Good book that is well narrated. I do love a book where you aren’t quite sure who to trust and this one pulls out all the stops. This one is about something that happened in the past that just doesn’t add up. I listened to this book fast because I really needed to know who did the deed. The end is great too

This was one of those books that seem so far fetched in places as to be laughable but strangely have you compelled to listen to the end just to se what happens.
So I enjoyed it to a point but it wasn’t amazing. It was very easy to listen to with a good narrator and an easy to follow plot.

: Sarah has a wonderful life, she's happily married and loves her job. Then one day she wakes up in the hospital after someone snuck up behind her in her own yard after smashing a rock over her head from behind. She had a lengthy recovery and ends up leaving her job.

While spending some time with her mother in law she learns that he husband had a friend that mysteriously went missing. She also learns some other sketchy sounding things about her husband that has her questioning their marriage and why he hasn't been honest with her all these years.

Sarah takes it upon herself to do some digging to find out about these dark secrets that her husband has been hiding,

I skimmed through listening to this because it was very difficult to follow along in the triangle of characters. I also rushed because they said this book was archived only 3 days after I received it. I will give her books another try in hard copy or via my Kindle.

This was one of those thrillers where there was such an obvious theory the author wanted you to have from the very beginning. Usually with these sorts of thrillers, it ends with a few plot twists and usually one of those is pretty huge so it throws you right off track!

There was one very obvious theory for this story from only a few chapters in, so I was waiting for the plot twist that was going to change everything. Sadly the plot twist was very underwhelming and not anywhere near as big as it needed to be in order to warrant such an obvious red herring.

The story was ok and was still enjoyable in parts to listen to, but I’m not sure I’d recommend really as thriller fans may be left feeling a little disappointed like I was.

Sarah and Kirk have what seems to be the perfect marriage, that is until Sarah suffers a head injury and things start to change. After spending the afternoon with her mother in law reminiscing about Kirk’s growing up years, Sarah finds some of those memories disturbing. Determined to find out the answers to her questions, Sarah starts to do some uncharacteristic things, things that leave Kirk troubled and blaming her head injury. When Sarah disappears for a few days, Kirk is frantic, is Sarah really OK and will she find the answers she seeks or will she learn that sometimes it’s best to let what happened in the past stay there? McQuestion’s newest book is a fast paced mystery that, although entertaining, didn’t always ring true and was pretty predictable. Stacey Glemboski does a nice job of voicing this book making it an easy listen.

Hidden Secrets

A mystery of secrets. I read a lot of historical fiction book, but once in a while I like to take a break and read a good mystery, especially in an audio book. The narrator is always so much more dramatic than my mind. This author is one of my favorite.

Secrets, especially those hidden for year, always come out. You hear of tragic events happening to others, but you never think anything like that could, would or ever has happened to you, your family, or you friends. You never suspect you husband nor your best friend of keeping secrets from you.

When Sarah visits her in laws, sees a picture of her husband when he was young with some friends and her mother in law tells her about the missing boy that was never found she listens and doesn't think anything about it. Then she tells Sarah about the bomb shelter in the back yard that the kids used for a clubhouse and all of a sudden her son wanted it to be locked away and covered over. Then Sarah starts wondering.

When she starts snooping around tragic event happen and what she has started she cannot stop. Secrets are never good and they are always going to cause trouble for someone.This is a story told of those hidden secrets which some thought would never come to light but somehow manage to reveal themselves and cause tragedy.

I listened to the audio book, and the narration was clear and easy to understand, the speed was perfect and the character differences were distinguishable.

I enjoyed this book and I would recommend it.

Thanks to Karen McQuestion for writing a great mystery and for the wonderful narration, to Bookouture Audio for publishing it and to NetGalley for making it available to me.

I received this book from the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

This book surprised me in a good way, with its fast paced writing, and I have to say, the plot twist really threw me off. I thought for sure the story is following a certain typical thriller villain plotline, but I was wrong! A lot of Sarah's actions was downwards illogical and borderline on idiotic, and even after the grand reveal, I wasn't convinced. Nevertheless, I enjoyed this book.

🎧Book Review🎧

Holy moly, what a wild ride! Karen McQuestion knocks it out of the park with this suspenseful thriller.

Everyone has a nosey neighbor right? When Maggie notices movement in her neighbor’s house, she decides to go check it out because the homeowners, Cady and Josh, are out of town. When Sarah opens the door and explains that she’s house sitting, Maggie feels better but still wonders why The Caldwell’s didn’t let her know. While Maggie’s curiosity is calmed, Sarah’s anxiety level is through the roof. No one was supposed to see her at 214 Palmer Street. Should she leave now? Or should she finish the job she came here to do? Whatever she decides, she’s on course to change the lives of all the people she’s closest to and has no idea by how much.

Everyone has secrets but the amount of the lies, secrets, and deception in this book are insane! McQuestion writes every character with such depth, it’s hard to tell who is lying and who is telling the truth. I enjoyed every word of this book and the narrator did such an amazing job with it.

Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️/5

I definitely recommend this book to anyone looking for a fast-paced, can’t put down read.

Description 🔖

Maggie looks out of the window of her home across the street to her neighbour’s house and notices the blinds moving. This is odd as Cady and Josh Caldwell aren’t home and Maggie knows they won’t be home for quite some time as they’re away.

The mysterious blind twitcher is Sarah. She claims to be an old friend of Cady’s who is house sitting whilst they’re away. Maggie thinks she’s a met a new friend and likes Sarah, however can’t help but wonder why Cady wouldn’t have mentioned that she was going to have a friend house sit.

Behind closed doors, Sarah is panicking. She wasn’t supposed to be seen at 214 Palmer Street.

General Thoughts 🤔

It was the cover that initially drew me to this book. It looked so ominous and chilling so I knew I wanted to give the book a go. Although I did enjoy it, I would have liked for it to have been a bit more. I think it lacked the mystery that I was expecting and the story all became a bit too obvious too soon.

Having said that, the story wasn’t bad and it was interesting. I think it had potential to be a little deeper and more twisty and dark, but once I had started, I still wanted to carry on reading and there wasn’t a moment when I thought that this may be a DNF.

Characters 👫👭👬

I won’t go into too much detail about the characters as I don’t want to give away any spoilers but I will say that they were probably the main reason I was drawn in to the story. There were characters that I felt a level of empathy for even though they were potentially the bad guys. There were also characters that I truly despised and wound me up no end. If you’ve read some of my other reviews, I love to hate a character and I think it’s a great sign of an author being able to write a great character into a story.

Writing Style ✍️

Putting what I said in my general thoughts to one side, I really enjoyed the tone of this author’s writing. She told the story clearly and steadily which I found almost calming. I also liked the way that she wrote the characters and how she was able to draw out strong feelings from me about them.

Conclusion & Scoring 🎖

Although I didn’t fall head over heels in love with this book, I didn’t hate it. I listened to it really quickly and the narrator was great company whilst I hovered around doing stuff in the cottage. I would recommend this book for a quick weekend read to pass some time and be entertained.

EXCERPT: At the front door Sarah peered through the peephole and recognized Maggie Scott, the old lady who lived next door. Too bad. She'd been hoping not to cross paths with any of the neighbours.

'Yes?' she said, opening the door with a warm smile.

'Oh!' Maggie took a step back in surprise. 'I don't know you.'

'No,' Sarah said in pleasant agreement. 'I'm the house sitter. You must be Maggie Scott. I've heard so much about you.'

ABOUT '214 PALMER STREET': When Maggie sees the beautiful Venetian blinds moving in the Caldwells’ front window, she freezes. Her favorite neighbours Cady and Josh are away, so who is in their house?

The pretty young woman who answers the door tells a convincing story. She’s Sarah. The house-sitter. Just here for a month. An old friend of Cady’s who needed a place to stay. She’s pleasant and warm, and Maggie wanders back to her house thinking she might have made a new friend. Yet she can’t help but wonder why Cady never mentioned Sarah.

What Maggie doesn’t know is that on the other side of the door, Sarah is starting to panic. No one was meant to see her at 214 Palmer Street…

MY THOUGHTS: I abandoned this book just short of halfway. It starts well, but soon descends into mediocrity. It's all largely improbable and implausible and there wasn't enough suspense to keep my interest.

I failed to become invested in either the characters, who were poorly developed, or the plot, which was largely predictable and uninspiring.

My listening to the audio - and I have nothing against the narrator, Stacey Glemboski, who I thought did a more than adequate job - was accompanied by much eye rolling at the 'twists' and muttering at the absurdity of it all. After taking a two day break from this read, I realized I had absolutely zero interest in recommencing and abandoned it, something I don't do lightly.

⭐

#214PalmerStreet #NetGalley

I: @karenquest @bookouture

T: @Bookouture

#audiobook #contemporaryfiction #domesticdrama #mystery

THE AUTHOR: Karen McQuestion is an American fiction writer who has written books for adults, children and teens. She lives in Hartland, Wisconsin.

DISCLOSURE: Thank you to Bookouture via Netgalley for providing an audio ARC of 214 Palmer Street for review. All opinions expressed in this review are entirely my own personal opinions.

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

This review is also published on Twitter, Amazon, Instagram and my webpage

214 Palmer Street by Karen McQuestion
AUDIBLE BOOK - listening time - 8 hours 24 minutes
Narrator - Stacey Glemboski
Publisher - Hachette UK - Bookouture

This was a first time author for me. On commencing the audible book, I couldn't concentrate on the storyline for the narrator's voice. It took a quarter of the way into the audible book to get accustomed to the narrator, Stacey Glemboski. There were voice changes but I still struggled with concentration of the plot which took about the halve way point before I felt comfortable and was able to concentrate.

This is a psychological thriller of a read full of suspense, betrayal, jealousy, blackmail, secrets and lies.

I give a 3 star rating only because of the narration problems.

I WANT TO THANK NETGALLEY FOR THE OPPORTUNITY OF LISTENING AN ADVANCED COPY OF THIS
AUDIBLE BOOK FOR AN HONEST REVIEW

This was a fairly quick listen for an audiobook and I enjoyed it.

214 Palmer Street tells the story of Sarah and her journey to unearth the secrets that her husband and friends have tried to hide from their past.

It is an interesting premise and I did like the character of Sarah, although some of her decisions were pretty questionable at times. This book reads like a tangled web of lies that slowly starts to make sense as you read on. The writing was average, but I did enjoy the narration.

My thanks to NetGalley and the Publishers for sending me this ARC in return for an honest review.

The premise of this book was probably slightly better than the reality. I had the audio book version and it took me a while to finish because it did not have that gripping nature to it. There are only really four main characters but they are ones who make decsions that make you want to roll your eyes! I thought the narrator did a good job of telling the story.

214 Palmer Street is an exciting story about a group of teenagers who share a deadly secret and how their lives are shaped and linked by it through adulthood. Peppered with twists and turns, I experienced it as an audiobook, brilliantly read by Stacey Glemboski. Her amazing and uncanny way of changing her voice to represent the characters brought the book to life. Karen McQuestion’s genius mind, along with Stacey’s gift of narration make this a treat not to be missed, especially if you like books that keep you on the edge of your seat!

Thank you so much @Netgalley and Karen McQuestion for this ARC

From the start I was hooked and i loved the pace, the building of the story and the slow reveal of the truth.

It was such an entertaining and gripping thriller and I was really invested to finding out the truth!

The narrator was great and I really enjoyed the short chapters and mix of POV

Thank you!!

Thank you, NetGallery, for the advanced audiobook copy of 214 Palmer Street.

Karen McQuestion has crafted a suspenseful psychological thriller that tells the story of three woman and their obsessions. Early in the book, it attempts to confuse the reader into judging each of the women and misidentifying their motives. However, the deeper you get into the story, the line between trust and assumption is revealed.

I have mixed feelings about the book. No one was likeable, possibly out of mistrust and without a character to connect to; I dove deeper into the mysterious events, which I was able to solve halfway through the book. Overall, an enjoyable and engaging read, but a predictable ending that could have used more suspense.

Thank you for this book in e Banfe for my honest review.

This book was enough to keep me reading page by page. I just HAD to know the mystery! Perfect for fans of twisty, amnesiac thrillers, 214 Palmer Street by Karen McQuestion is the next addition to your personal library that you don’t want to miss out on!

This book was not at all what I unexpected based on the synopsis. Not in a good or bad way either.

I would say that this is book you would take with you on busy day full of appointments at require a bit of time spent in a waiting room. Something that doesn’t require too much comprehension and could pick up and put down.

Someone compared this to Lifetime movie and I would have to agree. The ending wrapped up way too perfectly. Overall, this was an okay read.

This was a fun, quick read. A book full of twists and turns, written wonderfully well. I'd highly recommend 214 Palmer Street! As always, Karen McQuestion does not disappoint.

Thank you to NetGalley, the Publisher and Author for supplying me with an audio copy of this book for review.