2.5 stars I'm sorry to say that i struggled with this book a bit from the very first page and it didn't get much easier. Too many complicated silly names to remember in the first chapter immediately left me on the back foot and I found it difficult to keep up. I did finish this book but it was a bit of a struggle and unfortunately not for me. The storyline however was very good and unique with a few good twists.

Firstly, I just want to say that I am in love with the cover of the paperback edition. It is gorgeous and would buy the physical copy of the paperback just for the cover alone.

This is a story about Amy, a woman with a colourful past that is now coming back to haunt her after being involved in a game of 'Never have I ever'. No one in her life knows about her devastating past and so she stands the risk of losing her family, friends and life that she fought so hard to build.
This is as much as I wish to disclose as I definitely do not want to ruin the plot for anyone.

All I can say is that this was an intense, suspenseful and intriguing read. The mystery of the story was gripping and kept me on the edge of my seat. I respect that the entire story was told just from Amy's point of view instead of from multiple perspectives. I feel this is what added to the secrecy and mystery of the story. I thoroughly enjoyed Amy's character as she tried to grasp the snowball effect that her colossal past mistake had on her present. The manner in which it affects her as a person thereby affecting the people around her as she is not able to truly be herself with those she holds dear. Her secret holds her back from the life she so desperately fights to retain, yet she is too afraid to have the faith that she will be forgiven by her loved ones should they find out the truth.

All in all, Dark and Twisty = LOVED it. Will read it over and over again!

What a great, tense in an uncomfortable way, book. Amy is a great character, I loved her unusual job as a diving instructor. Roux is new to the neighbourhood and inviegles her way into the ladies' book club. But she has another agenda, the kind of blackmail that Amy tries to defeat, but the potential fallout and impact on others is too much.
This book was gripping and superbly written

In Pensacola, Florida, a group of ordinary suburban housewives are holding at their monthly book group when a mysterious stranger knocks on the door. She wants to join their group. Before the end of the night she’s charmed almost everyone and overtaken the group, declaring the book talk boring and instead plies them with alcohol and gets them to play her own version of Never Have I Ever. But these embarrassing, salacious secrets aren’t just a bit of fun. They’re the mystery woman’s ammunition for a much more dangerous game. And now she has secrets that could explode many people’s lives into a million pieces...

"She smiled, and I had no premonition as I smiled back. She didn't look like my own destruction to me."

Amy Whey loves her life. It’s uncomplicated and unremarkable, which is just how she wants it. She knows how damaging and dangerous the extraordinary can be and she’s spent too long burying her painful past to allow anything to threaten what she has. She’s married to Davis and they live with his daughter Maddy and their baby boy, Oliver. Amy is a loyal friend and is fiercely protective of those she loves. But underneath the calm exterior is layers of guilt and a woman teetering on the edge, scared that her darkest secrets will be exposed.

Angelica Roux is glamorous, sexy, bewitching, hypnotic, wild and charming. This wolf in sheep’s clothing soon takes over the book group with copious amounts of alcohol and a seemingly innocent game of Never Have I Ever. But underneath the shiny and chipper exterior is a cold, calculating, manipulative, and greedy woman who will stop at nothing to get what she wants.

And so begins a deadly game of cat and mouse that can have only one winner and could cost the loser everything, maybe even their life...

“Roux had begun this as a game. She’d told me not to play. But I already was. I had tol. More than that. I had to win.”

Wow! This book was utterly compelling. Steeped in layer upon layer of drama, intrigue and suspense, this book had me on the edge of the seat.. Past narratives are used to tease us with the events that Amy is so terrified of being revealed as she races against the clock to beat Roux at her game and they hyped up the mystery and tension, leaving more questions I was desperate to know the answer to while also helping to slowly untangle the clues.

“I did not know I could lead us to a thing so big, so mean, something we can never undo or remove, that will echo in my life, in all our lives, forever.”

While being entertaining this book also makes you think as it asks the question how far would you go to protect your secrets and the life you love? It’s also a book about how every little choice we make can have far-reaching, and sometimes disastrous, consequences, and how your whole life can change in a single moment.

Part of the brilliance of this book is how similar the Amy and Roux are despite their different roles in the story. Both characters were well written and Roux is a fantastic antagonist. She’s easy to despise but is also fun to read and you can understand why so many people are taken in by her. While I never wavered in Roux being the bad guy, there are times when you aren’t sure if Amy is the good guy or the bad guy as she’s complex and the more we learn about her the harder it to only see her as an innocent victim. But none of this changed my allegiance. I was team Amy all the way.

"She'd cracked open the past. I could feel it leaking into my bloodstream, spreading like a toxin through me."

This was my first read by this author, but it won’t be my last. There has been a lot of hype surrounding this book and with that there is always the worry it won’t live up to expectations. This one did. Spectacularly written, fast-paced, and full of intricate twists and turns, with one in particular that I’m still trying to recover from the shock of. The author masterfully weaves the pieces of the puzzle together and delivers a nail-biting finale that I was so desperate to get to I stayed up long into the night.

The book itself gives a great way to describe itself: a book with teeth. Ironically it is exactly the kind of book that Amy and Roux like to read. So if you love books with teeth, mysteries that keep you guessing and psychological thrillers that have you on tenterhooks, then Never Have I Ever is the book for you.

Thank you to NetGalley, Bloomsbury Publishing and Joshilyn Jackson for the chance to read and review this novel in exchange for an honest review.

I was hooked from chapter one - what a thrilling book!

I related to Amy's character, and I loved the change of era for her - the story was enhanced so much by these flashbacks.

I'll be recommending this to all my friends who love Gillian Flynn.

would like to thank netgalley and the publisher for letting me read this book

a new neighbour who invites herself to bookclub and seemingly takes it over...with a little game that she has invented...never have i ever...after a few drinks things begin to get interesting and secrets are spilt......

this book is actually better than i thought it was going to be...the inevitable paths that certain people were being led down..made me put the book down in anger but an hour later i was back reading it...and have to say i did enjoy it, never suspected the truth....

a clever book with enough to keep you interested in seeing how it all ends up,though i will never play never have i ever....

Never have I Ever is a game that might seem like a good idea when you’re drunk but can have unexpected consequences. Divulging your worst secret to your friends when there is a stranger in your midst is a dangerous game to be caught up in and mind games are at the heart of this compelling novel.
Amy Whey is trying to live an ordinary life with Davis, stepdaughter Madison and baby Oliver whilst weighed down by a terrible secret. And it is BAD. Together with best friend, the sweet naive Char, they run the neighbourhood book club and it is at one of these meetings that Roux shows up, recently moved into the neighbourhood with her son Luca. She is the stranger who has Amy as her target when it comes to revealing secrets. Roux mysteriously knows what Amy’s secret is and so the game begins. Except this game has no rules or boundaries, it’s all out war with blackmail at its core. Amy naturally want to keep her secret buried and as an experienced deep sea diver, the ocean is where she feels at peace, consigning those bad memories to the deep. When she starts teaching Luca how to dive (him and Madison have befriended one another) Amy sees a way through him to possibly thwart Roux plans. The question is who will ultimately triumph? Is Roux who she says she is? If Amy can find Roux Achilles heel then maybe she will be able to carry on her normal life without hurting those she loves. Both characters are feisty strong women and at times the reader wonders who is the most amoral? There’s a brilliant twist in the middle that I personally didn’t see coming and again at the end which is shocking and disturbing. Highly recommend this book. It had me hook, line and sinker (pardon the pun) from the beginning. Many thanks as always to the author, publisher and Netgalley for allowing me to read ahead of publication.

Amy Whey has a dark secret, she also has something that Angelica Roux wants and will stop at nothing to get, but first Amy has to play 'Roux's' game.....

Amy is a dive instructor and is happily married to Davis, with a 15 year old stepdaughter, Maddy and baby Oliver, she is friends with everyone in her neighbourhood and hosts a book club at her home, run by her best friend, Charlotte. When Roux turns up invited to their book club meet and insists they play the game Never Have I Ever, Amy's world begins to fall apart around her, because she realises that Roux knows her secret, she insists that she will leave and Amy's secret will stay hidden, as long as she plays the game by her rules, but Amy is prepared to fight back and there can only be one winner.

This book starts off slow but just like a game of cat and mouse it builds momentum and draws the reader into the dark world of blackmail. I loved seeing how the two women battled against one another, each of them determined to win, whatever the cost. It's a tale full of secrets, guilt and deceit and there are twists by the bucket load. This is the first I've read by this author but she writes her characters with such depth that she has you believing they are real. It's a deliciously dark thriller which I highly recommend.

I'd like to thank Bloomsbury Publishing and Netgalley for the approval, I will post my review on Goodreads now and Amazon on publication day.

A good and fun story in the same genre as Lianne Moriarity. Kept my interest but sometimes I felt it’ was lacking. A good story all round

A psychological thriller that feels fresh and different - there's nothing formulaic about this one. I loved the gladiatorial feel with the game being played by two women, although to begin with only one understands the rules. The stakes are high but get so much higher. The book's full of dilemmas and guilt as secrets from the past come back to haunt Amy and the tension just keeps ratcheting up. Highly recommended!

Wow! I think that says it!

An absolutely incredible story with so many twists and turns that you can't always see them coming. The hook was fantastic, the twists kept you guessing and wanting more and it ended well too! A must read!

Overall: Never have I ever is testament to how secrets can destroy you and how far people will go to keep them hidden. Amy has a secret, but how did Roux, who’s not even been in town 5 minutes find out? It was totally addictive and full of twists and surprises! I was biting my nails throughout wondering what Amy’s and Roux’s next moves would be in the ‘game’! There were some passages when I thought this is dragging a bit/and were over the top, BUT, it was a pretty amazing book and got better the more pages I turned. This is the perfect summer suspense/psychological thriller to add to your beach reads list!

Very enjoyable. This was a tense thriller that started off quite gently and then kept winding the suspense up to the end. There were 2 strong characters at the heart of the story. I would recommend this.

I read a lot of this genre, but this was a stand out. Great characterisations, a lot of twists, and the dive sections fit in expertly. Easy to read but not fluffy. I will be recommending it to my customers.

A tense read, it's almost a relief to finish the book so that you can breathe again. Thoroughly believable characters that are recognisable with all of the quirks of human nature. A worthy take on reparation and redemption in unexpected ways.

Loved this book, I’ve stayed up far too late as I had to get to the end and find out what happened. Amy Whey is a happily married mother and wife living in small town Florida. Everything in her life is happy and easy until a mysterious woman arrives uninvited, ready to bring back Amy’s hidden mistakes. There are quite a few twists that I hadn’t expected and an extremely tense ending. Great book, thank you!

So I'm not entirely sure how I feel about this book. It was very slow starting and I did debate putting it down and not finishing it.
I found myself unable to relate to the characters and instantly disliking most of them. There was a Mean Girls vibe throughout a lot of the book, showing that sometimes the mean girl really doesn't grow up.
However, I gave it a chance and continued reading. The story picks up around the halfway point and a story unravels that at times is quite thrilling. I spent a lot of my reading time thinking I knew where the story was going but I ended up being surprised. There were quite a few twists and a lot of mystery throughout.
I enjoyed the backstories and the connections between some of the characters.
I would like to note a trigger warning here for some readers. While the scenes were mostly hinted at and didn't last too long, there are mentions of child sexual abuse and eating disorders which could be upsetting for readers.
Overall, not a bad read but one that I don't think I would ever go back to.

Thank you @NetGalley for my copy.

Decent twists and turns but a far fetched and unbelievable ending. The constant diving references and the references to Amy being an overweight child and therefore not deserving of "love" began to grate on me very early on in the book.
No answer as to why or how Roux targeted Amy or any real back story to Roux's character.
The fact that there was so many unanswered questions throughout the book kept me reading, but this just caused more disappointment when I did finish.
This book had so much potential to be great! Sadly, for me, it fell a bit short.

Totally intriguing & different. A great psychological suspense story which I thoroughly enjoyed. A superb concept that had me totally gripped. I found myself holding my breath on occasions in anticipation of what would come next. Highly recommended.

This was a bit of a slow burner for me although it did pick up midway through.

I’m glad I stayed with it to the end as there were a few twists to keep the reader on their toes.

This was more of a psychological tale whereas my preference seems to be toward more dark stories.

Thanks for the opportunity to read & review. 3.5 stars