Megan MirandaRezensionen

Hold on to your hats! We've got a live one.

I've grown a bit tired of psychological thrillers that promise a roller coaster ride and end up feeling more like a casual ride in a golf cart through a 65 living community. This one is more like the real deal. Maybe not Mario Andretti-fast, but at least we are on the race-track.

Told in reverse-chronological order, this one will have you guessing who is telling the truth and what is going on among this group of unreliable narrators. There was one point, about half-way in, that I got a bit confused. The same way I did when watching "Memento" all those years ago (any one else remember that movie?) I just stuck with the book for a couple more chapters and was back in gear.

4 solid stars

Thank you to NetGalley and Simon & Schuster for a galley of this book in exchange for an honest review.

This is the second suspense that I read in a row and again it kept my interest and I read it in two days as I couldn't put it down. But when I got to the resolution I was disappointed. I thought it could have had a more interesting ending. There was one part that I found a little off.
I didn't understand why Abby isn't more upset that Cory broke into her room. And didn't she question how he knew to break in? Had he been following her? That part really bothered me
There was a lot of language 17 blasphemy, 11 F* word, 11 S***, 6 H***, 1 B***

Overall the story kept my interested but it wasn't an amazing book overall.

Twisty, a dash of nostalgia, interesting characters, and a well described location...All the good things I've come to expect from the author.

Twisty, turny, and expertly narrated - I found myself easily captivated in this thriller. The story took a while to pick up speed, but even in the beginning I was intrigued enough to see where the story would leave. After a tragedy claimed twelve of their classmates and teachers, the nine remaining survivors get together each year on the anniversary of the accident to stay connected. This year however, they are down to just seven. A lot happened that fateful night and the survivors weren't entirely truthful with the police, their yearly gathering helps reinforce that they all have each others backs - even if they don't entirely like or trust each other. But this year on the tenth anniversary of the tragedy - things are going wrong. Are they being followed? Why are people asking questions?1 The ending wasn't a blockbuster, but it was a surprise. The narration was fantastic and is really what kept me going.

Daughter of Mine is Megan Miranda's new novel.

Hazel Sharp hasn't been back to Mirror Lake for almost a decade. There are just too many memories there - especially the disappearance of her mother. Why didn't she take Hazel with her? It's the death of her father that brings her back to the family home in Mirror Lake. Old disagreements and resentments rear there ugly heads as Hazel and her two brothers argue over the will. And other secrets are exposed as the water level in the lake drops...My answer for whodunit changed frequently.

Daughter of Mine is a bit of a slow burn in the beginning as the scene is set, the characters introduced and the crux of the matter is exposed. Family matters, old hurts, actions, secrets, and more keep the narrative moving forward. I thought Miranda did a great job of drawing the relationships between all the players. The headers of each chapter lists the days without rain - and the level of the lake keeps dropping.

I chose to listen to Daughter of Mine. The narrator was Inés del Castillo. I've enjoyed other books she's read. Her voice matched the mental image I had created for Hazel. She provides many other voices, including men's, that are believable. The speed is good. She enunciates well and her voice is pleasant to listen to. She interprets Miranda's work and uses her voice to capture the emotions and action of the book. A good performance.

Ohhhh..this is a good one!!

Hazel’s father died, and in addition to the shock of his death was the shock that he left the family home ONLY to her and not her brothers. That caused a good deal of bad feelings.

While she was home for the funeral more shocking things happened.

One of these things had to do with their mother who had taken every penny out of her husband's bank accounts, any jewelry in the house, and anything else of value and just left without notice or any trace of her when Hazel was sixteen.

Things seemed to have gone the wrong way after their mother left and since the years that Hazel had left Mirror Lake.

Or had things always been going the wrong way for Hazel in this small town and with her family and she hadn't realized it?

How could Hazel have missed all that had been going on while she was growing up and especially for the past few years?

What else could happen?

What else would be revealed?

Who really knew what happened and knows what is happening now?

Find out in this tense family drama that reveals secrets and more missing characters.

Ms. Miranda certainly knows how to weave a storyline that keeps you turning the pages with a surprising, reveal-all ending.

You won’t be able to put DAUGHTER OF MINE down. 5/5

Thank you to the publisher for a copy of this book. All opinions are my own

Suspenseful with unexpected turns and twists.

This book was full of secrets hidden for years that were beginning to come to light. Every time I believed that what Hazel was discovering might point to a suspect, I found myself lost again in the pages that followed. The plot focusing on the Holt family was very engaging and intriguing.

Perry Holt, a father and respected detective, dies. His death brings his daughter back to town after many years of absence. To the family's surprise, it is Hazel who inherits the family home. And she wasn't even his daughter. Why did he leave this house to her and not to his sons? The climax begins when a second car is found in the water behind the Holt’s family home. It belonged to Hazel's mother, who left Hazel behind with the Holt family.

This book surprised me. I was intrigued with the plot, and constant suspicions, drama and secrets. The pacing was perfect, and it was hard to put this book down.½

Such a Quiet Place is a thriller by Megan Miranda. It's set in a private neighbourhood with an active homeowner's association, a beautiful lake view, and friendly residents. Harper Nash has lived there for years, and commutes to her job across the lake at the community college. All was well unti Harper's neighbours are murdered by Ruby, Harper's friend and roommate. It is a shock when, 14 months after her conviction, Ruby is released, the charges dropped, and Ruby moves back in with Harper, much against her wishes. The neighbourhood turns into a place of tension and suspicion. Has Ruby been wrongly released? Was she innocent all along? Or is she still a threat, and one now living in their neighbouhood again.

I didn't like this book especially. I found that having Harper narrate the entire novel was tiring. I longed to see other people's views. I longed for Harper to stop jumping from theory to theory and becoming increasingly paranoid. The book had all the elements needed for a good thriller, but in this case the elements didn't coalesce, and the book didn't work.½

Daughter of Mine by Megan Miranda follows a daughter returning to her dysfunctional family after the death of her father. It is an exceptional, very highly recommended psychological family drama/murder mystery. Daughter of Mine is another excellent, un-put-downable thriller by Megan Miranda.

After leaving a decade earlier, Hazel Sharp returns home to the small town of Mirror Lake, North Carolina, for her father, longtime police officer Detective Perry Holt's, memorial. As the family, her brothers, Caden and Gage and her Uncle Roy, hold the memorial, across the lake a car is being pulled out of the water. A long running drought has lowered the water level at the lake, leading to the discovery of a submerged car. The mystery of the car disturbs Hazel, as her mother disappeared years ago. Even so, after the memorial Hazel was planning to return to Charlotte where she has a building-renovation business, but then she learns she has inherited the house and her brothers have planned to go through it, so she quickly returns. That's when another vehicle is found submerged in the water behind the house.

The tension is high and suspicions are rampant in the atmospheric mystery Daughter of Mine, perhaps Miranda's best novel to date - which is saying a lot. There are several mysteries occurring in the plot. New mysteries include the disappearance of Caden's wife, Jamie, why Hazel inherited the house, and odd occurrences happening in the house. Old mysteries involve the disappearance of Hazel's mom, the two cars pulled from the lake and the clues people seem to be giving Hazel without actually saying anything. The small town, where people have been around for generations and know everything about you and your family plays a major role in the narrative. The ongoing drought is also a noteworthy part of the novel and each chapter opens with how many days it has been since it rained.

Hazel is a fully realized character and immediately a sympathetic one. You will know her mother left her with just a simple note and that Perry Holt cared for her like a father. The sibling rivalry between Hazel and Caden is evident and Gage, as the older brother, also has a preset role in the family dynamics. There are doubts and uncertainty about the strange things happening and Hazel is unsure who can be trusted to help her or give her honest answers.

The writing is extraordinary. The scenes are all perfectly described and place you firmly in the scene. The tension and family dynamics work together to create a heightened sense of caution and even alarm. Secrets abound and I had all sorts of guesses and suppositions about what was happening along the way, but my guesses weren't even close. The final denouement is phenomenal. Thanks to Simon Element for providing me with an advance reader's copy via NetGalley. My review is voluntary and expresses my honest opinion.
http://www.shetreadssoftly.com/2024/03/daughter-of-mine.html

Failed journalist Leah Stevens leaves Boston and moves to rural Pennsylvania with a friend, Emmy Grey, but when Emmy disappears, leaving behind no clues or trail, Leah is forced to revisit her past to restore her credibility and uncover the truth about Emmy.

The story is told in Leah’s voice. Leah questions many things she hears people say and things they do which kept the story interesting. It was all a bit complicated and a bit far-fetched but it was entertaining.½

I received this book from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review here and on my blog Samwise Reviews. I loved this; I read most of the book in a single day. Just like The Last House Guest, Megan Miranda has put together another amazing thriller. I really enjoyed how you kept learning new facts about both events slowly, as the character did, and it was impossible to predict the ending. The story is split between two cases, how Arden went missing while sleepwalking and the body that Olivia found now. Each chapter has a section of police report or interview dating back 20 years to Widow Hills, which I found slowed down the plot a little, but it was interesting to see what people were saying at the time and it becomes relevant later. Overall I thought the whole premise was fascinating and Arden/Olivia was a really believable character.

Mystery

Mystery

I originally read this back in 2020, and to be fair, I didn't remember much, so I decided to reread it again. It's been a while since I was able to finish a book in a day, but I could not put this down.

⚠️ there are some triggers in this book. If you suffer from anxiety or depression I do not recommend this book ⚠️ suicide TW ⚠️

As someone who deals with depression and anxiety, I feel like I could relate on certain levels.

Delaney suffers from a traumatic experience that almost ended her life, but by some miracle, she survived. She doesn't understand why she was granted this gift of a second chance at life while others weren't. She sees death everywhere and feels it.

What I got out of reading this is that sometimes in life We go through something so difficult that even though we are ok, our mind doesn't quite get the memo. We can rationalize all we want, However
The depression and anxiety truly get such a tight grip of us that we feel like we can't breathe. It's best summarized in Decker's (Delaney's best friend since childhood) point of view. He asks, "Is this how it feels to drown? Like the world is folding in on you? Like there's nowhere left to go but some place inside?"

"And then I understood: the worst part about drowning is the undying hope that maybe, just maybe, you're not."

It's a valuable lesson to learn that even though we are not immortal and at some point we will all die, it's best to enjoy the moments we get, tell the ones we love them while we have them.. look up at the sky and appreciate the blue skies and fluffy clouds.

A lot of us feel like we are drowning inside but forget that we can just as easily grasp for air, and we will be just fine.

5/5 ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

I felt, I cried, I grasped ❤️

Blurb from the cover:

The summer after a wealth young summer guest dies under suspicious circumstances, her best friend lives under a cloud of grief and suspicion in this "clever, stylish mystery that will seize readers like a riptide" (Publishers Weekly, starred review) featuring "dizzying plot twists and multiple surprise endings" (The New York Times Book Review).

Littleport, Maine, has always felt like two separate towns: an ideal vacation enclave for the wealthy, whose summer homes line the coastline; and a simple harbor community for the year-round residents whose livelihoods rely on service to the visitors.

Typically, fierce friendships never develop between a local and a summer girl--but that's just what happens with visitor Sadie Loman and Littleport resident Avery Greer. Each summer for almost a decade, the girls are inseparable--until Sadie is found dead. While the police rule the death a suicide, Avery can't help but feel there are those in the community, including a local detective and Sadie's brother, Parker, who blame her. Someone knows more than they're saying, and Avery is intent on clearing her name, before the facts get twisted against her.

Another thrilling novel from the bestselling author of All the Missing Girls and The Perfect Stranger, Megan Miranda's The Last House Guest is a smart, twisty read with a strong female protagonist determined to make her own way in the world.

My review:

The book starts off setting the tone for the story at 'The Plus-One Party' back in the summer of 2017. This first chapter captivated me and drew me into the plot of what happened to Sadie and how those at this party play into it all. Miranda jumps back and forth from the summer of 2017 and the summer of 2018, which was confusing at first, but I was able to grasp what the intent was after the second switch back to summer 2017.

As promising as the opening few chapters were, and how they drew me into the story and wanting answers, the middle of the book seemed to fall a bit flat. The information provided in the large portion of the book definitely played into giving the reader the knowledge they needed for the ending, but the delivery didn't quite hit like the beginning of the book did. I found myself caring more for Sadie (the deceased friend) than I did for the main character (Avery). Avery began to annoy me with what came across as a bit whiney and overly naïve character traits.

The concepts within the book were fantastic. I loved the idea behind connecting the trauma of Avery's past pre-Sadie to Sadie's death. Miranda did a great job of slowly drawing the connecting lines for the reader in how they all came together. I think my biggest critique is I could not connect to the main character, and in turn, lost some interest in her storytelling through most of the novel.

Miranda provided a wonderful twist at the end of the book. While reading, I tried to stay one step ahead in figuring out who killed Sadie. Miranda provided just enough information throughout that led the reader down an intended path, only for the reader to realize they were wrong. This happened on two occasions that stood out to me. Both times, the conclusion I came to was incorrect, and I was shocked by who the real killer turned out to be.

Overall, The Last House Guest had a lot of promise and provided some decent twists and turns at time. While not the most engaging page turner, I was hooked on the mystery enough to continue through, even when I was detached from Avery. I would recommend this book to anyone who is looking for an easy thriller that does not take much concentration to get through.

This book hooked me almost immediately and I stayed up most of the night reading! Lots of twists and turns-and this is one I didn't figure out halfway through the book. Great characters. Believable dialogue. Enjoyed every minute I originally picked this up because I got an advanced copy of The Perfect Stranger but I loved this! I also already finished the second book review to come!

The Perfect Stranger A Novel by Megan Miranda and published by Simon & Schuster is a great read. Thank you to Netgalley the publisher and author for my advanced copy for an honest review. I am one of those people who needs to read things in order so I did read All the Missing Girls and loved it. I feel that the plot was very well developed and the reverse chronological order was genius. So if you haven’t read that do start there. I am very glad I did, even though books can be read as standalones I am so glad I read them together.
Failed Journalist Leah Steven's life has hit rock bottom when she runs into her old friend Emmy Grey in a bar in Boston. Emmy has just broken up with her boyfriend and because both women want to get away from Boston suggests that she and Leah move to rural Pennsylvania and start their lives anew. All is going well until a woman who bears a uncanny resemblance to Leah is assaulted and left for dead and Emmy disappears days later, this should have you hooked if I stop right here but this is just the beginning. The Journalist in Leah is determined to find Emmy, but the more time that Leah spends time looking the messier things get. Leah gets help from Kyle Donovan a detective from the area that helps. I feel that the intrigue of potential love for this story makes it so much better.
This roller coaster ride is read in the prospect of Leah, the character is so well developed and complex that it makes the story so much better. The more time that passes the more Leah starts to second guess her thoughts and memories. every time you as the reader get the feeling that the idea of Emmy is constructed. Is all this real? All and all a perfectly strange read.

I didn't predict it

Pretty good not totally predictable.

In a lot of ways this was kind of like watching one of those Police Procedural shows. Criminal Minds or Cold Case, maybe even CSI (when Grissom was in charge). We have what's going on now--Mallory's life at Monroe, trying to move on, trying to make sense of that night and then we have what happened before. Her and Reid's history, her and Dylan's history, her and Colleen's history, her and Brian's history. Everything kept weaving around itself and at times it became one big ball of tangled.

As I was reading this book I grew more and more confused, wondering what one thing had to do with another, why that detail was so much more important then some other. In hindsight the narrative works really well, but a reader doesn't read in hindsight.

In hindsight its fairly obvious that what she had with Brian was not the stuff of dreams. In hindsight it was obvious that Dylan was manipulating her just as surely as Brian. As a narrator of both then and now, Mallory is mostly unreliable. She built so many things up in her head about her relationships with everyone that her memories were tainted.

So yeah I spent up until the very last chapter thinking that Mallory was a murderer and possibly psychotic as well.

When the truth comes out about the murder at Monroe it kind of makes sense and kind of doesn't. Mallory spent so much time worried about her problem and what other people were thinking of her, that any inferences she had about the murdered victim and the circumstances surrounding their death wouldn't have been enough if not for the deus ex machina Miranda pulls.

Look convenient plot info dump is convenient and noticeable. Instead of saying 'Of course that makes perfect sense!' because as a reader I put the clues together, it was 'Well I guess that makes sense'. The lead up to the reveal was just so muddied by everything else happening to Mallory that it just kind of happened and then it was the next day.

It was entertaining and was different from other boarding school set books. I just wish it had been more.

DAUGHTER OF MINE was a pleasant surprise for me. I hadn't read any of Meghan Miranda's previous books. If you haven't either, this is a good one to start with.

The daughter in DAUGHTER OF MINE is Hazel. She has two brothers. But when their father dies, he leaves his home to Hazel, alone. Why?

Turns out, her father wasn't really her father, and her brothers aren't really her brothers, which makes it even more confusing or, I should say, mysterious. And there are so many more mysteries going on in this book, so many twists and turns!

What was really going on with Hazel's father's first wife (before Hazel)? Could Hazel be mistaken about her mother (her father's second wife)?

Is there some significance to her father's to-do list stuck to the refrigerator? What is the meaning to Hazel's discoveries around the house?

Can Hazel trust anyone? Everyone is suspect in this excellent thriller.

I liked the plot twist.

Interesting book, thanks to Edelweiss for the review copy. Lots of twists and turns.

Hazel Sharp, abandoned by her mother when she was a child, escaped Mirror Lake, her two brothers, and her police detective father to build a career two hours away. When her father dies, she is called back to her childhood home which she finds out, much to the consternation of her brothers, she has solely inherited. When first one abandoned car is found at the bottom of the lake, and then another, Hazel questions her whole history. As tensions mount with her brothers, disturbing things occur in the house, including evidence of someone else having been inside at various times. And then someone else disappears. Is Hazel in danger?

This is the fourth Megan Miranda book I have read and I definitely like this one the best. As the mysteries and tensions mount, readers will find themselves guessing first one suspect and then others, and then maybe returning to their first suspect…no, maybe someone else! Suspenseful, mysterious, menacing, eerie, atmospheric, I didn’t want to put this book down.

Thanks to #netgalley and @_simonelement and @marysueruccibooks for the ARC.

Rebekkah Ross (Narrator)
long drawn out storytelling