Cover Image: The Girl from the Sea

The Girl from the Sea

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Member Reviews

Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for this eARC.

A Girl from the Sea is a gripping psychological thriller that will keep you on the edge of your seat until the very end. The story follows Mia James, a woman who wakes up on a beach with no memory of who she is or what happened to her. She is rescued by her boyfriend, Piers, who tells her that she was in a car accident and suffered amnesia. He also gives her a new identity and a luxurious lifestyle, hoping to help her recover.

However, as Mia's memories slowly return, she begins to suspect that something is not right. She feels like an outsider in her own home, surrounded by people who don't seem to know or care about her. She notices strange things happening around her, such as missing emails and mysterious messages she receives. She begins questioning Piers' motives and his relationship with another woman, who looks exactly like her!.

The audiobook version of A Girl from the Sea is narrated by Linda Holmes, who does an excellent job of bringing the characters and the plot to life. Holmes has a clear and expressive voice that conveys the emotions and tensions of each scene. At times, she adds humor and sarcasm to lighten up the mood. The audiobook is well-paced and engaging.

The Girl from the Sea is a book that will make you think about trust, deception, identity, and love. It has a shocking twist that will take your breath away.

I couldn't put it down. If you are looking for a thrilling and suspenseful read, I highly recommend A Girl from the Sea by Shalini Boland.

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Enjoyed listening to this book. Narrator was easy to listen to. Characters were well developed. Interesting ending and not predictable.

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Thank you to the publisher for an ARC of the audio.

I’m a huge fan of thrillers and the description of The Girl from The Sea had me immediately hooked.
Unfortunately the pace was slower than I’d have liked with less urgency than I think it required.
However, a decent read with some moments that quicken your heart rate.

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I like the amnesia trope and this was a good one. A bit far fetched at times but interesting characters and some unexpected twists. Fast paced and good narration. First book I have read by this author but I would definitely pick up another

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I’m a sucker for books around amnesia and missing memories so I was excited to read this one. I enjoyed it and live how she comes to terms with herself and those around her as her memories slowly start to come back.

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This was an amazing and completely engaging. I was invested from the very first chapter. The characters were complex. The plot was original.

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Really enjoyed this actually for saying I'd guessed everything that was going to happen before being 25% of the way through! Quick and easy and liked the narrator.

3.5 stars rounded down.

Thanks to the publisher for granting me an eAlc copy via NetGalley.

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For a lot of people, getting a start over at life opportunity might be a good thing once all the confusion of the lost past events is overcome. For Mia James, the confusion about her past doesn’t dissipate over time as she begins to piece together what happened to her. Her memory loss causes her more doubts about the man claiming to be her boyfriend, her family and whether her amnesia was really accidental.

This book twisted me around and upside down. I had my own doubts about the boyfriend, not liking him from the start. When Mia learns she inherited 8 million pounds from her father, my doubts increased. I also wondered about Mia’s mother and sister and why their relationship is strained. Mia has to rely on strangers to fill in the blanks. Are they telling her the truth?

This story moved at a perfect pace and flowed seamlessly. I felt like everyone is keeping secrets, including Mia, though she doesn’t know what her secrets are. As the story moves along and it becomes apparent that Mia’s accident was deliberate, the tension spiked into high gear for me. I can’t imagine how frightening it would be to lose all of my memories and then find out that someone close to me means to do me harm.

The story gets darker and more tense as Mia learns more and though she has no memory of anything, she appears to be quite self-reliant and is able to function without difficulty, including driving a car and finding her way around Christchurch. I liked that about Mia. She never comes across as helpless. Frightened, absolutely, but definitely not helpless.

The story was expertly narrated by Katie Villa who breathes life into the characters and expertly conveys their thoughts and speech with raw emotion, which is necessary for readers when listening to an audiobook.

The ending came as a huge surprise for me. It wasn’t the ending I was hoping for, but we can’t always get what we want. Once I picked myself up from the floor after the rug was ripped out from under me, I have to give major kudos to Shalini Boland for giving me a story that was thoroughly enjoyable, shocking, surprising and real.

My Final Verdict: I highly recommend this story to fans of thrillers, mysteries and suspense stories that keep the reader riveted to their seat featuring characters that are not always who they appear to be. If you don’t mind that the line between right and wrong and good and evil isn’t always obvious, this is the book for you.

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I wasn’t crazy about this one. The idea was intriguing, but it was hard to connect to the story or the characters. It was just kind of meh for me.

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This book fell flat for me. There was nothing in the story that made me feel connected to Mia or any of the other characters. There was not sense of suspense or mystery. The book picked up speed at around the 90% mark but that was to long of a wait for me.

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Loved the mystery and suspense of this one. I was hooked from the first page and LOVED the ending! 5 star read, highly recommend it.

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I'm still not sure I'm cut out for audio books, but I love Shalini Boland and this book kept me company on several walks. I'm also a huge fan of books about people with amnesia so this was right up my alley.

When Mia is washed ashore with no memory of who she is, she encounters two men in her life, one who says he's her boyfriend, who she feels nothing for, and another, a rowing colleague, who she is immediately drawn to. Who should she trust? What happened with her mother and sister, who she meets with disastrous results. And who is the mysterious woman she must be hallucinating?

While the story was a bit slow in the middle, narrator Katie Villa does a fine job of taking you through the inner and outer dialogue, voicing each of the characters.

Thanks to NetGalley and Bookouture Audio for a digital copy.

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The Girl from the Sea was another great read by Shalini Boland. Mia James was washed up on a beautiful sun drenched beach. Unfortunately she doesn’t know who she is or what happened to her. Her boyfriend, Piers, comes forward and provides her with an identity. Her home is huge and stylish and her friends are all eager to fill in the blanks. Mia struggles to adjust, she’s lost for words around people she is supposed to know, and is grasping at clues about who she really is. Once her memories slowly return, she realizes something is very wrong. Her neighbors avoid her, her emails have been wiped, and she’s haunted by the face of a woman standing by the water. I enjoyed reading this book and can’t wait to read more by the author.

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This is the first book I listen for this and although I quite liked the narration the story unfortunately didn’t hit me. I felt the characters were not very interesting and some parts were not believable. I missed more intrigue and suspense, especially on the second half of the book.

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Shalini Boland is a wonderful, engrossing, suspenseful writer and this book is no exception. I listened to this directly after "The Best Friend" and loved both books in terms of narration, plot, characters, and suspense. The audio narration was well-acted and beautiful. Shalini Boland has become an auto-buy suspense author for me, and I can't wait to see what she does next!

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Unreliable narrarator, amnesia, secrets - what's not to like? The Girl From the Sea was a good, solid, quick read. I enjoyed the story, but it wasn't one of my favorites by Shalini Boland.

Thank you to NetGalley, the publisher and author for allowing me an advanced audio copy of this book for my review.

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Wow, this book had me hooked and totally fooled - recommended to friends and family already as a great read for winter.

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A really enjoyable listen ! The storyline was good in that you just didn’t know which way it was going to go. A fantastic ending too ! The narrator was really good too and way to listen too

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Shalini Boland consistently produces excellent psychological thrillers and this was no exception. It was full of the red herrings and twists and turns that make her books gripping and entertaining reads. I felt Mia's frustration at having memory loss and I thought this was portrayed very well by the author. I enjoyed the setting which focused around the water and rowing. The ending was unexpected and very cleverly done. I don't want to say much more at the risk of giving away some plot lines and spoilers but I highly recommend this to anyone who enjoys the genre as well as all of the authors or work!

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I liked the premise of this story; a female is washed up alone on a beach with memory loss and has to piece together not only what happened, but who she is. On hand is her boyfriend Piers to help her with this process. But she starts to wonder about the truth of what happened and how and thereby hangs the tale. Who can be trusted and who’s betrayed her?

I listen to dozens of audio titles and the majority are well narrated and a few are better than the written version. Exceptionally, I found the delivery of The Girl From the Sea really offputting. It’s all rather breathy and I reached a point where I was irritated by the narration and not fully engaged with the story. I’ve tried to complete the book a few times and after some 50%, I’ve given up. That said, the actual plot is intriguing and my early antipathy to the central character was coloured by the narrator. She’s right to wonder what’s going on. I’ll complete this book in written format and in the meantime I’ve given an average 3 stars.

My thanks to the publisher for a review copy via Netgalley.

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