I was lucky enough to receive this book from netgalley wow and what a fantastic explosive read it kept me hooked from the first page this is a must read

I read this book very quickly but was disappointed in the ending as it seemed to me that there were a lot of unanswered questions. Having said that it was an easy and enjoyable read.

I believe My Name is Anna to be Lizzy Barber’s debut novel which blows my mind as it is so brilliantly written and such a powerful story.

Anna lives with her mother who is deeply religious and incredibly strict. This discipline is heavily focussed on cleanliness – being pure and therefore closer to God. Anna loves her mum but cannot help but wonder as to how it would be to have a parent who might show her affection and love in a more direct and warm way. She finds herself often looking at the one portrait in the house of her parents when her father was alive and questioning her lack of resemblance to them both. She and her mother live in Florida near Astroland, a famous theme park, but she has been firmly forbidden from ever going there. So when she rebels against her mother for the first time and attends the park with William, her boyfriend, she is taken aback at sudden and vivid flashes of memories that tell her she has most definitely been there before.

Rosie lives with her parents and brother in London and also with the shadow of her sister who went missing many years previously. As the fifteenth anniversary of Emily’s disappearance approaches can her family finally recover from the heartbreak and deeply entrenched sorrow at her loss? Rosie is desperate to find out what happened to her older sister so that she can prevent her family from fracturing beyond repair. But as she ventures into dark areas of the internet in order to do so, is she putting herself in the line of danger?

This is a great read that shows how vastly different lives can be and how the damage caused by one person’s actions can echo across the years and create so much harm to so many and change the course of their lives. It is beautifully written and contains deeply complex and damaged characters whilst taking on the ever asked question of Nature Vs Nurture. It is at times deeply heart wrenching and yet full of drama to keep you on the edge of your seat as the story develops. A book I certainly recommend and I look forward to reading more from this author in the future.

My thanks to #Netgalley and the publisher for a copy of #MyNameisAnna in return for an honest review.

I really quite enjoyed this book. I’m sure that others have already made the comment that the storyline has a Madeline McCann feel to it and that they recognised the premise of certain parts of the book which I also felt within the storyline. 

It’s difficukt to describe without starting a spoiler alert. I enjoyed the book but didngiesss the ending abiut half way through . This doesn’t destruct from the interest in the story and the complexity of the characters. Focus on those and the you won’t be disappointed they you also guessed the ending. 

Thank you to NetGakket and the author for allowing me to review this book.

Thanks to NetGalley for the ARC in exchange for an honest review.

I really enjoyed this book and it flowed really nicely. I like to read my books 1 chapter at a time before I have to go adult in between, but Barber cleverly puts her cliffhangers at the end of each chapter so I had to keep on reading even when I should've been doing something else!
It's really hard to actually review this without giving away the spoilers, but although it's quite obvious from the beginning that Emily is going to be found, the circumstances in which she was taken were unexpected.

This book had me on the edge of my seat and I barely put it down to sleep. The many twists and turns, details and country cross overs meant that I was constantly guessing and wondering how the story would be resolved. I can totally see this as a short TV series because it was so visual throughout!

I was hooked from the start with this story, and I loved the Carrie references that is Anna's life. She lives with her deeply religious single mother leading a sheltered life and on her 18th birthday she sneaks away with a boy to a theme park. This triggers all sorts of flashback and niggling memories that she can't quite place. On the other side of the ocean in London lives Rosie, her family life has been turned upside down since her sister Emily disappeared 15 years ago - and though she was only a year or two old when her sister disappears her life growing up has been overshadowed by that event.  Now Rosie has decided to do some digging into her sisters disappearance at a theme park in Florida.

The story is told in the POV from each sister and you couldn't help but get sucked into the story as it slowly unfolds from both sides. I really enjoyed this book and found in emotional what Anna's real mother must have went through and continued to go through.

Rosie has grown up in the shadow of her missing sister. Her family have spent years following every clue and hint which may lead them to find her. There have been TV interviews for the whole family particularly around the anniversary of her disappearance. Rosie has never felt able to be Rosie, she has always been that girl whose sister disappeared. On the other side of the world in America lives Anna. She has been bought up in a very strict religious household by her single Mother. However, now at age 18 she wants to push the boundaries starting with a visit to a theme park which she has been banned from visiting.

This is a book written from the point of view of the two girls – Anna and Rosie. I found this particularly interesting as stories about people who have gone missing are often written from the viewpoint of the parents, the abductor, the police or another third party. These are very intimate accounts. I felt very much for Rosie whose whole life has been taken up by the disappearance of her sister. It certainly made me think about how difficult it must be to be in her position. & how siblings cope with the loss of a sibling, the focus on finding them & the associated media circus.

I felt the characters were written with real depth and emotion. I was particularly taken with Rosie’s family. However, Anna’s mother is also interesting – she has obviously been through traumatic events and wants to keep her daughter safe at all costs.

This was a well written and well plotted book. Some things are quite obvious to the reader from quite early on but I enjoyed following the characters as they made their own discoveries. Not everything was set from the beginning – there is still much to discover on the way – some of it quite unexpected.

I received a free copy of this book via Netgalley.

I don’t know if I just wasn’t in the mood for this book as I had read some great reviews but it just didn’t grip me at all. I didn’t like the religious cult aspect of Anna’s side of the story and ended up skim reading most of it. However it was well written and I enjoyed Rosie’s side of the story much more. Would definitely give this author another go. Thanks to Netgalley, the author and Century for an advance copy in exchange for an honest review.

This was such an emotional read which tells the story of a missing child from both sides. We have the child herself who doesn’t know she is missing, but who starts to realise things aren’t quite what she always thought. We then have the missing child’s sister who has lived in the shadow of her memory for years.

As both sides begin to come together I was so drawn into the story. Many thanks to the publisher and Netgalley for providing a copy,

I’ve been struggling to find the right book to hook me and this is the one that succeeded. The author gives enough detail to make you want to read more.

Fantastic read, the story of a child that goes missing and the effect it has on the family, not knowing if she’s dead or alive, so unable to have closure.

A very different take on many a well known adduction story. Slipping between the two sisters point I raced through both story lines wanting to know what happened.

Anna is a young woman, coming of age, who has been raised in a very religious household with very strict rules. She knows she is not allowed to visit a nearby town/Amusement Park but doesn't know why- until she breaks the rules and goes with her boyfriend and feels an urgent sense of de ja vu. She knows she's been here before. But when??
What unravels is the mystery of who she is, where she came from and why she remembers that park.
I found the characters engaging and interesting- although slightly frustrating.
It was well written and a good page turner but the ending was too abrupt and needed an epilogue to tie everything together.

From the winner of the Daily Mail crime writing competition comes a suspenseful debut psychological thriller about a young woman’s quest to uncover her real identity. Gripping and fast-paced, you’ll race through this emotional, compelling read, desperate to find out the truth.

Two women – desperate to unlock the truth.
How far will they go to lay the past to rest?

ANNA has been taught that virtue is the path to God. But on her eighteenth birthday she defies her Mamma’s rules and visits Florida’s biggest theme park.

She has never been allowed to go – so why, when she arrives, does everything seem so familiar? And is there a connection to the mysterious letter she receives on the same day?

ROSIE has grown up in the shadow of the missing sister she barely remembers, her family fractured by years of searching without leads. Now, on the fifteenth anniversary of her sister’s disappearance, the media circus resumes in full flow, and Rosie vows to uncover the truth.

But will she find the answer before it tears her family apart....

Not a bad book by Lizzy Barber, well written and suspenseful but with a bit of a slow, plodding pace.
Skipping back and forth between Anna and Rosie was a good way to keep me interested, however I would’ve like to have seen More of Rosie’s life fleshed out as the concentration was mainly on Anna.
The plot was every parents worse nightmare and the emotional rollercoaster felt by each character was described well, the setting of a happy fun place in the Theme Park was eerily contrasted by the events that took place, however I felt that the story needed to kick up the pace a bit to fully keep my attention.
Worth a read though.

Thank you to the author and publisher for the advanced copy of My Name is Anna.
Unfortunately I didn't finish the book, I just couldn't get into it. Nothing to do with how it was written just not to my taste

This is a very impressive debut novel.  This book is told from two sisters points of view as they struggle to discover what happened 15 years earlier and who they really are.
Rose is living in London and her and her family have never recovered from her sister Emily’s abduction 15 years earlier from an American theme park.  They hold a party for what would have been Emily’s 18th birthday.  The funds that they receive to keep the campaign going to find Emily are nearly running out so Rosie decides to try and find out herself what happened to her.
Anna, who we soon realise is Emily, is living in America with a very strict, very dominating and religious mother.  Anna and her boyfriend sneak off to Astroland, a theme park which her mother has banned her from going to.  Anna has a strange experience whilst there as she is convinced that she has been there before and decides to investigate what she remembers and this starts her on a journey of discovery.  The story then builds with both girls revealing secrets that have been hidden and discovering the truth. I thought the ending was a bit quick and would have liked the story to have carried on a little more but I still recommend reading this book. I am sure you will not be  disappointed.
Thanks to NetGalley and the publishers for giving me the opportunity to read and review this book 
.

I thoroughly enjoyed this book.  Having read some reviews that mentioned a cult story line, I was a little wary but it was actually very well written and not overwhelming to the overall tale.  I enjoyed the alternate chapters for the two girls and the way they came together towards the end as the reasons for Emily's disappearance were revealed.  Very good read - recommended.

Her name was Anna, or that was what she thought and indeed we thought she was, author Lizzie Barber however had other plans. as she took us on a journey. That journey involved two young girls, Anna and Rosie, two girls with widely different backgrounds , that Barber used to brilliant effect,

Anna, did not have the advantage of the internet, TV or  mobile phone, her methods of discovery were the old fashioned kind, that of instinct, gut feeling and making good use of opportunities that presented themselves. In some ways it allowed Barber to explore her emotions, her confusion as to who she was that little bit more. For me, what made her story all the more interesting and poignant was her feelings towards her mother, at times anger and at other an overriding sense of loyalty and love for the woman who had raised her.

Rosie, was the child that had to live up to the older sister that went missing and never came back. Barber made me feel quite sorry for her, always having to check in, to ride the waves of the emotional rollercoaster that enveloped her parents, to live the life of the perfect teenager. Yet, Rosie had a tenacious, feisty side to her that I loved, and her quest to discover the mystery of her sisters disappearance made for pretty gripping reading.

Barbers use of alternating chapters showing Anna and Rosie's points of view was seamlessly done, it allowed Barber to show two differing sides and for me it was utterly thought provoking. Its similarities with Madeline McCann really made me think what it must have been and still is like for the parents, remaining children and the wider family. It so clearly highlighted what really happens when the media disappears and moves on to the next story.  You just wanted Rosie and Anna to be normal, to be doing all the things that normal teenagers do, but it was their drive to discover the truth that stayed firmly at the heart of the novel, the pace unrelenting as they each unearthed revelation after revelation.

I had to think really hard about my feelings towards Anna's mother. Did I feel sorry for her, did I despise her and her unorthodox child rearing methods or was she too a victim? This was an aspect of the novel that I found challenged my thinking and I for one love any novel that can do that, and do it so well.

I desperately wanted a happy ending, and although it is not for me to say, My Name is Anna will leave you with more questions than answers.

It will pull you into a whirlwind of emotions and drama and a world you would never wish to enter. It would make a great TV drama or film and I really do hope that someone will take a chance on My Name Is Anna and bring it to life.