enjoying this one!

Thank you so much NetGalley and St. Martin’s Press for the eARC and Macmillan Audio for the ALC in exchange for my honest review!

To what lengths would you go to protect the ones you love?

This is a story about a mother and daughter finally coming to terms with some secrets that are about to come into the light.

One of the things that I liked about this story were the different points of view along with the changes in the timelines; this helped to build up the backstory of all of the characters and used as a slow build tactic to help you put the pieces together. I always enjoy getting aspects to not just put main plot lines together, but to try to get a feel for the characters and their motivation.

Although I’ve never been put in all of the same or similar situations as these characters, listening to this audiobook gave me more to contemplate with the tone of the narrator (whom I was excited to read was the narrator and was a main reason I requested the book).

There was a lot going on, but things are circled back on so you will not lose track of things. There were some twists and mcguffins, but most of the story is pretty straight forward and easy to follow along.

Thank you so much to the author, Sarah Pekkanen, Macmillan Audio, St. Martin’s Press, the narrator, Kate Mara, and NetGalley for the audio arc of Gone Tonight in exchange for my review!

Catherine and her mother, Ruth, have always been each other’s world. They live together and share a car. However, Catherine is ready to get out in the world and wants to attend university, leaving Ruth behind. Ruth is not ready to let Catherine go yet, as she has a reason she has kept Catherine so close to her all these years. She will not let her go without a fight.

I found this thriller to be highly entertaining. The narrator on audio was really good and I really enjoyed listening to it. It’s fast paced right from the start and I got sucked in right away. The way that Ruth manipulated her daughter was quite fascinating and sickening, although her motive for it was conflicting. The flipping POVs between Catherine and Ruth were also addicting and kept me turning the pages.

For the longest time it has only
Been Ruth and Catherine. Just the two of them, relying on each other.
When Ruth gets sick, things start to change … and the truth slowly starts to come out.
It’s all a matter of time before Catherine finds out Ruth’s well-hidden secrets.

I thought this story was okay. It was a slow burn, which I don’t typically love. I have always been obsessed with Sarah’s co-author stories with Greer Hendricks, so I had high expectations. Sadly this one fell shorter than I would have liked.

Overall it was a good story, but it just felt like it was lacking something that other stories she’s written have had.

I am so happy that I got this as an Advanced Listeners Copy from NetGalley! I enjoyed the two other books I’ve read by Pekkanen. I love when you think you’ve figured out a twist and then the author lets you know, you’re right, and then puts a twist on the twist! This book was well paced and I thoroughly enjoyed it!
My only frustration was that the narrator for the mother and the daughter were the same. I definitely had to pay close attention to whose chapter it was.

This story has LAYERS, and I enjoyed peeling back every one of them. Ruth has a past, her daughter Catherine is her whole present. But what happens when Ruth gets a diagnosis that leads Catherine down a path into her mother's past? What secrets has Ruth meant to keep buried, and what will happen if they were to all come to the surface?

The writing in this was so well done! I felt like there was a perfect balance of giving just enough information with each chapter to keep me wanting to read more. There were so many aspects that I never felt like I could figure it all out, at least not until closer to the end, and I really enjoyed trying to put it all together.

While I loved this story, I found it hard to at first get into it with the audiobook version. There are a total of three perspectives (two characters, one was both young and old) but one narrator with essentially the same voice/tone throughout. This made it harder to track and easy to forget which perspective it was. The first time I listened I got to about 25% and realized I didn't know what was going on, so started over with a lot more focus and was able to get into a flow and ended up loving it!

Thank you to St. Martins Press and NetGalley for my gifted copy. Full review on my IG @manis.and.manuscripts this week!

On paper, I should have loved this book. Psychological thrillers are my bread and butter. Unfortunately, this book did just not hit for me. Despite some great twists and turns and a really intriguing premise (the reason I was so eager to snap up this ARC), this wasn’t an engaging story for me and I was bored for a fair chunk of the book. While I enjoyed the back and forth between present and past with Ruth’s journal entries, and I did enjoy the underlying themes, this book felt very slow and drawn out. I just believe I was not the target audience for this.

I listened to this on audiobook and aside from the story, I wasn’t full engaged by the narrator and felt myself drifting off at parts, having to rewind to make sure I didn’t miss any details.

I also grew very frustrated with Ruth. Despite her desperate need for survival for her and her daughter, I could just not get past the level of lying. Maybe it is because in her shoes I would’ve handled things differently, but this was a major point of contention for me.

I did see lots of amazing reviews, and while I completely understand them if you enjoy writing style, this was simply too slow for me. I hope to give another one of Sarah Pekkanen’s books a try in the future.

Thank you very much for an ARC of this audiobook! I am very appreciative.

This was the first book I’ve read by just Sarah Pekkanen, and while I enjoyed it, I didn’t think it did anything unique. It is definitely a good one to recommend for someone new to the genre, but if you read a lot of thrillers, you won’t find the twists shocking or compelling.

Thank you to NetGalley for the ARC in exchange for my honest review.

Masterful storytelling creates an atmosphere of suspense and tension, with twists and turns that leave you guessing until the very end. The well-developed characters are complex and intriguing, adding depth to the thrilling plot. The pacing is relentless, never giving you a moment to catch your breath, making this book an exhilarating and addictive reading experience for all fans of the genre.

Thank you @stmartinspress @macmillanaudio for a copy of this book. This story centers on Catherine and her mother, Ruth who both does not have any ties to anyone. The story is told in both their POV and slowly reveals what happened to Ruth and what led them to where they are. The book has lots of twists and turns which I always enjoy.

Catherine Sterling (aged 24) is about to leave home after graduating from college, to start a new job as a nurse, when she suspects her mother Ruth is suffering from Alzheimer's. Catherine has been working at a Memory Care facility and is only too aware of what this devastating diagnosis can mean. She puts her plans on hold while she tries to sort out care for her mother.

There has only ever been the two of them, and they are very close. They moved a lot over the years, and Catherine becomes aware that she needs to learn about her mother's past before Ruth's memories fade. Once she starts digging, she realizes she has no idea who her Mother really is.

Told from Both Catherine's and Ruth's point of view, some set in the present and some in t eh past, we follow the two women, as Ruth desperately tries to keep her daughter close, and Catherine desperately tries to find the truth before it is too late.

This was a slow burn, and there were some surprising twists along the way. I listened to the audiobook, and while I liked Kata Mara's voice, she didn't distinguish between the two main characters very well. It often took me a little while to determine who's point of view we were listening to, and this was a little distracting. I think it would have been better to read the physical (or kindle) book for this one, rather than listening to it.

However, I did find it an engaging book.

This book is a mix of mystery suspense and family drama. Catherine is devastated to learn that her mother is developing Alzheimer's. She decides to give up a job opportunity that would have her move away to stay with her mother and take care of her. She doesn't know that her mother has more secrets than Catherine could ever imagine.

Ruth never wavered on keeping all her secrets from her daughter but she also never imagined that Catherine would begin to suspect that things are not as they first appear. As Catherine begins to unfold more of her mother's backstory, her distrust of Ruth grows more and more.

For the audio version, Kate Mara narrates and does a tremendous job. She handles both Catherine and Ruth flawlessly. Her pacing is perfect for building the suspense and feeling the confusion and suspicion that Catherine does throughout the book. I really enjoyed listening to this one and found myself pausing in what I was doing to focus on what was happening next in the story.

Mother-daughter relationships have their own challenges but what Ruth and Catherine need to overcome is far more complex than most. The way the story unfolds between Catherine and Ruth each having their own points of view from one chapter to the next worked really well in this book. I wavered between which person I trusted more and sided with. I felt for both women as more of the truth came out and was captivated by the story enough to want to know what would happen in the end. This smartly written story has fully formed characters and a good suspense plot. This can act as a great beach read as well as one to cozy up on the couch with during a stormy day. Either way, I highly recommend you pick this one up and get to know what the power of a mother's love might lead you to do.

Thank you to #NetGalley, Sarah Pekkanen and St Martin’s Press for the opportunity to listen to an advance copy of GONE TONIGHT, to be published 1 August 2023. This domestic thriller was about two women: mother and daughter, who for 24 years lived on the run, unbeknownst to the daughter. It was presented from their own perspectives and involved some pretty fancy footwork on the part of the mother — to keep a variety of facts hidden from her daughter. But then the past came back to haunt them, with a surprise twist at the end. Well structured storyline and overall a good read. 4/5 Stars. #NetGalley. #SarahPekkanen #St Martin’sPress. #GONETONIGHT

All the ⭐️ for Gone Tonight. This book had me hooked from start to finish. The narrator was amazing!! Can’t wait for more from this author.