What a page turner! The storyline goes back and forth between 15 years ago, when a double murder happened in the small town of Gericho, and present day where the mystery has yet to be solved. Everyone assumes Juniper's brother Johnathon did it even though he was never convicted. Juniper is back in town, and is determined to find out the truth. There are some people that think she should leave the past in the past. Such an intriguing story! I was hooked til the end. I definitely didn't see it coming. What a great read, and such great characters!

Well done! Thriller with developed storyline and characters!

Juniper Baker had just graduated from high school and was deep in the throes of a summer romance when Cal and Beth Murphy, a childless couple who lived on a neighboring farm, were brutally murdered. When her younger brother became the prime suspect, June’s world collapsed and everything she loved that summer fell away. She left, promising never to return to tiny Jericho, Iowa.

thank you for the opportunity to review. I couldn't really get into this however I think others will love it

⭐️⭐️⭐️💫

This is a family drama. When Juniper was 19, her neighbors were murdered. After the fallout, she left town, vowing never to return.
But, now, Juniper has to come back to town to help a friend in need. She gets pulled back into the murders that happened so long ago.
I liked this story and the author is very talented. It was just overly detailed, causing the story to drag. I feel like it could have been edited down and the pace would have been more enjoyable. Still definitely worth a read.

Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️

Blurb: Juniper Baker returns to her small hometown of Jericho, Iowa fifteen years after the unsolved murders of her neighbors Cal and Beth Murphy, for which her brother Jonathan is the prime subject. In addition to attempting to solve the murders before a local true crime podcaster does, Juniper must mend her relationship with her daughter Willa.

Likes:
-The twists! I figured out about halfway through the book who killed the Murphys, but I was not prepared for the why. There are some other smaller twists towards the end of the book that I didn't see coming as well.
-The alternate timelines. It seems like a lot of people didn't like this aspect of the book, but I actually loved how the past and present timelines parallel each other.
-The writing style. This book is really beautifully written, and I loved the descriptions of the small town of Jericho and the people within it.

Dislikes:
-The pacing. This book moves sooo slowly. I honestly wanted to put it down a few times, and although I'm glad I stuck with it, I would have liked some more action earlier in the book. It's definitely more of a family drama/mystery than a thriller.
-The library storyline. I understand that the library provides a good cover for why Juniper suddenly wants to return to her small town, but the storyline with Cora being sick seemed underdeveloped to me.
-The relationships between Juniper and Willa and Juniper and Ashley. It just felt like something was missing from both of these storylines.

Overall, I was really impressed with Nicole Baart's writing style and the unique twists in this book. I just wish it had been a little faster-paced and I would have liked to see some of the subplots addressed more thoroughly.

Juniper Baker, looks back on her last year of High School often. After all she found her first love, she was going away to college and she seemed to be heading in the right direction. For as long as she could remember, she wanted to leave her small town. And it was about to happen. But things changed that summer and nothing seemed the same anymore. The couple on the farm next door were murdered, her brother is a suspect but the police can’t prove anything and the love of her life.. well that’s another story.
Everything We Didn’t Say by Nicole Baart, follows Juniper throughout her young adult life. She remembers certain things from that fateful night and decides to look into what really happened. As she digs deeper she is reminded of friendships lost and the hurt she was left with. In her attempt to clear her brother, she will have to come up with another suspect? Can she find this person? Can she get help looking into the murders? Can she look back and remember what happened? This is a very good book. I read it quickly and enjoyed it. This was a four star read for me and I want to thank Netgalley and Nicole Baart for my copy for an honest review. It was my pleasure reading and reviewing this book. I hope you enjoy it too.

Did not finish. I will not be reading this one. I did not connect with the plot or writing style. Thank you Netgalley and publisher for the early copy!

Juniper Baker was in high school when her beloved neighbors were brutally murdered. Her younger brother was named the prime suspect and Juniper's world fell apart. She fled town, vowing to never return. Until now... Fifteen years later, Juniper is drawn back by a plea for help from a friend who has become too ill to continue running the town's beloved library. Once she returns, secrets start bubbling to the surface and answers are finally within her grasp.

I really, really enjoyed this book and thought it was both a well-told story and a wild thrill-ride. I would absolutely read anything else from Nicole Baart and give this one 5 stars.

I received an ARC from NetGalley in exchange for my honest review.

Nicole Baart’s Everything We Didn't Say is the story of Juniper Baker who leaves Jericho, Iowa, after something horribly tragic happens. Even though she vows never to return, she does to help a friend and repair her relationship with her daughter. Weaving the past and the present throughout the book, Baart tells a story about secrets and the people who keep them; this mystery will have you on the edge of your seat until the end. Great read!

Wow, this was such an an amazing example of what a "thriller" could be. Because without a doubt it was a thriller all the way to the twist at the end which took me all the way until the bitter end to finally figure out which is usually how I judge most thrillers. But this book was so much more than just a thriller. It was a story of family, friendship, of romance and regrets and of love, love of all kinds. The characters (especially June and Johnathan) were so well written I love every part of them. I felt every emotion almost too much. The story was so real and simple that it truly could have been anyone's story, which is something I don't think I've ever felt after finishing a good thriller. This is one of those special books which I would feel confident suggesting for pretty much anyone who enjoys reading. Whether you love thrillers, romance, mystery, contemporary fiction, even young adult. Truly this book could fit some way into all of those different genres and regardless would still be the same excellent book it is. Thank you so much to Netgalley and the publishers for the chance to read this arc in exchange for an honest review.

I just want to be clear, right up front, that my rating and review for this book are based on my own experience, not what I feel the objective quality of the book is. Honestly, I think it's a good book and well written - just not one that worked for me.

Something in the characters and the way the story held so much information back left me feeling almost entirely disconnected from the story - I had nowhere to get attached, nowhere to find the hook that pulled me in. I did finish it, so that should be taken as a marker of the objective quality - even feeling as I did I wanted to find out what happened.

Tough to get through between the cliches and hard-to-believe bits - but I plugged through to find out the solution to the mystery ... sadly unsatisfying in the end with MORE less-than-credible efforts to tie up loose ends.

The author delivered a story that is suspenseful and she balanced the tension throughout. Small town, family, and secrets, it has just the right elements.
Many thanks to Atria Books and to NetGalley for providing me with a galley in exchange for my honest opinion.

Hi! Thank you so much for sending me this book. Unfortunately, I had to DNF it around 20%. I didn't enjoy where the story was going.

This is the third book that I've read by Nicole Baart and while I loved the first two, this one I liked-it was just okay to me. While I normally love slow burn novels, Everything We Didn't Say dragged in places way too much for me so the slow burn became boring at times to the point that I just had to put the book down and either read something else or watch something on Netflix. The book did pick up the last 75-80%, and the suspense/drama and the big reveal were all excellent.

Baart has beautiful, lyrical, masterful prose and that helped to a point but not enough to make me love it. The novel is told in dual timelines as we learn about what happens in the present, told in first person POV, when Juniper returns to her small town in Iowa at age 33 to help care for an old friend who has cancer and try to grow closer to her teenage daughter. Then we learn in third person POV about the past after Juniper graduates high school when her neighbors were brutally murdered and she left Jericho and her newborn daughter with her parents to raise--this POV has a YA feel that doesn't seem to flow with the rest of the book. There was also a lot going on in this book--a lot of subplots and a lot of the subplots were never fully explained or never made sense; fixing those issues would have helped with the slowness of the book, in my opinion.

Anyway, I am an outlier with my opinion here and there are many, many 4 and 5 star reviews, so make sure you check those out. No matter what, I'll be sure to read what Baart writes next as I have loved her previous books immensely!

Thank you NetGalley and Atria Books for the ARC in exchange for my honest review. All opinions are my own.



Review posted on Goodreads, Twitter, and Amazon on 1/30/22

⭐️⭐️⭐️💫

This one was a slooooooow burn family DRAMA.

What I liked was the slowly revealed old secrets, the new mystery to be solved and characters.
EVERYTHING WE DIDN'T SAY is much more of a slow burn mystery than anything else so don't expect anything else.

The characters made the book- it was super character driven and trust me you'll definitely want to slap some.

This was a fast paced psychological thriller that kept you guessing until the end. Great start that drew you in and delivered just enough to keep you guessing. A solid 4 star read for those who love this genre!

The story revolves around Juniper, who is returning to this small town after an extended absence. Events that took place during the summer of her graduating year caused her to flee and begin a new life away from her home. Returning home causes her a return of memories and potential for danger.

The author delivered on her characters, plot and definitely twists and turns as the story unraveled! Definitely recommend!

I actually did purchase this for our library. I loved the characters and the concept is thrilling. I liked the storyline, especially how Baart wove the threads together to fill in the gaps. The end felt a little rushed, for me, as if the word count was too high and the editor wanted Baart to finish with more economy. 4 star read for me, which means I liked it a lot and would recommend to lovers of a good thriller.

I can certainly see why this was a Book of the Month choice- I absolutely couldn't put this one down! I stayed up way too late to finish it in practically one sitting! It's my first experience with this author, but I am definitely eager to read more from Baart in the future!

Juniper returns to her small Iowa hometown - ostensibly to use her library degree to help out an old friend who works there who is ill. But she has two other more personal and pressing reasons to return - to reconnect with her daughter and to put a stop to a podcast threatening to examine a cold case from nearly 15 years earlier. Juniper's neighbors were brutally murdered - and her brother, though never convicted, remains the sole suspect. Baart weaves together the past and present in this compulsively thrilling read. There are some real surprises here along the way, too!

The characters all come to life and Baart does a great job especially of capturing Juniper as a teenager and contrasting it with her adult self. I really didn't want this book to end at all - always a sign of how much I enjoyed it. The ending, though, is satisfying and I appreciated the way the pieces all fit together. I really enjoyed this! The farming community and the small town life feel well-portrayed (although maybe some will feel that the environmental issues touched upon here paint the majority of the town in too unflattering of a light). Iowa isn't that common of a setting in fiction and I also appreciated the way the podcast plot came together as well. Overall, I think that this would make for a great discussion starter - especially for those groups that mix together people from a wide variety of backgrounds. If this is ever nominated for my book club to read, it has my vote (even though I usually vote for something new over something that I have read before!).

Juniper Baker was happy, in love with a local boy and had just graduated from highschool when something terrible happened. Her neighbours, a friendly childless couple were brutally murdered and her brother was the number one suspect. She left Jericho, Iowa and promised never to return. Now she is back. She has returned to help her sick friend run the local library, but she is also back to try and forge a relationship with her teenage daughter, Willa, and to finally figure out who killed Cal and Beth Murphy. Shortly after arriving in town, her brother, Jonathan, falls through the ice on Jericho Lake and is in critical condition. Throw in someone doing a podcast, insistent that Jonathan is guilty and there is a lot happening in this sleepy little town.

This is the first book I have read by Nicole Baart, but I will be checking out her backlist. This book grabbed me from the start and I quickly devoured the pages to see how things would turn out. I loved Juniper's character and was rooting for her in all areas. Jonathan was broken, the suspicions following him all his life, some thinking the fall was an attempt at suicide. The story was told in the present with flashbacks to 14 years ago. We learned more about the crime, the relationships and the family dynamics that way. The town was a typical small town with a rich family that seems to run things and those who work for them or dislike them immensely. There are some undertones that might imply some involvement in the crime in the past. Also in the story is an environmental storyline about the water being contaminated by this family's business and causing cancer in several residents. All story lines are pulled together in the end and I was left very satisfied. I did not have the suspect on my radar at all and the contamination story was very interesting in the way it wraps up. I do not want to give this story away, so will just say that it is well-developed with great characters (both those I like and those I didn't). It was a puzzle with many pieces that the author moved deftly around the table before slotting them in. It is a family drama, slow burn mystery and has some suspense and edge of your seat moments, that will keep you turning the pages. I definitely recommend this one.