★★★★★ 4.5 stars (rounded up)

I am excited to be taking part in the #BooksOnTour #BlogTour for Carla Kovach's atmospheric thriller FIND ME.

As a big fan of her Gina Harte series and having read her previous standalone "What She Did" , I was excited to delve into the mystery surrounding baby Jess. The style in which it's written is very different from Gina Harte and its setting being Cornwall, incredibly atmospheric. Cornwall is one of my favourite settings for thrillers as the rugged unforgiving coastline, sheer clifftops, crashing waves and icy winds with horizontal rain create the perfect backdrop for an atmospheric thriller. And I have to say, as annoying as I found Kate, I thoroughly enjoyed every moment. Well...almost.

It's been twenty five years to the day since baby Jess disappeared from the pier in Looe whilst on holiday with her family. And Kate has been riddled with guilt ever since, mostly because her mother no longer found any time for her since baby Jess arrived. Her parents never got over the loss and her father drank himself to oblivion ever since, driving both his wife and remaining daughter away. Now on the morning of the anniversary, Kate receives a message from someone on social media calling themselves Will Wilcox...

"I know what happened to Jess."

Kate knows what she has to do. She must go back to where it all began to uncover to the truth of what really happened that day. Someone in Looe knows what happened to Jess and Kate is determined to get to the bottom of it. So together with husband Damien and their daughters Millie and Rose, the family set off for the seaside town in Cornwall for a weeks' holiday...and for Kate to meet her mystery messenger. However, when she gets there she doesn't know who she is looking for or who they are. And as soon as she sets foot in the Old Smugglers pub, she can feel every eye on her. They all know who she is and why she's here. So what do they know? What is the town hiding? And who is her mystery messenger and why are they reaching out now? After twenty five years?

But the more Kate digs, the more distance she is putting between Damien and herself. He knows she is keeping something from him despite her promise to put it all behind her and move on with her life, putting the family first. And yet the more messages she receives the more she feels she cannot let this go. Whoever this is knows something and this is her last chance to find out what it is...and what happened that day to baby Jess. But can she discover the truth without putting herself and her family in danger? Before it's too late?

Kate was quite honestly a frustrating character and she was incredibly exhausting. I felt for her on the one hand yet I despaired at with the other. I could see where she was coming from but she behaved more like a mother who had lost her child rather than a sibling. Her over-protectiveness of her own children was understandable, particularly surrounding water, but I could also sympathise with her husband as he had not lived through that experience and he only had her retelling of it to go by. For him, she was overbearing and overprotective. But there were times I could have smacked him as well. And if he was so concerned about Kate's behaviour, why did he end up walking out and leaving the children with her? One of the greatest bones of contention with me is one person's refusing to listen to the other before cutting them off and ending all discussions on their say so. As if their partner's feelings don't matter because their own actions and feelings are justified based on whatever insight they seem to think they may have and leaving the other party voiceless. So Damien's actions in that respect just riled me.

The characters in Looe may have been few but they had their triangles and trysts and it all became a bit inbred with who was had been sleeping with who whilst married to whoever else. Is it no wonder the parentage of the children of such unions were questioned...if not by those involved, then by the reader at least. I know I did...several times. But what a tangled web the community wove for themselves. However, my suspect pool was narrowed down to a couple of possibilities and though I was hoodwinked here and there, I could not be lured away completely. In the end I was half right.

Filled with twists throughout, FIND ME is a tense and addictive drama that keeps you turning the pages wanting to know the fate of Jess and the truth about what happened that day twenty five years ago. It is packed full of secrets, lies and deceit from the first page right up until the final revelation.

Besides Kate's exhausting and frustrating behaviour, the only other complaint I have is about Kate's father. He had come such a long way that I felt to throw him into the bottom of a vodka bottle one again was a little insulting. He deserved far more redemption for the part he played alongside Kate. It felt unfair given the progress he had otherwise made.

Overall, FIND ME is a tense and atmospheric drama-filled thriller with plenty of twists and red herrings and one in which the villain could have been anyone. Cleverly plotted and well executed, I was thoroughly immersed within the pages until the very end.

I would like to thank #CarlaKovach, #NetGalley and #Bookouture for an ARC of #FindMe in exchange for an honest review.

This review appears on my blog at https://stinathebookaholic.blogspot.com/.

🍦 The book follows Kate who has lost her baby sister Jess 25 years ago. Now on 25th anniversary of her disappearance Kate receive a message from an unknown source claiming to know what actually happened to her sister. Kate drives with her husband and two young daughters to the seaside town to unravel the mystery. Will Kate finally be able to know the truth?

🍦 This was my first book by the author and the intriguing synopsis didn’t fail to catch my attention on NetGalley. But I was a bit disappointed by this one. I don’t know how to explain but this book was kind of frustrating to read. And there was something seriously wrong with people of the town because you will have a hard time remembering who slept with whom. 😆

🍦 Maybe I am not being rational but I find the character of Kate quite annoying. How she was overly obsessed with finding about Jess’s truth that she didn’t mind ignoring her own husband and kids. The start of the book was kind of flat for me. However the story took pace near the end and last pages were packed with some action, so I did enjoyed reading them. And talking about the ending twist it was kind of predictable too.

🍦 To summarise it was an okayish read. Thanks NetGalley and bookouture for the ebook in exchange of an honest review.

Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for the ARC in exchange for an honest review.

I wasn't too sure of this story. It starts off well, pulling the reader in but with so many characters and back stories to follow, I got a bit lost. The grand finale, I felt, was a bit of a flop. It was a surprise, didn't see that coming but just gave me the "is that it" feeling.

3.5 stars round up to 4 as I do like this authors work.

There are lots of books about missing children, but Find Me approaches the subject from a different angle and Carla Kovach writes in such a compelling way that this really stands out from other titles. I didn't want to put this book down and I read the whole book in just one day!

The story is narrated alternately by Kate and Natalie. It doesn't take long for their lives to come together and I really enjoyed seeing both sides of what had happened to Jessica. Natalie's narrative, in particular, helped Kovach to introduce us to a wide range of characters living in Looe and it is clear that they all have secrets of some kind. I was in my element trying to work out how they were all involved!

Towards the end of the novel, the tension increases tenfold as we get closer to the answers. There were parts where I was holding my breath and I couldn't wait to see how everything would work out.

A family holiday catastrophe....
Leads to a twenty-five year old mystery....
Then arrives a text from a stranger -
Could it lead to the truth or to danger?
Should she share or conceal?
What will connecting reveal?

Memories from trauma in the past
Can the uncertainly be left behind at last?
What happened to Jess, Kate's baby sister?
An accident or something sinister?
Is the message really true
What should Kate do?

A story full of twists and danger
Where what happened is even stranger.
An enthralling page turner read
With clues your imagination to feed.
A brilliant, suspense-filled mystery
Sharing now and what happened in her history.

If you enjoy books that keep you guessing
And with your solutions constantly messing,
A story filled with drama and surprise
Until, at last, the truth you realise
This is just the book that you need
Add it to your tbr pile ready to read!

For my complementary copy, I say thank you,
As I share with you this, my honest review.

I've been in a bit of a reading slump for quite a while now and this book has definitely got me my reading mojo back!
I'm a huge fan of the author and I adore the Gina Harte detective series, so reading this was a must for me.

Kate's baby sister went missing 25 years ago, on holiday in Looe. It was concluded that the baby must have fallen into the sea and drowned although her body was never found. The locals blamed her drunken father for not watching baby Jess properly.

Kate always believed their was more to this, that someone somewhere knows something and she runs a Facebook page dedicated to this cause. Then one day she gets a lead, a message to the page that she must investigate.

This is so cleverly written, with lots of twists and turns, it kept me guessing right until the end.
A brilliant page turning and gripping read. I'd recommend this book to everyone!

Find Me is a complete page turner of a book which I could not put down. It had plenty of twists and turns and kept me guessing all the way through. I definitely recommend it.

Thank you to NetGalley and Bookouture for my ARC.

Thank you, NetGalley for sending me an arc of this book in exchange for an honest review.
I read almost 25% of this and could not read any further. The personality of the obsessed sister, her behaviour towards her children and husband were very off-putting for me. However, I did like the writing style of the author and would probably read some other book by her.

Carla Kovach has written another book guaranteed to keep you turning those pages. She has a way with writing that sucks you in, and you love being along for the ride. This was definitely a book I will be recommending to my book group! Great story, great characters, and a great author. What more could you ask for?

I found the beginning and middle of this book pretty boring and angering. The main character Kate is just a frustrating character, and I don’t really care for hee husband either.

Basic Synopsis - 25 years ago, Kate loses her baby sister, where she is presumed dead, but then Kate receives a message “I know what happened to baby Jess”. So Kate decides to find out what happened all those years ago.

While I get people grieve differently, I didn’t really feel that her grief all these years was really relateable. The author made her sound extremely obsessed with what happened for 25 years. Now it’s never stated how old Kate is, but she sounds pretty young.

Damien, the husband, I didn’t like how unsupportive of his wife he was, but I do kind of get where he’s coming from.

Near the end, the book does pick up and there are some twists I didn’t see coming. I thought the book ended really well and I’m glad to have read through to the end to see the twist and the resolution.

Posted on GoodReads (Amanda Castro) and Instagram (https://www.instagram.com/p/Cf-7pE6u3lX/?igshid=YmMyMTA2M2Y=)

This is not my first book by this author. I accidently stumbled upon Carla Kovach's Gina Harte series back in 2020 and fell in love with the author's writing style. I saw that she had a new mystery/thriller being released and was so excited to get my hands on a copy! To read other reviews I've published on her books just pop her name in the search bar at the top of the page.


It's been 25 years since Baby Jess has disappeared and been presumed dead on an outing to a seaside town with her family. Her older sister, Kate, has never forgotten and makes sure the world remembers by keeping a vigil via online social media pages dedicated to her sister. Kate is now a mother herself and the events from that day have molded the way she parents her own daughters. She is overprotective to the point that it is starting to affect her marriage.



She's also obsessed with finding more information about the day that Jess disappeared, another issue that plagues her marriage. The family decides to plan a holiday to the small seaside town to have a ceremony of remembrance and, hopefully for Kate, get some closure about her sister. It's also the perfect cover up to the fact that Kate got a message that someone knows something about Jess's disappearance.



There were so many characters in this book that it was hard to keep track of who was who and where they fit into the story. Because this is a mystery, the characters are important and knowing who each one is and how they contribute to this town is vital. Then there is Kate, the main character. She's horribly annoying. I honestly couldn't stand her. I found it hard to believe she was a wife and mother because she acted like a teenager who was impulsive and had no common sense.



The overall premise of this thriller was amazing and I really enjoyed it. The writing style was easy to read and it did keep me engaged. I loved the setting and imagined it as a Doc Martin (the PBS show) type town. I just became exhausted with Kate's behavior and overwhelmed trying to keep up with the residents. The ending was a twist and I was surprised with how it played out. The epilogue wasn't what I wanted, but we can't always get what we want!



"Find Me" is set to be released here in the U.S. on July 14, 2022 so preorder now to start reading tomorrow!



Thanks to Netgalley and Bookouture for allowing me an eARC to read and give my honest review. It was a 3.5 star read!



Happy Reading!

Another great read by the fabulous Carla Kovach where we get the mystery, the guessing, the chasing of the truth and it all gives us "the feels". Set in a very small vacation town, locals are wary of newcomers and hide their secrets like jewels.

Many thanks to NetGalley and Bookouture for this ARC!

The main character is haunted by her baby sister’s disappearance. 25 years later she is still searching for her. It affects her family because she does not to let her own children out if her sight. She gets a message that someone knows what happened to her sister. This leads her on a mission. I enjoyed the story but it was an ok book. I’m happy I read it.

Dialogue felt very weird/stiff to me and that really messed up the pacing of the book. The start felt really slow and boring but once we get back to the scene of the crime it picks up a lot and has some interesting twists.

CW: Infant loss, child disappearance, stalking

Firstly, this book is addicting. It is easy to read and sucks you in quickly. Kate's anxiety literally runs her life and you can feel the frustration it causes within herself and those around her. I felt for her and her family. As she gets the message that leads her to dig deeper into her sister's disappearance, you are introduced to a lot of new characters that are tricky to remember at times. Their different love triangles would be easier to understand with some notes, so it would be helpful to have them written down somewhere.

While the plotline is intriguing, I think the pacing and confusing character backgrounds prevented it from reaching its full potential. There were times when I felt a bit of a drag that was replaced with a sudden burst of action. I enjoyed the bursts of suspense and mystery but the drags in between were hard to get through. The character backgrounds, as I mentioned earlier, are a little difficult to keep straight. I had to keep going back and figure out which person was being talked about.

These aside, the ending was surprising and I did not see it coming. Several times, I swore I had the mystery figured out. I did not at all. The ending was a good one, although I would've loved to see more redemption from Kate's father. It felt unfair to me given his progress. All in all, this is a fun thriller that you can sit and read quickly. I would love to see this made into a thrilling movie!

Find me by Carla Kovach is a mystery thriller with plenty of twists and turns. I have to admit that I wasn’t too sure about this book at first . I found there was a lot of characters to get my head around and it just took me a few chapters to get settled into this story.. Once I did settle into this story I was completely and utterly hooked. Often with thrillers like this the reader has picked out a suspect but this book was so well written that I honestly couldn’t pick out who I thought was hiding something. Half way through the book I couldn’t turn the pages fast enough to find out the outcome. A great page turning read.

Wo. This is a fantastic story with many twists which had me hooked from the start. You should definitely read this.

Whew, this book has a dizzying array of events, one right after the other. Kate is super paranoid about her two daughters after her baby sister vanished, assumed drowned, 25 years before. She is like a bloodhound, however, and won’t give up,trying to find answers.
I was a bit lost in the first chapters with so many people introduced and how they all fit together.
I couldn’t figure out who was guilty until the author revealed the full story.
Some answers were found, some lives were lost, but the healing started.
I wouldn’t suggest going to the shore for vacation, perhaps the mountains?

This was the type of book that really makes you think about what you would do if you were in the character’s shoes. I enjoyed this one.

This is a very hard review for me to write.
I absolutely love this authors work,especially her Gina Harte series, and I also thoroughly enjoyed her last standalone, but for some reason I just couldn’t connect with the characters in this book. This did end up having an impact overall for me as I read it because as much as I found the storyline intriguing, and I enjoyed how it was panning out, I know I would have got more from it had I been able to fully connect and ”feel” for the characters. Due to my detachment of them, I just didn’t feel fully invested or like I cared enough about them.
This however did not take away how well this story flowed, and the fabulous writing style that Carla has, and it will certainly not stop me from reading more of her books.
Unfortunately, I just didn’t get the “feels” for the full package of this book so I’m giving it 3.5 stars.