decided not to read after about 35 pages, the writing style just didn't work for me!

I will not be completing this, also giving * rating purely because NG doesn't allow me to go forward and submit otherwise

This book captivated me at the beginning and whisked me through to the end. I was on the run with Chelsea and was amazed with all of the twists and turns. The fantasy mixed with reality held me captive but fairy tales can go wrong.
Many thanks to Chuckling, Inc and to NetGalley for providing me with a galley in exchange for my honest opinion.

I received an e-book from Netgalley in exchange for my review. (I hesitate to say ARC because I'm working on a backlog, and I got this back in 2016, so it's not exactly in advance like they intended...)

A fast-paced thriller with a touch of fairy-tale? You know I'm interested! Chessa is an event planner for a casino in Lake Tahoe. She planned a Happily Ever After ball for charity where guests came dressed as fairy tale characters. She wakes up the next morning disoriented with her husband dead in the bathroom and blood on her ballgown and vague memories of some kind of trauma. Her father is a convicted murderer and the police consider her the prime suspect. Chessa takes off to try to find the answers to what happened last night and why.

Like I said at the beginning, this was fast-paced and hard to put down. Chessa was running from one thing to the next, pivoting to hide from the police and others who are after her. One of my minor complaints is that she was awfully quick on her feet and came up with a new plan within seconds every single time and it always worked. She also managed to come up with a pretty plausible theory as to why the murders happened and then never had to investigate another angle because it conveniently turned out to be right. Nevermind that the cops were chasing multiple possible, plausible angles... So while she was put through the ringer being on the run, it all worked out pretty easily for her. Not super believable, but I went with it.

For being so intense, it was relatively clean as far as language went. In fact, there might not have been any. However, there was an incredibly high body count, which wasn't pleasant. There were also some good twists thrown in, so I guess it wasn't all completely figured out by the protagonist.

Overall, this was hard to put down and pretty well written. I'd read more by this author for sure.

Girl on the Run is cozy mystery author Daryl Wood Gerber’s first book in the suspense genre, and she gets off to a very good start. Chessa Paxton’s dream come true fairy tale life turns into a nightmare when she wakes up beside the body of her dead husband and is immediately the prime suspect. She doesn’t understand what is happening and goes on the run to try and find out who did this and prove herself innocent. It’s a fast-paced thrill ride through beautiful Lake Tahoe, and Gerber brings her skill from her cozy mysteries for developing characters you just can’t help falling in love with to this story. Exciting read. Thanks to NetGalley and the author for providing a copy for my honest review.

Wow. Twists and turns you don't see coming. Hard to put down. Entertaining and intense story and characters. Would recommend.

Absolutely terrible book. Amateur writing style. Ridiculous dialogue. Predictable everything. The story premise was decent but the style of writing made it seem like this book was an essay assignment in high school.

This book didn't really grab me, sorry, normally a fan of the mystery genre. Thought some of the plot points were forced.

Girl on the run by Daryl Woodgerber.
When a fairytale fantasy night becomes a nightmare, Chessa Paxton must run for her life...but will the truth set her free? Chessa Paxton, an event planner in Lake Tahoe, celebrates a successful night at the Happily Ever After Ball, but her dream quickly becomes a nightmare when she wakes up beside the body of her dead husband. Nauseous and confused, feeling as if she's been drugged, she can't explain to the sheriff why her princess costume is bloodied. With her father already a convicted murderer, she feels invisible shackles ratcheting onto her wrists and ankles. She runs! But she can't escape vivid flashes of memory: a massacre in a meadow; men and women in fairytale costumes; Snow White’s dead body shielding her from bullets. Though Chessa is a former costumer and adept at disguise, she quickly learns that hiding while trying to prove herself innocent is the most difficult task imaginable. Especially when the sheriff wants to throw her in jail and the real killer wants to silence her forever.
This was a good read with likeable characters.   4*.

Chessa was a successful event coordinator at a casino near Lake Tahoe. While at an event, she noticed some suspicious activity but didn't pay too much attention to it. However, after waking at home to find her husband dead on the floor, herself covered in blood, and no memory of the night before, Chessa believes that the only way to prove her innocence is to go on the run and try to solve the murder herself. She thinks that her memory loss was a result of being drugged, but she begins to remember bits and pieces of what led up to her current situation. There are many powerful people tied up in this plot: her stepfather (who is a senator), a charismatic evangelist, and some very influential people in the community. We also see the story through the eyes of Detective Newman, one of the lead investigtors on the case, who isn't totally convinced that Chessa is guilty.

To be honest, I'm not sure how I feel about this book. It's definitely got a lot of twists and turns, but I found that I was more easily distracted when reading this than I normally am. There were times when I felt the plot points were chosen out of convenience. For example, when Detective Newman was chasing Chessa on a crowded beach with many different places for her to hide, he correctly determined almost immediately that she would try to blend in with a group of marathoners. She could have headed toward her stepfather's house, the boat store/marina owned by one of her stepdad's friends, or any number of other places that he knew of.

In the beginning, it was exciting because the reader is on this journey with Chessa as she's having the flashbacks, but at a certain point, around the 70% mark, it felt like the plot was dragging a bit. It focused more on how she was trying to evade the authorities, and the tidbits of memories and clues were farther apart, not giving enough to keep me emotionally involved in the story. It started picking back up around 80% or so, when some of the bigger pieces of the puzzle finally started coming together.

There were also a couple parts that were confusing because it seemed like the author was looking for the right word or phrase to explain, but didn't quite find it. There were many times when Detective Newman was a bit overzealous in his investigation and theories about where Chessa could be. The lead investigator on the case, Detective Tallchief, is partially biased because he wants to run for mayor, and bringing Chessa down will increase his chances of winning the election. These things combined make the story seem unrealistic or contrived at times.

Overall, the book wasn't horrible, but it wasn't one of my favorites either. Would I recommend it? Honestly, I don't know. I'm sure that plenty of people find it more engaging and exciting than I did, but I wouldn't go out of my way to suggest it.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review. Fast paced suspense novel with lots of twists and turns. Thoroughly enjoyable!

National bestselling author of several cozy mysteries, Daryl Wood Gerber has written a stand-alone suspense thriller.

Event planner Chessa Paxton celebrates a successful night at the Happily Ever After Ball. But Chessa enters a real-life nightmare when she wakes up beside the body of her dead husband. Nauseous and confused, Chessa cannot explain to the sheriff why her princess costume is bloodied. With her father already a convicted murderer, Chessa goes on the run! Though Chessa is a former costumer and a master of disguise, she quickly learns that hiding while trying to prove herself innocent is the most difficult task imaginable.

I obtained an eARC of this book from Netgalley.

My first ever thriller/mystery book and I absolutely loved every page of it! So many shocking plot twists that keep you reading until you realise you've completed it in one day! The story line pulls you in to the mystery and you get your detective mode on. I would recommend this to absolutely anybody.

First of all, I love the cover. Now, the story is like a burning fire. It's starts out slow and builds to its blazing glory. I must say, I thought I had it figured out but boy was I wrong. Loved it.

This book took me longer than usual to complete. However, this is not necessarily a negative thing as for me the book was just very complex and built with such a varied collection of characters that it demanded my full attention. The story itself is a fast paced cat and mouse tale that I could easily see being a smash on the big screen. A story of secrets and power, bad and good, and the extreme actions that can arise as a result of this, I thoroughly enjoyed this book.

Although Daryl Wood Gerber generally writes cozy mysteries, Girl on the Run is a bona fide thriller with dozens of twists and turns, as well as surprises. Chessa Paxton is an event coordinator for the Boardwalk Casino in Lake Tahoe, and is in charge of a fundraiser called The Happily Ever After Ball. She has loved designing some of the costumes, and, although furious at her good-looking husband, Zach due to an argument they had just before leaving for the ball, is proud to show him off in his frog prince costume. During the ball, she asks Zach for water; he leaves, but gets waylaid and Wally Evert, a disgusting, but influential man in the community, gives her a bottle of water. After drinking it, she immediately begins to feel strange, and wakes up the next morning next to the body of her husband, who has been murdered. Word of the massacre of several of the guests, and that she is the suspect in all of the deaths gives her the incentive to run.

Gerber has a nice writing style, and is quite good at making her characters seem real. Readers can depend on plenty of suspense, since some of the main players include a politician, a television evangelist, and Evert, a corrupt businessman. With that combination, there is plenty of deceit and fraud, of course, and Chessa finds herself in the middle, trying to find answers, grieve her husband’s death, and survive, as she finds someone willing to kill her at every turn. Chessa’s mother was recently killed in a car explosion, and she longs for her mother to help her out. The politician, a senator, was married to her mother and has never been the same since her death. Chessa hates him.

Even though it seems that the three repulsive characters are most likely the ones behind the killings, and readers will think they have guessed who the murderer is, there are twists and turns to create plenty of doubt, and in the end, several unexpected scenarios.

Girl on the Run does contain innuendo of adult situations, but there is no graphic sex, language, or violence. It is a fairly fast read, and the characters will keep the readers’ interest until the very end.

Special thanks to NetGalley for supplying a review copy of this book.

A twisting, turning tale that will keep the reader on the edge of their seat.