Great story of a girl insinuating herself into the lives of a family where one son murdered their mother on the pretense of making their lives better while hiding a secret, devious, manipulative side. Looking forward to the sequel.

Thank you Net Galley for providing this book and allowing me to read it in advance. I was unable to personally get into this book but that is the power of reading. There’s books for everyone. I know someone else will adore it!

Very unique read. I can see why it may not be for some people but I personally really enjoyed this. I love how original this is!

Thank you to Netgalley and BooksGoSocial for the digital copy of Crackshell in exchange for an honest review.

I really wanted to like this book more. It's got everything I typically love — a mystery, family drama and secrets, characters with major flaws, all set against a gorgeous backdrop. But I just...couldn't get myself to love it.

I think, for me, the biggest thing is that I'm just not a fan of lizzi Qnert's writing. That's not to say she's a bad writer, but it just wasn't my style. It felt a little too simplistic and more "telling" than "showing". As the book is in the first person point of view (alternating between three characters), I assume she was trying to capture the voice of the characters but, to me, it just felt forced. There were certain paragraphs that truly made me cringe.

And, I usually love a good flawed character. Truly. But I couldn't get myself to care about any of the main characters. I never got attached to any of them, even with chapters directly written from their point of view.

I enjoyed the mystery, but instead of reading to enjoy, I found myself reading to just finish it and take the book off my list.

This is a fascinating book about so many marvelous themes! Sydney is an author who bases her books on true crime so she relocates to the shore as word of an adult son shooting his mother in bed goes viral. Little does she know how much this will impact her own life! She rents a small place on the beach next to Jake and sister Maggie who make their living selling crabs they've caught to local restaurants. Caught up in this new lifestyle--as well as Jake's "down-home" charm and Maggie's prickly ways, Sydney learns and begins to thrive as she digs into the family history. And she discovers more than she'd hoped! Very different but wonderful as Qnert speaks to themes of grief, alcoholism, abuse, dementia, but most of all redemption! Such a unique and awesome book!
Thanks to NetGalley for this ARC!

This was a great psychological thriller that kept me completely hooked. I really got absorbed with these characters; especially Maggie. Shocking twists, unexpected romance and complex characters. You can’t go wrong with Crackshell and I know I’ll be anxiously waiting for the next book in this series!
Thanks to NetGalley for this ARC and the opportunity to review this book!

Thank you Netgalley for the ARC of this book. This was awesome! This was a crazy psych thriller with a bit of very untraditional romance. It sucks you in and does not let go.

CRACKSHELL is perfection.
It's a different kind of thriller from your average which is exactly why I love it so but still has you saying WTF 🤨 .
I was completely involved in this book & all the characters while reading & couldn't wait to get back to it when I wasn't reading. I can't wait for book #2 to continue the ride .

Thank you #Netgalley for yet another amazing ArC 🤘

Wow. Crackshell took me on quite the ride. A psychological suspense novel imbued with a women’s lit edge, I found myself swept up in Jake, Maggie, and Sydney’s lives. On top of that, the evocative descriptions brought me straight back to my college days crabbing along the rivers that feed into the Chesapeake Bay.

My favorite aspect of this book, however, was easily the endearing tale of embracing forgiveness following a family tragedy. Written in such a way as to read genuine and true-to-life, I found myself wrapped up in the characters’ emotions from the get-go. Told from three separate POVs, they all wove together to form a cohesive plot that unfurled into an fundamentally heartwarming tale.

Be forewarned, though, that the majority of this book is written in Eastern Shore slang (which is far from perfect English) with plenty of swearing throughout. Initially, I found it difficult to fall into the story because of it, but as the plot unraveled, it fell to the wayside and I became captivated by the town of Rock Narrows. Particularly with the endearing yet memorable townspeople.

Point blank, while the twists and turns weren’t exactly plentiful, the plot left me spellbound to the end. It was so good, in fact, that I read the entire book in just under a day. The only piece I wasn’t thrilled with was the conclusion. It felt slightly rushed and unexplored leaving the reveal of the big twist somewhat buried. Ultimately, however, the rest of the book easily won me over and I cannot wait to follow Jake, Sydney, and Maggie’s journey in book two, Green Peeler.

Addictive and spellbinding, I highly recommend giving Lizzie Qnert’s newest book a try. This character-driven plot will take you on quite the emotional ride that transcends the typical suspense, romance, or mystery (because there are pieces of all three within the pages). All said and done, two enthusiastic thumbs up! Rating of 4 stars.

Trigger warning: significant swearing, death of a parent, spousal abuse, drug and alcohol abuse, stalking, animal abuse, dementia, drunk driving, suicide, mention of: child abuse, miscarriage

*If you have any experience with alcoholism or spousal abuse, I strongly recommend giving this one a miss.

First of all, I loved the title and it’s symbolism of vulnerability. “but there’s a crackshell. That’s me—cracked and exposed.” The characters and their POVs are well written and developed. Two of my favorite quotes from Crackshell, “Let me take you to bed and you can fit your broken little edges into mine.” and “Resentment is like peeing your pants. You’re the one that has to sit in it and no one else cares.” This wasn’t an on the edge of your seat suspense/thriller, but I enjoyed it and am interested to read the next one. Thank you to NetGalley for this copy in exchange for an honest review.

Yummy book that sucks you in. I’m trying not to give away any spoilers here- but this is not your run of the mill romance. There was a murder but the who and the why starts off as a mystery . A young author comes to town to use the story as a backdrop to her own novel- hiding her true identity from the grieving siblings. Just when I thought I knew where it was going, things started to get creepy, and left me surprised. I do enjoy when a story has me changing who I am rooting for,.
Throughly enjoyed the story and am looking forward to reading the second book in the series.

This is the story of new relationships, trust, obsession, and some sociopathy. It was entertaining. The story is told from the points of view of Jake, Sydney and Nails/Maggie. I really felt a score of 3.5 was in order but I realized that the issues with editing and formatting caused several disconnects/distractions and, being an advance copy, those things are common. Sydney is not at all likeable, not even in her more altruistic mode. There is another book coming but while I enjoyed this one, I won't be reading the next.

I really enjoyed how unique this mystery novel was, it had what I enjoyed from the genre. lizzie Qnert does what I was hoping for from the description and creating unique characters. I enjoyed going through this book and getting to figure out what was going on in this world. I look forward to reading more from the author as I enjoyed this book.

"I get that. Anger is one of those emotions that blots out rational thoughts. But you can’t bury it. Let it encompass you, breathe it in, get down and dirty in it, wallow until it starts to dissipate.” Incongruous as it sounds, the image of Jake writhing in his anger is almost sensual. I take another sip of beer and continue. “You can only begin to process your other emotions when the anger is no longer monopolizing your attention.”