They say that when you marry your spouse, you also marry their family. But what if that family was a nightmare? In this book, we meet the Belmonts, an old money, family who are introduced to Devon, their son Richard’s new fiancé, and while things on the surface seem to go well, Devon immediately notices that they start putting ideas in Richard’s head. Soon their “concerns” about Devon begin to resemble an-all out campaign against her, or is it? Are they correct in their concerns? After all, Devon has never been very conventional. Hopefully Devon can find out before she loses what is left of her sanity.

I absolutely devoured this novel, staying up way later than I should have because I simply could not put it down. It just captivated me as I was desperate to know what was going to happen and how everything was going to turn out. The plot of the book resembles a car crash that you can see coming. You can’t stop it and you can’t look away, all you can do is wait to see it happen as you watch in horror and frustration.

The themes of family, trauma and obsession were incredibly well done because it showed how insidious such “innocent-seeming” concepts, like spending time with your family or focused on your nuclear, immediate family, on the surface can become when they are manipulated and taken too far. For anyone that has different relationships with their family it also shows how difficult it can be to explain those relationships to other people. I liked that the author showed that. Not all families or relationships look the same, but each impacts us very deeply and all the characters here showed that.

Speaking of the characters, I really liked Devon and her character had a lot of depth. For a lot of the book, it can be hard to pinpoint her exact motivations or frame of mind which keeps the book exciting, but wants you understand her in greater depth things become clearer, and I saw her in an even more positive light. Of course she had some flaws, but who doesn’t?

I can’t recommend this book enough for people who love a good psychological thriller. It was a wild ride that I’ll be thinking about for quite a while, as it left quite an impression on me! I look forward to reading more from this author.

Devon is newly engaged and finally meeting her future in-laws. As Richard, the fiance, pulls the car into the drive, the house is dark...and looks abandoned. There was a mixup of plans, and the couple must come back another time.

When the time to meet finally comes, Devon is quickly intimidated by the Belmont's. They are all well-dressed, with bright blue eyes and not a hair out of place. Right before the couple leaves to return to New York, Richard mentions that the family is concerned about Devon's eating.

What follows is the dictionary definition of gaslighting. There are comments about Devon's moods and questions about her family and mental health. Devon struggles to stay calm and spend extended time in her art studio, painting her feelings, and those paintings are getting darker and darker. Devon begins to question Richard and his commitment as well as his family and their motives, she also slips further and further into her old habits of meal skipping and not showering. When Richard chooses his family after a strange incident, Devon searches for answers and falls down a dark hole of deceit and psychological torture.

The good:
It is a compelling story with excellent psychological twists.
An unreliable narrator that you aren't sure if you like or hate.
Unexpected twists.

The bad:
"Richard's and I" - SAY WE or OUR.
There are constant references to her khaki pants and braided hair.
Dropped plotlines: The brother and his weirdo behavior. Amber. Grammy and Grandpa. Art sales and the art dealer. The detective. Could you give me more?

Madeleine Henry has written an excellent thriller, but I had to re-read the end twice, and I'm still not sure what happened.

Thanks to NetGalley and the publishers for the opportunity to read and review this book.

Twisty thriller/suspense with an unreliable narrator. I really enjoyed this book read it pretty quick and was interested to see where it was going. It was well written and definitely kept me guessing. I didn't love how the ending wrapped up it felt a little rushed all in all would recommend 3/3.5 star read for me. I want to thank NetGalley and Little A for the arc in exchange for an honest review.

Unfortunately a DNF for me. I’m not a fan of info-dumps about the characters looks and lives straight off the bat and this book did just that in the first few pages. I just feel like it should come more naturally and it can be a bit cringe-worthy.

This was a little bit bananas, I could not believe the main character put up with some of this. Red flags are flying. Passed the time just fine.

Thanks to Netgalley for the free copy in exchange for an honest review

I'm normally not one to go for thrillers that lean towards domestic, but this one won me over with its stellar character building and eerie building of atmosphere and suspense. The use of an unreliable narrator was done incredibly well and the writing was impeccable.

Devon Ferrell and Richard Belmont are engaged, in love, and from two different worlds. Devon is as eager to please Richard’s elite parents as she is to leave the traumas of her childhood behind. After all, the Belmonts are her family now.

But being brought into the fold is unbalancing her. There are the piercing stares from Richard’s brother, the confounding whispers about Devon’s moods and health. It’s as if the Belmonts are looking for reasons to reject her, to fill her with self-doubt and put her on edge. It’s working. And no one seems to be on Devon’s side. Not even Richard.

Are the Belmonts right to be concerned about Devon? Or are they waging a psychological battle against her? The truth is getting darker. Because the mind games have just begun.

Loved it. Will recommend to others.

The author did a fantastic job really creating a mind bending psychological thriller that pulls you in and makes you second guess every character, as well as their motives. This story lured me in with the description about toxic family dynamics and how fundamentally that can shake relationships, which was well done within this story that is immensely relatable to most. The main character, Devon, was so easy to relate to that you couldn’t help but root for them throughout the whole story. This was a great spooky season thriller, that had engaging characters a story that sucked you immediately.

Name Not Taken is a cleverly written exploration of identity and self-discovery packaged in a thriller. Devon was relatable and her journey felt fresh and authentic. It was fast-paced throughout and I highly recommend!

I'm still not 💯 sure what's real and what's fake in this book. There's so much gaslighting that it feels like Gone Girl mixed with Sherri Rapini. It's frustrating that Devon would go back to Richard after he so casually threw her away based on ideas his mom put in his brain. Most of the characters are frustrating for not believing Devon and even she's not a reliable narrator.

i really enjoyed this book, it catched me right in the beginning. it was so interesting to get to know the different charakters. This book made me feel so many feelings i don't have that often when i'm reading books. i never read a story like this and it's a really great story because i think many people can relate. the relationship between yourself and your mother in law can be pretty hard and this books shows exactly that. I really liked the plottwist at the end and it was quiet interesting to find out more about amber und the ex girlfriend of oliver. the hint with the earrings??? loved it.
i could not put it down the story was really well written, i can't say anything bad against it.

Devon Ferrell, has chosen life with a man she trusts, loves and is sure loves her. Richard Belmont is in the fast track to an amazing career and future. Richard has kept Devon away from his family. A chance encounter with a family member forces Richard to not only take Devon home to meet the family; it not only changes the dynamics of their lives, it puts Devon in danger. Happy reading

I swear I'm not dumb, but I genuinely don't understand the ending!
If the goal was to enjoy the ride not the destination, the book wouldn't have delivered either.
Characters wise, the book had extremely superficial characters. They were mostly profiles rather than well fleshed out characters. Just playing a role.
Devon, the broke artist who comes from a broken home. Richard, the perfect rich boyfriend who, almost demonically, makes a complete opinion change whenever he talks to his family.
Even the family members were almost written as Disney villains, apart from how Devon pictures the mental play, it was all told second, or third handedly.
Devon's mother arc was redundant, she didn't add to the book, and her conversations with Devon were boring.
The saving grace was how some parts actually managed to make feel anxious, the way Devon was spiralling made feel the same emotions.
The ending was vague, in my opinion. I didn't understand who did what, but I think that's a me problem judging by the other reviews.
*I received an ARC of this book through netgalley and the publisher in exchange for an honest review*

This book is a 3.5 star read for me, uplifted to 4 stars.

Devon, an artist, gets engaged to a man with means, Richard. Richard comes from a family with means who do not appear to be excited by Devon as an addition to said family. She goes to meet them and is eager to please. She’s also eager to keep her past hidden and keep her relationship intact. She feels off kilter and is filled with self-doubt. She feels abandoned by Richard. Is she the victim or the villain?

I thought this book started a little slow. The characters seemed a bit superficial, like they were stock standard rich people and artist (which yes, I know, there is a reason for that). I feel like we are told she is a complicated artist who becomes immersed in her art and is easily obsessed with it and nothing is important as the importance of art, but I'm not sure I felt like her character as written was like that.

However, the book took some wild turns and I kept reading to know what was going to happen. I was kept guessing.

If you enjoy domestic family thrillers, where there is an unreliable narrator and the plot is anything but straightforward, then you are probably going to enjoy this one. It does well at playing up tension and an overall sense of unease.

This is one of those books where you're asking yourself from the beginning: Is the main character the victim, or the villain? Because even she doesn't know.

Devon's relationship with Richard has been absolutely perfect for the last two years. A struggling artist with a dark childhood, she found solace in Richard's stable, successfully life. But when they get engaged, and it's time to meet Richard's family, things start to seem less happy. Has she been diluted to her own deteriorating mental health, or are the whispers coming from the Belmonts intended to errode her relationship with their son? Lies are being told, but by whom?

The idea of this book intrigued me, reminiscent of Black Swan or The Voices. I love the little hints here and there that make you think, "Is she being gaslit, or in desperate need of help?" Sanity and paranoia blend together like Devon's paintings, and the darker things get, the more you realize Devon is hiding important things from her past.

This whole book was very interesting, but the ending fell flat. I was waiting for the massive Gone Girl-esq twist, the Shutter Island-like ambiguous ending. But it didn't come. And it wasn't a "Could be this, could be that" type of thing, it was a, "What the heck even happened?" Without giving too much away, I'll just say that the conclusion was murky, and everything went to Happily Ever After too quickly. Four-point-five stars for the first 85% of the book, 4 for the last 15%.

It pains me to give this review, because I absolutely love this author and her previous books. I just couldn't ignore the inconsistencies, confusion, and message in the end to accept abuse. I think the premise was excellent, and I was gripped in the beginning. But overall, I think it needed more substance and editing.

The premise was good, but the writing style made it hard to connect to the story or the main character. The best parts of it were the bits of story about the MC and her mom, and that point of view on her trauma. However, as creepy or weird as the in-laws were supposed to be, the interactions didn’t help express that. I had a hard time caring about the story.

This had everything that I was looking for in a psychological suspenseful novel, I was on the edge of my seat from start to finish and was invested in what was going on in this story. The characters were well written and enjoyed the overall story being told. Madeleine Henry has that element that I was looking for and enjoyed getting to read this. It was dark and engaging and glad I got to read this.

The tl;dr is that I wouldn’t recommend this book. It was forgettable in a world full of amazing psychological thrillers and family dramas. The characterization felt too shallow and there wasn’t enough intrigue to hold my interest, and by the end I wanted to skim. If I hadn’t gotten an ARC, I likely wouldn’t have finished this book. Thanks to NetGalley!

Thanks so much to NetGalley and Little A for an ARC of Name Not Taken by Madeleine Henry in exchange for an honest review.

Rating: 5/5
⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

I was not able to put this one down. I recently completed this amazing book that completely captivated me. What I particularly enjoyed was the constant uncertainty about whom to trust and what to believe throughout the storyline. Just when I believed I had figured out the twist, I found myself questioning my own conclusions, which, in my opinion, is the hallmark of an outstanding thriller novel. I enthusiastically plan to suggest this book to anyone seeking an engaging read filled with surprising plot developments.