Ooo this was a juicy read. Full of suspense and intrigue and twists that weren't predictable. Amy Whey has built a good life for herself, but we learn that she harbours a very dark secret. When Roux appears in her neighbourhood and infiltrates her friendship group with a twisted game based loosely on Never Have I Ever, Amy realises her past is closing in on her. Determined to protect her loved ones from the collateral damage that would ensue should the truth emerge, a cat and mouse saga begins. Roux, a damaged, cold and clever master manipulator appears to hold all the power in her hands. But she picked on the wrong gal this time. Amy was complex, flawed and wholly worthy of the term heroine, and without giving away any spoilers, the ending was sooooo satisfying. A great read for those who like a good thriller, less cliche than some in this genre and thoroughly enjoyable.

I really enjoyed this , it had me hooked straight away . Amy is happily married with a young baby and a teenage step daughter that she enjoys a great relationship with . During their book club a new neighbor comes to join who knows things about Amy's past . She sets in motion a game of cat and mouse that gets more and more twisted and dangerous . As we get the story both in the present and in Amy's past secrets long buried are coming to the surface . Both Amy and Roux have secrets they would rather keep hidden and as Amy fights back things get even more tense between the two women . A great read . Perfect holiday read

Thanks to the publisher & NetGalley for providing me with an advance copy for review!

Amy Whey has a past that she's worked at forgetting her entire adult life. And she's been incredibly successful at it. Until Angelica Roux moves in down the street. And so begins a game of cat and mouse; each one tries to outsmart the other in order to get what they want, what they NEED. Who will win?

There are so many parts of this book that I loved. There were some incredible personalities, a fun scuba diving tie in, and a good plot. However, it didn't pull me in as much as thrillers usually do. I found myself able to go days without picking up the book, which is totally not normal for this genre. So 3.5 stars from me.

Most students or ex-students will have played Never Have I Ever and I was intrigued to see how Joshilyn Jackson would take this simple game and turn it into the basis for a novel. What we have is a novel that takes the reader to the very edge - full of mind games, questions and dangerous situations.

As central characters, Amy and Roux are fascinating. They both have secrets and I was keen to find out what they were. However, it quickly became clear that one was willing to go further than the other to uncover them. It was incredibly easy to get to know Amy and Roux and in particular, I found Amy very relatable. In contrast, Roux became a character I loved to hate. This made the tension between them utterly compelling.

There are several twists and turns in Never. Have I Ever, some of which are very shocking. I was completely immersed in Amy and Roux's life and couldn't wait to see what happened next.

Never have I ever is a dark thriller about hidden secrets that you want to keep hidden.
Amy has a simple and happy life, but when new neighbour Roux turns up and wanted to play a twisted game of ‘never have I ever’ things start to become darker for Amy.

A tense thriller, overall a great read.

Never Have I Ever is a psychological thriller which had me completely hooked from the first chapter. Amy is a housewife who teaches diving and is currently on maternity leave. She helps her friend Char to run a book club, which the other mums in her neighbourhood also come to (I think more drinking than reading goes on, to be honest!). At one of these meetings, a new person arrives. Roux is renting a local house for a short period of time, and gatecrashes the club, taking over entirely. She starts a game of ‘Never Have I Ever’, uncovers some of the other mums secrets, and lets Amy know in no uncertain terms that she knows her deepest, darkest secret. And Roux wants to be paid to keep that secret. But Amy isn’t going to just hand over the money.

I loved this - Roux is a great villain, and Amy is an intriguing character. I loved how the lines between good and bad were blurred where Amy was concerned, but she always remains a good mum and Stepmother throughout.

My heart was in my mouth pretty much the whole time - I warn you, there is no let up at all in this book at all!

I will most definitely be looking for more books by Joshilyn Jackson!

Many thanks to NetGalley for my copy of this fabulous book, and to The Pigeonhole for giving me the incentive to read it!

# Never Have I Ever #
Not a bad read, it’s not the best but not the worst. This is what I personally would call my not much to read book. In parts I thought it was going to pick up. I just didn’t grab me. Which is s shame really the storyline was a pretty good one. Overall o thought a bit slow

I read this book with Pigeonhole and despite almost giving up on it during the second stave, I am so glad that I stuck with it. It is a very slow-burn at the beginning and the characters don't come over too well, but as the story unfolded, I found myself well and truly drawn in!

Amy is living a quiet life in a nice neighboorhood, when a new tenant at the local Airbnb turns up on her doorstep. Roux then turns the regular book club meeting, and Amy's peaceful life, on it's head and what follows is a story of lies, secrets, twists & turns and lots of hold-your-breath moments.
This is a brilliant psychological thriller and although it is my first read of Joshilyn's work, I will be looking out for more!

My thanks to Bloomsbury Publishing U.K./Raven Books for an eARC via NetGalley of Joshilyn Jackson’s ‘Never Have I Ever’ in exchange for an honest review.

Double thanks are due as I also participated in The Pigeonhole’s group read and was able to share my thoughts and comments with other readers as we read the daily chapters. For this kind of tense psychological thriller, being able to share responses with others was a great bonus.

Set in Pensacola, Florida it opens as a book group meeting is being held at Amy Whey’s home. Amy, our narrator, is a forty-two year old suburban housewife: happily married to Davis, an economics professor, a mother to eight-month old Oliver, a step-mother to fifteen-year old Maddie, and best friend to Charlotte, a younger woman. She has a simple, happy life that she has no idea is about to be shattered.

A newcomer, who is renting a local Airbnb property, arrives at her front door to join the gathering. She is extremely glamorous and as Amy observes: “She smiled, and I had no premonition as I smiled back. She didn’t look like my own destruction to me. She looked  .  .  . the word was “cool.””.

It’s an amazing start to a nail-biting domestic noir. It doesn’t take long for Roux to reveal her predatory nature. First, she dominates the meeting to the point of rudeness and then instigates a seemingly innocent game as the title indicates. We quickly learn that Amy has a vulnerability in the form of a long held secret. A secret that Roux appears to know.

No further plot details to avoid spoilers but trust me there was some fantastic twists before its final pages. Both Amy and Roux were brilliant characters who were brought vividly to life.

Although on hold during her pregnancy and Oliver’s infancy, Amy works as a diving instructor, which allowed for some great underwater scenes. No surprise to read that Joshilyn had researched this aspect of her novel by learning to scuba dive as these scenes were so vivid.

A totally gripping and well written thriller. Highly recommended.

Never Have I Ever is an intriguing, engaging read. I liked the story and the premise and will look to read more by this new to me author.

i have never met anyone like the women in this book thank goodness but I do feel I’ve maybe se3n them in American teen movies as they seem shallow or awful brats. I wondered after I had finished it if I might have enjoyed it more as an audio book so I could hear it in an American accent. There were many many red herrings some of which added to the plot but a few that were unnecessary distractions. I didn’t expect some of the difficult content I.e. child abuse and this put me off even more.

So I read the first chapter or so and was considering giving up on the book. However, decided to carry on. Oh my goodness I’m so glad I did. What a fabulous book. Lots of twists and things you just aren’t expecting. Joshilyn Hill really develops the characters of Amy and Roux. This is a story of blackmail and turning the tables on the blackmailer.
Please give this book a go you won’t be disappointed

A game of cat and mouse or rather cat and cat. Amy Has so much to lose she has to play Roux game and try and outsmart her to keep the life she has made for herself and keep her past at the bottom of the ocean. I found this book a really struggle until the 70% mark and then I was hooked until the end. This book takes a while to get going but once it does wow!

A strong attraction of this book is that it has an original plot. That is refreshing in itself. The author draws strong and believable characters and has an important talent for releasing further bits of information gradually throughout the book. That keeps you reading. The basic tale is of a woman,Amy,with a guilt complex about her actions as a teenager. What she did comes back to haunt her and she is tormented by a new neighbour,Roux,who has somehow managed to discover the secret neither her husband or friends know about. But Roux is not what she seems either and Amy starts to seek out the past of her antagonist. It is well written,sad at times but makes a gripping read.

This was a tense American psychological suspense novel by an author who was new to me - I hadn’t heard of her either, but I note that she has written about ten other books. I’ve been avoiding this genre lately but saw some glowing early reviews from trusted GR friends and was intrigued by the summary, so was pleased to be approved by NetGalley.

Amy Whey lives a happy middle class life in Pensacola, Florida, with her loving husband, step-daughter and new baby. When a sultry stranger called Roux gate-crashes the neighbourhood Book Club at Amy’s house, and proceeds to get the housewives drunk, embarrassing secrets are revealed, but somehow Roux knows that Amy is hiding something much worse.

This was a well-written and plotted thriller with some cleverly executed twists. While Amy’s secret was not hard to guess, the game played by the two women - one handicapped by a strong moral code, the other completely shameless - made for an entertaining read, and I had no idea how it would work out.

I liked the relationship between Amy and Madison, and the diving scenes - it’s been a long time since I’ve scuba dived but it made me want to jump straight back in. Amy’s body image and eating issues also felt realistic.
My thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for the arc in exchange for an honest review. Never Have I Ever is published on 08.08.19.

This starts as an all American light hearted social story with members of the group either annoyed or dazzled by a new member. It then gradually becomes darker as the new member of the group shows her hand and her purpose becomes clear and frightening.
I did enjoy it and I felt that the action that the heroine takes to resolve her problem were possible which is not always the case. She reaches a satisfying conclusion for her own difficulty and manages to resolve her friendship and family issues too!
I recommend this book.

I've just finished reading this - I literally couldn't put it down. What an absolute stunner. absolutely bowled over by the depth of characters, the scuba diving - not too technical, but it adds richness to the storyline, and the plot twists. What a corker.

New author for me and I just couldn't get in to this book sorry didn't enjoy the writing style at all

What if you had a secret that you had kept for most of your life, and what if someone did find out and threatens to tell? Would you play the game?

This book had me hooked right from the start, and got even better as it went on. It is a clever and original dark and disturbing psychological thriller with a crazy plot! Perhaps a little far-fetched but I’m happy this is fiction so don’t really have a problem with that. There were twists galore and the final reveal made me gasp!

I loved Amy, the protagonist, and was rooting for her all the way through. The relationship between her and her step-daughter Maddy was wonderful. Roux is an amazing villain, who I really hated. And I felt so sorry for Luca.

This was the first book I have read by Joshlyn Jackson but it won’t be the last,

What an emotional roller coaster this book turned out to be!

Amy is a housewife and new mother to a small baby son, and stepmother to a teenage daughter. Her life is in order. She bakes cookies, cleans the house and works part time as a dive instructor. Once a month she hosts the Brain Dead Mummy’s Book Club, run by her best friend Charlotte, whose life is just as ordinary and unexciting as Amy’s. Until the new neighbour invites herself to their latest book club meeting and takes over proceedings. Exotic and extrovert, Angela Roux pours the drinks and invites the tipsy neighbourhood mums to play a game of “Never Have I Ever”, revealing their deepest darkest secrets. Amy is alarmed. It’s not just that some ugly truths come out that the women will surely regret sharing, but Amy herself has been harbouring a deep dark secret she has hidden for years. She is sure that Roux knows things about her that no one else does, not even her husband. But how? And what does Roux want from her?

There is nothing more delicious than dark family secrets, and the length people will go to in order to keep them hidden. Soon Roux and Amy are entangled in a dangerous twisted game where there can only be one winner – and one person who has a lot to lose. And neither woman is prepared to be that person.

For me, the strength of NEVER HAVE I EVER lay in its characters, who drove this story for me. Amy may initially seem like a mousy housewife, but we soon get to know how strong and determined she can be when her future is at stake. And Roux – well, she was just plain evil. This was one of those books where I was constantly putting myself in the main character’s shoes, thinking: what would I do in her place? What would be the best course of action? As Amy becomes more and more entangled in Roux’s web, I feared for her and absolutely couldn’t put the book down. What a page turner!

I loved how the battle of wits between Amy and Roux became more dangerous as time went on, each woman determined to win. Both characters were well drawn and fascinating in their own right – the housewife with a secret and the blackmailer. I was firmly in camp Amy, but I secretly admired Roux’s confidence and her audacity. Who hasn’t met women like her, the sort of person who owns the whole room as soon as she enters, all eyes drawn to her, the extrovert, the life of the party. Confident and cocky. Unstoppable. Ruthless.

Apart from this battle of wits, I also enjoyed the side stories the author offers here – the friendship between Madison and Roux’s son Luca. The stunning dive scenes. Amy’s and Charlotte’s friendship. There were quite a few twists along the way I did not see coming, and a more sinister and disturbing one at the end that shocked me pulled the rug out from under me.

If you love character driven mysteries that are based on secrets, lies and deceit, and enjoy a good battle of wills then this book is definitely for you! Despite the slower pace that the term “character driven” suggests, the underlying tension and menace overshadowing the story had me at the edge of my seat the whole time whilst reading this book, and I could not put it down. It’s definitely one of my favourite thrillers this year, and one I have no qualms recommending to all lovers of the genre. I look forward to reading more from this author in future.