I felt the book was lacking. I didn't get through the whole thing as much as I tried because I was bored and it didn't hold my attention. It might work for someone else but it wasn't for me. Thanks for sharing

Dare To Remember is an interesting, well-written debut, but I’d recommend you don’t go into this expecting the fast-paced thriller that the blurb suggests. It didn’t exactly set my world alight, but it is a good, slow-burning psychological drama and a character study.

The story follows a couple of years in the life of Lisa Fullbrook, opening immediately after a brutal attack. Lisa and her best friend, Ali, were attacked in their own flat, and Lisa wakes up groggily in hospital – she’s the only survivor. Shaken by the loss of her friend and haunted by survivor’s guilt, Lisa moves out of the city to a small village, where she lives a reclusive life trying to work through her trauma.

The problem is, Lisa can only remember fragments of the night of the attack, and she’s convinced there’s something crucial alluding her. Something which would explain the overwhelming feeling of guilt that haunts her. As well as being traumatised, afraid of men and crowds and generally anything which involves her leaving her house, Lisa is crippled with guilt at the loss of her friend, so much she can’t face the funeral or seeing any previous mutual friends.

The mystery lies in recovering Lisa’s lost memories, but as the story progresses it becomes much less about uncovering what happened that night and much more about how Lisa is able to rebuild her life. Although she does her best to hide from the world, she does forge new friendships and, through them, she gains more perspective on her own issues, until finally she’s able to face them head-on through regular therapy and restorative justice – a new system which allows victims to come face-to-face with their attackers.

At under 300 pages, this is a short novel but in some ways it felt longer. It’s written in a manner which feels quite distant at times which took me a while to adjust to, but the author still manages to get to the heart of a severe trauma. The plot is slow-moving, which isn’t necessarily a bad thing as it gives time for the characters and atmosphere to breathe, but it isn’t the fast-paced thriller it’s being marketed as. Instead, it’s a journey of survival and one woman’s battle against trauma – and at that, Susannah Beard has triumphed. An interesting, emotional read.

This book, while well written and interesting to maneuver through. was by no means a "thriller". The characters were interesting enough and I felt for the main character and cheered for her to find what she needed to find. I never felt that what she found lived up to the hype. While I enjoyed this book on some level the payoff at the end didn't feel nearly good enough for me.

I adored 'Dare to Remember' - the amnesia surrounding her friend Ali's death was a really intriguing premise that really lured me in and made me desperate to find out the truth about that night. Lisa was a really likable character and that made me all the more sympathetic to her plight as she struggles to move on and rebuild her life. A lot of the 'grip lit' books that I've read this year felt a little 'samey' but I think the characterisation here set it apart as we are really rooting for Lisa and want her to be able to walk with Riley unscathed and start to put the past behind her. Whilst this was not the dramatic thriller that I might have been expecting, it was actually a well-written novel that explored the aftermath of trauma and learning to trust again in a very credible way. I did get caught up in the narrative and was up late trying to finish it before I could get to sleep - which is definitely not always true of books that I review. A credible, well-constructed piece of writing which is sure to attract an army of fans for Susanna Beard. A rattling good read!

I was given the opportunity to read Dare to Remember. This is my honest opinion of the book.

Brutally attacked in her flat, along with her roommate and friend Ali, Lisa Fulbrook wakes up to find that her whole life has changed in an instant. Desiring a change of scenery and a new life, Lisa finds solace in a nondescript village where she can be anonymous. As she starts to get flashes of memories from the night that changed her life, will Lisa be able to reconcile her new found recollections with her old remembrances? Will Lisa, in the process of helping others, summon the strength to start her life anew?

Dare to Remember is a psychological thriller about a woman with PTSD, resulting from a brutal attack that nearly killed her and took the life of her best friend. The book was good, but I had trouble finding a connection to the characters and their stories. The emotion was largely missing, which was surprising since the story should have be so compelling. Overall, I did not feel the suspense as acutely as I should have and I found the story to be mostly familiar. Although Dare to Remember was not for me, readers who like psychological thrillers may like this book.

I really enjoyed this book.
Lisa experienced terrible trauma after being attacked while with her friend Ali. After she has recovered in hospital, Lisa is left with gaps in her memory and requires therapy to help her.
The book had a good pace to it and I was desperate to find out what happened to Lisa and whether she would slowly progress and move on.

I was hoping this book would be more "thriller-y" and dive deeper into my emotions. So if you're looking for an enthralling, mystery/thriller, this might not be for you.

That opinion aside, I think it would've been more interesting had the point of view been from the main character, Lisa. Instead, it was third-person, so I felt like it was lacking in terms of personalized emotion.

As a person who appreciates psychology, I did enjoy it's underlying theme on repressed memory and learning to grow from your experiences. However, I was expecting what actually happened that night to be more exciting. We never learned more about the guilty party, and I think more could've been done with that development and reveal.

*Thank you to Netgalley and Legend Press for the ARC, for which I have given an honest and unbiased review*

This is the story of Lisa who wakes up in hospital after being brutally attacked and her best friend Ali was killed,killed by a man that they thought was their friend. Traumatised and unable to deal with everyday life, Lisa moves away from everyone she knows and rents a small house. She is obsessive about locking and double checking doors and windows.
Unfortunately for Lisa she can’t escape the events and sees a therapist to help her come to terms with her friends death. I think what is more frustrating for Lisa is that she can’t actually remember what happened. She feels that by remembering it will help her heal and move on and also make her feel less guilty with Ali’s family that she survived and Ali didn’t.
A good read :)

Thank you to the Author the publisher and netgalley for a chance to read this book :)

Suffering from PTSD after a violent attack which left her severely injured and her best friend dead, Lisa retreats with her dog to the countryside, seeks therapy to help her remember the events while trying to understand what happened that night and why in an effort to heal both physically and emotionally in order to get her life back. I would not call this as much a psychological thriller but rather more of a mystery with the real shocker being the assault and subsequent death of Lisa's best friend in her own home-the who and why it happened is the mystery. Rather I would call it more of an emotional journey with a psychological Bent to it. It takes you on a slow but steady path of a violent attack accompanied by survivors guilt to finding her way back to living again.

Lisa and Ali let Fergus in to use the bathroom. What happens next Lisa can’t quite remember other than she is in hospital with a neck wound and Ali is dead. this is one of those books that you pick up and never really put down- nor want to. The story is told from Lisa’s point of view and we sympathise with her memory loss, her bereavement not only of her friend but of her confidence and life that was. It draws you in to keep turning the pages to find out more. She finds a new friend through walking her neighbour's’ dog and something isn’t quite right. The dog gives her unrequited love and security and in turn she loves him back and he encourages her to step further into the world around her. This is a cleverly told tale. I won’t give anything away,other than to say if you enjoy a well told tale this could be the book for you.
I voluntarily chose to read this ARC and all opinions in this review are my own and completely unbiased

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

4 Stars - Unlike most of the recent thrillers I've been reading, this one was different in that we already knew "who did it" but not the how/why. Lisa's struggles with PTSD and her search for the truth were very interesting to read and quite well thought out. I thought Jessica's story was quite predictable and resolved more easily than I expected. Lisa's friendship with John was quite endearing and wonderful to read.

Overall, I quite enjoyed this book I look forward Ms Beard's next novel.

I thoroughly enjoyed this book, it was different to the normal crime stories I read, as it was from the victims perspective. I really felt for Lisa and Ali's family, and could feel the fear she must have felt in her everyday life. The mind is a funny thing and its ability to close down helps to heal. I thought it was very well written and well researched. I actually found it a good page turner, even though we knew who the perpetrator was.

This is was a decent debut novel by Susanna Beard. Our protagonist, Lisa has suffered a brutal attack and that same attack resulted in the murder of her best friend. Suffering from memory loss and PTSD, Lisa decides to move to the countryside to heal her emotional scars. The suspense of this novel revolves around the why and what happened that night?
This novel is hugely about a women recuperating and reclaiming her life after a dramatic event. I would give this novel a 3.5 due to it being slow moving at times but was still a pleasure to read.

Dare to Remember by Susanna Beard is a well put together psychological, suspenseful story. The main character Lisa, and her flat-mate are brutally attacked one night, Lisa's flat-mate is killed and Lisa wakes up in the hospital with no recollection of the attack. Moving to the countryside, Lisa struggles to put her life back together and put the attack behind her. Much of the story is devoted to Lisa trying to recover memories from that night; she has flashes of remembrance, little nudges in her subconscious that may reveal what happened. Lisa establishes some friendships in her new environment, most notably with her next door elderly neighbor. This relationship appears to be a healing balm for Lisa, and is well developed and portrayed. Beard does an excellent job with character development in this story, and while not a thriller in the truest sense of the word, the writing was nuanced enough and careful enough to make this novel an outstanding debut. With enough of a subtle twist to the story that prompts an "oh, okay, that's what happened" response from the reader, I look forward to reading more from this author. Thanks to Netgalley.com for a free copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

A lost memory of a tragic night.

Lisa awakens in the hospital with little to no knowledge of how she got there. Her last memories are of her and her flat-mate going to a local pub with friends. That and the strong aroma of whiskey. When Lisa discovers she is a survivor of a brutal attack, she struggles to get her life back on track. Frightened of the outside world, she moves to a small village as a recluse and attempts to regain control of her life and her memories.

Most of the book is spent waiting for Lisa to reveal what happened the night of the attack with flashbacks revealing just minute bits of the night in question. Finally Lisa resorts to restorative justice. A program that puts the victim and accused together in a controlled environment to allow both to get answers and be heard with the goal to heal and move forward. Can or will Lisa get the answers to fill in those missing pieces of the puzzle from that night?

It's a short book, less than 300 pages, but felt longer and slow moving. Although listed as both a psychological thriller and a crime drama, I would be hard pressed to call this a thriller. There were no shocking elements or real twists. Suspense perhaps, or yes, crime drama would be a much closer fit. Not exactly what I expected after reading the description, but none the less a good read.

Thank you to NetGalley, Legend Press and Susanna Beard for a reader's copy in exchange for an honest review.

This was not what I was expecting. It has a little more drama than I prefer. Yes, it kept my interest throughout, but not the typical psychological thriller.

Lisa flees to the countryside following a brutal attack in which she was badly hurt and her flatmate was killed. She is soon haunted by vivid flashbacks and questions. In isolation from her friends and family, Lisa tries to piece together the memories only to realise that there's a truth she can't escape from, one that may have been with her all along.

I flew through this book in the space of just two days, it's not a long book but the story is quite fast-paced and it was very hard to put down! To say I'm impressed with it would be an understatement! Although nothing major happened in the story, it was deeply emotional. You can't help but get immersed into Lisa's life and feel what she's feeling. It's a fictional story but it just felt so real because Beard touched upon some serious topics such as Post Traumatic Stress Disorder and spousal abuse.

I loved the development of relationships between the character of Lisa and others in this book, the one that moved me the most was probably her relationship with John. I did shed a tear (or ten) quite a few times throughout the book. All the characters play a vital part in the story and there isn't a character I didn't like (except for the attacker of course!). How can I not mention Lisa's dog Riley?! The story really showed how an animal can help to keep a person grounded and heal from a tragedy.

If you're like me then the ending of the book is what plays a major part in you loving or hating it. I have to say I couldn't be more pleased with the ending of Dare To Remember. I admit it, I'm a sucker for a happy ending! Beard certainly did it justice by wrapping up the story nicely.

I decided to give this book a five star rating because that's just what it deserves! I enjoyed this book from start to finish. The story, the characters, the writing - it was all simply brilliant! The only thing I will mention is that I wouldn't classify it as a thriller, it's definitely a psychological crime drama. The story is simple but will for sure leave a great impression on you.

I do hope that Susanna Beard has another novel up her sleeve because her storytelling definitely left me craving more! (Edit: I just found out on her website that she's finishing off the first draft of her second novel. How exciting!!)


Rating: 5/5

Thank you to Legend Press and NetGalley for providing me with a copy of this book in return for my honest review.

Quite a fast paced thriller to keep the reader intrigued.

I enjoyed this book but I don't believe it was a psychological thriller as originally marketed and as I was expecting. It reads more like a crime fiction. However, it was well written and did grip me, albeit I did think it moved at too slow a pace for my liking. I was intrigued to know what actually happened on that fateful evening, but unfortunately, once I did find out, I found it a bit of an anti-climax.

I chose to read this NetGalley ARC for which I have given a voluntary and unbiased review.

Ali and Lisa are best mates since school. They've stuck together, moved to London together and share a flat. They know how to work hard and play hard, then one night, the girls suffer a ferocious attack in their own flat that leaves Ali dead and Lisa seriously injured and suffering memory loss in hospital. Their friend Fergus is convicted of the crime and sentenced whilst Lisa is still hospitalised.

On her release, Lisa moves miles away, to a sleepy village and keeps her head down. She makes an instant connection with her elderly neighbour, John and his dog Riley. Together with Riley she sets about healing her broken mind on long walks around the lake. Here she meets a fellow villager who seems to live in fear of her husband and occasionally turns up with black eyes and scarves hiding her face.

As the friendship develops, more is revealed and Lisa's memory begins to return. Horrified by what she remembers, she seeks restorative justice by requesting a meeting with her attacker in prison.

This is a slow boiler rather than the thriller I was expecting, but I really enjoyed it. It was beautifully written, but maybe should be retagged because it's not the page turning thriller it's billed as, but nontheless is a really good read.