Willow Rose is so skilled at telling an engaging story, even when the books read like first drafts. It’s still a 4 star experience, because just like junk tv or candy movies, it’s just a fun time!

Premise - a mother’s daughter has gone missing, right after the disappearance of her babysitter… but does the child even exist?

The writing is definitely the greatest weakness of these books - they're so engaging, Willow Rose is an excellent storyteller, but the prose itself is clunky, repetitive, and often detracts from the story.

The detective in this story also needs to find a new profession. Every single sad thing she sees in her job (and her job is literally to see sad things) affects her deeply emotionally *in the moment* so she's constantly stumbling around crime scenes on the verge of tears. In the words of the great Edna Mode: Pull! Yourself! Together! Seriously, she's the detective version of a surgeon who weeps over his patient mid-operation. That's not the surgeon I want! Professional remove is a good thing!

The killer acted in service of the plot, rather than true to character, when he only knocked Billie Ann out instead of killing her. He kills his other victims on-site, so why would he keep a literal cop alive to drag her to a swamp and kill her there? It’s not because he isn’t strong enough to move the body, because he drags her there unconscious. It makes zero sense.

Separately, it was very obvious how the past Kitty storyline and the present storyline were connected. Even so, Willow Rose has such a knack for pacing that I was no less interested for it! How does she do that? Wow.

Overall, Willow Rose is a talented author and I would certainly read more of her books - they just need better editing (developmental and line). They read like first drafts of great stories, which they probably are given her output rate. A little revision and they could be amazing! Even as is, they're too fun to pass up.

📚 Series or Standalone: series, but strong enough to read as a standalone
📚 Genre: mystery thriller
📚 Target Age Group: adult
📚 Cliffhanger: no

✨ Will I Reread: maybe
✨ Recommended For: fans of domestic thrillers along the lines of Daniel Hurst, Frieda McFadden

💕 Characters: 2/5
💕 Writing: 2/5
💕 Plot: 5:5
💕 Pacing: 5/5
💕 Unputdownability: 5/5
💕 Enjoyment: 4/5
💕 Book Cover: 4/5

Thanks, NetGalley and Bookouture, for the gifted arc in exchange for an honest review.

Loved this one! I listened to the audiobook and the narrator was fantastic! The book was full of suspense and excitement from beginning to end. This is the second book I’ve read by this author and she is one of my new favorites. I love that her main characters are these brave women with high intensity careers but we still get to peek behind the curtain at their personal lives. I’m on my way to binge read all of her books!

📝Review 🇺🇸 :
I got this ARC audiobook
I listened To it in one sitting I couldn’t put it away it was so sooo good 😊 ..
Might wanna add trigger warnings tho
Cause themes are phedophilia , rape , child abuse & this is not mentioned in the beginning of the book

I recommend putting this book on your tbr for next month


—-
🇳🇱:
Ik kreeg deze ARC audiobook toegestuurd & ik heb hem in 1 zitting uitgeluisterd .. het was echt zo goed !
Ze mogen wel trigger warnings in het begin van het boek zetten aangezien er thema’s als pedofilie , verkrachting, en kindermishandeling aan bod komen & dit niet wordt vermeld in het boek voorin of op de achterkant .

Ik raad dit boek 100% aan om op je tbr lijst te zetten volgende maand 😊

First, I loved the cover art, it's gorgeous. It's the main reason I read this book.
For the actual book, it had a lot of issues. I figured out the major twists about 30% in to the book. It was very obvious.
The author tried to include way too many hot topics. Rape, pedophilia, racism, sexism, drunk driving, homophobia, and on and on. It got annoying really fast.
The narrator used an overly young voice for the kidnapped child. It wasn't clear enough that she had aged quite a bit. I won't say too much as it will give some of the twist away.
One last thing, the author repeats words quite a bit, and the way she portrayed the main character was a tad immature and selfish, which didn't fit the persona of her profession.
Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for allowing me to read this ARC.
I'm sorry I didn't like it.

Don't Let Her Go by Willow Rose
Narrated by Lisa Rost-Welling

I received an advance review copy for free thanks to NetGalley and Bookouture Audio and I am leaving this review voluntarily.

Blurb

A missing five-year-old girl is the key to unlocking a detective’s terrifying past…

When Detective Billie Ann Wilde receives a desperate call that five-year-old Emma Wilson is missing, she rushes to the family home. But inside the picture-perfect house surrounded by Florida marshlands, she finds no children’s clothes or toys, no photos of the innocent child Emma’s mother Marissa describes. Billie suspects Marissa Wilson is hiding from someone.

It’s a race against the clock to find Emma. But Marissa refuses to tell Billie anything about her past, and before long, she also disappears…

And then Billie realizes who Marissa is.

She’s the ten-year old girl Billie failed to find in her first ever case fourteen years ago. The leads went cold because Billie made a fatal mistake.

As more bodies turn up in the same marshlands, Billie must revisit her past and face up to her demons to find Marissa and her child. But she is unknowingly putting herself in the path of a terrifying serial killer…

My Opinion

I listened to this audiobook in one sitting. This was a thrilling book that had me guessing from the very beginning. A very exciting story and for me this was a great introduction to Willow Rose. With some short chapters, this book was really easy to keep reading.

Rating 4/5