I think that the abuse Tara received, including flashbacks, made me uncomfortable to read this book. That aside, I think that her coming of age was believable.

This was a very fast easy read. It's fast paced, starting right in the beginning with the MC almost being caught shoplifting. From there, you explore her relationship with Mother, her odd punishments and her foggy memory. 

But I felt like the story was a easy to predict. I enjoyed it, didn't love it.

The premise of this book sounded really interesting, like a modern-day Rapunzel meets the YouTube generation, but as we know people's lives behind closed doors are never quite what they share online. This was a domestic thriller with something different, and I enjoyed reading it a lot. 

Thanks to Netgalley and the publishers for letting me access an advance digital copy of this book in exchange for my honest review.

I really enjoy Emily Bleeker’s books and this is no exception. Angela gets picked to intern on a very popular YouTube channel, which follows a family on their regular adventures. However, the family isn’t exactly as they seem and neither is Angela. They both have secrets they want to hide. This is also on Kindle Unlimited and is a great, quick read.

Tara has a dysfunctional relationship with her "mother", who is cruel and unfair throughout Tara's life with her.  Tara escapes, lands an internship with the Feely family - who she has watched online for years and taken mental refuge with them. Tara feels that she has a fresh start with the Feelys while still harboring the constant fear that her mother will find her.  Little does she know she is still trapped - how will she finally escape and find happiness?

This was a very compelling story and I loved the twists at the end - but I have to admit it was a hard, depressing read.  Overall, good story.  Just listen to happy music once you're done to lift you up!

Thanks to Emily Bleeker, Lake Union Publishing and NetGalley for the ARC.

This was such a great read, enjoyed it thoroughly, i was hooked from the first page, great storyline and loads of twists and turns , highly recommend this book x

This book is great! Would definitely recommend. Thanks so much to NetGalley and the publisher for the ARC.

WOAH.
This was my first novel by Bleeker, and I will  be reading more!
Just the right amount of suspense. 
just the right amount "what the fuck is going on"
Thanks for the ARC!

DNF. Thank you NetGalley and Publisher for this early copy! I decided to not keep reading this one, it was not for me. Thanks!

This book reminded me of the book/movie White Oleander.   Emily Bleeker is one of my favorite authors and I always look forward to her newest book.  This one seemed a little more bland than some previous ones but still an enjoyable fluff of a read.   She writes so that the stories are easy to read, flow well and you can vividly picture the characters and that's what makes her stories suck you in.  I'm not really sure why the main character continued to pretend to be pregnant, when she didn't need to in the first place.  I didn't get the feeling she was very bright, causing a lot of her predicament.

The few chapters didn't interest me at all which was disappointing.
I kept putting this book down and sadly had to DNF.
Thank you Netgalley for the free eArc in exchange for an honest review.

This was my first Emily Bleeker book and wow! It was really good! The storyline hooked me immediately. It was twisted and concerning and I needed to know where it was going! I basically couldn’t put this one down. There was a little bit in the middle that I got a bit bored by but it was pretty minimal and nothing that kept me from loving the book altogether. Full of twists and turns for sure! I also loved the writing and how vividly I could picture the events that were occurring and the personalities and actions of the characters. I would definitely recommend it & plan on reading more from this author!

4.5 stars

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for my digital copy!

I have this book 4 stars...and here’s why:

This is my first Emily Bleeker novel and I’m happy to have discovered her. I love a good twisted thriller, and this book pretty much did it for me. I’m interested to check out Bleeker’s other work. 4 stars!

I have read several books by Emily Bleeker and was excited to read this one. It fell a little short for me. It had good bones, the premise of a you tube family that is nothing off the camera like they are on the camera. A young woman who has been so brainwashed and abused by her mother that she will do anything to be a part of this perfect family even for just a moment. I really wanted more dark story to this plot. It was good, a solid read but it took me a little longer than normal to read because I felt it just couldn't keep my interest. A solid 3 out of 5.

Thank you to net galley for an advanced copy in exchange for an honest review. This book was good. Not great. Good character development and well written. The story didn't hold my attention so I found myself struggling to finish this having to come back multiple times before finally finishing. I wish I had a better explanation for the author as to why this book didn't work for me, but I honestly don't know why other than the story itself just wasn't interesting to me. So in my opinion I'd say it's more of a my preference thing than anything having to do with the book. So I wouldn't not recommend nor recommend this book due to that.

This was a fast read and a page turner, even so, the story isn't very believable. I struggled at times to not give up and DNF the book, but I really wanted to know how the story ends.

TW: abuse

This story had a lot of potential with its unique premise but it just wasn’t as successful as it could have been.

The Pros: What worked for me

I really liked the way the author opened up the story. The way the reader was able to get into the head of Tara, the protagonist, and understand her plight was really good; I was invested in her character and worried for her.
The writing style made it easy for the reader to get into the story and the pacing was decent, too.

The Cons: What I didn’t like

Once Tara makes her daring escape, the story quickly switches from being a thriller to being an existential crisis of sorts. As one might expect, reality is never what it seems and Tara is surprised by the Feely family off-camera. If I’m honest, I didn’t really care about this revelation. It’s not something new, and it wasn’t even used to drive the story in any particular direction.
The author had explanations for scenarios that seemed a bit too convenient … but the explanations still didn’t leave me satisfied. While plausible, it was just a bit too simple and I wanted more development here.
There was a blossoming romance in this novel that made me roll my eyes. It was not developed well, and it really wasn’t necessary.
The ending was just too damn convenient. After all of the struggle Tara went through, the way things wrapped up in the end was just too easy. It left me feeling very disappointed.
Throughout the novel, I couldn’t help but feel as if the author just needed to spend more time delving deeper into the content to bring out the darker elements of the story. The premise has so much potential but the convenient explanations and lack of depth let it down.

While I ended up reading the book and didn’t mind 75% of the story, the disappointing ending and consistent lack of depth means I can only give this book 2.5/5 stars.

Rating: 3.5/5 Stars. Rounded down to 3 stars for Goodreads. 

I had high hopes for What It Seems, but it fell short for me. The beginning was gripping and I liked that it started and ended with details from Tara/Angela's kidnapping. I feel like Angela's time with the the Feely's went from 0 to 100 really quick and could've had a bit more development. I did like the development of Angela and Henry's relationship and could tell that there was a romance budding there IF Angela could become free. 

I did like the twist of her Mother kidnapping another girl and how that helped Angela remember what happened 20 years ago. On the note of Mother, I wanted a bit more background on her. The "prison" idea was just introduced and forgotten about. Why was she in prison before, was it for something to do with the original Tara?

Overall, I would read another Emily Bleeker book because I read some troupes that I liked.

What It Seems is a page turner!  Just when you think our world has seen it all, Emily Bleeker blows your mind!  An adoptive mother gone mad, a young woman who has no concept of being in the world world, except for what she has been taught.  This is a much read!  You will not be able to put this book down!

I'm going to say that this was okay for me, it didn't make big impression on me 🤷 it was good writing but it has a lot of hard elements in it.. too savage for my taste i guess.

Thank you to Netgalley and Lake Union Publishing.