oh this had me hooked. in a good way. in a bad way. in intriguing and disturbing ways. i made me ask questions and ponder things all the way through. both of our characters and our real life world. sadly this concept doesnt feel all to unbelievable of our own futures. things are sinister out there in the tech world at the moment. and im not sure i like where its going at all. quite why i put myself through this book then i do not know! ha but im glad i did as it was a thrill ride and a brilliant one. and it had that added human layer. and another more sinister troubling one that stayed with you and made you more nervous all the way through. it had me in a choke hold all the way through.

dont we all sometimes think breezily that we wished we could know what someone was thinking at certain times. be that family,friends, colleagues or strangers. i quickly relent from this thought though as i really actually dont want to know!
so when our two characters get the opportunity to do this in their relationship they take up the chance. and of course nothing is ever as good as we think it might be when you are messing with the mind. and definitely when messing with peoples thoughts, inner demons and inner memories or thought processes.

ugh ive got to admit this was one of those times when i was tempted(wrongly of course) to be screaming at the wife to get away from this red flag of a man. to me it seemed like he was sinister and his beavuour all so wrong and coercive before the mind reading even began.
so when Anna starts to learn more and fear he will learn more of her that she wants to know, things start to get too too complicated....and perhaps dangerous.
this was a stunning book with thrill thrill edge of your seat woven right through it.

Elijah and Anna approach their 10 year Anniversary, technology enthusiast Elijah proposes the perfect gift to Anna as a means of making them more connected. An implant, that goes behind the ear. That. Connects. Their. Thoughts 🙃. As soon as Elijah mentioned this I sat there and said ‘no way’ because honestly that is insane, I would not want to be inside someone’s head and hear their every thought.

This book was such a wild ride, Elijah gave me the ick real early on in the book and he just got worse. He was such a walking red flag I wanted to crawl into my kindle and shake Anna to wake her up to his actions and manipulative behaviour.

I liked the concept of the book but it was slightly predictable, some of the turns were expected or were easy to identify after certain things happened. I read this quite quickly as it was an easy read.

Please go into this knowing that Elijah is controlling and this may be triggering for some people. Also that the impact of Elijah’s actions do effect Anna and her personality and state of mind.

Free courtesy of Netgalley

I have never read a Carys Green book before but if this is the quality of her work, I will definitely be seeking more of her books.

I have struggled with how to write this review and even left it playing in my mind whilst I read another book. Let me start by saying it is a wonderful written book, and I really enjoyed reading it. But, oh my goodness it was so thought provoking and even when I put it down, I couldn't stop thinking of the implications of what my life would have been like if I had this technology of my ex husband being able to hear all my thoughts, I'm sure we would have separated a lot sooner than we did.

The book follows the story of a married couple Elijah, who is completely tech mad and Anna who really doesn't engage with tech at all. For me Elijah comes across as a very controlling and possessive husband, making Anna keep her data on her phone so he can track her movements. It all feels just a little uncomfortable, so it comes as no surprise that he purchases a new bit of technology that has come into the market for their anniversary. He presents Anna with an appointment to go and get implanted chips, just behind their ear, so they can hear each other's thoughts and can communicate with each other through thought wherever they are. Even though Anna doesn't really want to do this, she wants to please her husband so goes along with it. Can they hide their past from each other and what devastating effect will it have on their marriage.

The book takes many twists and turns and is so thought provoking, I hope that this technology never comes to pass, as your thoughts are private and I believe should stay that way.

I would recommend this book to everyone, it touches on coercive control and what that looks like without even acknowledging it. I could not put this book down and as I said made me really think about the validity of this tech and how bad it could be.

Gripping and fast paced.

From the first page, it was clear something sinister was on the horizon. Following the events from Anna's point of view, was chaotic and so oddly fun!

I loved this, and if you love the Technology based books by John Marrs or Upload on Prime.. you'd love this!

Well this was dark, twisted, sinister, somehow believable and unbelievable at the same time.

Themes include technology and toxic/controlling relationships.

My thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for an ARC of this book.

I’m not entirely sure what I was expecting from the his book but I have to say I was pleasantly surprised. From the title it would seem to be a fluffy romance.

We meet our couple Elijah and Anna who met during their first year at university. They are now seemingly happily married but true to life have some struggles. A new technology called the Unity Chip allows you to be in each others minds all the time. Elijah pushes for him and Anna to have the chip so they are even closer than they show to the outside world. This is where their problems really start.

Without giving any spoilers Anna appears to be able to access Elijah’s dreams and memories and it is making her feel very uncomfortable. The story gathers speed at some pace and culminates is a particularly satisfactory way!

I will definitely look out for this author in the future

An interesting idea well explored. Thanks to the publisher and NetGalley for the chance to ARC this book.

3.5 ⭐️
As a big fan of Severance, the concept of this novel really intrigued me and for the most part it delivered!

I felt certain aspects of the story felt predictable but it was such a tense uncomfortable read that I didn’t really mind this too much!

Really unique enjoyable thriller - once you get past 'who on earth would sign up for this?'

Anna and Elijah have been married for a decade and for their anniversary she thinks he's going to surprise her with a much needed holiday but no...he's only gone and arranged for them to have chips implanted into their heads so they can hear each others every thought. He's already been shown to us as a very controlling husband so what could go wrong?

Well as expected quite a lot. It was fun to read a thriller with such a different concept.

WOW!! This was an excellent read. The idea really pulled me in to the book and the story kept me turning the pages. Just fantastic.

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

I did enjoy this book although at times found it a complex read….however with the subject matter it had to be
Very original and you couldn’t help but put yourself in the position of the main characters
Great writing and a theme that will be talking point

This book is brilliant and if it is not in my top 10 of best reads by the end of 2025 then I’ll be very surprised. Honestly. I loved it from beginning to end. The now and then stories are both engaging and have you addictively waiting to see where the stories are going to go yet. The pacing and unfolding of the story is very well timed creating the perfect suspenseful atmosphere. For me this book has the perfect creepiness of real World and dystopian future. If you love John Marrs books you’ll most definitely love this.

The writing style was not for me, I felt like the nursery rhymes mixed with the plot was messy and takes you out the book.

Wow, this book was intense, I couldn't put it down! The storyline is very Black Mirror: a slightly controlling, tech obsessed husband gives his wife Anna an anniversary present which he believes will give them the ultimate bond - a pioneering chip in their heads so that they can read each other's thoughts and they can always be together...

Despite her initial reluctance Anna goes through with it. However, there seems to be a fault with Anna's chip as it she gets crippling headaches and nausea and she seems to be able to see more than just Elijahs thoughts: his dreams... or are they memories? And they are quite disturbing! If she can see his memories can he see hers? There are things she would rather he didn't know about her...

Dark and thought-provoking, would you really surrender your self privacy to the one you love?

I love the shades of pink and blue on this book cover. The pink side having a steamed up mirror with a heart drawn on it perhaps suggesting that Anna wishes to keep her thoughts to herself and the blue side clear and showing Elija’s reflection representing the fact he wants everything out in the open and to share every thought.
The main characters are a group of friends who met at University, Oscar, Elijah, Gavin, Anna and Helen they enjoyed parties and wild nights together ending up with Anna & Elijah becoming a couple and later getting married and a similar thing happening with Gavin & Helen. They share a past, a past with devastating, dark secrets that would perhaps be better left uncovered. Elijah and Gavin have a highly competitive relationship both at work and in their home lives, always wanting to have the latest gadget or accomplishment before the other. Elijah is obsessed with technology and the house he and Anna live in has every gadget and technology app possible, so it shouldn’t come as a great surprise when Elijah hears about the OneMind project by Unity he wants both himself and Anna to participate. OneMind literally means two people can share one mind, by having a chip inserted behind their left ear close the cerebellum they can literally hear each other’s thoughts 24/7.
It's Elijah and Anna’s tenth wedding anniversary and Elijah has stated he has a surprise for her. Anna is hoping it’s a week away somewhere exotic with a beach so they can be alone and spend some quality time together. However, the big surprise is that Elijah has signed them both up to have the OneMind chip fitted by Unity the very next week without even asking Anna. Anna has her doubts does she really want Elijah to have access to her thoughts 24/7, she doesn’t really see the attraction. Elijah already keeps tabs on her via her mobile phone and the camera’s in the house whilst he is at work. Elijah has a well paid job and his parents have money meaning he can afford to splash out whenever he wishes. This financial stability means that Anna can stay home and be the artist she wants to be in the studio Elijah had built for her in the garden. Sadly for Anna her art work isn’t doing quite as well as she wishes it to. Anna has also suffered multiple miscarriages due to complications from an abortion in their University years. The abortion left scar tissue which is resulting in recurring miscarriages. Elijah wants his own children and he isn’t used to not getting what he wants so they continue trying with Anna hiding the fact a Doctor has told her the probabilities of a successful pregnancy are slim. Anna feels guilt about the abortion, it is her body that is now broken. Elijah insists they made the decision together, they made the right decision at the time and that he believes one day they will have children. Anns also feels guilt as she has a secret. There are details about the abortion that Elijah doesn’t know and must never find out about.
I think its all this guilt and the way Elijah is persistent, used to getting his own way and quite controlling of Anna that she agrees to go ahead with the OneMind chip implant. However, Anna has a bad reaction straight away, she is violently sick, has continual headaches as well as the site of the insertion of the chip not healing properly. Elijah insists all these side effects will wear off as he isn’t experiencing any.
One night Anna has a dream where she is looking through Elijahs eyes, she is seeing the night that their friend Oscar died on a “boys holiday abroad” that Oscar, Elijah and Gavin went on. The dream and what she sees doesn’t line up with how Elijah & Gavin said they happened. Anna really struggles with hearing Elijah in her head all the time and discovers he has a violent temper which begins to scare her. What if she thinks about the abortion secret and he finds out, or if Elijah experiences one of her dreams about that time. Elijah is increasingly exhibiting controlling, abusive, gas lighting, and toxic behaviour towards Anna. He demands to know her whereabouts at any given moment of the day, whether that’s via tracking her phone or constantly checking in with her via OneMind. When Elijah speaks to Anna he expects her to reply immediately and if she doesn’t he wants to know the reason why. Anna develops a way of coping, of withholding her thoughts by singing and saying nursery rhymes which quickly annoys Elijah. Secrets end up being revealed and Elijah slowly simmer and its almost like he is trying to drive Anna crazy, turning gadgets on and off in the house, locking her out when she forgets to take her phone with her. I suppose Elijah is punishing Anna for what he has discovered and he seems to be enjoying it jumping into her thoughts whenever he feels like it. Yet when she calls out to him, he is sometime absent making Anna suspicious that his chip is different to hers.
I did guess the secret Anna was wanting to hide, I just got the wrong person who was involved in it with her. I also guessed that perhaps that was the reason her friendship with Helen had gone colder too.
I felt sorry for Anna, literally trapped in her own home, feeling guilty about something that happened years ago. She really didn’t seem to see that even before the OneMind chip Elijah was a possessive, ruthless, controlling person. Eventually after realsing the dream she keeps having is the true version of the “boys holiday abroad” events and what really happened to Oscar that night she is horrified and she does realise Elijah is dangerous. Even after seeing that night there is still a small part of Anna that wanted to give Elijah the benefit of the doubt, she seemed incapable of believing what an evil man she was married to. Anna had to end up being quite conniving herself to remove herself from Elijah’s clutches. In fact, the ending is quite ironic that Anna becomes pregnant but Elijah is not able to enjoy the experience with her.
What Elijah pitched to Anna as a way for them to be even closer was a lie, it turned out Elijah wanted OneMind for much more sinister reasons. It brought the dangerously close with disastrous consequence no one could have forseen.
I immediately took a disliking to Elijah, having escaped an abusive marriage I could see the signs of it in him quite early in the book. On the surface Elijah has it all, and he has it all his own way too. If there’s a situation, he can’t handle alone his parents are there to help him. Elijah seemed a quieter character in the university days but even then, he was selfish and controlling and wasn’t above emotionally blackmailing people to get what he wanted.
Gavin on the other hand has had to work for what he has achieved and work hard at his job, though even he seems to be under the influence of Elijah. Its only revealed later in the book exactly what the hold Elijah has over Gavin is.
I also liked the characters that were either there for Anna all the time like Mandie, or Helen that eventually reached out when she felt her friend was in danger though didn’t really forgive her. I was initially irritated by Murray, the obstacles he put in Anna’s way on behalf of Unity when it came to getting her OneMind chip sorted out. Murray must have known about the extra functions that Elijah had on his chip in comparison to Anna’s but didn’t readily reveal this when asked. However, he did eventually take pity on Anna and discreetly help her near the end of the book.
I found the hospital scenes hilarious, how frustrated Elijah was hearing the conversations of the nurses and not being able to speak to them himself. Though he hadn’t changed and was still very derogatory about those nurses helping him and towards Anna despite her visiting him every day.
My immediate thoughts upon fishing the book were wow, what a twisted tale……and what an awful man!
Summing up, I didn’t want to put the book down, I wanted to know if the dream Anna was having was the truth of what had happened to Oscar and then I was scared for Anna. This book kept me awake reading late into the night unable to put it down without discovering the end.

Thank you to the author, publisher and NetGalley for the opportunity to read and review this book.

Creepy and all too horribly believable! A great read

What an absolute whirlwind of a read.

This novel had such a unique concept to it and I found it quite disturbing - in the best way. I found myself with a dozen questions floating through my head, about who to trust, who to avoid and wanting to get to the bottom of the exact reason as to why the chip was suggested in the first place.

It did take me a while to warm up to this novel, particularly within the first 10%. I wanted it to be slightly quicker and I definitely felt like it was important, in hindsight, to get a real vibe for the characters and their relationships before throwing us with such a moral dilemma.

I honestly devoured the last 60% like my life depended on it and to be frank, I highly recommend.

If you are a lover of dystopian modern fiction or black mirror - this is the read for you.

If asked to have a widget implanted near my brain so someone else could hear my thoughts, I would not be seen for dust, regardless of the relationship. The concept, however freaky, intrigued me. Anna’s long-smothered guilt escalates when she picks up on Elijah’s dreams and memories, to the extent she fears his actions should he be able to gain access to hers. Friendships are challenged; Elijah’s controlling behaviour moves into harrowing territory. Some of the thought exchanges are rather tedious and superfluous, with quite a few instances when Anna’s thoughts should have been spoken aloud. I liked the open-ended outcome when the balance of power changes.

I really loved this book, it’s my first time reading a book by this author and it certainly won’t be my last. I was in a book reading slump but I managed to read this book in two days. I’ve never read a book like this and whilst with it being set in the near future it felt far fetched it also wasn’t unbelievable. I did wish for a different ending for Anna but I’m glad that it was unpredictable.

You can hear his every thought. But he can hear yours too...
Blurb:
Elijah and Anna are about to celebrate their 10 year anniversary. Elijah, who is very tech savvy, suggests they go to OneMind to get a new revolutionary implant, in where both parties can hear each others thoughts. Although wary of the idea, Anna agrees. But how long until the lines blur and thoughts become memories?
Thoughts:
WOW! This was such a crazy, exciting, interesting read. I flew threw this so quick, and it’s a total ‘one last chapter’ read. Anna was a particularly interesting character who you can’t help but question her reasoning behind agreeing to such a crazy idea. I enjoyed the flashbacks to the past and digging deeper into the characters to find out their secrets. This is a fantastic book to open up discussions on technology and power.
I absolutely loved the dystopian future feel of it, and it gave me major John Marrs and Black Mirror vibes!
Thank you so much to NetGalley, VintageBooks and of course Carys for the ARC copy in exchange for an honest review.