I really like this author but I did struggle a little to connect with this book. The characters were interesting though which kept me reading.

Not for me. I found the main character to be annoying and the story line implausible. There was nothing to keep me engaged

Thank you for providing me with an advance review copy of this book. Enjoyed reading, would recommend....

Unfortunately I really struggled to connect with this book and after multiple attempts have had to mark as dnf.

I would firstly like to thank Netgalley and the publishers for allowing me the opportunity to read this book in exchange for an honest review.

A decent read, but unfortunately my least favourite from this author. An intriguing mystery, but not really a compelling one. It's by no means the worst book I've ever read, but pretty average overall. The story flowed well, and it was somewhat complex with it's events, but its plot was a little too predictable and non-exciting

I have read many books from this author so was excited to read this. It had everything you expect from Moriarty, well-developed characters, intrigue, twists and turns. I found the characters in this book less relatable than some of her other books, however enjoyed the read nonetheless.

Good. Interesting take on marriage and family life. Such a intense book which keeps you guessing until the very end.

I am a huge Liane Moriarty fan from her first novel, but this left me utterly cold. I just have expectations of her books being fun, raucous and exciting with a hefty dose of humour; this was just a family drama, minus the drama really.

I disliked the time shifts, because no one seemed to have developed or changed in the intervening time so it was baffling trying to figure out why it was told this way. Also why do I have to hear the characters’ conversations as overheard by physiotherapy patients or taxi drivers? Why can’t the writer just tell me what they’re thinking and saying? I kept assuming that these unwitting eavesdroppers would turn up later on so there would be the purpose to them. Apparently not.

Disappointing really. Bring back the scandals and the thrills! Tennis players? Yikes.

Another fantastic great read from Liane Moriarty. I found it to be thrilling, exciting and really hard to put down. 5 stars

Liane Moriarty knocks it out of the park again with her own particular brand of sleek suspense.

I absolutely tore through this book, even staying up until 4am to finish it!

Set amongst a Sydney-based family of tennis superstars, this gripping novel had me guessing until the last few pages. I think Moriarty's strength lies in her characters, building up a full portrait of each and every person featured.

The Delaney family are no exception to this, I feel like I understood the motives and actions of each member of the Sydney suburbanites. But that doesn't mean this novel was lacking in surprises.

As ever with Moriarty, family drama was at the front and centre and watching it unfold blended the roots of familiar family tension with a larger mystery.

Handled with all the skill I've come to expect from Liane Moriarty, I really enjoyed this.

Another great read from Liane Moriarty.
I don't think I have ever not enjoyed something she has produced.
Great characters, and some twists and turns along the way. A page turner as always.

Love all Lianes books and this was no different, brilliant read I couldn’t stop for breath!!!! Loved it, can’t wait for her next offering!!!!

I love this author, but I thought I would struggle with this as it was tennis related which I have no interest in. I couldn't have been more wrong. This was a great, twisty family saga with some good substance and interesting family dynamics. I rattled through and would highly recommend.

I really enjoyed this book. Great characters and the relationships between siblings and parents are so well written and completely believable. I loved the ending too - highly recommended.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for a free copy of this book! My opinions are my own.

I was pleasantly surprised by how much I enjoyed this! There's family drama, there are secrets, there's a mystery. There's tennis-- lots of tennis. There's some really clever writing. And a very dysfunctional family that's fascinating to read about. I think this is Moriarty's best since Big Little Lies-- and I think it's intensely re-readable.

Good book full of mystery and suspense and family secrets that kept you guessing and made compelling reading. I thought the last part unnecessary and just an add on but overall enjoyed it

I am huge fan of Liane Moriarty, have devoured every book she has written and have always waited impatiently for any new releases. I was a little nervous about reading Apples Never Fall her latest novel, as I felt that Nine Perfect Strangers, Moriarty’s last book, did miss the mark a little. I needn’t have worried though as I loved Apples Never Fall and it is most definitely a return to form from this author.

Long term Moriarty fans will not be disappointed by this book as it features everything that makes her books so great. There’s a mystery, a very carefully laid trail of breadcrumbs and a family with a whole heap of history and secrets. As is usual in a Moriarty book it is about a group of people and their relationships with one another, in this case, the Delaney family. They are well known due to the tennis school which has been run from the family home for decades, by parents Joy and Stan. They trained lots of the local kids alongside their own; Amy, Logan, Troy and Brooke and family life and the tennis school were one and the same.

Joy and Stan have recently retired, selling the tennis school and have gone from spending their days being incredibly busy and juggling a million things to long, drawn out hours of doing nothing much in particular. Their children are all fully grown adding to their mounting feelings of loneliness. They continue to worry about their children though; Troy who is a successful businessman, Amy, the eldest who suffers from mental health problems and doesn’t seem to be able to hold down a job, Logan who is solid and dependable and with a wonderful girlfriend and Brooke, the youngest who is a chronic migraine sufferer.

The book opens with the disappearance of Joy. She has texted her children to let them know she is going “off grid”, but nowhere is sure where she has gone to. Their dad is acting suspiciously and they know he is holding something back, but what? Where is Joy and why is Stan being so weird? And who is the young woman who stayed with Joy and Stan recently?

Told over dual timelines, Moriarty shows us an intricate portrait of a family and it’s history. It explores sibling relationships and the complicated and unspoken rules within them. There is a definite hierarchy within the Delaney children which comes to the fore with the disappearance of their mother. They are reluctant to tell the police in case the finger of suspicion falls on their father. But, Joy’s disappearance is so out of character and their Dad is well known to have a temper, but he couldn’t have hurt her. Could he?

At its heart this is a mystery, but it also delves deep into emotional territory and is unexpectedly moving in places. It weaves a number of themes, such as toxic masculinity, divorce and loneliness together seamlessly along with a generous sprinkling of mystery and intrigue. I really, really enjoyed it and whenever I wasn’t reading it I looked forward to going back to it. It is an immersive and satisfying read and comes highly recommended from me.

Apples Never Fall Liane Moriarty

4 stars

Anyone for tennis?

I came across Liane Moriarty when I watched ‘Big Little Lies’ on TV. The story was so enthralling and enjoyable to watch despite containing dark subject matter. I was therefore quite intrigued to read this new novel by the same author and was not disappointed.

The story revolves around Joy and Stan Delaney a couple nearing 70 who have been married for 50 years and their 4 grown up children, Amy, Logan, Troy and Brooke. Joy and Stan have spent their lives playing and coaching tennis and their children were all supposed to become famous tennis players. Despite many successes none of them ever quite made the top and as the book progresses we discover what has happened to each of them. Joy and Stan have continued playing tennis but as the story begins, Stan has injured himself and can no longer play. Joy is left doing nothing most of her days and it is therefore not a real surprise when she takes in a young girl Savannah who just turns up on her door saying she has been attacked by her boyfriend.

Her children are not surprisingly anxious about the way this young girl insinuates her way into Joy’s life becoming like a daughter to her but it gives Joy a new lease of life. All of Joy’s friends are becoming grandparents and Joy is desperate for some of her own as she feels this would bring some purpose to her life.

Suddenly and without any notice Joy disappears. To begin with none of her family are particularly worried, Stan has had a habit all his married life to walk away for a day or so when he becomes stressed so everyone just assumes that Joy is doing the same in order to worry Stan. However after 10 days there is still no sign of her and when the police get involved the main suspect is Stan.

It is at this point that we begin to learn about the lives of Joy and Stan, their marriage, their 4 children and how their childhood has made them the people they are today. I particularly enjoyed the way the author bit by bit builds up the characters and how their lives have been affected by their unusual childhood. We are also kept guessing about what exactly has happened to Joy, is she even still alive?

This book was very readable and interesting but it lost a star for me when the author added on a portion at the end encompassing the pandemic almost as though she felt she had to mention it. I think this is going to become a problem for many authors, should they completely ignore it or incorporate it into their story, in this book I felt it was a little contrived and did not add anything to the book.



Dexter

Elite Book Group received a copy of the book to review

I have loved all of this authors books so far so was excited to read this new one. I struggled to get into the story and disliked most of the characters. Certain parts of the story were also failed to be explained. The story was well written but chapters felt long. The overall story and concept was however very innovative and I could see it becoming a drama series that would have you on the edge of your seat. More depth was needed with the detectives investigating Joys disappearance to give the story another layer. Overall it would not stop me from reading another novel from the same author. Just a footnote I understand that covid has to be mentioned in story’s written in today’s times but I read to escape the horrors of the pandemic so felt the last few chapters were unnecessary.

Apples Never Fall is an absorbing, well-written novel which, although a mystery at its heart, is more about the complicated lives of the main characters: the Delaney family. They’re a big Tennis family, with both Joy and Stan Delaney having played at a high level and then ran a coaching business until their retirement, and their adult children – Amy, Troy, Logan and Brooke – also playing when they were younger. We learn at the beginning of the book that the mother, Joy, has gone missing. Is it connected to the strange house guest they had last year, Savannah, who turned up at their house one night at random following a fight with her boyfriend? Or has her husband Stan done something to her?

The book itself felt pretty long when I was reading it – and it is almost 500 pages, after all – but I found myself completely absorbed in the story. I think it could perhaps have done with some editing, but Apples Never Fall is tightly plotted and, as you get towards the end of the book, it feels like you get so many moments of realisation and seemingly unimportant things become tied up nicely.

If you’re looking for a book that will be fast-paced and all about mystery, this isn’t for you. Although we see some chapters from the perspective of Christina (the detective, who I really liked), who is investigating Joy’s disappearance, we don’t focus on that a huge amount. The story jumps backwards in time to the lead up to Joy’s disappearance, and back to the present day as the family tries to cope. We also see inside the characters’ thoughts and, through this, we see memories from when they were very young. We learn that Stan is certainly no perfect dad, which makes us start to wonder if he could be hiding something.

There’s some humour within its pages as well as well developed characters that feel convincing, although they sometimes seem a little naive. The way they interact together is really interesting and feels like a reflection of many true life families – everyone has their roles to play, whether intended or not and sometimes it’s hard to break free from that mould. The characters all have their own secrets which may or may not be relevant to Joy’s disappearance, and I really found myself wavering between what I thought had actually happened.

If you’re wanting something full of twists and turns (though this does have plenty too) and fast-paced, then this probably isn’t the novel for you. But if you’re after something beautifully written, reflective and with great character development, then give Apples Never Fall a go! Another great release from one of my favourite authors.