This was probably one of my least favorite Lori Rader-Day books. It was good but her writing missed the mark for me this time. 
I was upset that it was leading up to a slow burn, which I appreciate, but it dragged for me towards the middle. And although it wasn't A bad read of A girl who escaped her abductor, sorry was rescued by her dad from him, only to see him years later pop up online. It just didn't tie up loose ends and made me mad, because I was just expecting more.

A special thanks to Harper Collins Publishers and William Day paperbacks and NetGalley for my ARC in exchange for my honest opinion.

The Lucky One has an interesting premise of a former kidnap victim volunteering to help other find other missing people and possibly stumbling across her kidnapper. I did like how it switched between a couple different points of view as well as message boards. However, I couldn’t get as invested in the main characters as I would have liked and had to make myself keep reading it. It was a good read, but not great. 
Thanks to NetGalley, HarperCollins, and the author Lori Rader-Day for a digital review copy. This story was published February 4, 2020

The Lucky One is the first Lori Rader-Day novel I have read and it will not be the last!  Alice thought of herself as one of the lucky ones, rescued by her father from a kidnapper she barely remembers those hours she was missing as a child. However, she has not truly forgotten. She is obsessed with finding others who are missing and volunteers on a web-site dedicated to finding the missing.  Working for her dad's successful company, she spends most of her free time surfing the Doe Pages.  When she recognizes a missing person on the site-a mystery begins as Alice recognizes her kidnapper.  This leads to a desperate search and chase as she unites with other volunteers and a young woman named Merrily who is also searching for the truth.  What follows is a fast-paced mystery that will keep you up at night desperate to know the ending!

The story begins a little slow and at first I thought it may be a bit hard to become engaged but the book quickly picks up the pace as it becomes clear all is not what it seems. Not knowing who you can trust I found myself considering various theories and while some were proven true the revelations were startling and conclusion satisfying. I enjoy how Rader-Day uses different techniques to throw off the reader and is able steadily build suspense.  

Thank you to the publisher, writer and NetGalley for this ARC in exchange for my honest feedback.

What does a child remember? How perfect or imperfect are our parents? This thriller tackles these questions and more as it takes us down a path of perception vs memory. Simple obsession turns into a nightmare path that eventually leads to friendship, family and discovery of self. This is one book you won't be able to put down.

This one missed the mark for me a little bit. I didn’t really care for the characters and at times had to suspend my believe. Sadly just ok for me. Thank you publisher and netgalley for this arc in exchange of an honest review.

Favorite Quotes:

A cake of angels and beauty itself, chocolate on top of chocolate, like a last request before execution. Merrily had passed out in a food coma in her old room and had to borrow the twinset and skirt from her mom’s closet for work… Merrily looked like a giraffe dressed for church, but she still looked better than the women in the front office any day of the week. Fact.

“I turned thirty. Thirty.” … Thirty was a monster. She’d been pursued by it and now here it sat in her lap, breathing its stink on her. Her age would ruin everything, if not this year, then soon.

“There’s my Alice in Wonderland.” Alice got up and met him for a hug. He couldn’t swing her off her feet anymore, but the old nickname never failed to shrink her to fit the tiny door of childhood.

Every sweet thing about Uncle Jim, Jimmy could ruin like a funhouse mirror. She liked to think that Jimmy was adopted, some changeling JimBig and his ex-wife had found and taken home.

Merrily had always wished for a baby brother or sister, but she needn’t have bothered. Her own mother provided all the mischief she could handle… Why were the grown-ups in her life so damaged and needy?


My Review:

This gripping, tautly written, and twisty book had me in knots and frequently chewing on my lips and picking at my ragged cuticles, which were merely the early clues that this was going to be a 5-Star read.  Each character was oddly compelling although deeply flawed and not all that admirable.  Neither of the two main characters, Merrily and Alice, were among the sharpest tools in the shed and I frequently wanted to schedule each of them a colonoscopy to search for their misplaced craniums.  

The storylines were shrewdly crafted, cunningly paced, and riveting with intrigue while fraught with tension, family secrets, and impending peril.  This was my first experience with the diabolically clever storytelling of Lori Rader-Day and in my expert analysis - she may well be a high priestess of the word voodoo as I was totally sucked into her vortex, tumbled around, and spit back out hours later feeling rather stunned, dazed, and pleasantly amazed.

The Lucky One by Lori Rader-Day is another slow burn of a novel. A suspense, it takes time to unfold so you can read slowly and without fear of missing something important because your eyes and brain are working overtime to keep up with the story.

The novel is about Alice, the “lucky one” who was stolen as a child but was found later. She volunteers for a website that is committed to tracking down people who have gone missing. Imagine her reaction when she sees the person who abducted her as a child.  Later, the post is deleted but its too late. She is now set on finding this man.

The search is dark and twisty, I cannot imagine being Alice and dealing with a traumatic event then hunting for the person who committed the crime.

Here’s the official synopsis:

As a child, Alice was stolen from her backyard in a tiny Indiana community, but against the odds, her policeman father tracked her down within twenty-four hours and rescued her from harm. In the aftermath of the crime, her family decided to move to Chicago and close the door on that horrible day.

Yet Alice hasn’t forgotten. She devotes her spare time volunteering for a website called The Doe Pages scrolling through pages upon pages of unidentified people, searching for clues that could help reunite families with their missing loved ones. When a face appears on Alice’s screen that she recognizes, she’s stunned to realize it’s the same man who kidnapped her decades ago. The post is deleted as quickly as it appeared, leaving Alice with more questions than answers.

Embarking on a search for the truth, she enlists the help of friends from The Doe Pages to connect the dots and find her kidnapper before he hurts someone else. Then Alice crosses paths with Merrily Cruz, another woman who’s been hunting for answers of her own. Together, they begin to unravel a dark, painful web of lies that will change what they thought they knew—and could cost them everything.

I thought this was a great premise for a story and there was so much intrigue. I feel like it could be a true crime story that I’d listen to on a podcast!

The Lucky One is a slow burn suspense novel that shares the story of a woman who was previously kidnapped and is now looking for answers. While I enjoy a character-driven novel, I struggled to connect with these characters (I found them dislikable in general) which caused me to lose interest in the storyline. 

I love a book with imperfect characters and some dysfunction but as much as I had hoped to, this one just didn't resonate with me. Thank you to NetGalley and William Morrow Books for an advanced copy in exchange for an honest review.

I listened to the audiobook and im not sure if that was my mistake but this book had me so confused. Im still not sure if this was 2 or 3 women's perspectives (i think 2) they read so similar it was almost impossible to tell them apart. and I just got so lost in all the characters and who was who and who did what to who and when and why.  However,  I know that this is a story that so many people will love and rave about! The plot was great and had a great twist. Not totally original but really fun.

I could not put this one down!! I had to know what was going on and I was definitely surprised by the ending.  Absolutely loved it and would highly recommend it.

I wasn’t a big fan of this one. I think I was expecting it to turn into a thriller, but it stood true to its general fiction labeling. It was hard to stay interested in the storyline; I required frequent breaks. The story contained a pretty nice twist, but it ended rather messily.

I received this book from NetGalley in exchange of an honest review.

As a child, Alice was kidnapped from her backyard in Indiana and found a day later by her policeman father and saved. After this terrible adventure her whole family moved to Chicago, but Alice wasn't able to put it behind her. Volunteering for the site The Doe Pages, pages and pages of unidentifies people and those who are trying to reunite them with their family (alive or dead, to get a closure), one day Alice sees her kidnapper's face, before the post is deleted. Determined to find the truth about what happened to her all those years ago and to stop her kidnapper before he hits again, she asks her colleagues from The Doe Pages for help. Her path crosses Merrily's, another woman who was hurt in the past and that wants answers. Both of them are determined to find the truth, even if it could change everything for them.

It's the first book I've read by Lori Rader-day, but I fell right away in love with her writing style, the plot and the characterization. The story is incredible. It's full of surprises, plot twists and revelations. Told by Alice and Merrily, it follows them while they are trying to untagle the lies in their lives, to understand, to discover truths they couldn't (or wouldn't) see. Both of them are smart and brilliant, relatable and really believable. This book is captivating and it grabs the reader's attention right away, pushing him/her to read because it's needed to know what will happen next, how are the characters, what shocking twist will happen.
Brilliant and highly recommended it.

Lori Rader-Day is a new to me author that surprised me and kept me completely engaged throughout the story. While it was a little slow at times, the tone of the book kept me interested and I wanted to know more about the characters. It was hard to put down because I wanted to see where it was going. I was not disappointed because 
the ending was not what I was expecting. I think fans of Lori will like this latest from her.

When Alice was a child she was taken from her backyard but within 24 hours her policeman father was able to find and rescue her from her kidnapper.  To escape the memory of that day, Alice and her parents relocated to Chicago. However, the terror of that day has never been completely erased.  As an adult, Alice joins a website called The Does, which posts pictures of unidentified people with the hope that they will be reunited with their families. One day Alice finds a face she’ll never forget. The face of her kidnapper.  Determined to find him, she befriends other members of The Does who are eager to find the truth.  Their search becomes much more complicated when they cross paths with another young woman who also know the kidnapper, but in a much different context. 
  
This is a difficult book for me to review.  The writing style as well as the believability of the story is hard for me to appreciate. In the end, while the two main characters could be interesting, I found that I didn’t really care too much about them.  I like the premise of the book but the story was sluggish and, eventually, it became a little convoluted and difficult to follow.  I would give it 2.5 stars, but will somewhat reluctantly bump it up to 3.

Many thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for providing a copy of this book for review.

Thanks to Netgalley for this ARC review copy. I was over the moon excited to have my hands on another book by Lori Rader-Day. I came late to the party and just read all her previous books back in January. As usual, I flagged the newest upcoming book by her, so I could hopefully get my paws on it as soon as possible. This is a bit of a slow burn type of book with alternating viewpoints that really draw you into the story.

Alice was kidnapped and found by her policeman father within 24 hours as a child. They have moved on and from the town because they wanted to put it all behind them, but even as an adult, Alice can;t quite let go. That leads her to volunteering for The Doe Pages. A website that tries to bring lost people home, whether that be alive or deceased. While browsing one day, she comes across the face of her kidnapper, but then the post vanishes. Alice must try to find who posted it and warn others of what this man did to her. While on her quest, she meets Merrily, who has so many questions to her odd past that she wants answered as well. But what they both don't know is how connected to each other they are, and that things are not as they appear to be,

While the first 1/4 of the book was a bit slow for me, once you are past that point, the book swiftly moves to a thrilling conclusion.

The Lucky One is a chilling read.  The writing is engaging and is a page turner.  The writing is fast paced and readers are carried along with all the action.

I received an advanced reader copy of The Lucky One from HarperCollins Publishers via NetGalley, in return for my honest opinion.

The Lucky One by Lori Rader-Day is a story about long buried family secrets. When Alice was a toddler, in rural Indiana, she was kidnapped from her backyard. Her father, a police officer at the time, rescued her. Looking for a new start, Alice and her parents moved to Chicago.

Now Alice works alongside her dad at the family construction business. In her free time, Alice studies information posted on The Doe Pages- a website dedicated to reuniting unidentified people with their families. Alice’s father thinks this is a waste of time. When Alice recognizes her kidnapper, she knows she can’t tell her father. Alice and some friends from The Doe Pages set their sites on finding this man.

While Alice and her friends are searching for this man, they meet Merrily, who also happens to be looking for the same man. Merrily has her own reasons for looking for this man and her mother seems to know more about this man than she is letting on. In their hunt to find this man, Alice and Merrily unknowingly put themselves and their families in danger. Will the secrets of Alice and Merrily’s past finally be revealed to them? Will they find this missing man?

I’m undecided on this book, I never got to the point of caring about the characters or the outcome of their story- one day I would enjoy reading this book and the next I wouldn’t. This book wasn’t for me, but maybe it’s for you, The Lucky One is available today, Tuesday, February 18, 2020.

#loriraderday #theluckyone #netgalley #arcs #advancedreadercopy #mystery #mysterybooks #readin2020 #harpercollins #harpercollinspublishers #whatthebook #bookreviews #readersofinstagram #bookaholic

Make sure you don't start this book before bedtime or when you have other things going on because once you start reading you won't want to stop or put it down until you're done. I couldn't stop reading or put it down and neither will you. From its flawless plot to a character you will cheer for from page one this winner of a book deserves a spot on your keeper shelf. Happy reading!

Although one of the author's earlier novels is already in my massive TBR, this book is actually my first experience with Rader-Day's writing. And I know it won't be my last!! I had no idea that she is a Chicago author - and I really enjoyed the setting here mainly in Chicago, but with some scenes in Milwaukee, and Indiana that really provides a realistic backdrop to the plot. 

Split for the most part between two narrators, Alice and Merrily, this is an engaging read that makes it easy to keep turning pages. Alice is a young woman who doesn't really have a lot of friends - she's pretty sheltered, working for the family construction company, but has one rebellious hobby - she volunteers her time with the Doe project - a website that aims to match missing people with unidentified remains. Merrily, is also a young woman living in Chicago, who is interrupted at work after a day off to learn that the man that she was closest to of those her single mother had been with had been reported missing.

As events intersect to bring these two women together, the plot gets twister and the book becomes harder and harder to put down! While I never really connected with either main character, I was still curious throughout to see where the story was going. I do wish that I had liked them better - Merrily for being 30 is so immature and Alice feels impossibly sheltered to me... some of the supporting characters also act in very contradictory ways, too. A few of my predictions regarding the plot turned out to be right, but there were definitely surprises, too! I did enjoy it - though the action in the ending was a bit convoluted, detracting a little bit from my satisfaction with the story. But, I liked the multimedia frame of the Doe project a lot. and though the characters'  motivations and development are not quite as strong as I had hoped for, for the most part, this is a fast-paced and entertaining read. I am definitely looking forward to checking out more books from this author - plus, it's always fun to read a local author!

Chilling tense a thriller that drew me right in.An amazing story line told from dual perspective.Read this book late into the night .This author never fails.#netgalley #The luckyone