Thanks to Net Galley and Bloomsbury Publishing for an ARC of this book in exchange for a review. 
This is my first book by this author, I will definitely be reading more.   A twisty thriller packed with suspense, the pages turn themselves. 
How far would we go to protect our comfortable life, to keep the  family unit together, would we be prepared to risk everything?  
It starts with a book club, all the members being mummies.  The newest member, Angelica  Roux, arrives looking like a model and it’s not long before she has taken over, she wants the woman to play a game ‘Never Have I Ever’ 
There are certainly lots of secrets to be revealed, blackmail, gambles, with the stakes being high. 
Amy has a lot of secrets and this exotic new neighbour Angelica Roux seems to know her darkest moments. 
Highly recommend 4.5 stars.

I wanted to enjoy this book so much, because the cover was so enticing.  However, I struggled to like the characters or to root for them.  The last 20% of the book wasn't as enjoyable as the beginning.  I couldn't get into it.

I enjoyed this book very much - the story twisted and turned and I had no idea how it was going to end.  I was really rooting for Amy and despised Roux. The descriptions of diving were appealing and the outcome was very satisfactory.  Recommended.

Well worth a read! Think Desperate housewives with a more sinister feeling. A few well written twists throughout, will keep you guessing right up until the end.

Personally, I could not finish this book - it felt a bit derivative and like other crime novels I have read.  I was not sympathetic to the characters and so I could not recommend this novel.

A new woman shows up at book club. She takes over and suggest a game - Never Have I Ever. It's clear she knows everyone's secrets already and will do whatever she can to expose them.

I struggled to engage with the characters in this novel. Amy' has a dark past that she's trying to keep hidden and Roux is doing everything she can to blackmail her. How long it will it takes for all the secrets to come out?

This is a book that starts out slowly but once it's got you hooked it doesn't let go until the end. Told by Amy, a first time mum with a loving husband & a stepdaughter. Her life is fairly ordinary, but she likes it that way. At the regular Book Club meeting, held in her house, a new neighbour arrives & takes over completely. Roux hi-jacks the gathering, getting many very drunk & playing the game' Never have I ever'. Quite apart from getting people to admit to things Amy knows will hurt others, Roux hints that she knows something about Amy's past.

Amy's story goes back to her teenage years- there is definitely something she doesn't want anyone to know. How far will she go to stop her secret being revealed? The battle between the two very strong women is totally gripping. It is also more complicated than it seems at first. 

This is definitely the best thriller I have read this year & will be telling everyone to read it. Thanks to Netgalley & the publisher for letting me read & review this brilliant book!

I will be honest and say that I read chapter one and I did wonder if this book was for me.  It all seemed a little fluffy and a little bit missing something.  I didn't grip me.  I considered not carrying one however I rarely not finish a book and therefore cracked on with chapter two.  I am so glad I did as I was plunged into the darkening web of the story and was hooked.

The game never have I ever, which I have to say, my children love to play leads to a lot of secrets being unearthed and the twists just start coming thick and fast.

When a stranger gate crashes what should be a quiet book club meeting Amy is instantly on edge.  As the alcohol begins to flow the atmosphere begins to change.

I don't want to give away the plot on this one but deep buried secrets are about to be revealed.

Reading this book was almost like watching a high action movie and once it had me hooked I was lost in it.

Despite the slow start once the action started it did so in abundance and I was left flipping the pages as quickly as I could.

This is like icy fingers on your spine- a real page turner, fast paced, and eerie. I loved the who will win aspect of this thriller., who will come out on top? A brilliant read.

Lots of twists and turns in this imaginative thriller.  A bit far fetched at times but definitely kept me on the edge of my seat.  Well worth a read.

This novel is described as fast paced, and it is. I read through it quickly, wanting to know what would happen. There are a lot of characters,.but they're crafted well, and mostly believable. I didn't connect with any of them, and at times it felt a little extreme. However it had a unique take on a trope that is quite common for this genre, so that was refreshing. A good read.

Amy Whey is proud of her ordinary life and the simple pleasures that come with it—teaching diving lessons, baking cookies for new neighbors, helping her best friend, Charlotte, run their local book club. Her greatest joy is her family: her devoted professor husband, her spirited fifteen-year-old stepdaughter, her adorable infant son. And, of course, the steadfast and supportive Charlotte. But Amy’s sweet, uncomplicated life begins to unravel when the mysterious and alluring Angelica Roux arrives on her doorstep one book club night.

This book is shocking…dark…twisted…addictive. It felt like a movie that played out at an incredibly fast pace and introduced characters with extremely strong personalities. It starts when a new member shows up at a book club…nobody wanted to say it was getting a bit samey…so they were all secretly pleased when Roux turned up. Until she started to unearth their deepest secrets…

What if you had a secret so profound that you spent your entire life trying to hide it? And what if the new mom on the block decides she wants to expose that secret!?

There were some fantastic twists in this book – and I got to the end without quite working out what was going on which is always a bonus. It could have gone in many directions. Psychological suspense is one of my favourite genres and so to find a book where it’s done well is brilliant.

This was the first of Joshilyn’s books that I’ve read and I don’t think it will be the last. It’s always nice to discover an author who has lots of books already out there that I haven’t discovered yet!

Reading the synopsis of this book my initial thought was ‘this has been done hundreds of time before.’
Main character (Amy) is a suburban housewife with a loving husband, a feisty teenage step-daughter and sweet new baby. 
Enter the new neighbour (Roux) who seems to have details of a terrible secret that Amy has been living with since her adolescence and which, if exposed, will tear her perfect world apart.
Then I got to thinking ‘this has been done so many times before because it makes great reading.’
I loved all the characters in this book- even the ones I hated! 
As Amy and Roux play out their twisted and dangerous game others become involved, juicy secrets are uncovered and dirty laundry is aired. The pace quickens and this book turns into a roller coaster ride with twists and turns galore. 
It was a page-turner that had me guessing right up until the end. 
I’d like to thank NetGalley for sending me a copy of this book that was released on August 8

This book kept me wanting more so I read it quite quickly. The ending was not how I imagined it would go and was a nice surprise.
It centres around a game of truth where people have to confess what they have done that was so awful and try and compete against each other for the one that has done the most awful thing.
The only trouble iis that the person who started this game has an hidden agenda and has no trouble using what she has heard to her advantage.
I thoroughly enjoyed this book and look forward to reading more from this author.

Never Have I Ever was published on 8th August 2019 by Raven Books and is available in hardcover, audio and ebook formats. I read and received a free eARC of this book but that has in no way influenced my review.

It’s not often I read a ‘teaser’ or sample of a book. I prefer to read the entire thing from start to finish, at my own (some would say, very slow) pace. So when a teaser of Never Have I Ever appeared on NetGalley I planned to walk on by. But that didn’t actually happen. I found myself drawn to this book so I broke the habit of a lifetime and downloaded the first chapter. Looking for something to kill an hour one day in between moving the kids from one after school activity to another, I started to read my short snippet of Never Have I Ever. I was instantly drawn into the world of these women with the interloper in their midst. The exotic Roux who usurped the mumsy book club leader, Charlotte, and made herself very much at home in Amy’s basement having recently moved into the local rental. Roux instantly ruffles a number of feathers, flatters a number of the more timid women and makes her mark on the group. But as the alcohol flows some of their most closely guarded secrets are revealed, all for the momentary thrill of shocking their peers. A game of ‘never have I ever’ takes a more sinister twist and Amy is left wondering exactly what mysterious Roux knows about her past. And that’s where the first chapter ended (!) and I was left hankering after the rest of the story. Thankfully my NetGalley request was approved shortly after that so I didn’t have to wait *too* long for the rest of Roux and Amy’s story!

And what a story it is! This is a wonderful multi-layered book and I was completely drawn in to the lives of the characters. I loved Amy and her sass. I desperately wanted her to succeed in her plan to win the game and keep her dark past hidden from her family and maintain the life she had built for herself. But I also adored Roux who is darkness and wickedness personified. Good..ish versus evil. The battle is well and truly ON in Never Have I Ever and I savoured every last minute of it. This is an engrossing book with a brilliant plot but the characters are everything. If you don’t feel invested in Amy’s plight by the end of the book then I’m afraid you’ve done it all wrong.

Would I recommend this book? I would, yes! But brace yourself for the unexpected. I don’t want to say anything else about the plot as I already feel I’ve said too much. However, the ending is perfect. I couldn’t work out how the author was going to finish this Battle Royale between these two brilliant adversaries but Jackson does it with absolute aplomb. One of the most fascinating psychological suspense novels I have read in a long time. Amy and Roux have made themselves at home in my memory and I don’t think they’ll be moving out anytime soon.

I chose to read and review an eARC of Never Have I Ever. The above review is my own unbiased opinion.

4.5 stars out of 5

Raven books is the only imprint of any publisher where I have to read EVERY SINGLE BOOK and this was just another stonking great dark twisty read.

Never Have I Ever read a book that has flummoxed me!

Never Have I Ever been so shocked with my jaw hitting the floor so quickly and so often!

Never Have I Ever been so absorbed in the characters and worried for someone as much as I had for Amy.

So I would be completely drunk by now if I played this game!!


I really did not know what to expect with this book, what I did not expect was twist after twist after twist. It is very cleverly done and maybe I should have seen somethings coming but I really didn’t, it bamboozled my little brain! It is a simple game but when played with the wrong people it becomes a very dangerous game of cat and mouse.

Amy, Oh Amy, what secrets do you hold and why are you hell-bent on hiding your past. That is one of the many questions you ask yourself when you sit there flicking the pages at breakneck speed as you want to uncover ALL the secrets!

A normal book club held at Amy’s house and run by Charlotte has been boycotted by Roux. The glamorous Roux, the woman behind the game, getting the women drunk discussing their spirit animals instead of the book. Leading to a very dark game of Never Have I Ever.

I loved how the story evolved, secrets are revealed so slowly and god when the bombshells are dropped, they are dropped so hotly! I find my jaw drop so many times, how can one book do this to me!! I followed Amy’s life with so much intensity as I could not foresee how she could get out of the situation Roux has placed her in.

My emotions were all over the place with this book, the past left me broken, whereas the present had me all over the place. I was fraught with tension, my nerves were on edge and I kept thinking about this book long after I put it down. You are drip-fed the information so slowly, like the slowest, and when you do get information the author whizzes you away from the revelation to ramp up the intensity of the situation we are in.

This is the first book I have read by Jackson and I really do not think this will be my last. Her writing style is so easy to read, enticing you from the very beginning to not put the book down, I was addicted. Teasing you with the promise of secrets but not just Amys’ secrets….EVERYONES! I mean who does not love a game like this, where you discover so many scandalous pieces of information. Plus the shocks, well they were shocking! The things she writes, well I did not see them coming. This is a HUGE game of cat and mouse, but it is not always clear who is the cat and who is the mouse. My only advice is, just do not play this game ever!

This was certainly one of those reads I couldn’t put down! Fantastically written and I couldn’t get enough! Those twists at the end!!! Oh. My. God!!!! 

Definitely a must read!!!

Well there are so many twists in this book.  Will Roux win the game, will Amy win the game.  I read this book really quickly as I needed to know the outcome which was how I hoped it would happen but up until the final pages was not sure and I did not expect the way it did end which was a pleasure to be part of.  It proves that what you do in your teens can follow you through life and make you secretive without really doing it on purpose.  Amy led a life until her mid thirties which I am sure many people have done and then made the perfect life she wanted until a lady named Roux entered her world unexpectedly and forcefully.  We never know when our world can collapse and what we would do and I thought the writer of this novel kept us on the edge of our seats until the end.  In another world I think Amy and Roux could be friends as they were both good at balancing their thoughts to make the other rethink their strategy at times and I could not guess who would deal with it best. The twist with Charlotte – I did not see that coming at all. This was a great read and thank you Netgalley for the opportunity.  This is a book I could easily read again in the future

I read this very quickly as I just had to know what happened!

I was intrigued by the premise of the book - a game of revealing secret truths at a book club. The introduction of Roux was clever and the tension built up from her arrival. 
I liked reading about the character of Amy in the present and cared about what happened to her and her family - I loved the relationship between her and her step-daughter. 
The tangle that involves several of the characters was brilliant and I was fascinated to read the twists and turns of the plot. 
Highly recommended. I would definitely read another book by this author. 

Thank you to Net Galley for an ARC in exchange for an honest review.