This book captured my interest from the first page until the last. I had read The Rumour by this author and loved it so, I was keen to read this one, it didn’t disappoint.
It was thrilling and twisty all the way through to the end and I found I just couldn’t stop reading until I had finished it which only took two days.
I love finding new authors and when they are as enjoyable as this was I’m so pleased and hungry for more.
My thanks to NetGalley and the publishers for giving me the opportunity to read this book in return for an honest review.

I’ve read “The Rumour” and so I was looking forward to this one and wasn’t disappointed with it.

Lesley has done it again and produced a superb psychological thriller full of suspense and twists and turns!

The main character was brilliantly written and I really took to her straight away, excellent book and one to put on your must read list.

Astrid is a recovering alcoholic, moving back in with her mother to try and start a new and sober life in sleepy Flintstead. However when mysterious notes and photographs start appearing at her door she realises someone must know about her dark past, but who?

I really enjoyed Lesley Kara’s debut novel of The Rumour and gave it 5 stars so I was excited to read Who Did You Tell – her second novel. I enjoyed the nod to her first book in that it is set in the same village of Flintstead. It’s very much a separate story but I liked the fact the previous plot was mentioned in passing as being something that had happened a few years ago – it felt a bit meta!

I found Astrid to be a really strong and interesting main character. She’s very flawed – an alcoholic desperate to get back on the right track but still very human and at risk of bad decisions and thoughts. You spent a lot of time hoping she wouldn’t make the wrong choice and go back to her own lifestyle which made you feel very invested in her as a character. She also has a hint of an unreliable narrator about her because there are some things about her past she doesn’t quite remember which added to the mystery of the plot.

What I enjoyed so much about The Rumour was how many red herrings and twists were in the book that kept me guessing at every turn. I didn’t really feel the plot was as effective here – there were only so many outcomes that could be predicted, only so many suspects to choose from. It wasn’t predictable by any stretch of the imagination but the twist had less of an impact on me than the other book had. I also found a few parts of the story felt a bit too convenient and unrealistic – just there to try and muddy the waters than actually credible plot points.

Overall Who Did You Tell is a twisty thriller and a strong follow-up to The Rumour. Thank you to NetGalley, Random House UK and Transworld Publishers – Bantam Press for the chance to read the ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Another great book from Lesley Kara! Thank you Netgalley.
Astrid has returned to her childhood home because she is battling an addiction to alcohol. Her childhood home is Flinstead, where everyone knows everyone and nothing is a secret. She is getting better, moving on with her life and even meets Josh. But she’s being followed, by a person and by her past.
This story really kept me gripped. The pace was fast and the characters good. Lots of twists and turns too. But the ending let it down slightly. It felt like it was finished in a bit of a hurry and the conclusion a little unrealistic. However, still one I would recommend.

Astrid is trying not to drink. She’s been sober for over six months, and while it is a daily temptation, she is staying straight. She goes to meetings. She is living with her mother, who is holding her accountable, but Astrid just can’t bring herself to go all in on the program. She hasn’t worked the steps. As someone who doesn’t believe in God, she’s gotten herself stuck at that second step, the one about the Higher Power. But she’s still staying sober. Day by day.

And she’s mourning the loss of her boyfriend Simon.

Astrid and Simon were very much in love. And very self-destructive. Together, their collective alcoholism kept them broke and broken, isolated from family and so desperate for money that they’d rob a mother just out walking her toddler.

Simon had gotten sober first. He’d gotten his life together, new job, new relationship; he was moving forward. But a chance encounter with Astrid, and all Simon’s hard work was gone. He was drinking again. And then, just weeks later, he was dead.

Now Astrid is trying to recover from the guilt of that, of that and all the other shameful things she had done when she was drinking. So she goes to meetings, where over-eager Rosie tries to befriend her. And where Helen shoots her knowing glances, like she understands. And Astrid walks along the sea, where she meets Josh, a handsome swimmer who asks her to coffee.

But as she’s fighting to stay sober and build a new life with new friends, Astrid can’t help but feel pulled back to her old life. The scent of Simon’s aftershave in the air. A shirt just like the one he used to wear in the window of a charity shop. Astrid’s senses are heightened as she feels like she’s being followed, being watched. And then the first threat shows up on her doorstep.

As Astrid tries to stay sober, she realizes she also has to figure out who from her past is trying to bring her down. Who in this small town is the person who wants her to suffer? And will she survive all this without losing her sobriety? Without losing her mind? Without losing her life?

Lesley Kara, the author of The Rumor, is back with a compelling suspense about a woman just trying to live better while her past wants to destroy her. Who Did You Tell? is a powerful novel of the unique struggles of those who work to recover from addiction as well as a spine-tingling psychological thriller about a woman trying to make up for the mistakes of her past. I had a very hard time setting this one down. Who Did You Tell? works as a suspenseful novel as well as a peek into recovery for those who are friends or family to addicts struggling to stay sober and sane.

Galleys for Who Did You Tell? were provided by Random House UK, Transworld Publishers through NetGalley, with many thanks.

Who Did You Tell is the second book I’ve read by Lesley Kara, the first last year being The Rumour. This book hooked me from the start and I was intrigued where it was going to go and let me tell you that it didn’t go the way I thought it would. I enjoyed this from the first page and the intrigue it built up has me not wanting to put it down until it was finished.
Astrid is an alcoholic, she has just done a stint in rehab and is at her mothers house trying to recover but finding everyday a struggle. Her mum is constantly overlooking every part of her life and the AA meetings are just a necessary means to an end. Astrid has a lot on her shoulders that she has done and regrets heavily whilst on a drinking binge and it is these demons she finds the hardest to deal with sober as well as coping with the knowledge her ex boyfriend committed suicide due to her making get back on the drink. Astrid takes long walks on the beach to fill her time but she feels she is being watched and followed and then she starts receiving threatening letters, who is behind them and how far will they go?
I would like to thank Netgalley and Random House UK, Transworld Publishers, Bantam Press for this ARC I received in exchange for an honest review.

Not the ending I was expecting! I thoroughly enjoyed reading this book and will be reading more by this author in the future. I thought the storyline was very interesting, and the characters were believable, the story played out very well, but I certainly didn’t expect the ending to be what it was. 5 stars.

This is a book by Lesley Kara called Who Did You Tell which is based on an alcoholic attempting to give up and attending AA meetings. She is currently living with her mum after hitting rock bottom and she has realised this her final chance. Astrid and her mum are building bridges. She has done a stint in rehab but is still finding it hard work.

Astrid is mourning the loss of an ex-boyfriend who killed himself. He was an alcoholic as well but had gotten himself off the drink until he got back with Astrid then he threw himself off a cliff. Also, she is finding it difficult being back in a quiet seaside town, well away from her life before. She struggles to remember some of that life due to the drinking. She takes long walks on the beach and that is where she meets Josh. He promises to teach her to love the water and takes her to see his dad’s house. She falls in love with it and there is a room that she thinks she can paint. She hasn’t felt that way in a long time. Josh’s father, Richard, gives her some money to buy the paint. No-one has done that for a while either. Her mum certainly doesn’t. But she hasn’t told Josh about her drinking problem, she is just happy to spend time with him. He makes her feel alive.

Someone has been sending her disturbing letters at her mum’s, one was a picture of Simon. She feels like she is being followed. She doesn’t trust Rosie at AA as she feels too pushy and tries too hard to be friendly but she does become friendly with Helen, another alcoholic at the group. Her friendship with Josh is going well, until she does as Helen suggests and she tells him the truth, that she is an alcoholic. He listens till the end, then tells her that his mum was killed by a drunk driver and that he needs to think and will be in touch.

Astrid knows someone is following her. But are they the ones that are threatening her? Does someone mean her harm? If so, who is it? Astrid is very frightened and she still hasn’t heard back from Josh. She doesn’t know who to trust and she can’t tell her mum any of this.

This was a brilliantly written psychological thriller that grabbed me from the start and kept me interested all the way through and I wanted to know her was behind it! Lesley Kara certainly knows how to write a good thriller. This was a good insight into the life of an alcoholic trying to give up their drinking and the struggle they face.

DNF at 48%. I am really disappointed with this book. I loved The Rumour - it had me hooked - but this one didn’t hold my interest at all and I gave up half way through. I was mildly curious throughout the book as to who was stalking Astrid, but not enough to keep reading. Life is too short to plough through books you’re not fully enjoying. Sorry, not for me.

A truly riveting read. It had me reading all the way theiugh, and the plot was thoroughly interesting and intriguing novel. Highly recommended.

I enjoyed the Rumour, Lesley Kara's debut novel and I was not disappointed in her second novel. A troubled, recovering alcoholic Astrid returns to live with her worried mother in a rundown seaside town. A competent psychological thriller that also explores the effect of alcoholism on sufferers and those around them

I loved Kara’s The Rumour, so was really keen to read Who Did You Tell? Kara writes small seaside town life really well, conveying the slightly decaying and claustrophobic atmosphere of Flintstead – a town where everyone knows everyone else and is always a bit too interested in the other’s business.

Astrid Phelps is our protagonist. She’s come home to live with her mum because she’s just out of rehab. At 32, Astrid is a recovering alcoholic. She knows she needs to put her life back together and at her mother’s insistence is attending AA meetings, but Astrid has demons from her past that she can’t outrun.

In AA Astrid meets Helen and Rosie. She likes Helen, who has the same slightly cynical attitude to the mantra’s of AA, BUT Rosie, older and wiser, counsels Astrid that these things matter in times of severe stress.

Astrid is a mess, but meeting Josh Carter on the beach has been a huge boost to her confidence. Once an artist, she is further thrilled when Josh’s dad offers her some work installing and painting a trompe l’oeil in his home.

Josh is immensely likeable. He is handsome, caring, and seemingly smitten with Astrid. You just know it’s all going to go wrong, don’t you?

But she isn’t ready yet to tell Josh about her past or her addiction and the lengths she goes to in order to avoid setting foot in the last chance saloon make her life full of tension and temptation.

Told in the first person, readers will find themselves questioning just how reliable a narrator Astrid really is.

Kara makes a great job of telling Astrid’s story; keeping the best elements until they will make the greatest impact. As an alcoholic she has everything you might expect. Subject to strong cravings; suffering from being unable to rust herself and knowing her mother doesn’t trust her at all. Astrid wants to love Josh, but she has no self-confidence and finds herself full of self-doubt, and worst of all, terrible, terrible guilt.

Astrid harbours an awful secret. She believes she is responsible for a life that was lost. Her previous boyfriend Simon committed suicide and Astrid can’t forgive herself. Simon was also an alcoholic and now everywhere she goes she gets reminders of him. She can smell his aftershave, she’s sure she sees his clothes in a charity shop, and all the time she has the feeling that she is being watched.

How much of this is her alcoholic paranoia the reader cannot know, but what we can see is Astrid struggling under extreme pressure, which reaches boiling point when she realises that Josh’s dad knows something about her situation.

Worse, it seems that someone else knows her secret and is sending her ever more poisonous pen letters.

Is there anyone she can trust, or will Astrid spiral out of control as once more it seems that everything in her life is going wrong?

Verdict: Kara’s writing exquisitely conveys the atmosphere and tension of Astrid’s life in this small seaside town. Astrid’s struggles are realistically portrayed and the levels of suspicion are layered and twisted until the reader suspects everyone. Who Did You Tell is a psychological thriller that sucks you in and is full of suspense.

With Who Did You Tell, Lesley Kara proves she is no one-trick pony. There is a constant sense of impending doom lurking around this small seaside community (incidentally, it's the same town as Kara's previous novel, The Rumour, which I wholeheartedly appreciate!). Even though quite a few of the residents we meet seemed to have something to hide or acted slightly suspiciously, I personally felt it was somewhat obvious as to whom is taunting our main character, Astrid, but the "why" remained a mystery to me.

Speaking of Astrid, I found her quite hard to like, which seemed wrong. As a recovering alcoholic, she is struggling with resisting temptation, facing her demons and constantly being under the watchful eye of her mother. Yet I found it hard to muster up any sympathy for her.

Overall, I enjoyed The Rumour that little bit more but Who Did You Tell is still a cleverly plotted and entertaining psychological thriller with a delicious sting in its tail and Lesley Kara remains an author to watch.

I absolutely loved The Rumour and was excited to read this one. I thought the story itself was good but I was disappointed by the book as a whole I didn't connect with any of the characters and just wanted to get to the end.

A classic twisty thriller that exemplifies the genre, with twists and turns, red herrings, secrets and lies - and everything comes together in the way you least expect and yet which makes the most sense.

The writing and the characters are really good, and it's a good story, but the mystery isn't the main point. The book is mostly about alcoholism, and as such it's very good.

4.5/5⭐

Thank you NetGalley for an advance copy of Who Did You Tell in exchange for my honest review.

What a nice surprise this book was!

I have never read anything by Lesley Kara before but I will now 100% check her other books.

The main character, Astrid, reminded me a lot to Rhiannon from Sweet Pea and because I loved that book so so much, I kind of read this one with a really good mood.

I liked how sarcastic she was. How she was facing her situation and her problems. I liked her story and how she was living it. I liked the fact that she was a little bit paranoid as it added something different to the game.

I loved the writing style. It hooked me from the beginning and I was just so immerse in the story that I couldn't put it down. There were some amazing quotes and, in general, it was very well written, with lots of love.

I loved the story. Everything about it. The characters, the struggles they are going through, the mystery, the relationships, the little doses of real life...

And the romance! I loved the romance. I haven't read one in ages and I forgot how much I like reading about people falling in love. The first dates, the feelings, the emotions, being afraid but going ahead... It added a very cute tone to the story.

I loved the ending and how everything was wrapped up. It was very satisfying with an amazing twist right at the end.

This was a great book. I will definitely be checking out more Lesley Kara books in the future!

Astrid is in recovery and doing her very best to set her life back on track. She's moved home to Flinstead, she's trying to mend things with her devout mother, and she's attending AA meetings. She's also made a friend- a possible romantic interest- in Josh, who she met while out for walk- and two other friends at AA. One problem, one BIG problem, is that something's really amiss and it's related to her deceased lover Simon. Someone is stalking her and gas lighting her but who? Much of this well constructed thriller involves Astrid's struggle to remain sober but don't fear that it gets boring or preachy- it's well done and important. Thanks to Netgalley for the ARC. Kara is a good storyteller who has created a thriller just twisty enough to keep you guessing and then to go, of course! at the end.

The main character Astrid/Hilary in Who Did you Tell ? is difficult to love. Her troubles with her alcohol addiction and trying to come to terms with her past actions through this addiction, make this book difficult to read at times, Through the book Astrid comes across as very self centered and it's only as her fragile life starts to unravel that she finally begins to take responsibility for her previous actions and understand what really happened when she was at her height of drinking. It's only near the the conclusion of the book that I finally started to feel for her and hope for a happy ending.
Give this book a go if you're looking for a bit of twist on a psychological thriller.

Thank you to netgalley and the publishers for a free kindle copy in exchange for an honest review.

Absolutely fantastic, really well constructed with strong characters. I couldn't put it down. I couldn't get the story out of my mind, one I won't forget in a hurry.