I love a good mystery. A good page turner that keeps you guessing. This one had qualities of being just that, then it got a little too in its' own way. There were too many twists and turns and surprises that actually took away from the plot and one turn in particular just lost me.
We have the kinda unhappy married couple portion, she thinks he's cheating, but he just has a secret and it involves her actually. That one wasn't too bad to grasp.
Then we have the 2 sisters living off the land in a cabin in the woods when a strange man comes over and they freak out and run. They arrive at the married couple's house and get well taken care of, and learn alot about each other and the world.
I loved the wife, I loved the sisters, when the big reveal came, I had to walk away and calm down. It kinda ruined it for me, but I also get why it was done.
Not a bad read, just different. I'd read another by Minka again. Thank you for the ARC Netgalley!

A very well written enjoyable book. This book has it all, from women living off grid in the middle of the woods. To mysterious maybe government agents and a wife who is unsure of her husband to surprises throughout. A fun quick read.

This was my first book by Minka, I was really intrigued by the storyline, which captured my attention from the first page, not usually my kind of book but I really enjoyed this!

There are 2 separate story lines that run in tangent together before coming together and forming one whole story as they merge together. It's very good how its done, it creates a very intriguing and mysterious feel to the story and has you eager to find out more.

Nicolette and her photographer husband Brent live on the edge of town. She seems to suffer from anxiety and depression and has bad episodes every so often. Her and Brent are unable to have a family of their own and are looking into adopting, but she is questioning her relationship with Brent lately, she thinks he is cheating on her things just aren't adding up, the further she looks the more questions she needs answers to.

Wren and Sage are young adult girls living in an isolated cabin in the woods with their mum and younger sister. They are completely cut off from the rest of the world, living in their own bubble, unaware of life carrying on around them - they do not trust strangers and men, never leaving their cabin for anything including school, supplies are delivered to them and mum fetches them to their cabin. When their younger sister falls ill their mum takes her towards town to be treated, but never returns back to the cabin. Many days pass and their food supplies are running low, decisions need to be made as to whether they leave the cabin and search for help or stay and hope for the best. But a stranger appears at the cabin and the decisions are taken out of their hands as events start to spiral out of their control.

These completely different stories end up merging into one gripping read. I loved it, a real page turner with a twist at the end I didn't see coming! I really enjoyed this and recommend you give this a try, well worth it.

This is one of those books that is good for a quick read. It doesn’t ask much of the reader and it is easy to follow. Here are my pros and cons:

Pros

- The book is presented as two seemingly separate stories in an alternating chapter format until you reach the halfway mark where the stories merge. Both stories were interesting by themselves, and appeared to be the polar opposite of each other, so I found myself trying to anticipate how in the world the two stories would merge. I found that to be an effective way to tell the story.
- The pacing of the book was great. I thought the author’s writing style was easy to read, interesting things kept happening, and the story moved along at a very good pace. I read this book in about 3.5 hours. I wouldn’t say it was unputdownable, but it was interesting enough to keep me reading on a lazy afternoon.
- The Nicolette character was driving me nuts at the beginning of the story. This is a pro because her character at least invoked some emotion in me!

Cons

- This story is described as a “chilling novel of psychological suspense”. I disagree. I think it was a good story, with some interesting twists and turns, but I personally wouldn’t describe it as “chilling” or “psychological suspense”. If anything it was a family drama/mystery.
- I wish I had felt a little bit more connected to the sisters, Wren and Sage. They felt a little artificial to me, and I couldn’t quite relate to them or empathize with their situation as much as I think the author intended. I can’t pinpoint why exactly, but I felt like the story would have benefited if their characters had been a little more developed.
- Some of the situations in the book seemed to be a tad too convenient to be believed. Just a little too tidy and coincidental. Then again, stranger things have happened in real life I guess!
- I feel like I needed a little more backstory on the girls’ situation. I understand what happened, but I didn’t feel like I got quite enough about why it happened. Again, maybe the author didn’t want us to know why, but I think the book would have benefited from more detail in that respect.

Summary
I have a term I use for books like this – surface read. Everything about the story was on the surface — there was no emotional depth for me, no real connection with the characters. I did enjoy the plot (even if it was a tad convenient) and I wasn’t bored. Identifying this as a surface read doesn’t mean I think the book was bad… for me it just means it lacked some depth and probably won’t be very memorable for me overall.

This was my first Minka Kent book and based on her writing style alone I will very likely read another book she has written.

Thank you NetGalley and Thomas & Mercer for a free electronic ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review.

This was a really good story and had a huge twist at the end but parts did seem a bit over the top. I really enjoyed the mystery of reading the 2 separate story’s and not knowing how they would connect. They did come together really well and blended seamlessly. It was still a really intriguing and intense book!

Minka Kent does a lovely creating a mystery with equal parts character development and suspense. This book jarred me in the end, and I'm so glad I took the chance to read it. It didn't take long to get into and fall in love with the characters. Get ready, dig in, you won't see it coming either.

Let me start by saying that I would not consider The Stillwater Girls to be a thriller. The pacing is a bit on the slow side and while it did have thriller potential during the chapters about the girls, the parallel chapters from Nicolette's point of view barely held my interest. The storylines do come together eventually, but up to that point, I was sorely tempted to skim Nicolette's chapters. There are a few hints about where those chapters might be heading, but you have to be prepared to head into dark territory. That said, Wren's chapters did keep me reading, and once the man shows up, the story started to lean in the direction of a thriller for me. Then, it fell apart again with the big twist. In fact, I can pinpoint the exact sentence where it all went wrong and I started rolling my eyes - it's roughly 61% into chapter 40. There was no turning back from that point because the whole idea was so completely over the top. I'm trying to be deliberately vague here so I don't give spoilers, so let me just say that the idea of how things happened is far-fetched, but not completely beyond the realm of possibility. However, the idea that so many people knew without saying a word, including casual people about town, is where this one completely lost me. I find it impossible to believe that this town, small or not, did not have a single gossip who would've been all too happy to share that kind of information. I realize that this is fiction, and some leeway can be given, but this one pushed way past that for me.

I found The Stillwater Girls to be an enjoyable read. I felt the ending was not what I was expecting and left me with a lot of questions. Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for this ARC.

Two sisters are left in their cabin in the woods after their mother flees with their youngest sister to get medical help for her after she falls ill, months later she hasn't returned and their supplies are dwindling. Meanwhile a woman finds out her husband is keeping secrets from her and keeps digging to find out what he's been hiding from her.

The Stillwater Girls has an excellent premise and the format is easily devoured. The story is told from the POV of Wren, the oldest sister in the cabin and Nicolette, the woman who suspects her husband of being unfaithful.

As this novel spins more and more secrets get uncovered and I found my disbelief less and less suspended. It's a good and quick read but almost a tinge too far-fetched for me.

Overall it captured my attention but it fell a smidge flat for me at the end.

Recommended for those that want a quick mystery read without too much gore.

Thank you to NetGalley and Thomas & Mercer for the eARC copy of this book in exchange for my honest review.

I did enjoy this book but the last 20% fell short for me. It was a good a book but fell a little short just as it was getting good.

Great twists and turns that kept my attention and wanting to keep reading to find the solution to the mystery. The story is written by two narrator's. It captured my attention and I found it to be an easy read. However, the ending left me disappointed .

What a fantastic book. I read this in two sittings, it would have been one but I was travelling and forced to put it down for a few hours.

I loved this story and the characters were also very relatable. I have enjoyed a few of Minka Kent's books but this one is my new favourite.

The book captured my interest immediately and kept very good pace throughout.

I highly recommend this book

Thank you to Netgalley and the publishers for an advance copy of this title in exchange for an unbiased review.

I did enjoy the story, but ultimately found it to be predictable and very unbelievable. The two story lines meshing in the way they did and the fact that they were so close in proximity made the story hard to swallow.
It was a quick read and good if you suspend all disbelief before reading.

Sometimes the right book comes along just when you need it. I didn’t even know I needed this mystery/family drama, but I enjoyed it so much. Wren was the heroine we all want to be — strong and resilient. Be a part of her journey, and it was quite the journey, brought out so many emotions in me. Nicolette and Brant were a little more difficult to connect with, but I still got there by the end. I found this a quick read, perhaps a bit predictable, and really loved it.

What a breath of fresh air! THE STILWATER GIRLS by Minka Kent .. Is remarkable.. giving us a smart, capable, and relatable heroine.. Minka Kent's writing is fresh, impeccably mysterious, is impossible to put down.

Bestselling author Minka Kent returns with a story based around an unconventional off-the-grid family living in the beautiful seclusion of a hunting cabin in what can only be described as a clandestine compound where they appear to be living under some extent of brainwashing. I couldn't help but get hints of cult influence throughout which led to a chilling and oppressive claustrophobia and a sense of total unpredictability in terms of the way the plot may have been heading. With books such as these, you can safely say that bedtime has never been so redundant. Many thanks to Thomas & Mercer for an ARC.

Thank you to the publishers snd Netgalley for the ARC of this book in exchange for a honest review.

I am a huge fan of Minka Kent. Her books are always exciting and keeps one guessing. This book was no exception. I was intrigued from the first page and practically devoured this book.

I highly recommend this book.

Jumping into The Stillwater Girls, I wasn't sure what to expect, but this ended up being such a fun read! The premise was definitely interesting, and this book kept me guessing the entire time. While the ending seemed just a tad unrealistic, the twists caught me off guard (in a good way) and weren't at all what I had guessed! The Stillwater Girls kept me engaged until the very end.

Wren & Sage are living in a secluded cabin in the forest, and their mother and sister have gone to town to seek a doctor. After some time goes by without the return of their family, resources become more and more scarce and one day a stranger arrives at their cabin. The sisters decide to leave, but what they find outside of their isolation is beyond what they've ever imagined.

Thank you so much to Thomas & Mercer and NetGalley for the advanced copy in exchange for the review!!

3.5/5

This blurb is weird, it’s accurate and all but it leaves out something pretty big and I really don’t understand why?! So many times I feel like blurbs actually spoil things and I’ve even cut parts of them out for my reviews, but this time I’m just scratching my head wondering why. What they left out that I think is important for you to know is that besides the story of the sisters there is another main character that you hear from in alternating chapters. Nothing is ruined by knowing this, in fact it actually piqued my interest even more once I started so I figured telling you guys would only be beneficial.

Wren narrates things from her and her sister Sage’s POV and there is also Nicolette, a totally unrelated woman and I had zero idea as to how things would ever tie together. Their lives couldn’t be more different, Nicolette lives an affluent lifestyle and the girls are living off grid and barely surviving so trying to figure out how their stories would merge was damn near impossible. Between my intrigue with the plot and the insanely fast paced writing I was totally invested in this one.

As much as my overall feeling about this book is one of enjoyment I do have to point out that the big twist and subsequent merging of the two groups of characters was pretty out there and unrealistic. Did I even care? No, not really I was just having so much fun with the whole thing I had a moment where I sorta rolled my eyes and then I just moved right on. But I wanted to be honest, I know many of you are bothered by that kind of stuff, so if you have issues suspending disbelief just be aware. If you don’t, give this one a chance, it had an original premise and was a fast paced, addictive read!

I liked the two interweaving stories and being able to figure out how they were connected. the two thirds of the book was well written, the last half felt rushed and not nearly as interesting, wrapped up too neatly but still worth reading overall