Truly, truly awful. The female main character was beyond pathetic. She gets involved with a dangerous man and from his very first communication with her, you could tell where this story was going. In fact, his very first message to her said “open with caution”. From the very first date, he was abusive, yet she returned again and again and again. These plots can work well if the abuser has previously treated her well and built her trust. He then makes moves to isolate her from friends and family. Not so in this nonsense. He meets her mum and dad and despite being moody and monosyllabic, she tells him how much her mum and dad like him- seriously??? She is one of the most irritating characters I have ever encountered and weak doesn’t even begin to cover it. So many plot holes and loads of spelling and grammar issues. Can’t recommend this book at all. Thanks to Netgalley for giving me free access to the book

3.5 stars for this thriller-ish story. Would have gotten more if the main character wasn't so insufferable!


A well-written thriller that would have benefitted from a beta reader. I'm sure anyone could have told the author that the FMC was extremely unlikeable due to her being such a pushover - I really don't know how she stuck around for some of the stuff she had to go through in this relationship!

I also feel a bit cheated not knowing this was a series. That should have been stated on the page. Unfortunately, the sequel is no longer available on NetGalley and I don't think I'll be buying it myself.

I enjoyed the writing, though it could use some editing - I noticed several typos. Thank you to NetGalley for graciously prodiving me with this eARC.

Would recommend for: A book that comes to mind is Before We Met by Lucie Whitehouse. If you like the type of thrillers that deal with obsessive partners, this may be a good one for you.

This sounded like my kind of book....creepy, controlling guy who reels in unsuspecting sweet girl and makes her life a nightmare.

This, unfortunately, is not that book. Richard doesn't reel Isla in slowly, he is not a charmer who devolves, he strikes like a ball peen hammer, exposing himself for exactly who he is immediately and Isla's willingness to go along and go along and appease and go along is so, so tiresome.

The ending was unsatisfactory and as much as it kills me I just can't say this book was for me at all.

Thank you to Lily Llewellyn, Troubador Publishing Limited and Netgalley for this ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Here's the thing...I love a good love gone wrong book so when I saw this to download on NetGalley I thought "What the hell, how bad could it be?"

Apparently, pretty bad.

In most of these types of books you have an incredibly charming, often good looking, man/woman that slowly, over time, begin to show their inner darkness and only once they are sure that their spouse is firmly entangled in their web leaving them little options of escape. It's being drawn in to their wit and charm, as a reader, where I think to myself heck I could of fallen for this guy. Then you have the tension that comes from them trying to break free and watching those events unfold is what I love about these stories. It's so easy to see how some people fall victims to these narcissists without even realizing it because sometimes as a read I do too - I'm looking at YOU Joe Goldberg! (Be still my heart!)

Here, though, we have a woman that is so utterly stupid that it hurt my brain. I do not know the least bit about on-line dating having been with my husband since I was 20 but I do know that if on the 2nd message from a virtual stranger is "You better respect me" I would definitely swipe left......uh, not sure if I'm saying that right but you get the idea. Well, our little Isla is so weak and lonely that she overlooks this very telling piece of information and agrees to meet him. From here the rest of the book is just an obvious and predictable disaster.

Thank you to NetGalley & Troubador Publishing for providing me with a digital ARC in exchange for my honest review.

An absolute page-turner, Lllewellyn's novel is gripping, sincere and terrifyingly veracious; not only the plot is engrossing, but also the characters are realistically depicted.

Amazing read! The author wrote a story that was interesting and moved at a pace that kept me engaged. The characters were easy to invest in.