Lisa Jackson is one of my favorite authors. Alexandra Ivy and Lisa Childs are new-to-me authors. This is a compilation of three short stories revolving around three young rich girls sent to St. Cecilia’s School for Girls in Salzburg, Austria. Friendships are formed but not really kept up after the girls, Lucy, Rayne, and Erin, are old enough to leave the school. As a series of events happen in their individual adult lives, old memories resurface, and the girls realize things might not be what everyone originally thought. Can they piece together the memories from their pasts with new clues and finally find the truth? Stories about tragedy, loss, family dynamics, healing, and justice, with many twists and turns, and a little romance thrown in.

I was given an advance copy through NetGalley and the publisher. This review is my honest opinion.

I love all three of these authors. I was excited to read this even though I am not a novella fan. Honestly, when I read the last word of the last story, I went "Eh". This was just okay. Would I recommend this - probably not. There are so many better stories out there.

Thank you #netgalley and #kensingtonbooks #zebra for the earc.

Three different authors write about a mystery that happen to three different women that went to the St. Cecilia’s School for Girls in Austria. I really enjoyed each of the stories. I felt bad for each of the main characters of their stories. I voluntarily read and reviewed an advanced free copy of this book. All thoughts and opinions are my own. I received a copy from the publisher through NetGalley.

Retribution by Lisa Jackson

This was an interesting story. Lucy’s family was a bit odd. I enjoyed the mystery and the suspense. I would have liked it to have been a longer story. It felt rushed and would have made an excellent full length book.

Ghosts by Alexandra Ivy

Rayne went to the same price catholic school in Austria that Lucy did. Years later with her best friend Nat’s brother, she is trying to find out who killed Nat on the day of their high school graduation. There are twists and turns.

Alone by Lisa Child’s

This is Erin’s story. As a child her and her sister were kidnapped. She was found but not her sister. There was so much psychological pain in this story. Lots of twists and turns.

Lucy is Creepy! This book is three short stories written by three different authors. I have read books by Lisa Jackson, but not the other two authors. I really enjoyed this book, it was well written and I liked how the three stories were linked together. I would definitely read more books by all three authors. I read this book Halloween weekend, so that made the book even better.
#Afraid #NetGalley

Afraid; Lisa Jackson, Alexandra Ivy, Lisa Childs (416 pages)

Genre: Thriller, Mystery, Psychological Suspense
Rating: 4 stars

This book is a compilation of three short stories by authors; Lisa Jackson, Alexandra Ivy and Lisa Childs. Each story centers around one of three former students of St. Cecilia’s School for Girls in Salzburg, Austria.

While there is a thread which weaves each of these stories together, they also can be read as standalone. Each of the main characters survived or went through a traumatic event which has had long standing impacts on their lives. While I felt there could have been more developed in the first and third story to tie them together, overall the stories complimented each other well and I found it hard to choose a favorite. I’d initially been drawn to read this one as I’ve heard of best-selling author Lisa Jackson but hadn’t read any of her books. The other two authors were unknown to me. After reading this, I can say I’d definitely read other works by any of these authors. The stories were well crafted, complex and layered mysteries which kept me guessing down to the last minute. Each of the stories had its own twists and turns and pulled off a reveal at the end which I didn’t see coming.

The short story format meant I could easily get through a book in one sitting. I enjoyed each of these stories and would definitely read more by each author in the future. Overall, this book is a suspenseful, fast paced and easy to read book which I’d highly recommend.

Thank you to the author, publisher and Netgalley for an early copy of this novel.

I really liked this book the stories were interesting and kept you reading. I did find that the stories moved very fast but were still enjoyable the characters were well thought out and very good together overall a really good read.

Thanks Netgalley for allowing me to read this book. Thre woman who attended a boarding school in Europe try to stay alive. This book kept me interested from the first page. I have read many books by these authors and this book did not disappoint.

Three girls 25 yrs ago that was sent to a all girls school for various reasons always felt safer there than at home but 25 yrs later something would bring them back to the home they use to call home. As they worked on the trouble past they found peace and love.

Three great stories by three great authors! I read this in a couple hours. Could not put it down! Thanks to publisher and NetGalley for this read.

This ARC was provided to me via Kindle by Kensington Books and #NetGalley for my honest opinion. Opinions expressed are completely my own.

A well done series of novellas.

In this series of suspense novellas, we meet three girls from wealthy families who were sent to St. Cecilia’s School for Girls in Austria by their families after family tragedies. Now they are grown up and back home where their childhood traumas come home to roost. I love how all three stories come together -- all three of these girls were friends at the school and all have to face their particular family problems in their adulthood. Each story is well crafted and compelling in its own right. I highly recommend this book for the great stories and for the fact you can read each one separately and not have to do a marathon to finish the book as with most suspense novels.

I have voluntarily reviewed a copy of this book that I received from NetGalley. All views expressed are only my honest opinion.

Three well-written stories by three terrific authors who complement one another. Well executed and recommended.

Three young girls meet at St Cecilia's for Girls in Austria. Their lives are forever changed after leaving the school but no matter what the ghosts from the past never let them rest. Will they find the strength to move on from all the secrets and lies?
A good selection of reads.
I was lucky enough to receive a copy from Netgalley in exchange for my honest review.

I really enjoyed the Lisa Jackson story but didn't like the others quite as much. They were all well written, but I was just more drawn in to the first of the stories.

Well Woven,,,
A trio of perfectly linked novellas connected by St Cecilia’s School for Girls, an elitist boarding school for the offspring only of the very rich and the very famous. Secrets, lies, scandal and sinister doings are all hidden away here but for three former students evil is about to come back to haunt them. Expertly done and nicely woven making for a compelling read.

Thankyou NetGalley, Kensington Books and the authors of this collection, for the opportunity to read Afraid in exchange for an honest and unbiased opinion.
This book contains 3 novellas. I enjoyed them all.
They were well written keep you turning the pages.
Worth a read.

This is a novella containing 3 stories. The stories do flip back and forth in the time line and that does detract from the main story. The stories are short and are not fleshed out. The stories need to be longer

Three lightly connected stories from three well-known authors. I really enjoyed Lisa Jackson's, but the other two didn't settle as well for me. They are shorter than what you expect form them and maybe that's the disappointment factor since the stories and characters aren't as well developed as I'm used to.

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️This is a great novella collection of three girls school friends and the tragic circumstances that brought each of them together. Great for when you have quick breaks to read. Lots of twists and turns and some romance thrown in. I like that the authors kept me guessing up until the end of each story. Including some twists I did not see coming! Very nice suspense.

ARC provided by NetGalley in exchange for honest review.

3* Readable but rushed, and increasingly implausible Disappointed

The books go from OK to OK-ish to not-really-believable, in the order in which the authors appear, which surprised me a little, given that my fave of the three authors is Alexandra Ivy.

I'd not read the blurb before grabbing this title - the first two authors' names alone did it for me - so I was pleasantly surprised by what connected the tales, and that they were connected, though said connection was loose and getting looser with each story. Book 1 is the best of the tales, because there's danger and drama and no romance. Book 2 had hints of something potentially happening on the romance front, but book 3 made me feel uncomfortable with how... desperate? it made the male lead come across as, and the HEA that didn't fit the tale at all. Yes, I did say no romance, which was both refreshing but a bit weird in that it felt like the females weren't interested and all that was alluded to as sort-of-romance was in the guys' heads.

The tales were too short and too rushed for us to get any real insight into the leads and there wasn't time to develop any characters of for the baddie reveals to be believable, sadly, even in book 1.

Book 3 really pushes it in terms of a connection to the others and to the boarding school and the tale really doesn't ring true at all. It all seemed too much in too little space and sadly all the cooks in this couldn't compensate for how uninteresting the writing was.

ARC courtesy of Kensington/Zebra, for my reading pleasure.