Two Little Girls is a difficult book to engage with, and I found my interest lacking as the story progressed. The first half actually felt like it was going somewhere but the second half goes off on a tangent and almost instantly becomes tedious. I also felt it was lacking the essential thrills to be defined as a thriller. It was predictable, too, and so disjointed that the flow was affected time and time again. On the positive side, it portrayed how manipulative people can be and will make you consider whether those around you have an agenda or are genuinely showing real emotion and speaking true thoughts.

Many thanks to Bookouture for an ARC.

This story is set in two main timelines. Lisa and Kirsty were about 10 years old when Lisa went missing. Soon afterwards, Kirsty’s family left the town to escape the storm that followed. Decades later, Kirsty is back again and with her return, Lisa’s memory is awakened and so begins the search for answers.

I enjoyed the 1985 storyline but almost got lost when the timeline shifted and the story took a different direction. I felt like the middle sections plateau-d and I got a bit more confused with the introduction of psychics and other characters. However, the final chapters saved the story for me. Like the first ones, they were intense, fast-paced and filled with suspense.

I am bit mixed up about this book. I have enjoyed previous titles by the author but my feelings about this one are totally up and down. I loved some sections but didn’t enjoy others. I couldn’t stop turning the pages through some chapters but then again, had to push myself to get through a few others especially in the middle of the book. I like that the story was unpredictable and I couldn’t have guessed the villain’s identity. At the same time, I am not too crazy about the ending. This ended up being an okay read for me but I was expecting it to better than okay.

Overall this is a good read. The book started off really strong. It seemed a bit too long. I started to feel that I was getting bogged down in the details. I think there would have been more suspense if the story had been a bit shorter.

Thank you to Netgalley for my copy.

#Two Little Girls #Netgalley
Wow what a brilliant book, a genius piece of writing, with all the twist and turns I never once suspected the ending. Although a serious book, I do have to say how you managed to humour in it from Lee was fantastically done. At Vics Grand reopening of the house convention. I was literally in stitches when someone was waiting for the toilet. Just awesome. This is a definite must read book, Bloody awsome

Received an ARC from Netgalley in exchange for a honest review. I voluntarily read and reviewed an advanced copy of this book. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

As Kirsty said ‘what’s wrong with people?’ That’s the question.
This book sucks you in from the start. The first 20% is in to now Lisa and Kirsten and what happened in 1985. You’re drawn to Kirsten and her story from the very first page, her friendship with Lisa, her trying to find out what happened to Lisa. I admit to staying up to 3am to finish this book and I don’t regret it. This book has you guessing during most of it. Who killed Lisa, did someone actually kill her since there was no body?Maybe someone kidnapped her, maybe she left on her own? Is Sylvia the genuine deal or is the a manipulative old fraud? Does someone close to Kirsten have something to do with Lisa?
You never want to put this book down and I would definitely recommend reading this. I would definitely read more from the author

I loved this

I enjoyed this book by Frances Wick though I found it unbelievable at times. I personally don't believe in clairvoyance so maybe this book will appeal more to s reader that does
The book does offer more such as murder, lies and mysteries that kept me interested.

This one is a bit slow paced to start, but it picks up quickly about halfway through and then there is a lot going on. Things are definitely not what they seem with this one. The characters are interesting and I still am not sure what I think of Kirsty. An overall good read.

I found this book enjoyable enough until about half way through where I started to loose interest. The story slowed down and I felt the disconnect between the first and the second half of the story. Also, quite early on I figured out much of the ending, which I also struggled with. Overall, I found that the second half lacked that tension if a psychological thriller

My thanks to Bookouture for an eARC via NetGalley of Frances Vick’s ‘Two Little Girls’ in exchange for an honest review.

In the spring of 1985 10-year-old Lisa Cook disappears and her best friend Kirsty is deeply traumatised. She is subsequently pressed by the police to give evidence that assists in the Cook family’s lodger being imprisoned. The lodger has little understanding of English and while he initially confesses he later recanted and claimed that he was coerced.

Thirty years later Kirsty remains haunted by these events yet returns to her home town to provide her younger sister with support during pregnancy. Of course, returning stirs up the past but Kirsty is determined to uncover the truth.

As usual, I am not saying too much about plot details as less is definitely more with psychological thrillers.

Vick explores the concept of how memory, especially in the young, can be faulty or manipulated. This is very evident in the way in which the case was handled by the Police. Clearly in the 1980s things were done differently in terms of police interviews of witnesses. The Press also are portrayed as very predatory.

I was immediately drawn into this novel. After a high energy start, it did slow in the middle though personally I enjoyed having characters introduced who are involved with psychic studies. In addition, Kirsty’s work with social services was useful in establishing her character and the dynamics of families on the decaying housing estates. The final chapters ramped up the nail-biting tension.

I understand from her Author’s Note that her three earlier novels are all set in this fictional unnamed city and I am certainly interested in reading more of her work

If ever there's a book of two halves it's this one. It starts out in 1985 with the two little girls from the title of the book; best friends Kirsty and Lisa who are in their last year of primary school, caught in that limbo between being children yet having the desire to be teenagers but not quite there yet.
Lisa is the loud one of the pair, the leader who comes up with all sorts of hair brained ideas - and far-fetched stories of swimming with dolphins on her holiday in Spain, of kissing boys much older than herself, and her mum's lodgers being princes from Oman who wanted to marry her and Kirsty and take them abroad to be princesses. Kirsty is pretty sure that Lisa makes all these things up but doesn't want to fall out with her but one afternoon when walking home from school the way her mum has warned her not to go, Kirsty has had enough of being taunted by Lisa for being childish and loses her temper with her, running off and leaving her in the park. She says nothing to her mum when she gets home, muddy and tearful, as she doesn't want to get in trouble for being in the park. It's not til the next day that it comes to light that Lisa is missing, and is never seen alive again.
Kirsty carries the guilt of abandoning her friend with her over the years, together with the knowledge that Lisa's mum's lodger has been charged with her abduction and murder partly down to the evidence given by Kirsty, whilst being pressured by the police. The lodger misunderstands why he has been arrested and gives a confession to what he thinks is for visa issues, then realises it is too late to retract or change his statement. The guilt eats away at her and puts restrictions on how she lives her life.
The second part of the story moves on thirty years, and this is where the book changes pace and direction quite abruptly. Having moved to London to try and escape her past, Kirsty gets a call from her sister back in their home town announcing her pregnancy and begging Kirsty to move back to help her in the early days of motherhood. One of several manipulative people in the book, Vicky wheedles her way to persuading Kirsty to agree despite her boyfriend Lee's resistance to the idea. Secrets start emerging from the past of several of the characters, including the history surrounding Vicky's friend and psychic cleanser Angela. This was the point in the story where the pace picked up but my interest waned. The coincidences were a step too far - I understand small town mentalities and the whole six degrees of separation thing, but there were too many for my brain to consider feasible.
The threads of the lives of the different characters became really quite tangled and I wasn't sure what was fact and what was fabrication which is what kept me going with this book - I wanted to know what happened to Lisa. Being as no body had ever been found, was Kirsty going to turn up with one of her tales of where she had been for years? Or was she really the victim of some terrible event that night? All sorts of scenarios were lurking in my mind, and in this respect I have to praise the author for keeping the reader in suspense right to the end of the book. Whether I can say I actually enjoyed the story I'm not too sure, but I would recommend people read it for themselves with an open mind as there is plenty to think about.

This book started with a decent concept: two friends are walking home, get in a fight, separate, and one never arrives home. Then through police manipulation, an innocent man is put in prison. Decades later, the surviving friend starts trying to figure out what really happened. Sadly, there were so many other stories going on that the basic premise of the story gets lost. I understand Ms. Vick was using some of these story lines to get characters introduced, but they took up way too much space on the page. Several times I forgot what I was reading. While I am all for good character development, maybe this one pushed it all too much to the detriment of a good story?

This is one story with one heck of a twist! Trust me when I say this.. you will literally not know what hit you at the end. I love the kind of books that have you doubting everyone from the main character down to the most insignificant supporting character, I just didn’t know what to think for the entirety of this book; I kept on suspecting everyone and believing that it would turn out in one way only for it to be a whole other different thing.

This is one twisted book, so twisted that you won’t know what to believe after all is said and done. I definitely did feel for the main character, Kirstie cause.. had I been her, I would have definitely gone crazy from everything that was happening. From losing a best friend at such a young age, being cajoled by police officers into saying something that wasn’t all that true, to being bullied by the media and people of this disturbing small town.. it was a wonder that Kirstie grew up to be a somewhat functioning adult married to a man (who also does waaay too many suspicious things that turn out to be just true coincidences), but one selfishly-childish sister brings Kirstie back to this evil small town where everything comes to a head and we finally find out what truly happened to Lisa all those years ago.

A must read if you loved Colleen Hoover’s Verity or Gone Girl!

My first book by this author and as I said before it always add a little bit of extra suspense because you have no idea what kind of style she has.

The book starts with a crime that is solved pretty fast. Good police work, right? Well ...And then suddenly the story makes a curve and you keep wondering where it is going to lead. Little by little you come closer to the revelation of the plot. I kept thinking 'aha, X must be the culprit' and a bit later 'oh now I know! It certainly is Y!' And finally the light blub moment : 'It's Z!!!'

In my opinion the structure of the story was very clever. It's starts on a high, seemingly falls a bit flat but when you look back afterwards it was the start of a high and ends on a peak.

If you feel a bit lost in the middle, do not panic. It all happens for a reason and will be worth it in the end. The middle part only want to make you keep on reading because you want to know what the connection is

.I learned a lesson here : looks can be deceptive, very deceptive.

A very good book. 5 stars.

Thank you, Frances Vick, Bookouture and Netgalley.

I found the beginning of this book to be a little dry and I kept putting it down having to force myself to continue. Once I got through the first few chapters however that is when the story really took off, and once it did it kept going keeping my intrigued. It starts out with two friends Lisa and Kristy. Lisa is known to embellish the truth sometimes so one day she talks about her new boyfriend Krisy doesn't see anything interesting about it, however when Lisa doesn't return home that day and the police get involved that is when things take a turn for the worst. I really liked the idea of this story however I found that the deeper I got into it the less clear and almost mundane the story became. I think that it just was to much of a mystery which sometimes isn't for me. I am very glad that I got the chance to check out this story however. Man this story was such a roller coaster the ending I LOVED, I just wish that the other parts could have been as interesting there were to many lulls and dry spells in this story,
even though they were punctuated with amazing segments it just wasn't consistent enough to hold my interest.

DNF I just could not get into this one with the young girl's dialect. Thank you to Netgalley for the ARC.

What an excellent thriller! Started off kinda creepy so I always know I am going to love those type of novels! Frances Vick did an excellent job with this one and I cannot wait to read more from her. A must read if you love thrillers!

TWO LITTLE GIRLS by Frances Vick really had the potential to be a great book...but, for me, it simply failed to deliver. I wouldn't say I was enjoying it - more waiting for it to get better - till about halfway through when it it just went on a completely different tangent and simply lost the plot. I struggled with the second half with such an unbelievable ending. I was really disappointed because I had high expectations for this book, based on its synopsis. I didn't hate the book but I didn't love it either. I was just simply disappointed. It could have been so much better.

Beginning in 1985, Kirsty and Lisa are best friends and are inseparable. But with Lisa's penchant for exaggeration, her stories are so far-fetched - particularly the one where she was engaged to their lodger, Tokki, and was going away with him to become a princess - makes it difficult for Kirsty to know what is real and what isn't. She has learned to believe very little of what Lisa says but whenever she has tried to confront her about them it only leads to crying and temper tantrums. Then one day, Lisa admits that her and Tokki are not together, never have been, and that it was all in her head. Kirsty, frustrated at Lisa's constant and blatant lies, is hurt and confused and doesn't know what to believe any more. The girls have a row...and Kirsty walks off home, leaving Lisa by the canal.

Two days later, Lisa's mum rings Kirsty's in a panic. Has Kirsty seen Lisa? She never came home from school, disappearing without a trace. Kirsty is shocked, unable to believe it is really happening. Maybe it's one of Lisa's games and she expects Lisa will be at school the next day. But she isn't. Or the next. Then when Kirsty's name is linked with Lisa's disappearance, the police subject Kirsty to lengthy questioning, coercing her into giving the answers they want. After the constant badgering, Kirsty becomes confused with what she really remembers and agrees that she saw Tokki at the park where she left Lisa. When Tokki is arrested, not understanding English and without an interpreter, he confesses - belieiving he is confessing to an expired student visa, not murder.

Thirty years later, Kirsty has moved to London and is married to Lee. But the lies she told when questioned by the police haunt her - as does Lisa's disappearance. The fact that her body has never been found only compounds those memories with constant nightmares, with Kirsty unable to know what was real and what wasn't.

When Lisa's younger sister Vic (who was just a 3 year old at the time of Lisa's disappearance) falls pregnant and needs bedrest, she suddenly decides she needs her big sister to move in with her. "Just until the baby arrives" she tells Lee. Then after baby Milo is born, Vic presses Kirsty to stay to help her adjust. "Just until she adjusts" she tell Lee. But being so close to her hometown stirs up old memories again, and Kirsty decides to find out what really happened to Lisa all those years ago. She takes a flat and gets a job at a local hospital with the intention of Lee moving up from London when he has finished his jobs and they buy a house. But Lee is apprehensive, suddenly not as supportive as he always has been. Vic, on the other hand, decides she doesn't need Kirsty as much now with her mother and baby group and her new found interest in Angela Bright, the renowned psychic.

And this is where the story just goes downhill.

Becoming embroiled with two psychics - Angela and her elderly mother Sylvia - Kirsty soon discovers things aren't as they seem. Mother and daughter don't get along. Sylvia lives in an old ramshackle house in impoverished conditions. Angela is rich, making her wealth as TV psychic in the USA, home to settle her uncle's estate. But Kirsty is drawn to the kindly old Sylvia and sees a kind of mother figure in her. When Sylvia offers to read her cards, the results leave Kirsty questioning who she can trust. Who can she believe? Can she find out what really happened to Lisa? And can she trust her husband after discovering he has been hiding a secret?

TWO LITTLE GIRLS is not what I expected. Although Kirsty and Lisa were best friends I can't imagine why. Lisa was horrible, prone to exaggeration and a blatant liar. But to be fair, they were only 10 years old and at that age, they do have the propensity to be fanaticists and live in a world of make believe. But Lisa was also bossy and controlling, even at her young age, often going off in a huff or throwing a tantrum when Kirsty challenged her. I honestly didn't like Lisa as I could see so much of the bully in her that I was subjected to at that same age and into my teens.

Kirsty's sister Vic I much preferred when she was "baby Vicky". She seemed to be as demanding as Lisa was and incredibly shallow. The whole world just had to revolve around Vic and if it didn't, she moved on to where it did. Angela wasn't very likable whilst her mother Sylvia was. Lee started off supportive as Kirsty's strength and then seemed to become more secretive. why he just didn't tell her his "secret" in the beginning, I've no idea. And Kirsty? I couldn't make up my mind about her.

In the end, the book just seemed to drone on to a ridiculous ending. I was very disappointed as this had the potential to be a fantastic and intriguing thriller. I found I had to force myself to keep going - and if a book does that to me, it's not really worth the time.

However, having said that, this is my first book by Frances Vick and it won't stop me from trying another of her books...in the hope one of those would be better.

I would like to thank #FrancesVick, #NetGalley and #Bookouture for an ARC of #TwoLittleGirls in exchange for an honest review.

I dnf'd Two Little Girls. The book was rambly and hard to follow. I was not able to connect with the characters. The writing left me confused. I often had to re read passages because the wording did not flow easily.

I received this book "Two Little Girls" from NetGalley and all opinions expressed are my own. This book was okay. It was really the last part of the book that kept my attention more, so I bought it up one star. Overall I didn't care for the story and didn't think the words flowed smoothly. Kinda dragged for me.

I really enjoyed this book and am filled with somewhat mixed emotions on it. The beginning was REALLY good and roped me in right away. The middle of this book plateaued for me and in losing that momentum, it made it difficult for me to delve into it every waking second. I am not implying it was a bad read in the middle by any means. I just found it slow moving. The writing was wonderful and there were some twists and turns that were worthy of a good jaw drop. The book did eventually pick up its momentum again and the ending was delivered with a pretty hand clapping good worthy twist.
Thank you to #NetGalley, #Bookouture and the author for my opportunity to read this ARC in exchange for my honest review. I wish our star rating system had half stars. I really believe this book is somewhere between a 3.5 and a 4.
I would go 3.8 stars.