Gretchen is a fantastic thriller that I could not put down. Wow. A must read for the year. Great writing and characters.

Whoa. Just, whoa. I feel like I just read at least 3 different books for the price of one. Well, I mean it was free from NetGalley, but still, what a deal! So many shady characters, so many good characters that I waited for some of them to go bad! Do NOT miss this book. Thank you to #netgalley for making sure I didn't!

Gretchen, Gretchen, Gretchen...what do you do when a girl like Gretchen wants to be your friend? What do you do when you've been on the run your entire life? What do you do when you don't know who to trust?

Under strict orders from mom, she's not supposed to "engage" with anyone when they arrive in their 11th state and she better not take out those colored contacts to reveal her startling violet eyes again. Lucy is stuck between a haunted house and a hard place. But by morning, she is allowed to be friendly with Gretchen, the creepy little neighbor girl. She is allowed to get a job at the local gourmet grocery. But this comes at a cost, her mother is no longer speaking to her. It's a long terrifying summer for Lucy as her life turns upside down.

Yes, there are minor flaws. I felt the chapters focusing on Mother took us out too far out of the main storyline. There was certainly a lot of coincidence involved. But holy crow this was the best walk through a haunted house I've had in years! Sometimes it takes excellent writing like Shannon's to make me realize it's not the destination, but the eerie journey that I enjoy the most.

But, is it weird that I think I'd really like one of those cute apple print sundresses?

"Nobody wins when I want something." "I always get what I want."
A mother/daughter duo on the run, with father/daughter landlords with a obsession with puzzles and and a lot to hide, this book was down right crazy. Told through the points of view of the mother and Lucy, this novel is full of secrets, lies and deception. The writing style and the writing itself was exquisite with such detail that you felt you were expierencing it as it was happening. I literally was holding my breath through this book and my heart was beating out of my chest. Full of twists and turns that you will never see coming, you will not want to put this book down. A thrill to say the least, it has my skin crawling with one of the creepiest characters I have ever come across. All I could say as I finished this book was WHAT??!!

I want to thank netgalley and the publisher for an ARC in exchange for my honest review.

Strange landlords and tenants with secrets, Gretchen will give you some nightmarish and sinister moments that will make your skin crawl.

The beginning catches the suspenseful feel of a mother and daughter on the run. Someone tried to kidnap Lucy when she was two, and after her mother gets her back, the two have been on the move for the last fifteen years, never too long in one place, always taking precautions to keep from being recognized.

At fifteen Lucy is exhausted with the need to keep on the run, and even if she understands her mother's paranoia, Lucy is tired of never having friends or stability.

After failing to maintain all of her mother's rules at their last location, Lucy must abandon another school. The two end up in a small New Hampshire town, and Lucy falls in love with their prospective rental. The landlord has a few rules and boundaries that Lucy doesn't mind, but that make her mother reluctant to sign the rental agreement.

After a bit of a power struggle, Lucy gets her way. She's tired of running, more and frustrated with her mother's refusal to provide information about their circumstances, and eager for a permanence she's never had. But even though she's able to force her mother into staying, Lucy knows their landlord and his daughter are...weird.

I didn't see the unexpected twist until the author wanted me to.

Gretchen would make a great Halloween read (it's seriously creepy). Or you can go ahead and read it now and use the chills to combat summer heat!

I've never read Shannon Kirk before, but now I'm interested in In the Vines and Method 15/33. I suspect they might make good R.I.P. Challenge books, but I doubt I'll wait that long. :)

Read in June. Blog review scheduled for July 7.

NetGalley/Thomas & Mercer
Thriller. July 23, 2019. Print length: 353 pages.

Thank you to NetGalley, Shannon Kirk and Thomas & Mercer for the free e-book in exchange for an honest review.

Even since Lucy was a toddler she has been on the run with her mother. She has never understood the reasons behind all the lies and running, but she does understand the rules; no locking eyes with strangers, no letting down your guard and always be ready to run. Finally after thirteen years, their newest hideaway seems perfect. An isolated place in the New Hampshire woods they share with their landlord and his daughter. Gretchen soon becomes Lucy’s first real friend, but Gretchen and her father have their own secrets.

This is not at all what I expected it to be, but in the best way possible. I went into this book pretty much blind thinking that there was only one shocking thing that was going to come out of this novel and I could see it coming with little Gretchen; but there are so many twists and turns to this novel that I don’t want to give away! I really enjoyed Lucy and how she led such a sheltered life that things that seemed weird to us wasn’t so strange to her. I found the first bit of this novel to be a slower burn, but once you hit the halfway point, man does this book ramp up! I was shocked by all the twists that Kirk managed to fit into this novel and I really enjoyed how different this book was from all the others I have read!

Out July 23rd!

I have mixed feelings about this one. I really liked the characters and I thought the concept was very cool. I also really enjoyed the setting. However, the story was very predictable. It’s pretty obvious that “Lucy’s” mother isn’t actually her mother which is why they are on the run. It was also a given that Laura was her real mom at the first mention of her character. I wasn’t a fan of the pacing either. Some parts were slow and repetitive. I feel like this would make a great read for someone who doesn’t read a lot from this genre. I don’t think it was a bad book, but it mostly wasn’t for me.

<b>”Nobody wins when I want something.”</b>

Holy guacamole.

I read someone else saying that this author is the queen of WTF and after reading this book I whole heartedly agree!

Here’s some thoughts:

1. WTF
2. WTF
3. WTF

So, mother and daughter are on the run. Hiding out. Staying out of sight.... just in case. You can’t be too careful when there’s monsters lurking in your closet.

In comes the new landlords. Holy buckets of crazy. I was so unnerved by this father daughter pair that I had bad dreams when I finally put the book down. I kid you not. Totally blaming it all on Gretchen.

By this point, things are even more strange if you can imagine, but you can’t because hello coo-coo town, and finally the story starts to come together and we start to see slivers of the truth.

The truth, in all it’s crazy town glory, is everything I’d hoped it would be and more.

I can’t elaborate. Just read it. Be weirded out. You’re going to devour it and scratch your head with wtf’s all night long. Happy reading!


PS. Get you a Jenny. A true Jenny. Everyone needs one of those.

Thank you to NetGalley and the Publisher for allowing me to read an ARC of Gretchen.

This book was a little slow for me in the beginning, but once I got going it was great! This was a well written and creepy book that had me wondering what the heck was going on! The ending was amazing fast paced and not far fetched. This was my first book by Shannon Kirk and now I want to read her other books!

Lucy has always felt like a pariah. Ever since she was a toddler, she and her mother have been on the run, never staying in any one place for long. Now, her mother has settled in the wilds of New Hampshire where they share a home with a man and his daughter, Gretchen. Finally, Lucy has someone her own age to talk to, share secrets and laugh with. But it soon becomes obvious that Lucy’s new home is anything but the safe haven she and her mother thought it was. Kids and teenagers make some of the creepiest of villains, maybe because we expect them to be so innocent. Kirk’s book will make the hairs on the back of your neck stand right up