Six strangers, an art retreat by a lake, a dark history/mystery, and mounting danger! Now You Are Mine is an atmospheric psychological thriller/mystery that kept me on my toes. This book is told through past and present storylines. It is evident that all the characters have secrets but one of the secrets is more dangerous than the others.

Polly has signed up for an art retreat in the Lake District. It will give her the break she needs, and it doesn't hurt that she will also be able to look into her mother's family history/past. At the art retreat things begin to get creepy. Someone has painted something sinister onto her painting, the owners are receiving threatening messages, and the guests are on edge. Then one of them goes missing.

Polly is scared that a stalker who terrorized her and her roommate may be back. But maybe there is someone who does not want her to learn about the family she never knew, or are the strange happenings due to another threat???

This was an interesting and intriguing story. I was fully invested in the beginning and for most of the book. There are quite a few characters in both timelines and readers are given multiple character's POV. There are quite a few creepy moments, lots of tension, suspense, and mounting danger. The setting in the Lake District provided a nice amount of atmosphere which I enjoyed.

This book kept my interest throughout, and I had a good time trying to develop my suspect list.

Atmospheric, mysterious, and suspenseful.

Lakeside House is a beautiful house located on Lake Kendalmere in the Lake District. It is now a retreat for budding artists but has a dark history as 36 years ago the then owners disappeared. All the signs were that they had committed suicide and were probably in the lake. Written in multiple timelines and with a fairly large cast of characters so you need to keep your wits about you in the early chapters but it all soon fell smoothly into place.

Briefly, Polly has signed up for the art course but with an ulterior motive as she believes she has a connection to the house through her mother, who died giving birth to her. She is joined on the course by a strange mix of characters. As people start to disappear and others end up dead can Polly herself survive and discover the truth behind the historic mystery.

This is a deep and dark psychological thriller, atmospheric and virtually nobody is who they say they are from the owner Xavier down to the handyman. There were so many potential suspects I didn’t know who to trust! There are plenty of good twists and turns and the suspense is maintained right to the end in this very cleverly plotted, gripping tale. Very enjoyable.

Thank you to NetGalley and Boldwood books for the opportunity to read an ARC of Now You Are Mine by Amanda Brittany. All opinions are my own.
Polly is looking for some peace, mainly from her stalker that has been ruining her life so she signs up for an art retreat in the Lake District. Lakeside House, the retreat’s setting, serves up a whole lot of secrets along with its stunning views. The previous owners met a very gruesome fate and now the new, posh owners are receiving threats as well. Soon Polly’s artwork is being tampered with, she knows her fellow guests are hiding more than their bad art skills, and then one just has to mysteriously disappear.
The book does have an intriguing premise, but I struggled to keep all of the characters straight; I also felt like I couldn’t connect with them so there was no reaction when bad things happened to one character after another. Then the killer was lackluster in, they were dramatic but not in a thriller suspense type of way. I never felt that ‘aha!’ Moment where I thought I knew the ending only to be pleasantly surprised. I do appreciate that everything feels well rounded and tied up at the end.
I appreciated the quicker paced ending compared to where it started. So I give this a 3.5/⭐️

📚 PRE-PUBLICATION BOOK REVIEW 📚

Now You Are Mine By Amanda Brittany
Publication Date: September 9, 2024
Publisher: Boldwood Books

📚MY RATING: ⭐⭐⭐⭐✨
(Rounded Up to 5⭐)

📚MY REVIEW:

What a fantastic read! This thriller really brought a sense of creepy suspense to its pages, so much so that I found myself turning on more lights in the house as it got darker outside. It wasn't scary, but there was a creepiness to the whole story that made me overthink and question every noise I heard in the house as I read.

This book featured multiple POVs and multiple timelines across fairly short chapters, so it was a quick read. There were several whodunnit mysteries going on in this plotline, which is probably what made the book so creepy. There was a lot of questionable stuff happening in the multiple timelines and a lot of shady characters at every turn. I was never one hundred percent that anybody was really who they said they were -- I trusted nobody. And despite trusting nobody, I literally yelled out "NO WAY" with the revelation of a massive twist I did NOT see coming. And when the second major twist was revealed, my jaw dropped and I yelled out "WHHAAATT?!" But Brittany wasn't done yet with all the twists and turns in this wild ride of whodunnit thrills and chills! Nope, the last third of the book was FULL of unexpected surprises and I LOVED every minute of it!

This was my first read from this author, and I promise it will not be my last. Now You Are Mine is a triumph of twists and turns that will keep any thriller fan guessing till the end! A massive thank you to NetGalley and Boldwood Books for the advanced copy of this book in exchange for my honest review!

#NowYouAreMine #AmandaBrittany #boldwoodbookclub #boldwoodbookVIP #NetGalley #NetGalleyReviews #ARC #greatreads #thrilleraddict #thrillerlover #bookreviews #bookrecs #bookrecommendations

In true Amanda Brittany style, she smashes another amazing book out of the park. I'm a huge fan of Amanda's and her books just seem to get better.

This book was a slow burn at the beginning, building up the momentum that draws you in and doesn't let go.

An absolute must read from a brilliant author
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Not my favorite. I found this book really slow and hard to get attached to any of the characters. I'll definitely try more by this author.
Thanks to netgalley, the publisher and author for the chance to read to this ARC.

Positively adored Now You Are Mine! Could not put this one down, even to sleep! It was a thrilling rollercoaster from beginning to end! Will be purchasing for my libraries!

This book is an absolute page-turner, a masterpiece filled with suspense and thrilling psychological twists. It has richly developed characters, that add intrigue and depth to the plot. Polly is likeable and relatable. The alternating chapters set in the past with Ezma and the chilling Stephen provide a haunting backstory that elevates the suspense to another level. The book is filled with clever plot twists, leaving the reader surprised and winded. The setting is eerie and gloomy. The characters further add to the complex narrative.
If you're a fan of psychological thrillers that keep you guessing until the very end, this is a must-read. Highly recommended for anyone looking for a story that grips you from the first page and doesn't let go.

Thank you Boldwood Books and Netgalley for the opportunity to ARC read this book.
Starting out strong, this book definitely captured my heart but it was not able to retain that as the story crawled to its end. It has such a creative plot twist and the book is well written vocabulary wise but I felt like the written POV style (change between first and third pov) kept me confused.

This slapped honestly. Every character was sketch, every decision made me question what was happening, and man did this wrap up perfectly. DO IT AGAIN I LOVED IT!

I always look forward to reading an Amanda Brittany thriller, and I was delighted to be approved for an early peek at this. It lived up to my high expectations and I would recommend.

Thank you to NetGalley and to the publisher for allowing me to read this book in exchange for an honest review.

I absolutely loved this book, and it’s shot into my top reads of the year for sure!

Now You Are Mine follows Polly, who having had her live flipped upside down by a stalker, decides to visit an art retreat in the Lake District, in a house she believes her biological mother once lived in. Once there, things start to go horribly wrong for Polly - has her stalker somehow followed her or is she dredging up family secrets that should stay hidden?

I will say that initially I found there to be a few too many characters and it was slightly overwhelming keeping track of them, but as the story progressed, they all play a key role and are there for a reason. The story is told from multiple narrative perspectives and over different time periods, and is expertly written to weave a complex tale of murder, broken families and buried secrets. Throughout the story we are offered lots of possibilities of what happened and plenty of opportunity to guess, but I was still surprised by the ending and it wasn’t a theory I had considered, which I love as usually you can tell ‘who done it’ early on. An absolute must read for fans of thriller and suspense stories!
Thank you to netgalley and Boldwood books for an ARC of this in exchange for my honest views.

Thanks to Boldwood Books and NetGalley for the advanced copy in exchange for an honest review.

I was intruiged for this book, but sadly it wasn't my kind of thriller. I skimmed through parts cause it felt slow and not much was happening besides in the end. Not my kind of psychological thriller.

Now You Are Mine by Amanda Brittany, When the story begins we meet Polly Ashton all her life she has known she was adopted but the only clue she has to her birth parents is an anonymous picture of a 16 year old girl thought to be her mom. and the house she is standing in front of and it’s the reason for her booking this artist retreat at “the lake house.” Polly isn’t an artist but the retreat is open to any level artist but she isn’t prepared for the eclectic group of people she meets when she arrives especially the owner Xavier. The Lakehouse’s history is that the people who lived there before Steven and Ezma Frampton had a suicide pact got swallowed up by the lake and was never seen again. Polly thinks she may possibly be related to them and this is why she is there. The owners already have had protest in strange threatening letters sent to them but it seems when Polly arrives the strange events only become more frequent and more targeted towards her. She really becomes concerned because before leaving home her and her roommate Nikki were stalked by one of Nickie’s one night stands and she fears the stalker may have followed her. Before it’s over however polly will find out more than she wanted to know an solves murders a kidnapping and even a threat to her own life. This was such a good full complete story. They have a lot of characters in the book but if you read and pay attention I found it was very easy to follow every third or fourth chapter is in the past with Ezma and racist abusive Stephen. What else can I say the writing is really good the story is well told Polly is very likable as well as Martha and even Tara had me feeling sorry for her there is something that irked me in the book but it is minor and if I mention it here it will give one of the many key plot points away and trust me there are lots of twist that are so worth reading the book and waiting for. So I would just say if you want a great mystery/thriller then you will definitely enjoy this book I absolutely enjoyed it loved it found it so entertaining and definitely recommend it.#NetGalley, #BoldwoodBooks, #AmandaBritney, #NowYouAreMine,

A great read, sinister and twisty!

Polly arrives at an art retreat in The Lake District with an ulterior motive - she wants to find the truth of what happened to her birth mother. But she is going to get way more than she bargained as she's not the only person there with a hidden agenda!

The story is narrated by Polly, Tara, who owns the retreat with her husband, and Esme, who lived at Lakeside House 26 years earlier.

The writing is suspenseful and the characters are well written with plenty of sinister undertone, which kept me hooked. I was totally surprised by the outcome, expecting Polly to food out what happened to her family would be the conclusion, but there was so much more!

4 ⭐️ Thanks to Netgalley, Amanda Brittany and Boldwood for an ARC in return for an honest review.

I found this book to be a little difficult to read. In the beginning, I had a hard time keeping the characters straight and felt like everything was a little too jumbled and all over the place. Although I finished reading it, it all fell a little flat for me. I do appreciate the opportunity to read this ARC so thank you Netgalley and Boldwood Books!

I give this book a 4 star.
I did find most of the characters to be kinda forgettable. There really wasn’t too much to them. It was hard to keep them straight in the beginning.
Polly goes to an art retreat in hopes to find out more about her past. But she finds more then she bargained for. Attempting to put a stalking incident behind her. She tries to find a bit of background of her real mom who died while giving birth to her.
If you enjoy a story with large twists you won’t see coming then this is definitely a good read. Honestly it was the twist I didn’t see coming which upped my rating. The story starts out ok but really picks up towards the end. I would definitely recommend this to someone who likes a slight thriller with a twist.

Wow, what a thrillfest of a read this is! There is a lot going on in this book and you are pulled in all sorts of directions trying to fit the puzzle together and work out everyone's agenda's. It's a fantastic locked-room story, with an ominous setting and an oddball cast of characters who do nothing but surprise you as a reader. Everything I love in a psychological thriller - highly recommend.

A good premise. I liked the idea of the art retreat, and loved the visual of the Lake District and the house. It was a good thriller, with an intriguing mystery, and a good cast of characters.

Lakeside House is a beautiful property, set in an idyllic landscape. New owners Xander and Tara have turned a derelict house into a retreat for artists, and are excited to meet and greet their first guests. From the off there is a strangeness about the venue, with all of the newly arrived guests having a secret or two, and the house having a dark, sinister past. Xander, a prominent artist, and Tara, a mediocre one according to Xander, also have their own deceits, plus a dodgy relationship.

When torrential rain cuts the house off from the nearest village, and guests start to disappear, we know the residents are in for a rocky ride!

An exciting, well paced read that had everything thrown at it! Lots of action with more than a surprise or two. Some of the twists were pretty much well signposted with flashing lights, but still an enjoyable read, with a well sorted ending. The characters were a little confusing, but once I had become used to who’s who the story flowed well.

3.5*

Thank you NetGalley and Boldwood Books.