This book explores all the angles of adoption from the parent to put the child up for adoption to the adopt child now adult.

Ramona is just looking for who she is, Her birthmother Amy seems to not be giving her a straight answer!

I think I liked Ramona better than Amy… Either way this was a really good read read!

Thanks to NetGalley for allowing me to read this in exchange for an honest review.

This plot was very blah and may have worked as a short story? But nothing much happened and I didn’t care about the characters. The writing itself was good, just the story was not for me.

I struggled with this book. It was slow, lacked plot, rather boring and the ending was predictable. Pretty disappointed.

Had me on the edge of my seat, I couldn't put this book down and had me guessing till the very end on what happens in the story.

I found this a very difficult book to get into as I didn't like either of the main two characters. They were both very odd and we didn't get to know them well enough before it goes into the story. I thought Amy was strange and I wasn't sure if I was meant to be annoyed by her or feel sorry for her, but I was just left feeling baffled.

There were some very unbelievable things such as the husband and son accepting this new daughter so readily, as if that would ever be so smooth with no further questions or any form of tension or difficulty?!

Rebecca Kelley, you are a genius! This book had me on an emotional roller coaster! I felt Romana's anger and Amy's desperation. My heart broke for Romana wanting to know her place in this world. You captured that essence in a masterful way. This is a must read!!!

Unfortunately I found this book quite a struggle to get through. The pacing is very slow and not much happens. The ending is predictable. An unreliable narrator should make things more interesting but the twists made little impact. I didn’t connect with any of the characters and almost gave up with it.

The title of this book is extremely ironic considering the plot centres around Amy and how she does everything to not tell her long lost daughter everything! Lots of secrets and lies. It's absolutely brilliant.

The synopsis of this had me instantly intrigued. A web of lies where you have to figure out what’s going on? Sign me up!

Unfortunately the web wasn’t woven too well and it was quite easy to figure out what was going on. Whilst parts left me guessing, a lot of the ‘twists’ were obvious.

I will say Rebecca’s writing is brilliant. She wrote Amy’s character brilliantly, and the way Amy told her stories was captivating. It was like you knew ahead of time was lying but she lied so well. It’s hard to explain but I loved the actual writing.

This is a novel based on an adoptee trying to find out about her heritage. In this case, Ramona has found her biological mother, Amy, who appears sophisticated and successful. Ramona contacts Amy again to learn about her biological father. Here, the novel begins spinning. First Amy tells the story of her relationship to Freddy Bennison, the man named on Ramona’s birth certificate. Freddy is bi-racial, Ramona and Amy are both Caucasian. Freddy’s mother disabuses him of his paternity. Yet, she is the person who gives Amy her opportunity for a successful career.

Amy also introduces Ramona to her present family, her husband and young son. Amy has kept Ramona a secret from them. The author makes this monumental secret into a non-event.

Next Amy tells the tale of another possible father, Cory. Ramona begins her own search for him, but learns he died before she was born. Amy admits she witnessed his death I was confused by the multiple plot points. Often they made no sense.

So, as a reader, I found myself disliking the unreliable narrator, Amy. Even searching, Ramona didn’t especially appeal to me. I found myself questioning why she gave up her college opportunity to go on this quest. I really can’t recommend this awkward novel to readers.

Thank you Netgalley for this ARC.

In the “About the Author” note, Rebecca Kelley is described as a writer whose “novels center on complicated women who make impulsive, reckless decision.” After reading this novel, I feel that characterization is an understatement.

Ramona was adopted as an infant and feels something is missing in her sense of self. Now at age twenty, she seeks out Amy, her biological mother, to find out more about her origins, including her father’s identity. The first meeting goes well, but as Ramona gets to know Amy and her family, she begins to realize that Amy’s story is filled with truths, half-truths and outright lies. It might be tempting to view Amy as possessing sociopathic or narcissistic tendencies, but for the fact that she clearly has a conscience that manifests in disturbing dreams. While she eventually tells “everything" and accepts the consequences of her actions, her motivations are murky, and she places Ramona in an untenable position.

This novel, while it kept me engaged, was unsettling – even disturbing. This is a one-and-done for me with this author.

My thanks to the author, the publisher, and NetGalley for the privilege of reviewing this book. The opinions expressed in this review are completely my own.

This review is being posted immediately to my GoodReads account and will be posted on Amazon upon publication.

I've been stuck in a book slump for weeks and this took me right out of it! In her late teens, Amy fell pregnant while working at a holiday resort. She put the baby up for adoption and now almost twenty, the daughter she gave up has come to the resort that she now runs looking for answers. This is a twisty, unpredictable and gripping read and I would definitely recommend it.

This is the first book I've read by this author. This kept me guessing all the way to the last page - which I really like! But it definitely ended a little abruptly, and part way through the book I really wasn't sure where we were going and what the author's intention was.

I felt strongly that the author has some great skill to keep this moving, and keep the reader engaged - since the story was retold so many times. That really impressed me - it didn't feel like "not this again" I was swept up in the story and what was going to happen next.

4* Not what I was expecting, but despite this, it was an engrossing tale of someone who'd - I think, at the start - wanted the best for her unborn child, but whose plans were flawed. And actions moreso.

Hmm. Was Amy a user? A manipulator? A sociopath? A psychopath? Someone whose brain got it wrong and then couldn't figure a way out? Did she have post-natal depression? Even pre-natal depression? All of the former, maybe? It was hard to tell, as we get glimpses of one of the people she'd 'wronged' very late in the tale, and even after her 'reveal' that got her what she deserved, she then felt the need to make Ramona complicit by telling her more, making the tale end on a cliff hanger. And said person hadn't deserved what happened to them, but Amy was utterly cold and calculating in the whitewashed version of the 'truth' but right at the end, that veered into something far more unpleasant and shocking. But she didn't seem remorseful, and she didn't seem grateful that Ramona, Gabe and her husband were still in her life. I can't figure her out. I think it's far more than self-preservation and her childhood that have fashioned her into what she is/has done, but can't label her accurately.

The point of the tale? I'm not sure there was one. But, it drew me in, wanting Ramona's truth, which I suspect she didn't get.

ARC courtesy of NetGalley and Lake Union Publishing, for my reading pleasure.

This is a simple story with really only 4 characters. Ramona comes to visit her birth mother, Amy. Ramona wants to know the story of how she came to be conceived and later adopted. Amy is now a married mother working in the hospitality industry, her husband (who is kind of a non-character) doesn’t know that his wife placed a child for adoption 25 years earlier. Amy tells Ramona the story, but keeps adding different details and misdirections to the story as time goes on. Eventually Amy tells Ramona everything that happened during the summer of 1997, and the two boys she dated, Freddie and Cory.

This may have worked better as a short story or novella, there wasn’t a lot of plot, dialogue, or characterization. The ending was probably supposed to be dramatic, but something that seemed a bit obvious from the beginning. Unfortunately I just didn’t feel the suspense and I had really ambivalent feelings towards the characters; neither strongly likable not unlikable.

Thank you to NetGalley and Lake Union publishers for the ARC. Book to be published January 13, 2025.

I am writing this review for Net Galley

In this story we follow Ramona as she is able to find her real mother and meet up with her in person. Amy works at a hotel. She is married and has an eight year old son. When Ramona meets Amy she senses something is off. Amy had Ramona at an early age. She decided to give Ramona up for adoption when she felt that she was not capable of taking care of her. She found a couple that lived in a mansion. Amy thought she did everything right until Ramona found her years later and wanted to meet.

Ramona and Amy got along right away. Talking for hours about Amy's past leading to Ramona being born. When Amy invited Ramona to where it all began, things got a bit to close to home for Amy. Ramona started digging up parts from Amy's past that could lead to Amy getting into trouble and her life changing forever.

I really enjoyed this story. I liked that there was a past and present connection. I also liked there was some mystery involved leading to Amy's decision of giving up Ramona for adoption. I did not like some of Amy's decisions but when you are that young I can understand why she made the decisions that she did. Overall, I highly recommend..

Wow! The truths, the lies, I don't know where to begin. The book kept my attention and I just needed to know what she did.

Amy's life is turned on it's head when Ramona, the daughter she gave up for adoption turns up. Ramona wants to know who her father is/was and Amy doesn't want to tell.

Secrets and lies are always bound to come back and bite you so Amy thinks more lies will cover every other lie she has told.

With plenty of twists this rather emotive read kept me hooked. I liked it a lot

I liked that it could be someones real life drama and this kept me involved with Amy and Ramona as though they were real people and not just characters in a novel.

Excellent storytelling and superb writing along with a solid plot is what you get with this book...

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for gifting me this book for free in exchange for my review! All opinions are my own.

This was a pretty good book. If I am being honest. I was expecting this book to be more of a thriller than women's fiction. That's what the synopsis led me to believe anyways. With that being said, I still enjoyed this novel and I finished this book in under 24 hours. I will be definitely looking for more books by Rebecca Kelley in the future.

Many Thanks again to NetGalley and the publisher for providing me with this book in exchange for my honest review.

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An atmospheric, compelling read. Will have you. thinking about the characters long after you close the book. Highly recommend.