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.

I DNFed this book and will not provide feedback. I simply did not find it compelling enough, although some might enjoy this thriller.

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!

This was just alright. Kept me interested but I didn’t find myself up till 2 am finishing the book because I HAD to know what happened.

Ok, I loved this book. Marybeth has great writing style, however, this one is by far my favorite. She brings Southern to life in the pages of Only Ever Her. The characters are a trademark of MB and I fell in love with these characters. Their struggles were well played out and the wrap up was absolutely perfect. I hope people go into this book knowing it is not a thriller. The characters are strong and the family dynamics fascinating. I loved the mystery angle and the slow burn it brought in this novel. I highly recommend this book.

Annie Taft goes missing only four days before her wedding day. Has Annie gotten cold feet or has she met the same fate as her mother Lydia who was murdered when Annie was only 3. With suspects piling up by the second the police have their work cut out for them.

This books rotates between 4 POVs. Faye, Annies aunt and the woman who has raised her. Clary, (Who I called clay the entire book cause if you've read some of my other reviews you know how I feel about weird names) Annies cousin. Laurel, a reporter trying to get her big break. Last but not least Kenny, the man Annie has been "secret" friends with for years and the person to see her last.

I actually didn't mind the switching between POVs in this book. I felt it was necessary whereas some books tend to switch just to switch. I did not like how every single "twist" I saw coming way before it was supposed to be revealed. Fayes, Clary, Scott, who killed Lydia, everything was like Oh OK so this is going to happen. Another annoyance I had was what happened to Scott and Tracey? After they're caught by Laurel they're never mentioned again? What the heck? That felt very incomplete to me. I did like how the doves came back into play. I had kind of forgotten about them so that was a nice touch.

Overall, I don't know if I would recommend this book to anyone. It was fine. It wasn't great it wasn't terrible. It was completely meh.

I was really excited to read this based on the description and I wasn’t disappointed. It was engaging and challenging in wanting to keep reading and trying to guess at the plot. The multiple viewpoints helped to get deeper into the characters psyche and feel more connected. The cover work is also very pretty with the flowers and very eye catching! Nice work!
Thank you to the publisher and Netgalley for allowing me to read this novel in exchange for an honest review.

This book looked like it was going to be really good but it fell really flat. I didn't really connect with the characters. The end of the book is where it really picks up.

This has been the first book I have read in some time that I could just not put down. Annie is to be married very soon and has returned home to make her final preparations. She takes time to catch up with friends and then mysteriously disappears in the same area her mom was murdered in years ago. I loved the character development of this book and that it was told in multiple view points. This book kept me guessing until the very end. Thanks for the ARC, Net Galley.

ONLY EVER HER by Marybeth Mayhew Whalen centers around a wedding...well until the bride, Annie, disappears. Did she run away? Was she taken? What has happened to Annie? The days pass by and Annie is nowhere to be found.
The family is heartbroken as they pray for the best but fear the worst. Secrets start to unravel as everyone comes clean about their own relationship with Annie and each other.
I enjoyed this book even with the underlying sad theme. The characters were well thought out and developed and the setting was beautifully described where I felt I could visually see all the locations throughout the story.
It was a dark theme with hope sprinkled throughout and is a great read for those looking who enjoy light thrillers.
Thank you to NetGalley, the publisher, and author for an ARC of this book. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

My first book by this author and it won’t be my last. I enjoyed this story , it was ok but I wanted more

A bride disappears on her wedding day - you can't have a wedding without the bride! Everyone is trying to figure out what happened - did she get cold feet? Did someone want her to disappear? The story is told in several characters’ points of view which made it hard to follow at times. It was very slow paced for my taste and I was a bit disappointed in the ending. I loved the author's other books but this one just fell short for me.
Thanks to Marybeth Mayhew Whalen, Lake Union Publishing and NetGalley for the ARC of this book in exchange for my honest review.