This book had me stumped. Sitting smug and thinking I had it all thought out, the author put me in my place. Finally we have a thriller that will keep you your toes.

Unfortunately this book wasn't for me, couldn't get into the storyline and I felt it dragged and was far too long.

Thank you to Netgalley and Lume Publishers for this ARC.

Firstly a big thank you to the publishers for my copy to review on netgalley.

Wow what a book and even more wow what a debut …. this blew me away!!

Captivating ,tense and claustrophobic.

This is perfectly written to ensure you feel just aa tense and on edge as she is.

Fantastic thriller that will have you hooked from start to finish. Thought provoking and unpredictable.

A fantastic new voice in psychological thrillers and I wish her every success with this and look forward to reading more .

Published 13th October

Wow what a great page turner full of twists and turns. The author keeps you guessing to the end.

Annabelle has a traumatic past, that she wants to unlock in order to live her future and have the perfect family life. By using hypnotherapy with Cassandra Rose. As each session continues A nacelle begins to question things like her parenting skills, her widely skills and more.. But, Is everything what it seems?

I was intrigued by this novel after hearing positive reviews on social media, however this book just unfortunately wasn’t for me. Very slow, predictable and derivative of other thrillers I’ve read. It was an okay read but nothing original or new.

As a huge fan of thrillers, I was delighted to receive an ARC from NetGalley. I really wanted to like Annabelle but the decisions she made throughout the entire book made it hard to do. The twists and turns did have my attention to the very end though!

I have read thrillers and mystery books quite a bit, however, I must say that this was an entirely different category, not only was it a different take but it involved a lot of psychological aspects with regards to Annabelle and her hypnotherapy journey.

The twists here were unpredictable I had suspicions on certain characters however the author manages to divert your mind from it by casting it aside with a form of reassurance in a different aspect, she has me questioning my own conclusions and reasoning on each suspicion and feeling I had and that takes a lot of skill to make me feel like that while reading a book.

This book is like a reminder to you that you cant always escape your past and sometimes the journey through it is more healing. I was surprised to see aspects of how well the topic of self-harm was handled here and how the feeling is.

The book starts with mystery and has a dark and gloomy vibe to it from the first page right up until the very end., the twists were unpredictable and there were many small things that have been put in front of our eyes but so easily overlooked, I would call them clues. I want to add more however I do not want to spoil the book.

The book was well written, and the story had a good development to it and had me hooked on the plot, the only fault I had reading this was the ending, there was so much build throughout the book that I was expecting more to the ending.

First, thank you NetGalley for providing me with a copy for an honest review.

Secondly, it must be pointed out that The Call of Cassandra Rose has some heavy topics within the book. I will be listing the trigger warnings to help my fellow readers out.

TW/CW:
1 Sex Scene
Abuse (physical, mental, emotional, verbal)
Suggested Hints of past child abuse
Self-injurious behavior (Self-harm: Suicide Ideation | Self-Harm | Cutting | Scars)
Drug Use: (Drug Addiction | Alcoholism | Alcohol/Drug Withdrawal/Drugging Someone Against Their Will)
Eating Disorder (forced upon by someone else)
Pregnancy
Death
Escalating Violence: ( Described Blood | Graphic Violence)
Kidnapping/Hostage Situation/Stockholm Syndrome
Confrontation of Abuser | Nightmares about Traumatic Events
Terminal illness/sickness
guilt tripping/gaslighting
manipulation

I might be missing some but this is what I can remember.

Now, there was a stereotype within the book that should also be mentioned:
There is a house cleaner/nanny that is Hispanic/Latino. Often when this character was mentioned, she was used as a filler character. Which she also filled many typical stereotypes. I have mixed feelings about this area.

Anyway,

This story is a mental thriller that is rather suspenseful in many areas. For me, it was rather hard to put down because I wanted to know what would happen to Mrs. Clarke as she battles the demons of her past and present. I do not remember much of the world-building but what I imagined throughout the story was the rich/fancy side of New York, City. Now, that I reflect upon the world-building or scene-building, there was not much there. Which is fine. I am always thrilled when I can imagine the place instead of having the author describe it for us.

The Main Character is named Anabelle, we follow her around as she tries to understand and heal from her past. She has a son named Joshua and is married to a rich man. Her past is rather dark and she was doing good until she started getting calls from her mother. Those calls made her spiral into bad habits. She also started to become paranoid about her husband. Is he cheating and if so with who?...

Mr. Clarke:
He is rich. Has a great job and loves his child. Without giving away too much. He was predictable and typical.

Mrs. Anabelle Clarke is full of fear, self-doubt, and low self-esteem. She has no friends, she ran away from home at a young age. Anabelle loves her son and would do anything for him. So, she enlisted her trust in a hypnotherapist named Cassandra Rose. Will Cassandra Rose help Anabelle?

Cassandra Rose:
Without spoiling the book, she is a hypnotherapist that is willing to help.


Overall, the book was good but also predictable. I knew that (insert character here) was involved as so as I saw those text messages she sent during the weekend. The characters are somewhat relatable in different aspects. Some aspects were unrelatable and cheesy. The background stories follow the same relatable and unrelatable areas.

The story has twists and turns but for me, it was not because of (insert name here). It was because of some of the scene descriptions, depicting the events as they are unfolding.

I say this is a good debut novel.

Wow, what a deft look at how a seemingly wonderful, understanding, caring person can enter your life and wreak absolute havoc on it. Spiers has found a way to slowly sink us into the mind of a trusting woman in a hard time in her life who is only trying to gather her life together and how that trust can lead to being manipulated without her even realizing it, until she is at a point where she can't even make any actionable thoughts of her own anymore and relies fully on another person to think for her. Well done!

This was everything you need for a thriller and crime story. It is not as black and white as you first think and like most typical thrillers, is full of twists. This is a first for me by the author and one I enjoyed and would read more of their work. The book cover is eye-catching and appealing and would spark my interest if in a bookshop. Thank you very much to the author, publisher and Netgalley for this ARC.

The story was thrilling and suspenseful. I found it hard to put it down and kept turning page after page to know what would happen to the main character in the end. The world-building was well written.

The characters are relatable. Each character's background stories are realistic and convincing.

The story follows Anabelle Clarke, a 29-year-old full-time mother with a dark past. Married to a wealthy husband, Anabelle lives a privileged life vastly superior to the one she had when she was young. All was perfect until she received unrelenting calls from her mother. Armed with insecurity and low self-esteem, Anabelle finds it difficult to socialize with other parents. Doubts start to surface about her husband's fidelity driving her to self-harm. To stop herself from causing more harm and become a fitter mother, Anabelle decided to visit a hypnotherapist.

A story full of plot twists and surprising revelations will take you to the edge of your seat. Although the main antagonist was predictable for me, this story was superb for a debut novel. I highly recommend it!

I'm thankful to the author, the publisher, and Netgalley for allowing me to read and review a copy of this book. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

I found this book too long. I thought Annabella was too gullible and not believable. I didn’t believe her hard life and generally didn’t really enjoy this book.

Very fast paced story. My feelings for Annabelle kept jumping from love to hate with her actions. How could she let herself be treated in such ways?! And Cassandra? Oof, what a character! I could not put it down.

A gripping tense psychological thriller that gets better and better. I loved the strong female characters and the hypo therapist was written so well - the dialogue, the description everything about her felt so real. Sophia is a brilliant writer and I'm really looking forward to her next book!

This book was full of twists and turns. It kept me wanting more. I hope there is a sequel, to find out what happened to Matt and Annabelle.
Very well written and would definitely recommend to my peers.

Thank you very much @netgalley for this amazing ARC.

Read this book in one day, from the first page I was drawn, this book keeps you on your foots with suspicious.

I really think this would be a beat seller and one I will be getting a hard copy of.

Annabelle has had a tough life, but now feels safe and secure, with her own family. However, she's quite certain her husband is having an affair. She's drinking a lot more lately, and there's a memory she can't quite reach, which is making sure she has nightmares every night. Then, like fate, a leaflet falls through the door for a hypnotherapist, Cassandra Rose. Glamorous and confident, she's everything Annabelle needs and wants to become. But does Cassandra really have Annabelle's best interests at heart?

This is a new author to me, and I liked how the story flowed. The story developed gradually, but kept me interested with tiny twists and information that gave more insight to Annabelle.

The only slight downside was the ending. I get it, but it felt like something was missing. The story felt so built up, that it felt it should have ended with something a lot bigger and more shocking.

But that's my personal thought, and it was a good story so I would definitely recommend.

Thank you to Sophia Spiers and NetGalley for an advance copy of The Call of Cassandra Rose.

I was straight away drawn to the book from the blurb as it offered so many different suggestions as to what may happen in the story and was super excited about reading it. Unfortunetaly, I found the story okay. There was tension and some great character development but overall, I felt that the ending was a bit predictable which ruined it for me.

I would still recommend the book and very happy I got to read it.

Addictive. Bold and savage.

A gripping thriller with an unforgettable character in Cassandra and a hero to root for in naive Annabelle.

Teeming with suspense and foreboding the atmosphere drew me in deeper and deeper. I raced through the pages until the early hours of the morning needing to know how it ended.

Loved the working class setting and the taut fast paced prose. And although I loved the ending I would really adore a sequel as I'm not ready to let go of this yet.

Highly recommended.

I wanted to love this book, I really did. The premise had me hooked! I just KNEW between the husband, the best friend, the therapist and the unreliable narrator there was a psychological thriller to die for.

Unfortunately, I loathed the main character and could not get past the ridiculous decisions she made. It was a page turner for sure, and I kept reading right to the end because I HAD to know (so that in itself makes it unputdownable). I just wish the main character was more believable. That would have made this a 5 star.

I will, however, read the next novel by Ms. Spiers because I think she’s a real diamond!

#netgalley #thecallofcassandrarose #sophiaspiers #lumebooks