This cover makes you want to read this book! So spooky and just so intriguing.

I was so thankful and excited to receive this copy.
I enjoyed the dialogue, the character build and just an overall great read.

I will be recommending this to my other reader friends. Will be buying a copy for my shelf.

Great Job on the book! Cannot wait to read more by this author. Thanks NetGalley for letting me read and review.

Boots Marez is a single mom to an adopted young man, Jaral. She also runs a school specifically designed to help immigrant children and adults navigate their new home, but also provide the needed education to citizenship. Her son, now 18 and ready to graduate, finds himself in a very difficult situation, ultimately charged with the heinous murder of one of his friends. How far will a mother go to find the truth and prove his innocence.
I read this fairly quickly. It’s an easy read full of twists and turns that keep you guessing to the very end. Although some situations are not believable, it was still an enjoyable read. Will justice be served. You will just have to read to find out

I am so thankful to Crooked Lane Books, Maria Kelson, and Netgalley for granting me advanced access to this galley before publication day. I really enjoyed the dialogue and plot of this book and can’t wait to chat this one up with my friends!

This is a debut novel by this author, and it was a great start to hopefully a long writing career. This book comes with a punch and hits on topics that are not always easy to discuss. "Boots" Marez operates a school that is geared towards educating immigrant children, and adults. "Boots" is also a single mom to an 18-year-old son Named Jaral, whom she became the mother of when he was 12 through adoption. Boots suddenly starts to learn that her child who is always good and on the verge of graduating high school and going out into the world, is struggling. Jaral has started skipping school and getting into trouble with the law. This leads Boots on an intricately woven and wild chase that will take everything she has to correct.
If you have triggers, please check for a full list if you are sensitive to specific issues. This debut novel helps to rip the bandage off of some ugly situations that need light to heal wounds. This intercultural book touches on many contemporary and controversial issues, it makes references towards uncomfortable topics such as immigration, slavery, human trafficking, racism, abuse/exploitation, sexual assault, sexual aspects.

Thank you Net galley and Crooked Lane Books for the opportunity to read this digital ARC for honest and unbiased review.

This book really packs a punch and you must be in the right frame of mind to read it. 'Boots' Marez runs a school geared at educating immigrant children and their parents. She is also the single mother of 18 year old Jaral, whom she adopted when he was twelve. Boots discovers that her son who is so close to graduating high school has been skipping classes and shop lifting. She is furious feeling betrayed by a boy she thought she could trust. This however, proves to be the tip of an iceberg and Boots is launched into a wild and violent chase that takes everything she has.
The story touches on so many contemporary and uncomfortable topics. There are references to illegal immigration, people trafficking, slavery, abuse, exploitation, racism, sexual preference, rape and I could list so many other issues. This story rips the bandage of some very ugly wounds but for wounds to heal then need to be exposed.
As a debut novel this books is quite amazing, if you choose to pick it up, clear your calendar as you will not want to put it down again.
Thank you Netgalley and Crooked Lane Books for the opportunity to read this digital ARC.

Many thanks to NetGalley and Crooked Lane Books for gifting me both a digital and audio ARC of the debut thriller by Maria Kelson. All opinions expressed in this review are my own – 4 stars!

Boots is a Latina single mom to 18-year-old Jaral, whom she adopted 6 years ago. She runs a school that helps undocumented people in her politically divided town in Northern California. Boots’ world is turned upside down when Jaral is arrested for the murder of one of her former students. Plus, the school board is trying to get rid of her for some of her unpopular actions. Just how far will Boots go to protect her child?

This was a good thriller that will make you think about very relevant topics. But at the heart of it, it’s about what one mother will do for her child. Even when that child has been keeping secrets. Boots puts herself in very dangerous positions to save Jaral and others. Full of action, some of it over the top, but intriguing. The audiobook narration was wonderful!

Not the Killing Kind by Maria Kelson is a fantastic debut!
An exciting thriller that I really enjoyed.
This quick thriller is one that will keep readers on the edge of their seat just screaming to figure out what was going to happen in the end.
I didn’t want this book to end so soon.
An engaging read. And I thoroughly enjoyed this compelling and entertaining book.

3.5 ⭐️
Not The Killing Kind has everything you might look for in a mystery/thriller. I listened to it in one day really, which speaks to its pace. It never really lags or slows down. It did lose me in some places, however.
I really enjoyed the set up and beginning, but felt like the ending really lost steam to me. I hate it when your ending for the book is better then the actual one. I just felt like this could have gone so many ways, and it went in a strange direction instead of somewhere cool. I still really enjoyed the journey.
I found it a bit political, which is always a little annoying. I feel like the real world is political enough.
All in all I would recommend this to some for sure.
Thank you netgalley and Dreamscape Media for the AAC.

It's likely that you won't find some of the things Boots does logical, acceptable, or even plausible, but she's determined to prove that her son Jaral is not a murderer. There are a lot of prongs to this mystery, chief among them life as an undocumented person. Boots works as an ESL teacher and should know better with regard to some of her actions. She's a dynamic character, the atmospherics are good, and the plot moves along quickly. Thanks to Netgalley for the ARC. A nice debut and I'm looking forward to more from Kelson.

What should a mother do when her son is accused of murdering a friend and the Police seems to be targeting only him as responsible for the killing? Boots will see her life turn upside down regarding work, friendships, her role as a mother and how she enacted it, the realization that her son has a life that she knows nothing about it. She'll go through hell and back to uncover the truth and put the culprits behind bars depicting a ring of slavery, prejudice, abuse and death. Not the Killing Kind has a well developed plot, is full of action and mystery, and turns out to be extremely engaging and entertaining.
I thank the author, her publisher, and NetGalley for this ARC.

A son is arrested for murder and a mother goes all out to prove his innocence. It was the "all out" that was a bit too much for me. How, in this day and age, was a woman given the information and access to drive to a school field trip to talk to a minor student? And that is just one of the solidly impossible things that Boots does during the course of the book. I liked the premise and I liked the overall plot, it was just the details that were a bit too far fetched for me to really get into and love this book.

Thank you Crooked Lane Books for an early copy of this book.

I loved the pacing, action, and diversity in this book. There was a big aspect to this book that I’m just not a fan of in books. I could see this being a good movie!

Not the Killing Kind is a standout debut that blends thriller elements with profound emotional storytelling. Its strengths lie in its well-crafted characters, engaging plot, and the ethical dilemmas it presents. While some may find the pacing slow at times, the depth of character exploration and the surprising plot twists more than compensate for these moments. Overall, Maria Kelson has delivered a thought-provoking and heart-wrenching novel that promises to leave a lasting impression on its readers.

First of all, I love this cover. The northern California coast setting and the characters finding solace in the Redwood forests made me want to get on a plane ASAP.

From the get-go I could tell this book would be deeply rooted in the challenges of motherhood. (I don't have kids, but my husband has a teen boy who is majorly teenager-ing. 🙃) I recognized immediately the MC, Boots's, internal conflicts. She loves her son unconditionally and always wants to see the best in him, but his behaviors are challenging. Jaral seems increasingly secretive lately and suddenly his friend is found dead. In a politically divided town, Boots faces an array of challenges as she works to defend her son.

I'll be honest, handling the roller coaster of teenagers in real life made it challenging to want to read about teenagers/young adults in my escape. I know that's a *me* issue.

This may be a great fit if you enjoy:
- reading about fierce mothers protecting their children
- Northern California settings
- books with all-too-real settings like challenging school board parents

It's hard to believe that Not the Killing Kind by Maria Kelson is a debut novel. The writing is wonderful and the story has great characters, amazing tension, and a whole lot of heart. I really loved it.

I am proud of the author. This is a fantastic debut. I was not sure how I felt about it. Sometimes books do not work for me simply because of my own bad mood. It is too hot and I am unfocused this week.
Anyway, I want to see what the author does next.

This debut novel by Maria Kelson did take a bit to get into, but by the time I got to the end I was glad I stuck with it. I will be watching Maria Kelson in the future to see what she comes up with.

I thought I'd love this book and the idea was great but the writing was so choppy. I didn't feel connected to any of the characters and everyone spoke with the same "voice" so it was hard to switch gears and figure out what was going on. It had very little flow and I didn't think anyone acted like real people. It's a shame because the issues the plot deals with (criminal justice ills, foster children, racism) are all very real and deserve a book that sucks you in and really explores what goes on in people's lives behind the headlines.

This book was a little confusing to me, the characters were different and it felt like they didn’t connect with the story very well. The book was a tad bit too slow for my liking. The story was different, and felt a little choppy to me as well.

I received an ARC of Not The Killing Kind by Maria Kelson in return for my honest review.
This book is the first I've read by this author, but I'm planning on reading more of her work. I
really enjoyed this book, because it held my interest from page one. The plot was very intriguing,
and the descriptions in the book helped draw me into the story. This book poses the question of just
exactly how much will you do, and how far will you go to protect your child?
Boots Marez runs a school that she helped build, with assisting undocumented people learn English
as well as other things they need to know to get by. She also is raising her 18 year old son Jaral, that she
adopted when he was 12. Jaral has been acting differently lately, more secretive, less patient, but Boots chalks
it up to his being a young man trying to find his way in the world.
Boots gets a frantic call from Jaral and when she goes to him, she finds one of her former students
tied up on the floor dead. Boots tells Jaral to run, however, he is eventually caught and jailed.
As Boots tries to make sense of what's going on things just aren't adding up. How deeply is Jaral involved?
Why has he been lying to her? The more Boots learns, the more she is exposing people who don't want
to be exposed, the more danger she is in.
Some of the parents at the school are trying to get her thrown out of her position, they fear that Jaral is guilty,
that Boots will bring the authorities after them. Everywhere she turns, things get more dangerous, until the shocking
conclusion that you write see coming!
#NetGalley