Afraid
by Lisa Jackson, Alexandra Ivy, Lisa Childs
Pub Date: February 22, 2022
Zebra
This book is actually three short stories woven together. Written together by three very talented authors, Lisa Jackson, Alexandra Ivy, and Lisa Childs! Short stories are not my favorite genre, so I was disappointed in my choice. I do like Lisa Jackson's books and that's what attracted me to the ARC.
Honestly, when I read the last word of the last story, I went "Eh". This was just okay.
Thanks to Zebra and NetGalley for the ARC. I cannot recommend this book.
3 stars

This was a super cool and unique book and I can say with 100 percent certainty that I have not read anything like it before. This book is actually three short stories woven together. Written together by three very talented authors, Lisa Jackson, Alexandra Ivy and Lisa Childs!

Hello, this is like hitting a trifecta!

Each story narrates a portion of three friends who are brought together by tragedy. This book is a very easy and quick read with zero repetition or stalling (my kind of book) . Afraid, is definitely filled with suspense that will have you guessing until the very end of each story. Another little bonus is that they threw in a bit of romance that I enjoyed.

I am a huge fan of these three authors and you should be too ! I would advise everyone to pre-order Afraid! Releasing February 22, 2022, this is not a book you will want to miss!

I absolutely loved this book and I got it for the Lisa Jackson story and ended up loving all three stories. The first story is about Lucy and I loved how the story had a twist I didn’t expect. It’s so hard for Lucy since she can’t remember what happened. The second story even had me crying over what happened. Loved feeling emotional right away about the characters. What really happened to Rayne’s friend Natalie? Loved how close Rayne and Nico become. The last story is about Erin and what happened to her sister? She also can’t remember what happened to her and her sister when they were kidnapped. What happened to Anna Beth? Loved how quickly Detective Rafe Montego falls for her. But is she in danger? Loved not knowing who the killer was. Also loved the happy ever after and that on the last story we get an epilogue that’s 10 years later. I voluntarily read an advanced readers copy and I highly recommend this book.

Afraid by Lisa Jackson, Alexandra Ivy and Lisa Childs
This is a collection of stories about three girls from wealthy families who were sent to St. Cecilia’s School for Girls in Salzburg, Austria, after something bad happened in their lives. Lucy, Rayne and Erin. Their stories are connected because of the school, there is angst, tragedy, evil, murder, tears, some laughter, jealousy, secrets, love, misunderstanding, strong H and h (even if they don't always feel strong). Each story kept me on the edge of my seat - I wanted to solve the mysteries and was so glad to get to all their HEA's.
Reasons I enjoyed this book:
Happily Ever After Easy-to-read Romantic Entertaining Witty Action-packed Great word building Scary Wonderful characters Tragic Unpredictable Page-turner Tear-jerker Haunting

Very well written, three novellas that all draw you into the story. Strong characters who all went to the same private girl's school. And there the connection stops as all the stories have different mysteries to be solved.
I'm disappointed. Instead of one great story which, I'm sure could have incorporated all three themes, the writers decided to do three separate ones which affected the flow of the book. I found it hard to switch off from the previous story. That is my only criticism as everything else was great!
Many thanks to Netgalley for the free ARC book for an honest review.
#Kensingtonbooks, #readlisajackson, #alexandra.ivy, #lisa_childs_author, #Netgalley

This is a great collection of suspense stories. Thankfully, the romance angle is minimal. There is a bit of a connection to each story, but they can stand alone. The school setting was perfect to tie things together in this creepy, fun book!

Afraid brings three great authors together in a trio of never-before-released, linked novellas about dark secrets and revenge, all connected by St. Cecilia’s School for Girls.

The elite boarding school and a haven for the daughters of the rich and famous is the place where scandals are buried and secrets hidden. But for three former students, evil is about to resurface…

This is truly a fascinating read and one I highly recommend. WOW!

This is an anthology by Lisa, Jackson, Alexandra Ivy and Lisa Child’s. All 3 stores are set in the same location, St Cecilia’s School for Girls. Each story is independent from the other but they are linked. Each story builds on the next. Thank you to net galley for an advanced readers copy.

"Afraid" an anthology by Lisa Jackson; Alexandra Ivy; Lisa Childs
3 Reasons For Fear
"Retribution" by Lisa Jackson tells Lucy Champagne's story
"Ghosts" by Alexandra Ivy tells Rayne Taylor's story
"Alone" by Lisa Childs tells Erin MacDonald's story
Three young girls sent to St. Cecilia's School for Girls. Their stories of the past impacting the present and the struggle to survive until tomorrow. This was an enthralling trio of stories and while connected also very independent of each other.
If you like suspense stories… I think you will like this anthology as much as I did. Happy Reading ! !
NOTE: I received an ARC of this story from the publisher.
This review expresses my honest opinion.

The plot of the book was such a great page turner. The plot of the book was very well written. I truly cannot wait to read another wonderful book from these great author. This was a truly great book.

This was a solid collection of short stories. I found myself wishing the stories were longer with more detail as I was definitely invested in them! All 3 authors are excellent and this collection made me want to read more of their work.

This was actually an anthology, but it was meant to have an over arching theme that all three authors added to their stories. The similar event was that in each of the stories, the main protagonist attended a School for Girls in Austria (forgive me, but I can not remember the exact name of the school).

This was also unusual in the fact that the stories really did need to be read in the order given. Even though there was not a lot of overlap, what there was piled on to the prior story. I'm only going to give my opinion of each story, not a story synopsis.

The first story seemed to be the longest one with a pretty long story arc. I am only going by memory, so that is what sticks in my head. You have a female MC running from a man that she sent to prison who has now been paroled. Her memory is gone on the events that happened on the attack of her mother, but she knows that this man is going to come after her once he is free. Lisa Jackson always has done a really good job building suspense, and this is no different. Was it the best story I've read from her? No, not even in the same ballpark. But, it was fairly short and it did have moments of intrigue.

In the next story, we get to meet a new female MC. She also was at the school in Austria. She mentions the events that just occurred with Lucy, so we are able to set a timeline up in our minds. We are given information about a death at the school that occurred when the girls were about to graduate - it was a suicide. Lucy's issues remind her to go and find her luggage from the school, which was sent to her mother and placed in the attic - never opened - as she left immediately to go to art school. This opens a whole other story arc, with people all of a sudden trying to kill them. The story was short, but interesting and kept my interest the entire way through.

The last story was from an author that I do not think I have read before. It was also the weakest of the three. We have a young girl who was kidnapped along with her "much more beautiful" sister. She was returned to her family after the ransom was paid, but her sister was never found. I had the hardest time with this one. The "instant" connection with the detective was hard to swallow. The "miraculous" solving of the crime after 25 years....yep, a bit hard to swallow.

So, for the most part. I enjoyed this book. Some moments more than others.

Thank you to NetGalley for the opportunity to read this ARC. The opinions above are mine and mine alone.

This ARC was provided to me via Kindle by Kensington Books and #NetGalley in return for an honest review. Afraid is a collection of 3 novellas by 3 different Authors Lisa Jackson/Alexandra Ivy and Lisa Childs the stories are interlinked but can be read as standalone.
I enjoyed the stories but felt they would have been better as longer books building up the romantic suspense even more, i felt they were all a little rushed and lacked the romance and suspense. I have read full length books by Lisa Jackson and Alexandra Ivy and have enjoyed immensely so perhaps novellas are not for me.

I liked the stories but found that romantic suspense novella can't really be a thing because there isn't time to build the suspense . But it did remind me why I like Lisa Jackson and for some reason haven't heard her books in awhile so will go back to that.

3 of my favorite authors in 1 book. Follow the stories of 3 young women and how tragedy forced them to attend a girls school and how it lead them, against all odds, to the one that is meant to be theirs forever! A lot of intrigue that is normal for these ladies.

I received a complimentary copy of this book from NetGalley. The opinions expressed in this review are completely my own

This collection of short stories is full of crazy twists and suspenseful turns. Each has there own flair with a tiny bit of romance but not enough to be called romantic suspense.

They are sum what connected but can be read as stand alone. St Cecelia’s School for girls in Salzburg, Austria is the center of there connecting story.

Murder and lots of tragedies. Crazy, creepy, families and story endings I sure didn’t see coming.

Overall this is a good collection of novella’s but my favorite was Alexandra Ivy.

Thank you to Kensington Books, Zebra, and NetGalley for this ARC in exchange for an honest review!

Afraid by Lisa Jackson; Alexandra Ivy; Lisa Childs is a collection of connecting novellas by a trio of bestselling thriller and suspense authors. The novellas revolve around three women, Lucy, Rayne, and Erin. They were former students at St. Cecilia’s School for Girls, an elite boarding school for the rich and famous. But what potential scandals are hiding behind the glossy facade? And are people willing to kill to keep their secrets safe?

Here is a gripping excerpt from Chapter 1 of Retribution by Lisa Jackson:

"Lucy froze.
Hiding in Mama’s bathroom.
Holding Mama’s special scissors, unable to escape.
How many times had she heard, “Don’t touch Mama’s things” from her mother, and now she was going to be caught.
She bit her lip. She wasn’t supposed to be in Mama’s suite, and she especially wasn’t supposed to be stealing the scissors, but she needed them to trim her own hair, which Mama insisted couldn’t be cut."

Overall, Afraid is an amazing new collaboration between three masters of the genre. I was so excited when I saw that they were collaborating to make this book! I knew I had to add it to my TBR list right away. Fortunately, the book lived up to my expectations. I enjoyed reading this book so much and seeing how the three authors' novellas connected and differed from each other. One highlight of this book was the perfect length of theddd thriller novellas. It means that you get to the reveal and the climax much earlier than you would if these were full-length novels. If you're intrigued by the excerpt above, or if you're a fan of thrillers in general, you won't regret checking out this book when it comes out in February!

I'm a big Alexandra Ivy fan but I've never read anything by Lisa Jackson or Lisa Childs. I will review each novella in the order I read them. First up Lisa Jackson's short story was my least favorite. Sadly, the main character wasn't likable and I saw no reason why her ex-husband would want to get back together with her. The only reason he should track her down was to get his daughter back. He and their daughter were the only likable characters.
Next up Alexandra Ivy's contribution. I really enjoyed this story. The author has a gift with suspense! Lastly, Lisa Childs finished the book on a high note. The mystery was intense and I was rooting for the main characters. I will definitely check out more of this author's work.

Unfortunately, I did not enjoy these stories. Lisa Jackson alone could have expanded on the stories and it would have made a more enjoyable read.

Interesting but not really my cup of tea. Well written I just personally couldn’t get into the story. I received an advance review copy for free, and I am leaving this review voluntarily.