Too Close is Natalie Daniels debut novel - a story of friendship, deceipt, romance, betrayal and mental illness. It's not a thriller because it's quite belieable and tastefully dealt with, but nevertheless it has the underlying tones of a psychological thriller in part with family drama, relationships and romance. We begin with Connie, one of the main characters, in a psychiatric unit - not completely sure how she came to be there. The story jumps between the past and present to compare her life Now with her life Then and all the bits in between that brought her to where she is in the current time.

For me, the ending was a little rushed. It's a fast paced book moving you from scene to scene, and betrayal to betrayal and then the ending just quickly wraps it up and claims it finished. Maybe there's room for another book in all this... and for a debut it was incredibly addictive, gripping and advanced that it is quite hard to believe it's the authors first novel.

The jarring narrative of the book perfectly mirrors the fractures in Connie's mind. Flitting between past and present, the reader learns more about Connie, the chain of events that have led to her incarceration and the horrific accident that has led to her wounds.
Less a thriller, than an exploration of friendship, marriage, betrayal and mental illness, there are still plenty of tense moments that left me on the edge of my seat, desperate to read on to discover what would happen next. It's quite dark in places and shocking and I felt anger towards a few of the other characters in the book.

My thanks go to the publisher and Net Galley for the advanced copy in return for an honest review.

I loved this book and marvelled at the way Connie unravelled after her best friend, Ness, does the unthinkable. So cleverly done, with the narrative jumping from the present to the past. The characters are so believable and you can feel them edging towards the precipice.

I can’t believe this is Natalie Daniels’ debut novel. I look forward to reading more.

I expected this book to be so much different after reading the synopsis and the first few pages. I thought it was going to be a stalker type situation but I was very wrong.

It was slow going initially and I was desperate to know the events that had led to Connie being in her current situation. It suddenly got going and I couldn’t put it down until the end.

There were moments where I laughed out loud and moments where I felt incredibly sad. I felt angry for Connie, angry with her, even more angry with Ness. It was a read that took me through so many emotions.

I felt it handled mental illness incredibly well. It’s such a taboo subject and so to see more and more books featuring it is a positive move.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publishers for the ARC of this book in return for an honest and unbiased opinion.

I loved this book and found it intriguing from the outset. It’s well written and deals with some difficult issues sensitively.
We know from the beginning that Connie is in some sort of institution and faces being questioned by the police. Events unfold slowly but I was gripped by them. To say too much about the story will spoil it but it’s set against a background of infidelity and the emotional fallout for all protagonists. There is a sub story involving a psychiatrist that is questioning Connie that adds extra depth. I highly recommend reading it.

A book about relationships. Husband and wife. Single sex relationship. Doctor and patient. Parent and child. How they can each clash on their own and when intermingled, just how devastating the clashes can be. When a parent is suffering from Dementia and their child has to become the parent, when your lesbian neighbours split up and your husband wants an open marriage, how much can you deal with before completely falling apart. Doctors then start doling out tablets, to help, but do they? Your psychiatrist has problems of her own, that she buries deep while telling you that you have to own yours. And they wonder why your memory has gone?

I was looking forward to reading this debut novel from Natalie Daniels as soon as I read the blurb.  Oh! I was fascinated! Too Close is a tense psychological family drama which had me gripped throughout.

Overall, I found the book to be quite dark and uncomfortable as the author weaves a shocker of a story that was very emotionally disturbing at times. It tells a story of friendship, betrayal, deceit and is a very tense read.

The scenes are very well written and you can imagine yourself there. The characters are very believable. I really felt for Connie and the situation she found herself in. The author has impressively developed each character incredibly well, and the similarities shown between Connie and Emma's lives was fascinating. This is the feeling I love to get from a new author.

This story was magnificent and I just couldn’t put it down – one more twist, one more turn… I look forward to reading more from this new author. Brilliant debut!

Thank you to NetGalley, Random House UK and Natalie Daniels for the opportunity to read and review this novel prior to publication.

This was a slow burner for me - at first I found it difficult to follow the characters and the time changes. I carried on, however, and was rewarded with a skill fully plotted enjoyable read. Definitely one to pick up.

Too Close, Natalie Daniels's debut novel, is a tale of friendship, deceit, betrayal and mental illness and describing it as a thriller is inaccurate. That said, the author weaves an interesting yarn that was much more emotional and disturbing than is evident from the synopsis. However, the jumping back and forth between past and present with no prior warning has the potential to be confusing, although for me it worked like charm in ratcheting up the tension and creating a menacing atmosphere to the whole thing. It starts off very well and has lots of promise but there were no real twists or shocking surprises, and I found myself waiting in vain for something to happen but it never did.

Daniels infuses the story with plenty of emotion which was one of the major plus points of this read, and I truly felt sorry for the predicaments Connie found herself in. Unfortunately though, she was the only character that I found sufficiently developed as the rest of them were rather one dimensional, and I felt that a lot of them were only there to pad out the cast and added little or nothing to the advancement of the story. What the book perfectly illustrates is the potentially rapid decline in a persons mental health and the impact on both their wellbeing and that of their close relatives and friends. Well written, paced, and on the whole, an enjoyable reading experience. Recommended to those interested in women's fiction and the realistic and devastating consequences of the unravelling of an individual's mental health, but if you're looking for a light, easy story then you have come the wrong place as this is a book steeped in melancholy. I look forward to what the author produces next.

Many thanks to Transworld Digital for an ARC.

Firstly thanks to netgalley and the publishers for an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

How close is too close? I’m not sure whether this refers to Ness and Connie or to Connie and Emma but both relationships were too close. This book explores the darker side of female friendship, although would your best friend really have an affair with your husband? It provokes questions about mental health and drug therapy and was deeply disturbing in places. All of the female characters knew the power of guilt and the novel explored this well. It was well written and extremely plausible and Natalie is to be commended for the way in which she maintained my sympathy with Connie throughout the novel, knowing what she’d done to her children and to Polly. A good read!

Great story telling, the plot has you on the edge of your seat. Swinging one way then lurching back in the opposite direction. Hard to say what the ending is going to be - until we get there. Refreshing angle of telling a tale that goes back a long way. A engaging read that reveals lots of detail as we move along but the conclusion could be heading in several directions, and is it the ending you envisaged?

The story revolves round Connie, from the day she met Ness in the park. They both had children that after a brief smartie war moment became best friends so it was enviable that they became friends too, then both families. In no time at all Connie became a little concerned, Ness took on the same hair style as her, then was wearing her favourite perfume. When Ness and her partner broke up she began to spend more time at Connie's and Connie had, had enough. Then the story jumps to find Connie in a psychiatric unit,
This is one of those stories that lets you know that something massive has happened but not what it is, then it drops back to drip feed the story of the terrible event that happened and finishes a few chapters down the line from where it started. I must admit that this type of story really hooks me every time.
Connie was as clueless as me as to why she was in this secure unit but Emma, her psychiatrist, was working with her from a point she could remember in her own time. As well as all this going on there are diary entries from Connie's daughter and the problems of Emma in her private life. This story is so well written though that it is easy to follow. I have to admit here that Emma's story became quite a fascination too as a more than weird relationship developed between her and Connie.
This is such a dark story, that takes you down roads that you should really step back from and think, 'Is this what I want?' because sometimes when a line is crossed it can't be erased. My mind was ready for exploding in a cascade of fury, hurt and betrayal, as my heart went out to Connie. The author masterfully takes you into the mind of Connie to share how she sees the world and at times it is overwhelming with such extreme emotions. The question is will Connie be able to finally face what happened as her mind had shut down once already. A brilliant read.
I wish to thank NetGalley and Ella at Transworld Publishing for an e-copy of this book which I have reviewed honestly.

Many thanks to Natalie Daniels for the opportunity to read and review this book. This book is quite different to what I was expecting and if I'm honest I found it difficult to follow at times. Once I did manage to get into it it was very intriguing.

Thanks to NetGalley for the chance to read this in return for an honest review.

Too Close by Natalie Daniels is a dark intertwining web of mystery. Darting between the past and the present, this book explores the close relationship that formed between two women who met at the park and slowly illustrates the story of how Connie ended up in a psychiatric facility.

I loved this book. It showed the depth of emotion in both women and brings to light how easily mental health can decline. It was very interesting to find out bits of the story as it went along rather than just a timeline of events.

People who love psychological thrillers will love this book.

What a fantastic, edge of your seat read.
When Connie and Ness meet in the park, they soon discover that they have a lot in common and become instant friends and naturally their children become friends too. After a while the friendship becomes more of a burden for Connie and she craves some space, then one day she wakes in a psychiatric hospital with no recollection of how or why she is there and she is being accused of a horrible crime.
A fast paced, well written thriller, with lots of twists and turns.

This is a haunting story. Connie has no memory of what happened. She is mentally ill and her memory comes back to her slowly. Parts of this book are very confusing. It is hard to work all of Connie's story out. The story jumps back and forth so much in places it hard to work everything out. Overall though it is a good read.

Thank you to Netgalley for my copy.

Fantastic to read!

The story is gripping and full of tense moments. Twists and turns await every page! I really enjoyed reading this a lot and can highly recommend it.

When I read the description of this book I was convinced it was another creepy 'frenemy' story. It was anything but! True it concerns close friendship and betrayal, but it is mainly the tragic story of a woman's decline in to horrendous mental health issues, and how she and her psychiatrist become a support to each other. I enjoyed reading this, though it is not a cheerful story. Thanks to NetGalley for a preview copy.
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Very cleverly written book that will have you rooting for Connie one second and then despairing at what she did to herself and the innocent children. The unravelling of why she did what she did and why is a truly tough read but makes you think about how easy it could be for a life to unravel so quickly.

This story is about the fallout when someone very close to you causes a lot of hurt. Connie and Ness become close friends particularly after Ness's relationship doesn't work out. It is the kind of book you want to keep reading because you want to find out what happens next.

This had an unexpected twist - I had made an assumption early on regarding what was going to happen and it didn't. I really felt for Connie and her circumstances - it was very realistic and I was really rooting for Connie to come out fighting. Sometimes, however, that just isn't the way.

A good book though some of the themes are a little uncomfortable.