Atmospheric, spooky, hair-raising. this is my second time reading this book, but my first time experiencing it as an audiobook and the audiobook definitely adds to the chilling atmosphere.

Liv Andersson returns following Little Red House with her latest, LEAVE THE LIGHTS ON —a woman with dark dangerous secrets, and when the past and present collide, her idyllic life unravels in this twisty atmospheric psychological suspense thriller.

Set in Cape Morgan, Maine on Ross Island we meet Beatrice Wicker and her husband, Josh (architect), with a housekeeper, Maya. They live in a multi-million home on the coast on a remote island overlooking the sea surrounded by cottages. The Wicker Foundation had purchased the property. The main building and the cottages will remain, and the old inn to be demolished.

Cape Morgan is a small community, and Josh was a local public figure/hero. His company's non-profit had contributed to the town in many ways.

Miles Ross had lived there for 73 years and passed at the home in the upstairs corner of the main house. Eccentric and reclusive, the family fortune dwindled, and the buildings fell into disrepair. Some say the island is haunted.

Beatrice's goal is to renovate the abandoned asylum into an artist's retreat, and she is willing to overlook that her husband is having an affair and has another family, which he sneaks out to spend time with. He has no clue she knows.

Josh and his money will make her life and projects possible. She looks the other way and keeps quiet.

Now, the truth about Josh and his other family, along with the other past secrets, begin to unravel, and the idyllic, safe facade begins to crumble.

There is an explosion at the local elementary school playground, and a two-year-old boy, Oliver, is abducted. A fire. A missing boy. The little boy is Josh's son. People move here because it is safe. So what is going on?

Beatrice remembers an event from her past that she wants to keep secret. How is this connected to the kidnapping? She must stay quiet to keep from her past and who she is from coming out.

From two timelines, we meet Emma, a young social worker kidnapped and brainwashed by a family who convinces her the government is after them. She tries to help the boy, Luke, doing her job and gets pulled in by the charismatic and manipulative Gabriel.

She manages to escape and reclaim her life, but she is always on the run because they always seem to find her. Nearly 20 years later, she is settled down, married, and living her life under a different name, but once again, this family finds her. She thought she had lost them. Why now?

What is the connection between Emma, Beatrice, and Grace?

LEAVE THE LIGHTS ON is atmospheric, haunting, chilling, and terrifying. Full of mystery, conspiracy, and kidnapping, this domestic suspense will have you glued to the pages to discover how the past and present will connect—topics of kidnapping, mind control, conspiracy, deception, manipulation, and trauma.

Compelling! I read the e-book and listened to the audio narrated by Mia Barron for a chilling listening experience.

Thanks to Dreamscape Media for an ALC and Crooked Lane Books for an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

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Pub Date: Oct 17, 2023
My Rating: 4 Stars
Oct 2023 Must-Read Books

I really liked the premise of this one but it didn’t really deliver. The author can write but I feel like the plot was messy, I imagine a better editor could have, should have helped tie this better together. Unfortunately, this one just left me a bit unfulfilled. Thank you for letting me read/listen to the ALC for an honest review.

Rating: 3/5 Stars ⭐️⭐️⭐️
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I sort of went into this one blind, but also sort of didn’t; I read that the main character was renovating an abandoned asylum and was super pumped for what I thought was going to be more about this abandoned asylum. I am super sad to report - this story barely had any connection to the abandoned asylum.
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Leave The Lights On is a story that has layers. There is a substory within the main story that Andersson weaves together quite well. I was definitely annoyed with Beatrice, the main character, who if I am not lying seems to be a pushover and a very easily swayed individual. I was nota fan of Beatrice’s husband Josh who was a lying scumbag. I was definitely interested in figuring out how Beatrice’s past was going to converge with the present and felt that Andersson did a good job at wrapping up the mystery.
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Then there was the ending…… It was a pretty abrupt ending that was a cliff hanger of all cliff hangers, and I’m not sure if this was done purposefully to let the readers interpret how they would like or if this is setting up for a sequel?? Definitely was not my favorite. I mean I’m not going to lie though, I’d read a sequel for sure, but am not necessarily sure that we really need a sequel to this one.
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I listened to this one via audiobook. This was narrated by Mia Barron and she was great. I really enjoyed listening to this one.
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Overall, this one was good, not something I would rave about. Would I read a sequel, sure. Would have loved more of a storyline based on the abandoned asylum than the other stuff. This one releases on 10/17/23.
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Huge thank you to NetGalley, Dreamscape Media and Liv Andersson for the ALC in exchange for my honest review.

Leave the Lights On is a captivating mystery that had a very unexpected plot. The story is narrated by a 40-something Beatrice Wicker, a wife with a secret. She is married to a successful, wealthy architect living in a small seaside town in Maine. Early on, a young child is kidnapped, and the clues lead us to believe it's somehow related to Beatrice.

The story has dual timelines, which teased out and connected what was going on then and now. Beatrice isn't the most compelling character with her questionable behavior, but the action was fast-paced and intriguing. I listened to the audiobook, which was well-narrated by Mia Barron.

Thank you, NetGalley, and the publishers for providing this ebook and audiobook ARC. All thoughts are my own.

Many thanks to NetGalley, Crooked Lane Books, and Dreamscape Media for gifting me both a digital and audio ARC of this novel by Liv Andersson and perfectly narrated by Mia Barron - 3.5 stars rounded up!

From the outside, Beatrice Wicker leads a charmed life in Maine with her husband Josh. She has dreams and plans on turning an old asylum into an artist retreat, giving others a chance and a helping hand. But behind closed doors, Beatrice knows about her husband's other woman and son, keeping quiet to maintain her lifestyle. But when there is an explosion at the boy's school and he is kidnapped. the secrets have to come out. And there are lots of secrets.

This was a bit confusing to me, with the back and forth timelines. The narrator was perfect and the story kept me listening, plus I liked the past timeline. It's hard to say too much without revealing anything, but it was a good read. Unfortunately, I thought the ending was too abrupt and left me scratching my head a bit. This is my first book from this author but I'm up for her next!

I DNF at about 30% through. There are a lot of characters, storylines and jumps in the timeline and I can’t keep track of it all while listening. This may be one I will read sometime but not working for me as an audiobook. Thank you so much for the ALC Dreamscape and NetGalley.

Beatrice Wicker is busy w/ her charmed life in Maine, working for her husband's foundation and renovating an old asylum into a therapeutic art space. Unfortunately, Beatrice's husband, Josh, has checked out of the marriage years ago and had another child with his mistress. And then the child gets kidnapped. And the school gets pipe-bombed. And creepy dolls start showing up all over the place. It seems Beatrice also has secrets from her past that are definitely catching up to her.

*Special thanks to NetGalley and Dreamscape Media for this audio e-arc.*

Some twists and turns…but held my attention.
Also, I never expected the ending…so there was that!

Beatrice lives in a small coastal town in Maine. She has an older husband, but no kids. Oh…and the husband likes to mess around…with younger women… And Beatrice just kind of looks the other way…

But then there’s an explosion….and a child goes missing…and the plot thickens, again…

Things start to unravel…so Beatrice needs to own up to knowing her husband is a cheat…AND,…she has some secrets of her own…

3 1/2 ⭐️⭐️⭐️💫 for me, rounded up to 4.

Thanks to #NetGalley and #DreamscapeMedia for an ARC of the audiobook which releases on 10.17.23.

If you’d like to see more of my book reviews, please visit me on Insta @ #BookReviews_with_emsr.

Thanks, and Happy Reading!

ARC audiobook provided in exchange for an honest review.

The narration by Mia Barron fit perfectly with the characters in this book! She was so easy to listen to for hours at a time and hope I hear other books narrated by her in the future. At first the storyline was a little confusing since it jumps back and forth from the present to the past and it took me a while to get the hang of it and realize what was going on. The story was really interesting and held my attention from the first page to the last. I really liked that i couldn’t see where it was headed either! If you like psychological thrillers and mysteries be sure to check this book out!

This book was a lot. I really thought beginning with the first chapter that it was going to be a fantastic book.
However as I got further and further into the book, I kept asking myself what in the heck was happening. It felt like the author had a bunch of plots in mind and threw them all in. Not only did It got harder and harder in each chapter to figure out what time frame we were in and what was going on but the further I got there were very few people in it that I liked. I was relieved when it was over and really didn’t even care how it ended.

I expected to like this more than I did. I just could not feel anything but disdain for the characters, main character especially. The entire thing felt like the author had a bunch of characters and plots in mind and them threw them into one book.

Leave the Lights On is a solid, entertaining mystery/suspense. I enjoyed the character of Emma, and Liv Andersson crafts a few unlikable characters too. It's always fun trying to figure out if the unlikeables really are that morally reprehensible or just misunderstood. and I'm still trying to decide with a few of the Leave the Lights On personas. The plot pacing is perfect, giving just the right amount of details to keep me guessing as a reader without giving too much away at once. The dual timelines really work in Leave the Lights On, and, although I was pretty sure I had it figured out, thanks to a few "red herrings", I was wrong.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for a copy of this audiobook in exchange for an honest review.

This book was odd and it really took a long while to understand what was happening. The events in the book just seemed so random and all over the place. I think I would have enjoyed more about Emma and her time in captivity and her eventual escape. The events unfolding in her adult life with the pipe bombs and child abductions just seemed out of place.

Ugh. This book is messy. There are multiple plot holes, inconsistencies, and mood swings of the characters that are difficult to follow. I wish I could give a better review, but I was just really disappointed.

Beatrice lives the life in an exclusive enclave in Maine, and she loves it.... enough to overlook her husband's indiscretions.

I wanted to love this one, but it got very, very weird when the second timeline came in. The writing is good but the plot of this one just lost me in a lot of places. Would definitely try another one from this author though.

Although things are a little weird with some characters, this is a fast paced thriller. Enough plot twists to keep you going.

Cape Morgan, Maine, is the utopian ideal for a charmed life, and Beatrice Wicker knows it. The multi-million-dollar house on the sea coast. The joint bank accounts. The safety and security that go along with being married to an esteemed architect and community leader. The scenic coastline, perfect for her ambitious plan to turn an abandoned asylum into an artists’ retreat. So what if her husband sneaks off to see his second family now and again? Beatrice is willing to look the other way. It’s simply the price she must pay to keep their life together.

Josh doesn’t realize that Beatrice knows about his other life. That’s just one of Beatrice’s secrets. And now, that truth—along with a deadly host of other secrets from the past—is about to upend their false paradise.

When there’s an explosion at the local elementary school playground, and a two-year-old boy is abducted, it doesn’t take Beatrice long to make the connection between the missing boy and her husband. It was the son from Josh’s other life who was kidnapped, and Josh can’t do anything about it without revealing the truth.

Helping Josh find his son would destroy the façade of her perfect marriage and could put more children’s’ lives in danger. But that’s not all. It would reveal her deeper secret: Beatrice Wicker is not who she claims to be.

The book was going well, keeping the tension and thrill to some level. There was even some kind of action, which kept the book going for me.
The two timelines of now and then brought some understanding to Beatrice's actions, intentions and thoughts. I cannot say that I agreed all the time with the choices of active and passive actions of Beatrice, but at least I tried to see this through her eyes.
Now, what spoiled the book for me was the ending and the several chapters prior to the ending. While the book kept a pace and a strategy, suddenly I, as a reader, lost focus on what is happening, because the sense or storyline started going downwards, as if the writer also lost focus or interest to the book. The entire police investigation were thrown at a back plan, like even the police lost interest in the case once the boys were found and we were left with a quick revelation and frantic actions of Beatrice, trying to somehow wrap up the story.
The ending was an epic failure. It was not an ending at all. It was some sloppy gathering of words, meant to be an ending but failing.

"Leave the Lights On" by Liv Andersson is a gripping mystery/thriller that kept me thoroughly engaged from start to finish. One of the standout aspects of this book was the exceptional narration, which added depth to the story and characters. The author's writing style was also praiseworthy, creating an atmosphere of suspense and intrigue that was hard to resist.

What I truly appreciated about "Leave the Lights On" was its ability to surprise me with unexpected twists and turns. As a reader, I'm always thrilled when a book keeps me guessing, and this one did so brilliantly. The characters were well-developed, and their complexities added depth to the narrative.

While I thoroughly enjoyed this book, I found myself not quite ready to award it the full five stars, hence the four-star rating. The very last part kind of left me wanting more. Nonetheless, it's a thrilling read that I'd highly recommend to fans of mystery and suspense. "Leave the Lights On" offers an engaging storyline, well-crafted characters, and a writing style that keeps you hooked until the very end.

I have mixed feelings about this book. It was rather confusing and slow moving in the beginning to me and I couldn't relate to the characters. Emma seemed to fall for Gabriel awfully fast - I hadn't seen any evidence of his charm or any reason why she could be so easily swayed. The whole government conspirancy theme seemed so far-fetched and unbelievable. Obviously Emma was young and gullible to believe it. Jumping ahead 20 years to Beatrice was jarring - - and then the subsequent back and forth brought some clarity but still it was all a jumble to me. This was one of those books I didn't hate and didn't love. The narrator, however, was excellent.