Naomi is a UK-based therapist specializing in helping victims of domestic violence. In her own life, Naomi is married to Leon, a man who initially swept her off her feet, and she still feels content and loved in their relationship.

Originally from New York, it has taken Naomi a long time to get to this place. Having been raised in a violent home, her mother ultimately having been killed by her father, Naomi has worked hard to move past that. Regardless, of how far she gets however, it will always impact her life. It provides the prism through which she views the world.

Because of her past, Naomi frequently finds herself becoming overly invested in her client's lives. She can't help it. It's a compulsion. For example, she currently has a client, Jacob, who has decided to leave his abusive wife. Having an empty flat available, Naomi offers it to Jacob as a temporary safe haven.

When Jacob goes missing, Naomi is concerned that his wife may have found him, but the police think otherwise. Before she knows it, Naomi is neck deep in a criminal investigation and she is the main suspect. Even her once loyal husband seems to believe she is guilty.

Naomi believes she is being framed and that her past may finally have come back to get her. Can she find Jacob and clear her name before it's too late?

Y'all, The Blame Game was such a wild, and at times confusing, ride. I enjoyed this audiobook so much. Once I started with this story, I could not put it down. I was all over the place with this. I had so many theories. I was getting so frustrated with Naomi, but for me, that was a huge part of the fun.

I haven't been this frustrated with a main character since [book:Behind Closed Doors|29437949], but again, in a way that was pure fun. If I could have reached through the pages and shaken the shit out of this woman, I would have.

If Sandie Jones goal was to mess with my mind, she 100% succeeded. Was this ridiculously dramatic, confusing, frustrating and over-the-top? Yes. Did it also leave me with that devious little grin on my face at the very end that I cherish so incredibly much? Yesssss. Did I love the overall experience!? Absolutely, yesssssss.

I thought the narrator nailed the performance of this story. She definitely kept me at the edge of my seat. The combination of the intensity of the story mixed with the intensity of the delivery was just so well done.

Thank you to the publisher, Minotaur Books and Macmillan Audio, for providing me with copies to read and review. I have enjoyed Jones work in the past, but this one is definitely a standout for me!

I love beach reads, but, for them to work for me, they need to be quick, not have a huge cast of characters to keep track of, and be twisty and entertaining. Sandie Jones’ The Blame Game checks all the boxes. I spent one blissful afternoon caught up in the dumpster fire that is Naomi’s life, and watching it burn was riveting.

Thanks for the opportunity to review! Link to 8/14/2022 Instagram post:

https://www.instagram.com/p/ChP9xEOr2_p/

Thank you Netgalley and St Martin’s Press/Minotaur Books for an early copy. The following comments and review are my opinion. Naomi has not had a good early childhood, perhaps this is the reason she has become a psychologist. The need to help others through their past or present is a force that pushes her boundaries. But in Naomi’s case she oversteps these professional boundaries with two of her clients. As reality blurs, Naomi no longer can believe what is true. While the evidence and blame piles up, it can only mean danger for Naomi. A tense thriller with a terrific epilogue.

This was such a good thriller! It kept me guessing and intrigued the whole time! The characters were likable and well developed. I would definitely recommend this to everyone!

I have loved everything Sandie Jones has written so I was really excited when I was granted this ARC. Unlike some of the other reviewers, I actually liked seeing an "unethical" therapist storyline and was excited to see where Naomi was headed with Jacob. I liked that I wasn't sure who to trust throughout this but felt like it it never really came together in a cohesive way. The ending was rather predictable given all of the foreshadowing leading up to it but I feel like there could have been more leadup or explanation at the end to make it more shocking. I felt a bit disappointed by the abrupt ending. I will say I enjoyed this and it was quick read but just had a lot of moving parts that abruptly came together and just felt a bit overwhelming and convenient. I still look forward to Sandie Jones' next book. Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for this ARC in exchange for an honest review.

This is the fifth novel from Sandie Jones I have read. I've just finished and I'm still just a bit confused on the ending and I'm not exactly sure I completely understood how everything tied together. Natalie was a bit of a tough character to like - she's a psychologist who makes some unethical decisions that definitely blur the lines with her professional relationship with her clients. I felt like she was such a mess from her past that she really had no business in this profession - but since this is a fictional story we'll just go along with it.. There were lots of twists in this one - some maybe a bit over the top. I did like that the book was short but I feel like something was missing.

Naomi is a psychotherapist that specializes in domestic abuse. She has some experience with trauma from her childhood and sometimes gets a little too involved with her clients in the name of trying to help them. In this instance, she gets too close to Jacob and when he shows up missing things looks terrible for Naomi. Is she responsible? Is her husband Leon responsible? Or is it Jacob’s abusive wife? Naomi needs to find out fast before she goes down for a crime she didn’t commit.

I didn’t really enjoy this author’s previous book, The Guilt Trip. The problems I had with it are the same problems I have with this one. The ending moves at the speed of a freight train, there are too many odd and unbelievable twists and then it’s just over without answers to some very important questions. Not my favorite, for sure.

Sadly, this one didn't really do it for me. I didn't like the characters, the plot was a little slow, there was too much going on and I just couldn't connect with the story.

Naomi runs a private psychology practice out of her home and finds herself particularly (and unethically?) attached to two of her clients - Jacob and Anna, both of whom have come to Naomi to discuss the domestic abuse each is suffering from at home. At the encouragement of Naomi, Jacob decides to finally leave his abusive wife. When Jacob expresses that he has no where else to go Naomi offers him the apartment her and her husband have and were considering renting out. Anna, wants to take her children and leave her abusive relationship too, but doesn't have the resources to find somewhere for them to live. So now, Naomi offers up the spare rooms in her own home (much to the dismay of her husband). When Jacob goes missing and the police come knocking at her door, Naomi finds herself drowning in her own lies with both her husband and the police.

The plot just seemed too far fetched to me. There is no way that any legitimate psychologist would do any of the things Naomi does! The one thing I can say is I did feel compelled to keep reading it just because I really did want to know where it all ended up. When I found out I was pretty underwhelmed. Overall, not my favourite read this summer.

Naomi has a past she is trying to forget. She’s happily married and has her own private practice as a therapist specializing in domestic abuse. But she also has a habit of crossing the line when it comes to helping her patients. When her patient Jacob, disappears, all the evidence points to Naomi. It doesn’t help that she hasn’t been entirely truthful, especially to her husband Leon. Desperate to help Jacob but also trying to help another patient, Anna, Naomi ensnares herself in a tangle of lies and deceit where even she doesn’t know who is who and what the truth is.

This one has a lot going on and I felt that the different storylines didn’t tie up well together at the end. I suspected what was going on with some of the characters early on so the ending wasn’t as much of a surprise as I had hoped. I also didn’t like any of the characters and had a hard time empathizing with Naomi when she consistently made ridiculous choices. But it was fast paced and for most of the novel, I wasn’t sure what was going to go wrong next for Naomi.

Thank you to @netgalley and @minotaur_books for this advance readers copy. This review can also be found on Goodreads and on IG @maria.needs.to.read

Thank you to Net Galley and Minotaur books for an arc. I liked the short chapters that was a positive thing from this book. But I found the characters confusing and unrelatable. I have read several Sandie Jones book but, this one is my least favorite.

I went back and forth reading and listening to this and enjoyed it!⁣
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I thought the narrator kept it interested and changed up the voices well, so you knew who was talking. ⁣
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This story is center around lying, blaming, and sketchy stories. This is told through Naomi’a eyes, she’s a counselor for domestic violence victims, and while I see where she’s coming from sometimes, she tends to blur lines with her patients, which causes a lot of drama and confusion.⁣
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It’s hard to believe what character is telling the truth and who the true victim is. There’s a deceitful web of lies between characters and they all have reasons for being unreliable. Mental health topics are discussed, and not everything is as it appears.⁣
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This was an intriguing thriller and I enjoyed following the chaos. ⁣
⭐️⭐️⭐️💫

A quick read with some decent twists! I wasn’t the biggest fan of most of the characters which made it a little difficult to really get into the story. I also wish there was more about Naomi, her sister and her dad. I almost liked that storyline better than the actual one.

A fast-paced thriller that follows a successful therapist with a dark past as she navigates boundaries with clients. Her husband thinks she’s too enmeshed, and when a client goes missing, his wife gets caught up in the mounting evidence. The reader struggles to keep up with whodunnit and the ending seemed rushed, but overall a great read by a skilled author. Thanks NetGalley and St. Martin’s Press for this Arc. This is my honest review.

I had really enjoyed Sandie Jones' The Other Woman but had really been turned off by The Guilt Trip, whose ending I still don't understand. I had high hopes that this one would've returned to the land of The Other Woman but unfortunately I have to file it with The Guilt Trip. I really didn't care for it. Naomi was beyond unprofessional, sticking her nose really where it doesn't belong. The ending wasn't nearly as clear as I prefer and there felt like strings were left flying in the wind, rather than nicely tied together the way I prefer.

“I wish I were shocked that a grown man would ever doubt that his experience would be deemed credible enough to be believed. But unfortunately, it doesn’t matter whether you’re young or old, male or female; the greatest fear, apart from the abuse itself, is that nobody will believe you.”

Wow, I flew through this book in less than 24 hours. But…and this is a big but…I feel a bit, idk, icky after having just finished it. I find myself a bit confused.

Naomi is a therapist for domestic abuse victims. Great, right? But no. She makes every possible wrong decision in an attempt to right a wrong from her past. Every time she has the opportunity to tell the truth, she lies. I hate liars. She lies to her husband. The cops. Herself. It makes you not care for her character or root for her.

This book started off so strong right out of the gate! I had to know what was going to happen! But the ending lost some steam and credibility and I found myself confused and trying to decipher why her past issues were thrown in at all if they weren’t going to determine her present in some way.

The audio was absolutely addicting, though. I just could not stop listening. The narrator was one of the best I’ve heard and I listen to a lot of audiobooks. The accents. The emotion. The fear. She nailed it!

Thank you so much to Netgalley, St. Martin’s Press/Minotaur Books, Macmillan Audio, and the author for the ARC and ALC in exchange for an honest review.

I will forever be a Sandie Jones fan, but The Blame Game was a bit of a hot mess of a read. I did not feel for any of the characters, most especially the main character Naomi. Naomi is a psychologist who gets a little to close to her clients in the name of helping. This turns out to be a bad practice. And the story unfolds from there. I was, however, hooked to the story and as with all of Sandie Jones’ books I had to keep reading to find out what would happen. I have to say I did see a few plot holes and did think the ending was a possibility. I did love the epilogue and how it played out.
Thank you to Netgalley and St. Martin’s Press for the opportunity to read this one in exchange for my honest opinion.

A quick, easy summer read I devoured during a short trip away from home. I was often frustrated by Naomi and her need to neglect the truth. I wanted to like her character, but I just couldn't because she was deceitful. Overall, a good story, but it will not become my favorite Sandie Jones book. I did love how quickly the story moved and kept you thinking about possible suspects.

The Blame Game by Sandie Jones is a domestic thriller about a psychotherapist named Naomi who goes a little too far trying to help her patients. How far will she go to protect her patients? When Naomi starts to see a patient named Jacob she finds herself wanting to help him at all costs even when her husband does not agree. When Jacob goes missing, Naomi must try to unravel the mystery of what happened before she becomes the prime suspect in his disappearance.

I read through this book very quickly. It was a very quick, easy read— perfect for the summertime and a day by the pool. I did like the twist in the final part of the story – the epilogue from a character you were not expecting.

The main character Naomi drove me slightly crazy when I was reading this book. She kept making terrible decisions throughout the story, ones that would absolutely make her look guilty for something she may not have even done. I feel like a lot of this book wouldn’t even have happened if she was just honest from the beginning. I know that she was trying to help her patients but it seemed very clear that she crossed the line when helping her patients.

CONTAINS SPOILERS:
I thought that the end of this book was a bit rushed. I was a bit confused by the ending and don’t feel as though enough time was spent unraveling the mystery of the story. The last chapter the police are arresting Naomi and then all of the sudden they realized that she did not committ the murder? Again, just very rushed. I would have liked to also hear from the main character at the end in the epilogue. I am still unsure whether the character Anna/Vanessa was her sister from her past or not. Was Anna just out to get her husband to keep her secret hidden or was she also Naomi’s sister and trying to seek revenge. Also, if she isn’t her sister, it seems like they discussed her past a lot in the book and her backstory to kind of just again leave that open-ended and unresolved. Did she ever meet up with her sister and rekindle their relationship? Again, there were just a lot of unanswered questions at the end of the book for me.

Jones’s books read very much like domestic dramas, so if you are looking for lots of drama especially among relationships, then her books are for you and I think that you would enjoy this book. I think if more time was spent on the ending and the twists the story, I would have enjoyed it more.

Thank you NetGalley and St. Martin’s Press for an ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review.

Wow! The Blame Game will have you guessing until the very last page! I loved this book and could not put it down. I love a quick read and especially one that makes you feel so connected and invested in the story and its characters. I would like to thank net galley and the publishers for an ARC of The Blame Game in exchange for my review.

Thank you to NetGalley and Sandie Jones for this E-ARC in exchange for my honest feedback and review.

Naomi is a great therapist. She will literally do anything for her clients, especially to ensure their safety. Her husband Leon does not approve of her willingness to help everyone. Naomi had a horrible childhood who watched her father murder her mother. This is one of the many reasons she does all she can to help her clients. When one of her clients, Jacob, goes missing after his abusive wife finds where he's living she finds herself the main suspect. Naomi is desperately trying to find Jacob who may not be Jacob and keep the police from suspecting her. Things seem to keep spiraling out of control for Naomi.

When I started this book I devoured it! I even requested the audio-ARC so I that I didn't have to stop reading/listening to this book until I was done. I noticed things weren't wrapping up when I hit 90% so that's when I got worried. I really hope there is a second book coming out involving this story because it feels so unfinished to me. The ending was so rushed. We didn't get any clarification on the characters actual identities or events that may or may not have happened. I love Sandie Jones. I have devoured all of her books but this one left me wanting oh so much more.