Promises only last if you trust each other, but what if one of you is hiding something? what if you can't keep it a secret any longer what if you have no other choice but to tell your secret one you have been hiding for a very long time, the secret is about Explode lives will be ruined friendships will be pushed to the max someones truth someones lies!

A secret no one could ever guess.

Someone is living a lie.

Is it Lisa?
Her daughter Ava ?
Or could it be her best friend, Marilyn?
The Countdown to the true is about to start ready or not here is COMES!

Cross Her Heart is a good book if i'm Honest it took me a good few pages to get in to it but once i did i really enjoyed the book it was a great story filled with twists and turns there was lots of dream to keep the reader gripped, there was a few parts where i wished there was more details and the ending was good but i wish there would of been a few more pages to tie everything up a bit more but other then that i would give this book 4.5 stars i would get copy's for my friends as i know they will enjoyed it and i'm sure this book will be a big hit for the writer .. thank you to the Publishers and Netgalley for my copy

I found the story a bit slow to start with but 60% in and it was gripping. I liked the ending but I’m a bit disappointed because I guessed it, unlike the ending of “Behind Her Eyes” which totally took me by surprise. Overall this is a good thriller and one I would recommend reading...but beware the strong language!!

No one does shocking thrillers quite like Sarah Pinborough and Cross Her Heart is no exception. Having been stupefied by Behind Her Eyes, I went into this novel fully prepared for any trickery Ms. Pinborough may deploy. I didn’t see the major twist in the previous book so went in well armed here. Did it do me any good? Ha! Not one bit. These books are as different as apples and oranges, both equally enthralling but in their own way.

In Cross Her Heart we are introduced to the quiet life Lisa built for herself and her daughter, Ava. She has one close friend at work but mainly keeps herself to herself. She is private but even more than that she is ultra protective of Ava. What spirals from one seemingly random act of heroism, on Ava's part, sets their life on fire and puts them in the spotlight. Secrets are revealed but that is only the start. There are numerous twisty paths Cross Her Heart takes the reader down and some are not pretty but well illustrated.

The shock value is solidly constructed in this quick paced novel. The characters are sympathetic and likeable. The unraveling of Lisa's life is painful, and understandable, and the final reveal will make you pleased you read this book.

This is my first Pinborough read and I’ll be looking out for more. Without revealing too much, I can say I became engrossed in the three characters whose stories are told in their own chapters. A third of the way through the book and the mystery and suspense ramped up; it kept me hooked until the end. A good read. Thanks to NetGalley and Harper Collins UK, Harper Collins Fiction for the digital copy in exchange for my review.

Lisa - or is she really Lisa? - tries to lead a quiet life with her typical teenage daughter. Her best friend and work colleague, Marion hides her secret life from the world, but her secret is nowhere near as big a secret as Lisa's. The quiet life is turned upside down after her daughter saves a young child from drowning and the press publicity causes major problems by revealing Lisa's dark past. Sarah Pinborough writes a magnificent psychological thriller that kept me on the edge of my seat, at times with my heart in my mouth. The twists and turns are fast and furious - a real must read.

I've had to wait a week before writing my review for this book as the ending of this book was so amazing and intense I need time to process it. This book was full of twists and constantly keep you guessing. There aren't enough words to describe how amazing and enthralling this book was. It's a must for all fans of female-led thrillers. I personally, didn't see any of the twists and reveals coming and couldn't wait to see what was going to be thrown at me next. Definitely one of my favourite books of the year so far.

I completely devoured "Behind Her Eyes", Pinborough's last bestselling novel, so whether to read this or not was an easy decision for me. I found "Cross Her Heart" a lot darker than BHE, I loved it! The darker the better in my opinion. It is twisty and engaging with interesting characters but ultimately it didn't blow me away as I had hoped. Don't get me wrong the plot is executed well, the writing easy to follow and there are some OMG moments.

It is written from multiple perspectives - Lisa, Ava (Lisa's daughter) and Marilyn (Lisa's friend). Lisa is a single mother with a secret. Ava is a teenager who hates the fact that her mother is overprotective and paranoid. What will happen when the secrets are revealed? The past has a way of coming back and biting you on the behind! All three of the women are keeping secrets that are disturbing and life shattering,

An excellent read. I look forward to Pinborough's next bookish endeavour! I will be along for the ride.

Many thanks to HarperCollins UK, HarperFiction for an ARC. I was not required to post a review and all thoughts and opinions expressed are my own.

The second novel I have read from this author and it doesn’t disappoint! What starts off an intriguing tale slowly twists and turns and keeps you wanting more! I read it in a day it’s that good!

Plot: This is a book full of secrets. Lisa is a single mother living alone with her 16 year old daughter, Ava. There are hints of a troubled past, but they keep to themselves. But Lisa has secrets, as does Ava. Lisa’s only real friend is Marilyn from work, but she too is keeping something hidden. Lisa is an overprotective mother, but all Ava cares about is spending time with her friends from her swim team and chatting to a boy on social media. But is it really all it seems?

My thoughts: I usually enjoy a good thriller, and this one was pretty good. It had a good storyline and some interesting characters but I do have to admit though that there were points at which things seems either implausible or just a little skimmed over to get to the really juicy stuff, which is a shame. So I think that’s it – this was just good and not really a huge amount more than that.
The twist for me was not a huge surprise, which again is a shame – I like to be really left guessing. It did feel as though things were being deliberately not told to the reader, which is, of course, key in psychological thrillers like this, but it just felt like I knew it was being done to pull the wool over my eyes instead of being slyly done.
All this isn’t to say that I didn’t enjoy it though! Like I said, it was a good read. I think I was expecting it to be another book on the scale of Behind Her Eyes by the same author and it didn’t quite hit that mark for me which left me looking for more.

I really liked Behind Her Eyes so was looking forward to reading this.

The book itself is fast-paced and the characters’ secret lives were interesting. Lisa’s past was especially intriguing. However, the ending felt very rushed and abrupt, which left many unanswered questions.

If you enjoy mystery/thrillers with lots of twists and secrets but don’t necessarily need everything wrapped up then you will enjoy this book.

Must-read, spellbinding, boldly-twisted, credible psychological thriller

Can you imagine trying to hide a dreadful secret your entire life? Can you imagine going to incredibly great lengths to keep this secret? This is how Lisa lived and brought up her daughter, Ava. In the first part of the book, Sarah Pinsborough leads her readers up a path that we think will take us to an obvious conclusion. However, as soon as she gives her reader time to get to know her three main characters, Lisa, her daughter Ava and Lisa’s best friend Marilyn, the plot shockingly turns on its head! By this time all the characters are endearing, likeable and interesting.

Lisa is clearly disturbed by her past and coming to grips with understanding that is part of the hold the book has on the reader. Only Marilyn appears to have a perfect life. The stage is set when Ava saves a child from drowning and the after-effect has dire consequences for all three women.

When the plot changes direction in a horrifying way, it is an anxious reading time to get to the truth which is way beyond anyone’s imagination. Lisa’s tightly kept secret is out and their lives become untenable. Marilyn also has a secret and the amazing thing about this brilliant psychological thriller is that Sarah must know her readers are going to be doing a lot of incorrect guessing during the book. But, it is impossible to guess what comes next because Sarah Pinsborough is ten steps ahead with her unbelievably good psychological thriller. It’s shocking, dreadful but sadly plausible.

Absolutely brilliant. I could not put the book down all night until it was finished.

BonnieK

Breakaway Reviewers received a copy of the book to review.

It is impossible to predict the end of the book. Or even a few of the twists and turns that filled the pages. It was thought out so well, written in such a way that you find yourself thinking you know what's going on, only to find out that the author has other ideas. It kept my eyes on the page the whole time reading it, not wanting to wait another second to find out what came next.

Even though parts of this book were hard to read, I enjoyed it overall. I love a good mystery and I love a book that pulls out the carpet of what you think you know from underneath you. This is definitely my definition of a perfect thriller.

The characters were interesting too. I felt worried at the start because the two adult characters, Marilyn and Lisa weren't the sort of characters I tend to like reading about, but as they got caught up in the events of the book and all the secrets hidden in their lives started to come out, I was hooked.

If you're looking for something to read this bank holiday weekend you could do worse than a book by Sarah Pinborough.

Lisa lives a quiet life with her daughter Ava. Things seem ok until Ava saves a young boys life and their photos appear in the paper. The worst happens and Lisa's past catches up with her.

I read Behind Her Eyes last year and it was one of my favourite reads of the year. What BHE had was that ending which I never saw coming. This book I enjoyed but not as much as BHE.

This story is told before and after and from the point of views of Lisa, Ava and Marilyn who is Lisa's friend. The story is very engrossing, with me wanting to know what is going to happen next and what happened before.

The story however does not have an ending to blow me away like BHE. I was expecting one, a mighty big twist but it didn't happen. The story does have a twist and I didn't guess which is a good thing but the ending was a little predictable.

When all is revealed who 'it' is I found that a bit unbelievable. Saying anymore will spoil but when you read it you will see what I mean.

The story overall was good and their was certainly enough to keep me entertained but it just didn't quite have that final wow factor.

A controversial theme which will not suit all readers. Still, a well written, structured novel with believable characters. The plot is gripping, exciting and expertly crafted.
I won't give too much away, but a good twisty thriller full of surprises.

How evil can a child be? And also, once a victim, always a victim? These two questions made for a very interesting read. A real page turner and hard to put down, I flew through the book. A brilliant read I highly recommend!
I chose to read this book and all opinions in this review are my own and completely unbiased. Thanks to NetGalley and HarperCollins UK!

Oh.My.Gosh! I'm a broken woman and it's all thanks to Cross Her Heart by Sarah Pinborough. Now this may come as a shock to many of you as I have a reputation as an on-the-ball crime blogger to uphold but this is the first book I have read by Sarah Pinborough. Her previous release, Behind Her Eyes was a little (<-- understatement) popular last year with its #WTFthatending hashtag. I have a copy, I just haven't managed to find the time to read it yet *hangs head in shame*.

What a book Cross Her Heart is! It's not often a psychological thriller can bring me to tears but as I said at the start of this review, I am a broken woman. I feel as though I've gone ten rounds with a champion heavyweight boxer, beaten and bruised but I wouldn't have changed it for the world. I had been warned previously that what you see isn't necessarily what you end up getting with a Pinborough novel. This author is a master at making you think one thing, pulling the wool completely over your eyes and then going 'taddah' and you're somewhere else entirely different to where you predicted. Top marks for doing it with such aplomb! Many writers try and achieve something similar and they do manage to some degree but this book, this author seem to reach a whole new undiscovered level.

I immediately liked Lisa. I could see a little of myself in her and maybe that was the reason I warmed to her as quickly as I did. She's an overprotective parent of a sixteen-year-old. She keeps herself to herself, gets on with her life and spends her days fretting about keeping Ava, her daughter, safe. It becomes apparent to the reader that Lisa has a lot of history, that something happened in her past that she's either running away from or there is someone she's hiding from. She has secrets but we all have secrets, right? It's just that some are a lot bigger, a lot more earth-shattering than others though...

Lisa is one of three strong female characters hiding their devastating secrets from the world in this story. Her daughter Ava has her own issues to deal with including an overprotective mother, exams and pressure from her friends to move her relationship with her boyfriend to the next level. Then we also have Marilyn, Lisa's best friend who's perfect life isn't the idyllic picture she paints on a daily basis. I adored all three of these characters. As Pinborough tantalisingly revealed their secrets and dropped another bombshell on her reader, how much I liked them varied quite dramatically - and I found that utterly fascinating.

I do have to mention Daniel and how he totally broke my heart into a million pieces and how, during parts of the book, I had to put it down and walk away and clear my mind a little. I had to have a breather otherwise I would have been a shambolic, sobbing mess in the corner of the room. But as I'm a 'no spoiler reviewer' I can't really tell you anything else about him or his story. If you want to find out more then you'll have to get a copy of Cross Her Heart.
Would I recommend this book? Absolutely, yes! What a page-turner of a read. What a brilliant, yet devastating story this is. I was completely hooked and I didn't want it to end. There were a couple of small points which I struggled to believe but the storytelling is so wonderfully intense and so riveting that I didn't really care. I was just enjoying a stonkingly good novel! Heartbreaking, emotional, impossible to tear yourself away from and so utterly devastating in places, this book should win awards.

Five out of five stars.

I chose to read and review an eARC of Cross Her Heart. The above review is my own unbiased opinion.

I really enjoyed Sarah Pinborough’s last book “Behind Her Eyes” (#WTFthatending) so I was excited to see her latest offering. I’m pleased to report that this novel did not disappoint. I’m a weird way, these domestic thrillers are becoming a bit of a guilty pleasure – I love the way you can speed through them because you can’t wait to see what happens next (although the non-hubs is less appreciative when I’m still reading at 2am and he wants to go to sleep). I do find that the quality within this genre is pretty variable though, so I was relieved to find that Cross Her Heart was within the upper percentile of my personal bell curve of likeability.

Yay!

Cross Her Heart is about a single mum, Lisa, living with her daughter Ava. They seem to have a pretty normal, happy relationship although Lisa can be a bit over protective. However, weird things start happening – familiar baby toys then up, a photo is smashed when the house is empty – and Lisa begins to panic. As she starts to link these instances together we learn more of her past until events conspire to make her history public. When the truth does out, it seems like the whole world turns against Lisa – just when she needs help the most.

Oh, and there’s obviously a dramatic ending that you definitely don’t see coming. Obviously.

The writing in this book is excellent, really pacey and consistent. One of my major bugbears is incongruous details – things that don’t quite add up or appear to be thrown in as a big obvious red herring and, happily, there’s none of that. As I mentioned, I’d previously read Behind Her Eyes (look, there’s a review and everything) and because of the way that book ended I couldn’t help thinking that there would be a similar theme. That took me off on a completely different – and entirely wrong – tangent (presumably deliberate) which I thought was a very subtle and very clever way of misleading your reader. Top marks, Ms Pinborough!

I really liked all of the main characters in this book and I loved how the different relationships were portrayed. Some of the mother/teenage daughter scenes were cringily reminiscent of my own adolescence, where I was also full of irrational rage and certain that I had the most overbearing mother in the world (I didn’t – sorry Mum). I also really like the female friendships and the way that the two female characters had each others backs no matter what. However, the thing that stood out for me was the way that domestic violence and coercive control was written about – I thought Sarah Pinborough did a brilliant job of showing such an accurate portrayal.

On the downside, there’s often a part of the storyline in thrillers where you have to suspend your disbelief for a second and I will say that I found the ending just a tiny, tiny bit unbelievable – although the author clearly recognises this and does her best to make it seem realistic. At least you won’t see it coming!

If you haven’t read this book, I would recommend that you read Behind Her Eyes first – they’re both completely stand alone novels but knowing how Sarah Pinborough writes really expanded my ideas about how her second book would end – and this absolutely added to the drama *happy face*.

Overall, I really enjoyed reading Cross Her Heart. It’s never going to make it as classic fiction, but in a crowded marketplace this book ticks all the right boxes. I’m now a full on fan of Sarah Pinborough and can’t wait to see what she does next!

This was a book I couldn’t put down. I have to be honest and say I haven’t read Behind Her Eyes but I think this is a good thing as I have nothing to compare it with.

Written in first person, present tense, for the three main narrators - Lisa, Ava and Marilyn - there's an immediacy with the story that draws you quickly into their lives. Each has a secret that cannot be shared despite the fact that Lisa and Marilyn have been best friends for ten years and Ava is Lisa's daughter. The story is divided into three parts. The first section is at a slightly slower pace as we learn about the three women. However, the tension is still there as the story builds to an event that should be a cause for celebration but instead brings all of their lives crashing down. The second part deals with the immediate after-effects while the third twists the story yet again.
I daren’t tell you anymore as I don’t want to give any spoilers away but this book is like a maze of mirrors. You think you can see the way forward but distortions prevent you from seeing the true picture. I absolutely loved this book!

Cross Her Heart is a physiological thriller that definitely took me all a journey full of twists and turns. The story focuses around three main characters, all of whom are living with a secret. Lisa is hiding something from her past from everyone in her life, her 16-year-old daughter Ava is in an online relationship with a man she's never met, and Lisa's best friend Marilyn is afraid to tell the truth about her home life. When an event spirals out of control. all three find their lives in danger.

This was a great thriller that wasn't afraid to sometimes take the darkest, dirtiest route. There were definitely a couple of times during this book when I thought something would happen or be revealed, and it was actually the complete opposite. Lisa's POV was my favourite, I actually found Ava to be completely repulsive - yes, she was the epitome of a sullen teenager, but omg she was just so much. Marilyn's POV honestly bored me for the majority of the book until things really got going.

I would definitely just advise people to go into this book blind with no expectations and they think they would find themselves really enjoying it.

I'm a fan of Sarah Pinborough, and I've enjoyed all her books that I've read. Unfortunately, this didn't quite live up to my expectations. It was exciting, fast-paced, but the ending felt rushed to say the least.. So many loose ends were not tied up, and it went from the explosive climax straight into a short epilogue, leaving me frustrated that I didn't know what fully happened to everyone.