Six months sober and teetering on the precipice of failure. Thirty two year old Astrid Phelps is struggling to regain a semblance of stability to her life. She's had so many black outs there is no possible way to gauge the extent of misery or destruction she's wrought on innocent people. Is she responsible for her ex-boyfriend Simon's suicide? After discharge from Rehab she feels compelled to move in with "Mum" in a small seaside town ... where everyone knows your business. Just how many dreams and goals has alcohol stole from her life? She dreads attending the weekly AA meetings. While attempting to move forward, she is not only haunted by her past relationship with Simon, but someone is gaslighting her .... or is that only paranoia? Almost magically, a young man emerges from the sea in a dripping wet suit, while she is aimlessly strolling the beach. This burgeoning relationship with "Josh" causes much anxiety and apprehension as she is unable to own up to her addiction and reluctant to "come clean." In the mail she receives a picture of Simon and glued to the back is a woman's hand dripping with blood. Later she receives an envelope containing a page torn from the obituary section of local paper .... a deceased name has been crossed-out and neatly above it is printed her name.
Lesley Kara weaves a twisted claustrophobic and intricately plotted narrative punctuated with multiple gut punch reveals that escalates to unexpected exhilarating denouement. The multi-layered characterization of Astrid provides motivation and incite on her struggle to fight addiction while attempting to deal with guilt and achieve redemption. Thanks to NetGalley and Ballantine- Random House Publishing for providing an electronic uncorrected proof in exchange for an honest review.
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Stylish thriller about a reforming alcoholic who takes shelter in a seaside village with her somewhat estranged mother. She has secrets of course and it appears someone else in town knows them. Knows enough about them to threaten her life.

I don’t usually care for books with such a flawed protagonist but the author manages to make her, Astrid, somehow relatable, somehow rootable. It’s well worth it to see how things turn out in the end.

Who Did You Tell? is a tough read because for each page, the reader is trapped inside the head of protagonist Astrid. Astrid is a 32-year old recovering alcoholic forced to move back to her hometown of Flinstead, a small coastal town in England. It's been six months since Astrid had her last drink, but only about six seconds since she last craved the oblivion that drinking brought her. Now she's living with her mother, and attending weekly AA meetings, but she can't escape her own demons and broken memories of her past life. Astrid lives inside her own head, and it's not a nice place to be. On top of all her other issues, Astrid is having disturbing flashbacks of her former lover and is receiving threats from an unknown person.

I felt such tremendous empathy for Astrid thanks to talented author, Lesley Kara. She so wants to re-start her life. She meets a wonderful man one day on the beach and hopes it could lead to a loving relationship, yet she's loathe to admit her truth to him. He introduces her to his father, and the father commissions Astrid to paint a trompe l'oeil in the beautiful old home father and son are remodeling. Everything is so promising, but before her new life can begin, Astrid needs to learn who is behind the threats she has been receiving and own her addiction.

As I said, this isn't an easy read; Astrid is such a haunted character. However, I thought it was a terrific book and would highly recommend it. My thanks to NetGalley and Ballantine Books for providing a eGalley in exchange for an honest review. Who Did You Tell? will be available on June 16, 2020.

I loved this book! Written in first-person, with an unreliable protagonist, and a cast of interesting characters that had me wondering about identities and motives through the story. It was a twisty, easy read that held my attention.

This was a very easy read and I really loved Astrid, aka Hilary. You could feel her pain and live those AA meetings throughout this book. I recommend picking up this one, thanks Net Galley.

This book grabbed me from the start and I read it straight through in two days. Genuine characters, intriguing relationships, and unexpected plot twists Highly recommended

A recovering alcoholics secret. This had a twist I didn’t see coming and Lesley delivered it well. The characters were well developed and you could feel the struggle the main character Astrid (Hillary) goes through.

Determined to start her life over and redeem her past actions, Astrid must face her alcohol fueled history while keeping her worst sins a secret. She is slowly building a future but someone is determined that she will not forget the past. As the story slowly unfolds, Lesley Kara builds the tension while feeding the mystery to the point where both of Astrid's worlds must collide. As the truth rushes from Astrid's past, the story explodes and the end will definitely be worth the read.

A very easy read that had me hooked from the beginning! I loved the main plot and the way the characters were written. I found myself fully submerged into the story. A great read!

What an absolutely wonderful read this was. I knew from the first chapter this was going to be a good one and I certainly wasn’t disappointed. This is a book that had me surprised at times. The novel moves quickly and I became addicted to the characters you truly become part of their world, feeling their feelings and seeing things through their eyes, especially the main character, Astrid.

I really liked the way each chapter told the story and I loved that it was easy to follow with concise chapters. It’s full of secrets and lies but you won’t be able to quite put your finger on it all until the final pages where a big twist throws the reader. I was shocked at the deception that I’d totally missed. There are times when you read a book that after a few chapters you have a fair idea what the twist is but this book threw me for a loop. This is a book which I can honestly say you won’t want to put down. Great characters and a superb story-line.

Fantastic book! I could not put this book down from the moment I started it. Very very suspenseful! There are do many twists and turns you wont see what's coming. You will never guess the ending!

Astrid was an alcoholic who had lost it all. The worst loss she experienced was her boyfriend dying. She felt it was her fault. The guilt was eating her up. In her thirties she was back living with her mother and attending AA meetings. She was trying to get her life back, but someone keeps sending her pictures and threatening notes about things she had done in the past. She also felt like she was being followed every time she left the house. She had left so many terrible memories behind, but they kept following her and it threatened her sobriety. What had happened in the past? Her memories were hazy since she was more often than not in a alcoholic haze. Did someone else know what happened in the past? Who did they tell? What a great suspenseful read and a great twist at the end . I loved it!

I really enjoyed reading this thriller. It kept me on the edge of my seat the whole time as I kept wondering who was trying to intimidate Astrid, but also as I wondered more about her past as well and what she was so afraid of. There were many different plot twists throughout the book, not just at the ending, which made me want to keep reading to see what was going to happen and ended up reading it in a day. I thought at one point I had guessed the ending, and then there was a plot twist that made me change my mind, and then the “bad guy” ended up being who I thought it was, but the twist as to why was great! So in the end, I did not see the ending coming and it was pretty surprising. I thought the book gave a great insight into the struggles that recovering alcoholics go through when trying to get sober. I would recommend this book for anyone who enjoys reading thrillers!

This was an interesting read for me. I actually enjoyed it. Astrid was dealing with demons from her past as well as trying to stay sober. All the twists in this book just kept me hooked. Really good.

Thank you Netgalley, the author and publisher for the ARC in exchange for an honest review.

I didn’t realize I had already read this book, until I started! Anyhow, I’ve read in the past, from getting an arc from UK site and thought it was a 4-5 star read! It had plenty of thrills, chills, and shocks, and an original spin on drinking problems, you normally don’t see in thrillers! It was well written and for the most part fast paced, but it was slower at times which is why I could not give the full 5 stars! I do highly recommend though!
Will make sure to buzz up on different platforms and use low amazon reviewer number when released!

This book had me looking over my shoulder all day...will probably continue to for a while, but I read it in a day, which is why that's the timeframe I gave it. This story deftly balances the struggles of addiction and how it can make you doubt yourself and your own reality with truly inspiring, and frightening, twists. A really fantastic (and crazy fast) read. Couldn't put it down!

I received an ARC of this novel from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

Astrid is a young woman who is making strides in her sober lifestyle when ghosts from her past come back to haunt her. Dealing those those ghosts and her struggle to stay sober make for an interesting read. Good story line.

This was a suspenseful tale and Lesley Kara is a master at keeping the reader hanging on to see what happens next.
Many thanks to Ballantine Books and to NetGalley for providing me with a galley in exchange for my honest opinion.

3.5 stars

This story started out a bit slow, but picked up a little as more details were revealed.

Astrid was newly sober and had just moved back in with her mother, but her relationship with her mother seemed a bit rocky to say the least. Even building new friendships and relationships were a struggle due to the secret she kept hidden. While Astrid tried desperately to focus on her recovery away from the temptations of her previous life, her past came back in the form of a stranger who new what she had done and wasn’t going to let her get away with it.

I thought the idea for this book was great, but I wasn’t blown away by the storyline or the buildup of the story. It wasn’t until the last few chapters that I was caught by surprise, and I was really impressed with the way the story ended. I wish more of the book had been that engrossing.

https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/3286362816

Astrid is a recovering alcoholic that did some awful things when she drank, often with her boyfriend Simon. After her mother helps send her to rehab, she moves in with her mother in a small seaside town. She is going to AA meetings and trying to start her life over. She meets another man, Josh, but is scared to reveal her secret past. She befriends a couple of women in AA, Helen and Rosie, although she gets along better with Helen as they both don't agree with the religious aspects of AA.

Astrid is very jumpy and believes someone is following her. Eventually she starts to receive notes that someone knows what she did in her past, and since she knows she didn't tell anyone, she wonders who Simon could have told.

There are a lot of twists in this book... all the way until the very end. It gives a lot of insight into the world of alcohol addiction and the struggle with recovery. The battle that Astrid faces is real and affects not only her, but her mother as well.