I loved this book! It's well-written, enjoyable, and a great read. Amber Garza did a great job of writing in a way that captures the readers attention, and makes you not want to put it down until you're finished! I would recommend it!

Interesting, but absolutely positively not for me. Enjoyed the idea, the writing was pretty good, but again just in case of connection not quite being there for me

Where I Left Her sounded like a great (if creepy) premise – a girl goes missing without a trace, with the people who live in the house her mother last saw her go into not knowing who she is.

The book is all written in the perspective of mother Whitney, who is an extremely protective parent to Amelia. Although I’m sure we are supposed to have a lot of sympathy for her character, I actually found her to be quite annoying. She is a helicopter parent who, as the book progresses, we learn does not like to give her daughter privacy and is very controlling in her behaviour. This made it very hard for me to empathise with her and as the book is only from her perspective, this meant I found it a bit of a frustrating read. Whitney also comes across as an unreliable narrator from the outset, which ruined the twist slightly – a less heavy-handed approach would have helped to keep the suspense high and give the end twist a larger impact.

The book also jumps between present day narrative and flashbacks, but these are strangely done. Some of the flashbacks are entire chapters, some a few paragraphs and some even just a mysterious couple of lines. These felt a little like they were interrupting the flow of the story though and it didn’t make for a seamless read. I think a bit of re-editing for these sections would have really helped the cohesiveness of the novel as a whole.

The plot was also a little strange and you have to suspend your disbelief to enjoy the ending. I think a lot of the choices were just done for the effect of the novel and we lost some of the realism along the way.

Overall, Where I Left Her is a frustrating story with an likeable main character, although it is an interesting premise. Thank you to NetGalley & Harlequin – Mira for the chance to read the ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Where I Left Her is a phenomenal thriller about a mother who drops her teenage daughter off for a sleepover only to arrive the next morning to find an elderly couple at the house who has never heard of her daughter. What is going on? The book is filled with twists and well-developed characters. It's the story of nightmares - one that will keep you up all night. Highly recommended!

**3.5-stars rounded up**

Whitney's teenage daughter, Amelia, is at an especially difficult phase. She's moody and secretive. Whitney hardly recognizes her sometimes. Whitney tries her best to remain patient. Things have been challenging for them both since the divorce, since Amelia's Dad moved to Europe with his new wife.

Recently, Amelia has stopped hanging out with her old friends in favor of a new friend, Lauren. When Amelia asks if she can spend the night at Lauren's house on the weekend, Whitney is definitely hesitant. She doesn't know this girl's parents and has always had a rule that she must know the family before sleepovers.

At this point though, Whitney is at wit's end. She gives in. Amelia can stay at Lauren's on one condition, that Whitney can drive her there and drop her off. So, that's what they do.

Whitney really wants to walk Amelia to the front door, but Amelia is adamant that is not going to happen. Once they arrive at Lauren's home, Whitney watches as her daughter walks up the front steps, is greeted by Lauren at the door and disappears inside.

The next day, after being unable to reach Amelia on her cell for several hours, Whitney returns to the home for pick-up. She's surprised when an elderly couple answers the door, claiming there are no teenage girls there. She must have the wrong house.

Initially, she's embarrassed. She could have sworn this was the house, the one with the rose bushes out front, but truth be told, all the houses do sort of look the same. Whitney leaves, drives around the neighborhood looking for anything familiar and ends up right back there. She knows this is the house. Something is very wrong. She calls her best friend, she calls the police, she calls her ex-husband. They need to find Amelia.

From there, the Reader gets a front row seat to the drama as Whitney desperately searches for her missing daughter. All will be revealed, but we've got a long, bumpy road ahead.

After my experience with Garza's 2020-novel, When I Was You, I was super stoked for this next release. Where I Left Her is an over-the-top, ridiculously far-fetched drama. We love it. Okay, maybe not 'we', but I LOVE IT!!

I really vibe with Garza's writing and this one totally sucked me in. It was crazy fun. Once I started, I was completely invested 100%. Honestly, both Whitney and Amelia made me angry. They aren't making the wisest choices, but no one makes the best choices all the time...

I had a lot of fun learning about Whitney's past and how it may have come back to haunt her. It was quite intriguing the way Garza pieced it all together. I would definitely recommend this, particularly if you've enjoyed Garza's writing before.

Thank you so much to the publisher, Mira Books, for providing me with a copy to read and review. I had fun with this and will definitely pick up anything else Garza releases!

Whitney drops Amelia, her teenage daughter, off at a friend's house, expecting to pick her up the next morning. When Whitney doesn't hear from Amelia the next day, she heads over to the house but is greeted by an elderly couple who have never head of Amelia. What happened to Amelia??

Told from Whitney during alternating timelines, Where I Left Her kept me up ALL night. The plot was clever, and the narrative was developed perfectly. This was my second book from Amber Garza, and it did not disappoint. A must read!

DNF - Did not finish. I did not connect with the writing style or plot and will not be finishing this title. Thank you, NetGalley and Publisher for the early copy!

I was in the mood for a good audiobook, so I forwent the ebook that Harlequin MIRA had provided me and went ahead and bought the audiobook of Amber Garza’s WHERE I LEFT HER from Audible. The narration for this ratcheting-tension suspense was fantastic, and I enjoyed listening to this in one day while I worked.

Whitney is a very controlling mother to sixteen year old daughter Amelia, but she does it out of both love and fear. Amelia had become fast friends with new girl Lauren after Amelia fell out with her longtime friends, and Amelia’s behavior becomes out of control, secretive, and snotty. When Whitney drops Amelia off and Lauren’s house for a sleepover, Whitney had no clue that would be the last time she’d see her daughter–unless she fought tooth and nail to find her, even when Whitney’s deepest, darkest secrets are finally brought to light.

Narrated by Whitney in both the past and present, Where I Left Her captures a mother’s fear as her daughter slowly slips away from her until she vanishes into the night. The audiobook flowed nicely throughout the timelines as more and more was revealed about Whitney’s past and Amelia’s troubled present, and I really loved the unreliable narrator aspect of this book. The secrets and sordid details are revealed slowly throughout the book, but the last quarter just explodes with detail–and I was very surprised by what actually took place in both the past and present.

I give Where I Left Her a four out of five. Listening to the audiobook really worked for me, although I was a bit confused at times as to who’s point of view I was hearing about. Eventually, it’s all revealed, so much of it makes perfect sense in hindsight. The parallels drawn between Whitney as a teen and Amelia at that age were fantastic, but the twist of what was actually true was smart. The writing was engaging and the narrator was also great. The tension and desperation throughout the book kept increasing until all the truth finally comes out–at least all that Whitney is willing to reveal. Whitney was really well-developed, as well as her daughter and other side characters. I recommend the audiobook and it’s narrator, especially if you want an engaging listen full of mystery, tension, a narrator with questionable views on the past and present, as well as quite a few red herrings and twists and turns.

Had high expectations from a missing teen and mother searching for her trope. But the writing let me down. I found the format to be not so soothing to my brain to visualize the story completely. The mother's character too did not endear herself to me. quite a repetitive prose that got me down. Overall, an okay read.

OOOH, this story though!
Whitney dropped her daughter Amelia off at her friend Lauren’s house for a sleepover, but the next day she doesn’t hear from her daughter. Yes she’s a moody teen, but she’s never been one to not call her mom after a sleepover.
Whitney finally decides to drive to the house to pick her up, and the couple that live there, don’t know her daughter, and no one lives there named Lauren. How’s that for the beginning of the book??
You find yourself not only wending your way though memories of two young girls, one of whom is named Mellie. You’re also thrust into the lives of multiple people throughout the story. All but a very few have a bearing on the ending. It’s best to pay attention to everyone with a part in the story, because they’ll be in there more than once.
This isn’t the type of story you can breeze through. This story is deep, it’s windy, it’s turbulent. You don’t find out until the last page what actually happened, you can guess, but it’s best to just be pulled along and have it laid out in front of you like a magic trick.
Ms. Garza has put together a humdinger of a thriller, and you need to allow yourself the pleasure of being taken along for the ride.
Definitely worth a re-read!

*I received an ARC copy from Netgalley and the publisher and this is my honest and voluntary review.

WHERE I LEFT HER is the second book I have read by the author and I have to say this one brought more suspense and kept me on the edge of my seat until the end.

Took me a while to get into the book. The twist that came was interesting, and the ending was horrifying. Don't want to say too much. I think this was an entertaining read but it won't be for everyone. The reality factor wasn't totally there which draws you out of the story a little bit. You really grow to loathe the mom.

Where I Left Her is my first Amber Garza novel and I was not disappointed! I thought it was really addictive and twisty, and I am really happy I read it. It ended up being pretty dark, and I actually had to listen to the end a couple of times to make sure I wasn't missing anything. The majority of the story is told from Whitney's viewpoint, and I really liked the way almost all of the chapters are labeled with the time periods from either before or after drop-off. There are also some chapters not labeled this way that first appear to be from the past but could also be from the present as well. I really enjoyed those, and it kept me guessing as to whose viewpoint I was actually reading from. I am really easy to please when it comes to mysteries and thrillers, and as long as I'm not bored, I will usually enjoy it. I didn't find this book to be boring in the slightest, and I could practically feel Whitney's panic jumping off the pages.

I do have to say the audiobook is a great way to consume this book since the narrator Vivienne Leheny is a real gem. I have listened to her many times now, and I have never once had any issues with her narration. I thought she was the perfect person to narrate, and she definitely helped me feel all the emotions Whitney was feeling. I went into Where I Left Her not knowing what to expect, but what I got was a tense and pacy read that was easy to fly through. I wish I could have read it in one sitting and it would be easy to do so, but I just did not have enough time when I started. There is something about Garza's writing and combined with the gripping storyline of Amelia being gone, it makes it hard to put this one down. I found this to be a very enjoyable audiobook and thriller and I will definitely be going back to read When I Was You now.

I received a complimentary digital copy of this book. Opinions expressed in this review are completely my own.

When you love a book you encourage everyone you know to also read it. I did exactly that. Enough said. Read it!!!

I received a free copy of this book from Harlequin/MIRA through Netgalley.com in exchange for an honest review.

Whitney is a helicopter mother, overprotective of her teenage daughter Amelia. Amelia has started to act out and now she is missing. The story is mostly told from Whitney's perspective, who the more you read, you realize is an unreliable narrator. I found the story to be choppy and disjointed. The flashbacks didn't make much sense in the beginning as I wasn't sure what they had to do with her daughter going missing.

Amelia has a new friend Lauren who seems shady with a hidden agenda. When Amelia goes missing it is with Lauren. I don't want to give anything away and Lauren is shady but she has reason to be.

I struggled through this book. It was definitely suspenseful but so much didn't make sense to me and the ending really jumped the shark and I felt it was a bit of an easy way out and a let down for me. The book did move along at a rapid pace and there were things I really liked but I just can't say I loved it.

Amber Garza has quickly become one of my favorite authors. Her stories are always amazing and have the ability to completely submerse you.

Whitney experiences every parent's worst nightmare when her child goes missing. It would be one thing if she had just been missing, but Whitney knows where she dropped her child off. Even if the current occupants state otherwise. As

Whitney how has to try and start unraveling the secrets in her daughter's life. A task that is difficult given all the online avenues they can pursue. When Whitney starts getting closer to the truth she starts to fear that her past indiscretions are catching up with her.

A twisting and turning story that had me guessing right up until the end. Would highly recommend this as your next read.

When Whitney comes to pick up her daughter from her friend's house after a sleepover, strangers answer the door. To find her daughter, Whitney must confront her own sins as she uncovers secrets and lies of the girl she thought she knew. I was fortunate to receive a digital copy of this well-written story from the publisher Mira Books through NetGalley.

This review was commissioned by Harper Collins.
I love Amber Garza; I took months to get over her last work that I reviewed, When I Was You, and Where I Left Her strikes the same note that her last work did with me,
Give me a taut, twisty thriller and an unreliable narrator and I am a happy, happy girl and Where I Left Her delivered both in spades.

This was a a solid thriller - a nightmare of a story for a mother who drops off her teen daughter at a friends house for an overnight and the teen never comes back. Lots of twists and a perfect read for domestic thriller lovers.

I imagine that psychological thrillers are difficult to get right. The author has to write a compelling story while making sure that any twists are realistic. Authenticity is a must.
Although I have read a few that are so outrageously twisted that they’re enjoyable. I think it has to be either one or the other. There’s no middle ground between the two, at least not if the author wants it to be enjoyable.
In Where I Left Her, the author has created a story that is simple on the surface with an underlying current of darkness that sneaks up on the reader, gradually building until it crashes down in the closing pages, leaving the reader thinking “whoa, what just happened.”
At least, that’s what it did for this reader.
I thought the storytelling in this was masterful. That may seem like a strong word, but it truly was. The author balances a run of the mill “teenage daughter didn’t come home” plot with backstory and details that indicate there is much more going on.
The author also varies in the storytelling techniques, as we get Whitney’s memories in “real time” flashbacks as she wonders what happened to her daughter. There are also scattered chapters containing true flashbacks to an earlier time…but I wasn’t quite sure who those belonged to up until the very end. At one point, I suspected a completely different character.
I loved the ambiguity of it.
Most interesting to me, however, were the hints dropped in casual conversations and seemingly throwaway references that cast doubt on Whitney’s reliability. The reader knows something happened, as Whitney refers to it often, but it is like her past and her present are on a collision course. She knows it, but at the same time, she doesn’t.
Once the past and present start to converge and answers start to appear, the book kicks into higher gear and keeps that pace right up to the end.
And I do mean the very, very end. When you think the author has answered everything…you’re wrong. Because the biggest revelation is saved for last. And it’s totally worth it.
I’m not going to say any more about it, because I could spoil it, and I definitely don’t want to do that. Just go get this book; you won’t regret it because it’s a heckuva read. Definitely a top in the genre for this year.