This is my first novel by Sandie Jones. This book starts out STRONG, and will hook you and keep you turning the page from the very beginning. This book has a TON of potential….it almost felt a little rushed. I wish the author could have developed the story a little more, with her clients, other client, her sister, her relationship etc.. While I did see the connection between the two clients, it did not take away from the story and it did keep me hooked and guessing what was next to come. The first 50% of the book was great, the 2nd half of the book was a little confusing and just crammed together. Overall, I did enjoy the book and am looking forward to reading more from Sandie.

Naomi is a therapist specializing in helping victims of domestic abuse. Ever since her mother was a victim of abuse she has vowed to help save others. That is why she sometimes has trouble setting boundaries with her clients and has gotten reprimanded for it in the past. Her current client, Jacob, is being abused by his wife and Naomi so wants to help him by letting him stay in an empty flat her and her husband, Leon, own. After he goes missing though, Naomi becomes a suspect and her past comes back to haunt her.

I absolutely love Sandie Jones and have read all of her books, hands down this is my favorite so far. This book was fast paced that made it a quick read for me. So many times I thought I knew what the heck was going on and then, NOPE, guess again. There were lots of lies, stories and betrayal that kept me hooked. Naomi made me cringe almost the whole time so while I wasn’t rooting for her she made the book uncomfortably good.

I am not 100% sure I know what I just read, but it sure did keep me entertained!

I read 50% of the book at night when I should have been sleeping (but I couldn’t because I was INVESTED). I started reading the second half almost as soon as I woke up because what the hell is going on here?!?

I’m still not sure. 😂

I mean, I know. But… what?

I swear I thought I knew what was going on about 25 times throughout the book - and then I’d second guess myself and I just repeated this over and over until the very end.

I really did not like Naomi. I know she meant well, but what’s with all the lying and just plain stupidity?!?

To say I thought it was a good story would be an understatement. The story was crazy (I liked how the backstory tied into her current life) and the twists and surprises just kept on coming.

It seemed a little short for me, though. I thought there was a lot that maybe should have or could have been said that wasn’t. It’s hard to explain without spoiling things, but I thought it was more simplistic than it should have been, I guess. I just wanted more!

This one will keep you guessing.

Lies upon lies. This book was a fast read with a quick pace. It kept me guessing and changing my ideas. The MC made a lot of poor choices and I wanted to yell at her. The ending left a few things unresolved and it wasn't satisfying. The epilogue did explain some things though. I really like this author and look forward to her next book.

A quickly paced thriller that keeps you on the edge of your seat. I found the first 3/4 of this novel to be compelling, but it become quite unrealistic at the end. There’s a therapist whose father commits an atrocious act, a husband afraid of his wife, a wife that can’t get over the loss of a child, and a whole lot of confusion mixed in to create this crazy read. The epilogue reveals quite a bit and almost pushed it to a 4 rating for me, but there just wasn’t enough there. Thanks to NetGalley for the advance read.

I think I have loved all this authors other books. This was no exception. I love books with therapists. I thought this book was really fast paced and easy to get through. I love this authors writing so that is always nice. One thing that wasn't my favorite was the ending.

This was my first book by Jones, but I really enjoyed it! I loved that this mystery/thriller was only 256 pages, making it such a quick read! There were a lot of parts to it, but I really enjoyed how everything tied together. I had my suspicions, but did not expect the book to end the way that it did.

Thanks to NetGalley & St Martin's Press for an advanced copy in exchange for an honest review.

Naomi Chandler is a therapist who really wants to help her patients however in doing so crosses lines and makes many questionable decisions. Naomi, without her husbands knowledge allows her patient, Jacob, to live in her rental house and when he vanishes she becomes the suspect. This book started off slow for me but when it took off I could not stop reading! This became a fast paced thriller with crazy twists and turns. The ending as a little hard to follow and it felt a bit chaotic however kudos for the author for coming up with all of that.

Naomi Chandler is a psychologist who specializes in domestic abuse. She has a hard time establishing boundaries with her clients, especially when they are trying to escape their abusers. We meet two of her clients in this novel - Jacob & Anna, both of whom Naomi crosses a professional line for, in offering them a place to live. When Jacob turns up missing, Naomi becomes a suspect.

This was a quick read. I zipped right through. In theory, I liked the concept of this book but I was definitely confused while reading it. Several characters with multiple names and stories were hard to keep straight. There were multiple times where I had to flip back and read in order to figure out what was happening. The characters are a bit flat.

There was nothing that I particularly liked or disliked about this book. It was a fine read, but not a favorite.

All that being said, I have been a fan of Sandie Jones previous work, my favorite being The Other Woman and I also really enjoyed Her First Mistake.

Love when you pick up a book and you finish it way faster than you expected. Since I had The Blame Game by Sandie Jones through @Netgalley and @minotaur_books I had no idea how short it was.

The Blame Game follows Naomi as she is working with her patients as a therapist. Two of her current patients are in dire situations looking for ways out from their marriages. One of them goes missing and it’s looking like she may be in danger herself. Her past secrets might be back to haunt her.

❤️Review❤️

The longer I’ve sat with my thoughts the more problems I’ve had. I loved the fast paced nature of the book. It was easy to read and I found the pages flying. Naomi is not the most ethical when it comes to being a therapist. Her boundaries with her patients are essentially not there. She does way too much for them. I was originally thinking I could look past it and give it 4 stars because my feelings of paranoia and tenseness were strong. Unfortunately the end completely ruined it for me. I’m still kind of unsure of what happened in the ending. It felt so all over the place and messy. So I’m bummed to say this isn’t a new favorite for me.

3 stars! ⭐️⭐️⭐️

If you are looking for a short page turner, you can get your hands on The Blame Game on August 16th!

#Bookstagram #NetGalley #ReviewBooks #BooksForReview #BookReview #MinotaurBooks #2022Books #NewBookReleases #NewBooks #BeachReads #SummerReading #QuickReads #PageTurner

This was a quick, fast paced thriller that kept me hooked the whole time. I expected some of the twists, but not all! Overall, a fun read.

First, thank you NetGalley and St. Martins Press for this ARC. I am so bummed to be rating Sandie Jones’ latest book so low. The storyline pulls you in right away. You think we have another “The Other Woman” on our hands. Sad to write not even close. There is no way Jones wrote this book. There is so much drama and confusion. Characters changing and storyline’s merging left and right. I could not keep up. I had to look at other reviews to see if it was only me completely lost or if anyone else felt the same. It appears a lot of people were left confused on the who, why and what in the world happened. Again if someone can explain the last 1/2 of the book, maybe I would give a higher rating.

⭐️⭐️⭐️
I typically really enjoy Sandie Jones’ books but this one was just ‘meh’ for me. Naomi is a therapist who crosses numerous boundaries with her patients. Her patient Jacob goes missing and Naomi becomes one of the suspects in his disappearance.

It was a quick read. I actually finished the last part of the book on my ereader when I took my kids to the theater to see the new Minion movie…don’t judge…I had my screen turned way down & snuggled under a blanket so no one could see I was reading. :). So the book definitely had the whole ‘keep reading & don’t put me down’ vibe.

However the characters were confusing to keep track of towards the end & the unethical behavior of Naomi was a little hard to believe.

Thanks to NetGalley & the Publisher for this free copy for my honest review.

This was a really exciting book that I had trouble putting down. This really kept me on my toes and it was fun to guess who was telling the truth and who was lying. My stomach was in knots reading this. The main character wasn’t very likable and made some questionable choices but the ending was very satisfying.

Naomi is a psychiatrist who specializes in domestic abuse; because of this, she often becomes very involved with her clients, doing anything she can to help them even if it means offering up her own home. After helping Jacob make the decision to leave his abusive wife, Naomi finds herself as the prime suspect for his disappearance. As the police investigate his disappearance, Naomi’s past comes to light, forcing her to confront things she thought she had let go of.

Wow, I could not put this book down!! The beginning was a little bit of a slow burn, but once it got going it was incredible! I read this book in less than 24 hours because I couldn’t wait to see what was going to happen next. Sandie Jones did an amazing job with this psychological thriller - I love a story where I can’t guess what’s going to happen and this book was exactly that. I found myself questioning everyone and everything multiple times just to be blown away multiple times as the events unfolded. This was the first Sandie Jones book I read but it won’t be the last!

Thank you to Minotaur books and Sandie Jones for the ARC! “The Blame Game” released August 16th.

This will be shared to my Instagram blog (@books_by_the_bottle) shortly ☺️

This is my second Sadnie Jones book and I am so glad I read this book! This is a book that literally made me drop my kindle and say “holy crap.” Sadie Jones writes a seriously good slow burn suspense story.

Most of the time you want to yell at Naomi to just stop but I promise the end is worth it! I love a good suspense but the twist in this one is seriously good and I did not see it coming.

It is hard to give a plot of this story but all you need to know is Naomi is a psychologist who is dedicated to her job. If you love twisted endings, unreliable narrator and characters, the Blame Game is for you!

Thank you Netgalley and St. Martins Press for the ARC in exchange for my honest review.

This book confused the hell out of me. And the protagonist got on my nerves relentlessly. It was nowhere near as good as The Guilt Trip but it will hold your interest, if for no other reason than you'll want to figure out what the hell is going on.
Naomi Chandler is a psychotherapist who goes above and beyond for her patients much to the chagrin of her husband, Leon. One of those patients, Jacob Mackenzie, is being abused and tortured by his wife. When Jacob disappears, Naomi is the prime suspect. She did meet Jacob behind Leon's back at a hotel bar. And she did allow him to escape his abusive wife by "borrowing" the flat that she and Leon aren't using at the moment. And she is telling lie on top of lie to cover up all the lying and bad decision making she's done. Even the end isn't wrapped as neatly as it could be.

*Special thanks to NetGalley and Minotaur books for a copy of this e-arc.*

If you are looking for a psychological thriller, then this book is for you! Sandie Jones does thrillers very well, and she has hit another one out of the park with this installment.

Naomi may be a little too involved with her patients. She is a psychologist for patients dealing with domestic violence in all shapes and forms. When she makes some rather dubious decisions regarding a patient, she finds herself embroiled in a dangerous game with some shady characters. Is it believable? Probably not. Is it on the edge-of-your-seat worth reading? Definitely so!

Jones is brilliant with stringing you along one thought process and then totally upending your views entirely. Very twisty and fast paced. You will not be disappointed!

Thank you to St. Martin's Press, Minotaur Books and NetGalley for the digital ARC. The opinions expressed are my own.

I immediately needed to read this one, because Sandie Jones is fabulous at weaving a bizarre story into existence. Her other books had me questioning everything from the jump. This one started a little slow for me. I was unsure of why certain characters were brought up, but by the end it made a little more sense.

Just when I thought I had the plot figured out, she threw in another detail that made me question everything. It was an interesting book, but not my favorite from her. It took me awhile to get started, but finally about halfway through I needed to know what was going on.

Pub Date: August 16, 2022

⭐️: 1.5/5 (rounded up to 2 when using whole star values, because I cared *just* enough about finding out the ending that I didn’t DNF)

As a psychologist specializing in domestic abuse, Naomi will do anything to stop what happened to her mother from happening to other victims. When on of her clients, Jacob, who is in the process of leaving his abusive wife, goes missing, she finds herself at the center of the police investigation into his disappearance.

I struggled so hard not to DNF this book. I read The Other Woman a while ago, and while I wouldn’t call it a great read, it was compelling enough, with enough twists to make it interesting. This book, The Blame Game, though…I do not have words for how annoyed I was the entire time I was reading it. The main character is an unforgivably stupid narcissist with a savior complex. She should not be certified to practice psychology, nor should any of her clients trust her, considering how personally involved she gets, a clear conflict o interest. She is clearly a PSTD nightmare, which makes her illogical and gullible, which are also traits that NOBODY wants in their psychologist. Throughout the book, as the evidence is piling up against her, she repeatedly makes the worst decisions, all under the excuse of “stopping anyone from getting hurt ever again” which is (1) impossible and (2) just so entirely immature, that she thinks she alone can find her way out of anything. I despise books in which the entire plot hinges on the main character, usually a female, making nonsensical decisions in order to fix things while ultimately making things worse. I tried, but I seriously cannot find strong enough words to communicate my derisive feelings toward Naomi.

Add in the ambiguous ending, complete with many, many loose ends, and this one was a solid “not recommended” from me. Yes, the epilogue details the “how” of several things, and implies certain others, but it just entirely drops one entire storyline, and leaves several other things from the main storyline up in the air. I’d usually give the author the benefit of the doubt, and say that maybe it was an intentional decision to leave the reader wondering, but in the case of this book with such a bad main character, I cannot extend that courtesy. Again, I cared just enough about the ending to not DNF, but honestly, it wasn’t worth it.

Thank you to @netgalley and @minotaur_books for this eARC in exchange for my honest review.