St. Martin's Press and NetGalley provided me with an electronic copy of Almost Missed You. I was under no obligation to review this book and my opinion is freely given.

Told in the alternating perspectives of Violet, Finn, and Caitlin, Almost Missed You is a story of love, loss, betrayal, and the secrets that threaten to destroy them all.

Violet and Finn, having met each other briefly years before, find themselves married with a young son. When the secrets of Finn's past overwhelm him, he makes a choice that may destroy their family. Involving Caitlin, his closest friend, in his drama, Finn threatens to ruin her marriage as well. Facing an impossible choice, will Caitlin be able to do what is best for them all?

With multiple points of view spread out over a lengthy timeline, Almost Missed You lacks the cohesion that it needed to be a focused and compelling story. Not to mention, the plot itself is so implausible that it disrupts the flow of the novel. It seems unlikely that the many secrets would have remained hidden, especially in regards to Caitlin and George. I found it odd that George is never given a voice, yet his involvement is key towards the ending of the novel. Finally, the fundamental premise to Almost Missed You, although compelling, simply would not have evolved in real life the way the author described. For these reasons, I would be hesitant to recommend this novel to other readers.

I really liked this book. The book was well written, had great character development, and it was told at a good pace. I look forward to more of this author's work.

I don't usually pick up romantic suspense stories, but I'm glad I didn't miss this one. Told in many POV, Finn, Caitlin and Violet are going to need to find their true selves as well as some internal peace when everything falls apart.

The title of this book well matches the content and is a first for the author. A very good start. It makes you wonder about all the 'what ifs' in a person's life and how easy it is to pass them by. The story also touches on the bond of friendship and how far a person will go to keep that friendship and the secrets they hold. A good read with many twists and turns, which keep the reader entertained and enthralled.

this book starts out strong . Kind of drags in the middle. I guessed the big reveal about halfway through. Nevertheless it is a page turner . You are on perfect vacation with your spouse and son and they both suddenly disappear . Who won't be grabbed by that concept?

I received an ARC of this book from NetGalley in exchange for my unbiased opinion.

Everyone who heard Violet and Finn’s love story proclaimed that they were meant to be. Therefore, it comes as a complete shock to Violet to discover that Finn has just vanished and taken their 3-year-old son, Bear, with him. Stuck in a parent’s worst nightmare, Violet begins to wonder how well she actually knew the man she thought was her soulmate.

Caitlin and Finn have been best friends since college. Still, she is shocked when he shows up at her door with Bear and demands that Caitlin let him stay at her family’s cabin and [i]not[/i] call the police. Caitlin’s immediate instinct is to call Violet, but Finn threatens to reveal a secret that could destroy Caitlin’s family and her husband’s political aspirations, so Caitlin feels she has no choice but acquiesce.

The story started out fine but just got more unbelievable as it went on. I guess these 4 people who couldn’t bother talking to each other about major pieces of their lives deserved each other.

I had mixed feelings about this book because I was so frustrated with the characters at times! It just seemed absurd the way certain decisions were made, particularly Finn, whose decision to abandon his family was slightly unbelievable, and even the decision Violet made to commit to such a elusive man (it seems so naive!). I think the author fit the pieces together as best as possible to make it believable, but it was one of those books I found myself rolling my eyes often while reading.
Having said that, I wanted to keep reading to discover the outcome, and was intrigued by the style of writing that was absorbing. I think it is a fun beach read but not the greatest mystery (it doesn't even come close to Gone Girl to me, for example). It was enjoyable overall, and I would suggest to a friend to take it along on a vacation.

A fast paced, riveting read that is centered around marriage and motherhood. For a debut novel, Strawser nailed it with this page turner. I love the alternating POVs and the many secrets that are strewn within these pages. I cannot wait to see what she has in store for us next!

Thanks to netgalley for the opportunity to have read this book.  The book was well written, and I enjoyed the way the author made the characters feel human, and made me think about issues.  It is recommended, and I can’t wait to start the next book!

I love the idea of this book. ALMOST MISSED YOU is about second chances and what-ifs that can drive us all crazy. How one little thing can change everything. I am still thinking about how just changing one thing can change everything. It stars with Violet, whose husband leaves her while they are on vacation. The most horrific part of this is that he took with him their 3 year old son, Bear. The story then flashes back to when they first met, on that same beach. They find out they are both from the same place and work in the same field. A tragic thing happens just then and they loose each other before they even exchange names. The story then alternates between now, when Violet is dealing with her missing son and husband, and then how they searched for each other once they returned from vacation.

The initial hook in this book is how Violet is completely taken off guard by her husband’s actions. All of the characters are well drawn and have distinct voices. We actually get POVs from Violet, Finn (the husband), and Violet’s best friend (Caitlin). The author brilliantly reveals one secret at a time and before I knew it, I was tangled in this web. The web these three spin is intricate and messy all at the same time. These characters are perfectly flawed. The only one really blameless is Violet. I could feel her desperation for her son. I understood Caitlin’s reasoning, but I didn’t side with her. Finn is just a mysterious mess from day one.

This story was so well done and managed to surprise me quite a bit. I didn’t see that coming could have been my mantra whilst reading this. My only issue was the switching back and forth while listening to text-to-speech. Which time we were in added to my enjoyment of this, even with my confusion. They were happy, and that added to my angst to find out what could have gone wrong. Despite that, I really enjoyed this book. I highly recommend this debut author’s suspenseful book!

Domestic drama centering on marriage and family life. Not a suspense thriller, this novel explores the emotions and problems when relationships are based on lies -- both those deliberately told and those of omission.

Violet is relaxing on the beach with a pina colada -- her husband, Finn, has taken their son, Bear (seriously the dumbest name for a kid in a book ever) to their hotel room for a nap. When she has had enough solitude, she returns to find that Finn and Bear have vanished! Violet is beside herself (and we hear about hers and everyone else's angsting throughout the entire narrative) and friends Caitlin and George try to help her. No one knows why Finn has done this. We find out.

"It starts in childhood...nothing is ever enough. Why can't we just learn early on to be satisfied with whatever we have?" That's pretty much the theme of the whole book. This was OK but I prefer more action and less inner dialog. It got old quickly and the resolution was a little lame to me.

Wow! Loved this book!! Plenty of surprises, great story, wonderful characters. This was very original, well-written, and full of suspense.

This is a book NOT to be missed!

Reading this novel was the only thing I wanted to do until I finished. This story was so intense for me, as mother, that I welled up at several different points. The writing itself, down to the sentence level, is *expert.* The story twisted and twisted. My favorite characters were Caitlin and Bear. Jessica Strawser reminds me of Liane Moriarty in the way she writes with the deeply felt emotional pull of women's fiction while also giving secrets teeth as is more often seen in thrillers and mysteries. Highly rec.
MM Finck, Women Writers, Women's Books (www.booksbywomen.org)

This was a very fast-paced book. I have to admit, it kept me turning pages long into the night to find out what was going to happen. However, the character of Finn was possibly one of the most unlikable characters I have ever read. I could not feel an ounce of sympathy for him at all.

What starts out as a lovely family vacation, turns into a mother’s worst nightmare. When Finn tells his wife Violet to enjoy her time alone on the beach and he will take care of their son Bear as he naps. She makes her way back to their hotel room to find no evidence of Finn and Bear ever being there. To Violet and the outside world, there is no reason for this to happen. She thought everything was fine. But Finn has issues that she had no idea about. One person who did know his secrets was their friend, Caitlin. When he shows up at her door threatening to reveal a secret unless he helps her, Caitlin knows she needs to take some kind of action. She doesn’t want her family separated by it all. Will she help Finn or will she help Violet? And just what are the secrets that Finn and Caitlin hide?

The story is told in the alternating voices of Violet, Finn and Caitlin. We get a look into how Violet and Finn met and just what brought them back together. Finn has hidden a very dark secret and that leads to his actions, which quite frankly, bothered me for a long time. Just leave, don’t take your child away from his mother! I really did not like him at all. But as time played out and the story played out, I got a better picture of his motives. I think this would be a great book for a book club because I can imagine the arguments over his actions and Caitlin’s actions. My heart broke for Violet and I loved her grandmother. After a slow beginning, I fell right into the storyline and loved it. What an impressive debut for Jessica Strawser and I look forward to what she does next.

I received a copy of this book from Netgalley and St. Martin’s Press in exchange for an honest review.

From the start everyone thought that Violet and Finn were meant to be together. Consider it a twist of fate or cosmic alignment but the stars just seemed to want this pair together. Especially considering that they met on a beach without exchanging names and later Finn on a fateful night decides to send out a personal ad to find the girl he met on the beach. Three years later they are happily married and have a wonderful little boy.

However, things aren't always what they seem. When Finn suggests a vacation to the beach where they met it all seems like a perfect family vacation. Violet is left to relax on the beach with a cocktail and the sun, but when she returns to the hotel room her life suddenly changes. Finn has taken their son and disappeared. It is after this disappearance that Violet's life and reality changes.

Finn has a terrible secret, one he has never told to Violet and Violet begins the impossible journey to not only find her son but to find out who her husband truly is.

The story is only made more complex and interesting when Finn's best friend Caitlin is pulled into the mix. Finn shows up on Caitlin's doorstep one night demanding that she protect and hide them or he will reveal a secret that would destroy her marriage.

Almost missed you is a well paced novel with good plot twists and unexpected situations. The strength of a mother's love and determination to protect her child is a prominent theme in the book not only for Violet but for Caitlin as well. While the book was tied up in a pretty little bow for the ending I felt Strawser did the ending justice. I look forward to reading other novels by her in the future.

This was an emotional read that kept me turning the pages!
What would happen if everything you thought you knew about your husband and your marriage was called into question? What if you were on vacation and returned to your hotel room on vacation and found your husband and child gone, with no trace that they were ever there?
Violet thought she had everything: a loving husband and a beautiful son. She loved her life a stay-at-home mom. She loved the story of how they met, separated, and managed to re-connect. It isn't until Finn disappears with her son that Violet realizes that she never really knew her husband at all.
Caitlin was Finn's best friend first, but bonded with Violet the moment she met her. A mother herself, how can she keep a secret of Finn's whereabouts from her friend, even at the risk of Finn revealing a secret about her that could destroy her life.
This was a well-paced story with complex characters that kept me engrossed, but almost scared to turn the pages. As a Mom, the whole idea is scary. This was one story I would recommend to anyone.
This novel came highly recommended by a friend who won an early ARC, so I was excited to have the chance to read it after I was granted my NetGalley request by the Publisher.

Jessica Strawser’s debut novel, Almost Missed You places a glaring spotlight on an unimaginable nightmare. Picture if you will, this scenario. You’re in a beautiful Florida beach, living within the glow of your dream vacation, next to a husband you adore and your wonderful, precious little boy. You bask not only in the warm sun and ocean air, but also in the knowledge that this love you share with your husband Finn is meant to be, you were always destined for one another, starting that day you met as teenagers on this very beach. It was in the stars.
This is a story you’ve told friends, family and acquaintances who marvel in the wonderful and unexpected reality of destiny. You and Finn are living proof, and the result is your solid, happy marriage which gave you your son. “Tonight, after Bear was in bed, they would take that fresh bottle of pinot grigio out to the balcony, and she’d lay her head on that perfect-fit spot on his shoulder as they settled in to watch the moonlight sparkle on the rolling water. Life was good.”
But everything changes in a Sunny Isles minute when you make your way up to your hotel room, already smiling in anticipation of seeing your husband and your son after an afternoon of lone contemplation at the beach. How could you anticipate that behind that door there would be no trace of the two people you love more than life itself, like they vanished into thin air or perhaps they were only a fractal born of your vivid imagination, out of your desire for them to be real?
Violet, Strawser’s shocked-to-the core protagonist, is a character for who we can’t feel anything but sympathy towards the pain and anguish she feels not knowing the whereabouts of her husband and child. Along with her bewildered narrative, we have the alternating POVs of Finn, Violet’s runaway husband and Caitlin, Finn’s longtime best friend and keeper of secrets, a task that turns out to be true for Finn as well.

As the motivations behind Finn’s actions become more clear, but by no means less thoughtless, we sympathize more and more with Violet and her predicament. Strawser uses alternating flashbacks to relay an explanation of Finn’s decision rooted in a painful past, but this doesn’t diminish his lack of empathy and kindness towards Violet, whom he has professed to love, taking from her what she can’t live without: their son Bear.
Finn and Violet are forced to accept new truths about themselves and their marriage, giving way to a completely new significance of “destiny” and “meant to be”. Violet must understand that her story with Finn is not the one she believed, but rather one wrapped in a shroud of unknown mea culpa that is more complex and difficult to grasp.

Almost Missed You

A taught and tense debut novel.

Violet and Finn were 'meant to be' and three years into their marriage, they're on their first holiday with their son when Finn disappears...Almost Missed You really gripped me. I didn't want to put it down. I was totally caught up in this heartbreaking tale that's full of suspense and makes you start to question all sorts in relation to your own life!

With thanks to Netgalley and the publisher, 4*.