I hate when NetGalley and the author are nice enough to share an ARC with me and then it’s mediocre. I really wanted to love this book, but I just didn’t. It’s very predictable and while it’s not garbage, it didn’t live up to the hype or expectation. I’m sure some readers will enjoy this book, but I love suspense and this fell flat for me.

The first few chapters had me a little confused but as soon as I figured out the narrators, I was able to keep things straight. While this book and some twists and turns they weren’t anything overly surprising. This was a good read, but it wasn’t one of the better that I’ve read.

I received an advance readers copy in exchange for an honest review. While this wasn't high art, it was a perfectly entertaining thriller and I got a few nights of thrills out of it. It took me a while to really latch onto lot device , but once I had that down it was easy to follow and enjoyable. 3.5 rounded up

I probably did this book a great disservice selecting it immediately after reading an infinitely superior suspense thriller. But then again She Chose Me made its own bed with its mediocre plot, trite narration twists and complete lack of originality (and this includes the title and the cover, I’ve just added the cover, you’d think this is something the author or the publisher might want to do, but apparently not always). Given the insane popularity of these female authored female driven thrillers, one really has to offer something quite singular to stand out and this book didn’t even try. Instead it chose to concentrate on guess what cliché…babies. Well, mothers and daughters. Specifically a disturbed young woman who’s looking for her birth mother and a 42 year old English teacher who becomes the focus of her obsession. Mind you, this book isn’t terrible by any means, in fact it checks all the boxes for what it is, spit narrative, tantalizing (kinda) glimpses of the past, is she or isn’t she drama, certain amount of suspense even and what can be generously referred to as some surprises, but…her comes the but…not only is it all entirely too obvious, the author has also made a choice of hanging the crucial 50% of the plot on a thoroughly unlikable, obnoxious and tedious kid, who you just sort of want to slap. We’re told from fairly early on about her mental state, so you can’t really expect too many surprises. Oh, and everyone follows everyone in this novel. Not just online, but actually in person, like they are all playing at spies. It gets silly after a while, but the author goes on with it until the very final act. Talk about commitment. And so behold the drama of messed up girls and baby mamas. With a plot is tragically thin for the page count. The only thing elevating this and actually making it a surprisingly decent read despite all the criticism and intellectual protestations is the writing, quite good particularly for a debut. So if you’re not too choosy, this formulaic estrogeny tale might be ok for you. Interestingly enough while all of these types of books are describes using the investable comparisons to similar (usually superlative) works, this one actually got it quite accurately comparing it to Girl Before, another thoroughly mediocre thriller. So that’s some accurate advertising for a change. Thanks Netgalley.

A woman hiding a big secret is taunted by an anonymous stalker. Grace doesn’t have children of her own, so she finds it odd when she gets a blank Mother’s Day card. Another card, followed by phone calls and hang ups, puts her on edge as she realizes that her past is not as secret as she had believed. Emerson’s debut novel leaves me looking forward to her next book