When Annie Taft was just three years old, her mother, Lydia, was murdered during a camping trip the two of them were on in the woods of the local state park.
The town of Ludlow, South Carolina rallied behind young Annie. When she said “Uncle” Cord had taken them camping and was the one who hurt her mother, the town was quick to convict Cordell Lewis for the murder of Lydia Taft.
After the murder, Annie’s Aunt Faye moved to Ludlow with her daughter, Clary, to raise her niece. Faye’s sacrifice to keep Annie in Ludlow would be the talk of the town for many years to come. The town watched Annie grow up and cheered her on; she was their golden girl and everyone wanted her to have a happy ending to her story.
Now Annie is about to get her happy ending. Her wedding is just two weeks away and the citizens of Ludlow could not be more excited. At the same time the final wedding preparations are underway, a local attorney is lobbying for the release of Cordell Lewis based on new evidence in the case.
“But in doing so, he had brought attention to Annie at a particularly unwelcome time. She just wanted to get married, to get on with her future to stop being “that poor murdered woman’s daughter.” She’d spent her life trying to show everyone that she is more than that – and yet it always comes back to it.” (Only Ever Her, p. 48)
Then, just four days before the wedding, Cordell Lewis is released from prison, in part due to a letter written by Annie. But that night Annie doesn’t return home. Is she just pulling one of her disappearing acts? Or did something terrible happen to her?
The town of Ludlow has their secrets, and with Annie missing, those secrets are about to be revealed. As the wedding date draws closer, will they find Annie in time for her to walk down the aisle?
Look for Only Ever Her by Marybeth Mayhew Whalen coming soon to GPPL. Place your hold now!

Only Ever Her has many different stories all converging around Annie’s wedding. Although I eventually got the grasp of every story, it took some time. Part of this was because the author chose to withhold information until the last minute. Overall a great story, I just wish it was told in a different style.

I received an advanced reader’s copy in exchange for an honest review

The first half of this book is so weighted by Southern women’s fiction tropes, the female relationships, the local color, the hairdresser who pulls everyone together, the town eccentric with a gift for animals, and the heroine who is marrying the “right” man while pushing away the more humble soul that has her heart, that I actually forgot I was reading a mystery. By the time the actual whodunnit plot deepened, it just felt like a distraction from the Cold Sassy dynamics. For women’s doc fans only.

Small Town Secrets. Big Time Heart. This story set in fictional Ludlow, South Carolina tells a multilayered story of the secrets of various people in a small town affecting each of their lives in dramatic ways. It is a story of love, loss, and moving on, and it captures the rural small town South extremely well. The multiple interweaving perspectives could make for some intriguing cinematography, should Hollywood ever come calling for this tale, and I for one would love to see it on the silver screen and look forward to reading more from this new-to-me author. Very much recommended.

I have always loved Marybeth Whalen. Her earlier books are some of my favorites. Part of that is I love the stories and part is she writes about places I love and have grown up near. This is no exception. Only Ever You does have more twists and surprises but for someone that doesn’t like suspense it is great. Go buy this, get a copy somehow, sit down and prepare to be invested in these characters. Thanks to Netgalley and Marybeth for this ARC copy!!!

Thank you Netgalley for my free copy in return for my honest review.

I didn't hate this book, but I didn't love it either. Based off the description the book seemed like a thrilling mystery. I couldn't get over how slow paced the story was. Story was very blah, ending was REALLY blah, I really wanted more.

There are a lot of multiple POVs in this book that had me struggling to connect with the characters and really follow the story line. I personally struggle with this in most books, but I just couldn't grasp this one.. It's a really cool premise and I really liked the setting of the story!

I'm not really sure what my opinion on this book is. It's a bit complicated, and I'm somewhere in the middle between liking it and not.
I found the characters intriguing, but at the same time I lost myself between all the POVs and as much as I thought a character was interesting, all the switching between everyone was a bit frustrating as it minimized the tension the previous entry was building. That's something that happened all throughout this book for me, every time I felt as though the tension in the atmosphere rose it was suddenly gone.
I also found that the switching between so many characters didn't give enough time for me to connect to one, but at the same time, I thought the writing style was interesting. I felt as though the mystery was set up well, but the roller coaster of ups and downs when it came to the tension took away from the overall experience, and the ending left me wishing it was all different.
I feel like the idea behind this book wasn't executed to my liking. Maybe I'm just reading it at a completely wrong time, and I'm open to giving it a shot later on, but as it stands now this is a three star for me. I enjoyed reading this book for what it was, but it didn't wow me.

I received an ARC of this novel from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

Novel about a double tragedy in a family and how the events affect the other members of the family and the citizens in their community.

Anna’s wedding is just a few days away when she goes missing.. Did she runaway or did she meet the same fate as her mother who was murdered when Anna was just 3. Is it a coincidence that her mother’s killer was released.
This book has multiple points of view which I love. It can be a bit confusing going back and forth. The settings in the story were described beautifully, the characters well thought out. A great read for on the plane or at the beach.
3.5 stars
#netgalley #onlyeverher

There was a lot going on in this book, but it wasn't my favorite.
Annie is about to get married. She has one last secret visit with a friend of hers who she has always protected in school. He was bullied since the first day he arrived at school, and Annie has always taken care of him. He worships her and wants to be with her. He tells her so. Then POOF! Annie disappears. It just so happens that Annie has also just written a letter to have the man she accused of murdering her mother (twenty-some years ago) released from prison. Does someone have a grudge against Annie? Has she decided to leave on her own?
The plot is a bit slow-moving and at times confusing. I did like the ending.
It earns a solid three stars.

(Mild spoilers ahead) Have you ever read a book and when finished thought, what was the point of this? That's how I felt reading this book. Let's start with Annie, the central figure of this book. In my opinion, she is completely unlikeable. She has secrets, which aren't all that interesting. She isn't very kind or compassionate to those closest to her, but she's the town sweetheart. I can't see why, aside from being the child who was left motherless. This book is told from multiple perspectives - which seems to be the go-to narrative format these days - but do we really care about any of these people? I don't. The resolution is underwhelming and some plot points are completely abandoned. What about Scott and Tracey?? For the fiance of the missing woman, he is less than a shadow in this book. The secondary plot, who did kill Annie's mother, is resolved, but it feels like almost an afterthought. There's no agency to it. You would think from the above that I hated this book. But I didn't. It was fine. It held my interest, I wanted to find out what happened and now that I've finished it the story is completely forgettable.

I received a free e-copy of Only Ever Her by Marybeth Mayhew Whalen from NetGalley for my honest review.

I really feel bad when I don't connect with a book and have to leave an ehhh review. I feel bad as I can only imagine, being an author, and all the love, hope and work they put into their writing. With that said I am sorry to say that I just didn't connect with this book. I do appreciate the opportunity to read it and I do see that several other people really enjoyed it so don't let my review keep you from picking it up and enjoying it.

Annie, was found wandering the town as a little girl. Her mother was murdered. The entire town got caught up in her life and her growing up and she became a very loved person in her community. Anne is grown now and is getting married. The town is so excited for her. Then just days before her wedding, she goes missing. Her disappearance happens at the same time as her mom's killer's prison release date. Coincidence or not? Lots of characters and so many suspects, but who is really responsible?

Unfortunately, this book was not for me. I am a very moody reader though, and if I am able to get into it at a later date, I will update my review and let all know. I do 3 stars as neutral, because I don’t think that it was badly written, just a bit slow paced for my preferences.
Will be using in a challenge and letting members of Chapter Chatter Pub know about it’s upcoming release.

Only Ever Her is an enjoyable read, but I found the story a little difficult in that the story jumped from character to character, their back stories, their now stories and it never seemed to settle into the story of Annie, the missing bride.

The pace of this story was quick, with only about a week between the beginning and the end, but I wanted more about Annie and much more about her history. My biggest thing was who lets a 3 year old testify as to what happened in a murder trial? The whole rush to judgment thing was touched on, but it was never really explored in-depth. Also little "surprises" popped up every little while, but weren't ever really explored either.

I think this has the bones to be a really good book, but it just seemed to be missing something. What that was, I'm not quite sure, but maybe more Annie.

My favorite Marybeth Mathew whalen’s book yet. Anna’s wedding is just days away when she goes missing. This is not unusual for Anna. Her mother was murdered when she was three and she was the only witness. However, has she told her future husband everything she needs to tell him? Is the man in prison for the murder the right man? Is Anna in love with her high school boyfriend? So many questions and it’s a really good read to find all the answers.

I tried very had to get into this book but it was not for me. I could not empathize with any of the characters and so didn't care what was going on with them. I did not finish this book. Thank you for the opportunity to read this.

2.5/5 stars

Only Ever Her is my first book by this author. I think that it is supposed to be a mystery. But honestly it was not overly suspenseful.

There are multiple 3rd person narrators. The narrators are: Annie, Laurel, Faye, Clary and Kenny. The story is about Annie (26), who is about to get married. She has secrets, as do all of the narrators. Faye is Annie's aunt. Clary is Faye's daughter. Kenny is Annie's high school friend. And Laurel is a reporter.

Having so many narrators is not my favorite. Plus I didn't really connect with any of them. It was too many IMO. Something interesting would happen at the end of a chapter and then sometimes you would have to wait multiple chapters to continue that part of the story.

There is a sub-plot about Annie's mom being murdered in the past. I did find that interesting. But otherwise I did not love how this story was told. One example would be that at the beginning of the book one of the characters went to a lawyer's office. That was such an intriguing part of the story. And I was very interested to see what would happen there. But then that character's chapter ended. And when the author returned to her she was somewhere else.


I love suspense thrillers. But this book was not that. Also, I have seen this book advertised as Women's Fiction. I love that genre. But this didn't feel like that genre to me either, especially as romance was such a small part of the story. There was a reveal at the end that had potential. But the overall ending just fell a bit flat for me. I really wanted more from this book.

What an amazing thriller! Absolutely loved it; every roller coaster moment of it. This book was full of surprises, and there was no boring moment. I highly recommend it.

I loved this book. The characters were all do relatable, and the story was beautifully written. It was reasonably complex but easy to follow, with just the right touches of mystery, love, tragedy, and hope. I enjoyed When We Were Worthy but I liked this one even more. Will definitely read more by this author!