Now this is how you write a suspense novel! It's a coincidence that I started reading this book the same week we had our solar eclipse. I wish I was able to experience the feelings during the path of totality. But sadly I'm in CA and didn't see much of the eclipse. Anyway, it's hard to review this book without giving anything away. Although the book was a little slow-paced in the beginning and I found the characters to be unlikable, I was hooked by the middle and couldn't put the book down. This was a story of lies, deception, and betrayal with a nice twist at the end.

I received a copy of He Said/She Said through NetGalley for an honest review. Thank you to St. Martin's Press and Erin Kelly for the opportunity.

HE SAID SHE SAID BY ERIN KELLY BOOK REVIEW

I am writing this review fresh off the heels of our big eclipse and it just seems fitting. Before reading this book I had never heard of eclipse chasers; people who travel the world watching total eclipses. We experienced the eclipse frenzy this week here in the United States, and it gave me a glimpse of understanding of this world. Something about an eclipse feels magical and surreal and I think it is a fantastic backdrop for a mystery/psychological thriller. He Said She Said By Erin Kelly is a dark and mysterious story and it is constantly surprising.

THE BACK STORY

Kit and Laura are young and in love in their twenties. Kit has been obsessed with total eclipses since he was a child and has dedicated his life to chasing them wherever they go. When he meets Laura, he shares his love and takes her to an eclipse festival in a small town in England. Just after the eclipse, Kit and Laura witness the rape of a young woman, and the moment changes their lives forever.

PRESENT DAY

15 years later, Kit and Laura are still running from their past. Laura is pregnant and Kit is still chasing eclipses, but they have changed their names and are in hiding. What are they running from? The true story of the sordid night begins to unfold. This book begins slowly, but once it gets going it never slows down. Every time you think you have figured it out it shifts on you again.

THE VERDICT

I don’t always read thrillers, but when a good one comes along it is some of my favorite reading. This book was fantastic and it took so many different turns that I had no idea what was coming next. The characters are well done and believable and Erin Kelly writes a beautifully crafted story. It is one of my favorite reads this year and is so timely with the eclipse. I am Really Into this book and recommend anyone that is into thrillers give He Said She Said by Erin Kelly a read.

Special thanks to Erin Kelly, St. Martin’s Press & NetGalley for providing our copy in exchange for an honest & fair review.

I like this book more in retrospect than I did while actually reading it. The characters of Laura and Kit are agonizingly annoying for the first half of the book, and while I understand why the author drew them that way in the beginning, it made for rather painful reading. I nearly gave up a couple times but am glad I powered through. The story was very slow-going until about halfway through, but then events began to pick up, and the last quarter of the book or so was tremendous, filled with twists and surprises that no one could have seen coming. That's why I say that I'm inclined to view the novel much more positively having finished it. However, the during-reading experience is important, and that's why I say that the build-up to the finale could have been improved. Kit was a very likeable character, while Laura was rather pathetic and annoying. The brother and sister-in-law were very shadowy and served almost no purpose to the story. The two antagonists were interesting, though neither was made to be particularly memorable. All in all, it is a good read if one is patient enough to get through the first half.

"How did it come to this? How did we get here? How will it end?"

What a perfect book to read during eclipse week 2017!! This taut and fast-paced thriller kept me on my toes until the very end. And what an ending! Kit and Laura are a young married couple who chase eclipses all over the world. It is an exciting, exotic lifestyle, hypnotic and mysterious all at once.

"Then the darkness comes. Without the countdown in the sky, it’s pure and instant. All the street lights in the town below come on, so quickly it’s like sparks igniting. Now, in the darkness, disappointment is replaced by the familiar thrill of totality. But this time it’s different."

The book begins in 2015 with Laura's point of view. She lives in London but she and her husband live anonymously. Why? The answer to that question unfolds slowly over the course of the book. We learn that Laura and Kit witnessed an violent assault during an eclipse festival years earlier and were witnesses for the prosecution during the trial of the attacker, Jamie. The trial was emotionally draining and physically exhausting for everyone and is described in minute detail.

The brutal assault is also described in vivid detail so I was curious as to how any doubt could arise about Jamie's guilt or innocence. Just remember: there are many sides to each story.

“The moment you think about an act in terms of how, you are already halfway to doing it.”

We learn that Laura is now pregnant with twins but wants Kit to "chase" an upcoming eclipse while she stays behind in London, even though she is extremely paranoid about his travels. He has been an eclipse chaser since he was young and they both want to continue their adventures after their children are born.

They live in fear that Beth, the young woman who had been raped years before, will find them again. She had befriended them after the trial of her attacker, but then became wildly unstable. Laura and Kit became convinced they had to disappear "off the grid" so that she would never find them again.

This book was incredibly gripping and thought-provoking. It is told over the course of many years and features vivid characters and brilliantly-researched settings. The author forces the reader to confront their own morals and ask: What would you do in the same situation?

"Until that day I’d been thinking about the campaign in binary terms: either Jamie was in denial, or he was calling the world’s bluff. But now a third possibility was inescapable, and one in which I was horrifically culpable. What if Jamie was innocent?"

This book was addictive and wildly surprising. The references to eclipses are fascinating and the format of the book is divided into the parts of an eclipse. With my husband and daughter away "eclipse chasing" while I was reading this book, the subject matter was even more compelling! With themes of loyalty, guilt and devotion, this book really did it for me. I highly recommend this creative and thrilling story!

Initially I was taken in by the characters and the excitement around an eclipse. Who knew eclipse watching drew faithful, fanatic followers? Laura stumbles on a rape during an eclipse party and accuses Jamie, the perpetrator, of rape and he takes off. She calls Kit to step in. The lives of the four of them, Laura, Kit, Beth, and Jamie are entangled as Laura wants to see justice for Beth. Laura and Beth become friends almost immediately. Here is the part where there is a fatal attraction feel about this friendship and a renewed interest on my part. But my interest waned as I read on. Too much eclipse detail or maybe it was the hidden identities of Laura and Kit. Perhaps the reasons behind the paranoid behavior took too long to come to light. However, it was enough information about eclipses that just about the time I was going to pitch the book I did a little research and low and behold the next eclipse is 8/21/17 and yes, you can rent a space for optimum viewing near Portland, OR. It’s true, it’s really a ‘thing’. With my new found knowledge, I went back to the book with gusto and was rewarded. At 70% in BAM! Wow. I could not put this book down. I didn’t see it coming and He Said/She Said just soared to the top of my favorite reads this summer. This is a fantastic read, but be patient the payoff is worth the time!

I received an ARC from NetGalley for an honest review.

Ironically, I read this book right before going to see my first eclipse. Booking a vacation in the area of an eclipse was mostly an accident for me, however, it seems like it would have been a largely planned event for the characters in this book.

I think the eclipse side story kept me reading, as this book was a slow build. When the twists break it is sudden, and worth it! I enjoyed this book immensely!

This book took me a very. very. very.
very.

very.

very....(you get the point) long time to read. It was just such a slow build up to me. I am not someone who usually minds books that are written in multiple points of view. Nor am I someone who minds books that are written in varying timelines. HOWEVER. Books that are written in BOTH?? NO. That is where I draw the line. This book is written from both Kit and Laura in both 2005 and 1999 and there is so much jumping and even when they are in one timeline, they still may be having a memory back to the other timeline. Why?! So that is horribly confusing and frustrating. To me, at least.

I will say I did learn a lot about eclipses and I really enjoyed the scientific parts of the book.

Also, I have to come out and give the readers out there a huge trigger warning for both anxiety (this is a trigger for me) and (minor) rape. I don't want to give away anything but just know that these are present in the book. There is psychological trauma, insomnia, and much, much anxiety.

Aside from that, He Said/She Said was psychologically brilliant and full of twists and turns, most of which were out of the blue and unpredictable. The climax was satisfying, even though it felt like it took a long time to get there.

Thank you, Netgalley, for providing me with a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

He Said/She Said is a gripping, intriguing, and a slow-paced tangled story of lies, secrets, and deceit that had me turning the pages as fast as I could and I finished reading this story in 24 hours.

Erin Kelly gives the story the right balance of layers needed to drive this plot using clues instead of motives. Creating believable characters that allowed me to piece together the twist to this story and leaving me feeling quite clever. This doesn’t happen very often.

The story alternates from the past where we learn what has caused our main POV characters Kit and Laura to go to extremes to keep themselves hidden from the threat of the past. This added some tension and suspense to the story told in the present. We follow along till the story meets for a fast-paced conclusion.

At times the pace was a bit too slow for me and I wasn’t all that interested in the eclipse storyline but this didn’t take away from the suspense of the story for me or the change the pace while I was reading this story.

The ending was very rewarding for me as I figured out the twist but still was shocked with how things concluded making for a very satisfying ending for me. I recommend!

Thank you to NetGalley, St. Martin's Press and Erin Kelly for a copy to read and review.

DNF.

This is one of those books that I could tell I was supposed to like, but I just didn't. I didn't even care about who did what to whom and why. I didn't like either of the characters, and I think that's why I couldn't get into it. I did not leave a review on any platform.

I received this book as an ARC on Netgalley.

Though I had this book for a few months, I just downloaded it to read. Regret not downloading it sooner. Erin Kelley's novel takes us through years of the life of a young couple who witness a rape fifteen years earlier.

Kit and Laura chase eclipses. While at her first eclipse festival, Laura finds a purse and follows the trail of objects. At the end of this trail, she sees a male taking advantage of a young woman named Beth. The novel takes us through the court trial and what happens after-- told in flashbacks.

It took a while to get to where the story was going (about 40%), but once it got there, I could not put the book down. Kelly writes a wonderful suspense novel, keeping you thinking and predicting with every chapter. Highly recommend this book.

This book held my interest. It was a well-written story, and I thought it was intriguing

There is more than meets the eye in Erin Kelly’s He Said/She Said. Layers of lies and secrets are woven together between characters, creating a story deeper, and more haunting than just another thriller focused on sexual violence.

Kit and Laura are living in a constant shadow of their past. While it’s been fifteen years since they witnessed Beth’s brutal rape, and went to court to make sure her rapist was put away, they still don’t feel safe. They live with no digital footprint, have changed their names, and moved into a neighborhood they’re sure no one can find them. It’s the only way they’ve been able to stay safe all of these years.

But when Kit leaves Laura — pregnant with twins after a long battle with IVF treatments — home alone to chase another eclipse (something he may love the same, if not more, than his wife) it creates the opportunity for the past, and the truths, they’ve been both running from to confront them.

The secrets and lies that Kelly carefully crafts in He Said, She Said are as intricate as the characters they belong to. At first the story felt as though it was going to focus on the case: a literal he said/she said trial where the jury needs to decide who to believe. The deeper into the story you go, however, the more intense the plot becomes. But don’t mistake this for a plot-driven thriller; there are twists and turns that drop right up to the very end of the book that will have you have you questioning who the real villain of this book really is.

This book is for fans of Gone Girl — a recommendation I don’t give lightly. Rich in setting detail and character creation, Kelly has created the perfect summer thriller that will stick with you long after you finish reading.

When I read the description for He Said/She Said sometime last year, I knew it was a book that I had to read. I was positive I was going to like it. However, with all of the hype I started to worry that I was expecting too much. Over a year later I finally had my hands on it and was excited to start reading.

The book opens with two women standing in a restroom, side by side at the sinks in front of the mirror. They are trying to avoid looking at each other. Both are wearing black. We don't know if this is past or present. Who are these two women? They finally lock eyes in the mirror and both wonder...

"How did it come to this? How did we get here? How will it end?"

London March 2015: We meet Laura first. She tells us about London and how she didn't choose to live there, but loves it now. They live in a bustling part of London which gives her and her husband what they need....anonymity.

Laura is pregnant and Kit is going out-of-town to see the latest eclipse. Laura is very anxious but wants Kit to enjoy himself. She knows he would stay if she asked. In some ways Kit's glad to be traveling alone, and that he doesn't have to worry about Laura's safety too. He's been protecting her from the fallout of what happened on Lizard Point for so long and he will do whatever it takes to keep it that way.

"I'm about to leave my pregnant, over-medicated, anxious wife to travel across the seas to another country where there is every chance the woman who nearly destroyed us will be waiting for me."

Kit is an eclipse chaser. Eclipses have been a part of his life since he was a young boy. At age twelve he saw one of the greatest eclipses ever.... and since then he has devoted his life to recapturing that experience.

1999 Lizard Point - They had been together for only six months when it happened. An eclipse festival. Basking in the afterglow of her first eclipse, Laura almost misses the purse laying on the ground. Kit heads off to see if anyone has lost a purse. Laura sees that the purse must have spilled as there are some coins scattered on the ground.

"We dropped hands and it was the last time everything was perfect"

As Laura rounds a corner she comes a horrifying scene. Who and what she sees changes the lives of everyone involved.

This was quite a thought-provoking read. Told from both Kit and Laura's POV. It takes place over more than seventeen years.

This novel had me constantly asking myself what I would do in similar situations. If I came upon a scene like Laura, what would I do? Would I do what she did? Would I freeze?

I wasn't just questioning myself about that moment but so many of the other decisions made by the characters over the course of the novel. It's so easy to say I would do what's "right" but do we always know for certain what is right? And would I make the same decision today as I would have fifteen years ago? With all of the knowledge gained with age and experience? It's hard to say...

With great twists and an engrossing story-line, "He Said/She Said" was a compelling and addictive read that I really enjoyed. While I was definitely interested from the very start, it was a bit of a slow burn, but I'm glad I stuck with it. There is a lot of talk of eclipses which I wouldn't have thought I would be interested in. However, I soon found myself googling eclipse pictures along with some of the phenomena like "Shooting corona", and "The diamond ring effect".

A story of betrayal, lies, relationships, trauma, guilt, and loyalty. He Said/She Said checked all the boxes for me. It was a great read that I highly recommend.

Thank you, Minotaur Books and NetGalley for providing an advanced readers copy of this book for me to read in exchange for my honest review.

Thank you to @NetGalley for an advanced reader copy of this book in exchange for an honest review; all opinions are my own.
.
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ stars. There's been so much buzz surrounding this book that I had to give it a try, even though it's not my usual genre.
.
An excellent example of "griplit", He Said/She Said tells the story of Kit and Laura, a couple who become enmeshed in the life of Beth, the victim of a vicious incident. From the prospective of the two characters over several years, we see how an unexpected discovery, and the choices that follow, change the trajectory of everyone's lives. This unpredictable story makes the reader question how far some people will go to be heard them, while others protect their secrets.
.
Although I found this book slow to start as the story set itself up, its twists kept me invested in the outcome. I think it will definitely appeal to those who like an intriguing, psychological story, with a bit of a twist.

The premise of this was a great set up for a psychological suspense/thriller. It felt short a little in that it was so long and a little slow. There also aren't a great deal of likeable characters, but somehow that didn't take away from the story but added to it. I gave this 3 stars on goodreads.

In 1999, Laura and Kit had a seemingly perfect relationship. The two met in their early twenties, fell in love, and began to travel the world. Kit is an “eclipse chaser,” and Laura became enamoured with the hobby as well, as they experienced the magnificent events at festivals worldwide. Although Kit has family issues, their lives seem to be on track for the most part – happy, health and in love.

Now, in 2015, Kit and Laura are still together, but their circumstances are very different. Married and expecting a baby, the couple have changed their names and hidden their identities, living in fear after witnessing a shocking crime at an eclipse festival. Years before in rural England, the two of them stumbled across the aftermath of a violent sexual assault. They did everything right, including calling the cops and getting medical help for the victim – but then the suspect turned himself in and told the police it was a consensual encounter. Not sure who to believe, Kit truthfully tells his side of the story in court. Laura, however, knows the jury is inclined to believe the wealthy, successful accused rapist – so she embellishes her story to protect the victim, Beth.

After the rapist is convicted, Beth tracks down Laura to thank her for what she did – but Laura is afraid of Kit finding out that she lied on the witness stand. She is nervous around Beth, but at the same time the two women forge a strong connection based on their shared experience. Beth begins spending most of her time with Kit and Laura, even staying at their apartment, but Kit remains suspicious of this emotional, unstable woman. It is not until strange things begin happening around the apartment, including a near-fatal fire, that Laura is convinced that Beth is not what she seems.

Meanwhile, Laura is also receiving threatening letters from the convicted rapist, who is still appealing the charges years later. She hides this from Kit too – to protect him, but also to hide the lies that she told. Laura is unlikeable and unreliable, but as Kit slowly reveals his side of the story, we learn that he is very different than the naïve, gentle man that he seems to be.

The novel jumps around from 1999/2000 and the events of Beth’s assault, to the present in 2015. When we learn how Laura and Kit saved Beth from her attacker, it seems impossible that they now live in fear of her finding them, leaving us to wonder how things could get so bad. The alternating narrative of Laura and Kit fills in the blanks, as the shocking reveals just keep coming. In 2015, Kit is journeying to the Faroe Islands to see an eclipse, leaving his very pregnant wife at home – their separation is the catalyst for Beth’s reappearance in their lives, and the culmination of Laura’s obsession and paranoia.

The symbolism of the eclipse hovers over every scene in the book, emphasizing the contrast between the light and the shadows – as the truth comes out, the reader realizes that we are still in the dark about so many things. As the characters reveal themselves, our sympathies shift between them, leaving us to wonder who are the “he” and “she” of the title, and whether any of the characters can be believed. This is a character-driven novel, peopled with complex, realistic narrators – but it also has an impressively strong plot, that keeps the surprises coming right up until the last scene, and the ending does not disappoint. This novel definitely lives up to the hype – it’s everything a taut, tense psychological thriller should be.

I received this novel from Netgalley and St. Martin’s Press in exchange for an honest review.

Well, this book went in ways I did not expect.

I am hesitant to say too much and give something away, which I don't want to do. What I will say is, it was a slow start for me. Despite the positive reviews and my interest in the basic premise of the story, I wasn't all that invested in a good portion of the book from the beginning. I didn't love the characters, nor did I truly hate them. the slow unveiling of the story didn't really help

But, eventually, things started to change. The story began to pick up, and things were not always what they had originally seemed. The breadcrumbs along the way made a different sense than I expected, and I was pleased to see the story take a turn or two I didn't anticipate.

I know there are a lot of books (often wrongfully) compared to Gone Girl, but I an going to make that comparison here. I didn't love this as much as I did Gone Girl, but it did flip my expectations in a similar way to Gone Girl. I didn't feel the same way about really any of the characters at the end as I had at the beginning, and I liked that.

Definitely a worthwhile read, and one that would be great to talk about.

Slow start, but I stuck it out based on previous reviews and I am SO glad that I did. WOW! I couldn't have fathomed the plot twists at the end. Pure magic to be able to weave a story like this together! 5 STARS!

The premise behind this book really captivated me for a bit and I was quite curious as to what happened at the eclipse. I found the middle to drag a bit and actually ended up putting the book down for almost a month, but once I got to about 60% I was invested again and I wrapped it up quite quickly. I felt pretty heartbroken at the ending but also hopeful that things would work out in a different way. The twists near the end were definitely good.

Wow! This was such a great book!!!! The backdrop of the eclipse was so unique and the characters nothing short of absorbing. I was a bit sad for the saga to end but it was a very satisfying ending thankfully.