WOW!! This was an excellent read. The idea really pulled me in to the book and the story kept me turning the pages. Just fantastic.

Thanks to NetGalley and the publishers for the ARC in return for my honest and unbiased opinion.

I did enjoy this book although at times found it a complex read….however with the subject matter it had to be
Very original and you couldn’t help but put yourself in the position of the main characters
Great writing and a theme that will be talking point

This book is brilliant and if it is not in my top 10 of best reads by the end of 2025 then I’ll be very surprised. Honestly. I loved it from beginning to end. The now and then stories are both engaging and have you addictively waiting to see where the stories are going to go yet. The pacing and unfolding of the story is very well timed creating the perfect suspenseful atmosphere. For me this book has the perfect creepiness of real World and dystopian future. If you love John Marrs books you’ll most definitely love this.

The writing style was not for me, I felt like the nursery rhymes mixed with the plot was messy and takes you out the book.

Wow, this book was intense, I couldn't put it down! The storyline is very Black Mirror: a slightly controlling, tech obsessed husband gives his wife Anna an anniversary present which he believes will give them the ultimate bond - a pioneering chip in their heads so that they can read each other's thoughts and they can always be together...

Despite her initial reluctance Anna goes through with it. However, there seems to be a fault with Anna's chip as it she gets crippling headaches and nausea and she seems to be able to see more than just Elijahs thoughts: his dreams... or are they memories? And they are quite disturbing! If she can see his memories can he see hers? There are things she would rather he didn't know about her...

Dark and thought-provoking, would you really surrender your self privacy to the one you love?

I love the shades of pink and blue on this book cover. The pink side having a steamed up mirror with a heart drawn on it perhaps suggesting that Anna wishes to keep her thoughts to herself and the blue side clear and showing Elija’s reflection representing the fact he wants everything out in the open and to share every thought.
The main characters are a group of friends who met at University, Oscar, Elijah, Gavin, Anna and Helen they enjoyed parties and wild nights together ending up with Anna & Elijah becoming a couple and later getting married and a similar thing happening with Gavin & Helen. They share a past, a past with devastating, dark secrets that would perhaps be better left uncovered. Elijah and Gavin have a highly competitive relationship both at work and in their home lives, always wanting to have the latest gadget or accomplishment before the other. Elijah is obsessed with technology and the house he and Anna live in has every gadget and technology app possible, so it shouldn’t come as a great surprise when Elijah hears about the OneMind project by Unity he wants both himself and Anna to participate. OneMind literally means two people can share one mind, by having a chip inserted behind their left ear close the cerebellum they can literally hear each other’s thoughts 24/7.
It's Elijah and Anna’s tenth wedding anniversary and Elijah has stated he has a surprise for her. Anna is hoping it’s a week away somewhere exotic with a beach so they can be alone and spend some quality time together. However, the big surprise is that Elijah has signed them both up to have the OneMind chip fitted by Unity the very next week without even asking Anna. Anna has her doubts does she really want Elijah to have access to her thoughts 24/7, she doesn’t really see the attraction. Elijah already keeps tabs on her via her mobile phone and the camera’s in the house whilst he is at work. Elijah has a well paid job and his parents have money meaning he can afford to splash out whenever he wishes. This financial stability means that Anna can stay home and be the artist she wants to be in the studio Elijah had built for her in the garden. Sadly for Anna her art work isn’t doing quite as well as she wishes it to. Anna has also suffered multiple miscarriages due to complications from an abortion in their University years. The abortion left scar tissue which is resulting in recurring miscarriages. Elijah wants his own children and he isn’t used to not getting what he wants so they continue trying with Anna hiding the fact a Doctor has told her the probabilities of a successful pregnancy are slim. Anna feels guilt about the abortion, it is her body that is now broken. Elijah insists they made the decision together, they made the right decision at the time and that he believes one day they will have children. Anns also feels guilt as she has a secret. There are details about the abortion that Elijah doesn’t know and must never find out about.
I think its all this guilt and the way Elijah is persistent, used to getting his own way and quite controlling of Anna that she agrees to go ahead with the OneMind chip implant. However, Anna has a bad reaction straight away, she is violently sick, has continual headaches as well as the site of the insertion of the chip not healing properly. Elijah insists all these side effects will wear off as he isn’t experiencing any.
One night Anna has a dream where she is looking through Elijahs eyes, she is seeing the night that their friend Oscar died on a “boys holiday abroad” that Oscar, Elijah and Gavin went on. The dream and what she sees doesn’t line up with how Elijah & Gavin said they happened. Anna really struggles with hearing Elijah in her head all the time and discovers he has a violent temper which begins to scare her. What if she thinks about the abortion secret and he finds out, or if Elijah experiences one of her dreams about that time. Elijah is increasingly exhibiting controlling, abusive, gas lighting, and toxic behaviour towards Anna. He demands to know her whereabouts at any given moment of the day, whether that’s via tracking her phone or constantly checking in with her via OneMind. When Elijah speaks to Anna he expects her to reply immediately and if she doesn’t he wants to know the reason why. Anna develops a way of coping, of withholding her thoughts by singing and saying nursery rhymes which quickly annoys Elijah. Secrets end up being revealed and Elijah slowly simmer and its almost like he is trying to drive Anna crazy, turning gadgets on and off in the house, locking her out when she forgets to take her phone with her. I suppose Elijah is punishing Anna for what he has discovered and he seems to be enjoying it jumping into her thoughts whenever he feels like it. Yet when she calls out to him, he is sometime absent making Anna suspicious that his chip is different to hers.
I did guess the secret Anna was wanting to hide, I just got the wrong person who was involved in it with her. I also guessed that perhaps that was the reason her friendship with Helen had gone colder too.
I felt sorry for Anna, literally trapped in her own home, feeling guilty about something that happened years ago. She really didn’t seem to see that even before the OneMind chip Elijah was a possessive, ruthless, controlling person. Eventually after realsing the dream she keeps having is the true version of the “boys holiday abroad” events and what really happened to Oscar that night she is horrified and she does realise Elijah is dangerous. Even after seeing that night there is still a small part of Anna that wanted to give Elijah the benefit of the doubt, she seemed incapable of believing what an evil man she was married to. Anna had to end up being quite conniving herself to remove herself from Elijah’s clutches. In fact, the ending is quite ironic that Anna becomes pregnant but Elijah is not able to enjoy the experience with her.
What Elijah pitched to Anna as a way for them to be even closer was a lie, it turned out Elijah wanted OneMind for much more sinister reasons. It brought the dangerously close with disastrous consequence no one could have forseen.
I immediately took a disliking to Elijah, having escaped an abusive marriage I could see the signs of it in him quite early in the book. On the surface Elijah has it all, and he has it all his own way too. If there’s a situation, he can’t handle alone his parents are there to help him. Elijah seemed a quieter character in the university days but even then, he was selfish and controlling and wasn’t above emotionally blackmailing people to get what he wanted.
Gavin on the other hand has had to work for what he has achieved and work hard at his job, though even he seems to be under the influence of Elijah. Its only revealed later in the book exactly what the hold Elijah has over Gavin is.
I also liked the characters that were either there for Anna all the time like Mandie, or Helen that eventually reached out when she felt her friend was in danger though didn’t really forgive her. I was initially irritated by Murray, the obstacles he put in Anna’s way on behalf of Unity when it came to getting her OneMind chip sorted out. Murray must have known about the extra functions that Elijah had on his chip in comparison to Anna’s but didn’t readily reveal this when asked. However, he did eventually take pity on Anna and discreetly help her near the end of the book.
I found the hospital scenes hilarious, how frustrated Elijah was hearing the conversations of the nurses and not being able to speak to them himself. Though he hadn’t changed and was still very derogatory about those nurses helping him and towards Anna despite her visiting him every day.
My immediate thoughts upon fishing the book were wow, what a twisted tale……and what an awful man!
Summing up, I didn’t want to put the book down, I wanted to know if the dream Anna was having was the truth of what had happened to Oscar and then I was scared for Anna. This book kept me awake reading late into the night unable to put it down without discovering the end.

Thank you to the author, publisher and NetGalley for the opportunity to read and review this book.

Creepy and all too horribly believable! A great read

What an absolute whirlwind of a read.

This novel had such a unique concept to it and I found it quite disturbing - in the best way. I found myself with a dozen questions floating through my head, about who to trust, who to avoid and wanting to get to the bottom of the exact reason as to why the chip was suggested in the first place.

It did take me a while to warm up to this novel, particularly within the first 10%. I wanted it to be slightly quicker and I definitely felt like it was important, in hindsight, to get a real vibe for the characters and their relationships before throwing us with such a moral dilemma.

I honestly devoured the last 60% like my life depended on it and to be frank, I highly recommend.

If you are a lover of dystopian modern fiction or black mirror - this is the read for you.

If asked to have a widget implanted near my brain so someone else could hear my thoughts, I would not be seen for dust, regardless of the relationship. The concept, however freaky, intrigued me. Anna’s long-smothered guilt escalates when she picks up on Elijah’s dreams and memories, to the extent she fears his actions should he be able to gain access to hers. Friendships are challenged; Elijah’s controlling behaviour moves into harrowing territory. Some of the thought exchanges are rather tedious and superfluous, with quite a few instances when Anna’s thoughts should have been spoken aloud. I liked the open-ended outcome when the balance of power changes.

I really loved this book, it’s my first time reading a book by this author and it certainly won’t be my last. I was in a book reading slump but I managed to read this book in two days. I’ve never read a book like this and whilst with it being set in the near future it felt far fetched it also wasn’t unbelievable. I did wish for a different ending for Anna but I’m glad that it was unpredictable.

You can hear his every thought. But he can hear yours too...
Blurb:
Elijah and Anna are about to celebrate their 10 year anniversary. Elijah, who is very tech savvy, suggests they go to OneMind to get a new revolutionary implant, in where both parties can hear each others thoughts. Although wary of the idea, Anna agrees. But how long until the lines blur and thoughts become memories?
Thoughts:
WOW! This was such a crazy, exciting, interesting read. I flew threw this so quick, and it’s a total ‘one last chapter’ read. Anna was a particularly interesting character who you can’t help but question her reasoning behind agreeing to such a crazy idea. I enjoyed the flashbacks to the past and digging deeper into the characters to find out their secrets. This is a fantastic book to open up discussions on technology and power.
I absolutely loved the dystopian future feel of it, and it gave me major John Marrs and Black Mirror vibes!
Thank you so much to NetGalley, VintageBooks and of course Carys for the ARC copy in exchange for an honest review.

This book is certainly unique and a most interesting idea. Imagine if you could have a chip inserted and hear your lovers thoughts?? Would you do it? This is the premise of the book and its full of twists and turns.
Anna is married to Elijah and after suffering several miscarriages feels like she’s failed to give him what he desires the most, so when he suggests having a chip implanted to enable them to hear each others thoughts, she’s dubious but wants to please him so agrees. Things are great at first and she has to agree it has brought them closer, but then she begins to have dreams that are memories, but they aren’t hers and if she can access Elijah’s memories, then he must be able to access hers, and she doesn’t want that at all…………
This is the first book I’ve read by this author and I devoured it. Unique and full of twists and turns I’d definitely purchase other books by her.

What if it was possible to connect minds with your significant other? To hear their every thought? Would you?
Well this is what Unity offers, and Anna and Elijah are among the first to sign up. What follows is a tale of betrayal, long kept secrets and the consequences of your every thought being observed.

An original and interesting read, I particularly enjoyed the mind to mind conversation between Anna and Elijah, i mean how handy to be able to have a conversation with your partner in a crowded room, to get in there before he says that thing that is supposed to be a secret, to stop that dinner invite being accepted and crucially give the home time signal in complete silence.

However, the ending left me a but .... wanting, my personal preference is for a nice clean ending with no loose ties and unfortunately this left a little too much to the readers imagination.
Overall i thought this was a thought provoking and entertaining read, but, no! I won't be signing up for a Unity chip, thank you very much!

with thanks to NetGalley for the opportunity to review this title.

This was so good. The idea of listening to my husbands thoughts would (hopefully) bore me senseless as his only interests are collecting coins , reading coin magazines and napping in the chair. That certainly is not the experience in this book which is absolutely fascinating and compelling. A super new dystopian book.

This is a great black mirror inspired thriller that keeps you guessing. Fully recommend. Twists and turns and a great futuristic story

Ooh I wish that I hat written this. Totally original. Beautifully penned.
Have you ever wondered what your partner is thinking.....really thinking, the dark mysterious hidden thoughts that never ever surface.
This story explores one couples' journey with this enlightenment, will this be an enriching experience or a destroying one?
Definitely read this book to find out, it is an amazing page turner.

Set in the near future, the book offers a glimpse into the terrifying future that may await us thanks to ever-increasing advances in technology.
Anna gets the worst anniversary present in the world from her ever-loving husband - a chip in their brains where they can hear each others every thought. Oh, what were you thinking?
It's a great premise & there's a constant undercurrent of threat that quickly hooks the reader. However, the reader needs to totally suspend belief as the story doesn't quite add-up if the technology works as it's purported to. It kept bringing me back out of the story as I was mulling over the specifics of the tech. Despite this, it was a great read with a terrific ending.

Looking at the cover, you can be forgiven for assuming that this is some cheerful romcom, however, it’s nothing of the sort! (Don’t worry, NO spoilers.)

Set in the near future, Elijah decides to invest in dual microchips implanted so that he and his wife of 10 years, Anna, will be able to read each other's thoughts. Understandably, Anna is dubious about the whole thing, but decides to go along with it based on it only transmitting current thoughts. But things soon turn dark…

Anna, in addition to experiencing pain where her chip was implanted, seems to have access to her husband’s dreams, specifically concerning a lads holiday abroad where a friend of theirs died. Elijah and his friend Gavin had always maintained that they weren’t present when Oscar died, however, Anna begins to wonder whether these repeating “dreams” are actually memories.

Meanwhile, Anna has secret memories that she wants to protect. The couple had been trying for a baby for quite some time, but Anna learns that due to her abortion she had many years ago, she’d struggle to ever carry a baby to full term. The reader assumes that this is the secret Anna is trying to cover up with her frequent internal dialogue constantly turning to nursery rhymes to prevent her memories coming to Elijah’s attention. However, this is not the full story!

Elijah usually has the upper hand throughout, and he uses coercive behaviour to manipulate Anna, all the while acting as though he’s none the wiser, and is the all-caring, doting husband.

I definitely enjoyed this book, although I usually prefer my psychological thrillers to have a faster pace. That said, the suspense was well maintained, and having so few characters in the book really helped to keep me on track with what was going on when the novel jumped occasionally from “now” to “then”.

I also believe that the book is realistic, which is something I don’t often say about books set in the future, and it’s an important taster about what can happen with microchips being planted in people’s brains, which is currently being worked on today. (Google Neuralink.)

Always on My Mind by Carys Green is a chilling and captivating psychological thriller that had me hooked from start to finish. The concept of the OneMind implant, which allows partners to hear each other’s thoughts, initially seemed like a fascinating exploration of intimacy, but Green quickly turns it into something far darker and more unsettling. The premise of knowing your partner’s every thought—without the possibility of hiding anything—felt both thrilling and terrifying, and I was immediately drawn into Anna’s world as she navigates this new level of connection with her husband, Elijah.

At the start, everything seems perfect. Anna and Elijah have been together for ten years, and the OneMind implant is meant to bring them even closer. Anna, although a bit sceptical, agrees to go along with it to please Elijah, but what starts as an exciting experiment quickly spirals into something much more sinister. As Anna begins to experience vivid dreams that aren’t dreams at all, but memories—memories that belong to Elijah—I found myself feeling her growing unease. What if Elijah could see her memories too? What if he could uncover the secrets she’s been hiding for years?

Green’s writing is intense and immersive, pulling me deeper into Anna’s increasingly paranoid and claustrophobic world. The psychological tension is palpable, and Anna’s internal struggle to keep her darkest secrets buried, while knowing Elijah could potentially unearth them, was both heart-wrenching and anxiety-inducing. I couldn’t help but feel her desperation as her mind became a prison, and I couldn’t tear myself away from the page as I wondered how long she could keep up the facade before everything unravelled.

What I found most fascinating about this book is how it explores the idea of total transparency in relationships—of knowing everything about a person, including their most intimate memories. At first, it seems like the ultimate form of closeness, but as Anna’s story unfolds, we see just how dangerous it can be to strip away all privacy. Green’s exploration of trust, secrets, and the fragility of the human mind is as thought-provoking as it is gripping.

The twists and turns kept me guessing until the very end, and the suspense never let up. Anna’s descent into madness felt inevitable, and I couldn’t help but be on edge as I waited to see how her story would resolve. Always on My Mind is a brilliantly crafted thriller that will have you questioning the very nature of relationships, trust, and the lengths we’ll go to in order to keep our darkest secrets safe. If you love a book that’s both thrilling and thought-provoking, this one is an absolute must-read. Five stars without hesitation!

Anna and Elijah are celebrating their 10-year anniversary and rather than a nice dinner out or flowers, they’re getting implants to allow them to hear each other’s thoughts. It’s a way of being ultra intimate… and it goes well, for a while.
Anna, however, begins experiencing a weird side effect: having dreams that are memories, rather than fictional. And the question remains: if she can see her husband’s memories, surely he can see hers? She probably doesn’t want him to do that…