Member Reviews
Brilliant read for a debut psychological thriller.
A story where you can't trust any one of the characters to tell the truth 😱😱
So many secrets, so many lies....
I quite enjoyed the storyline, it kept me on my toes and on edge throughtout the book.
A little slow paced to start off with but it soon picks up...
There were so many characters to meet and get to grasps with.
I did take to the main character Ava Cole immediately. She's strong, fiesty, ambitious and back to try make amends with her son who she left at a young age.
But what really happened to her best friend Ellen?
Can Ava pierce together the details now that she's back where it all happened?
Can she find out who is trying to scare & intimidate her?
Well worth checking out.....
Thank you kindly to publisher HQ Stories and author Daisy White for a copy of this wonderful book. I do appreciate it.
As many of you will know, I am a sucker for a psychological thriller and as soon as I saw this thought provoking blurb, I knew I had to read it. I must also say that that cover is just STUNNING, the pop of yellow is really clever and instantly sucked me in.
The captivation didn’t stop at the front cover, the narrative also sucked me in with its unreliability, thrill factor and murder mystery. The main character Ava was very complex and like many psychology thrillers before, an unreliable voice that the reader does not know wether to trust or not.
The cat and mouse game/hunt between the characters made for an interesting read and kept my attention to the very end.
Considering the plethora of psychological thrillers I have read, I would give this one a 3/5 rating because it is not the worst I have read but it is also not the an ‘OMG I AM COMPLETELY OBSESSED WITH YOU’ kind of read either. Haha you know the one, the kind of book that you cannot stop thinking about.
Thank you for providing this ARC in exchange for an honest review.
This thriller was well written and spooky. The author allows us to follow the demented mind of a killer obsessed with playing murderous games and replaying the past. Ava is a narcotics detective determined to bury her drug induced teenage past but someone is determined to bring her out in the open and the secret she harbors. Very well done and I was captivated by the character development.
I felt this was an average psychological thriller. If I wasn't doing a review I am not sure I would have finished the book.
The plot was engaging but could have been more believable. The author didn’t provide much reason for the characters actions. Therefore, some it was not realistic to me.
The main character, Ava, could have been a more believable policewoman. The way the character was developed it was not believable that she was in the police force. I did not like the writing style of the unknown villain. I found the parts narrated by the villain “cheesy” and boring.
I received this galley from NetGalley.
This is a really good debut novel. There is a lot of action in it, believable characters and a believable plot. Everyone has secrets and the lives these friends led as teenagers are full of them. What did happen to Ellen? Who is responsible? There are plenty of shocks and twists in this really good read.
Thank you to Netgalley for my copy.
I thought that this was a 3-4 star read. It started a bit slow, but picked up and offered some good twists and turns. Not my favorite ever or the most surprising, but I was able to read from beginning to end.
Will review, use in a challenge, and let members of Chapter Chatter Pub know about it.
Fifteen years after the disappearance of her best friend on what seemed like a regular night of partying, Ava Cole returns to the small Welsh village she grew up in to finally share the truth about what happened that fateful night. Now a police detective living in California, Ava is determined to find justice for her friend. Forced to face the son she left behind and the friends she broke ties with many years before, Ava finds that her presence is less than welcome in the tight-knit community, especially by a mysterious individual set on running her out of town before she can unveil the truth.
Remember Me is a promising police procedural that falls slightly short of gripping. While driven by a smart, interesting plot and a compelling main character, the book is a little too long to hold the readers’ attention and a little too ambitious to feel fully cohesive and straightforward. Side plots involving reality television shows and shaky romantic relationships take away from the central mystery and concise writing style.
Steadfast procedural readers will enjoy Remember Me, finding it similar to other whodunnit novels involving friend groups like She Lies In Wait and female-driven crime stories like Sweet Little Lies. Remember Me is entertaining, enjoyable, and original enough to not fall flat in comparison to the thousands of other crime novels on the market. The plot holds up and the loose ends are neatly tied, and even with the many distractions White introduces throughout the story, readers will feel driven to finish the book and uncover the truth.
The one real pitfall of Remember Me is how White never takes full advantage of the scenery and atmosphere at her disposal. The snowy countryside of Wales is the perfect setting for a crime story, but its’ description feels disjointed and confusing, and it will be hard for readers to create a real image in their minds of what Ava’s backdrop looks like.
Remember Me’s many characters can be difficult to keep track of at some points, especially as suspects wrack up and Ava begins to reintroduce herself to the people of the small town she once left behind. That being said, if you read carefully and pay close attention, you’ll find the book to be filled with interesting people and many potential clues. It’s the kind of book where you’ll find yourself constantly adding new names to the top of your suspect list only to discover later on it has to be someone else.
The ending of the novel is quite satisfying, and offers the right tone and conclusion for a crime novel. Overall Remember Me is a strong story.
This is another new author for my reading list!. This was an excellent psychological read, as a fan of this genre this one has all the ingredients. Totally gripping, recommended read.
Returning to the village of her youth when she discovers that her ex, and father of her child, is dying, Detective Ava Cole soon finds herself reminded of a dark time from her past. Fifteen years ago, Ava’s best friend, Ellen, disappeared from the woods, never to be seen again. Somebody knows the truth and now, with the reappearance of Ava, questions are being asked: just what did happen to Ellen on that fateful night?
Told from two perspectives – the present and fifteen years ago – it soon becomes apparent that the whereabouts of Ellen is not the mystery; the circumstances behind her disappearance is. We meet a group of friends who each have their own secrets to hide, but who exactly is responsible for what happened to Ellen? The young characters are, on the whole, not a likeable bunch, their drug experimentation and promiscuity helping to muddy the waters as to what happened on that fateful night.
From the messages that Ava is receiving, we know that there is at least one untrustworthy character amongst the two friends, but who? I enjoyed the chapters written by the unknown person, and liked how clues were dropped in slowly until you knew who it was. By this point, I had already worked this out, but I was still taken aback when the truth was finally revealed. The book definitely took a sinister turn at this point and helped me to see some of the characters in a different light.
I found Remember Me quite a slow-paced read until I reached the halfway point and then I could not put it down. The tension definitely ramped up as all of the sub-plots tied together, the story ending with a satisfying and plausible conclusion.
Remember Me is a lesson in how we often don’t always know what those closest to us are doing and is certainly worth a read.
The author wrote a thriller that started with a bang and just kept going! The twists kept coming, so I couldn't put it down. I cannot wait to read more from this author!
This book was a little slow at first but I enjoyed it overall.
I enjoyed the overall plot and setting.
The characters were flaws and believable.
Thanks for allowing me to read and review this book
I received a free e-copy of Remember Me by D.E. White from NetGalley for my honest review.
Remember Me is a police procedural with an interesting plot and a lot of characters.
Fifteen years ago Ellen Smith vanished from the woods near her small Welsh village. Eight people were there the night she disappeared, but Ellen was never seen again. All those people there that night hold a terrible secret. What really happened to Ellen that night?
Ava was Ellen’s best friend. Now Ava, living in California is a Detective. She decides to go back to the village where she grew up and where it all started, and investigate it for herself.
This was a good book but it took a while to get into it. I'm glad I stuck with it because I did enjoy it. There are also a lot of characters that are constantly being introduced, so it was a lot to keep track of. It was very intriguing and suspenseful though as I had to know what happened. It seemed like so many characters had motive which kept you reading with so many twists and turns.
Unfortunately this book was nothing out of the ordinary and didn't engage me. It was also faith cliched
Not recommended
Fifteen years ago, eight teenagers went into the woods outside their small Welsh village to drink, take a few pills and have a good time. Seven came out, carrying a terrible secret.
Fast forward to today and Ava Cole is living a good life; a detective with the LAPD, she returns to Aberdyth when she gets the news that her ex-husband is dying. But it seems the past is coming back to haunt her, beginning with a series of terrifying texts and building up to a chilling climax.
I was born in a small Welsh town, and D.E. White’s writing took me straight back to my childhood, such that I could even hear my old accent resurfacing when talking with my family after finishing this read - an accent 18 years in Australia has almost erased. I guess you can take the girl out of the valleys, but you can’t always take the valleys out of the girl, a truth Ava discovers at almost the ultimate cost.
The narrative switches between Ava’s third-person PoV and first-person snippets from the villain, and the author does a fine job of slowly teasing out the story, eliminating viable suspects one by one until at last, the reader understands not only who the villain is, but why they are on their particular path.
As with many crime suspense novels, this one should come with a host of trigger warnings about domestic violence, torture, non-consensual sex and murder, but in this case you need to add child pornography and paedophilia to the usuals, in case those are problem areas for you.
Chillingly atmospheric, this one resonated particularly strongly with me, redolent as it is of the shadowed valleys and steep hills of my youth, the insularity of small communities and that strange feeling, when you go home, that maybe you never went away at all, no matter how many years removed you are.
Five stars for a read I thoroughly enjoyed.
Raven told me to stop reading psychological mystery/thriller because apparently I'm already immune to the genre. She's correct, as usual. But also, I have the tendency to request ANYTHING mysterious in Netgalley so that I overdose.
Remember Me is a generic written book that couldn't capture my attention before it ran for 50% mark. What supposed to be a simple prompt grew into something uninteresting.
Someone was missing, and supposedly dead now. There were several people the night that someone gone. Now adults, the people were unexpectedly reunited and one tried to uncover what truly happened then.
My main problem with generic mystery/thriller is: either the plot moves to fast or to slow.
The later is the case for remember me.
Ava as the protagonist is unlikable. in fact, none is unlikable.
There was this flamboyant fukboi, a cold woman who is actually fragile, a douche bag of an ex husband, a second wife who looks perfect, I mean, someone bounds to attract me, right?
But none did, and I'll gladly let them die any moment. Including the hormonal 18 yo son of the protagonist.
(the scene where he confronted Ava was so cringey pls)
Remember me also has an abundance of characters with P in their names. Let's see... Paul, Penny, Peter, Petey, nope.
I also feel cheated due to the real event on the fateful night <spoiler>none from the group really killed Ellen, and the murders that occurred after Ava came back were kinda unrelated to Ellen</spoiler> so... yeah.
1/5
<i>(I received a digital ARC via NetGalley. All thoughts and opinions are my own.)</i>
Ava Cole returns to Aberdyth, a small Welsh village where she grew up and spent her wild teenage years, when she receives a letter from her ex husband Paul who is dying. Ava fled Aberdyth 15 yrs ago to live in LA, leaving both Paul and their infant child Stephen.
She has been receiving anonymous text messages which she believes relates to a terrible accident that resulted in her friend Ellen's death when they were teenagers. A death which Ava and her group of friends covered up by making it look like Ellen had run away. Now back in Aberdyth she finds out that another one of the group that was there that night also died in a tragic accident. Were they both accidents? Or was it murder?
I think you can guess!
Lots of twists, and well written, while the pace was a little slow at times I did enjoy this book.
With thanks to Netgalley and HQ digital for a free ARC in return for an honest review.
This story revolves around Ava Cole, an LAPD detective who spent the latter part of her childhood in the small Welsh village of Aberdyth. As a teenager she was part of a small tight knit group of eight who ran wild experimenting with drugs and alcohol. After one particular night their group diminished to seven and things would never be the same again for any of them. Ava marries young after finding herself pregnant and after a couple of years of coping less and less, she flees her old life. Now her ex-husband is dying and needs to see her concerning the son she has had no contact with. Even before she returns to the village and confronts her old friends she starts to receive strange messages in Welsh, and this continues when she arrives at her B&B together with other disconcerting events taking place. Soon the past starts to unravel and she feels the need to confess all to local police but someone appears determined to keep many secrets buried in the past. The story is well told although it feels a little slow at times. I found it a little hard to believe that, even though a couple of the kids came from broken homes, none of the parents had any idea or cared what their children were up to at night. In fact we discover only one adult was perceptive enough to realise things weren't right. Part of the book is narrated by the "killer" and although it was easy enough to guess the identity it was still only confirmed right at the end of the story. With many red herrings thrown in the path of the reader there were lots of times when the evidence pointed at different people. It was an entertaining read with a good twisty plot, well written and with an ending where everything was cleared up and well explained.
I tried, but I just couldn't get into this book. I made it about 1/4 of the way, then skipped to the end to verify I'd guessed right - I did. I think some will really enjoy this psychological thriller, but it just wasn't a good fit for me.
Thank you to HQ Digital and NetGalley for the opportunity to read this book in exchange for my honest review.
So I’m already a huge fan of this author’s Ruby Baker series, which is written under the name Daisy White, so I jumped at the chance to read Remember Me.
Of late, I’ve been falling out of love with the whole psychological thriller thing but then Remember Me came along to remind me why I love this genre!
I really warmed to Ava, she’s strong, independent but she’s not perfect, making mistakes that she deeply regrets. As a teenager, suffering from post natal depression and stuck in a doomed relationship she abandons her young son to go back to America. She rises through the ranks of the police becoming a detective. Only when her ex husband Paul is diagnosed with terminal cancer, he asks her to return to Wales. She sees this as a chance to reconnect with her son but it brings bad memories of her missing friend Ellen and a trauma she’d rather forget.
Things get much worse when she arrives in Wales, with someone is waging a campaign of intimidation against Ava. Who is out to get her?
This is a lot grittier than I’m used to from this author with a lot darker themes, like toxic relationships, abuse and depression but I absolutely loved it!
I also liked the addition of the threatening and cryptic messages written in Welsh, then translated into English, I don’t know why but I felt it added to that air of menace about them.
I will say it is a little slow burn at the beginning. Also I did have an inkling early on who the baddie of the book might be but with all the secrets and lies, it ended up being a whole lot more complicated than just a simple ‘this person is evil and that’s why the do what they do’.
Overall Remember Me is a dark, gritty, well written psychological thriller with intriguing characters and a gripping story line.
I got this as an ebook through netgalley in exchange for an honest review.
I have to say overall the mystery of this book kept me intrigued. I was constantly thinking I had figured it out and then another piece of the puzzle would be given and I was back to square one. I liked avas character even though she had absolute shitty taste in friends. I'm still hung up on the ending and whether I liked it or not but overall I'd give this book 🌟🌟🌟🌟