Great read, well written, excellent storyline brilliantly executed. Some really good characters with full, well rounded personalities. All brought together to give the reader a gripping read. 
Thank you to Netgalley, the author and the publisher for my arc.

Slow burner 

This didn’t get going for quite some time and the alternating narrative was confusing at times, especially at the beginning. 

When it does pick up it offers some decent twists. The writing and characters were good. There was a lot going on in this story. Some of which didn’t seem necessary or really add to the plot. 

The ending? I’m a bit torn about that one. Decent, but a bit open ended which isn’t my favorite. It was interesting and I was curious how it would play out, overall entertaining. 

Thanks to NetGalley, the author and Avon Books UK for a copy in exchange for a review.

I liked the structure of the novel with the story told through three key characters, each with a different POV. However, I struggled with the passages about St Anthony’s to distinguish between Alice, Naomi and Christie. I found they were clearly drawn in the present day passages but at university they seemed to merge together for me until well into the second half of the book.
The ending was a bit of a rushed disappointment. I thought that something a little less obvious could have been chosen to end the book.

I've been meaning to write the review for «The Girl Before You» by Nicola Raynor for a very long time. I read it back at the beginning of May, and have been trying to come up with some words to describe this book ever since. 

The Observer compared this book to «The Girl On The Train» by Paula Hawkins but in my opinion, it didn’t live up to this comparison. It's definitely not The Girl On The Train and it's definitely not a book I will reread at any point.

The reason why it took me so long to finish this review was that I didn't have anything to say about this book, which is sad because I always try to find something to talk about in every single book I read.

The structure of the book takes us from the present time, where Alice is happily married to George and expecting their first child, back to college where George was enjoying the attention of every girl in college, slowly unraveling the story of Ruth’s disappearance. 

It all begins with Alice seeing a woman on the train who looks very similar to red-haired Ruth, the girl she used to be friends with in college and who disappeared under very mysterious circumstances. 

I really like the “now and then” writing style as well as the combination of present and past. This technique makes me very excited to find the truth, to find out who did what and how it actually all happened. I was so excited to see the twists, but I wasn’t satisfied when they actually happened. 

My first complaint is that this story is very forgettable. It's been 3 months since I’ve read the book, and I don't even remember the twists anymore! When these are usually those elements that are very hard to forget- «The Girl on the Train», «Gone Girl» - I’ve read these books over 3 years ago and will forever remember how dumbstruck I was by some of the revelations of these stories! 

Another miss for me was the poor characterization. I know that most of mysteries / thrillers are primarily plot-driven, but I still need at least one character to care about. In «The Girl Before You» I didn’t connect to any of them, I didn’t really what would happen to any of them. There was no risk element to keep me on the edge of my seat. 

The characters were very stereotypical and bland - some popular guys, some popular girls and someone who inspired to be someone else. 

Overall, this wasn’t a bad read, that’s why I gave it 3 stars. It just wasn’t anything special, it didn’t stand out from the bunch of other mysteries and thrillers, and I easily forgot it as soon as I finished the last chapter.

With thanks to Netgalley and the publishers for the arc, which I have enjoyed reading.
Alice is married to George whom she has known since they met at University. When she becomes pregnant she starts thinking about George and his friend Dan and what they used to get up to in their younger years whilst at University. In particular what happened to Ruth the girl they knew before, he went out with Alice.
Alice meets up with Ruth’s sister and together they try to find out what happened. They uncover more than they had expected.
Highly recommended.

An intriguing start. Naomi watches her sister Ruth getting ready to go, out not knowing this may be the last time she will see her again. 

The book is told from numerous people’s prospectives with different timelines. This can be either very confusing or very clever, but with this story it works perfectly. 

Alice is married to George a television presenter who was formerly a politician, she has always known he was a ladies man and has often wondered about his previous relationships. They met at university where George was a
disliked by other students for his sense of entitlement and confident air.

Whilst on a train Alice thinks she sees Ruth, but Ruth went missing years before when they were at university and was presumed dead. Alice knows her husband knew Ruth but when asked he at first denies knowing her, then admits he did. Alice goes digging to find out more and as the story goes back in time secrets are revealed.

The time goes back to when Alice, George, Ruth and Kat were at university and leads up to the night that Ruth goes missing after attending a ball.

I couldn’t put this book down. I love books about friendships and secrets and this kept me guessing until the end.

🌟🌟🌟
Just finished this book and have to say I enjoyed it. It took me a little while to get in to as it jumped around a bit with the different characters narrating but definitely gripping once you get into it.

Definitely messes with your mind a bit!

3.5 stars
I wanted to like this book much but unfortunately, i just couldn't. 
Something was missing in my opinion, not sure what but i just felt like the story wasn't the fast-paced thriller that i was expected and the story overall felt a bit odd to say at least. 
I liked the idea of multiple pov because we can always find more and i think it adds to the characters to see what they think and how they see the events. Unfortunately, I couldn't relate to any character. It felt a bit forced everything. I understand that sometimes a pregnant woman can get obsessed with something and some may blame it on the hormones but the mysterious disappearance of her husband's ex and what we get to find about their past it felt a bit unnecessary. Maybe i just got the wrong idea of what i wanted from the book and what i got, but that it's all upon me.

While the pace was a bit slower than I expected, this was an entertaining mystery. I enjoyed the characters that we get to know as college students, as well as adults dealing with their pasts later in life.

This story is about Alice who is married to a famous politician called George. One day whilst coming home on a train she sees a red haired girl who she is convinced is a girl her and George knew from University, a girl who was presumed drowned although no body has been found. Alice becomes more and more convinced that her husband had something to do with her disappearance. 

I was enjoying this book at first. In my opinion it had a really strong start. The story is told from several women’s POV in both the present day and the past. I quite honestly got to the stage were I got bored with the story. The same things seem to be repeated. I predicted the ending quite early on.

I love a novel with multiple character narratives and this one has plenty! Plus multiple timelines too. The story takes place in two main settings, the present day investigation of Alice into the mysterious disappearance of Ruth Walker (and how her husband may be involved) plus the past involving many of the main characters at university. We delve right back into the past to find out the circumstances leading up to the fateful night, everyone thinks that Ruth drowned but is that really the truth?

I sped through this book; it was easy to read but also because I wanted to find out exactly what had happened!

Thank you Avon UK and NetGalley for an early reader review book. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

Apparently this is supposed to be like The Girl on the Train and leave you gasping at the end. I don’t understand how thrillers are suddenly compared to their predecessors like there are no longer original ideas to be had in regards to the genre. It’s a disappointment because I really enjoy thrillers, but I’m put off at times by the lack of originality.

This is a split POV book about three women. Alice, Naomi, and Kat. I honestly had a hard time following the story because I was bored. But I think it’s pretty much just this girl named Ruth has been missing for a long time. Alice is married to Ruth’s ex. Naomi is Ruth’s sister. Kat is her best friend. The ex is an MP and on tv, I think. He seems to be hiding secrets about Ruth. Naomi just wants to know what happened to her sister. I’m not sure what purpose the best friend serves other than more chapters to skim.

I tried with this book, but it wasn’t interesting to me at all. I skimmed a large part of the book, but I still struggled to understand the story arc. The mystery wasn’t super gripping nor were there a lot of shockers. I was bored with the book, pushing myself to finish it. Honestly, I would read more from Nicola Rayner, she has potential. I just think this story could have been executed better because the mystery was dull and the ending was ridiculous. I can’t say I recommend this novel, but I will be trying more from the author in the future.

An intriguing start. Naomi watches her sister Ruth getting ready to go, out not knowing this may be the last time she will see her again. 

The book is told from numerous people’s prospectives with different timelines. This can be either very confusing or very clever, but with this story it works perfectly. 

Alice is married to George a television presenter who was formerly a politician, she has always known he was a ladies man and has often wondered about his previous relationships. They met at university where George was a
disliked by other students for his sense of entitlement and confident air.

Whilst on a train Alice thinks she sees Ruth, but Ruth went missing years before when they were at university and was presumed dead. Alice knows her husband knew Ruth but when asked he at first denies knowing her, then admits he did. Alice goes digging to find out more and as the story goes back in time secrets are revealed.

The time goes back to when Alice, George, Ruth and Kat were at university and leads up to the night that Ruth goes missing after attending a ball.

I couldn’t put this book down. I love books about friendships and secrets and this kept me guessing until the end. 

Thank you to Netgalley for my copy in exchange for a review.

The storyline for this book is one I feel has been written before but when reading this, it read like it's own story.  That's hard to do so I'm pretty impressed with how this author was able to write this even with so many other authors attempting something similar.  It wasn't predictable and I definitely couldn't wait to get to the end to see the outcome.

Fantastic book about love, life and friendship with a twist. Told from the perspective of three people both in the past and present time. The characters are realistic as are a lot of the situations in the book. I was gripped from the first page. 

Thanks to NetGalley and the publishers for the ARC in return for an honest and unbiased opinion.

This one was ok for me, a little slow and dragged out and not really a “page turner” for me. Some of the characters i kinda just skimmed over.

This book was so cleverly written.  I really enjoyed this. 

It is perfect for fans of Girl on a Train, I think. 

The plot was great and the storytelling was perfect. 

It had me hooked and the characters were so convincing. 

I read this in two sittings, it was such a great book. 

I look forward to reading more by the same author.

This book was a very well thought out and engaging story, with enough intrigue to keep me turning pages.
Following a slightly slow start, the pace picks up considerably and becomes a twisty dual timeline story. 
The ending doesn’t wrap everything up in a nice neat bow, it is almost a teaser. Some might find that a tad frustrating.
A fine holiday read for me.

A well written and compelling read which perhaps moves just slightly too slowly, making it a struggle to engage with at first. An enjoyable read, but with so many contenders for excellent reads in this genre it doesn’t quite make the grade.

Alice, a lawyer on her way back from a conference, in Edinburgh, sees a woman on the train who looks exactly like a girl, Ruth, who went missing in Uni, fifteen years before. The fact that the beautiful Ruth had been one of her husband's girlfriends, while at school, makes her anxious, Ruth believed to be dead, certainly not heard from, by her sister, Naomi, they were so close, and her Mother. Alice is not willing to let it go; she knows her husband is involved in some way, she hasn't figured out how yet, but she is determined to do so. This is not a keep the lights on thriller, it is an old fashioned what happened, who did what, where is she? I enjoyed some of it, being the snob that I am; I think they are all sleazy, disgustingly immoral, what did they expect? I hate books where everyone has sex with everyone on Campus; I don't like the lesbian tie in, my criticism is, what did they think all of the drugs, sex, petty revenge would lead too, if not rapes, and murder? You live by the sword, you die by the sword!