Great story!! Intriguing plot which kept me turning the pages! Well written! I would not hesitate to read another book by Jane Shemitt!

Thank you for the opportunity, and making this book available to me, but this title did not fit my reading needs at this time.

(I received a free copy of this book from Net Galley in exchange for an honest review.)

'I still don't know why we had to check. Did we really think you would be there, curled up and sleeping on the stage? That we would put our arms round you, and take you home?'
Naomi has vanished, leaving her family broken and her mother Jenny desperately searching for answers. But the traces fifteen year-old Naomi's left behind reveal a very different girl to the one Jenny thought she'd raised. And the more she looks the more she learns that everyone she trusted has been keeping secrets.
But will discovering the real Naomi help to find her?

Well, this was a story that I thought would be an absolute winner...but I think we may have just gotten away with a disappointing draw...

At the heart of this book is the discovery of secrets by those you love the most - including your children. When 15-year-old Naomi disappears, her mother Jenny takes to finding her - and discovers some things that throw her whole world off-kilter.

Let's do this in 2 parts. First the positives: the characters - as this story unfolds, the reader gets that overwhelming sense of really knowing the people in the story and feeling the emotions they are experiencing. That is a very good sign for an author...a good sign for me! Also, the twists and turns, the surprise plot twists, and the startling revelations keep the story humming and the pages turning.

However, for me, the downsides outweighed the positives. Did the story unfold really well? It did - after the first dreary 50 pages or so. I got to a point at about 30-40 pages wondering if I was even going to bother. And that isn't a good thing. Thankfully, it picked up but if it had gone another 10 pages or so, I would have given up. And then, the ending. Ambiguous at best, lazy at worst, nothing was really resolved and I felt like my few days reading this had been sort of wasted. It was not a pleasant experience.

Overall, an interesting story with some real positives and potential...in the end, it was just poorly realised.


Paul
ARH