Twenty years ago, four teenagers discover a new game and add their own rules. The game spirals out of control.

Now a woman gets a note through her door which chills her blood,
'Never have I ever been punished for what I have done.'

The premise of this story reminds me of ‘I Know What You Did Last Summer’. But it is an intriguing premise. After all, haven’t we all done things in the past that we wish would stay in the past?

At the outset of the book, I liked Sam. As the book continues though, I begin to question whether Sam is mentally unwell. Could she be doing these things to herself? What did she do in the past that was so terrible that someone would taunt her about it 20 years later?

Sam’s husband Mo initially seemed like a pushover. As the book continues and we reach the conclusion, the author has done a great job of turning the table and making you see we have an unreliable narrator in Sam.

When Sam meets her ex-boyfriend, Mike, I expected that the book would at some point result in Sam and Mike reuniting, particularly given Sam’s desire to keep meeting Mike a secret from her husband. But Mike is the opposite, being very open and honest with his wife. I can’t quite determine whether that was because he was so frightened of losing Kat or whether he genuinely was such an honest person.

Kat certainly doesn’t seem entirely honest - one face for Mike, another for Sam. But is that unexpected? When we come towards the conclusion of the book and Sam is doing everything she can to save her child, isn’t Kat really just doing the same thing for her marriage when she confronts Sam? That is arguable, but I am still not entirely convinced by the character of Kat.

The actual Never Have I Ever which has resulted in this whole tale was not entirely a surprise. I had worked out that this might be what the author was leading up to but there were still aspects of the ending I was surprised by. And I have to admit, I am still unsure of whether what Sam did was what resulted in the death - or whether someone else had played a part.

By the end of the book, we’ve discovered that Sam isn’t mentally unwell, just an unreliable narrator and someone who has twisted the past - intentionally or unintentionally - to suit herself. I didn’t like her as much by the end!

Overall, well worth a read.

Thanks to NetGalley who provided me a free copy of this book in return for an honest review.

An interesting premise, how childhood games can continue to impact upon us as adults. As a main character I did not warm to Sam, she was not particularly endearing and I felt exhausted at times as to the way her mind would run away with possibilities. I did guess the ending but overall, it was a readable thriller, not my favourite ever but an OK way to pass the time.

Sam has just moved back to her childhood village with her husband and young son.
Something happened years ago before she left which relates to a twisted game of never have I ever and the story follows sam as she deals with the present threat and remembers the past.
it kept me intrigued throughout and I enjoyed the plot however I am not a fan of Sam! - I guess that’s kind of the point though? ... interesting story and I enjoyed the fact that Sam was a writer. I would probably actually read the series she was writing! 😂😂

I found this book to be very slow, not much happened and I am afraid I gave up, so can't really leave a review.

Never Have I Ever is a really promising story but I barely made it past 35%. It’s well written and I had such high hopes when starting it.... it’s just so slow. Nothing happened! I may give this another go if I run out of other books but I just can’t a slow story with no suspense.