Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for the chance to read this advance copy. I really was.looking forward to reading this, but ultimately I did not finish it. I wish each new chapter had said right away how that person was connected to the crime. It was just too frustrating to sometimes not even find out until near the end of that person's section.

The description grabbed me immediately - particularly Vogue's blurb "Gone Girl for new decade." Perhaps that set the wrong expectation for me. It fell flat for me, and I thought that there was too much time spent on introducing characters (more than half the book) that never paid off. Even as a slow burn thriller, it didn't live up.

Part true crime, part thriller. A small college town in upstate New York is shocked when college student Sara Morgan is murdered. Even more shocking, her boyfriend Blake Campbell confesses and pleads temporary insanity. But this event has a ripple effect, sending waves through the lives of the people that new Sara, from friends and family members to the reporters who covered the story. Nothing Can Hurt You places the focus on how they deal with the aftermath of Sara's murder, and the profound effect it has on their lives. A very different and unusual twist on the classic thriller, made even more chilling because it is based on an actual event.

I wasn't quite sure what to expect with this book, but whatever it was, it wasn't what I got. Nothing Can Hurt You is less a crime novel than a series of intersecting stories about intersecting lives - which is, in itself, an arresting & fascinating way to tell this story - and those stories are each thoughtful and beautifully written. It manages to be so many things at once, but stood out to me most as a thoughtful exploration of the difficult, difficult themes of justice, mercy, and morality, and a really well-written, empathetic view of complicated lives & characters. The writing reminded me a little of Tana French (which is always a good thing!), but this book is wholly its own, and well worth the read.

- Nirica from Team Champaca

Nothing Can Hurt You is based on a true story. A young girl, Sara, is brutally murdered by her boyfriend, Blake, while he is under the influence of drugs. He is acquitted of the crime under a temporary insanity plea. From there we hear from multiple points of views who all have a connection to either Sara or Blake, sometimes a very tenuous connection. Through their voices we see how the crime is perceived differently depending on your viewpoint.
It is a haunting story, not like any I have read before. There is no real mystery, as we know who committed the crime, but it’s a fascinating look at how many people are impacted by violent crimes. It was also interesting to see how the victim of a crime can sometimes be seen as a saint, and at other times as being partially guilty in their own death. Fascinating.
Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for the opportunity to review this story.

I love books that are based on true events. It’s a real interest catcher for me. I really think it makes the story more realistic. This one is definitely a must read for the true crime fans who like the occasional change from the norm.

I really wanted to read this book because it is supposed to be based on true events and I love reading true crime. The story started well, but then so many characters were introduced, that I began to wonder if I was reading a series of different short stories. It did not flow well for me as it jumped around from past to present. The story it was trying to portray was of young Sara the victim and Blake who confessed to her murder, but unfortunately it did not hold my interest . I do thank the publisher and Netgalley for my ARC in exchange for my honest opinion.

Enigmatic college student and budding artist Sara Morgan is found dead in the woods, and her boyfriend, Blake Campbell is charged with her murder. Blake is quickly acquitted of Sara's murder by reason of temporary insanity. These events create a ripple effect in the lives of all who are even remotely touched by them. Each chapter of Nothing Can Hurt You provides a new perspective on how Sara's murder and Blake's subsequent acquittal influenced a person's life. This is different from other novels, which typically focus on the grief of those closest to the victim or killer. Here, the author takes us into the minds of those who are even peripherally touched, including some who never even knew Sara or Blake personally.

While the many points of view set this book apart, they were a bit of a disappointment for me. I felt like I was watching a clip show, coming in a few minutes late for each clip. It felt disjointed and left me without a sense of a cohesive story. Characters were quickly introduced without a real explanation of how they were impacted by Sara's murder. The book is quite short, and I found myself wishing I had more time with some characters. It quickly became difficult to keep track of who was who. Additionally, there were significant characters introduced (Sara's childhood best friend, father, mother, etc.) who I would have loved to hear from. Perhaps the author was trying to veer away from the "typical" perspectives of grief.

In all, I think this book offers a unique perspective on grief and the impact one life makes. Other important topics such as privilege, rape, criminal justice reform, and feminism are brought up in passing. Readers of psychological thrillers who are looking for something a bit different will likely really enjoy this book.

Thank you to NetGalley and Bloomsbury Publishing for an eARC of this book in exchange for a review!

Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for providing me with a copy of this novel in exchange for an honest review. It is currently set to be published in June 2020.

More than a true crime story, more than a thriller or a whodunit, this book is a choral novel offering some insight into the lives of so many different women and men who are all at varying degrees touched by a single act of senseless violence--the murder of young Sara by her boyfriend, who is later declared not guilty by reason of insanity.
If you're looking for the umpteenth thriller about a femicide investigation, you're going to be disappointed. There's not much of an investigation happening in this book, and it doesn't even fit properly into the "thriller" box, although this seems to be the closest genre label that can be used for it.
If you're looking for something totally different from anything you might have read before - for a clear, slow-paced but relentless reflection on gender-based violence in our modern society - then this is the book for you.
Each character in this book - and there are a lot! - is going to take you by the hand and lead you to her or his experience of violence, and in each chapter you will conquer one more little piece of this complex, multifaceted thing we call truth.
You will approach the ending thinking you know where this is going, but trust me, you don't.
The last chapter will hit you like the most surprising twist yet, unmasking the pervasiveness and normalization of gender-based violence in our culture.

Enjoyed the read, but the ending made me feel like I wasted my time. I just did not "get" the ending -- the narrative just stopped with nothing resolved or explained. Most disappointing book I have read in the past several years and I read about 100 books per year!

This book had interesting characters but it was very difficult to follow along with the switching of the point of view. Would much like the chapters not let the reader know the character and time

This circuitous shifting narrative novel is an exploration into the characters surrounding the death of a young woman, Sara, murdered in a psychotic episode by her boyfriend. These details are clearly apparent from the beginning of the novel. While it is expected that there is a mystery involved, this is more a story that examines the lives of those who were intertwined with the murdered woman. The author spends a great deal of time examining the lives of people who may or may not play a large role in the entire episode; until the end of the book it may be unclear. At the end of the book, I scratched my head a bit but it does come together, maybe just not the way you’d expect, which is novel in and of itself.

I was drawn to Nothing can hurt you because it was listed as being a true crime novel. Unfortunately that is not completely accurate. It is actually a work of fiction claimed to be based around a true story. I attempted to research it and was unable to verify the case that was the true premise for this story.

The basic story line is that of a young woman who is brutally murdered by her boyfriend. Her boyfriend is a paranoid schizophrenic and is found not guilty by reason of temporary insanity.

The book is a little hard to follow because it moves from past to present and from character to character really frequently. The idea was to present to the reader all the lives that were impacted by the death of Sarah Morgan. But in doing so it created some confusion for me personally and I found myself having to re read passages.

Overall I did enjoy the book and feel it is a beautiful story of love, loss, murder and redemption .

I received a digital copy of this book from the publisher via Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

I could not get into this book at all. It jumped around way too much for me. There is too much going on with little to no backstory. We are introduced to different aspects of the story tellers life, then they randomly disappear, like the dog. Then we went from the husband's coworker coming over for dinner to the coworker to him sexually assaulting the wife. I have to say, after this I stopped reading. There are a lot of triggers in this book that could upset a lot of people. I concept sounds like a good one, but I feel like it is too scattered and could not keep my attention.

Really enjoying the story, but it changes from character to character so quickly I can’t keep it straight. It’s going to take a while to get through it...the story seems very intriguing so I want to finish it.

This book was just OK I wanted to quit reading it a few times because I was confused by it, it jumped around a lot and was hard to follow at least for me it was.

Sadly, I could not get interested in this story. Just not for me. Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for this book in exchange for my honest review.

What a beautiful and haunting debut! I was so sad to reach the end of the novel, both knowing Sara's fate and that the book was over.

Told from many voices, women, and a couple of men, explore the repercussions of the brutal murder of a college student in upstate NY. The echos and reverberations of Sara's life and tragic death reach through time and space to capture what one event can mean to so many. The very last chapter in Sara's voice shortly before leaving for college left me in tears.

Having spent time in the Kingston area, the author captured the sites and colors of upstate NY and made me wonder if fictional Crawford college was a stand in for Vassar. Even the details of late 90s college fashion was pitch perfect.

I did not want this book to end and know it will linger with me for some time. I can't wait to read more from Nicole Maya Goldberg and recommend this book this summer!

"Nothing Can Hurt You" was not the book for me. The central focus of the book is the murder of college student Sara Morgan by her boyfriend Blake Campbell, who is schizophrenic and found not guilty by reason of insanity. There is (intentionally) little discussion of the murder itself, but rather a focus on how it has affected numerous people, including the Morgan family, Blake, and others, as well as speculation as to whether Blake really was temporarily insane when he committed the murder. The book sounded promising, but at least for me, it was too disjointed. One issue, which may just be an e-book formatting issue, is that there is no space or break between stories. The reader is reading about one set of characters and suddenly the story switches to another unrelated set of characters, which is awkward and jarring. The bigger issues for me were that the intended central thread (the murder of Sara by her boyfriend Blake/relationship violence) was not strong enough, in my opinion, to tie together the disparate stories into a coherent whole and, while some of the individual stories are quite good, other stories end too soon/feel incomplete.

Just because it was not the book for me, doesn't mean that many others might not really enjoy it. So, if the premise sounds interesting, I would encourage you to give the book a try.

I received a copy of the e-book via NetGalley in exchange for a review.

The story was gripping and At times fast paced . The book had a diverse cast of characters allowing every reader to find one they can relate to. The structure of the book gave away some of the mystery which is why I gave it 4 stars instead of 5. A great read if you want something fast and that you don’t have to spend to much time trying to figure out what is going on or will happen next.