Cover Image: Hunting Annabelle

Hunting Annabelle

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Member Reviews

Gripping and suspenseful! A very well-written book with wonderfully-interesting characters. The tension builds at just the right pace as the story unfolds. Will keep you swiping the pages furiously. Worthy of your TBR list.

*I received a complimentary ARC of this book from in order to read and provide a voluntary and honest review, should I choose to do so.

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This book was a bit difficult to guess what may or may not happen next. I want to say this is a good thing because it kept my interest, and I kept wanting to know more and more. The story flowed very well and explained everything well . Book was hard to put down.

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DNF at 25%. It's been over four years since I received this ARC. I gave it a go and have decided it is not for me. It interested me then and no longer does now.

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I didn't finish this book, I didn't hate nor love it. I think you should give it a try but i didn't really read enough for form a solid opinion.

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If you're into reading about damaged main characters and don't mind them being killers, then Hunting Annabelle might just be for you. It has such an intriguing premise that I can't pass the chance to read it. Sean Suh is without a doubt an interesting character and despite being a psychotic killer, along the way, I find myself sympathetic for what he's going through. And at times, even rooting for him. The book started strong and will immediately pulled you into the story, but somehow struggled in the middle. The plot twist, depending on how you view it, over-the-top, impossible, brilliant, is what redeemed the story for me. Some might like it, some might not buy it. Hunting Annabelle may not be everyone's cup of tea but for it surprisingly works for me and I was left satisfied by the end.

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Now that I'm tackling my NetGalley backlist, I'm enjoying rediscovering why I requested these books in the first place. Hunting Annabelle started off strongly for me - I liked the unusual, slightly "off" voice of the narrator, and you could really sense the inner workings of his mind as he felt a strong pull for Annabelle. The plot was interesting if not a little bit predictable, but it moved quickly and I was eager to see how it would end.

That's where the book lost me. The conclusion felt really far-fetched, and (sort of spoiler) I didn't like the romance aspect at all. It felt out of character, and it didn't gel with everything I knew about him beforehand.

Even though the ending wasn't amazing, it was still a well-written, suspenseful book. I'd gladly check out other novels from this author.

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I loved the characters and the storyline development of this book. It was absolutely one of my favorites so far and I can't wait to delve in to the next one that this author writes. The storyline was simple, enjoyable, and entertaining.

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This is a strong debut book and I am already looking for more that this author will do. The story here is also quite wild - but in a good way! And then the ending is super crazy but it kind of has to be for this whole story to work the way it does. The story takes quite a turn around 50-60% and so the ending really helps to connect everything together. Unreliable narrators are always a trope that I love and it worked in this one!

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Great book! Couldn’t wait to read it, and it didn’t disappoint! Grabbed my attention within the first two chapters, and then I didn’t want to put it down. Excellent character development - I think that every reader will find a character to whom they relate. I enjoy books where there is character development, and then also a surprise, and this book provided both! Looking forward to reading more from this author!


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The task of repopulating the senior library has been an exciting and daunting task aS in a boarding school our aim is to encourage all members of the community to read. Because of this, I have been searching down a wide and diverse range of books to read that will entice a wide cross-section of the school to come in, browse and find books that they love.
Books like this will ensure that the senior students in the school see the library as a diverse, modern and exciting place with books that speak to them and they want to recommend to their friends, classmates, teachers and tutors.
It is an engrossing and exciting read with fully-formed characters and a plot that ensures that it's hard to look away. It is as far from formulaic as it is possible to be and kept me up far too late in order to finish it. I immediately wanted to read all of this writer's other books as I loved their voice and found that it really drew me into the story and made me think about it even when I'd stepped away from this tale.
This is a thought-provoking read which I'm sure will be a popular and well-read addition to our new library; I'm grateful to have had the opportunity to read it and I know that the students are going to absolutely love it too!

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I would recommend this story to all thriller lovers. This book took me by surprise. It kept me interested throughout the story and I needed to see what was going to happen. I truly enjoyed the pacing of the story and the well-written characters.

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Sean has killed before and wants his reign to stop. He knows all about Annabelle and is drawn to her. However she goes missing and he claims to have seen the kidnapping. The police believe he is the culprit but his memory has faded and the black outs keep him from remembering too well. Could he have had something to do with her kidnapping? The story starts out strong and fluid but then comes to a point where you have to force yourself to continue. There are parts that just do not make sense and you feel as though you are not sure if the writer is slowing down or you are just not able to keep up. I guess with the other reviews it has to be the writer. I felt that the characters were perfectly written and accurate yet just could not understand why Annabelle would make some of the decisions she did. I would say I would give this a 3.5 star rating but will round it to a 4.

Thank you to netgalley as well as the author/publisher for allowing me to read this book in exchange for my honest review.

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First, my apologies for the super backlist review.

Hunting Annabelle almost immediately had me hooked; I loved that we had this narrator that seemed a bit off, having this, again, "off" interaction with this seemingly random girl. As the story went on, and Sean was trying to uncover the mystery of Annabelle's disappearance, again, I was invested.

{Spoiler ahead!} However, when, we got to the ending and the conclusion - I could have done without the romance at the end; it didn't seem like a natural fit at all. In fact, I had to go back a few pages to figure out what I had missed to lead to this odd conclusion. I enjoyed the twist of Annabelle being behind everything - but to go from the scene with Sean's mother and at Four Corners, to this twisted and co-dependent relationship was just so odd and felt rather abrupt.

Finally, I just didn't feel good about the way those with mental health concerns were demonized, and how is mental health issues were used against Sean, to make him question himself and to turn readers against him at times.

Great story, voice, writing style, and idea, but, for me, the execution just wasn't my favorite.

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Stellar! A recommended first purchase for all general fiction collections, particularly where thrillers are popular.

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Unfortunately, this author's writing just is not a fit for me. This is the second of her books I have read and have not been able to connect with.

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I loved reading a good thriller now and then and this book seemed to be right up my alley. The book starts of really well and I thought the author's style of writing was also very strong! The plot is also unique and different and I was wondering how it was going to turn out. Having said that, I felt like mid-way into the book, the story started to drag. Also, I felt like once it is revealed as to where Annabelle disappeared to, it was just so unbelievable, I was rolling my eyes and thought it was too far-fetched. That kind of ruined the story for me. But overall, it was a strange and interesting read for the most part.

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Well I put this book off for far too long.... I'm not exactly sure why. I guess because I was worried it might be too brutal for me. If you are looking for a twisty suspenseful book I'm your girl, but if you are looking for brutal and disturbing you better ask someone else for a review. It wasn't near as disturbing as I thought it would be. For about 65% of the book I really liked it. It was a bit predictable and I somewhat knew the ending pretty earlier on. I didn't love the ending though. So for me 3 stars is as high as I could go because of a few reasons. The first is the I don't have a character to root for... I didn't love any of them. I have to find that connection to a character to fall in love with a book. The second reason was I didn't like the ending. Too Fu@#$%g weird. No way is that ever going to happen. The writing was good and kept my interest so if I see another book by Heard I definitely will give it a try.

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I started this book and just couldn’t get into it. I’m marking it down as a DNF for me and am only submitting a two star rating as one is required for netgalley reviews.

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I LOVED this book. Love love love. I was so looking forward to this one, and it lived up to my expectations. I’ve recommended this one to my friends that love this genre.

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I think the idea of this story is more interesting than the story itself. The interesting idea quickly wore off and I found myself looking for something else to read about halfway through. Unfortunately, this just didn't do it for me.

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