the suspense!! so thick you could cut it with a knife. im not a big thriller reader so i dont have the highest of expectations. all i care about is if the story grips my attention and i dont guess the plot twist. this one did just that! could not put this down

Not What She Seems by Yasmin Angoe is an amazing story about women overcoming their backgrounds.

Will Jac find her way out of this current mess?

Jacinda Brodie
Jac is our main character and point of view. Although she seems like a villain or maybe a victim, she is really a strong woman. Jac has lost so much in her life, but she is resilient and will move forward. Returning home is powerful and helps her get over her grief, although the town and her more recent past keep rearing up to interrupt her healing.

I like Jac. She had me rooting for her from the beginning. I knew she was strong, but she exceeded my expectations. Her growth throughout the book is fantastic.

The Mystery
Jac's Grandfather taught her to investigate, but I think both of them underestimated their opponent, and it cost them so much. Jac and her grandfather had a group or forum online to help them called the armchair detectives. I thought that was a marvelous idea and a great way for her grandad to keep his wits about him.

The author creates a ton of thrilling events that keep moving us toward the multiple plot twists and side cases that Jac deals with during her plight to find her grandfather's killer. I couldn't put it down, and when I did, Jac and her investigation kept returning to my mind without fail.

Five Stars
My rating for Not What She Seems by Yasmin Angoe is five stars. This story reminds us that everyone has secrets and that we don't know even the closest people to us like we think we do. I truly enjoyed this thriller and highly recommend it.

I voluntarily reviewed an Advance Reader Copy. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.

Thank you for dropping by! I hope you enjoyed this review of Not What She Seems by Yasmin Angoe.

Until the next time,
~Jen

If you would like to see other reviews like this one, check out Baroness Book Trove.

On the surface, Not What She Seems should be an amazing, thrilling read—a haunted house in the South near the sea, a mystery to unravel—but it falls short. The main character, Jac, is hopelessly unrelatable, constantly making bad decisions without learning from them. Her endless guilt, feelings of being ostracized, and strained relationship with her mother quickly became tiresome.

Jac's actions were frustratingly foolish, like breaking into the Manor for evidence that couldn't even be used against the murderer. And when the murder unfolded right before her eyes, she simply stood by, doing nothing to intervene. The happy ending in the epilogue felt too convenient, given the trauma she supposedly endured.

The slow start, combined with Jac’s persistent self-doubt and obsession with others' opinions, made it difficult to stay engaged. Despite its potential, this book was a disappointment, and I’ll likely avoid this author in the future.

3.5/5
Loving that I have gotten the chance to read another new to me author! I did enjoy this fast paced suspenseful book. There are some unlikable characters in this one that I’d say are pretty flawed and have a lot of trauma. In fact, the main character was one of them. 👀 I think if you go into this one knowing you likely won’t like her it makes the book even better. At times, the plot got wild and crazy and a bit unhinged which I think makes for the perfect summer thriller.

She left home as the local pariah at twenty-two, but when a family tragedy brings her back, she must confront her tortured past and a new danger in town that no one seems to understand but her! Wow this book had some really crazy twists and turns! It had suspense, intriguing, murder, mystery, and a decent storyline! I definitely recommend reading this book as it was worth reading! Thank you NetGalley and the publisher for sharing this book with me!

Thanks to Thomas & Mercer for the ARC!

I read this entire book in one day and it's a long one, so that alone is quite a compliment to it!

My biggest problem with this book that started well and ended even better was that there was so much unnecessary fluff in the middle. This book could have been more effective had it been half the length. I feel like the plot of the beginning of the story that lured me in was lost in the woods of the nothingness in the middle of the book.

I did like the main character and was rooting for her!

This is out now!

Yasmine Angoe is not talked about enough! This book was so good. Thrilling and mysterious, the characters were interesting and I loved the ride this book took me on. I was unsure about how the different cases would pull together but in the end it all made sense. Overall, I really enjoyed this book and would highly recommend it. My only complaint would be that at times it was a little too wordy but, paired with the audiobook, it was easy to get past.

Engrossing mystery with relatable main character. I love this author's writing. It's well-paced. Read this if you enjoy well-developed characters and suspense.

Not What She Seems by Yasmin Angoe is an action-packed thriller that was truly intriguing. As usual the story was well written and I really enjoyed it.

Oh this book kept me on the edge of my seat!! It was so intense. I was so happy with how this ended. I loved the characters and the setting.

This book was so much longer than it needed to be. I found myself skimming over paragraphs because there were just so many unnecessary details and I just wanted to get to the point. That's a whole other thing, what exactly was the point? There were so many different plotlines going on at one time that I was getting kind of confused.

Jac was a realllly unlikable main character and it made it hard for me to care about anything that

I knew who was behind everything the moment the character was introduced; the whole book was such a let down.

Thank you to NetGalley, Yasmin Angoe and Thomas & Mercer for the ARC of this novel. I was intrigued by both the title and description of the book: however, I found it incredible slow paced and somewhat dull. I managed to read through ~30% of the book before I had to call to quits. Unfortunately, this one wasn’t for me.

Not What She Seems by new to me author Y. Angoe is a book I'm torn about. I read the blurb and was intrigued.
I started reading and Jacinda was not easy to connect with. She returns home after years away, starts investigating/digging into not her business, becomes annoying, no, this story wasn't for me. This book is what the title promises.

Not What She Seems combines so many aspects of thrillers that I love: small-town settings, an unlikely protagonist slowly unraveling a mystery, and long-held secrets. Unfortunately, this was one of those instances where the book is great, but not a fit for me. I couldn't connect with the writing style. but I'm confident that there are many, many readers out there who will enjoy this story.

Are you ready for your next thriller? Not What She Seems maybe the book for you. This was a good thriller/mystery that kept me turning pages until the very end.

This is a very slow burn, that ticks up in pace with each flick of the page. The characters are fully flawed and raw. The small-town vibe of Brooke Haven, South Carolina is fully fleshed out. Everyone knows your business and the grapevine is in full use. I love the Brodie family and their roots are deep in Brooke Haven.

Jacinda Brodie is in Washington D.C. Knowing her life is about to change with her acceptance into Fellows Program. Her body is buzzing with anticipation as she opens the email. Only to be struck down. How...How did she not get in? When she discovers who inserted the doubt into the board, she saw red and decided to blow up her life. At the same time, she gets a phone call from home hearing the worst news possible. That her grandfather is in the hospital. She has not stepped back into Brooke Haven since she left for college. You as the reader are given a bit of information here and there. She was there the night her father died and everyone believes she had something to do with it. Regardless of all of her feelings she needs to get back to see her grandfather. The town she left, is not the town she returns to.

I loved the buildup of suspense to that ending where everything is exposed. I was on pins and needles as I plowed through. The murder house added that extra mystery for me. Thank you to Yasmin Angoe, Thomas and Mercer, and Over the River PR for my gifted finished copy for this fantastic read.

Not What She Seems can be said of several characters in the novel, and this unreliability gives it its suspense and unexpected twists, with certain secrets revealed at the explosive, wonderfully mind-bending end.

The flawed characters have my heart, especially Jac, who returns to her hometown after a family tragedy. Facing judgment and digging up dangerous truths, she risks her safety to protect her family. Her combination of sassiness, self-doubt and rash choices made her very real to me, and I found myself cheering her on and fearing for her throughout.

I’d love to see this on screen, because the author’s descriptive powers put me right in the scene, with all the darkness, suspense, and yes, even the smidge of romance. With the Knight series, I was an Angoe fan. Now I’m a fanatic. Grab this book immediately.

Jacinda “Jac” Brodie is back! She is thought to have killed her father and is shamed by his death. But when her grandfathers calls from his death bed, she is forced back to South Carolina. Upon her return, she finds that her small town of
Brook Haven is quite a bit different. Jac thinks that newcomers Faye Anderson might be behind these changes and have more sinister plans. But Jac needs to be careful of what secrets she unturns - the safety of her family is at stake! #thomasmercer #notwhatsheseems #yasminangoe