This is hard to rate and review. There were things that I liked and things that I didn’t so I kind of went all over the place with my thoughts and feelings. There’s not a lot to share that doesn’t give spoilers so I’ll keep this short.
On April 16, 2021, 15 year old Vera goes missing, which is coincidentally is the exact date in 1910 that her great great grandmother went missing as well. Her great grandmother was an important part of the suffragette movement. In the process of trying to find their daughter, Vera’s parents and other family members are forced to face all the lies and hidden secrets of their past that led up to her being gone.
The author did make a note at th beginning of the book explaining that the chapters that took place in 1910 were based on a relative of the author and she was never found. She tied that story with the thriller concept of the missing child.
The first half as kind of clunky and cumbersome but the second half helped make up for it but the characters were pretty unlikeable and shallow but there were lots of fun pop culture references that made it kind of fun to think back on.
I liked that there were multiple narrators but a couple of them were really dreadful-especially Marin. She sounded like she’s just reading off the script. No personality whatsoever.
Thanks to Tabella House and NetGalley for the audiobook arc in exchange for my review.

Okay, this book didn’t especially work for me but I want to go through the good, the bad, and the ugly.

The good:
Crane kept me guessing the entire time. The layers to the story unfolded in a truly artistic way, it is clear that she is a talented thriller writer. I was immediately grabbed into the story in the first couple chapters.

The bad:
So much cheating and wealth comparison. Like it felt unnecessary to the plot, I didn’t think it particularly added anything to the characters. It was just gross and then it all but disappeared from the storyline.

The ugly:
The ending was awful. It just made no sense. I know you have to suspend disbelief to read mystery novels, but this was above and beyond what I could be expected to suspend disbelief for. When the reason Vera left was given I literally laughed, I couldn’t believe that was what had been chosen.

I really wanted to love this one, but I just couldn’t. It wasn’t bad per say I just felt like the ending was lazy and not thought out, which left me with a sour taste in my mouth.

Wow. Vera is a 15 year old that goes missing, leaving her family reeling to find her. With her gone, her family slowly starts to unravel. The title of this book is perfect. It is very slow to start. I almost gave up on it several times. However, I’m so glad I didn’t. This turned out to be an amazing story. The plot line is so deep, and it really makes you think. Every detail is important to the story. The slow build makes the last half of the book even better. I was really shocked by the many twists. I love that although most all of the readers questions are answered, the ending is very ambiguous, leaving the reader wanting more. I would definitely recommend this book to anyone!

Fifteen-year-old Vera went missing six months ago. Her family is heartbroken and still hoping and praying for their daughter to come home. After finding excerpts of Vera’s diary, her mother, Felicity, starts to question if she really knew her daughter at all. Her daughter was clearly hiding things from Felicity, making her disappearance so much more confusing. Felicity realizes that Vera’s disappearance has a lot of similarities to her ancestor, Alvera, who went missing in 1910. Alvera was a women’s rights activist and her disappearance led to many questions. Felicity’s sister-in-law Marin is the only one who knows the truth about what happened to Vera. But Marin also knows that Felicity has secrets as well. One of those secrets could be her absolute ruin.

This book was a very slow burn. A little too slow for my liking. But the ending was fantastic, tying everything together. Going through most of the book, we hear about these secrets and how these secrets would destroy everything if they got out. The secrets finally come out right at the very end, making everything finally make sense. The twists at the end were surprising and unpredictable. I ultimately gave this book 4 stars because of the ending redeeming itself, however if I could give half stars, it would earn a 3.5 from me.

I listened to this as an audiobook. I loved the use of different narrators for different characters; however, I was not a fan of the narrator for Marin, which made the book seem to drag on in the middle. The other three were great, especially the one for Felicity.

A great big thank you to NetGalley, Dreamscape Media, and Pamela Crane for allowing me to listen to this ARC in exchange for my honest review.

Thank you to the publishers, author and NetGalley for the free copy of this audiobook.

This really wasn't what I was expecting, in a good way. Lots of twists, some I saw coming but some out of left field. Not sure it really needed the "connection" to the past, and the characters were at times rather annoying but overall a good story to choose!

Immediately engaging and compulsively readable. The narrator wasn't as good as the book, and that brought the enjoyment down a bit. Otherwise, a good listen.

Thank you Netgalley for this audiobook edition of A Slow Ruin by Pamela Crane.

First off, the narration was okay. Sometimes when I listen to a book that I don't love, I do have to wonder if the narration is partially to blame. This one gave an unfortunate whiny tone that perhaps wouldn't have been there otherwise?

Vera, name after a great great Grandmother Alvera, has gone missing, something that Alvera also did back in 1910. Felicity, Vera's mother, is convinced that Vera is not really gone though, and even when the months pass, she is determined that Vera will return to her.

Marin is Felicity's sister in law, and acting suspicious about the whole thing. She seems concerned about Vera's whereabouts, but there's something she's not telling them.

Ok, lots of mixed feelings about this one. Overall, my take is that it was all a bit too much. I know that the author was trying to add generational significance by incorporating the story of Vera's grandmother, but I wouldn't have missed it if it was omitted. I couldn't stand how blase Felicity's husband was about Vera's disappearance throughout the whole novel, only to discover the wildly inappropriate (my opinion) method he was using to cope. I felt like emotions were a bit overinflated, at least in the dialogue, and I didn't know that the story was going to have a subtle Christian theme. Nothing wrong with it, but I feel like that should be a part of the description.

I'm giving this 2.5 stars, rounding up to 3.

Thank you to NetGalley and Pamela Crane for this audio-ARC in exchange for my honest feedback and review.

Reading the synopsis for this book it sounded very interesting. The idea of a ancestor and a today family member going missing is a interesting concept and would work very well, However, in this book it did not work well at all. I was very frustrated by the side characters and main characters never being flushed out. I did not connect with anyone and felt the only character that could be considered flushed out was Marin. I got so frustrated I had to DNF this book. I hate doing that because I feel like very author deserves to have their work read until the end but this one I could not listen to anymore. Maybe when it comes out in print I will rent from the library and give it another shot. Unfortunately my rating reflects my letdown of this book.

Did history repeat itself?

When teenage Vera goes missing her parents are frantic trying to find her and bring her home safely. As the search continues for Vera family secrets are starting to come out threatening to break this family apart. Veras mom Felicity becomes convinced the her sister in law Marin has something to do with her daughters disappearance, but it turns out Marin has some secrets of her own.

This was an interesting story that has a great twist at the end however there are some parts about Veras grandmother and namesake that was a little disjointed from the main story. I enjoyed the narrators and having more than one helped keep track of whose storyline you were following.

As a fan of the step sister I could not wait to get my hands on another book by Crane. I enjoyed the narrators and thought she did a great job of pulling of a familial drama. For fans of the night she disappeared this is great but I actually enjoyed it even more!

Thank you bet galley for this arc!

A slow ruin is pretty slow. Pretty twisty tale. It’s about a cold case. Taking place in two different time periods. Very interesting, I really enjoyed it !

I have mixed emotions about this book. Part of me truly enjoyed it, while the other part was irritated. I liked the idea of connecting the disappearance of the suffragette with the disappearance of the daughter, but I felt like that parallel wasn't quite complete. I also felt like some of the big reveals were obvious. Especially when it came to Felicity's big crime. I also had a hard time liking many of the characters. Felicity's whininess drove me nuts. I understand that she was struggling with the loss of her daughter, but her helplessness irritated me.

There were also a lot of different perspectives. There were the two sister-in-laws Marin and Felicity, but there was also an unknown person who wasn't revealed until the end, the suffragette, the daughter, and the husbands. Usually, I do enjoy seeing through the eyes of multiple different people, but I felt like the beginning and the end of this book gave me a bad case of whiplash. There were too many switches, and some of the perspectives didn't make any sense until the very end of the book.

Overall, I felt like this was almost a fantastic book. It feels like the author was reaching for it and would have been there with a few tweaks. I get her underlying goal here and I think it is a wonderful idea, she just didn't quite make it through to the book's full potential.

4 stars

Whew, it’s been a little while since I’ve so disliked the protagonist of a new book. Felicity is judgemental, elitist, and self-righteous beyond belief; I could feel myself constantly flipping back and forth between ragey irritation toward her personality and sympathy for the plight of her and her loved ones. I did enjoy some of the other characters, and one in particular, quite a bit. The plot itself was pretty good, although sometimes it felt really long. I was interested in most of the details of the story, and I completely did not see one of the final twists coming, which was both exciting and disappointing. I didn’t necessarily love the ending, but I did appreciate that it was kind of unexpected. I think I’m going to have to go back and check out some earlier books from this writer!

I really wanted to like this book. And I really tried to like this book. But I REALLY did not like this book. The writing oscillated between amateurish, childish, and even sometimes preachy. There were some major mispronunciations that were too glaring to be ignored, including different narrators continually pronouncing main characters names differently. Even the title of the book was mis-quoted at one point (The Slow Ruin vs A Slow Ruin). And the 'plot twists' were miles beyond believable. Just so far out there that they can't even communicate with credulity anymore. I'm sure there are readers who will enjoy this book, but I am, unfortunately, not one of them.

I have never read anything by Pamela, so I was pleasantly surprised by this one.

I don't usually read thrillers like this, but when the action starts immediately, I was hooked. Lots of twists and turns throughout the book, that I never saw coming.

While the main story/plot takes place in the present about a missing daughter, there are flashbacks to newspaper articles dating back to over 100 years ago of another missing woman. While the connection was not incredibly surprising, the various twists throughout the the rest of the story made up for it.

I also really enjoyed the various narration of voices for the audiobook, as it brought something a little extra to the story being able to easily differentiate the multiple viewpoints.

Book Review. Thank you NetGalley and Dreamscape Media for this advanced audio version for my honest review. I love a good unsolved mystery. In April 1910 a women’s rights activist, Alvera Fields vanishes from her home. Her husband and newborn are left wondering what happened. The case goes unsolved.
Fast forward April 2021 Alvera’s great-great-granddaughter, Vera disappears as well. Could these cases be connected? As a body is discovered, Vera’s mother Felicity waits to find out if the body is her daughter. Suspicion falls on the last person to have seen Vera live, which is her sister-in-law Marin.
Marin’s background is trouble. While the investigation starts, Felicity discovers her daughter’s journal. Does she really know her daughter? Are they mysteries connected? Where they able to solve either mystery. This audio book is narrated well, and takes you on a wild ride. Do we ever know the people closest to us? Whom do we trust?
#netgalley, #aslowrun, #pamelacrane, #bookreview, #bookstagram, #stamperlady50, #booksconnectus, #dreamscapemedia, #audiobook

A missing Suffragette from 1910 and a missing teen from 2011. The story tries to connect the two. I didn’t see how they were connected. I would of preferred to skip about Alvina from 1910 because I don’t think it added anything. This book had plenty going for it as a mystery story.

Many characters in the book have secrets! I would say all have secrets. Vera , the missing teen, has the reader wondering where she went and why ? The story rotates between her mother ,Felicity, her aunt, Marin and her uncle Cody. Many more characters are added as the story goes on

The book kept me interested but I felt like it was too unbelievable and I finished it confused. 3 stars for everything but the ending
Thanks NetGalley and Dreamscape Media for the ARC

So good. Phenomenal story and writing. I love pamela crane and this didn't disappoint. Both timelines were great, I highly recommend this book! Thank you NetGalley for this ARC.

ARC audiobook provided in exchange for an honest review.

Wow! This book blew me away! I loved how they used a variety of people to voice the different characters in this audiobook. It really gave each character their own voice and made it really helpful when I turned it on after not listening for a bit, I could tell exactly where I left off based on the voice of the person speaking. The only issue I had with the recording was the pronunciation of names, specifically Vera and Marren, depending on the character speaking they were pronounced differently most of the time. Other than that little tidbit it was practically flawless! I really enjoyed all the twists and turns and loved that I didn’t see the whole picture until the very end. I would definitely recommend this book and plan on buying a copy for my mom immediately! Look forward to reading more from this author!

OMG!, I couldn’t put this book down! A fast paced thriller with many twists I didn’t see coming! Rich characters, great details and great ending. Highly recommend.