Cover Image: Tell No One

Tell No One

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Member Reviews

Diving into the latest Barbaba Taylor Sissel is a bit like coming home; her books are comforting and you know precisely what you're going to get. While this wasn't my favorite of her novels, I still enjoyed it and think fans of her work should definitely pick this up. The gorgeous cover drew me in immediately, and I think my major hindrance in giving this a higher rating was that I simply felt a bit overwhelmed by the many diverging plots here. If I had been pulled in fewer directions, I may have been able to connect a little deeper with the characters, although the author still did a fantastic job of piquing my emotions, especially with the way all wrapped up. Looking forward to her next book! <3

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‘Tell No One’ by Barbara Taylor Sissel is a story surrounding a dying woman’s wish to see her brother one last time and a woman’s search for her missing father, who disappeared out of her life over 30 years ago.

This is a story of heartbreak, addiction, illness and betrayal but also a story of love, acceptance and closure.

There are many story lines which run alongside each other in ‘Tell No One’.

One of illegal activity in the sporting world, one of drug addiction, one of a woman heading for divorce, one of a mothers guilt, one of PTSD and more than one of sorrow.

It may be this reason that the book didn’t flow for me. I found it quite a difficult read and it took me a long time to complete it. I felt I really had to commit to it, however, it did make me feel real emotion. There were parts it really tugged on my heart strings and I did really grow to care for the characters. There was just something missing.

Even though there are so many story lines running throughout I felt ‘Tell No One’ lacked a thick plot. Something that gripped you and pulled you in. It’s not a book that will stay with you long after you finish. It’s not very memorable.

I do commend Sissel’s ability to portray emotion and her character development but unfortunately the gritty, well rounded story I was looking for wasn’t there.

Thank you to netgalley and the publisher for a free ARC in return for an honest review.

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There is a LOT going on in this book, and while Sissel masterfully manages the narrative, allowing the reader to feel comfortable in the plotline -- not just be able to follow it -- this is a book you really need to be able to focus on. It's a complex plotline with intriguing and engaging questions about life and its choices. Characters face some truly monumental challenges, and as such there is a lot to discuss in book clubs and reading pairs. If you enjoy picking apart an epic story, this is the book for you. Very pleasing for those who want to get lost in a story, with lots of depth and some gorgeous phrasing that warrants some re-reads just to experience again that beautiful wording. Well done.

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I received an ARC of this novel from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

A woman in the midst of personal problems goes to search for the father who left her in her youth.

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Really enjoyed! Plenty to keep me engaged and turning the pages. Really recommend. I was surprised! Will post on blog shortly.

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I found this book to be intensely creative. With the popularity of high school and college sports, I think a lot of people wonder if there is something underhanded going on. When Caroline's Aunt Lanie asks to see her brother Hoff one last time, she goes on a mission that leads her to a scene of a crime. I loved that this book was written from different points of view and had many different stories entwined. I have read from this author before and will continue to read and recommend her as an author. She is an original. Thanks for the ARC, Net Galley.

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Tell No One is the latest book by Barbara Taylor Sissel. In Tell No One Ms Sissel tells the story in two different voices. I really enjoyed this story, but at times it moved too slow. Fair warning, there will come a time it's impossible to put down, and there may be a few tears. I was given an early copy to review.

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Thanks Netgalley and the publisher/author for this ARC for my honest review.
I wanted to like this book. I really did. It was a really slow read for me. I normally like alternating narrators and dual POVS, but this book just didn’t work. At times, it was difficult to grasp what was going on. The storyline is great, but the story itself needs work. Sorry!

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This was a slow read for me.
I have enjoyed the storyline and the writing style is very well done,, compliments to the author.

Caroline wants nothing to do with her father who had abandoned her as a young girl and then vanished from her life almost thirty years ago. When her father’s sister and her loved aunt Lanie is close to her last breath, Caroline is determined to find her father to reunite them at the end of Lanie’s life.

Caroline heads of in search of her father’s past relationships and friendships, not knowing what to expect. Secrets, loosing her marriage and meeting up with an old flame, who helps her find her father and uncover secrets that can tear her heart apart.

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Thank you to Net Galley, the author and the publisher for this ARC. I love author's that can describe a scene and you're immediately their, you close your eyes and you picture the scene. This author does that for me. Family drama told in voices of two step siblings, who have never met. Both are faced with hard issues...do they do what's right or do what's easy? This was a well worth read! It had me engaged from the start to the end.

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Thank you to Netgalley, the author and the publisher for this ARC.

I could not get into this book. I felt confused some of the time, switching back and forth between narrators, confused by their own problems and how everything connects. Sometime, I enjoy that feeling. What will I find out along the way? But each alternating narrative dragged on and I couldn’t get sucked in. This felt like it would be the book for me. Trying to find a missing father is something I can relate to, but mostly I just was bored and ready for it to be over. This book had all the elements of a great story for me and I chose it because I felt I related. The deep love of an aunt and an absent father, unresolved issues and deep hurt. But it truly missed the mark for me.

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I struggled with this book a bit. I didn't really like any of the characters - the main character, Caroline, was okay, but I didn't really like her enough to really root for her in her quest to find her father. The best part about her was her dedication to her dying aunt and her desire to protect her daughter from the fallout of a broken home. Otherwise, I found her to be kind of annoying. The other main character, Harris, had so many issues and dealt with them in all the wrong ways. The story itself was ok, but I found that parts of it seemed to go really slow.

Thank you to Lake Union Publishing and NetGalley for providing a copy for review.

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Come back, come back, come back, as if his return- her family’s restoration to their once-upon-a-time life- were a matter of asking, or begging, or any words at all.

Caroline’s aunt Lanie is dying and desperate to see her brother, Garret “Hoff” Hoffman before she passes away. Caroline’s mother tells her ‘it’s a fool’s errand’ to even try, no one knows where he disappeared to, only that he left a trail of heartbreak behind. What caused her once loving dad to walk away? But Caroline’s beloved aunt is more like a mother to her, salvation during the years after her parents divorced. Caroline’s tender early memories seem to arise more lately and when she returns to the past and seeks out coach Kelly, she finds it troubling that his son Jace seems to be hiding something, protecting his now elderly father. Once a boy she spent happy days with, he seems to want to dodge ever question she puts to his father, even though the old coach wants to reminisce, adamantly telling her ‘dad needs to rest.’ A warning comes soon after in the form of an ‘accident’, someone really is trying to keep her from finding out what happened to her father.

Harris is the child who Hoff raised for a time when he abandoned his old life, and Caroline. Harris looked up to Hoff, with football in common as Hoff was a recruiter, he finally had a man to emulate and love, but those days are buried and he is haunted by his own terrible guilt now that he himself is a father. One thing Caroline and Harris have in common is their failing marriages. The cracks in Caroline’s life is all about her husband Rob’s lies and betrayals, his devious business dealings but for Harris it is his increasing nightmares, closing his wife Holly out. There are some shameful secrets that cannot be told, not even to his wife but there are other things to turn to when trying to tame one’s demons. His life appears perfect on paper with his career, his beautiful sons and loyal wife. But the past can’t be buried.

Truth will out, but it isn’t always what you imagine. Bad guys, good guys sometimes the distance is only a hair’s breadth between the two. If grave moments could only remain hidden and not rise up to torment us, then the past wouldn’t haunt. In seeking answers, Caroline must come to terms with what she built up as her father’s reasons in her mind with the truth. Harris was everything Caroline could never be, the perfect son! Right? Accidents and incidents have long reaching consequences. Many of Caroline’s choices of the heart stem from feeling discarded by her father, as far back as her high school years. We are shaped by other’s actions sometimes, even when we consciously attempt to remain unaffected. At times the hand of fate, chance turns us into someone we’re not, and there is no reasoning with it. This novel dips into several stories, Caroline and her daughter reeling after discovering Rob’s deceptive crimes, while she is trying to confront her past and find her father. Holly and Harris drifting apart because he cannot confide what disturbs him. Their sons Kyle and Connor his pride but there is a wild struggle within Harris to be a better father than his own influence and yet he is failing, railing against himself. Everything that has happened returns to the moment when Caroline was still the apple of her daddy’s eyes, until her father’s fall in the stands.

This is a solid story, engaging but sometimes I wanted to stay in Caroline’s world and felt pulled in many directions. Hoff’s tale is interesting, sometimes the biggest threat doesn’t come from outside of us, but within.

Publication Date: May 14, 2019

Lake Union Publishing

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In Tell No One, Sissel once again takes readers on haunting journey through the heart's darkest chambers as a daughter's desperate search for her long-missing father leads her into a minefield of secrets and a journey toward forgiveness. Multiple storylines involving a financial crimes, a college recruiting scandal, and addiction emerge, with various family members struggling with the consequences of long-buried lies that reach down through the generations, culminating in a dramatic and satisfying ending.

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I love author’s that can describe a scene and you are immediately there, you close your eyes and you picture the scene. This author does that for me.

Family drama told in voices of two step siblings, who had never met. Both are faced with hard issues...do they do what’s right or do what’s easy? Caroline finds out her husband is doing something illegal and it could land her in prison. Harris has an addiction and has seen a robbery. Now, he’s being blackmailed. A lot going on in this book: addiction, marital issues, missing person, the dark side of college recruiting, and lots of secrets. It unfolds at a pace slow enough to suck you in and takes off from there. Characters are situations are raw, true, flawed.

I received an ARC of this book. Opinion is mine alone.

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Very good book really enjoyed!! Interesting and fast paced story I will be reading more from this writer

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Though this wasn't as fast paced as I expected it to be, it was a great read that was hard to put down! Harris' chapters were hard to get through.

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This book was an easy read. Family drama and relationships with a little Texas football. It has me guessing where it was heading until the end of the book and it took a stranger turn than I was expecting. Not a bad turn, it just made me stop and pause to wonder if I was reading the same book. In the end I was hoping for a little bit more closure with the crime storyline. Thank you NetGalley for an ARC copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

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So this took me a long time to read. I found this book really hard to get into, It was like the first half of the story was just building on something, but really missing the mark to actually get there. Not gonna lie I low key really disliked that part of it. About halfway through it started getting better, it started to flow better and then it got to the point of where I was no longer reading it out of obligation, but I was reading it because I really wanted to finish it. I wanted to see how it was going to end, and to be frank, it ended exactly the way I thought it was going to end, which to me was disappointing.

Caro was a very well built character, she had so many good thoughts put into her that her portion of the story just flowed really well, I enjoyed reading what conversation she had with the other characters in the book, and I would read another book if she was in it again. Very thoroughly enjoyed this character.

Harris; honestly I'm not a fan. He just didn't mesh well with me. I'm not 100% positive why he didn't mesh well with me though.

Overall I gave this book 3 stars, mainly because it took me so long to actually get into this book. Would I give the author a chance again? Absolutely I would. The story she wove, even though not my personal favourite, was beautifully written.

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Tell No One by Barbara Taylor Sissel is the story of one woman’s determination to find her father and one man’s desperate attempts to keep dark secrets hidden. Caroline Hoffman Corbett is searching for her father, Garrett “Hoff” Hoffman at the request of her dying aunt. They became estranged 30 years ago and her father suddenly vanished. No one has had contact with him since. As she tracks down people who knew her dad, she discovers the man beyond the father she knew. She learns that there are some people who may not want her father to be found. At the same time, Harris Fenton is a man with deep, dark secrets that he is desperate to keep hidden. His life is falling apart around him as he struggles to keep his secrets and keep his family together. As their stories growing closer together, Caroline and Harris must face the truth about the past. Will Caroline find her father? Will Harris be able to continue to hide his secrets? Or will the truth force itself to be told?
Tell No One is a riveting story of one woman’s search at all cost. Caroline is a great character who battles her own regret and anger toward her father as she tries to grant her aunt’s wish. When she learns disturbing information about her father, she must put the two images of the man together: one is the father she knew and loved and the man everyone else knew. Harris is a man battling chronic pain and deeper demons. The story switches back and forth between Caroline and Harris, as I read, I was wondered how these two people were related and when it was finally revealed, I gasped in surprise! I also enjoyed the realism in Caroline's responses as she learns information about her dad which challenged the image she had of him. I was hooked from the opening chapter to the final sentence. I highly recommend Tell No One.

Tell No One
will be released May 14, 2019
in paperback, eBook and audiobook

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