Wow! I loved this book and was drawn in as soon as I began reading. I agree with what other reviewers have already said in that this is a book best enjoyed with as little advance knowledge as possible so I will keep this review as brief as possible to save from spoiling what is a hugely enjoyable read.
Our main character is Emily who is a rather lonely young woman who seems to have few friends or family and is bearing the emotional scars of the traumatic breakdown of a relationship a couple of years earlier. One afternoon Emily allows a young mother - Rose - with a toddler in a pram to exit an elevator onto a main road before her only to watch in horror as Rose steps out in front of a speeding car and is killed instantly in the collision. Emily is haunted by what she saw and over the next few weeks tries to find out as much as she can about Rose and her seemingly perfect life - even attending her funeral and applying for the job Rose held in a local dentist surgery.
It is not long before Emily discovers that everything in Rose's life may not have been as perfect as it seemed.
A fantastic read and a sure-fire hit when it is released in June 2018 - do yourself a favour and read this book! An easy 5 stars and thanks to Netgalley UK, the author and publishers for the advance review copy - I loved it!

I went into this book with high expectations which were not quite fulfilled. The basic premise – of a confused young woman stepping into the shoes (and life) of another tragically killed (or murdered?) was strong. Is the devastated husband of Rose all he seems? On the surface, the couple seem to have lived the perfect life with the perfect child. It is little wonder that Emily is drawn to the charismatic writer Cian, whilst trying to put the ghosts of her past behind her. Where I struggled was with the underdeveloped character of Ben Cullen who is alluded to, but I was left feeling many questions were unanswered. The plot was a bit too predicable, although there is a twist I didn't expect. It's well-written and I enjoyed it. It just didn't quite hit the mark for me.

Her Name Was Rose is an excellent first book by Claire Allan in the psychological genre,it features Emily who after witnessing a tragic accident in which Rose is killed looks further into Rose's life and discovers she had a seemingly ideal life with a husband who adored her and a lovely little boy.Emily then sets about ingratiating herself into the life Rose has tragically lost,but it soon becomes clear all was not as rosy in Rose's life as what Emily thought.What follows is a book that had me gripped from the first page and kept me guessing as to who was telling the truth and who was telling lies with an ending up there with the best of books of this genre.A great 5 star read from Claire Allan.

Loved this! I give it 4 🌹🌹🌹🌹!
Perfect example of “the grass isn’t always greener on the other side of the fence” as we watch Emily, one of the main characters, step into Rose’s life/shoes so to speak. She’s kind of a sad lonely girl and not reliable but I felt bad for her and found myself rooting for her to get a good break in life, even though I wanted to shake the crazy out of her 😂
I actually think Rosè was a main character as well because this whole story revolves around her and her life even though she was deceased.
I enjoyed the way Rose’s story was told with her past Facebook updates followed by her story.
Really, no one was reliable here and covered by Facades, “perfect” life Facebook statuses, even clothing styles that were someone else’s.
Definitely a page turner!

Thank you #NewGalley, the publisher and Clair Allen for the generous ARC copy in exchange for my honest review. Thank you!! 🌹

A seemingly straight forward accident. A car knocks down a young mother and she dies instantly. The ramifications of this accident spread far and wide and despite everything to the contrary nothing is as it seems. When the cops decide it was premeditated murder, especially since the driver of the car commits suicide a bit later things get complicated. When Kevin's death is deemed suspicious as well, the police are determined to get to the bottom of the two murders.

Rose seems very happily married to Cian a very successful writer. With a young toddler Jack, her life seems complete. Beneath the surface however huge cracks have begun to form and in Rose's workplace more than anywhere else the emotional effect of Rose's absence seems to be huge. Why is this so. Why do the two bosses - the dentists in the surgery seem to be so effected that it is making everyone else so tense and uptight. Rose was a loyal, good worker but it seemed so personal that you knew that things were not right.

Cian the husband is the first suspect. He is arrogant, a bully and when Emily falls for him she falls hard. She only sees the widower grieving for his wife, trying to cope. She does not see that he is quite happy with the way events have turned up and it seems till the very end that he is the obvious murderer - of both Rose and Kevin.

The final outcome was a turn up for the books. Unexpected and like all good murder mysteries coming out of the blue.

A very interesting story, though it took me a while to get into it.

Goodreads review posted on 7/4/2018. Amazon not accepting reviews. Review on my blog mid May 2018.

I will start by saying that a premise needs to be made. Claire Allan usually writes women's fiction. This is her first psychological thriller and I hope there will be more.

I could rate it 3,5 stars but rounded up to four because I'm sure she will only get better with the next book.
First of all her writing is very good. And that's always a big point. The first 20% of the novel was slow but then it became a great page turner, even thought I didn't feel the mystery so strongly I was completely invested in the psychological side. I needed to know how it will end for Emily. There was also an unexpected turn that made it all more interesting, and a nice touch at the very end that lifted my spirits, so I really hope Claire Allan will write other thrillers (because sadly I'm not such a fan on women's fiction, but I'm sure her previous books were really good too if that is you genre!)

Her Name Was Rose

Emily witnesses a fatal accident. She lets a stranger step out in front of her, but when a car hits the stranger Emily’s life changes.

Emily sees the stranger Rose’s life as everything that hers is not, and surely her life is now for the taking?

I expected Emily to be a mad stalker, somewhere in the vogue of Single White Female (90s psycho film). This is not the story that emerged though. Emily is not a psycho, in fact just the opposite. Rose’s life was not as perfect as it seems. As Emily discovers.

I was hooked on this, ad read it almost in one sitting. Great characters with excellent twits and turns. Highly recommended.

This book took me on an emotional ride, to be completely honest. I loved the beginning and the main character, Emily. I thought it was really clever what the author did there, as it seemed that she was going to be stepping into Rose's shoes little by little and that seemed dark and twisted! Her past was interesting as well, but I felt like it was not really completely explained – was Ben really lying or was it the other way around? The characters were believable and it was very interesting to see Emily's development throughout the chapters. I gave it 3 stars because I could sense what was going to happen and the story was quite predictable, in my opinion. It kept me hooked all the way through though. The ending, however, was quite abrupt and I felt like the book did end up quite quickly but all in all it was an interesting read, and will definitely be reading more books by the author.

When Emily lets a young mother with her young son step out in front of her she could not have imagined the consequences or the impact it would have on her own life.
Recovering from a troubled relationship, unhappy in her job, Emily looks at the life Rose had through her social media. It was everything Emily wanted. A loving husband who worshipped her, a great job, wonderful friends, a beautiful son, big house, designer wardrobe; Rose had it all.
With Rose now gone and Emily finding herself out of a job, how easy would it be to fill the void that Rose has left?
I enjoyed this book, it had plenty of twists, turns and one major reveal that I really did not see coming! I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t quietly shouting at Rose from time to time, but that’s not a bad thing! There’s more than one lesson to be learned in this book, one thing being that real life is not the perfect picture you see on Facebook.

This is a good book. I was intrigued from the start and very eager to keep reading through til the end.

The main character, Emily, presents herself as a naive but sweet woman with a troubled past, who just wants to find some happiness. But her route to that supposed dream is riddled with fear, anxiety and the ever looming mystery of what really happened to Rose; a mother killed before Emily's very eyes.

There was certainly a twist in the story, but some elements felt a little rushed. Still, it is a good book that I would recommend to fans of a mystery with a twist.

Dark theme, all the feels for a vulnerable character, and a page turner plot made this a binge worthy book for me.

Emily let's the person on the lift go ahead of her out of the door of the building and watches her get run down by a car. from then on Emily's life is not the same. She becomes obsessed with Rose and wants what she thinks Rose had , a perfect life, husband child and a home everything that Emily desires. The more she tries, the more things go badly for her. This book almost demands to be read in one go, it is almost impossible to put it down before the most satisfying conclusion.

Brilliant.. what a book. Didn't expect what happened..love it!
Had shed a few tears as well.
Read this one in one sitting.. wow what a great read!
Would highly recommend this book


Thanks to the publisher and netgalley for a early release of this book.

Her Name Was Rose was one of those read in one sitting books because you need to get to the end and see what exactly is what - Emily is an engaging and easy to follow main protagonist who gets herself all tied up in knots after witnessing a death. Embedding herself into every aspect of the dead woman's life in an attempt to find her own, she ends up in very hot water...

I liked this mostly for Emily because I wanted a happy ending for her, that's what I was after and it kept me reading to see if she got one. Well obviously you'll have to read this yourself to see if I got my wish, but that was the main interest of this story for me.

The psychological elements, the mystery parts if you like were, for this reader, way too predictable but I would caution that this is an ongoing thing for me now with this type of novel and doesn't really mean much to the next person coming in. This is well written and well plotted - the themes explored are currently relevant and therefore always interesting to read an angle on.

If I had one slight bugbear it was that I found the character of Cian to be a little caricature, but overall Her Name Was Rose was a highly enjoyable, entertaining and a classic example of it's kind.

Recommended for psychological thriller fans.

Emily is a witness to the hit and run of Rose, a young mother who seemingly has the perfect life. Emily, who is battling her own demons and suffering from anxiety believes she should have been the victim of the accident but she let Rose go first. On discovering on social media that Rose was living the perfect life with her devoted husband and son, Emily decides to insert herself into all aspects of Rose’s life. Emily soon discovers that Rose’s life wasn’t so perfect after all.

An excellent thriller with several twists which keeps you gripped until the end, it has some great characters especially Rose’s husband Cian, who was unpredictable and obsessive. This is a addictive read which I would recommend.

I really loved this book! Excellent story with brilliant main characters. I would recommend this book.

Despite a slow start, I thoroughly enjoyed this. Some parts could have been unbelievable but Emily's own back story added weight to her naivety and gullibility. I did foresee the ending but it did not detract from this dark tale of all not being as it seems to the outside world. Good stuff.

Im going to be honest, Id seen this book and skipped right past it.
The title didn't intrigue me, nor the cover. When I saw it again I read the description, but still it didn't really get me.
I felt bad for prejudging the storyline and I'm grateful that social media hype got the better of me; I really enjoyed this book. It is simple, and if I'm honest a little familiar, ( it reminded me a little of 'The Last Mrs Parrish.) but it works. 
Rose has a seemingly perfect life, when she meets Emily in a lift, next thing we know Rose is dead and Emily is eyeing up her job, husband and friends.  Emily is a little damaged,  her last relationship really affected her and she just cant seem to recover. Cian seems like the answer shes been looking for. Rich, handsome and seemingly interested in her.  
Emily tries to manage her anxiety whilst choosing to see the good in some people and the evil in others, to suit her needs.
As a main character Emily is an easy read, you can follow her train of thought, sympathise with her and will her to do better - in real life I think she would struggle for friends just like in the book, and I liked the realistic part that brought. 
I really did enjoy this book all the way through, but I think the storyline, and some of the characters actions ( Im trying hard not to spoil it!!) were a little obvious but that didnt affect how much I enjoyed the book.

Lovely little story that had me intrigued. Highly recommended to all.

Emily witnesses the fatal hit and run of Rose, a young beautiful woman with a loving husband and baby son, and someone who appears to have it all. Emily with her troubled past believes the accident was meant for her, she becomes obsessed with Rose's family and decides to fill Rose's shoes by taking her job, friends, and her husband.
But Rose's life wasn't how it seemed and Emily soon discovers that not everything can be taken at face value.
Overall a good read.