What an emotional roller coaster this book turned out to be!

Amy is a housewife and new mother to a small baby son, and stepmother to a teenage daughter. Her life is in order. She bakes cookies, cleans the house and works part time as a dive instructor. Once a month she hosts the Brain Dead Mummy’s Book Club, run by her best friend Charlotte, whose life is just as ordinary and unexciting as Amy’s. Until the new neighbour invites herself to their latest book club meeting and takes over proceedings. Exotic and extrovert, Angela Roux pours the drinks and invites the tipsy neighbourhood mums to play a game of “Never Have I Ever”, revealing their deepest darkest secrets. Amy is alarmed. It’s not just that some ugly truths come out that the women will surely regret sharing, but Amy herself has been harbouring a deep dark secret she has hidden for years. She is sure that Roux knows things about her that no one else does, not even her husband. But how? And what does Roux want from her?

There is nothing more delicious than dark family secrets, and the length people will go to in order to keep them hidden. Soon Roux and Amy are entangled in a dangerous twisted game where there can only be one winner – and one person who has a lot to lose. And neither woman is prepared to be that person.

For me, the strength of NEVER HAVE I EVER lay in its characters, who drove this story for me. Amy may initially seem like a mousy housewife, but we soon get to know how strong and determined she can be when her future is at stake. And Roux – well, she was just plain evil. This was one of those books where I was constantly putting myself in the main character’s shoes, thinking: what would I do in her place? What would be the best course of action? As Amy becomes more and more entangled in Roux’s web, I feared for her and absolutely couldn’t put the book down. What a page turner!

I loved how the battle of wits between Amy and Roux became more dangerous as time went on, each woman determined to win. Both characters were well drawn and fascinating in their own right – the housewife with a secret and the blackmailer. I was firmly in camp Amy, but I secretly admired Roux’s confidence and her audacity. Who hasn’t met women like her, the sort of person who owns the whole room as soon as she enters, all eyes drawn to her, the extrovert, the life of the party. Confident and cocky. Unstoppable. Ruthless.

Apart from this battle of wits, I also enjoyed the side stories the author offers here – the friendship between Madison and Roux’s son Luca. The stunning dive scenes. Amy’s and Charlotte’s friendship. There were quite a few twists along the way I did not see coming, and a more sinister and disturbing one at the end that shocked me pulled the rug out from under me.

If you love character driven mysteries that are based on secrets, lies and deceit, and enjoy a good battle of wills then this book is definitely for you! Despite the slower pace that the term “character driven” suggests, the underlying tension and menace overshadowing the story had me at the edge of my seat the whole time whilst reading this book, and I could not put it down. It’s definitely one of my favourite thrillers this year, and one I have no qualms recommending to all lovers of the genre. I look forward to reading more from this author in future.

This was an excellent read. Not something I would usually pick up but It had me hooked from the outset and throughout. Will be keeping an eye out for more in the future.

A well written psychological thriller with believable characters that kept me reading, desperate to find out the details of what would happen next. Absolutely loved it, I highly recommend! Thank you #NetGalley

EXCERPT: 'How far does it go?'

'Oh, come on Amy. A good game has to go all the way,' Roux said, and her pink tongue came out for just a moment to touch her pale upper lip. 'Think back. What's the worst thing you ever did?'

ABOUT THIS BOOK: Amy Whey is proud of her ordinary life and the simple pleasures that come with it—teaching diving lessons, baking cookies for new neighbors, helping her best friend, Charlotte, run their local book club. Her greatest joy is her family: her devoted professor husband, her spirited fifteen-year-old stepdaughter, her adorable infant son. And, of course, the steadfast and supportive Charlotte. But Amy’s sweet, uncomplicated life begins to unravel when the mysterious and alluring Angelica Roux arrives on her doorstep one book club night.

Sultry and magnetic, Roux beguiles the group with her feral charm. She keeps the wine flowing and lures them into a game of spilling secrets. Everyone thinks it’s naughty, harmless fun. Only Amy knows better. Something wicked has come her way—a she-devil in a pricey red sports car who seems to know the terrible truth about who she is and what she once did.

When they’re alone, Roux tells her that if she doesn’t give her what she asks for, what she deserves, she’s going to make Amy pay for her sins. One way or another.

To protect herself and her family and save the life she’s built, Amy must beat the devil at her own clever game, matching wits with Roux in an escalating war of hidden pasts and unearthed secrets. Amy knows the consequences if she can’t beat Roux. What terrifies her is everything she could lose if she wins.

MY THOUGHTS: Never Have I Ever...read a book this Diabolically Brilliant!

Never Have I Ever simply seethes with malice, manipulation, secrets, lies, secrets, lies and more secrets and lies. I am gobsmacked. During this read I have repeatedly had the rug pulled out from under my feet. I have been tipped out of my chair, bitch slapped, dunked and royally entertained! I wanted to immerse myself in this book and never come out. Damn, this was good.

Take a bunch of regular women...wives, moms, adjuncts and administrators, professors, librarians and a dive instructor, and add into the mix one usurping stranger. One usurping stranger who exudes an attractive air of danger, who encourages confidences. She plays a dangerous and deadly game, one where only she knows the rules, one where she always wins.

And no matter how bad you may think this woman is, how dangerous, believe me, you have no idea...

This is the second book this year that I have awarded an absolute meteor shower of stars to. Publication date is 8th August. I will be purchasing a hard copy. And reading all Jackson's back titles. I am in thrall.

Oh yes, and I might even take up scuba diving.

#NeverHaveIEver #Netgalley

💕💖💝💖💕❤💜🧡💛💚💙

THE AUTHOR: New York Times and USA today bestselling novelist Joshilyn Jackson is the author of NEVER HAVE I EVER and eight other books, including gods in Alabama and The Almost Sisters. Her work has been translated into more than a dozen languages, won SIBA’s novel of the year, three times been a #1 Book Sense Pick, been the Target Book Club Pick, and three times been shortlisted for the Townsend prize. A former actor, Jackson reads the audio versions of her novels; her work in this field has been nominated for the Audie Award, was selected by AudioFile Magazine for their best of the year list, and garnered two Listen Up Awards from Publisher’s Weekly.

She lives in Decatur, Georgia with her family.

DISCLOSURE: Thank you to Bloomsbury Publishing, Raven Books for providing a digital ARC of Never Have I Ever by Joshilyn Jackson for review. All opinions expressed in this review are entirely my own personal opinions.

Please refer to my Goodreads.com profile page or the about page on sandysbookaday.wordpress.com for an explanation of my rating system.

This review and others are published on Twitter, Amazon, Goodreads.com and my webpage https://sandysbookaday.wordpress.com/...

There were too many plot twists for my liking and though I know thrillers are a bit darker in general, this is something that I would say REALLY needs a content warning on it as it hit me so unexpectedly that I was left shocked, and more but I'm not going in-depth on it just now. It isn't just the shock of the last twist, but the overall feeling that there were so many twists that you just never really felt for Amy but at the same time you did cheer her on, possibly because Roux was basically evil incarnate.

WOW! Fantastic book that I had to read straight through with no break. I was so engrossed with this book that I suddenly realised I was laid in a very cool bath in the dark! A sinister game of cat and mouse with plenty of twists along the way.

Thanks to NetGalley and the publishers for the ARC in return for an honest and unbiased opinion.

Amy Whey is a first time mum, living with her husband and her step daughter, who loving calls her Step-Monster.

She lives in a comfortable home in a quiet suburbia, and is a diving instructor, although with a new baby, she doesn't get to dive as much as she wants for a while.

Her friends are all mums, and she runs the neighbourhood Book-Club, and this is where our story starts.

Charlotte her best friend picks the books for the girls to read, and they meet in Amy's basement to discuss (while having a glass of wine and a gossip)

Everything is going swimmingly, until the front door bell goes, Amy answers the door, and there stands the "new girl" glamorous Roux.

Roux is new in the neighbourhood, and has come to introduce herself and join the Book Club, after breezing in the door (uninvited) Roux then takes over the Book Club by basically getting everyone drunk as a skunk and playing a silly playground game Never Have I Ever, but drunk + secrets is never a good idea!

Amy is horrified at this and demands Roux leaves the party, but the fun has only just begun!!

A fantastic psychological thriller that will have you shouting WTF on many occasions, I thought my head was going to fall off as it was spun in so many different directions.

Great characters and a fantastic story, you'll be up all night reading this one!

Well, this started off just plain weird and then, in the run in up to the end, went very dark very quickly and didn’t end quite as strongly as I would have liked it to.
Amy has a good life now but it wasn't always so. She's happily married with a 15yo step-daughter and baby son, living in a nice area and with a job she loves. She has a past but that is firmly in the past. Or so she thinks. But then Roux moves into the AirBnB property near her and threatens to expose her past. Things start to spiral a bit and Amy is forced to revisit her childhood as she fights to keep what she has worked so hard for. And then things take a big turn when more truth is revealed. Finally, just when Amy thinks she may be done, she discovers something about Roux that, well, you'll have to read to find out!
You need a lot of trust in this book to keep going without giving up. But, believe me, have that trust as this book delivers punch after punch as it goes on. You may, as I did, sit there reading and wondering “why all the fuss” and it isn’t until quite a bit later when you suddenly find out why. And it’s worth it, but you need to have that staying power to realise all the delights still in store for you.
I say delights, they’re not all delightful. As I already mentioned, this book gets real dark, real quick right towards the end. I don’t believe in books needing trigger warnings and I can’t detail what exactly the issue is that this covers as it will be a major spoiler, but I can say that it is one of the majorly upsetting ones so if you are sensitive to big bad stuff then I would check with a friend before your dive in.
Characters are a bit hit and miss but I guess most of that feeling is due to their natures and all the secrets, lies and duplicitous behaviour going on throughout the book. Pacing is good on the whole but it does start off a bit slow and there’s quite a bit of confusions to go through before it all finally kicks off. That said, there’s no superfluous waffle to pad it out so the story does get on with itself quite well.
All in all, a solid read that all (mostly) worked out in the end and made the journey worth putting up with. My thanks go to the Publisher and Netgalley for the chance to read this book.

I don’t think I have ever given a book 1 star but I am really sorry to say that I thought this book was awful . I persevered with it as I honestly thought it would get better but it just didn’t happen . There was nothing I liked about this book , the language and the way the story flowed annoyed me . The names of the characters drove me bonkers . My apologies to the author as from reading other reviews most people loved this book .

I haven’t read any books by this author before but was intrigued by the description.
Initially I thought I wasn’t going to enjoy it and nearly gave up, but once the story moved into the present it really gripped. I really enjoyed all the plot twists and enjoyed the build up to the conclusion. Will definitely look for more books by her and would recommend the story. Thank you for allowing me to read a preview copy.

3.5⭐️ rounded up to 4

The book begins at a book club meeting among friends and wine. Along with a bit too much to drink, someone suggests they change to a game of Never Have I Ever. Secrets either start or threaten to come out.

There was something quite addictive about this book that I can't quite put my finger on. The characters felt real even to the point that one of them frustrated me (I won't tell you who). Amy always thought her secrets were safe and would stay in the past. But her new neighbour, Roux made it clear that she knew all about her. In parts, the story was a little far fetched. There's secrets, blackmail, betrayal and the ending was not how I thought it would be.

I would like to thank NetGalley, Bloomsbury Publishing Plc (UK & ANZ) and the author Joshilyn Jackson for my ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Amy has a lovely life : her husband, child, step daughter all love her. However, she has a secret in her past, when she made some bad decisions as a teenager which had very serious consequences.

Roux, a new neighbour, comes to their book club meeting, and what starts as a game suddenly becomes serious. Roux threatens to expose her past, which will destroy Amy's life, hurt her husband and affect her friends.

This is a really pacy and exciting story. The twists and turns are well handled, and the reader is waiting for the next shoe to drop, as new events from the characters' past lives appear to haunt them.

An entertaining and intriguing read.

Thank you to NetGalley, Bloomsbury Publishing PLC and Raven Books for allowing me access to the ARC in exchange for an honest review.

This is a great psychological thriller that had me hooked from the first few pages.
Amy is happy with her life with her husband, baby son and teenage step daughter until she meets Roux at the neighbourhood book club.
It seems Roux has tracked down Amy as she knows something about her past, and this is a huge shock for Amy.
She tries to avoid this over confident woman who has descended on the neighbourhood, but Roux confronts her in her own home.
Amy is devastated that her quiet life could be shattered but Roux asks for something to keep her secret for her.
Whilst Amy has what she wants, she’s angry that she’s being blackmailed by this woman so seeks out information on her and her teenage son.
I loved the second half of this book as it had a great momentum and I just wanted to know how it would all end.
There’s some heart stopping moments in this book and I loved it.
Thanks to Bloomsbury Publishing/Raven books and NetGalley for the opportunity to read this book.

Never Have I ever is a great summer read, with a engaging narrative that is a thrilling read. A great novel if you're starting a book club or part of a book club!

Secrets and lies in this complex story. A newcomer stirs things up and makes everyone uncomfortable. Not my cup of tea.

With thanks to the publisher for the copy received. I rarely read samplers but when I first saw the first chapter of this book was available I had just finished another book so I decided to read it. And what a fantastic opening chapter it was. Full of threat, manipulation and a small taste of what the rest of the book could bring. It is one of the better opening chapters I have read this year.

The small book group is not prepared for the havoc that Roux can cause but Amy is tough and is not prepared to give in without a fight. Even though much of the book focuses on the battle of wills between Amy and Roux, she doesn’t stop there. All of them have secrets they need to protect.

One of the stronger parts of the novel, disregarding the storyline was the relationships that Amy had with her husband Davis, step daughter Maddy, friends Char and Tig and of course Roux. Her childhood was a tough one and she was determined not to have her family suffer the way she did. She had a tough choice, risk Davis and Maddy find out what happened to her or do as Roux demands and have others suffer. There are plenty of twists. a lot of guilt but there is also humour. Especially from Davis and Maddy. I liked the nickname ‘Monster’ that Maddy had for Amy, a sign that she was far from being one.

A brilliant storyline, great characters and the parts that described life under water was visually beautiful.

Never Have I Ever is undoubtedly one of the best thrillers of the summer so far, and we all have to hope the August weather turns out to be as hot and exciting as the plot. It certainly sizzles with suspense and delicious darkness from start to finish and the cast are well-drawn and interesting. It's infectious and compulsively readable right from the get-go; so much so that this would best be defined as a one-sitting sensation! From the first couple of pages, you become immersed and absorbed by the story and feel as though you are living with the characters and sharing their experiences. It feels like a rich, sophisticated and intelligently woven thriller as opposed to the run-of-the-mill ones that are a dime a dozen. Moving along at a good clip we face many unexpected, satisfying twisty reveals and the excitement and tension is built steadily over the course of the novel.

One of the most hyped crime thrillers of the summer season managed to surpass all of the praise and acclaim heaped upon it in my opinion. This is one of those books in which you gorge - unable to turn the pages fast enough to discover what is going to occur. But on the other hand, you know you should be savouring it otherwise it'll be over much too soon. I particularly loved that there was it was multifaceted in the sense that there is an addictive main plotline with added substance and that the atmosphere builds to an almost stifling crescendo. Only retrospectively are you able to see how intricate and well-thought-out the book this really is.

There is a rare and potent mixture of an original plot concept backed up by intrigue, mystery, superb characterisation and thrills and spills that leave you with chills. It's not that often an author can really hit right between my eyes with relevant fiction; the idea of the whole thriller is executed to maximum effect. Highly recommended; I can see this being the smash-hit crime thriller of the summer. An unmissable read if you enjoy the crime genre. Many thanks to Raven Books for an ARC.

I found this book slow to get into and a chore to read. Quite far fetched . I am afraid that this one was just not for me as I was not keen on the style of writing. Disappointing. Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for the chance to review it.

On the evening of a neighbourhood bookclub meeting a mysterious stranger gatecrashes the party and immediately sets about ruffling the feathers of the women present. Roux is sultry and confident and, to be honest, a bit of a b*!ch. She flatters some of the women and deliberately seems to antagonise others, particularly when she starts up a game designed to make the women spill their deepest, darkest secrets, with the help of the hostess' expensive gin. It soon becomes clear that Roux is not interested in making friends in the neighbourhood and her reasons for taking a short term lease of the local Airbnb are much darker than anyone could imagine.

This was book was more domestic drama than I was expecting but still an engrossing, sometimes disturbing story about family, friendship and festering secrets in suburbia.

First I would like to say thank you to NetGalley for allowing me to read an eARC of this book. I do feel there should be some trigger warnings in this book because it does deal with sensitive topics which could impact people however one of them is a very big spoiler so i'll put it down slightly and you can skip the trigger warnings if you don't need them.

*
*
*
*
TRIGGER WARNINGS; eating disorder, murder, child sexual abuse, domestic abuse, cheating
*
*
*
*

I read this book in almost one siting yesterday and rated it four stars afterwards; i've been going back and forth on my rating since then because I don't think it's quite worth four stars, but it's not three stars, this is when I always wish that ratings allowed us to rate half a star. So let's break this down in the good and the not so good;

The GOOD
- Jackson clearly knows how to write a gripping read; this isn't an "on the edge of your seat" read but it is a gripping read and I couldn't put it down whilst I was reading it.
- Jackson doesn't hold back with her reveals in terms of Amy's past and Roux's intention she doesn't mess around for chapters she reveals it clearly from the offset which is very refreshing for thrillers.
- The character of Roux was quite intriguing; she wasn't likeable but she was never meant to be, she was set up as a morally grey character (until the end in which point she became skin-crawling) and although there was attempts to humanise her with the domestic abuse past, it was never really used as an excuse
- I do feel this was a good representation of the clicky housewives that exist in real life; the book club where no one really reads the book, the walking club in the morning, the secrets that hide in every house. I think the ensemble of people was crafted together really well.
- The relationship with Maddy and Amy was really really nice and a turn up for step-parent relationships. So often step-parent relationship are portrayed negatively with the child hating the step and vice versa but I loved the relationship they had with Maddy calling Amy a step-monster in an affectionate way. I was disturbed though when Amy started to consider blackmailing Maddy to get information on Luca and Roux - just made me more annoyed at her.
- The reveal that Charlotte was actually the dead woman's child really threw me and I did not see it coming at all.

The NOT SO GOOD
- The character of Amy; at no point did I feel sorry for her and I really felt that the author wanted us to. Amy has built a good life as an adult with her partner and step-daughter and then eventually her son. She has a best friend in Charlotte, she teaches diving, is part of a book club, and goes on daily walks. And her whole life is built on lies. Every relationship Amy has is a lie because none of them know her past. This in itself wasn't a problem, but the reveal that Amy had murdered someone as a child alongside her friend Tig, and then let him talk the fall for something she was potentially responsible for really didn't sit well with me. Amy repeats over and over that she was only a child, but she chose to get high and she chose to get drunk and then she chose to either drive, or get in a car with someone who was drunk and high and they didn't care about the consequences. And for her then to befriend the child of the woman she murdered... just felt so cold and selfish to me. Yes I acknowledge that she didn't know initially but once she found out she should have backed away; she made Charlotte so reliant on her and in no way considered Charlotte's feelings in this, she just wanted to relieve her guilt. And then at the end when shoots Roux and gets away with it... again. I had honestly just had enough of her. She wasn't a likeable character for me and I wasn't honestly rooting for her with Roux.

- I almost forgot for a second the cheating aspect; I don't care if nothing physical happened between Amy and Tig the intention was there and they had their secret texting relationship going on. It really didn't endear me to Amy and just felt forced into the story.

- Too many "twists"; i've found more and more lately that thrillers; crime or psychological, are pact full of different plots and different twists and for me that almost takes away from the main twist of the book and ruins it to an extent. And this book is just like that. For me there were just far far too many twists and plots in this book and it really ruined the impact of the ending for me. I really felt that the final reveal with Roux and Luca were completely unnecessary and took away from the main plot of Amy being a murderer and being blackmailed for this; it was as if they wanted to justify Amy's eventual murder of Roux and try and make the audience root for Amy once again. It was also really jarring and I had to pause after reading that section and re-consider all the interactions between Luca and Roux. I do hope that boy got lots of therapy when he returned home. I noted all the twists I could remember below and for me this is just far too many plots or twists in one book and ruins the overall impact of the main twist.

Amy and Tig killing a mother
The "who did it" aspect of whether Amy or Tig were driving
The reveal that Charlotte is actually that woman's child that Amy has befriended as an adult
Amy and Tig almost having an affair
Panda being a lesbian and her husband being gay
Tana sleeping with Charlotte's husband
The fact that Roux targeted Amy purely because she could not for revenge
Maddy and Luca's "bets"
The reveal that Luca has actually been kidnapped
Roux not being Luca's mother but actually being a paedophile who groomed and abused him, and then kidnapped him.
Amy killing Roux and getting away for it

Overall I think this book suffered from being over-hyped and stuffed full of too many "plot twists". I couldn't enjoy the main character of Amy at all, but it was a good base-level thriller. For that it gets 3.5 stars rounded down to 3*