I received a free e-copy of The Memory Box by Eva Lesko Natiello from NetGalley for my honest review.

Suburban supermom googles herself only to realize that she has no memory of pivotal events in her life. The Memory Box is part psychological thriller, part mystery, part roller coaster.
Although the premise is great and the ending is unexpected, the plot starts out slow and disjointed. The story solidifies at the half-way point and leaves you a little out of sorts.

I could not put "The Memory Box" down! What a great summer read! "The Memory Box" follows Caroline, who through a google search discovers some disturbing and confusing information about her past. She plays detective in her own life to uncover the truth. The book was a little bit of a slow start, as Caroline's disorientation with her memory loss is disorienting to read as well (but I thought worked well as a literary device). Additionally, when starting the book - I had a bit of a hard time with suspending disbelief with the premise of the novel, but if you stick with it - all your questions are addressed!

I didn't read a full synopsis before reading this book, and while I love books in the suspense/thriller category, I could not get into this book. At about the 45% mark, I was ready to give up. I couldn't stand the narrator. The author was trying to build suspense, but it was at the expense of what seemed like a ditzy, unreliable narrator. Why is this all coming to light now? Why is no one helping her? How on earth can her husband leave her with two kids if she can barely function on her own?
I kept going, and finished the book and was even more disappointed than I was at the 45% mark. The end didn't resolve anything, and the same issues that I had throughout the book just came to light even more. The reader gets some answers, but the "twist" wasn't really a twist. Overall, I did not like the book and would not recommend it.

I actually read this book about 2 years ago. I got it for a deal on BookBub. I enjoyed it, definitely a twist filled story with so many shocks I didn’t see coming. If you’re into these types of books, totally recommend.

I find this so hard to review because there was a bit of twist at the end that put the things I hated about the book into perspective. For most of the book, I was so totally annoyed with the main character, Caroline. She's frenetic, she spazzy, she is neglecting her kids and most of all she just won't talk to her husband about what is going on. This big chunk of the book annoyed me so much that I just wanted to finish it to see what happens. I wanted to slap Caroline. Then, there's the twist. The twist makes Caroline's actions make sense. So, while the twist made the book better, I struggled with so much of it that I really can't say that I thoroughly enjoyed it.

A heart- racing read, where you want everything to turn out well, but- well, you find out everything you need to know, certainly, with some anxiety due to the suspense of the main character’s story. Part two of the book was excellent, answered all my questions, and was quite engaging.

“Curiosity killed the cat, but satisfaction brought it back.” Caroline Thompson, your average suburban mother of twins, who keeps everything at bay by steering away from gossipmongers — until the unstoppable happened. At first glance, The Memory Box has an eye-catcher of a concept, its contemporary catch to it has drawn me into reading the book. Google may be one of the most overlooked pop culture gears we have, which had me thinking: if Google magically disappears, are we going to finally discover its worth? In the case of Caroline, Google didn’t have to disappear for her to realize its power over lives in the twenty-first century.

Following her relief that the ‘gossipistas’ found nothing significant about herself, Caroline curiously Googled her maiden name, Caroline Spencer. This unfolds the secrets of her past and present. The Memory Box is a psychological thriller that pivots on the deranged life of Caroline Spencer. The book is brimful of mysteries, secrets that are “impossible to un-know.” It delves into the nature of mental health: peculiar, infuriating, and complicated. Venturing into the story, I am unaware that this could trigger my anxiety. I was not able to anticipate that the author will place you into the shoes of the protagonist. Every time Caroline is anxious of something, I, too, am. When she’s afraid, I am also frightened of what could happen next. The mystifying disposition of the story leaves me hanging all the time that I had to stop and gather myself before reading again, and so I beg to differ; the story is not unputdownable.

The first phase of the book is quite secretive, too secretive that it leaves the reader out of place. One can literally ask: what is happening? There is no firm connection between the reader and the story; however, it will have you wanting for more: what happens next? This goes on and on until you (unaware) finish the book. That is the kind of bond you would want to see in a mystery/thriller story.

Furthermore, I love how this may help in preventing the stigma. It’s raining symbolism all throughout the story. Every character has a significant role in Caroline’s battle against her own psychological warfare.

The twins, Lilly and Tessa, are the security blanket, they are the sanctuary of sanity. “Are you going to change, Mommy?” They seem to be waking Caroline up every time her demons get the best of her.
The husband, Andy, stands like those people who are oblivious to your situation but still tries to understand you in your most complicated state.
The psychiatrist, Dr. Sullivan, serves as the shield. The person you run to when you can’t be sane anymore.
The sister, JD Spencer, the reality.
This is so close to reality. To someone who’s suffering a mental illness, this is a carbon copy of a life harassed by inner demons. It hits home.

The second phase is unnecessary. It devoid the story its mysterious aura. It is an explanation to an open ending that is quite uncalled for.

Personal thoughts. (Trigger warning: Suicide)

I, very much, nod at every familiar scene in the story except for one, and it reads: “Suicide attempts are actually a cry for help, aren’t they? Those people don’t really want to die, they want to be found and helped and hoisted up and out of the muck of misery. It’s a classic cry for help, isn’t that what they say?” Suicide attempts are simply failed suicide. It’s never a cry for attention, for help. One does not simple attempt suicide. One commits. This is a basic misconception. A cry for help starts at the very beginning of insanity and suicide is a result when no one comes for help. Suicide is a conclusion. Let us not get it all mixed up. Maybe it’s time to ask someone how their day goes. It may be the help they need. Let us not get to the point where one commits and fails before we start sending out empathy.

I have to give it 4 stars for the awareness it shares. It perfectly represents a life of a troubled one. The ending just didn’t work for me, but nonetheless, it leaves an impact. Curiosity may have killed the cat, but at least, satisfaction brought it back. Don’t tell anyone, but I have Googled myself, too!

I'm a huge fan of well done thrillers and this hit the spot. I would recommend this novel to any fans of thrillers that keep you guessing through the story.

I received a free e-copy of The Memory Box by Eva Lesko Natiello from NetGalley for my honest review.

What a crazy, all-over-the-place book. The book actually makes you feel like you are crazy yourself. I was getting frustrated and was going to stop reading it a couple of times but I kept getting drawn back into the craziness and drama.

It is a story of a woman named Caroline who is a homemaker and a mother of two. She lives in suburbia and the women in the area are snobby and gossips. Caroline decides to google her name one day and what she found out leads her down the rabbit hole and you get to go down it with her.

This is a psychological thriller with a big surprise at the end. Very crazy and twisted book.

Summary: Caroline, mother of twins, is a suburban housewife, in a community loaded with gossiping moms, who google people to find their dirty secrets. So when one day Caroline googles herself to find out what secrets can the other moms find about her, she finds surprising and shocking things.

From this point forward, the story is like a rollercoaster, the main character seems high on energizers and keeps panicking, and googling, and falling, and describing sounds, and tastes, and thoughts in very long metaphorical phrases that drove me crazy!!

Apart from making me feel very overwrought and sometimes annoyed, at least the author succeeded to give some good twists, that I cannot reveal without spoiling the book for other readers, so I’ll just wrap it up by saying that, overall, I think this book was average, but at least it reads fast..

I was immediately intrigued by the premise of this book - a woman, Caroline, who has a wonderful family and life in general, decided to Google herself (the town loves to gossip, although she never takes part) with her "secret" maiden name. What she finds tears her world apart - a past she cannot remember. As we take the journey with her to uncover the truth, we cross our fingers and hope she can keep the happy life she clings to.
I was really sucked into this story from the start - it's creepy, disturbing, intriguing and full of surprises!
Thank you to Eva Lesko Natiello, Kobo Writing Life and NetGalley for the ARC of this wonderful book!

*****Thank you to NetGalley for allowing me to read this eARC.*****


I really enjoyed this book, I thought that the beginning was crazy and found out that it only got crazier. I would have given it a higher rating but the twin obsession was weird and the ending was in my opinion unbelievable, other than that it was pretty good.

Thank you to NetGalley for providing me with the opportunity to read and review this book.

3.5 stars. Overall, a page-turning mystery, but leaves a bit to be desired in the details.

While I was reading The Memory Box, it was a solid three stars for me. It was an interesting premise and engaging plot, but had a few glaringly distracting elements-- the “discovery” of information by our narrator was choppy and unconvincing; there were many details that were carefully placed but did not lead to anything; and, to use the word of another reviewer, the narration was “frenetic.” The story doesn’t flow as smoothly as others in its genre.

Part 2 of the story (which was really more like an epilogue) was redeeming. (Not-really-spoiler-alert:) A very clever ending--enough to bump it up half a star!-- although I still don’t buy that the husband didn’t get it...

I wanted to love it...I really did. For me though, this was sadly a book that I didn't finish. Perhaps I missed a great final act in which case, please disregard this opinion! However, the lead-up for the 3/4 of the book that I did read, simply did not connect for me. I understand that the author is spinning a tale in the head/voice of an unreliable narrator, but this device wore thin quickly for me. I found myself frustrated with our main character and frustrated with the cadence writing style. For me, it was too distracting and I wasn't able to suspend enough disbelief to really immerse myself in the story. For many readers this won't be a problem (some may love this style!), but for me I have a hard time staying focused with more conceptual writing styles.

Summary
Caroline lives in a suburban neighborhood where google is often used to drum up dirt on others and attribute to gossip. She unearths some disturbing things in her past that she has no recollection of. Wary of asking her friends, risking them thinking she has lost her mind, she embarks on a journey to out discover the truth. Has she been living a lie? Did she give birth to these two beautiful girls?

My Thoughts
This book was extremely intriguing. It held my interest from the very first page. Sometimes you read the first couple pages and you already know you are going to enjoy the book. This was one of those times for me.

We are allowed to travel along with Caroline, with insight into her innermost thoughts and allowed to feel her spiraling out of control as she desperately seeks the truth out. Or do we even know what the truth is that she is seeking? Can you stuff all your memories in a so called memory box and pull them out as you see fit?

This author spun this story into a very twisted ending. I had no idea it was going to take that direction. Fantastic turn of events. Really enjoyable, unputdownable (as Andrew would say) read!

Imagine googling your name and not recognizing any of the facts it comes up with about yourself. You are not sure if you have forgotten all of the things you are reading about yourself or if it is wrong and the information is just not true...but describing someone else entirely. And if it is you, then why can't you remember?

This book is like being on a roller-coaster of a ride that you are unable to get off. Lots of twists and turns, and what-the-heck is going on moments, Just when you think you know what is going on and what will happen next you find out you were completely wrong, only to figure it out again and be proven wrong again. 

The book pulls you in from the beginning, and is a thrilling ride from beginning to end. Often leaving you confused, and it messes with your mind. It's one heck of a twisty, mesmerizing ride.

Having said that, it didn't live up the the expectation that I had when I began reading it. It was a good book but just not what I had expected. It has a lot of great reviews and high star ratings, so be sure to check it out if you like psychological thrillers.

Absolute page turner! I couldn't read this quickly enough to satisfy my curiosity. The characters were well-developed & I quickly cared about them. The plot was engrossing with unpredictable twists & turns that completely engaged me. An amazing mystery int he vein of Gone Girl. Confidently recommend!

Secrets are like knives. Aren’t they? While some are dull, others can do quite a bit of damage.

Caroline leads a perfect life, with a perfect husband and two perfect daughters. Of course not everything in her perfect life is as it seems!

This story left me uncomfortable, confused and frustrated. The whole story is written from Caroline’s point of view and you get to experience first hand her unraveling. How do you forget important life changing events? Does she have early onset Dementia? Why won’t she accept help? She bounces from nervous breakdown to mother of the year in a blink of the eye! It was like a roller coaster!

Every time I picked up this book to read I dreaded it because of the frantic pace...but once I started reading I couldn’t stop. I was intrigued throughout the whole story until the end. The ending felt forced, it didn’t give the story justice.

I recommend everyone read this solely based on the frantic narrative, I’ve never read anything like this.

This was very slow starting and hard to follow in the beginning but a great twist made it worthwhile!

I felt this book got off to a slow start, but it soon picked up and at times it was totally gripping. The parts where Caroline was with the psychologist listening to the tapes from her past were intriguing. However, there was some clunky writing which was a tad tedious to get through, such as too much time spent describing mundane actions. The reader doesn't need to know each step of doing a load of laundry or some other everyday chore, especially in a thriller. So this is a three star rating from me as I felt that the story was interesting and I can see what the aim was, but it was not always executed well. The twists didn't pack as much punch as perhaps they should have and I had no major attachment to any particular character.