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Tuesday, August 26, 2014
REVIEW - The Hidden Girl by Louise Millar - NEW Release today, Tuesday Aug 26th, 2014!
I have intentionally planned on writing my review of this book 'for today', the release date of August 26th, and have been DYING to share this with you!
This is one of the BEST psychological thrillers I've read in a "l o n g" time! So here it is!
There are two covers for this book, and I'm going to share both with you, the Publisher's description, Atria, then my review about this AMAZING 5+ STAR Psychological Thriller that made me pull an ALL-nighter!
AND
So which cover do you like better? I LOVE number ONE! Both covers are fitting for this book, but the darkness with the girl in the lower left area draws me in more, especially as you are reading it and you see her doing what looks like she's crouched down, looks scared! Eerie!
DESCRIPTION:
Hannah Riley moves into the English countryside from London in the hopes of creating a perfect home for the child she's been longing for. She and her husband, Will, are beginning the process of adopting a baby, and Hannah throws herself into renovating the drafty rural manor into an idyllic refuge for her family. But there are secrets hiding even beneath the most perfect facades. But there are secrets hiding even beneath the most perfect facades. As Hannah's increasing obsession with her mysterious neighbors grows and the worst snowstorm in years cuts her off from Will (who is facing marital temptations of his own), Hannah realizes that her dreams of the future aren't the only things at stake, and she finds herself in deeper danger than she EVER imagined.
My Take:
5+++++ Stars!
I LOVED this book! No one and nothing could tear me apart from reading this book, as soon as I started reading it! In fact, I pulled an all-nighter because I could not/did not want to stop reading this book! I ended up finishing it at 6:00am the next morning, and it was THAT good! Was it worth messing up my sleep schedule for the next few days? Oh, YES!!! This book is such an AMAZING Psychological Thriller! The writing pulls you in, the storyline makes you want/need to know what is going to happen next. This author has you snagged! This author really knows how to mess with our heads! She just continues to keep the reader glued to the pages making us to continue to flip them with all of the twists and turns in this story. We need to know what is going to happen at the next, so we have to keep flipping the pages as fast as we can! So what happens in this book that makes it SO GOOD? Here it is with NO SPOILERS!
Hannah and her husband Will are now done trying to conceive a child on their own. The resulting pregnancies are never 'viable' even with the 'best of the best' professionals out there. They have tried everything, including Invitro Fertilization three times, and now the doctors suggest they stop after three unsuccessful attempts. Hannah feels as if it's her fault she cannot bear children. Since everything else has failed, they continue on in life, but Hannah is determined to have children even if they have to adopt, and, adopt it is! They had one child all set to adopt, and out of the blue it fell through. She could not take that chance again.
To improve the odds of Hannah and her husband getting a child, she feels buying a house instead of renting an apartment would be much better and make a better impression for the Social Workers or even the birth parents. They end up buying a fixer-upper out in the country in Suffolk, away from the busy city of London, plus it also happens to be near Will's family, his sister's house. She and her husband have several children, they would be blocks away, and this can only be more of a positive for Hannah and Will. It can't get any better than this! Yes, it will be a little drive for Will going back and forth to and from London every day, but he can do it. When the weather is bad, he can stay overnight in his office or with one of his buddies he works with if need be.
I felt Will is somewhat of a jerk at times towards Hannah. Will puts himself first, and everyone else comes last. He blows off Hannah's concerns and doesn't give her the time he should, and at the same time he blames her for wanting 'everything needs to be perfect' mantra over and over and over. He headed out to London and was going to stop at the store to buy food since that was the one thing they did not have, but he doesn't come home on purpose that night after work, and Hannah's needs are left second to none, again. (Grrrrr! Jerk! This did leave me wondering why she would want to have a family with 'him'.)
Hannah, now out in Suffolk, alone, with horrid cell service, is in their new fixer-upper, working away. Hannah has 9 days until the Social Worker, Barbara, from the Adoption Agency, is coming out to their home to make sure the house, along with the both of them are all set and ready to adopt a child when one becomes available.
Hannah is in high gear and is pumped up. She is painting like crazy, all one color, freshening it up whether it needs it or not, and works late into every night so she can get it all done. Why isn't Will helping her more?
While Hannah is working around the house, she starts to think she's heard things. Noises. She blows it off and continues on working, but out of the corner of her eye thought she saw someone IN her house. No, can't be. Everything is locked. She double checks, but can't find her keys. Are they LOST? How? What did she do with them? She can't believe she could lose something as important as her keys.
Hannah meets a neighbor, Dex, an odd sort of fellow. He helps her out and she is very grateful for it. They exchange phone numbers for later, just in case as you never know . . . Hannah meets her neighbors on the other side of her, and they a little strange, too, but Hannah blows it off to living where they do. Hannah also gets to meet a few to meet a few other people, too, and she starts to feel like she's fitting in now. There is only one problem. Later, her one neighbor, Dex, is turning out not to be who he claims he is. Hmmm? Now, a long string of strange events start to happen.
Where is Will? This is where it starts to really get good and you'll lose sleep over reading! Where are her keys again?
A snowstorm hits. Everyone is snowed in and are pretty much paralyzed from the amount of snow that fell. They haven't seen record setting snow like this in a long time, decades. Roads are impassable, and Will is stuck in London, and Hannah is still stuck at the house, alone. She still has no food. She was waiting for Will to bring it home with him, but now since the snowstorm, he is stuck in London. Now she is practically down to bread crumbs, a can of tuna, and a few other tiny things. Will really should get his butt in gear and try to find a way to get home to her? Come on, Will! Hannah needs you! Ugh! Yes, I was yelling at him while reading the book!
Now Hannah does see a person IN her house. She knows what she saw, and this IS a person! Now, all kinds of things start to happen. The worse thing, again, is she barely has ANY cell phone service out where they are living, and what they do have is all choppy. She can't make a call out for help, and no one can call her, and the keys . . . and the person IN her house! Things are going crazy now and the Social Worker, Barbara, whom Hannah has been breaking her neck fixing up the house for, will still be here in how many days now?
The house is not finished, and the problems that have crept up on her are not going away. The safety of her life is in jeopardy.
This book is an excellent 'on the edge of your seat' psychological thriller! One of the best this year! I can see this appealing to everyone who love this genre, and I can also easily see this hitting the bestseller list! Watch for it! This is one book you should NOT PASS UP! You will remember it for a long time to come!
Thank you +Atria Books ! I LOVE your authors/books! Yes, Atria provided this book for me to read and write a review, but so many times when I go to pick up a new book, guess who the publisher is? Yep! Atria! Again, thank you, @AtriaBooks!
I received this book for FREE from the Publisher, Atria Books, and NetGalley. Around the same time I was completely surprised to receive a beautiful ARC mailed to my home as a 'thank you' for reviewing their books, which was a HUGE and wonderful surprise! (This is how I unknowingly ended up with the two copies of this book! An ebook and an ARC. Atria Books sure KNOWS what I LOVE to read!) in exchange to read and write a review about this book. "Free" means I was provided with ZERO MONIES to read and write a review about this book, but to enjoy the pure pleasure of reading it and giving my own honest opinion no matter whether it is positive or negative. I am disclosing this information in accordance with the law set here: http://www.access.gpo.gov/nara/cfr/waisidx_03/16cfr255_03.html., The Federal Trade Commission's 16 CFR, Part 255, 16 CFR 255, Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising Federal Acquisition Regulation.
ebook: $ 9.73
print: $11.47
5 comments:
I LOVE Comments so please leave one! After I review the comments and make sure they are NOT SPAM - I HAVE BEEN BOMBARDED WITH SPAM - YOUR COMMENTS WILL BE PUBLISHED HERE! Thanks SO MUCH for your patience and for leaving a comment!!! Comments are ALWAYS welcomed, YET THEY WILL NOT LINK TO GOOGLE+ EITHER DUE TO THE AMOUNT OF SPAM!!! When I say this blog is experiencing SPAM, we are talking 30+ comments PER DAY that are spam! Please understand!! Again, thank you!!
You sold me! I love psychological thrillers and suspense and have been looking for some new books. Thanks for sharing and I'm off to check out these books!
ReplyDeleteHi Laura!
DeleteThanks for leaving a comment! Yes! I LOVED this book! When I said books do NOT scare me, I meant it! As I was sitting here late one night reading and some sound happened outside, I JUMPED! LOL! I had to laugh at myself, but I wasn't so convinced that things were really okay! LOL!
I think you are going to love this story as much as I did! This was an excellent book! I wish I could talk more about the book to you, but I don't want to spoil it! Let me know what you think!
Enjoy!
Laurie
Hi Laura!
DeleteI wanted to write to you again to let you know that The Hidden Girl by Louise Millar was an EXCELLENT ans SO worth the read, but I have a NEW Psychological Thriller that TRUMPS this last book you liked so much! It's called "What It Was Like" by Peter Seth! WOW! I am at a loss for words about how AMAZING this book was! I want to know WHERE has this author been hiding? WOW!!! Here is the link so you can read the review! I HIGHLY suggest reading it! It will literally have you GLUED to the page! You will read it from beginnning to end (losing sleep, yes!) and just LOST in this story! Enjoy! I know you will! http://www.lauriehere.com/2014/09/review-what-it-was-like-by-peter-seth.html This is MY FAVORITE for 2014 by FAR!
Talk to you soon and take care!
Laurie
Well, I agree with what you wrote, but not with all of it. Regardless, its all good material. Thanks!
ReplyDeleteCardsharing Server
Yes, it is an excellent story! Quite the twist after twist in this one! You must have gotten an Advanced Reader's Copy, too? I'd love to read your review, too! Is there a way you can leave the link to your review? Let us know!
DeleteThanks for leaving a comment! ALWAYS appreciated!!
Laurie