I unfortunately was not able to read this book. I was excited when ever I had chosen to download or pick this book up on Netgalley. However, time moves by so quickly and I never got to read it.

This was an entertaining read. More for the Young Adult market in my opinion, but still more than enjoyable for older folk. Cara's boyfriend dies and she discovers the body. That sets the tone of the book and keeps on going strong. Recommended.

Overall, I would rate this book 3.5 out of 5 stars. My main critique of this story is the lack of likability of the characters. I loved the plot and it was well written. This is an excellent mystery and a thriller. I rate it 3.5 stars out of 5.

Review posted on Goodreads April 27

Thank you to Net Galley and HQ Digital for an e-Arc of this title in exchange for my honest review. I read this one with my 16 yo daughter, and we both enjoyed it. I was afraid it would be too scary, but it was just suspenseful enough that it kept us reading, but not gory. Some of the characters didn't have a lot of sense, but that's the same as real life, so it was realistic. I'm not certain her parents would've let her wander around so much when she'd just recently found her boyfriend dead, but it didn't change that this was an enjoyable story and it's not just for YA...I liked it too. I suspect there will be a sequel, because while some storylines were wrapped up, some weren't, and one in particular with a main character seems a natural fit for the next book.

"As You Lay Sleeping," is a great teen mystery. The action is fast paced and you're kept guessing as to who the killer really is until the very end as there are a lot of red herrings throughout the book. I especially loved Cara's character growth throughout the novel. At the onset, she's unnecessarily mean and selfish but once she connects with Ryan, she starts to change for the better and the story really takes off. What I would've liked to have seen was more background involving Cara's sister Alice. Alice's secret is revealed but not really explored. Overall this was a fun, quick read that I'd recommend to fans of contemporary YA mysteries.

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As You Lay Sleeping. ****
By: Katlyn Duncan

I love the creepy book cover. Its dark, chilling and mysterious. The main characters are described well and given enough background that you can relate to their personalities. The secondary characters are a bit vague but you get enough information and character description to know how they fit into the story.
I really enjoyed that the setting is described as what appears to be an idyllic, a coastal beach town. It’s a much better setting than a cold, winter in some desolate backwoods city.

Cara wants desperately to be popular, to be part of the “in” crowd. Her boyfriend Joe makes that possible. They’ve dated for 2 years but Joe hasn’t turned out to be a very good boyfriend. Cara has wanted to break up for a long time. The only reason she hasn’t is because she fears his sister, Kat, will no longer be her friend and that she will no longer be part of the popular group. When Cara discovers Joe dead her life takes some dangerous and dramatic changes. Everyone seems determined to blame her for Joes death, including the Detective investigating the case.

I liked the character Cara. She seems like an average 16 year old girl. She wants the normal things any teen does; to be popular, to be liked, to have a boyfriend, a new cell phone.
Despite Cara's bad decision to keep dating Joe just to keep her “popular” status, throughout the rest of the book she does make some better choices. Well, maybe not trying to solve the murder herself!

The book is a pretty quick read and is full of excitement, suspense and a murder mystery with some creepy, unusual twists to keep you guessing. The book ends with a cliff hanger. It leaves open the possibility that the author will write a sequel. Seeing that one of the characters is a Detective and his younger brother is a new (old) friend of Cara’s…… the possibilities seem endless!

I recommend this book for ages 14 and older.
I received the book free from netgalley in exchange for an honest review. That does not effect my rating nor my review.

My review will be posted on netgalley, amazon, good reads, and moonshineartspot.blogspot

http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/1929274009?book_show_action=false&from_review_page=2

https://moonshineartspot.blogspot.com/2017/03/as-you-lay-sleeping.html

https://www.amazon.com/review/R34IE7GSHZUT8F/ref=pe_1098610_137716200_cm_rv_eml_rv0_rv

I don’t like the main character – at all. And, given the way she is written, I suspect that was the author’s intention. She was self centred, vapid and just generally not nice.

This book ended up being just as much about her journey back as it was about finding the killer. I thought that she just about redeemed herself.

Finally, whilst the ultimate reveal was a surprise, there was a lot about this story which pushed the boundaries of belief a little too far.

That said, this was a reasonable story, with well developed characters and a decent plot line.

I voluntarily reviewed a copy of this book.

Easy read you can fly through quickly. I didn't know the book would focus on teenagers when I read the synopsis, but that's what it is: complete with drama about friend groups and the all important "fitting in". My rating is a 3.5 bumped up to a 4. I enjoyed it, though the ending felt a little rushed to me.

Cara is a pretty happy teenage girl in the beginning. She has loving parents, she's popular, and has some close friends. Her boyfriend is a problem. She wants to break up with him, but doesn't want backlash from his younger sister... who happens to be her best friend. Joe is perfectly aware that she's unhappy, and finally tells her that he's ready to be single too. Relieved that she won't be blamed for dumping him, she heads to his house to talk... and bring him the Thai food he demanded. When she arrives, Joe is dead on the couch. Cara has always stayed away from drugs, but Joe didn't share that sentiment. Seems like it caught up to him as he's thought to have died from an overdose. He left something behind... a note that says "all for you" for Cara. She doesn't understand. It's not like she was breaking his heart... what does it mean?

Cara's friends shun her thanks to the queen bee of the group, Joe's sister. She blames Cara for his death, insistent that she could have helped him somehow and prevented his tragic ending. Her life becomes much more boring without them, just working and spending time with her family... which opens her up to spending time with a new face in town: Ryan, whom she previously met briefly years ago and is very interested in getting to know her better.

As the police begin to suspect Joe was murdered, accusations fly. Cara knows she didn't do it, but does she know who did? And why is the detective on the case so interested in her? Secrets come out as the mystery gets closer to being solved...

I received an ARC of this book from Net Galley and HQ Digital, thank you! My review is honest and unbiased

3.5 stars

As You Lay Sleeping
Katlyn Duncan
HQ Digital, February 2017
ISBN 9781474047470
Ebook

From the publisher—

I did it all for you…

Cara’s boyfriend is dead.

When fingers start pointing at her, she knows she’s in more trouble than she originally thought. Because Cara can see that something isn’t right.

As her carefully constructed life begins to crumble, Cara isn’t sure who she is anymore.

But maybe that’s exactly what someone wants her to think…

To be part of something bigger is probably one of the most intense needs of teenagers, and the “in” crowd is an especially desirable target so Cara has enjoyed being the girlfriend of one of her school’s most popular guys. Reaching such a lofty position also meant having Kat, Joe’s sister, as her best friend and living the high school high life despite her growing uneasiness with Joe. Now that he’s graduated, this would be the perfect time to end things but you don’t get to the top without burning a lot of bridges along the way and he’s not above holding her status over her head. Her long-time friendship with Devin was one of those burnt bridges but, in Cara’s opinion, it was Devin who ruined things. Still, with Joe going off to college, Cara is withdrawing more and more.

When Joe hints that he’s leaving town sooner than expected, Cara sees a chance to end things and agrees to see him “one last time”, in his words. Certainly, she never expected that last time to be literally the last time but, when she finds him dead, her immediate assumption is that he has overdosed. It won’t be long before the fallout begins.

Joe isn’t a likeable guy and, on the surface, neither is Cara but is that any reason to suspect her in his death? All she knows is she needs to prove her innocence because the detective has come to his own conclusions and he’s not the only one who believes she killed Joe. Losing her place among her so-called friends, she welcomes help from a guy who reappears in her life, Ryan, but she could never have predicted the secrets that come to light or the increasing danger to her and those she loves from an unknown source.

Two voices tell this tale, Cara and the mysterious E, and Cara’s hunt for the truth takes her on a journey of self-growth, tuning her into a much more appealing character. I liked the maturing Cara and, while I couldn’t connect with her fully and found the story to be a bit convoluted, not quite living up to its full potential, I enjoyed the read and, if the author continues with a second book, perhaps a few loose ends will be tied up.

Reviewed by Lelia Taylor, February 2017.

I have to admit when I first saw the cover of the book and the blurb, I wanted to read it as it looked like an amazing suspense story. Even the first chapter had me hooked with the Killer gaining adoption records; this had an amazing start to the story. The only thing though is that it could have been way better as I felt it had a really strong start and a positive potential to be awesome but it was like along the way it hit a standstill, and the reveal wasn't as big as it could have been. The book starts off with as I said the Killer is receiving closed adoption records, and then we jump over to Cara who we now know is the baby who had been adopted. She seems popular and has good friends and a boyfriend, though her boyfriend it seems has been acting out against her lately and now she is avoiding his calls. In one way I got the sense that Joe had been abusive, but she stayed with him for the reputation. It was like Cara was a social climber/gold digger. I didn't like her character as despite what was happening she seemed so needy, whiny and I wanted to shake her. Cara's boyfriend Joe is found murdered, and now Cara is the main suspect. This annoyed me as the detective didn't look at other options and had a one-mind track to make Cara guilty. We soon discover the identity of the killer and how they are related to Cara's past and the lengths that they will go to to have Cara back in their life. The book did end on a cliffhanger, and whether the author does intend to carry on, she has left it open-ended. In a lot of ways Katlyn Duncan's book As You Lay Sleeping reminded me of the Point Horror / Lois Duncan mystery thrillers that were popular in the late 90's/ early 2000's like I Know What You Did Last Summer.

This was a real page turner for me. In the beginning I didn't like Cara, at all. She was not nice to her sister, she thought to be better than most kids at her school, when in reality she was so scared to get back to her ordinary life. I also liked that between the chapters the killer gave glimpses of what was happening on his/her way to achieve the goal. It was a roller coaster ride, 'cause you know that Cara didn't do it, but the police officer makes her life so miserable that you just wanna scream in frustration. All hopes are on new guy in town Ryan, to bring some light into the story and solve the mystery. Well, it does not go smoothly and the problems are many. Throughout the book I hoped that the ending wouldn't spoil the story for me. But, the ending was really good and just as I like it. After finishing the story, there is this little voice in your head, saying: What if....? Grab it, read it, enjoy it!
I chose to read this book and all opinions in this review are my own and completely unbiased. Thank you, NetGalley and HQ Digital!

This is a young adult gripping thriller about Cara, whose boyfriend died mysteriously and she was the one who found his body. To start from the beginning, Cara wants to dump her boyfriend, Joe, and tried to keep it civil so she will not hurt her bestfriend, Joe's sister, along the way. After agreeing with the breakup, Joe asked Cara to meet with her one last time, even asked her to bring Thai food with her. But when she arrived at his house, she found him lifeless.The first thing that came to her mind is that he overdosed because of history with drugs. But then she saw a note that says 'ALL FOR YOU.' Mystery and suspense follows. What really happened? Police suspects foul play and his family is pointing fingers at her. There are so many things, many secrets about Joe that he only told Cara. No one in his family knows. So she tried investigating to remove herself from being a suspect. She met a new guy, Ryan, who seems genuinely trying to help her find the truth about Joe's death. Weird things starting to happen.

Its an addicting book, which glues you from page 1 to the end.

Cara goes through the motions of being with her boyfriend, but is counting down the days until they are no longer together. When he calls her and tells her to meet him, she has no idea that she will find him dead, or that she will become a suspect in his murder. Cara just wants her life back, but something is coming and she needs to face the truth.

I picked up the book one night to just read a few chapters and was incredibly surprised to find myself at the end of the story within the same evening. I literally blew through the book, so engrossed in the story that I did not realize time passed. The author used the format of short chapters which always suckers me into reading “just one more” until I have finished the story, just like I did here. This was a teen murder mystery with some surprising plot twists as well as interesting characters.

I can honestly say that I did not really care for Cara when the story began. She seemed like a self involved snob who cared only for her social standing, not how she treated people. There were a few moments where I found myself literally cringing when she practically begged to be friends with the evil popular girl Kat, it was so uncomfortable. But as the story progressed, she completely evolved as a character and I liked who she became. Cara came to the realization of what she was doing, how she had treated people and what really mattered to her. She was even self-sacrificing, something I never would have expected when the novel began.

The mystery aspect of the book had a slow start, in my opinion. Sure, the murder happened in the first chapter or so, but then the first half of the book was more about the drama of Cara’s life and her trying to figure out her priorities. (And don’t forget Ryan, sigh, I hearted him, but I refuse to have a tangent). The second half was focused on the twists and turns of the mystery and it kept me on my toes. Some things I saw coming but I still appreciated how it played out.

I want to say the story wrapped up, and this mystery did, but the author dropped a huge bombshell the last page (which I loved!), so I don’t know if this is a standalone novel or the first in a series. Either way, I want to read more from this author.

I received this title from the author in return for my honest review.
For more reviews visit my blog at http://smadasbooksmack.blogspot.com/

At the beginning, I already had the feeling that a woman might be the killer. The reason, I had some ideas yet, I was not sure. I liked how the twists and turns in this story. I was excited and at the same time, nervous for Cara. She was clueless who the murderer was, but she held the key in finding the truth. I was happy about how the villain was portrayed here. She was obsessed and smart, yet I also felt a little bit sad about how she ended up. Wow! It has an open ending, so, perhaps, I will be expecting a next story. Job well done to Katlyn Duncan!

The story is told in the first person from the points-of-view of sixteen-year-old Cara and the mysterious and murderous E, who is searching for a girl called Sylvia. The search takes E to Chester Bay, Connecticut, where Cara lives. When Cara's boyfriend dies mysteriously, her world is turned upside down: she loses her best friends and her social standing; she's hounded by the detective in charge of the case; and someone from her past shows up unexpectedly and displays an unnatural interest in her. Should she be worried?

This is a tale of love and obsession and how far some people will go to protect their family. It's an interesting concept that doesn't quite gel. While the story kept my attention, the speech is stilted and unnatural, and the behavior of the characters is unrealistic. The author slowly builds the suspense and the creepiness factor, but the tension is soon lost. In addition, the climax is predictable and too easily resolved, while the ending leaves it open for a sequel. And the title? Sorry, I just don't get it.

As you lay sleeping by Katlyn Duncan is a mystery and thriller and teens and ya read.
I did it all for you…
Cara’s boyfriend is dead.
When fingers start pointing at her, she knows she’s in more trouble than she originally thought. Because Cara can see that something isn’t right.
As her carefully constructed life begins to crumble, Cara isn’t sure who she is anymore.
But maybe that’s exactly what someone wants her to think…
This was a fantastic read with brilliant characters. I loved the story. Kept me thinking if it was suicide or not. Definitely didn't see that coming. Highly recommended. 5*. I voluntarily reviewed an advanced copy of this book from netgalley.

I love a good thriller and this one had me guessing right until the end. When you read so many books in one genre you can start to spot patterns and figure things out but I was led down the wrong path many a time in this book.
The epilogue leaves it open for a sequel and I look forward to reading that.

This was an interesting little read. I wasn't sure I was going to like it at the beginning because there wasn't a single likable character. Especially the heroine who came across like a self-absorbed superficial bitch. That said, once Ryan comes into the picture her character improves GREATLY and I ended up liking her.

As I mentioned above this was an entertaining read. I was very quickly pulled into the story and the pace moved along quickly and kept me turning the pages. I enjoyed the developing relationship between Ryan and Cara. There were some interesting side characters as well. Both likable and not so likable. The ending was such that I foresee another book at some point. Not exactly a cliffy, but left open-ended.

As much as I enjoyed it I did feel that the whole story felt a little underdeveloped. There were things that were just skimmed over that needed more fleshing out. Joe's murder for one. He seemed like he was into some bad stuff, but his history and background is just really lightly touched on. The same with Ryan's background. It's hinted at that he has some "darker" issues, but nothing is ever pursued. We are also left with having NO clue why detective Devereaux had it out for Cara from the beginning out the book? Had these things been developed further my rating would have been higher.

I'd actually give this 3+ stars (but that's not an option). What I liked: the plot and the mystery. I felt like everything came together, there were nice hints, and the ending was both satisfying and intriguing. What wasn't as successful (for me): the characterizations. First, I wasn't a huge fan of Cara. She was portrayed as self-centered and rather shallow, and by the end, she had supposedly changed...but I didn't see a lot of evidence of that change. She didn't regret her earlier selfishness, and I couldn't see that her perspective on popularity and school or even family had altered that much. I liked Ryan a lot, but his background didn't seem fleshed out. All in all, the characters seemed incomplete, like they were presented for a moment in time without any supporting evidence on how they go there or where they might go next. That said, the romance between Ryan and Cara is sweet, and the mystery was satisfying.