You Are Not Alone: A Novel <— PSYCH-THRILLER ALERT!!! And pretty good overall (with a great twist that I didn’t see coming), but crazy far-fetched for the most part.
I’m all about vigilante stories but this one became a little obnoxious. At some point it just got so… night soap opera-y (in regards to cunning villains and the lengths they’ll go to, to get what they want), that it exhausted me. Also, there was some eye-rolling. I couldn’t help it. 🙄 😂
It took me awhile to read, despite it being intriguing for the most part, probably because of the multiple POV changes as we get to know each of the characters and how they became a part of this “girl group”. So I’d put it down, take a break but always pick it back up.
Tasha J: I’m so behind though, I feel like I’m stuck reading the same books forever. Like, all the books I pick up are 400, 500+ pages. And it seems daunting.
Maryse: I’m still reading You Are Not Alone and enjoying it, but same for me… I’m stuck at the last quarter and I just need to power through. It’s a tiny bit slow through the middle because we go back and learn about each girl in the group and how she was chosen for the group. Which is good, and slowly builds answers but pulls me out of the main story regularly.
Tasha J: Yes! There’s so much going on and I have to read and reread a lot bc it’s so different and there are a lot of characters and things to keep up with and I can’t just get sucked in and power through.
Yep. I powered though, especially because I loved being in our heroine’s head as she blossomed from a meek, unobtrusive and even a bit fearful woman (with a slight but interesting OCD – she loves statistics and facts), to suddenly becoming one of the most recent popular girls amongst a group of women that she looked up to, and that seemed to really like her back.
So what’s it about?
Shay has been living with her guy best friend (that she has an unrequited crush on),
Sean’s the first guy I really liked since I ended things with my college boyfriend. I began to fall for Sean months ago. I thought he felt the same.
and she’s needing a job, and she’s pretty much down in the dumps, especially when he moves his new girlfriend in with them. She knows things need to change but luck is not quite with her.
Lately it seems like the stats are against me: I’m thirty-one years old, and I’m not dating anyone. When my boss called me into his office last month, I thought I was getting promoted. Instead, he told me I was being downsized. It’s like I’m caught in a slow spiral. I’m fighting as hard as I can to turn things around.
When she witnesses a woman jump in front of a train in the subway station, she develops a severe phobia, but also, an incredible preoccupation with her,
I keep berating myself for not doing something differently. I should have reached out to grab her or yelled “Don’t!” sooner.
When I spotted the woman with the pleasant face, I only thought about how she could save me. But I should have been the one to save her.
My room feels like it’s closing in on me in the darkness.
…trying to find out who she was and why she jumped.
One second she existed, and the next, she’d been erased. I stagger over to a bench by the wall and collapse.
During everything that follows—while I give my statement to a police detective with an impassive face, am escorted past the crime-scene tape up to the street, and walk the seven blocks home—I can’t stop seeing the woman’s eyes right before she jumped. It wasn’t despair or fear or determination I saw in them.
They were empty.
And then she meets her friends…
Suddenly I don’t want to leave. It’s no longer about the connection I feel toward Amanda. It’s the connection I want to feel with her friends.
And her luck turns around.
And that’s where I’m ending this section. 😉 Because each part develops slowly, as do the characters.
The development of each layer as the story progressed (and regressed) was interesting enough to keep me reading, and I had no real idea how she was going to get herself out of this. I mean… logically I did (I don’t think I would have let it all get that far – but hindsight is always 20/20), but our heroine was in too deep, and well… it’s a cast of craziness, so I just went with it.
Are they good? Are they bad? Good reasoning or…? You know me I’m always up for vigilante justice (fictional, that is!! 😉 ), but there’s so much more to uncover in this one.
3.75 stars <— Normally I think I’d give this 4 stars, but I loved 2 other books by these authors so much more, so this one can’t get the same rating from me, unfortunately.
➔➔➔ Looking for more of my must-read recommendations? Browse my 5 star and 4.5 star and 4 starreviews. 😀
➔➔➔ Love this author? Check out more of my Greer Hendricks & Sarah Pekkanen features and reviews on my blog!
➔➔➔ Love this trope? Check out more of my psych-thriller & vigilante features and reviews on my blog!
Great review! And good on you to power through. I have not. 😂 But I will! I’m taking a break. I want to be in it and I can’t right now. I’m reading The Hunting Wives instead.🤞It hits the spot.
Now I WANT that “hit the spot”!!!!!