Thank you NetGalley for the advance copy in exchange for a honest review. Laura is living back with her mother following the break down of her marriage. She is struggling and still off work. Laura fills her days with reading and is a member of the Facebook group Book Swap. She receives a thriller in the post. When her Mum accidentally drops the book a note falls out saying Help Me. Laura sets about to find out who needs help and ends up putting herself in danger.

This a short, light read that is a bit implausible, but I wanted to find out what would happen so continued on. Laura, our main character, is a depressed 30-something living with her mom in England. She's recovering from her marriage breaking up, and has taken a leave of absence from work, where she's a real estate agent. She describes herself as 'confident Laura' at work and in her former life, and 'useless Laura' in her current predicament. She spends most of her time reading thrillers and watching tv with her mom, who is supportive, and probably glad to have a house guest since her husband died.
In one of her books, Laura finds a note that says 'help me'. Now most folks would ignore this and move on. However, Laura needs a purpose in life again. She feels that if she finds this person and helps them, she can help herself. She thinks 'not giving up on the stranger means she's not giving up on herself''. Soon she finds herself with some new friends and deep into a thriller of her own making. Here's where things pick up as the author of the note is finally revealed. There is limited character development and the plot is pretty far fetched. However, it's entertaining and interesting.

**Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for an advance copy in exchange for a fair and honest review**

A pretty short, decent-enough book with an elemeny of mystery but it left me wanting more. I didn't feel like we got to know any of the characters in any kind of depth which is a shame.

Perhaps this book suffered because I've read some excellent 5/5 star books recently and it just didn't compare.

Repetitive, slow, and predictable. The characters make questionable and improbable choices that serve as the basis of the whole story. There's next to no suspense and it feels almost kiddish. I did not like this one.

This ARC was provided to me via Kindle, from BooksGoSocial and #NetGalley. Thank you for the opportunity to preview and review. Opinions expressed are completely my own.

I didn’t want to put this one down. Suspenseful, entertaining full of thrills and unexpected twists. If you like the genre, this is a must read.

Didn't quite meet my expectations, unfortunately. I did enjoy the short chapters, which helped with the pacing. Then ending was too predictable. For a psychological suspense, the suspense angle was lacking, There's a bit of a Nancy Drew feel, but not as well done. A quick, but forgettable, read.

Laura is 30 years old, recently separated from her husband and back home living with her mom. Her pleasures at the moment consist of reading, mostly thrillers, and watching lots of mindless tv. She belongs to an online book swap club and one day she receives a book with a note in it which says "Help Me".

This is a very short book and probably should've been a lot shorter since I think most people would crumple up the note and toss it in the garbage and then sanitize their hands. But no, Laura and her new friend Carley, about whom Laura knows next to nothing, go off on a Scooby Doo adventure trying to find the author of the note. There was a bit of excitement at around 75% but other than that it was pretty mundane with much repetition of facts. I did enjoy Laura's mother Catherine who is very kind and loving and who just wants to help Laura get back on her feet (and out of her house probably!). The other positive is that it really is very short and can be read in a few hours. Having enjoyed the author's previous book "Other People's Lives", I'm quite disappointed in this one. Even so, the writing wasn't bad but I don't feel like there was enough of a story there.

Thanks to BooksGoSocial via Netgalley for the opportunity to read an ARC of this novel. All opinions expressed are my own. Available August 26, 2022.

* I received an advanced copy of this text through Netgalley in return for an honest review *

I have to start by admitting that I did indeed finish the book. It was easy to read. However, I found many problems with it: the plot was implausible, the characters were not believable, and the writing was mediocre at best. I felt like the novel tried to deal with human psychology in a deep way but really just employed overused and generic tropes and barely scratched the surface of the human mind. The motivations of each character are unclear or just very basic.

What I would say is this could be rewritten and aimed at teens - it would need only a bit of tweaking to be appropriate for young readers and would be an introduction of sorts to the thriller genre for that readership.

DNF at 46%
I have enjoyed the authors previous books and this story sounded intriguing, and it was, however the main character is beyond irritating, she was written more like a teen than an adult
I did want to finish the book to see where the message had come from but in the end just couldn’t read anymore of it but do look forward to the authors next book (s)

This book has a great hook - Laura is part of an online bookswap group, and receives secondhand books through the mail, often from anonymous partners. One day she receives such a book, and a scrap of paper reading "help me" tumbles out. Laura embarks on a crusade to find the endangered party and help how she can, despite her own crushing insecurities.

The execution of this concept, however, leaves a lot to be desired. Laura is an infuriating character who makes constant stupid, irresponsible decisions and is rewarded for it. Yes, this is a known criticism of thrillers in general. However, in this case it's particularly egregious. Though, "thriller" is a strong word for this plot. Mystery, perhaps; but there aren't twists, turns, and omg moments like you might expect from a thriller.

As others have said, Laura reads like a teenager, not an adult woman. She seems to have zero idea of how the world works. Indeed, all the characters need to be fleshed out quite a bit more. Laura's mother radically flip flops her decisions in the space of a paragraph, the villains have some serious moustache-twirlingly stereotypical lines... Also, the copule little dialogue jabs at women really rubbed me the wrong way.

Overall, it's a very short read. Unfortunately, it needs a lot more time dedicated to its story and characters.

It is my first time reading the author and I confess that I am a little disappointed. I found the premise interesting and the title hooked me right away, but unfortunately I had a lot of issues with this story.
What bothered me the most was the poor character development. It would have been a great opportunity to address issues as important as depression and I feel that it was not fully exploited. The protagonist was very flat to me and without any interesting nuance in her personality.
Lacking action in most of the book, it even seemed boring to me, not at all what you'd expect from a thriller. Despite that, I have to admit that it's a very easy read, so I really recommend it if you are looking for something light.
The ending, despite being quite convenient, did not seem predictable to me. I didn't really expect it, so extra points for that. The plot is pretty good, I think the biggest problem here is the construction of the characters, so I want to give the author another chance.

Final rating: 2.5/5

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for this early release in exchange for my honest review.
To be published August 2022.

The Book Swap by J.E. Rowney started as an interesting idea for a new book. After I read about the note found inside, I was intrigued and looking forward to a clever book plot. Laura is living with her mother after an unexpected separation from her husband. She is depressed, has quit her job, and loses herself in a different book she receives from an online book swap. I can understand doing that for maybe a week, but Laura has become lethargic and unmotivated to help herself.
She is reading a new book she received from one of the members and a note drops out of the book. The note has two words, "Help Me!" I felt the reaction of Laura to the note was over the top. Laura quit her job because her husband left her, and now she is going on a trip with a stranger to search for an unknown person needing help. There was no date on the note, no city, or any identifying details to lead a person to be helpful.
I was disappointed and felt the story needed more details and substance.
Thank you to NetGalley, the author, and publisher for the opportunity to read this book. The publication date is August 26, 2022

The Book Swap is a light hearted mystery about the lengths one will go to help a stranger. This is definitely not a thriller. If you go into it with the hopes of twists and turns, you will be disappointed. However, if you are looking for a mystery that displays human compassion and triumph over adversity, this could be for you. This is a fast read and kept me interested as the story unfolded. Thank you NetGalley for my ARC.

~1.5 rounded~

The Book Swap was the type of book I would probably read when I was younger. We have the main character, Laura, a nearly-divorced woman living with her mother, Catharine, in Yorkshire. With the end of her marriage she moved in with her mother and now lives an almost depressing life. Doesn't work, doesn't leave the house, just watches TV, eats, sleeps, talks to her mum and, obviously, reads a lot of books. So, when one day she receives a package with a book from someone in the "book club" she's in with a note that just says "help me". Laura then proceeds to try and find out who wrote the note and that is the plot of the book.

Now, I couldn't enjoy any of the characters because the story only focused on one thing: who did the message belong to?, and so we got almost nothing of character development. I just knew 'Oh okay, I can hate this character and maybe sympathise with that one.', and the fact that I didn't really know much who I was reading didn't help to enjoy the characters as I hoped.

The writing was something else that bothered me deeply. The language felt too easy for a mystery book, with moments like 'little did she know what was going to happen'. Reading sentences like that in a book that, I am guessing, is for adults felt in the least, childish. Like, I could give this to a 12 year old and they would enjoy the story far more than me because they would understand the language like it was in a book written for them.

I do have to say, this isn't all negativity. While I didn't enjoy the way the story was moving, I was excited for like 5 minutes when we truly find out who wrote the note. That, I can say with all honesty, got me surprised. Plus, it was well executed!

Here's the thing: maybe this book just wasn't for me, but I want to believe that other people have or will enjoy it far far more than me. I just had to be honest because that is my role here, but I just absolutely hate writing reviews for books that I did not like so, this was hard. Anyway...

Signing off,
B.

Thanks to netgalley for the chance to read this book.

When Laura receives a book from a book swap group on Facebook she discovers a note that says “HELP ME”. She initially contacts the person who sent the book and this starts a string on events that helps her overcome her fears and help a stranger. But first she must uncover who the note is from.

Brilliant read.

This book is short and easy to read but was truly disappointing. I'd heard good things about this author and was excited about the premise of this book but it fell flat. I truly despised the main character who's about as deep as a puddle and it read sort of like a newspaper article and not a novel. The classification of a thriller is confusing to me because it was not thrilling. Finally, the ending was the icing on the cake for me - I can't stand a book where ta da everything wraps up and everyone is happy! I doubt I'll be reading this author again.

DNF @ 108 pages

Although this had a great premise - a woman finds a note reading 'Help Me' in a book she received from an anonymous book swap and sets out to uncover what is going on - it read like a Babysitter's Club book. The main character is incredibly juvenile for a 30 year old recent divorcee. She's cripplingly avoidant and needs her mother to chivvy her along into doing things like making phone calls and not spilling tea on the sofa. I understand the whole point of the book is Laura getting her groove back but she was such an insipid protagonist, I didn't care about her personal growth. The mystery seemed to be solved purely by lucky coincidences and wasn't particularly thrilling. I wasn't interested enough to read to the end.

Laura is struggling after her life falls apart, she moves in with her mom and spends her days getting lost in books until something unexpected happens. When Laura opens up her latest package from a book swap group, a note falls out, and Laura is left wondering whether she can help someone else if she can’t help herself.

I was in the mood to be creeped out and The Book Swap fit the bill! I loved that it was so mysterious and brought the element of being a book lover and avid reader into the story. I can honestly say I didn’t see the twists coming in this one, and I finished it in a day!

Very quick read and easy read! It has an interesting plot and a lot of potential.

It’s a very intriguing title, however it left me wanting more as a thriller. Not enough action unfortunately.

This book started out slow for me until about halfway through then the twists started coming. How far will someone go to save someone they have never met? As avid readers we are all on these book swap sites on Facebook. If you received a book with a written message saying HELP ME, what would you do?? I also liked how the protagonist was able to find herself throughout this book and able to finally realize her worth. We all go through bad times in our lives but that does not have define who we become. Thank you NetGalley and J.E. Rowney for this ARC review. I would recommend this book!