Behind the facade of Beatrice and Josh’s ideal marriage are secrets they both keep from each other. Josh has a secret child, and Beatrice has known about it the whole time. When Josh’s son is the target of an attack, Beatrice’s other secrets begin to surface, but who will tell the other the truth first? Domestic thrillers - where we always assume it’s the husband - are not always my favorite, but I really enjoyed Leave the Lights On. I’m a sucker for a character with a secret past.

The plotting is great, and the dual timelines are done well. The audio narration is wonderful. If you’re looking for a great domestic thriller, look no further.

WHOA. This synopsis had me so interested and I was so excited to receive an early audio copy!
While it was a bit scattered throughout and a bit more filler than necessary, it did keep me entertained and wondering who to trust. I loved the cat and mouse element and the deception woven throughout.

This was a wild ride with lots of action and many surprises. I loved the descriptive writing of coastal Maine and it’s surroundings. Lots goes wrong - kidnapping, disappearances, mental illness, infidelity, deceit. There are many colorful characters - most despicable for an assortment of reasons. I found it quite entertaining to listen to on audiobook.

I am somewhat interested in the “now” sorry but her “past” is such a bore that I started skipping to the next chapter every time we went back there. Eventually I skipped too much and the book couldn’t keep my interest. It seems like a very slow burn?

Beatrice is willing to overlook a lot, she’s got a mansion on the coast of Maine, and lots and lots of money. It’s worth it, even if she has to overlook the fact that her husband has another family that he sneaks off to visit. Josh doesn’t know Beatrice knows his secret, just like he doesn’t know all of the other secrets she’s keeping from him. After a disaster at a local school, Beatrice learns that a small child has been abducted. And the child is none other than Josh’s son, but he can’t tell Beatrice without giving away the fact that he has a secret family. And there’s a lot going on in the story, and it’s hard to find anything to like about either main character, but the location and the storyline are solid

I had really been anticipating this book as the blurb was intriguing, however it didn't really deliver. I thought the plot and idea was great but the execution was really lacking. The narrator was also not the best so that weighed heavily on my mind as well.

This book had good writing - the story itself was pretty far fetched. As the story goes on the items Beatrice talks about going through really seem to get more and more outlandish. It wasn't a terrible book, but not one I plan to suggest to others - especially with the ending.

WOW! I read Little Red House from Andersson earlier this year and really enjoyed it, and when I heard that her next novel was coming out this fall, I kept my eyes peeled for it 👀 and it did not disappoint! In Leave the Lights On, Beatrice lives what looks like a charmed and privileged life until tragedy strikes their sleepy coastal Maine town and a child is kidnapped. The entire community rallies to find the missing child, but clues start emerging that no one recognizes but Beatrice; clues that point to her life before she came to Cape Morgan, a life that has been catching up to her for decades.

I went into this book completely blind, having requested it sight unseen and forgetting to read the blurb. Now going back to review it, I feel that it doesn’t do this absolute roller coaster of a book justice! This book goes in so many different directions before racing towards a wildly dramatic ending. This is the kind of book where you really don’t know who you can trust and what their motivations are!

Leave the Lights On is a perfect genre bender- is it a mystery? Yes. Is it a horror? Kinda! Is it a thriller? Definitely! I will say that some parts of the book do require some disbelief suspension, as many thrillers do. But nonetheless, I absolutely enjoyed it! I read and listened to this book in its entirety in one day- I just had to keep listening. I finished it late last night, and the final few chapters, had me completely wired and unable to sleep until I knew how it ended!

I would recommend this book to mystery and thriller lovers. Be ready for a wild ride with this one! This book does contain sensitive content, so be on the lookout for content warnings if that speaks to you. Thank you to Dreamscape Media for the ALC of Leave the Lights On, which publishes on October 17.

Thank you to NetGalley for an ARC in exchange for my honest opinion. Beatrice finds out that her husband, Josh has been living a secret life. All those trips spent away he has been spending them with his other family. Beatrice is not ready to confront Josh yet as that will ruin their happy marriage happy life reputation and might also reveal Beatrice's own hidden secrets. When a bomb detonates at the elementary school a child goes missing and everyone takes part in the search even Beatrice as it turns out the lost little boy is her husband's son. WHAT?? While trying to figure out who would do such a horrible think, a clue is left at the scene and it makes Bearice's blood run cold. Is this all because of her past and what she is trying to hide? Enjoy!!

Wow, this book was fantastic. It kept me guessing until the very end. I was not sure what to believe and certainly did not guess the ending. It was well-written and the audiobook was well-narrated. The time flew by and I thoroughly enjoyed every minute of it. I would highly recommend this work by Liv Andersson and will absolutely be seeking out any other books that she has written.

Is it too late to change the narrator? I liked the story. It was a slow burn for sure. I did almost DNF because of the narrator. Her voice was very monotone and boring to listen to.

My anticipation for this audiobook quickly turned into disappointment as I delved into the story. The characters, who are usually the heart of any narrative, lacked the depth and relatability I crave in a story. There was a noticeable absence of genuinely likable characters, making it hard to invest emotionally in their journeys. The plot, which should have been the driving force, felt ambiguous and failed to capture my interest. Moreover, the much-awaited twist was disappointingly predictable, robbing the narrative of its potential impact.

What saddened me most was the pervasive sense of melancholy that permeated the entire audiobook. Rather than evoking a range of emotions, the story left me feeling consistently downhearted. I found myself empathizing not out of connection but out of pity for the characters and their circumstances.

In summary, this audiobook lacked the compelling characters and gripping plot I had hoped for, leaving me with a lingering feeling of dissatisfaction and sadness.

I’m DNF at 35% because I thought this book was about a wife getting back at her husband for having another family.

Instead we have a wife who knows her husband is cheating. A mistress who knows her baby daddy is married. It seems the housekeeper and people of the town all know this too. Here’s the kicker… it’s been going on for 3 YEARS!

He has an 18mo old with his mistress. I’m sorry but at some point in those 3 years one of those woman would have given him the ultimatum.

He sleeps with both women. This is so degrading to women to act like two women would just sit back and let a man think everything is good for 3 YEARS!

It would be one thing if neither woman knew about the other, but come on.

What mother is going to be fine with her baby daddy who supposedly loves her staying with his wife?

Saying all that this book has very little to do with this man and his cheating ass.

It has to do with the wife and her past. And her past somehow has gotten the love child kidnapped… what? Why?

It makes no sense at all.

I’m sure more would be explained, but this does not relate to the blurb of the book at all.

It seems like 3 different books got shoved into one making a bit of a confusing mess.

I think throwing the affair in there takes away of the story that seems to mostly circle around the wife, her past, and the cult trying to catch her. And if the blurb reflected this and the affair was taken out I’d probably be sucked in. It’s just too much and too messy.

Especially when the blurb makes it seem like this is going to be about a wife gone crazy because of an affair and has something to do with kidnapping his love child.

I will not post my review on any media sites as I DNF’d it.

This is just my honest feedback.

The premise of this story was certainly interesting. I enjoyed the backstory more than the main story unfortunately. I also feel like there was a lot of buildup to then have the book end very abruptly.

I really wanted to love this book but it seemed like there was a lot going on but I found it underwhelming. I didn’t connect with the characters which made it hard for me to really be drawn into the book. ***SPOILER****I was intrigued when I read what the book was about but after it took a conspiracy theory twist, it lost my attention. I found myself annoyed with the FMC and was disappointed with how the plot unfolded. I had high hopes. I do want to thank the author, Liv Anderson, the publisher and NetGalley for the advanced copy of this audiobook.

I really wanted to like this. The synopsis sounded entertaining and right up my alley. But I felt like the synopsis was only a fraction of the overall story. There’s just so much going on from kidnappings to domestic terrorism to conspiracy theories. Although I can tell the author attempted to tie everything together, it just fell flat for me. The characters are interesting but I couldn’t follow everything that was happening. I was losing interest.

Beautiful prose, but I'm a plot > prose reader. If the prose manages minimum competency (not drawing attention to itself and distracting from the story) I care way more about an interesting, fun story.

Beatrice/Emma, the protagonist, was too stupid to love. I don't love that for protagonists, and definitely not for a protagonist of a mystery/thriller.

How she went from a worried social worker looking out for a poor abused boy to in love with her crazy prepper cult captor to back-to-sane did not make sense. Either she was truly a top contender for the Darwin Awards, or she was acting in service of the plot and not the way that she honestly would act.

I was also bummed that the dangling carrot of the premise (a wealthy woman who knows about her husband's affairs but turns a blind eye) wasn't properly paid off. I wanted to understand! Instead she just seems cold towards him - we see her in their final state of emotional remove, but we don't understand how they got there. Presumably she would have been head over heels at one point in order to choose to marry him, no? I want to understand how she went from in love to 'meh, he has a flower baby and is IN LOVE with another woman, but it's chill because he's rich.' That's a wild curve and the author just leaves it as a given. Tell me more!

On a line level, it was really well done. It just need a strong developmental edit to make it work!

Thanks, NetGalley and Dreamscape, for the free ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the ARC.
While a bit far fetched with conspiracy theories and double lives, I actually enjoyed it.
Beatrice was a likable though sometimes confusing character. Josh I disliked so much with how sneaky he had been. The setting was great.
There were a lot of surprises and twists for me that I did not expect. Revelations I didn’t expect either. It was one of those “everyone is a suspect” books. I think the setting, surprises and narrator were what kept me listening to this one.

2.5🌟
This was not what I expected.

Beatrice and Josh's marriage is on the rocks. Everything comes to a head when his “love child” goes missing. Which means, there’s no way Josh can hide what he’s been doing behind Beatrice’s back. Exactly how do you move forward from that?💁🏻‍♀️

But wait a second…Josh isn’t the only one who’s been hiding a secret. Now Beatrice is about to watch her own life unravel in the fallout!

Don’t you love that premise!? Wow! I sure did.

Unfortunately it went off in directions that left my head spinning. Kidnappings, conspiracy theories and domestic terrorism. All with timelines and locations that had no direction.
I love domestic dramas and from the blurb that’s what I was expecting.

This book just didn’t come together for me. Once I realized that the domestic drama was just a fraction of the storyline, I was already checking-out.

I had both digital and audio copy that I toggled between. The narration provided by Mia Barron was entertaining, but the read itself wasn’t a good fit for me.

If this book is on your list I hope it works out and gives you a five-star experience!

Thank you to NetGalley, Crooked Lane Books and Dreamscape Media

Hmmm something about this book just wasn't for me. I really enjoyed The Little Red House, also by Liv Andersson, but I think Leave the Lights On just wasn't what I expected based on my previous experience with this author.

I will say that the "reveal" of the kidnapper took me by surprise, which is always desired in a thriller, and I think that part of the plot was well done. The rest, though? I struggled with Emma's character motivations and decisions, as they felt a bit contrived for me. And Gabriel's whole thing was just...not what I expected based on the synopsis. Honestly, that whole perspective/storyline felt like a strange inclusion. But! Just don't read the synopsis and you may vibe way better with this book than I did.

The narrator of the audio version was great, and I think the writing itself is solid — the story just didn't plan out the way I expected it to. Thank you to Liv Andersson, Dreamscape Media, and NetGalley for my advance audio copy.