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Her Buried Lives

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Member Reviews

Jenny has visions, her visions includes seeing disturbing situations. She feels like she is going insane. Jenny and her mother travel to a small town to sell their family’s home. Soon deep rooted secrets come to the surface. There are missing townspeople and Jenny and her mother are suspected. This a thrilling story that flows smoothly with well written characters.

Disclaimer: Thank you NetGalley and Silent Storm Publishing for this review copy and I am leaving this review voluntarily.

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Great read for anyone who loves fun, crazy psychological thrillers filled with buried secrets, mysteries and characters that you can't trust no matter what. I absolutely enjoyed it.

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Her Buried Lives has all the wonderful elements of a scary psychological thriller: a single-mother with secrets, a curious adult daughter with visions, an inherited house in a remote Pennsylvania small town location, journals buried under floor boards, and a single neatly-made cot in a locked basement--oh, and a handsome handyman. The creepy factor increases with each chapter labeled "Then" that contains details of a kidnapping. The novel is well-constructed to keep the reader fascinated.

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For all her life, Jenny Miller has experienced intense visions. She gets a chance to find out if anyone else in her family has the same thing as her. Jenny and her mom go to a rural town to sell their legacy house, evidence from the past surrounds them and long buried secrets come to light. After finding a journal with disturbing messages a local goes missing and the sheriff finds Jenny and her mom suspicious.
This was a great thriller, full of twists. It had long-buried secrets and some unreliable characters, which made the story even more interesting. I also liked the aspect of Jenny having visions, it was interesting. Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the advanced copy.

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NetGalley ARC Educator 550974

A thrilling one sitting read that will keep you on your toes. This can be used as a template for other mystery novels.

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This is exactly what you want from a crime thriller! It was suspenseful and intriguing, and kept me interested from beginning to end! Great book!

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The old Victorian house located on the outskirts of a small Pennsylvania town leant itself to a creepy vibe and you just knew it was packed full of unsavoury family secrets.

Though I loved the premise and the setting, I found this thriller was not completely to my taste. I know that my opinion of this book is in the minority, so you can take my opinions with a grain of salt.

I found Jenny's disturbing visions upsetting and she had so many of them that they became almost repetitive in their gore and violence. Because of these recurrent 'visions', her character came across as unreliable. Her relationship with her mother seemed a precarious one. It vacillated between a very close relationship and one which was mistrustful and suspicious. It was clear that both mother and daughter were deeply traumatized at some point in their lives.

The chapters with the unknown narrator were both unsettling and confusing. For that matter I found all of the characters to be more than a little odd and unlikable.

The pace seemed slow, until the final denouement. A crime thriller that might not be for everyone, but one that packed a punch near the end - albeit an unsettling one. In three words, this thriller was dark, violent, and morbid.

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Thank you to Silent Storm Publishing and NetGalley for an e-ARC of this novel in exchange for a review.

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This was a pretty solid adult mystery novel. I liked our MC and found being in her head was a very interesting experience. Typically I don't like an "unreliable" narrator so when we first get a glimpse into Jenny's visions I thought it was going to be a problem, but it really wasn't. I'd say that after we're shown how her visions work, it's pretty easy to tell when she is and isn't actually having a vision and therefor, she never feels unreliable to me.

The mystery itself was good but not the most differing thing. There was really only one thing that surprised me (view spoiler) otherwise, I felt like everything was standard mystery guessing. That being said, if you're newer to the mystery genre, it may be more shocking to you than it was to me.

As I always say though, the mystery doesn't have to be unsolvable for me to enjoy it or think it's a good mystery. There were a lot of layers to this story and I did enjoy getting into the history of what had happened to Jenny's family and how everything got to where it was in present day.

The Author's Note talks about how the book is a bit of a study on how the importance of protecting one's family really plays a large part in the story and I can definitely see that. I think it was very well put together and I did really enjoy the ending.

I received an eARC from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review. I am also friends with the author.

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Her Buried Lives by Katlyn L. Duncan.
Can the sins of the past dictate your future?
For as long as she can remember, Jenny Miller has experienced intense intrusive visions. Plagued by graphic mental images of death and harm, Jenny is constantly on edge, always fighting to stay on this plane of reality. Until she gets one chance to learn if anyone else in her family suffered the same way. When Jenny and her mother travel to a rural town to sell their legacy home, evidence of the past surrounds them and forces concealed secrets to the surface. But the more Jenny digs, the more she entrenches herself in a sordid past. Soon after finding a hidden journal filled with disturbing messages, a local goes missing and the suspicions of the town’s sheriff turn toward Jenny and her mother. To prove their innocence, Jenny needs to come face to face with a killer who is more like her than she ever wanted. With the clock ticking, can Jenny withstand her visions long enough to uncover the truth and save herself?
A brilliant read. I loved the Story and characters. Apart from the killer. 5*.

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Her Buried Lives is a psychological thriller with Jenny and her mother returning to her mother's childhood home. Jenny appears to have visions that contain some sort of danger in them. Jenny's mother seems secretive and unable to talk to Jenny about the past. Jenny is looking forward to finally seeing her mother's hometown. Hoping to find the secrets to her mother's family and the past that seems to threaten her mother. Jenny discovers the aunt she thought was dead is actually in prison and makes plans to see her. But Aunt Valerie has other plans for Jenny, and it won't be a warm and fuzzy visit.

This was definitely twisted with creepy people in the town. The characters were strange and unlikeable. It took a long time to get into the story as so much was withheld until the very end.

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The author of multiple books in a variety of genres, Her Buried Lives by Katlyn L Duncan is a psychological thriller. Nora Miller with her daughter Jenny return to her former family home in a small rural town to sell the house. Jenny suffers horrific visions of experiences of violence and death which worsen despite her never being in the town before. Nora has refused to speak to Jenny about her father, dead aunt, or even her grandparents. Taking this opportunity to discover more, Jenny tries to discover the knowledge her mother has never shared. As she tries to learn the family history and the secrets her mother has kept to herself, they begin to be revealed. Then news of a local woman going missing leads to accusations upon the family and the consequences of the past explode into violent outcomes. With its easy-flowing narrative and revelation of family secrets, this gentle slow burning mystery is an enjoyable enough tale with a three star rating. My thanks to Silent Storm Publishing and the author, for an uncorrected advanced reader copy for review purposes. As always, the opinions herein are totally my own and freely given.

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This author creates well-drawn, complex characters, and knows how to build tension and drama that hold readers to the end. With several plot twists it managed to keep me guessing until the end. Even then I was surprised. I’m not easily surprised.

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This was a great book. I loved every paragraph, every sentence and every word of this masterpiece! I read it in 12 hours, which is a lot for me to do! It had everything and more laid out in the novel! I sure hope she writes more! I am totally hooked!

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A troubled girl trying to find more information of her family history on a trip home with her mother who is hiding the past. Jenny is frustrated to the point of going behind her mothers back to discover any information from the past and this leads to tragedy. A bit of psychological/paranormal stuff I didn’t like but overall a pretty good story I read on one day.

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Wow! What a book! From the moment the book begins, the anxiety from Jenny is palpable. Duncan packs layer upon layer of mystery into this book! The book starts out using Jenny chapters as what is happening currently and using “Then” chapters to reveal hints about the past. The book then progresses with Jenny chapters and “Now” chapters once there is a revelation. The “Then” chapters are very ominous. Towards the end, there is a moment that will leave you with your mouth agape, but that’s not where it ends. What a fantastic thriller! A must read for any thriller lover.

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Suspense and intrigue page after page of this incredible psychological crime thriller. A brilliant but shocking story that is very well written and impossible to put down. This deep layered novel keeps you thinking about life and family secrets well after finishing the last chapter. Very highly recommended to all psychological thriller readers and more than worthy of five stars.

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So many secrets which influence the present are uncovered in this intricate psychological thriller. Every page turned over a different stone, hiding yet another family secret. The characters are really well developed and truly make this book compelling. I wanted to know what happened to them and felt I had a real stake in the outcome.

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First thing you should know is that my favorite books always contain small towns, creepy houses, or overall unsettling vibes. This book had all those things wrapped up into one thrilling package. Not only was the house a little more than creepy (the basement? Nope not me) but it was a generational home that held secrets that should have probably stayed buried. Overall the book was a compelling and gripping story that takes you on a ride.

Though Jenny suffers from intrusive visions, she's still excited to finally go to her mother's home town and figure out why she's always been so secretive about her past, and why they've never stayed in one place very long.' Jenny is determined to dig up all the secrets about her family and their history, even if it means there are things she didn't want to know. With Jenny's visions she becomes somewhat of an unreliable narrator of her own life and what is she supposed to believe when sometimes she can't even trust herself?

This is a perfect read for anyone who loves twisted psychological thrillers filled with creepy vibes, buried secrets and unreliable characters. it is well worth the read.

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Fast paced, on the edge of your seat, white knuckle. And dark, ominous. Deep characters. Unexpected twists. So many secrets revealed. A pretty darn good read. It was my first from this author but I'll definitely be looking for more.

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