This is one of those books aimed at YA readers, but that adults will love to read just as much, as it isn't truly aimed at certain reading ages! Cat is every kid who has felt abandoned by parents, who lacks family support and has had to face internet bullying to such a degree, her dad feels it is better to get her out of town for awhile. So off she goes to her aunt's in Canada. Only past family secrets, hidden family dysfunction and the lure of new friendships, ultimately all lead her to a place worse than when she arrived. This is a book that grabs you and doesn't let you go, with all it's modern nuances, while nodding it's head to universal pangs of maturing. Add in 2 mysteries that seem intertwined and you start to have a roller coaster read that won't let you go! DONT miss this one! You'll want your teens to read it too!

You Were Never Here is about a girl named Cat who lives in New York with her dad, but is shipped off to her Aunt Jet's for the summer. She finds out that her childhood friend, Riley, has been missing for two months and she runs into his brother, Noah, and decides she wants to help him find out what happened to Riley. But Cat is a Montgomery, and that means she has this...skill. Her father doesn't understand it, and he forbids her aunt to discuss it with her, so Cat is left to figure things out on her own. She meets some new friends in Montgomery Falls, the small town her aunt lives in, and even though she doesn't want to make any friends, she finds she can't help herself and especially feels a bond with Skylar. But when she finds an abandoned trailer that has pictures hanging that point to one of her friends as a serial killer, she doesn't know what to do. She should call the police, but she doesn't think they will believe her, so she sets out to try and figure out everything. This story is really good in the way each chapter ends with a little cliffhanger that makes you want to keep reading into the next chapter to see what happens.

Montgomery Falls isn’t what you think it is. Everyone is hiding something until it collides. Mary Catherine is sent to her aunts house after she gets in trouble at home. So many people she meets in the town who don’t know why she is there. Riddled with teenage angst and intrigue, this novel shows how many different teens handle the pressures of living in a small town.

This book was so much fun! I loved the mystery/thriller elements paired with the just a hint of fantasy aspects. I enjoyed Cat & her awareness of her own vulnerability, and her desire to be brave & fight monsters. I also loved that the story didn’t take the easy way out around the ending & leaned into the tone that had been present consistently. Definitely recommend as a fun thrilling read.

This was a strong, engaging YA thriller that kept me hooked from the beginning of the narrative. I loved the hints of paranormal elements in the book and thought that it was well paced.

I received this ARC from the publisher in exchange for an honest and voluntary review. I was in no way compensated for this review.


Kathleen Peacock returns to the world of YA writing wither her debut thriller, You Were Never Here! I was most excited when I saw Kathleen was writing again, and though it’s not a book about werewolves, a thriller is the next best thing! This was an exciting and eerie mystery that was near bone-chilling in its darkness. The mystery really grabbed hold of me and did not let up until I reached the very end!

After an untold event that was BIG, Cat is forced to spend her summer with her aunt in Canada while her writer father goes off to another conference. She isn’t exactly thrilled with the turn of events, but there’s no reason for her to stay home where her best friend, and nearly everyone else hates her for what happened. We eventually learn what this event was around the halfway point of the book, but it’s a tad minor in the grand scheme of things and really only serves as the basis for Cat to be sent on her “Adventure.”

Cat comes back to the place she spent much of her childhood, her aunt’s boarding house that’s a bit empty since it’s summer and usually has college students for the school year. A few tenants remain, like the charming Aidan, but Cat is more of a loner these days and doesn’t like getting close to people, for more reasons than one. The reason Cat always holds herself back from people is that when she touches them, she sees things, things that the person hides from others and these aren’t always good things either.

Cat reconnects with her old best friend, Riley’s, brother, Noah during this trip. She hasn’t seen Noah since her last visit to Canada when Riley learned of her secret and withdrew from her. But Riley is missing, has been missing for months now and Noah wants Cat’s help in trying to find him. He doesn’t know the exact extent of her gift, only that with her, he can find out where his brother is or where he went, the rumor is that he ran away, but Noah doesn’t believe that. Things really shake up when a girl who was missing turns up with a trinket that belonged to Riley.

This was quite the mystery, let me tell you. I will say that it does get drawn out a bit. I wouldn’t say there are too many moments of normalcy, thankfully, just that mystery isn’t a quick one. Granted there are scattered moments where the focus isn’t on clue finding and what not, but I felt like Kathleen did a very good job of drawing the story out without losing this reader’s interest.

Things definitely get a bit bone chilling as Cat looks from one person to another as a potential suspect. At one point I considered a suspect on a technicality but then dismissed it later on, but then ended up being right after all. Kathleen has a nice pool of whodunits and honestly I was ready to believe that any or all or a combination of them was “the guy,” so to speak.

There was also an added romance element, and a love triangle of sorts to boot. While Cat could easily see herself falling for Aidan, she can’t help but feel a spark between her and Noah as well. It’s a complicated love mess to say the least. Though there are sparks and moments here and there between her and both guys, I was happy to see that the romance was not a strong factor for the story. Merely, a side element to add a bit of tension.

Another thing that I loved about Cat was that she wasn’t your typical heroine. I feel like your standard heroine is always some thin girl either who’s really short or just of average height. Calls herself unremarkable, blah, blah, blah. We’ve all seen it. Here Cat is more of the heavier set and for some reason that just made it really relatable. She has her self-confidence issues like any teenager, but I don’t know how else to describe why I liked seeing a more realistic heroine in this novel, but I did.

As I might have mentioned the ending and BIG reveal was nothing short of mind-blowingly amazing! I did suspect the culprit but as I said, I thought it was too easy. Well, apparently I need to stick to my instincts! Lol. But what I also liked about the reveal was how it was still pretty shocking even as more and more clues were fed along the way. Little clues that can be easily discounted at first glance. The marks of a great mystery are when everything comes together in a natural way and you’re left stunned! I guess in some sense I didn’t really care for the reasoning behind all the crimes committed, I was hoping for something MORE, but at the same time they felt utterly believable so it works in a sense.

You Were Never Here was a spine-tingling good read! It’s the perfect kind of read for a cold winter’s night right before drifting off to sleep. It’s a read that will keep you guessing until the very end. Kathleen is a natural at the thriller genre for her first take at it and I hope to see more reads from her in the near future!



Overall Rating 4/5 stars



You Were Never Here releases October 20, 2020

I could see my teenaged students loving this book. Just the right amount of sexual tension, violence, mystery and twists that makes characters realistic, but also keeps the book moving quickly.

This was such a good book. I really grew to love the main character and, although I usually hate a love triangle, I didn't mind the one in this book. There's plenty of twists and I audibly gasped when I read the final twist. I'm keeping my fingers crossed that this turns into a series!

A fabulous YA mystery, with a hint of a supernatural element. It took me a little while to get the full picture of what was going on with Cat, but once I did, I was hooked. The characters were interesting, and the twist at the end really did take me by surprise. Overall, a great mystery for fans of One of Us is Lying

You Were Never Here was a great mystery book. This one grabs you from the very start and you are hooked. I finished this in about 2 days and loved every second of it. When Cat's father sends her to stay with her aunt it's definitely not a vacation. She finds out as soon as she arrives that her childhood best friend has been missing for 3 months. With the help of his older brother Noah the two set out to figure out what happened to Riley. This book is full of suspense and you'll be guessing till the very end.