A very character driven mystery drama. There were moments where I was very concerned by a certain aspect of the story and could only hope I was wrong. At the end I found out I wasn’t wrong and the ick factor very much made me not like this at all.

The Amsterdam setting was new for me and I did appreciate being taken there through the story.

The opening of the book introduces multiple characters and POV. Willem from childhood growing up in a strict abusive household where his mother, Louisa, abused him and pushed him to the limits with piano.

Annalise is teased from her other siblings for not being a true child of her mother. She was told she was adopted when her mother died when she was born. She comes to find out that was a lie and that her mom gave her up for adoption but is very much living.

Katya is another perspective and the step-sister of Luisa, Willem’s mom who was also hear from her POV. Willem’s brother has a disability and his stories from the past tell of a challenging life full of bullies and segregation from society.

We also hear the perspective from when Annalise and Willem meet in a whirlwind romance. What she feels is a perfect match and chance at an amazing life quickly becomes strange as they find weird connections to their past with each other.

About 50% in this book changes track as Louisa, the abusive mother, is declared murdered instead of missing / drowned. The rest of the book takes over as a murder investigation and unraveling what really happened.

This was super twisted messed up family drama. I was interested and curious enough to keep reading but overall it was just okay.

At first it is a lot to keep up with different characters and timelines, but the author did label each chapter to help keep it all straight. I feel like the summary to this book could’ve been better written, most of the chapters are about the past timeline and focused on the trauma from both main character’s childhoods.

Thank you to NetGalley and Dreamscape Media for the ARC audiobook in exchange for an honest review. Release date August 20, 2024.

Thanks to #NetGalley and #DreamscapeMedia for the book #WhatYouMadeMeDo by #BarbaraGayleAustin. Anneliesse has always wondered who her birth mother is and has set out to find her. During her search she falls for a man named Willem and ends up pregnant. When she moves into his family home she doesn’t feel welcome or happy. What secrets are buried here? Did she make a mistake?

Thank you, Netgalley, Barbara Gayle Austin, and Dreamscape Media for the audiobook. A great listen narrated by Andi Arndt. This story has twists that had my mouth hanging open, and I just couldn't believe it! Don't want to spoil anything so I won't say more other than OMG! Wow! What a story of a past crime that happened over 20 years ago, and the past has now come back to haunt. Wild!

I found this book to be difficult to follow for a lot of parts. Although it did come together at the end and it all made sense, I found the ending to be quite odd and unsatisfying. I found it difficult to pay attention and follow along with the seemingly random, frequent time jumps and different character points of view. Overall, I gave this book 2 stars.

I really loved this book, it truly kept me guessing until the very end and I was so intrigued to figure out wheat was going on. I will definitely recommend this book and talk about it with my friends! I think that any girlie that likes thrillers will really enjoy this one!

Thanks to Netgalley and Dreamscape media for this arc. This is a debut novel told in third person and it follows two different timelines, I love the choice of narrator. The story takes place in Amsterdam and it’s about Annalise trying to find her birth mother and with her past she finds herself with Willem’s family who seems perfect to the outside eye. This story is dark and twisted. The characters are very interesting and well thought out. The writing is well done right from the get go it pulled me in. At first it was confusing to keep track of everything happening with all the characters at once but once it gets going it gets easier to follow. There’s a lot of description of child abuse and trauma. This was interesting but I feel like I just didn’t connect with the story enough to keep me entertained. The characters are diverse and the story is deep but I just couldn’t focus much on what was happening even though it was really good and I still highly recommend just was not my kind of story I guess. I feel like if it was a different narrator I would have DNF’d.

What You Made Me Do
Barbara Gayle Austin
Louisa Veldkamp was the mother of two boys. Julian was born physically challenged. Willem could never please his mother. The reader knows what happens in the basement even though the details are not shared. Willem has a temper and there are times he goes into a violent rage. Louisa was a famous piano player she was a also a violent tyrant. She ruled over her husband, her staff, her stepsister. The only one she doesn’t seem to abuse is Julian. When she disappears—presumed to have drowned.
Anneliese Bakker knows she was given up for adoption. She is desperate for a family. Her search has brought her to the Veldkamp Estate in Amsterdam. She finds herself caught up in a web of deceit. She loves Willem will her secret drive him from her? She and her unborn baby are in danger will they survive?
This book has a disturbing feeling from the beginning. Louisa was an unlikable character; she committed child abuse, adultery and was deceitful. This book kept me guessing. The plot is twisted and left me feeling disturbed. I felt sorry for Willem, he was his own worse enemy in someways. He tried to protect his brother. His mother seemed to enjoy punishing him. The action is incredible. It moves quickly from one scene to another. At times there seemed to be too much going on and I had trouble keeping up with the different story lines.
Thank you NetGalley for the review copy.

I was looking for a thrilling listen. What You Made Me Do was just what I was hoping for. I didn't want to turn it off.

Great premise- but too many characters and timelines to be able to follow or stay engaged. Found it to be very confusing. Kept finding my mind drifting away from the audio for the above reasons. Thank you NetGalley for this arc.

What a wild ride this was! Certainly a suspenseful domestic thriller. Annaleise, with a traumatic past she wishes to leave behind, sets out to find her birth mother which leads her to the Veldkamp family where not everyone or everything is as it seems. Although the first quarter was a bit confusing due to the multiple characters and alternating then and now timelines, the intricate plot did pick up and the ending came in hot. The narrator did a great job, I do think that I needed to listen more slowly due my unfamiliarity with foreign names and the setting and perhaps a physical copy would have been a more comprehensive experience for me. There was definitely drama and twists one would expect in a thriller, and this being a debut is exciting as I do look forward to reading more from the author.
3.75 stars

3.5 Stars

Just when I thought I had it all figured out - another twist. That was the story all throughout this book. It grabbed my attention from the get-go and held it until the very end. This family was full of dark secrets and a whole lot of crazy.

My only negative comments are that there was just a lot going on in terms of characters and story lines. Sorting it all out and figuring out where everyone fit took me a little bit. Characters started kind of just coming out of no where and I'm not sure that they all needed to be there, but overall this was a gripping, dark and twisty ride. While it wasn't my favorite listen, it definitely wasn't boring or DNF material.

The audio narration was solid making this an enjoyable listen all the way around.

Thank you NetGalley for the ARC audio of this book in exchange for my honest review.

The description of this book compares the writing to BA Paris, so from the jump it was setting very high expectations. While the story was interesting and did have unexpected plot twists, I didn’t see too much similarities in writing style or storylines. I found the first half of the book hard to follow because I was confused of the characters/relations/timeline. Once I started to learn the flow of the writing it was easier to follow. While the second half was much better than the first, upon completion of the book I found myself feeling unsatisfied with the ending. Not a terrible read by any means, but not my favorite.

Thank you Dreamscape Media and netgalley for the advance listening copy. This was an engaging suspense novel that used multiple timelines to weave this story. I didn't really connected with the female main character, Anneliese, so that is what drove the 3 ⭐️ rating and not 4.

What You Made Me Do is a dark story. Unique, but a bit slow at times. TI found the characters unrelatable, mostly due to how their childhoods affected them as adults.

Andi Arndt’s narration was perfection. All in all an interesting debut.

Eh. Not so sure how I feel about this one.

I love the narrator, Andi Arndt, and without her narration, I would not have finished listening to the book.

The book, What You Made Me Do, is a story about an adopted girl, who after a disappointing childhood, searches for her adoptive mom. As she searches for her mom, Anneliese is not entirely honest about herself. There are a lot of stories going on in this book. A lot of deception and too much gore at a couple points. The ending had me raising my eyebrow. This book just was not for me.

It should be noted that at the beginning of the book, I could not figure out the names of the two brothers, and I could not keep them straight for at least two chapters. Andi Arndt is a great narrator; however, I just could not understand the pronunciations.

Thank you to NetGalley and Dreamscape Media for the advanced audio copy in exchange for my honest review. All thought and opinions are my own.

Thanks NetGalley for the opportunity to review this book. This book was a no go for me. Not quite a thriller in my opinion. A few things about this book was disturbing and would have appreciated a listener warning prior to listening to the book. This book is not for the weak at all.

What You Made Me Do is a disturbing, twisty, addictive, shocking tale that will keep you absolutely hooked from start to finish. There are a lot of characters and alternate timelines, but for me it never got confusing or overwhelming. The way the author did it was masterful and her writing absolutely engaging. There are definitely some themes that won't work for everyone and that did give me the ick, I won't go into too much details, but check your trigger warnings.

All these characters are full of juicy secrets. There are clues all over that are revealed at the perfect times to keep the suspense creeping. Everything was intricately constructed and intelligently written and revealed. The short chapters and the fact that most of them ended on cliffhangers just made you want to read one more chapter. The twists and turns truly kept me guessing up until the very end, I thought I had it figured out, well I didn't.

Fantastic debut, written perfectly, did not feel over the top or unbelievable. The suspense and tension was kept until the very end. The secrets, the plot, the story were so juicy and I can't wait to read more by this author !

🎧 The narration by Andi Ardnt was really amazing. She kept me so hooked from the beginning, her tone was perfect, her voice, I was never confused as to which character she was voicing. It was a really great listen.

✨️Thank you to @netgalley, @dreamscapemedia & @barbaragayleaustin for my gifted ALC in exchange for an honest review.

Overall: ⭐️⭐️⭐️.75
Writing: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Plot: ⭐️⭐️⭐️
Characters: ⭐️⭐️⭐️
Spice: 🌶️
Tropes, etc: Manipulative FMC, Pregnant on Purpose, Dual Timeline
POV: Multiple, 3rd Person

The Praise: This book was interesting and kept me guessing. Every time I thought I had it figured out, it would give me new information that completely changed my theory. The author did a good job creating characters that were interesting, sympathetic, and sometimes just awful. I listened to the audiobook of this and I really enjoyed the narrator.

The Critique: I feel like the blurb for this book doesn’t fully match the actual story. The blurb makes it seem like Anneliese just stumbled into the Veldkamp family by way of falling for Willem, but she’s purposeful about it from the very beginning.
I also felt the ending left something to be desired.

Final Thoughts: This book was fine. The story was interesting and kept me on my toes. I just didn’t love the ending.

Do not, I repeat, DO NOT put incest in books, people, PLEASE—especially not in a book set in 2024. It’s disgusting and unnecessary.

This book was not a thriller; it was an absolutely disturbing story about a group of people who all should be seeing a psychiatrist. The thrilling or exciting bits were overshadowed by an overwhelming amount of unnecessary filler content. The only two characters who were even remotely likable were the brothers, but even Will was taken off that list by the end of the book.

No. Just no.

I do want to highlight that the narrator was absolutely amazing, even though the story was terrible.

Thank you, NetGalley and Dreamscape Media, for this audiobook ARC. All opinions are my own.