Before We Were Strangers
By: Brenda Novak

📚💕⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️💕📚

"The writing is flawless, and the words are so captivating, the plot had so many twists and turns and none that I was expecting, and many shocking moments."

Well let me start by saying I have become a huge fan of this author. She writes with so much intensity and emotion pulled from each book it’s felt page after page. Some of quick witted story lines are so perfect and lets you believe you have a front row seat. So being able to read this love story didn’t disappoint. The authors ability to have two separate individuals struggling in their everyday life and try to navigate someone else’s thoughts, needs and desires was intense and gives all the fills.

Authors Blurb: Something happened to her mother that night. Something no one wants to talk about. But she’s determined to uncover her family’s dark secrets, even if they bury her.

Five-year-old Sloane McBride couldn’t sleep that night. Her parents were arguing again, their harsh words heating the cool autumn air. And then there was that other sound—the ominous thump before all went quiet.

In the morning, her mother was gone.

The official story was that she left. Her loving, devoted mother! That hadn’t sat any better at the time than it did when Sloane moved out at eighteen, anxious to leave her small Texas hometown in search of anywhere else. But not even a fresh start working as a model in New York could keep the nightmares at bay. Or her fears that the domineering father she grew up with wasn’t just difficult—he was deadly.

Now another traumatic loss forces Sloane to realize she owes it to her mother to find out the truth, even if it means returning to a small town full of secrets and lies, a jilted ex-boyfriend and a father and brother who’d rather see her silenced. But as Sloane starts digging into the past, the question isn’t whether she can uncover what really happened that night…it’s what will remain of her family if she does?

I really enjoyed this book and it kept me engrossed throughout. I really loved the characters and the way they interacted with each other. This is a fun, hot, romantic must read book and I would definitely recommend this book to anyone.

This book has everything I love in a book. Then you add that it's beautifully written and believable. It is easily a five star read. Written in dual POV my personal favorite this story flows so incredibly well that the next thing you know your 80% into the book and loving every second of it. The believable way the characters interact is perfect. Run, Hop, Jump or use your (1 click) finger to do whatever you have to do and get this amazing book. It'll break your heart, you'll want to scream with frustration.

Thanks Netgally for letting me read and review.📚💕

This book was pretty good. The second chance romance was sweet. The mystery was good. It just felt like it took a little too long to get the story rolling. I would have preferred a little more story between the end and the epilogue.

I really liked the characters in this book- they were all very rich and detailed, it would actually make for a great movie. I found the story to be a bit repetitive with the search for Sloane's Mother at times, but the story itself was very interesting. The plotline was a bit predictable as I kind of suspected who the killer was all along, but there were a few twists throughout to try and mislead you. I loved the relationship between Sloane and Micah as well, a great classic love story. Overall I really enjoyed it, and I would love to read more from Brenda Novak, this was the first title of hers that I have read.

Fans of Brenda Novak and Romantic Suspense this is a Must Read!

Before We Were strangers is one the best Romantic Suspense with the dynamic characters that will keep readers up all night. Everything from greed, angry, self doubt, and affairs that will twist readers until they are not sure who slept with whom.
Brenda Novak is able to create well paced story with a little too many characters but since the whole town seems to be hiding secrets it only makes since that everyone is a suspect.
There are times readers will roll their eyes with the cheesy one liners but at the same times they will be biting their nails as the action starts and the mystery only seems to pull families apart.
Curl up because you are not going to put this book down until you have read ever last word.
Thank you to netgalley and the publishers for the advance copy of Brenda Novak Before We were Strangers.

Brenda Novak has become one of my favorite authors because of her thrilling mystery writing and creative characters. She writes a wonderful story and this is not any different from the rest of her books! Just as fun to read, trying to solve the mystery and watching relationships develop. A super quick read, this kept my interest and I devoured it, wondering if her father had really killed her mother or not. Loved the twists and turns and overall another great book by Novak!

First and foremost we must consider the fact that Brenda Novak would never write a crime novel that easy to decipher and solve. So even though she is throwing facts and clues at us remember these are not random. They are deliberate so pay attention. Brenda Novak makes you wait for that ah ha moment and that has never been clearer than in BEFORE WE WERE STRANGERS.
Sloane and her brother Randy basically grew up without a mother who went missing when they were very young. Clara was simply missing. For some odd reason her disappearance did not make many waves. It seemed to be widely accepted which made it all the more odd, eerie and needless to say strange.
Sloane was five and all she can remember about the night Clara went missing are some disjointed noises and pieces of a puzzle that were confounding to say the least. At eighteen Sloane left Millcreek never to return. Her suspicions about her father’s role in Clara’s disappearance had reached the point that she herself feared the man. Ed McBride had always been ambitious and ruthless but was he also capable of murder. It was widely known you don’t cross Ed.
Moving to New York ultimately pursuing a successful modeling career and meeting Clyde saved Sloane. With Clyde’s death Sloan once again felt adrift and knew she couldn’t continue not knowing if her suspicions were correct – her mother deserved it. She owed it to her loving mother to find out what happened that night and where was Clara.
Returning to Millcreek was filled with problems. No one there would be welcoming. As far as Sloane knew only her old friend Paige was glad to see her offering a place to stay when other options slammed in her face. Millcrest was not happy to see Sloane McBride return and the list of folks that either turn their backs or outright warn her to leave grows with each day.
But Paige and Sloane have a history that makes any return to anything even remotely resembling friendship questionable at best. You see Paige is now divorced from Micah the young man and love Sloane left behind and they have a young son Trevor. Paige has been weaponizing Trevor against Micah and to this day Paige holds Sloane responsible for the demise of her marriage. Micah never got over the loss of his first love Sloane. Paige had to be happy with the crumbs so to speak. Paige is truly torn between missing her best friend and despising her.
The number of people that seem guilty just keep growing. All sorts of stories are told to Sloane and most point to her father. But without evidence there is no crime to investigate. Hearsay doesn’t count. Sloane needs concrete evidence even if it ultimately does support the guilt of her own father. With few if any folk legitimately supporting Sloane’s search the only person who seems willing to help is – you guess it Micah. And Micah is the one person that Sloane does not want to drag into this problem. He definitely has his own issues to resolve.
So BEFORE WE WERE STRANGERS is quite a study of small towns, small minds but long memories and revenge. Brenda Novak draws a picture that isn’t really that pretty. BEFORE WE WERE STRANGERS pits one person against an entire town. That is until the fabric of that town starts unraveling before our very eyes.

This is a gripping suspense/thriller from Brenda Novak about a young woman who returns to her hometown after 10 years away to figure out what happened to her mother who disappeared when she was only five years old. She suspects her egotistical father has something to do with it. The plot has a lot of twists and turns and really kept me reading. Great characters with all the flaws and frailties to make this story so believable.

Wow what a story! I had a hard time this book down so I could get work done! If you're looking for a good book that grabs you, holds your attention and has you flicking the pages as quick as your eyes can digest the words, look no further than Brenda Novaks "Before We Were Strangers". Thank you Netgalley and the publisher for allowing me to read and review this book!

This review will be published on my blog, WomeninTroubleBookBlog on November 5, 2018.

I enjoyed this book. It read like a good Lifetime Movie. Just the whole "successful model returns to small hometown to investigate her mother's murder" really fits for me in to that genre. Then along the way, Novak creates a colorful cast of characters including the ruggedly handsome former quarterback and his desperate ex-wife and the horrible (I mean, really despicable) mayor who controls the town and everyone in it--who just happens to be Sloan's dad.

I did find Sloan herself to be a little far-fetched. I can see the whole small-town girls makes good angle and when she comes back she has no plans to stay. But as the book goes on, she starts settling back into the town and I'm not sure if that rang true to me. Although I do know people who said they would NEVER go back to their small town and that's exactly what they did. Maybe there is some type of suction that draws people back?

But the story was good. The central plot line kept moving and the side-plots that Novak spun were entertaining and provided a good distraction from the main mystery at hand. The mystery is also a good one with twists and turns to keep the reader guessing. This one is not a thriller but is not supposed to be, falling into the Women's Fiction category.

I recommend this one to fans of Lifetime Movies (really, if they make one I am definitely watching it!), country music fans (because it has that great down home drama feel to it), and anyone who likes a good coming home story. The mysteries from our childhoods do not need to stay buried.

This one isn't out until December 2018, so I apologize if you are super excited for it. But, pre-order a copy now and it will be a nice early Christmas gift when it arrives on your doorstep!

A special thank-you to Netgalley and Mira for an advance e-galley in exchange for my honest review.

A great "who done it" novel.

I don't know how Brenda Novak comes up with these plots. This one kept me on the edge of my seat the whole time. The information trickles out at the perfect pace, pulling the reader farther in.  I couldn't keep from forming opinions on who did it and why, even though I didn't want to go with the obvious.

The twists this story took were very well orchestrated. I was very surprised. There was a time or too I wanted to shake Sloan and say , "Come on girl, don't fall for that", but that is also what makes the book so good.

If you love a good mystery, you should definitely pick up a copy of this book. It is one of the best mystery/thrillers I've read in a long time.

3,5-4 stars

This is my second book from this author, it's totally different yet it was good! I was completely enthralled by this emotionally complicated twisted story!It was a great thriller that kept me on the edge many times! I found some elements of the story to be highly predictable and this is the reason why it wasn't a 5 stars read!

A good story with strong characters. Brenda Novak always weaves a good story,lots of twists and good insight into human frailties.

Salone has made it in the world of modeling. Rich and famous hasn’t made her forget her mother’s disappearance when she was only five. Did she just up and leave her children not caring enough to ever return or was something more sinister the reason and can that reason be her own father? Saline ran off after graduating leaving the love of her life and her best friend. Escaping an overbearing father, one she fears. Now that Salone has succeeded in life she has money and can go back and find out once and for all what happened to her mother. Can she face the man who’s heart she broke when she left without a word? Can she patch up the relationship between her and her best friend? Those questions and more rage through her mind as she heads back. However, her life could be the price she pays to discover the truth. Well written and a book you can’t put down easily. I read it over the weekend had to know what happens. I received the digital copy of this book in exchange for my honest review. Good book well worth the read. Keeps your interest.

Brenda Novak writes a very interesting and riveting book with so much deceit that it will make you wonder about everybody involved. And, once you think you have a grip on the story, everything takes an ominous turn. The main character, Sloane, has been driven her whole life by the feeling that her father was responsible for the disappearance of her mother. Five year old Sloane heard things the night her mother went missing that have punctured her existence ever since. Finally at a point in her life that she can return to the town she fled, Sloane is determined to discover once and for all what happened to her mother. It is a hard feat considering the time that has lapsed and the number of town people either lying or covering up what they know in fear of her powerful father.

It is a twisting-turning read from the first chapter to the last!

I absolutely loved this book. A mix of romance, mystery and crime!! When a mother disappears her daughter comes back home after being away for several years to find out how and why!!! She's convinced her father has something to do with it! But has He?? What exactly happened?? A massive whammy of a twist at the end!! Thanks a million Netgalley and Bookouture for allowing me to read this book. I can't recommend it highly enough.

On the cover you see Sloane from back a man in the distance. Sloane is convinced that something happened to her mother that night and nobody wants to talk about it. She's going to find out what he's really going through. She was gone at the age of eighteen and came back to find out the truth. And what she's going to find out is going to barreling down in all these states. I loved this book with the character of Sloane tying, a well-tied screenplay. Discovering this book I found other books of this author that deserve to be read.

Before We Were Strangers

Sloane left her past behind when she skipped town after prom. It's been ten years, and she's built a successful career modelling. With the passing of her mentor she steps out of the limelight and knows it's time to face the past and get answers about what just happened to her mother when she disappeared when she was only 5 years old. She's suspected her manipulative, egotistical father of having a hand in it, and now Sloane's back in town he's not letting her ruin his reputation and reelection by bringing up the past. Sloane is searching for a killer but along the way she finds an ally and a lover in her spurned high-school sweetheart.

The romance in Before We Were Strangers is not my usual fare, but I was hooked. There are a wide cast of characters, evocatively painted by Novak, each with a clear voice. The focus on character development over suspense pacing made me check if this was going to be the beginning of a series, because it reads more as portraits than as a particularly compelling mystery. Not much happens advancing the central mystery for the first 300 pages - but nevertheless I was avidly turning pages. The revelations of the last 30 pages are so quick and succinct that I didn't really feel an emotional impact as much as, for example, the extensive study of Micah and Paige's feelings towards their divorce.

Thank you to Harlequin Mira and NetGalley for this advance copy.

3.5 stars rounded up to 4 because overall I really enjoyed the novel. I'm not a big fan of romance books, Brenda Novak is an exception because she usually put some mistery on her stories, and avoids being too cheesy. This is not, however, a mystery romance, it is 80% romance (and a slow one for the most part!) until mystery and action kick in around the end. Like always Brenda Novak is good at tying up the ending. Everything falls back in its place. I love it even if it makes the story a bit predictable (if a guy is bad, he will have what he deserve, you can be sure of that. Lovely, but it restrict a bit the range of possibilities!)
Overall as I said it was too slow in the first part but then it got better. If you are new to the author I will recommend you to start instead with her Whiskey Creek serie, which I loved even more.

A beautiful novel that kept me turning page after page. I was fully intrigued by the plot. The character Sloane I loved and empathized with her. A fast paced mystery that will keep you on your toes and make you want more.
I fully plan to read anything by Brenda Novak.

Thanks NetGalley!

Overall this was a good read. The ending to me appeared entirely too rushed and unbelievable. The crimes were all solved with very minimal investigation. The brother who doesn’t speak to her for years,who becomes physically violent with her, whose wife is terrified of him suddenly approaches her in a grocery store and all is forgiven??? Yeah, right. Overall an engaging read until the end.