Thanks to Netgalley for allowing me to read this Arc.
I love Miranda Smith's books. And I really loved this one.
Back and forth......who killed Dane???? Was it the wife, the x husband, a disgruntled "customer"?? You're kept guessing until the end. And not until the very last page does everything come to light!!!!
Absolutely brilliant.

Thank You NetGalley for this copy of Some Days are Dark. This story was told between before and after. Of how the relationship was between both characters and how they met. This story will def keep you wanting to read it and figure out whats going on. The beginning starts off crazy too I mean what a crazy sentence to start off the story! What?! Well written story and lookin forward to other stories by this author.

An interesting read, easy and exciting and had a few twists I didn't see coming. Pick this up if you are a fan of this genre

Disclaimer: I received this book from Netgally for review purposes.

It took me longer than I'd like to admit (or wanted) to finish this book. I remember reading the description and being intrigued but about a chapter or two in I felt like it kind of lost me.

I love mysteries and thrillers. It's my favorite genre. But when drugs get involved in a mystery I'm always so underwhelemed and let down. Not a spoiler! It's brought up in the first or second chapter. The motives are never dtailed or interesting, it's usually just always about money.

I also couldn't really care about any of the characters. Our leading lady is a mess and hard to root for. She isn't like a lot of other unreliable narrators who are somehow still relatable to a fault (girl on the train, women in the window) but rather just feels kind of like someone I wouldn't want to be friends with ever.

Overall it was just okay but I don't think I'd ever recommend someone to read this.

Review featured at www.books-n-kisses.com

2.75 Hearts This book has soooo much potential. The characters, plot and so much more is all right there but it just kind of slipped through the fingers of the author.

The book drags quite a bit and hits a lot of rocky moments. Olivia is not really very likable if you ask me.

Just not my cup of tea.

Disclaimer:
I received a complimentary copy of the book in exchange for an honest review

*I received a copy of this as an eBook from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review*

If I was able to, I would give this book 3.5 stars. I didn't like it so much that I would give it a 4, but I also enjoyed it a little bit more than a 3. There were definitely some good things in this book that I enjoyed. For one thing, I tried to guess the entire time who killed Dane, and I was never able to figure it out. So in that respect, I'd say the book did its job!

Aside from that, I found that I didn't care much for any of the characters. I understand that the main character was supposed to be kind of unlikeable and unreliable, but I didn't like anyone else either. I just don't think that they were fleshed out in the way I would have liked for them to have been. I found that I was interested in the story and figuring out what happened, but I also felt that nothing was happening and that everything was moving incredibly slow. The ending also felt unsatisfying.

Olivia has the ideal life, coming from a place of slightly turbulent childhood she finds herself now mixing with those with money. She has a fantastic husband, a house many can only dream of and a wonderful son. She has made herself something she isnt but its the future she wants. So when life takes a turn and she leaves her husband for the no good Dane - turns her family upside down and becomes wild party girl, it still comes as a shock when Dane turns up dead.



Everyone knows Olivia as the one who left her loving husband and is now been questioned for murder bringing alot of drama on her family that she left behind. Yet there is much more to Olivia than that. On the outside that is how she is represented but as a reader we spend alot of time with her and discover her struggles after a horrific accident leaves her in pain and her mental health in tatters. Olivia is struggling day to day in how she feels with herself and her relationship with her husband. Dane offers hope and excitement out of the mundane. However as the case is reopened into the death of Dane we see her become increasingly more fragile and frantic as she battles to find answers.



I felt for Olivia she was written with such depth, she was so multi layered and we discover her before and after the death of her new husband Dane. We also meet Frank - Olivias first husband and Dane her second one over the time frame. Whilst we don't see things from their POV we see how both of them impact Olivia and the person she was and the person she became. Yet i found throughout the whole book the main focus was Olivia.



This book was tense, it was thrilling and very much enjoyable. Whilst i found you really had to work for answers i found it very easy to commit to getting them. The plot was nicely spread with an equal split of before and after as we head towards the conclusion. There was a good amount of twists and turns throughout the narrative which means not everything is clear cut. There was a certain amount of mystery as its essentially a who done it read.



It was a great debut by the author and i really liked her writing style, i felt she handled some of the topics that arose in a nature that i felt (despite not experiencing them myself) was a realistic and honest way. I felt she spent a good time leading the reader towards our answers but keeping the mystery from us. I really am looking forward to her next release in June because i think there is alot still to come from Miranda.

I was happy my husband died, but I couldn't admit it, otherwise people would presume saying I killed him.

I absolutely love good psychological thriller's and this novel was atmospheric, creepy with a lot of dark secrets and twist 😉I'm always happy when I don't quite figure out the twist!
Quick read so i recommend it definitely.

Thank you NetGalley.

I was drwan in pretty quickly to this book. It was fast paced and easy to read. It was easy to get lost in as well.

We see what we want to see. That is my favorite line in this book. It is so true. Olivia and Frank found this out the hard way. Olivia wanted the perfect life, but felt like she didn’t deserve it. Then the car accident changed everything. One event led to another until everyone’s life was changed. The events in this story keep you guessing until the end.

I was happy my husband died but couldn’t admit it.
What an opening.
Olivias husband is murdered in their home . Olive is the prime suspect until someone else is arrested but then they are released. Olivia is now back as suspect number 1
Did she kill her husband
Thanks NetGalley

Some days are Dark by Miranda Smith.
I was happy my husband died, but I couldn’t admit it, otherwise people might think I killed him.

Before
Olivia knows she is lucky. She has a loving husband, Frank, an adorable son, Jake, and a beautiful new home. It couldn’t be more different from her childhood on the outskirts of Whitaker, dirt poor and dreaming of getting out. But at the end of long days with no one to talk to, always feeling like she’s not quite good enough, she starts to wonder if there’s a better life waiting…

After
Everyone in Whitaker knows who Olivia is. She’s the woman who left her family for no-good Dane Miller—and the one who most likely shot him. Now, there’s gossip about her everywhere she goes, she’s too scared to leave the house most days, and she barely gets to see her beloved son.
How can a perfect life fall apart so quickly? And, when you have nothing to lose, how far will you go to save yourself?
An ok read. This was slow. I read it but couldn't get really into it to enjoy it. Only 3*.

This book drew me in from the first line. Lots of twists and turns going on. It did get slow in places. It has a timeline taking you on a journey from past and present. Olivia was a very frustrating character.

I absolutely loved this book! Thrillers are very favorite but it takes a really great story line and great characters to get a 5 star out of me, This book definitely deserves a 5 star review. The story line made sense and I really connected with Olivia. She could definitely be a real person. She had flaws but she also has a good heart. This book kept my attention and had me going back for more. I had a hard time putting it down when I had to and I couldn't wait to get back to it.

When you pick up a book by a debut author, you can't always be certain where it will go. No worries with Some Days Are Dark. This multilayered book opens with Olivia being rather pleased that her husband is dead. No, she is not jumping up and down, but must work on not showing her relief. What happened in her marriage to lend these feelings to Olivia? That remains a mystery and is slowly unraveled.

One clear layer to this story is the fact that her husband's murderer is acquitted. Does this then put Olivia in the limelight as a possible suspect, perhaps the most likely one? Olivia is not the only player in this book. As a matter of fact, her alibi is her ex and their son. A lot of digging ensues, including a crime blogger Brock, who ends up being in Olivia's corner, and does his very best to prove her innocence.

In the popular style of Before and After clues are revealed and the reader gets to see who Olivia is, what happened in her first marriage, and where she is now. This fast-moving story certainly kept my attention throughout. I loved the suspense, the pacing and the exciting conclusion. I will definitely grab the next book by this promising author.

Many thanks to Bookouture and to NetGalley for this ARC for review. This is my honest opinion.

WoW......What a opening line!

"I was happy my husband died but I couldn't admit it, otherwise people might think I killed him."

OMG did I read that!!!!

Some Days Are Dark by Miranda Smith was a good read (But I know I would be lost if my Hubby died!!!)

Olivia's is married to her second husband Dane and has been murdered in their home. There is only one Prime suspect and she is it!

Did she kill him? and if she did Why?

This is a book like the saying "Do you love or hate Marmite! You either Love it or hate it!" as it's told in the before method and after and I loved it.

I highly recommend this book and especially Loved the cover.

Thanks to Bookouture and Netgalley for my advanced copy of this book to read. All opinions are my own and are in no way biased

Oooh! I absolutely loved this read. From the moment I started the very first page, I was gripped and could see the whole thing unravelling like a movie in my head. Miranda's writing is brilliant.

This book was extremely slow and boring. There were too many back and forth chapters, and I only cared about the past chapters and not the future chapters. I believe this book could have been better if it was not as long, and had more thrills and twists throughout the story.

This was another example of a book that I liked, but hated every. single. character! What is up with that lately?

Olivia is happy her husband's dead. But for the longest time in this book we don't know why! She seems a bit unfeeling throughout the book and also makes such frustrating choices! She is definitely an anti-hero. Or maybe not a hero at all? I'm not sure there is a hero in this book.

I did like Brock - the true-crime junkie! His character was fun! If there is a hero to this book, it was probably him.

All that said, I did actually love the plot! Olivia is trying to find out who killed her husband to fee herself of suspicion - easier said than done! Especially since it's apparent to everyone that she could not care less that her husband is dead. Just look at her alibi! It's almost more incriminating than not having one. She's got a drug problem (which explains many of her completely terrible choices) and she allows it to basically destroy her life and I thought that part of the story was compelling and realistically done.

"People assume change is something that happens in an instant. Blunt and jarring, like a thundering wave crashing into you and pulling you under. But change is usually much slower than that. It creeps up on you under the pretense that everything is normal, fine. And then suddenly you realize your life is in a completely different state than it was before."

Lastly, I really loved the ending! While I may not have been clear on the hero, the villain in the end was crystal clear and I LOVED it!

MY RATING:
Characters: 3
Story: 5
Overall: 4 stars!

FOLLOW ME (please) and see more book reviews @ www.mamaneedsabook.blogspot.com
Thank you to NetGalley & the publisher for the ARC in exchange for my honest review!

Thank you to NetGalley, Kim from Bookouture and Miranda Smith for a free electronic ARC in exchange for an honest review!

Miranda Smith’s debut suspense novel, Some Days Are Dark, pleasantly surprised me! I must admit that I was not expecting to like the storyline, or the main characters, as much as I did.

Some Days Are Dark follows Olivia (and her complicated life) before and after she discovers the dead body of her second husband, Dane Miller, in their home in Whitaker.  Before Dane’s death, we see glimpses of Olivia’s life as a mother to her young son, Jake, and wife to her first husband, Frank. In these glimpses, we also see how she first meets Dane and how their relationship develops at the expense of her marriage.  After Dane’s death, Olivia becomes the primary murder suspect—who desperately struggles to clear her name—as the man who was originally convicted of murdering Dane, a year before, is acquitted and released from prison.
While I did enjoy the overall storyline, it did take me a while to read it.  I don’t know if the reason for that is because I started it during the height of the global pandemic we’re all experiencing, or if it is because I did not fully connect with the book for the entire time that I was reading it. 

One thing I loved is that the book opens with a bang of a first line: “I was happy my husband died, but I couldn’t admit it, otherwise people might think I killed him.”  Unfortunately, after that great opening, it continues at a much slower pace (it is definitely a slow-burning suspense) and I found that some parts dragged on for longer than was necessary.  However, once the plot picked up again, I found that I really wanted to know how it was going to end!  I did not guess the ending beforehand (I hate doing that!), but I also was not completely surprised by it either.  
I would also like to add that I thoroughly enjoyed getting to know the characters, particularly Olivia, Frank, and the surprise that was Brock (you’ll have to read the book to get more info on him ;)!).  These characters are so well thought out and just feel like real people who are facing real-life problems and issues.  I honestly think that is what I loved most about this book!

Overall, the book was good and I am looking forward to seeing what else Miranda Smith writes!

Rating 3.5 stars!