While I enjoyed the twists that where contained in this novel, the premise of this book is where I struggled most with it. I felt as if I was reading a script for a soap opera. In addition to that, the mild (if one can consider it mild) pedophilia was stomach turning. I enjoyed B.A. Paris's debut, but this one just did not do it for me.

B.A. Paris takes the reader to the on a journey where one man must decide between his first love and his new love:

Finn and Layla were young (though she was quite a  few years younger than him) and in love but on a drive home from a vacation they stop at a rest stop to use the washroom and when Finn comes out Layla is no where to be found. There is no sign of a struggle, no sign of where she could have gone, she has disappeared forever. Ten years later Finn is no engaged to Layla's sister Ellen who were drawn together over their grief of Layla's disappearance. Finn knows it must seem strange to people that he would be with his previous girlfriends sister but Finn also still feels close to Layla when he is with Ellen. Everything changes with one phone call where a person says they have seen Layla. So begins the strange events that start happening, finding Russian dolls every where and emails from a mysterious account that claims to be Layla. Finn doesn't know what to do or what to believe, could his long lost love really be back? What about Ellen the? Or is someone just playing an awful trick on him? Finn needs to figure everything out quick before he loses everything.

This is the third book that I have read by Paris and in my opinion it is the weakest of the three books. This is not to say I did not enjoy this book but I found that it was fairly slow, took me a bit to get into the overall plot and lacked the suspense of the previous two books. This book is mainly becomes a love triangle with the main character Finn and two sisters both of whom he loves but in different ways and at different times in his life. It comes to a point where he is forced to choose between them. So basically a love triangle with deadly consequences and so twist and turns along the way (thought I did figure out what was going to happen) but a love triangle nonetheless.

This does have classic Paris format where she goes between past and present which allows us to see the differences not only between Finn's relationship with Layla and Ellen  but also how different the two women are. We also get points of view from both Layla and Finn in the past and the course of events that takes Finn to his current predicament. 

It is hard to like Finn as how terrible he is towards many people in his current life especially his current fiance but I honestly don't think you are supposed to like him. Actually it is hard to like really any of the three main characters for many of the choices they have made and the actions they have taken against each other in both the past and present. It was really hard to choose someone to cheer for, I mean there are many times you feel sorry for Ellen but at the same time you want her to grow a backbone and take it Finn for the things that he does.

I know my review does not sound glowing but I did enjoy this book, it was one big soap opera and overall it is good read once you get into the story. But Paris has come out with yet has been as good as Behind Closed Doors, however, I will continue to read Paris' books as I do find myself enjoying them.

Enjoy!!

This book was intriguing. I liked the narratorial style, the way the author constantly casts doubt on the premise—is Layla alive? Finn shifts—he seems like a bad guy, and then a good guy, and then a bad guy again, making him a really interesting narrator. I did guess the ending, but it had been marginally spoiled for me, so with the baby-sized spoiler, it was easy to figure out.
It's worth a read and I highly recommend the audio as well! My favorite book by Paris thus far.

A very obvious yet unrealistic conclusion to a story that reveals too much too soon and then clunks it's way along until the end.

This is my first read from this author and it was a average good thriller/mystery. Their were a couple of times where I felt it could’ve been better but it was a good mystery overall.

I love this author so much & was so pumped when I saw this book on NetGalley. I was REALLY hoping I got approved because I did not want to wait until the release date. Bring me back was so intense & a page turner. I had to know what happened but like everyone says the ending was a WTF ending. I think the author has previous work that has been better but I won't lie & say Bring me back didn't have me hooked wanting to know what happened. If you read this genre a lot then you understand how some twists or endings are pretty predictable. I still love BA Paris so hopefully her next book is a little better!

A Special Thank you to St. Martin's Press and Netgalley for the ARC and the opportunity to post an honest review.

This was my first time reading a B.A. Paris book. I have her other books on my Kindle to read. I was so excited to check this one out! It has a great synopsis, a great beginning, and I love me some Russian Nesting Dolls. However…this book did not deliver for me. And it made me want to get rid of any of the Rusian Nesting Dolls I have in my collection.

This had a great start. Good character development, beautifully written, and an interesting plot. I was completely 100% enthralled for the first 50%, still going strong for the next 30% or so, but those last few chapters just lost it for me. The ending is just ridiculous and honestly knocked a star off my final rating.

I like a book where the characters stick with me. And while I did take a few months to finally write this after reading the book, the names trigger not one memory. The only thing I remember is the ending and how frustrating it was.

This book had great potential. And I see a lot of hope in B. A. Paris’s writing so I will read her previous two books. I will have to decide after I read those if she will be an author worth checking out again in the future.

The cover, however, is spectacular! Both of the covers I have seen are very interesting and appeal to me. I just wish what was between the covers had fulfilled the promise the cover + synopsis gave me.

I've now read all of B.A. Paris' books and would recommend them. I loved 'Behind Closed Doors' and thoroughly enjoyed this one. The plot centers around a man named Finn whose girlfriend Layla was abducted while they were on vacation. Years later, he has fallen in love with Layla's sister Ellen. All is going well until Ellen and Finn's wedding date approaches and signs and clues of Layla start to appear. Finn begins to wonder if she's alive and sending him a message.

I thought the writing was very engaging and kept me turning the pages. I did think the twist/reveal was a bit predictable. I would still recommend this to people, particularly if you don't read many thrillers.

Great story. Finn, Layla and Ellen are all realistic characters. Their lives seem very natural and real. This story keeps you wondering who could be turning Finn and Ellen's lives upside down. Is Layla alive, does she have mental issues? Could it be Ruby because she wants Finn back?
Thanks to netgalley for the opportunity to read a new author

I loved this book. I was on the edge of my seat while I was reading it and it kept me guessing until the last page.

Oh what a twisted love triangle. Finn is in love with Layla, but one night she disappears and is presumed dead. Ten years later he is engaged to Ellen, her sister. Yet he is receiving messages of various design that Layla is alive and wants him back. And then it gets more twisted and bizarre as this mystery unfolds. The author is English so it takes a bit to get into his style, but boy do you get invested very quickly. This is a story of love, loss, betrayal, intrique and basic “goose bump” feelings. Is she alive or isn’t she? I am one reader who always figures out the plot twist of movies but this one kept me guessing until the last 50 pages when I got “it”. Just read it already!

Better than the author's last book but still kind of boring and predictable. While I didn't 100% guess what was going on, I had a pretty good idea fairly early on. None of the characters were likeable which is fine but combined with a fairly lackluster story and I was bored. Hope to see some return to the excitement that was her debut.

Wow! I think my head is still spinning! This is one of those stories where you think you have it all figured out at least fifty times over, only to have everything turn around and you're back to square one. It's such an engaging story. You're in Finn's head most of the time, and it's exhausting (in a good way), because you come to the same conclusions, have the same thoughts, and go down the same rabbit holes as he does, only to come up with more questions and doubts. I always thought those little nesting doll things were creepy, and this just confirms it for me even more! Yes, I had the "whodunnit" part right pretty early on, but I certainly didn't expect the hows and whys. A very enjoyable suspense/thriller!

Bring Me Back

Wow.

This book.

From the moment I started this book to the very end I was hooked. I loved the way the story started to slowly unravel and come together. We found out certain things regarding characters and it made me question what really happened that night. I had a few theories that were wrong put once I put the pieces together and saw I was correct, I had chills and goosebumps!!

“Yet there’s one thing that plagues me above all else, and it’s this: if I had truly loved Layla, surely I would have known her anywhere.”

That ending was not something else and left me shocked to my core. I have read “Behind Closed Doors” by this author which wasn’t a favorite but she redeemed herself with this book. I also listened to the book on audio and the narrator did an excellent job as well. Especially with the last few chapters of the book. I felt all the emotions!!

This book was slow but interesting. The ending was just ridiculous which then made the book overall get a 2 star.
Finn and Layla are so in love but one night she disappears and the story Finn tells is the story he is going to stick with. 10 years later Finn and Ellen are going to get married (Layla's twin sister) but weird things start happening and maybe Layla is back?

Received this book as an ARC for my honest review.

This was really suspenseful. Every minute I wasn't reading it, I wanted to be. I'm sure some may find the truth of the mystery to be too far out there, but I liked this book. Definitely kept me turning the pages. Thanks to the author, NetGalley, and the publisher for a copy of the ARC.

B.A. Paris sure has a way with making the reader second guess everything right along with the reader. As much as you think that you might have it all figured out, there's still that tiny chance that you are missing something.

Finn, the main character in <I>Bring Me Back</I>, has the worst instincts. You know how you get suspicious about whether you can trust someone or not, and usually you can trust yourself? Finn has such a guilty conscious that he can’t even trust himself. This book is the epitome of why telling a lie, even if it’s just covering something up, can cause a vicious and dangerous string of events. But then there wouldn’t be the reason to have a good suspense novel to write.

Although I enjoyed reading <I>Bring Me Back</I>, there were parts that just didn't work for me. Because I am afraid to reveal spoilers, I won't list them. But I will say that Finn has to be a first class idiot.

The story starts out pretty well; Finn and Layla are on their way to France for a vacation when they make a stop so that Finn can use the restroom. When Finn comes out of the restroom, he finds that Layla, who waited behind in the car, has disappeared. He looks everywhere but cannot find and eventually has to return home without her and report her missing. What happened to Layla?? Ten years later and Finn has moved on. He’s about to marry Layla’s sister, Ellen, and life is good. Not too long before the wedding Finn gets a phone call that an old neighbor has spotted Layla outside their old home, but this isn’t possible. What follows is a cat and mouse game as we find out what really happened to Layla with past and present POV’s.

As mentioned, this introduction was pretty good. I was immediately hooked and I’ve read enough books like this to know that nothing is ever as it initially seems, so it was easy to keep reading. However, the middle of the book slowed down for me as it just seemed to get really repetitive. The characters were ok. Finn was in desperate need of some anger management and seemed to make a lot of bad decisions. Ellen was a bit of a wet noodle and I found her boring and one dimensional. I was able to figure out the truth about Layla long before the ending, so no real plot twist experience here for me and wasn’t quite sure how it could have been plausible in the first place.

I enjoyed it enough to finish, but I think Behind Closed Doors is the best story out of the three books from this author.

I had really enjoyed Paris' earlier books, but found this one was too twisty for its own good. I like a good twist, but there's too many in this novel.

A very suspenseful thriller, and will keep you reading until all hours of the night. A couple are driving back home after a holiday when the female suddenly disappears at a rest stop. This is how the story
begins and will hold your attention until the very end.
B. A. Paris is a wonderful and clever writer. Highly recommend her.