Member Reviews
Thank you Netgalley for an early audio copy of I'll Never Tell in exchange for an honest review.
Alessia is home alone one night with her toddler son when someone throws a brick through her window. She is hoping it was just neighborhood kids messing around until she finds the note on the brick that reads "Found You" and she knows Sarah has found her. Alessia has built a safe beautiful life with her husband and son but they no nothing of Alessia's childhood. It was not an easy one, filled with trauma and nightmares and the only way she got through it was from the help of her best friend Sarah. Worst of all she was arrested for murder at twelve years old, but she didn't do it...Sarah did. And now Sarah has returned to get her revenge.
Casey Kelleher's psychological thriller is done very well, even though I saw a lot of the plot twists coming it was still suspenseful. The story is told in two time periods keeping the reader guessing what will happen next. Her writing style is very enjoyable and I would be interested in her other works. I had the audio book read by Daphne Kouma who was easy to listen to and made the characters come to life.
This book was very slow up until about 70%. I really couldn’t get into it. The ending however, made me glad I didn’t completely give up on it. I also found the ending to be satisfying.
I did find myself getting annoyed by Alecia. The constant banter in her inner monologue about Sara was annoying.
I wouldn’t necessarily recommend this book, as it was slow for me. It was just meh.
🎧BOOK REVIEW🎧 🌟🌟🌟🌟
This audiobook was intense and gripping. Alessia is happily married with a toddler. But she has a secret past that she hasn’t told her husband about, and she’s afraid he will leave her and take their son if he finds out.
Then strange things start happening and she’s sure it’s linked to her past. Is someone going to expose her secrets? She has to find out who is threatening her and what they want, before her husband does.
Kelleher is an author I haven’t heard of before, so I was excited to read one of her books and this was a great one!
Sincere thanks to NetGalley and Bookouture Audio for this audiobook. This review is my honest opinion.
This is the 1st time I’ve come across Casey Kelleher and I will definitely be hunting out more as I thoroughly enjoyed listening to the audio version of I’ll Never Tell
The story is well told and flows well
We meet Alecia a young mother, married to Carl with a 2year old Jacob. We also hear from Emma Jayne, a story told from the past. From both of these characters we hear about Sarah. Just who is she and what does she want with Alecia? Why is she threatening her, stalking her and causing her family life to implode?
The narrator did a great job of retelling this story and making me feel like I was there with the characters as everything was happening.
I highly recommend this book and audiobook.
*Possible trigger points within this book as it does touch upon child abuse but it doesn’t go into any details
Thanks to Netgalley for the opportunity to listen to this title
The story is told in two time viewpoints, current and 20 years previously. The story starts with Emma and her friend Sarah. Emma is 12 and Sarah 10 , they are best friends with Sarah being outgoing and childish and Emma shy and more mature. Home life is rough with Emma and she prizes her friendship with Sarah above all until something horrible happens.
Fast forward 20 years and Emma has changed her name to Alecia and her past is hidden. She is married with a young son..
on the anniversary of the horrible event the past comes back to exact revenge!
Absolutely spellbinding book with perfect narration. Thank you NetGalley and Bookoutre for chance to read for my opinion
My favorite kind of mystery! I couldn’t guess which way things would go. Just read and enjoy !
A twisted, gripping story that keep you in suspense until the end. You can’t put the audiobook down, the narrator does an amazing job going trough all the emotions from the character. A story about the past, child abuse, a new chances in life. A high recommended it.
I'll Never Tell by Casey Kelleher was my surprise of the year! This is a book that I wish more people would read and talk about it is a clever, tightly plotted, unputdownable, psychological thriller.
I was literally at the edge of my seat and questioning Sarah's reliability from the get-go, yet she is an extremely likeable and vulnerable character you just want to protect her! I can't say how much I loved this book enough.
Bookouture Audio's production was amazing and Daphne Kouma's narration literally gripped me and never let me go. I listened to this audio in one sitting and was sad when it was done!
Alessia has had a hard childhood, and because of her childhood trauma, she still holds onto events from her past, even though she wants to forget about them. She is happily married to Carl and she has a son called Jacob. She has a good home life with them until some strange things start happening, which throw her off balance. Old memories pop up and she feels traumatised again. She tries to get help from various sources, but she is unsure who to trust. Is someone after her? What really happened to her at the doll house when she was a child, and what happened to her friend Sarah? She has so many unanswered questions, but these answers are revealed at the end of the book, and this left me feeling satisfied.
I really enjoyed this audiobook, and the narrator was perfect for the job. I found myself very engrossed in the book and it was very thrilling and suspenseful.
I definitely highly recommend this book, especially if you love psychological thrillers!
Many thanks to the author, publisher and NetGalley for a copy of this audiobook in exchange for an honest review.
Twenty years later. Alessia is living a happy life. Mother to her toddler son Jacob and happily married to Carl, things are going well. Life is spot on. Yes, Alessia had to take on a new identity two decades ago, but that is the past. However, one night after dozing off she hears broken glass. Worried about Jacob, she looks for the source. A broken window with a brick thrown inside with words that shake her to her very core: FOUND YOU!
What happened twenty years ago and why did she receive those very disturbing words on that brick? Well, that is how this thrilling story by Casey Kelleher started. It quickly moves to the past when Alessia (then, when she was Emma-Jayne), she is terrified, in a jail cell, and accused of murder.
What happened then, and why does she allude to someone named Sarah, both then and now? Why did Alessia change her name and why is she suddenly being terrified now?
Alessia had a childhood friend named Sarah and now she is scared beyond belief that Sarah is back. In fact, the note was only the beginning of a fear campaign being lobbed at her. The story is equally terrifying and sad. The terror comes in when Alessia's past and present collide. The sadness comes in when her story begins to unfold and her disturbing past and memories come speeding towards her. The level of sadness increases when Alessia is faced with a devastating sense of hopelessness, even though she had been living a content life with her little family.
I was so very drawn to this story. My heart broke for the 12-year-old Emma-Jayne and the 32-year-old Alessia. I did love her husband Carl as he saw his wife falling apart. As mentioned, the couple were happy for a while and it was interesting to see if their marriage would hold up.
I had I'll Never Tell as an audiobook ARC and I loved the narration. As this story was delivered in third person narrative I felt like the narrator was literally telling me the story, which allowed me to feel the emotions that Alessia had to cope with. Her guilt. Uncertainty. Pain. Fear. And so much more. Very well done. Excellently paced throughout with a wonderful conclusion.
Many thanks to Bookouture and to NetGalley for this ARC for review. This is my honest opinion.
Casey Kelleher is not an author I had heard of before and I was surprised to see how many books she already has had published! Way to go. I’ll Never Tell is a suspense novel about Alessia, who 20 years after her stepfather is found murdered, is afraid that her childhood friend, Sarah, has returned to terrorize her. First, she finds a brick thrown through her window with a note I FOUND YOU and later she is nearly run off the road.
Sarah was not a nice person. Sarah killed her stepfather but then blamed her for it. Having Sarah back in her life after all these years is not good as it could ruin her life with her husband and young child.
This advanced listening copy was read by Daphne Kouma. I will be honest that at first, I had a difficult time getting into it. I wasn’t sure if it was the narrator, the story itself or let’s be real, sometimes the reader is not in the right space to enjoy a novel. I decided to set it aside for a bit and give it another try.
Though it was a bit slow moving at first, once it got to the twist, it started to get a lot more interesting and kept my attention. It was not the best thriller I have read yet to be fair, I can take some of the blame because of my own headspace. If I had read this at a different time, I may have loved it that much more!
I really enjoyed “I’ll never tell” although I did guess where it was heading, but it was still a good story and the narrator did an excellent job at keeping my interest & focus.
Alessia seems to have the perfect life, the perfect husband, a lovely son and great friends.
Until someone throws a brick through her window with the note ‘FOUND YOU’ and we realise everything might not be as perfect as it seems and Alessia has a hidden past.
She and her friend Sarah committed a crime when they were just children, but Alessia is the only one that paid for it and now it seems Sarah is out for revenge because Alessia left her.
I throughly enjoyed listening to this audiobook and trying to work out where the story was leading.
The narrator was very good and made the story even more pleasant to listen to.
Thank you to NetGalley and Bookouture for letting me review this audiobook.
Thank you to Netgalley and Bookouture for allowing me to listen to I'll Never Tell by Casey Kelleher. This was a good book to listen to!
What I liked:
The dual timeline
The twists and turns
The narrator
The overall story
What I didn't like:
Slow build - it took me a bit to really get into the story.
The characters - I didn't really care for them.
Overall a 3.5 rounded up to 4 for me!
The Dollhouse
Suspense, Terror and repressed memories make for a great read. This mystery is a story of two girls Sarah and Emma. A cottage in the woods and a horrible event.
Only Emma was convicted of the crime, her face in the newspaper's never Sarah. Emma changed her name to Alexis and moved on with her life. Then things started happening. A note under the door saying "I Found You". Has Sarah come back to torment Emma?
This book has more twists and turns than a country road. It definitely keeps you thinking.
It was a good mystery , the narrator did a fantastic job , and I never would have guessed the ending.
Thanks to Casey Kelleher for writing a great story, to Daphne Kouma for the great narration, to Bookouture for publishing it and to NetGalley for making it available to me to read.
Told through two main timelines, this story is pretty slow to get going; but I was glad I persevered because after the first half of the book, there was never a time that I found myself bored or disinterested - it had my full attention. Alessia's tragic past and mental questionability, make you wonder whether it's all in her mind, or whether she is genuinely being victimised. This book touches on some very difficult subjects including mental health, child abuse and the long lasting effects of psychological trauma. Well worth a read if you like that type of story.
Many thanks to NetGallery and Bookouture Audio for allowing me a copy of the book, which is greatly appreciated.
I was very impressed with this story. I did not want to stop listening. There were several twists that came along that had me going "ohhh, that makes sense." Then more evidence would be added to make me think again. I loved the intertwining past and present as we got to know Alessia and her battles. The ending brought tears to my eyes. I highly recommend this story, and I really recommend the audiobook as Daphne Kouma's narration made it more compelling to keep listening.
I received this audiobook from Netgalley, and this is my unsolicited review.
Enjoyed the psychological part of the story. The characters were okay, no one was particularly likeable, however it was easy to stay engaged. I didn't expect the twist, or the ending and loved both. Again, the psychological was amazing.
Sadly, the author cheapened herself and her writing with unnecessary profanity.
The narrator, Daphne Kouma, was good.
Thank you Netgalley and Bookouture Audio for accepting my request to read and review I'll Never Tell.
#NetGalley
#BookoutureAudio
#I'llNeverTell
#Audiobook
I listened to the audio version of this book. It was a twist and turns tale and kept me guessing until the end.
There were a few things that I was not so keen on. The author used the phrase 'narrowed his/her eyes' multiple times throughout and I found the repetition really irritating. I also found the narrator's voice, when speaking the children's voices, sounded like 5 year olds rather than 10 and 12 year old.
This book was full of twists and turns and really had me wanting to now what was going to happen next. At times the story felt a little slow, but the pace felt like it added to the story. I really enjoyed this one.
"I'll Never Tell" by Casey Kelleher is a Psychological Thriller with important topics!
Alessia is a 32 years-old wife and mother. Her husband Carl adores her and her young son Jacob is a blessing to their marriage. It's seems like such a perfect life!
Until -
A brick crashes through their window with a note attached reading, "FOUND YOU!" Is it a coincidence this is happening on the anniversary of that awful day twenty years ago?
Then -
Someone attempts to run Alessia's car off the road, a box with a dead rat inside is found at her front door and an old newspaper clipping is discovered hidden in her son's bedroom.
Alessia is convinced her childhood friend, Sarah, is back!
This story has two timelines, past and present and both are told in a third-person narrative. It begins as a multi-layered story that intrigues me. In the latter half, it dips, drags and feels predictable.
I did like the important topics within concerning abuse, personal harm and the impact trauma has on mental health. But be warned, these could be triggers for other readers!
The audiobook's narrator, Daphane Kouma's gender voicing was acceptable but her voice, as she read the third-person narrative, felt over-enthusiastic and distracting.
Be sure to check out other reviews as I have seen many high reviews for this one. Sadly, this book was not a good fit for me.
Thank you to NetGalley, Bookouture Audio, and Casey Kelleher for a free ALC of this book. It has been an honor to give my honest and voluntary review. The expected publication date is 12/3/21.