If you found a note saying “help me” inside of a book that you had received through an online community books swap what would you do?

Meet Laura, recently separated from her Husband, living back with her mum and currently off work with depression. Her old life seems a distant memory and her only escape is the thriller/crime novels that she reads.

Her days consist of watching daytime TV with her Mum, reading ad taking a daily walk. That is until she finds a mysterious note inside one of the books she’s reading. Laura is determined to get to the bottom of it and she begins her mission to find out who has sent the note and how she can help them.

I finished this book in a day, the chapters are short and its a super speedy read which I rather enjoyed and it made a nice change.

I did enjoy the storyline and I really felt for Laura who is the main character throughout the story.

If you enjoy fast paced speedy reads then this one is definitely for you.

Thank you to Little Fox Publishing and NetGalley for the ARC copy in exchange for an honest review.

Had been looking forward to reading this one. But was left feeling very disappointed. There really wasn’t much scope for a good book. Bitterly disappointing sorry

Laura is newly separated from her husband and she moves back in with her mom Catharine. She’s in a book club that swaps books and in her latest book she received was a mysterious note. She goes on a quest to find who wrote it and then I just didn’t care what happened in the end. I DNF at 55%. Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for this early release in exchange for my honest review. To be published August 2022.

Oh this was such a fun and easy read. Just devoured it with the morning coffees, well I am on holiday. Such a perfect read for the occasion. The author always delivers. Pure escapism

I was given an advance copy by netgalley and the publishers but the review is entirely my own.

Anyone else get so frustrated when a book has amazing unrealized potential?!

No? Ok, then how about when you buy a bag of chips and open it only to discover that it’s more than half full of air? Right?

OK. That’s what I’m feeling right now. THAT disappointment.

The protagonist opens up book mail to discover she’s been gifted a psychological thriller by someone in her book club. When she gets into the book, she discovers a little note tucked inside that reads “Help me!”

Sounds great right?

Well, I read and read and then I came to the epilogue.

My heart rate didn’t increase. I didn’t resort to biting my fingernails. I wasn’t frantically trying to guess who wrote the note. There was NO sense of urgency. No fear.

It was like I was on an easy rider bike, my hair flowing behind me, an open road….and nobody to race me.

I hate this word, but it sums it up….”MEH”......

It was a quick read. So, there's that.

I was gifted this advance copy by BooksGoSocial through NetGalley and was under no obligation to provide a review.

I am writing this review for Net Galley.

What would you do if you received a book from a stranger one day, a note fell out of the book and all it said was Help Me?

In this story we are following Laura who is in the midst of a divorce and living with her mom. While trying to get over her divorce, Laura signed on to a book swap club. One day she received a parcel from one of the members of the book club and a note fell out that said Help Me. Laura's first instinct was to call the person in charge of the book club swap to get the name of the person who mailed it to her. Little did a quiet shy woman like Laura know her life was about to change.

I do not read a lot of books in this Genre. The title and description caught my eye. I really enjoyed reading about Laura's character and how she found her love of books. I also was very into the story whilst watching her go on this journey to try to help someone that she had never met. I highly recommend if you are looking for kind of a cozy thriller/mystery to read. The author did a good job adding a little bit of thriller into Laura's life when her favorite genre to read were thrillers. It made it even more fun to read.

This was such a fun book to read. It is a fairly short book, but a delightful cast of characters with some mystery thrown in.
It is the characters that really make this story enjoyable.. Catherine who handles her struggling daughter with kid gloves. Laura whose separation and pending divorce has caused her to lose herself and confidence that she was usually able to muster for “at work” Laura has deserted her.
Carly who runs her own business and lives alone, and is lonely and aimless.
and the other characters that are woven into the mystery. A light hearted read but a gem of a book

This is a really quick read but what it lacks in length, it makes up for in content! It's really well written and just flows really nicely. I'm not one for character driven stories but this one really got to me for some reason. I liked the original premise of the book and it was just a delight to read. There's not much of a thriller about it but it's still a nice wee mystery story and nothing too extreme to make it seem far fetched or out there. Its actually quite heartbreaking what the reveal turns out to be because it is something that does really happen. I'd definitely recommend this to anyone who wanted to kick back and lose themselves in a fun little story for a bit

Book: The Book Swap
Author: J.E. Rowney
Publisher: BooksGoSocial
Genre: Mystery Thriller
Pub Date: August 26, 2022
My Rating: 3.4 Stars

This title sounded like an interesting story.
Laura is not a happy camper ~ she is miserable that her marriage has failed.
She loves to read and participated in an online book swap.
(I did laugh when Laura looks at the cover of a psychological thriller and determines it is going to
be good as there is a ' yellowed-windowed house in ominous darkness’.)
Yep! that seems to be what illustrators believe a good thriller cover MUST look like!!)

Back to this story .When Laura gets a book from an anonymous sender and finds a note stating "help me"; she is determined to find the person who wrote the note. With help from the book swap coordinator she finds Carley, the woman who sent the book, but the note was written by the previous owner. Laura and Carley become amateur sleuths and set out to find this person who needs help!

I did read a few so so reviewed so went into this without a high expectation ~ I actually liked it better than I thought.
However, I would like for the author to have added some resources for help rather than using a note in a book or bottle!!

Want to thank NetGalley and BooksGoSocial for this early eGalley.
Publishing Release Date scheduled for August 26, 2022

Newly-separated Laura is back home living with her mum. She spends her days reading and escaping from the realities of her new life alone - until that life suddenly becomes more complicated than she could ever have imagined.

When a novel received from an online book swap contains a chilling note, Laura has to overcome her own fears to help a stranger.

First, she must uncover just exactly who is it that needs to be saved, and from what.

Really enjoyed this book read in one sitting totally recommend
Thank You NetGalley and BooksGoSocial
I just reviewed The Book Swap by J.E. Rowney. #TheBookSwap #NetGalley

I received an ARC of, The Book Swap, by J.E. Rowney. This is a chilling tale. Book swaps are popular, when Laura gets a book with a message in it, she knows she has to find the books original owner.

Loves the short chapters. Loved the flow of the book. Predictable ending but all in all I enjoyed this book. It kept my interest.

A story that is both entertaining and engrossing. The writing was fantastic and kept me on the edge of my seat. This was thrilling read.

In The Book Swap by J.E. Rowney, the reader meets Laura, who is on leave from work for depression after separating from her husband. She is back living with her mother and doing a lot of reading. A two-worded note found in her book swap exchange sets her life on a self-discovery course and helps her reevaluate what she wants out of her life.

Laura mets a new friend, and they set off to find answers and get more than they bargained for. Laura eventually discovers how confident and competent she was all along and what was truly important to her.

I liked the ending and her forming the book club. The story held my interest, and once you got passed the first third, it began to pick up and become fast-paced.

I would recommend this book. It's a quick and pleasant story.

#TheBookSwap #NetGalley @LPOBryan

A quick, easy and suspenseful read with a good amount of twists to make me wuestion what was going on. An enjoyable read.

I have previously read several of this authors books and have enjoyed them.
This book was very easy to read and also quite short. There was only a small number of characters so it was easy to follow. However, the plot was very unrealistic and there was no real suspense which you would expect from a psychological thriller..
I would recommend only reading it if your a fan of the author otherwise give it a miss.
Thanks to netgalley and the publishers for this opportunity to read.

Overall I enjoyed this book! It was a quick read, and I finished it in one sitting.

The title alone is what drew me in! I imagine most book lovers would be intrigued by a book swap, so that was a great title choice. Nowadays with social media & the internet though, you can never be too careful. As a reader, it reminded us that something as simple as receiving a book in the mail, may not be so simple afterall.

I liked that this book kept us guessing as to the implications of the characters decisions & actions. There were parts of the book that did seem a little predictable, but not enough to be frustrating. Unfortunately, the ending did fall a little flat for me. Overall I still think it was a great read though, and would recommend it as I feel it would appeal to a wide range of readers!

[I received an ARC from NetGalley in exchange for my honest review.]

This is my third read by the author and, honestly, the nicest thing to say about it is that it’s such a quick read.
Rowney understands the market well enough to tap into the neverending fountain of psychological thrillers with female protagonists, but her stories are very much toward the bottom of that seemingly bottomless barrel.
And so, her latest one is likely the lesser of the three I’ve read and one of those ‘quit wasting time on this author’ sort of things too. With a paperthin (oh yes, pun this mutha) plot and cardboard stock characters, Rowney has woven a tale of a woman who finds a note saying Help Me tucked into a book she received from a stranger through the eponymous book swap.
This woman, mind you, is no one’s idea of savior, least of all herself. She’s an about-to-be-divorced-and-didn’t-see-it-coming 30-year-old who lives with her mothers and wallows in depression. Also, she reads. Lots of thrillers. Which apparently is what gives her the idea to go investigate the origin of the note.
She gets a pal and together they set off Nancy Drewing the situation, which of course ends up remarkably implausibly easy to do, because…well, that’s the strength of the writing and also the page count restrictions at play. And then, ta da, voila, happy ending for all. And how cute is that?
Well, not cute at all, unless you’re really in the mood for mindless reading. Ideally, a book should challenge at least slightly more than this. Pass. Thanks Netgalley.

I received this from Netgalley for review. Thank you to Netgalley,and the publishers.

A very quick read,and could easily be read in one sitting. I was however left a tad disappointed. It felt very unrealistic, and the characters made poor choices...More than your average thriller.
There were no major multi point plot twists..which i love by the way. It was an average thriller. It will be ok if you like light suspense and small thrills. If you need something more twisty and thrilling then leave this one on the shelf.

This was my first introduction to this author, and to say I’m disappointed is an understatement. While this is an easy, short read, there was no suspense, the character development was lacking, and it was just all so reptitive. I understand reading these books there has to be some suspension of belief, but this was very farfetched. I was along for the ride up until a certain point (which I won’t mention because I don’t want to spoil the book), and then the book lost me. Laura felt more like a child than an adult and her mother Catharine felt like she was all over the place.

Two stars since I didn’t figure out the who and the why.