Well what do I say except this book was just excellent I just could not put it down and was so hooked from page one. I really liked the character of Stella and felt she was very well written and likeable as she tries hard to get to the bottom of a family mystery that is brought to the fore by the discovery of a body on the island she used to live on. The story is told in two timelines both past and present and little by little we are given clues as to what may have happened. An island community with things to hide, suspicions and family secrets makes this a read with plenty of tension and very enjoyable so for me a solid 4 stars.
My thanks to NetGalley and Random House UK for giving me the chance to read the ARC in exchange for my honest opinion.

The premise of this story is that Stella grew up on a remote island, which her family left hurriedly in unusual circumstances. Her sister Bonnie has had a troubled life with alcoholism and poor self-esteem, her brother Daniel appears autistic, non-communicative and just observes everyone around him. When we join the story Stella works as a counsellor, Bonnie is married with children, Daniel has disappeared from their lives years ago, her mother has died and her father, now suffering dementia, has an odd relationship with a younger woman.

And then a body is discovered buried just outside the garden of their old house on Evergreen island. Stella goes back to find out what really happened all those years ago and discovers the islanders unwilling to interact with her, even those who remember her family. What secrets are they all hiding?

The book feels a little like 'whodunnit by numbers' - take an island, an isolated community, family secrets and a murder, throw in a few red herrings and resolve it all in the end.

I enjoyed following the story and finding out the answers, but the writing style felt rather superficial. I could not really identify with any of the characters in any depth.

Thank you to NetGalley and Random House UK, Cornerstone for allowing me access to the ARC in exchange for an honest review.

this is my 1st read buy this author what a story what a book Stella loved living on a very small island with her parents and brother and sister and had a bond with her best friend Jill then one night they leave then years later a body is found I not going to say no more but its a very addictive book its very twisty and emotional will be reading more of this author I so recommend brilliant read

Wow! This book is full of twists and turns! An intriguing story about a family who live on a tiny island just off the south coast of England, who leave very hurriedly one stormy night and will never return. The children are devastated, the island is their home and they can’t understand why they suddenly have to leave in such a rushed and frightening way.
The book takes us through life on the island for the parents - Dad runs the small ferry to the mainland, there are two very different daughters and a son who people perceive as odd, and this story is interwoven with the present time, some twenty years later.
The children grow up and leave home but the youngest daughter , Stella, is always curious to know why they left in such a hurry, but never gets a satisfactory answer. The mother dies without telling, and the father now has dementia.
She is now a family counsellor and one day sees her old home on the island on the television news. A body has been found, buried deep, just beyond their unfenced garden. It has been there for many years.
Stella is horrified and decides to go back to the island for the first time and see a. If she knows who it is, and b. To see if she can discover why her family left.
As there is no one in her family to tell her, she decides that someone on the island must know something but the islanders aren’t happy to see her, they all seem to have their own secrets. It gets a little far fetched towards the end when Stella eventually gets to the truth about her family, but what a ride we’re taken on along the way. This was a well thought out and well written book and I will be looking for more books by this author.

My first book by Heidi Perks and I was hooked from the start. I love a good mystery and the gripping opening scene had the questions flying around my head. Despite the pace dropping, for me, halfway through the book I really enjoyed it. Our MC is Stella who grew up on the Island of Evergreen, a tiny Island and community but dramatically left the Island during a ferocious storm when she was eleven years old with the parents and elder brother and sister. Stella grew up to be a relationship/family councillor, but she always remembers the mysterious and dramatic departure from her home and has grown up with some many unanswered questions about why they had to leave. Shortly after the book begins, a news station reports a body has been found - it turns out in the garden of Stella's family home. Stella begins a quest to find out the truth of what happened and why her family had to leave so dramatically. The narrative switches back and forth from past to present as we try to work out what happened and whose body has been discovered.
I was hooked and loved joining Stella on her journey - there's a great selection of characters to meet and a suspenseful underscore pinning the narrative as Stella returns to the Island, albeit far from welcome. The setting is fabulous - you can't beat an isolated Island, particularly dramatic and atmospheric when the weather changes and the storm comes in. Recommended read.

This is the first book I’ve read from this author and I was pleasantly surprised. Kept moving along nicely and I really wanted to find the cause of the mysterious actions taken in the past by the various main characters. I would definitely read another book by this author.

Come Back for Me by Heidi Perks was a thriller that had me hooked from the beginning.
Stella was brought up on the small island of Evergreen until she was eleven years old and was devastated when her family left suddenly one night during a storm.
Years later Stella sees a news report that a body has been dug up near her old home and she feels that she has to go back to the Island to find out it her family are involved.
I really enjoyed this book, I found the characters interesting.
The story kept me engaged throughout the tension building with each chapter.
Thank you to NetGalley and Random House UK, Cornerstone for my e-copy in exchange for an honest review.

A tiny island is discovered by a long buried body for Stella Harvey is shocking
Now she goes past and finds neighbours and friends but they not allowed to correct there secrets
I had an ARC Cornerstone Digital

I was hooked from the first page couldn’t put it down it was like riding a roller coaster and not wanting to get off, it made me breathless with all the twists and turns and loved the family and the Island, I felt I was actually there. I would never have guessed the ending in a million years. The book was so well written it’s the first of this author I’ve read thanks to Netgalley and certainly won’t be the last I absolutely loved it.

What a delightfully convoluted tale to tell. Nothing is as it seems. No one is who they seem to be. No spoilers from me except to say the butler most certainly did not do it. If you want to find out who did what to whom, I strongly suggest you read the book for yourself as it is definitely worth reading.

Heidi Perks is such a good author. This is one of those books that you can’t put down, a real page turner. The slightly claustrophobic setting of the island is well depicted, with the islanders closing in on themselves against outsiders and intruders. Family relationships are explored cleverly and their strength and importance give the novel depth. The plot keeps you guessing and the ending is reassuringly satisfying. A worthy successor to Now You See Her.

This was a fun read. It's twisty turn-y and very exciting. The plot is well thought through and quite clever. For me, the only elements that let it down were: firstly, in relation to one (3rd person) character, the author keeps using an overly clumsy foreshadowing eg 'two months later she would realise what a mistake this had been' 'soon everything would go wrong' etc etc. It's incredibly annoying and is used almost every time this character appears. Once I spotted the device, it took me out of the book every time I read it and I would simply roll my eyes in irritation. Secondly, I didn't think the final decision made by the main character was in keeping with her personality.

Living on an island with just a hundred inhabitants you pretty much know everyone and they know you. If your dad runs the local ferry you hear about most of the visitors too. That was the world Stella Harvey loved living in until, one stormy night when she was eleven, her family left hurriedly never to return.

Now a counsellor helping problem families she watches the news one evening and realises the reporter explaining about a recently discovered dead is standing in front of her old home. Already pulled in various directions by her family and her memories Stella knows she has to return to her island and at least visit with the friends she left behind.

I enjoyed this book very much and read it in one sitting. I quite often thought I had it all worked out but didn't.  Even when most things had been sorted the ending still surprised me which is always good.

I was able to read an advanced copy of this book thanks to NetGalley  and the publishers in exchange for an unbiased review and would recommend it to anyone who enjoys stand alone murder mystery fiction with a familial theme and many different threads running successfully through it.

Thank you to NetGalley for the chance to read this book in exchange for an honest review. I did enjoy this book but it did not grab my attention like other books of a similar theme. The story follows Stella who as a child lived with her family on a remote island but one stormy night her family upped and left never to return. When on the news some 20+ years later a body is discovered just outside the family garden Stella is compelled to return where events unfold resulting in a dramatic conclusion.

Come Back For Me is an intriguing read with fascinating characters and a gripping story. The setting on a small island where everyone knows each other makes for a tense atmosphere and the switching between the present and the past keeps your interest throughout. I thoroughly recommend it.

I was so excited to get the opportunity to read a preview copy of a new book by one of my favourite contemporary authors but this was a little disappointing. There were a lot of very similar characters so it wasn't always easy to keep up with who was who and the split time-frame only added to that. I didn't feel I came to know the island very well and couldn't visulaise the places where the action took place. The plot was clever (if a little unlikely) and the pace was maintained well throughout the book. There were a few red herrings, some of which had me fooled, but on the whole it felt a bit formulaic and lacking in substance.

I really enjoyed this book. Stella Harvey lived her first 10 years on a small island called Evergreen, off the south coast. But one stormy day her parents uprooted the family and went back to live on the mainland. Now, many years later, Stella sees a news item reporting that a body has been found buried close to their old back garden. Against her better judgement she decides to return to the island for the first time since the family left. Many cans of worms are subsequently opened! This is a family with a number of significant hidden secrets, which are gradually revealed as the story unfolds. It kept me guessing right to the end. Thanks to NetGalley for a preview copy.
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Stella Harvey is stunned to hear on the news that a body has been found, practically in the garden of her childhood home .
She was brought up on a remote island called Evergreen, just off the Dorset coast. She loved it there but knows there is some mystery both as to why their family went there in the first place and why they all left so abruptly.
Stella has a married sister and estranged brother, their mother is now dead and their father has Alzheimer’s, Stella feels that the only way to get some answers to her past is to go back to the island. Once back there it is clear she is not welcome, some familiar faces want her stay to be as brief as possible.
Events from the past, current day and the murder investigation are all linked and come together in a probably unexpected way.

Stella used to live on Evergreen - a small sparsely inhabited island off the coast of Poole Harbour. One night the family had to leave suddenly, and Stella still doesn't know why. She's now an adult, working as a therapist to help others with their problems. Everything is going well for Stella, when she hears that a body has been discovered on Evergreen, and what's more it's on the boundary of her old garden.

Stella an't help herself, she has to find out who it is and what happened, but her family and the inhabitants of Evergreen are not going to make it easy for her. I enjoyed the suspense that this story built up, and of course tried to guess who was the killer, going through each character, discounting them and then suspecting them again as you learn more about them. A great book.

I found this book a little dull. It wound its way through the story referring frequently to events in the past but never describing these until the last quarter of the story. I had begun to lose interest in what had happened. The family was traumatised by these mysterious happenings, then lived a happy life for 11 years, then the trauma reared its head again. They then made a dramatic move and life continued until the discovery of a body brings it back.
Eventually the main character, a member of this family goes on a journey of discovery and the last 20% describes the earlier events the identity of the murderer.
For me it isn't an exciting or very interesting story. Sorry.