This thriller had me from the start. Jac is the headstrong, albeit stubborn main character. She’s spent years running from her past but when I series of events brings her back home, she’s forced to face it al over again. I love the title and as the book goes on, you realize it’s not just Jac this title is referring to. The last 30% had me white knuckling my kindle.

I don't mind world-building but there is world-building and feeling like the author is padding the book trying to reach some word count we don't know. Much of the book felt like she was writing to write and not to tell a story. This, combined with a pretty unlikeable and kind of annoying main character did not make this a book I wanted to read. The writing style was odd--sometimes the sentences didn't seem to have a subject? It was confusing that this wasn't a rough draft or a free writing exercise but a book for people to read.

This book started out strong then quickly switched to a slowburn work of suspense. If you enjoy deliberately delayed mysteries and lengthy, drawn out storylines than this might be for you. Personally, I felt it was a bit too long and wordy for me.

2.5 stars rounded up.

Thank you NetGalley and Thomas & Mercer for access to the e-copy in exchange for an honest review!

The following review was published or updated in several Alabama, Mississippi and Georgia newspapers and magazines in November and December 2024:

Booking a full year of reading

Review by Tom Mayer

If only us readers could just spend our days … reading. What would a year look like? Here, the editors of Home for the Holidays present their yearlong list of books, culled from the past 12 months of reading and reviewing. A few of the titles you’ll immediately recognize, and you’ll likely have more than few in your own library. But just in case you missed a title or two, we’re showcasing the whole year’s worth of books that we’ve read and reviewed, month by month.

Except for the first title, the list is simply a list. To find the reviews of many of these titles, visit our newspaper parent, The (Athens) News Courier at enewscourier.com — with a slight caveat. Our newspaper webmasters are currently working overtime to improve our content management system, the foundation of any website, and while many of our archives are now found there, it may be a few weeks before everything is fully re-uploaded — including the most recent editions of Limestone Life and Home for the Holidays. For now, though, enjoy our literary stroll through 2024.

And about that first title: Not every college professor can make statistical analysis approachable, let along interesting to their students and the general population, but Athens State University emeritus professor of psychology Mark Durm is not every college professor. After spending nearly five decades teaching thousands of students, the “ol’ psychology professor” decided that he’d best get around to writing the one book out of his nearly 100 published pieces that’s he always wanted to write. Call it a legacy piece, but what it really is is a “best of” Durm’s peer-reviewed, book reviews, non-peer reviewed and magazine articles from his 47 years in higher education.

The result is “Professional Publications of an Ol’ Psychology Professor” (Dorrance) with full previously published articles ranging from studies on the effects of glasses on a child’s self-esteem to his ever-popular parapsychology pieces, Durm presents his internationally recognized efforts with a twist.

“It’s a different kind of book because it doesn’t talk about the research, it presents the research,” the professor says from his second-career office at Durm Properties in Athens, about a half-mile from where he first presented that research in person. “I’ve spent hours on all of these articles, especially in the peer-reviewed journal articles.”

And so, articles on divorce, sex, religion and other topics now populate the pages of Durm’s most recent book in an effort to both continue his teaching and satisfy what has been a lifelong wonderment.

“You know, most people don’t understand statistics, so it’s all in there,” Durm said. “What I’m trying to do is a more critical approach to ‘just don’t believe everything you’re told.’ … It’s things that were in my life that I wanted to see if they were so, by using a psychological analysis.”

And like any good professor, Durm didn’t do that research on his own — or take all of the credit. Among the co-authors of many of his articles in the book were students — many of who he’s lost touch with, but all of whom who he credits by name in his acknowledgements and for each of who, if they look up their ol’ mentor, he has a signed book ready to hand over. For the rest of us, you can find the book at any online bookseller — just as you can with the remainder of our list, presented by the month in which the book was published, read and reviewed.

JANUARY

Unbound (Blackstone) by Christy Healy NG/F

The Devil’s Daughter by Gordon Greisman NG/ARC

FEBRUARY

Almost Surely Dead (Mindy’s Book Studio) by Amina Akhtar NG

The Chaos Agent (Gray Man 13) (Berkley) by Mark Greaney NG

The Lady in Glass and Other Stories (Ace) by Anne Bishop ARC

A Haunting in the Arctic (Berkley paperback) by C.J. Cooke NG

Ghost Island (Berkley) by Max Seeck

MARCH

Hello, Alabama (Arcadia) by Martha Day Zschock

The Unquiet Bones (Montlake) by Loreth Anne White

I am Rome: A novel of Julius Caesar (Ballantine Books by Santiago PosteguilloMarch 5: Murder Road (Berkley) by Simone St. James

The Luminous Life of Lucy Landry (Holiday House) by Anna Rose Johnson

Ferris (Candlewick) by Kate DiCamillo

After Annie (Random House, Feb. 27) by Anna Quindlen

Crocodile Tears Didn't Cause the Flood (Montag Press) by Bradley Sides The #1 Lawyer (Little, Brown and Company) by James Patterson, Nancy Allen

Lilith (Blackstone) by Eric Rickstad

Life: My Story Through History (Harper One) by Pope Francis

APRIL

Matterhorn (Thomas & Mercer) by Christopher Reich

Friends in Napa (Mindy’s Book Studio) by Sheila Yasmin Marikar

City in Ruins (William Morrow) by Don Winslow

The House on Biscayne Bay (Berkley) by Chanel Cleeton

Two Friends, One Dog, and a Very Unusual Week (Peachtree) by Sarah L. Thomson

For Worse (Blackstone) by L.K. Bowen

A Killing on the Hill (Thomas & Mercer) by Robert Dugoini

The Clock Struck Murder (Poisoned Pen Press) by Betty Webb

The Book That Broke the World (Ace) by Mark Lawrence

The Forgetters (Heyday Books) by Greg Sarris

Lost to Dune Road (Thomas & Mercer) by Kara Thomas

Warrior on the Mound (Holiday House/Peachtree) by Sandra Headed

Pictures of Time (Silver Street Media) by David AlexanderBare Knuckle (Blackstone Publishing) by Stayton Bonner

Murder on Demand (Blackstone Publishing) by Al Roker

Home is Where the Bodies Are (Blackstone) by Jeneva Rose

MAY

Matterhorn by Christopher Reich

The Hunter's Daughter (Berkley) by Nicola Solvinic

The House That Horror Built (Berkley) by Christina Henry

In our stars (Berkley) by Jack Campbell

Freeset (book 2) (Blackstone) by Sarina Dahlan

Southern Man (William Morrow) by Greg Iles

Camino Ghosts (Doubleday) by John Grisham

JUNE

Specter of Betrayal by Rick DeStefanis

Lake County (Thomas & Mercer) by Lori Roy

Serendipity (Dutton) by Becky Chalsen

Shelterwood (Ballantine) by Lisa Wingate

The (Mostly) True Story of Cleopatra’s Needle (Holiday House) by Dan Gutman

Jackpot (Penguin) by Elysa Friedland

The Helper (Blackstone) by M.M. Dewil

Winter Lost (Ace) by Patricia Briggs

Shadow Heart (Blackstone) by Meg Gardiner

Lake Country (Thomas & Mercer) by Lori Roy

The Out-of-Town Lawyer (Blackstone) by Robert Rotten

Love Letter to a Serial Killer (Berkley) by Tasha Coryell

Sentinel Berkley) by Mark Greaney

JULY

Three Kings: Race, Class, and the Barrier-Breaking Rivals Who Redefined Sports and Launched the Modern Olympic Age (Blackstone) by Todd Balf

The Night Ends with Fire (Berkley) by K.X. Song

Echo Road (Montlake) by Melinda Leigh

It’s Elementary (Berkley) by Elise Bryant

You Shouldn’t Be Here (Thomas & Mercer) by Lauren Thoman

Back In Black (Blackstone) edited by Don Bruns

The Recruiter (Blackstone) by Gregg Podolski

AUGUST

You Shouldn’t Be Here (Thomas & Mercer) by Lauren Thoman ARC

Not What She Seems (Thomas & Mercer) by Yasmin Angoe NG

Fatal Intrusion by Jeff Deaver/Isabella Maldonado

Death at Morning House (HARPERTeen) by Maureen Johnson

Fire and Bones (Scribner) by Kathy Reichs

Some Nightmares Are Real (University of Alabama Press) by Kelly Kazoo

The Brothers Kenny (Blackstone) by Adam Mitzner

Blind to Midnight (Blackstone) by Reed Farrel Coleman

The Wayside (Blackstone) by Carolina Wolff

Enemy of the State (Blackstone) by Robert Smartwood

You Will Never Be Me (Berkley) by Jesse Q. Sutanto

On Settler Colonialism: Ideology, Violence, and Justice (W.W. Norton) by Adam Kirsch

We Love the Nightlife (Berkley) by Rachel Koller Croft

Talking To Strangers (Berkley) by Fiona Barton

An Honorable Assassin (Blackstone) by Steve Hamilton possible interview see email

Dungeon Crawler Carl (1 of 6 but see next two months) (Ace) by Matt Dinniman

SEPTEMBER

Fatal Intrusion (Thomas & Mercer) by Jeffrey Deaver and Isabella Maldonado

When They Last Saw Her (Penguin) by Marcie Rendon

American Ghoul (Blackstone) by Michelle McGill-Vargas

First Do No Harm (Blackstone) by Steve Hamilton

A Quiet Life: A Novel (Arcade) by William Cooper and Michael McKinley

One More From the Top (Mariner) by Emily Layden

No Address (Forefront Books) by Ken Abraham.

Tiger’s Tale (Blackstone) by Colleen Houck

An Academy for Liars (Ace) by Alexis Henderson

Rewitched (Berkley) by Lucy Jane Wood

Gaslight (Blackstone) by Sara Shepard and Miles Joris-Peyrafitte

Counting Miracles (Random House) by Nicholas Sparks

The Village Library Demon-Hunting Society (Ace) by C.M. Waggoner

The Hitchcock Hotel (Berkley) by Stephanie Wrobel

In the Garden of Monsters by Crystal King

Carl’s Doomsday Scenario (2 of 6 see next month also) (Ace) by Matt Dinniman

OCTOBER

The Hushed (Blackstone) by K.R. Blair NG

A Grim Reaper’s Guide to Catching a Killer (Berkley) by Maxie Dara

On Settler Colonialism: Ideology, Violence, and Justice (Norton) by WSJ Weekend review editor Adam Kirsch

Framed (Doubleday) by John Grisham and Jim McCloskey

This Cursed House (Penguin) by Del Sandeen

The Puzzle Box (Random House) by Danielle Trussoni

Two Good Men (Blackstone) by S.E. Redfearn

Dark Space (Blackstone) by Rob Hart and Alex Segura

This Cursed House (Berkley’s open submission)by Del Sandeen

Vindicating Trump (Regnery) by Dinesh D’Souza

The Book of Witching (Berkley) by C.J. Cooke

The World Walk (Skyhorse) by Tom Turcich

The Waiting Game by Michael Connelly  ARC, possible interview see email

Beyond Reasonable Doubt (Thomas & Mercer) by Robert Dugoni

Dungeon Anarchist’s Cookbook (3 of 6, with bonus material) (Ace) by Matt Dinniman

Frozen Lives (Blackstone) by Jennifer Graeser Fronbush NG

Vincent, Starry Starry Night (Meteor 17 Books) intro by Don McLean

Paris in Winter: An Illustrated Memoir (PowerHouse Books) by David Coggins

NOVEMBER

The Waiting (Little, Brown) by Michael Connelly

The Teller of Small Fortunes (Penguin) by Julie Long

Shadow Lab (Blackstone) by Brendan Deneen

Trial by Ambush (Thomas & Mercer) by Marcia Clark

Devil Take It (Heresy Press) by Daniel Debs Nossiter

SerVant of Earth (Ace) by Sarah Hawley

All the other me (Blackstone) by Jody Holford

The Perfect Marriage (Blackstone reissue re-edit) by Jenny Rose

DECEMBER

Trial By Ambush (Thomas & Mercer) by Marcia Clark

The Close-Up (Gallery Books) by Pip Drysdale

The Silent Watcher (Thomas & Mercer) by Victor Methos

Leviathan (Lividian Trade HC) by Robert McCammon

The Silent Watcher (Thomas & Mercer) by Victor Method

Assume Nothing (Thomas & Mercer) by Joshua Corin

One example link:
https://enewscourier.com/2024/11/29/in-review-booking-a-full-year-of-reading/

📚 BOOK REVIEW 📚

Not What She Seems By Yasmin Angoe
Publication Date: August 1, 2024
Publisher: Thomas & Mercer

📚MY RATING: ⭐⭐⭐⭐

📚MY REVIEW:

When I saw that Not What She Seems was one of GoodReads' selections in the thriller category of their Reader's Choice awards, I made an immediate beeline for my TBR list to pick it up. This was an atmospheric, slow burn thriller set in South Carolina's Lowcountry that was filled with shady sickeningly sweet Southern charm and loads of small town mystery.

Jacinda 'Jac' Brodie fled her South Carolina hometown years ago, after the town's residents believed she was responsible for the death of her father. Following a heartbreaking scandal at her university in Washington DC, Jac returns to her hometown when her beloved grandfather dies. While she wants to honor her granddad and be there for the family she left behind, she knows she is returning as a pariah...And encounters new drama at every turn in her hometown.

I LOVED the atmospheric vibe of this slow-burning Lowcountry thriller! The story was laid out as slowly as the pace of a summer Sunday afternoon, sitting on the front porch and sipping on a sweet tea. There were so many plotlines happening: Jac's scandal back in DC; her granddad's passing; Jac's run-ins and suspicion about Faye, the new and seemingly powerful woman in town; Jac's reunion with her two best friends, Nick and Sawyer; the mysterious Texas cowboy who keeps popping up around town; Jac's armchair detective connection she enjoyed with her granddad when she was a child; and several other family storylines woven into the book. Just writing this out makes me remember his much was always going on in this read.

I really enjoyed the primary mystery storyline that kept up throughout the book, but it was peppered by so many other storylines that it felt like it sometimes got lost in the pages. Everything eventually comes together at the end and all the pieces fit -- but this one definitely took its sweet time getting there. I'm not sure I can remember a main character who ever made so many dumb choices in a book -- I felt like I literally kept screaming at Jac, every few chapters, not to do what she was about to do! She was definitely a bit unhinged, but God help me, she was endearing and hell and I cheered her on for every step of her journey. Angoe's storytelling style was addictively descriptive and it was easy to feel like I was a fly on the wall, watching as everything unfolded.

If you love atmospheric thrillers that hold a lot of stories to unpack and unhinged Southern hospitality, be sure to get this one in your hands or on your TBR list!! I have to thank Amazon First Reads, NetGalley and Thomas & Mercer for the advanced copy of this e-book in exchange for my honest review.

#NotWhatSheSeems #YasminAngoe #ThomasAndMercer #amazonpublishing #primefirstreads #NetGalley #NetGalleyReviews #ARC #thrillerlover #thrilleraddict #mysteries #lowcountrythrillers #atmosphericreads #bookreviews #bookrecs #bookrecommendations

This could’ve been shorter. Have the NetGalley book but decided to use a credit and listen to the audiobook. Can’t believe it took me 2 weeks to finish this audio book. And the twist was meh. Didn’t see it coming but wasn’t mind blowing either. Main character was whiny from start to finish. I do think this would’ve been better if there wasn’t so much filller information. Unfortunately, this book wasn’t for me.

I enjoyed this! I was surprised by the ending and was intrigued throughout the story. I would recommend this! Special Thank you to Yasmin Angoe, Thomas & Mercer and NetGalley for allowing me to read a complimentary copy in exchange for an honest review.

This was absolutely amazing! I was totally enthralled with this story from beginning to end, I could barely put it down, and when I finally read the last page, the house was dark, I was hungry, thirsty, needed to pee and my neck was stiff. But damn, it was worth it!

This is a fun suspenseful thriller that will keep you guessing. Was Jack's grandfather murdered? Did she kill her own father? I listened to the audiobook and loved the narration as it really brought the story to life. The twists just keep coming and the ending was a surprise! I loved the red herrings and I just went along for the ride.

Thanks to the publisher and Netgalley for this eARC.

Yasmin Angoe’s “Not What She Seems” is a gripping psychological thriller that masterfully blends suspense, mystery, and emotional depth. Set in the small cliffside town of Brook Haven, South Carolina, the novel follows Jacinda “Jac” Brodie as she returns home after years of self-exile, only to confront her tortured past and a new, insidious danger.

The story begins with Jac’s reluctant return to Brook Haven after her grandfather’s hospitalization. Once the local pariah, Jac left town under a cloud of suspicion following her father’s mysterious death. Now, as she navigates the familiar yet changed landscape of her hometown, she becomes increasingly convinced that the town’s new benefactor, Faye Arden, is hiding something sinister.

Angoe’s writing is evocative and immersive, capturing the tension and unease that permeates Brook Haven. The setting itself becomes a character, with the crumbling cliffs symbolizing the precariousness of the secrets buried within the town. Jac is a compelling protagonist, whose journey from guilt-ridden outcast to determined investigator is both believable and engaging. Her interactions with the townspeople, each harboring their own secrets, add layers of complexity to the narrative.

The plot is meticulously crafted, with each twist and turn revealing new facets of the mystery. Angoe skillfully balances the suspense with moments of introspection, allowing readers to connect deeply with Jac’s emotional journey. Themes of trust, betrayal, and the impact of past traumas are explored with nuance, making the story resonate on multiple levels.

“Not What She Seems” is a standout thriller that will keep readers hooked from the first page to the last. Yasmin Angoe has crafted a novel that is thrilling and thought-provoking, with a storyline that is as emotionally rich as it is suspenseful. Highly recommended for fans of psychological thrillers and anyone looking for a deeply engaging read.

I enjoy a good suspense/thriller novel, and this one had many upsides. Set in a small town, we see how much the town citizens do not like Jacinda. They believe she killed her father. Heck, even she thinks that she killed her father. It isn't until the end that we learn the truth of what happened that night. 

Jac is a very flawed character. She also makes poor decisions from page one. She is an educated woman but doesn't stop to think that maybe she needs to have proof before accusing someone of something and shouldn't go off half-cocked. This does not help her case in the least. I didn't understand why her mother was so hard on her, but we do find out more about her mother's past, which explains a lot. 

There are some twists near the end that are surprising. I definitely didn't see those coming. 

I do feel like the book was about 50 pages too long. Jac has too much angst, and it detracted from the storyline. However, I did like uncovering the mystery of what her grandfather was working on and Jac's determination to solve the case.

We give the book 3 1/2 paws up.

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for an ARC in exchange for my honest review. This was a fairly forgettable thriller with a main character acting in pretty absurd ways.

I thought I'll like this more than I did. The beginning was intriguing and engaging. I liked that the main character has some unkempt anger. She was obviously holding on to a lot of different feelings that she wasn't willing to work through. Until she has to go back to her hometown and bury her grandfather.

For me a lot of her actions though were unfounded. Like the constant obsession over Faye. It seemed weird to have this nagging hate towards a person you don't know. And the end felt unnatural. It was more of the author telling us it must have been like that, and not the storyline leading towards that. It felt rushed, the conversations very convoluted (I kept having to go back to understand who was saying the line, as it didn't make sense in certain parts, that that is what that character would say, as they were just saying the opposite five lines back). And overall kind of unsatisfying.

Overall it's middle of the line unreliable narrator story. Nothing new and exciting.

Thank you to the publisher and OTRPR for my gifted copy.

Not What She Seems tells the story of Jacinda Brodie's return to her hometown in South Carolina after her years-long absence after the death of her father, for which she is blamed. She had made a life for herself in graduate school, but it pulled back home after her grandfather ended up in the hospital. Jacinda is pulled back into old mysteries by way of her grandfather's old case files, with all these stories set with the backdrop of Murder Manor, the infamous home of a historic serial killer.

For a book that is supposed to be multiple mysteries, there weren't many clues or attempts to solve any of the cases. The person who is introduced as the "bad guy" remains so throughout the entire story, so there isn't any mystery there. Jac has these cold cases that her grandfather held onto his entire life and she only starts to look at them at nearly the end of the book and then the answer to the mystery was so obvious. The pacing was so incredibly slow that I had to force myself to pick this up. The dialogue was completely unrealistic and characters would reveal something and then reveal it again a few pages later. The inner monologue was repetitive as well and the writing was simultaneously weird and boring. There were a bunch of different things going on, but they all felt like they had little to do with each other. Overall, the story and the characters just felt disorganized and flat.

ℝ𝕒𝕥𝕚𝕟𝕘: ⭐️⭐️⭐️ | 𝔽𝕠𝕣𝕞𝕒𝕥: 𝐸-𝐵𝑜𝑜𝓀 & 𝒜𝓊𝒹𝒾𝑜𝒷𝑜𝑜𝓀

ℝ𝕖𝕧𝕚𝕖𝕨: 𝐓𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐛𝐨𝐨𝐤 𝐡𝐚𝐬 𝐚 𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐥𝐥𝐲 𝐞𝐱𝐜𝐢𝐭𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐩𝐫𝐞𝐦𝐢𝐬𝐞 (𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐚𝐩𝐩𝐚𝐫𝐞𝐧𝐭𝐥𝐲 𝐬𝐨𝐦𝐞 𝐞𝐱𝐜𝐞𝐥𝐥𝐞𝐧𝐭 𝐭𝐰𝐢𝐬𝐭𝐬), 𝐛𝐮𝐭 𝐢𝐭 𝐰𝐚𝐬 𝐟𝐚𝐫 𝐭𝐨𝐨 𝐬𝐥𝐨𝐰-𝐛𝐮𝐫𝐧 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐦𝐲 𝐥𝐢𝐤𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐰𝐡𝐞𝐧 𝐝𝐞𝐥𝐯𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐢𝐧𝐭𝐨 𝐚 𝐭𝐡𝐫𝐢𝐥𝐥𝐞𝐫. 𝐈𝐟 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐞𝐧𝐣𝐨𝐲 𝐭𝐡𝐫𝐢𝐥𝐥𝐞𝐫𝐬 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐚𝐥𝐬𝐨 𝐩𝐫𝐨𝐯𝐢𝐝𝐞 𝐚 𝐥𝐨𝐭 𝐨𝐟 𝐢𝐧-𝐝𝐞𝐩𝐭𝐡 𝐛𝐚𝐜𝐤𝐬𝐭𝐨𝐫𝐲 𝐫𝐞𝐠𝐚𝐫𝐝𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐜𝐡𝐚𝐫𝐚𝐜𝐭𝐞𝐫𝐬, 𝐚𝐬 𝐰𝐞𝐥𝐥 𝐚𝐬 𝐝𝐞𝐬𝐜𝐫𝐢𝐩𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧𝐬, 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐧 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐰𝐢𝐥𝐥 𝐩𝐫𝐨𝐛𝐚𝐛𝐥𝐲 𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐥𝐥𝐲 𝐞𝐧𝐣𝐨𝐲 𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐨𝐧𝐞! 𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐰𝐫𝐢𝐭𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐢𝐭𝐬𝐞𝐥𝐟 𝐰𝐚𝐬 𝐠𝐨𝐨𝐝, 𝐣𝐮𝐬𝐭 𝐭𝐨𝐨 𝐬𝐥𝐨𝐰-𝐦𝐨𝐯𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐦𝐞 𝐭𝐨 𝐟𝐞𝐞𝐥 𝐢𝐧𝐯𝐞𝐬𝐭𝐞𝐝 𝐞𝐧𝐨𝐮𝐠𝐡 𝐭𝐨 𝐟𝐢𝐧𝐢𝐬𝐡, 𝐬𝐨 𝐈 𝐞𝐧𝐝𝐞𝐝 𝐮𝐩 𝐩𝐮𝐭𝐭𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐢𝐭 𝐝𝐨𝐰𝐧 𝐚𝐫𝐨𝐮𝐧𝐝 𝟏/𝟒 𝐨𝐟 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐰𝐚𝐲 𝐭𝐡𝐫𝐨𝐮𝐠𝐡.

𝑵𝒐𝒕 𝑾𝒉𝒂𝒕 𝑺𝒉𝒆 𝑺𝒆𝒆𝒎𝒔 𝐟𝐨𝐥𝐥𝐨𝐰𝐬 𝐉𝐚𝐜𝐢𝐧𝐝𝐚’𝐬 (“𝐉𝐚𝐜’𝐬”) 𝐫𝐞𝐭𝐮𝐫𝐧 𝐭𝐨 𝐡𝐞𝐫 𝐬𝐦𝐚𝐥𝐥 𝐭𝐨𝐰𝐧 𝐢𝐧 𝐒𝐨𝐮𝐭𝐡 𝐂𝐚𝐫𝐨𝐥𝐢𝐧𝐚 𝐚𝐟𝐭𝐞𝐫 𝐬𝐞𝐥𝐟-𝐞𝐱𝐢𝐥𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐡𝐞𝐫𝐬𝐞𝐥𝐟 𝐚𝐭 𝐚𝐠𝐞 𝟐𝟐 𝐟𝐨𝐥𝐥𝐨𝐰𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐦𝐲𝐬𝐭𝐞𝐫𝐢𝐨𝐮𝐬 𝐝𝐞𝐚𝐭𝐡 𝐨𝐟 𝐡𝐞𝐫 𝐟𝐚𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐫 (𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐜𝐡𝐢𝐞𝐟 𝐨𝐟 𝐩𝐨𝐥𝐢𝐜𝐞). 𝐒𝐡𝐞 𝐰𝐚𝐬 𝐛𝐥𝐚𝐦𝐞𝐝 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐝𝐞𝐚𝐭𝐡 𝐛𝐚𝐜𝐤 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐧, 𝐛𝐮𝐭 𝐟𝐢𝐧𝐝𝐬 𝐡𝐞𝐫𝐬𝐞𝐥𝐟 𝐟𝐨𝐫𝐜𝐞𝐝 𝐭𝐨 𝐫𝐞𝐭𝐮𝐫𝐧 𝐚𝐟𝐭𝐞𝐫 𝐚𝐧𝐨𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐫 𝐦𝐲𝐬𝐭𝐞𝐫𝐢𝐨𝐮𝐬 𝐝𝐞𝐚𝐭𝐡 𝐢𝐧 𝐡𝐞𝐫 𝐟𝐚𝐦𝐢𝐥𝐲.

𝒯𝒽𝒶𝓃𝓀 𝓎𝑜𝓊 𝓉𝑜 𝒴𝒶𝓈𝓂𝒾𝓃 𝒜𝓃𝑔𝑜𝑒, 𝒯𝒽𝑜𝓂𝒶𝓈 & 𝑀𝑒𝓇𝒸𝑒𝓇, 𝐵𝓇𝒾𝓁𝓁𝒾𝒶𝓃𝒸𝑒 𝒫𝓊𝒷𝓁𝒾𝓈𝒽𝒾𝓃𝑔, & 𝒩𝑒𝓉𝒢𝒶𝓁𝓁𝑒𝓎 𝒻𝑜𝓇 𝓉𝒽𝑒 𝒜𝑅𝒞! 𝒜𝓁𝓁 𝑜𝓅𝒾𝓃𝒾𝑜𝓃𝓈 𝒶𝓇𝑒 𝓂𝓎 𝑜𝓌𝓃.

Yasmin Angoe’s Not What She Seems is a suspenseful mystery set in the atmospheric small town of Brook Haven, South Carolina, where secrets, guilt, and intrigue collide. The novel delivers a compelling blend of family drama, buried secrets, and a creeping sense of danger, but while it has a solid premise, it doesn’t fully deliver on its promise of tension or emotional depth.

The protagonist, Jacinda “Jac” Brodie, is back in her hometown after years of self-imposed exile following the death of her father, the former chief of police. Blamed for her father’s tragic fall, Jac left Brook Haven a pariah. Now, with her grandfather in the hospital, she returns to face both her family and the rumors that have long haunted her. Angoe effectively builds Jac’s internal conflict—her guilt over her father’s death and the unresolved tension with the town that still views her with suspicion. However, while Jac is a strong character, her emotional depth and connection with her past don’t fully resonate, making it hard for readers to feel invested in her personal journey.

One of the novel’s central threads is Jac’s growing suspicion of Faye Arden, the wealthy newcomer who has turned the infamous Moor Manor into a charming country inn. Jac is convinced that something sinister lurks beneath Faye’s polished exterior, and when she finds one of her granddad’s prized possessions in Faye’s office, the plot begins to spiral into a deeper mystery. While this discovery should ratchet up the tension, the pacing falters, and Jac’s investigation into Faye’s past feels predictable rather than thrilling. There are moments when the novel hints at greater stakes and danger, but it often falls short of delivering the kind of sharp twists and reveals that readers might expect from a mystery of this kind.

The small-town setting of Brook Haven, with its cliffside views and tightly-knit community, is well-crafted, providing the perfect backdrop for a story filled with long-held secrets and quiet tension. However, despite the promising setting, the novel struggles to maintain a consistent sense of suspense. The tension surrounding Jac’s return and her investigation into Faye’s true motives often feels muted, and while there are moments of intrigue, the overall pacing can feel slow, especially in the middle of the book.

Another aspect of the novel that could have been further explored is Jac’s relationship with her family, particularly the fallout from her father’s death and the dynamics between her and her ailing grandfather. These moments of familial tension could have added emotional weight to the story, but they are often overshadowed by the external mystery. Angoe touches on these relationships but doesn’t delve as deeply into them as she could have, leaving certain emotional beats feeling underdeveloped.

Faye Arden, as the central antagonist, remains a bit of a mystery throughout the book. While Jac’s suspicions about her are clear from the start, Faye’s motivations and backstory are revealed in a way that feels somewhat predictable. The novel builds her up as a charismatic and powerful figure in town, but when the eventual revelations come to light, they lack the shocking impact that might have elevated the story.

Despite these shortcomings, Not What She Seems is not without its strengths. Angoe’s writing is accessible and descriptive, and she crafts moments of atmospheric tension that hint at the novel’s potential. Jac’s determination to uncover the truth and protect her family is a driving force that keeps the plot moving, and there are enough twists to keep readers engaged, even if the overall mystery feels a bit formulaic.

Final Thoughts:
Not What She Seems offers an intriguing premise with a strong protagonist and a richly atmospheric small-town setting, but the execution doesn’t quite match the potential of the story. While Yasmin Angoe’s novel has moments of suspense and intrigue, the pacing and emotional depth fall short, resulting in a mystery that feels somewhat predictable. Fans of small-town secrets and slow-burn mysteries may still find enjoyment here, but those looking for a twisty, high-stakes thriller might feel a bit underwhelmed.

This was my first book by Yasmin Angoe and it will not be my last. This book was so good. I gasped at least 3 times. Absolutely phenomenal.

This is a very slow burn in the beginning but then really took off towards the end.

Jacinda Brodie is in Washington D.C. Knowing her life is about to change if she is accepted into Fellows Program. When she’s declined she’s shocked until she discovers who inserted the doubt into the board her former boyfriend and professor. She sees red and decides to blow up both of her lies when she uncovers the deceit he’s been hiding. When she gets a phone call from home hearing the worst news possible. That her grandfather is in the hospital and he’s had a heart attack. Nervous because she has not stepped back into Brooke Haven since she left for college she’s wanted to leave her tragic past in the rearview mirror.
Arriving home it’s not the same place she left behind, this is when she meets Faye Arden, wealthy and charismatic woman , and she's redoing the sinister Moor Manor. Jac is immediately suspicious of her, and her suspicions are confirmed when she finds one of her grandad's favorite items stashed in Faye's office. As Jac digs into what happened to her grandad, she uncovers truths that scare her. Soon her and her families life is in danger and is to late?

I hadn't read Yasmin Angoe until I read Not What She Seems, and I definitely think I need to change that! This book was super wild at the end and while it was a slower burn to start, I was completely invested and couldn't wait to see what would happen. Jac is the main viewpoint in the story, and while I didn't always understand or agree with her choices, she was a multifaceted character who was both relatable and frustrating at the same time. She made for an entertaining and interesting FMC and the drama was top-notch.

Jordan Cobb narrates the audiobook, and I would recommend it to all the audio fans out there. I thought Cobb was an excellent narrator, especially for Jac, and she helped keep me on the edge of my seat. The conclusion of Not What She Seems blew my mind a little bit and was completely unexpected. Including Faye’s viewpoint later in the book was a brilliant idea and helped me get a better idea of her character and what was driving her throughout the story since we don't have her viewpoint elsewhere. There were a lot of what I would call stupid decisions being made when I neared the end, but it added lots of suspense, and I couldn't look away.

After reading this book that has family drama, a murder mansion, armchair detectives, past and present crimes, and a sneaky sweet antagonist, I’ll be picking whatever this author is writing down.

It’s a thriller with in depth background of its characters, set in the low country of South Carolina, and gives a shoutout to my alma mater, the University of South Carolina.