Once I got into this book, I couldn't put it down. I loved the characters-especially Bly & Gus. They were the only ones who kept their determination to find their missing loved one, Howard. And Gus never allowed herself to lose hope that Howard was still alive. The Monet's didn't give up despite all the obstacles, threats, & blame. I was shocked who was behind Howard's disappearance & it was so heartwarming to hear Bly call Gus Mama again after they solved the mystery of Howard's disappearance. The author made you feel every emotion of the characters. I loved the quote at the end of the book: We all have a buried road inside of us, we just have to find it. I loved Buried Road & can't wait to read more by this author.

13 year old Bly and her mother Augusta (Gus) have kept hope alive that the third member of their family- Howard is still alive. Three years ago, Howard left them in his family's home to get ice cream to never return. When the camper he was driving is found, Gus and Bly rush to the scene to investigate. They are sure Howard is alive. and suspect it was a story that he was working on that caused this disaster. Join the two as they fight against the entire community in their beliefs that Howard is still alive. A story of hard scrabbling individuals that do not give up.
#harperperrenial #buriedroad #katietallo

I loved the characters, which is my go to for a high rating, and the plot held up too. It's easy to start off strong with a mystery and fall off, but this read kept it interesting, and the characters kept me invested.

Unfortunately, after multiple attempts I have been unable to get into this. I have chosen to DNF. I apologize.

What I loved about the book:
I loved Bly’s character development, it was like she started off very timid and out of the way on purpose but each chapter she came out her shell and starting showing she means business! I also loved the storyline, the whole “ he didn’t just disappear off the face of the earth” mixed with “ I’m going to uncover this conspiracy” .

What I did not like about the book:
I hated how the town treated Bly and Gus because they were in fact right all along . Also, the writing style isn’t my favorite only b/c the beginning of the story was not drawing me in and it didn’t really until the middle of the book. In fact b/c of this I almost did not continue reading it originally.

I rate this book a 3.5 overall, I would recommend it to my friends and others because even though it didn’t all the way work for me it could possibly work for someone else.

i had a decent time, nothing really to write home about. the characters were pretty average with an average plot. pacing wasn't too terrible. thank you so much for the arc!!

In this edge-of-your-seat thriller—the follow-up to the international bestselling Dark August and Poison Lilies—Gus Monet and her daughter embark on a perilous road trip to find a missing person.

Gus Monet is a great protagonist and amateur sleuth. I enjoyed this book as much as I enjoyed the first two in the series. Well done!

Couldn't finish it because I was taken out of the book at the beginning. I couldn't get into it because it was boring and felt like it wasn't really going anywhere. Thrillers need to start with some kind of action at the beginning; something that pulls the reader into the story.

I think I was the only person to not realize this was a third installment about the mother\daughter duo, so maybe I was lost or maybe I just didn't enjoy the book, but anyways, it was.... okay. Maybe if I had read the first two this would make more sense but it was just alright.

Thank you Net Galley and Harper Collins for the arc!

Thanks to Harper Perennial and Paperbacks along with NetGalley for providing me with an early copy to read and review.

A solid 3.5 stars. I didn’t realize this was part of a series, I didn’t feel like I was missing any information as I delved into this mystery/thriller.

Refreshingly different, twisty, and some breadcrumbs along the way to help you feel like you’re solving the mystery right alongside the main characters. A solid read that has me interested in checking out the author’s other works.

This was a three star read for me, so I did have some cons. We met A LOT of characters. It was almost hard (without a chart) to keep everyone straight. We were meeting new characters up until 80% finished. It seemed a little far fetched that in this small town setting Bly and Gus were able to go unnoticed and encounter so many people willing to help them.

Thank you NetGalley and Harper Perennial and Paperbacks for this eARC in exchange for an honest review!
This was a fast past and twisty read! This is the 3rd book in a Gus Monet series but can be read as a standalone ( I have no read any other of the other books and the story made perfect sense to me). The story follows Bly and her mother, Gus, in the search for Gus's boyfriend after his disappearance. The characters are well written and it's easy to feel connected to them. The end was not easy to figure out before getting to that final twist.
I can't wait to go back and read the 2 other book in Gus Monet's series!

4.5 stars round up. This book had me in a choke hold from the beginning. It was hard to out down, I had to find out what happened to Howard!!

When Bly and her mother Gus go on a man hunt to find her mother’s missing boyfriend, they start to unravel a lot of secrets. Suddenly they find themselves on the other end of a manhunt but only one will come to light.

This book really didn't do it for me. There were a lot of places where the pacing felt off in this book and it really dragged for me. It would have been a 1 star read but the last 20% or so picked up and really took off. However I probably never would have made it there if I hadn't been reading this book for a review. I'm not certain that I would have finished based on the first 80% alone. I wanted to know what happened to Howard but I kept having to force myself to pick this book back up and keep going. I really struggled with the fact that the whole time I couldn't stop thinking about how selfish the mother in the book was and how she just didn't give a fuck about what happened to her kid so long as she got to keep barreling headfirst into this mystery.

I'm going to round my review up to 3 stars because of my own mistake. I didn't realize this was the third in an installment and read it without reading the first two. It said in the synopsis that it was a follow-up to the authors previous novels and either I read over that or just read that as meaning all novels are technically following up the ones that came before them. Maybe I would have liked it more if I'd read the other two first. I probably won't go back and read them because I didn't particularly find Gus likable enough to want to read two more books about her.

Thanks NetGalley for providing me with an advanced copy of this novel in exchange for an honest review.

This one definitely grabbed my attention from the beginning. As someone that reads a lot of thrillers, things can get repetitive but this one was such a unique story it kept me reading. I really enjoyed all the little clues dropped throughout and how they all tied together in the end. A good author can leave a ton of clues and still surprise you in the end and that’s exactly what happened in this book.

I loved Bly’s character and how smart she was but I did find myself getting angry with Gus’s character for constantly putting her daughter in dangerous situations. I did not realize this book was the third in a series and maybe if I had read the other two, I would understand Gus’s character more but she honestly drove me nuts. Overall, I really enjoyed this book and would highly recommend!

Thank you so much to NetGalley and Harper Perennial and Paperbacks for the opportunity to read and review this book!

When I read the premise for this book I was genuinely excited to jump right into it. It sounded like it was a bit unique and definitely had me intrigued.

Quick summary Gus and her daughter Bly (now 13) found out some shocking news about Gus’ boyfriend from three years earlier who had been missing for those 3 years. Gus was devastated when her boyfriend Howard went missing while working on a story that supposedly turned scary. Bly was also devastated because she viewed Howard as an important father figure. They immediately knew they needed answers and would find them together. This story is told from the POV of Bly, which was both interesting and at times strange. Definitely unique from a lot of books I read. Now let me get to my honest opinion of the Mother, Gus. I was not a fan of her at all. The whole experience and “investigation” that Gus and Bly dove into was not something I realistically thought a Mother would involve her 13 year old daughter in. Quite honestly it felt as though Gus didn’t truly care about her daughter’s safety, wellbeing, or feelings during the book. There were some twists but there better have been because this book felt like it had 457 different characters and it was confusing to keep up with. I would have thought with everything going on it would have kept me more interested or fast paced, but it was the opposite. It was extremely slow to me and I almost found myself not wanting to finish the book, but I slowly did only to have the outcome be less than impressive.

I may be an outlier on this one and don’t want to deter others.

Thank you to the Author, Netgalley, and Harper Perennial Paperbacks for the ARC of this book !

Buried Road was one of my favorite books that I’ve picked up this year. It’s a cozy mystery involving Gus and Bly, mother and daughter who are searching for Howard- Bly’s father figure and the love of Gus’s life-who disappeared 3 years back. The writing draws you right in immediately and I could picture everything so vividly.
You follow these two women on their quest to find out what happened and are dragged through the mud emotionally with them. Someone please make this a movie.
Thank you so much to Harper Collins and Netgalley for this digital ARC. Now I’m off to read more by Katie Tallo…

I did not realize this is the third book in a series until I read others’ reviews. I do wonder if this explains the odd prologue that alternates back and forth between the end of the book and jumping back in time three years. Anyway, this book is about a mother-daughter dynamic sleuth duo trying to find a missing loved one. The main character is the 13-year-old daughter, which gives the book a YA feel. However, her mother curses like a sailor so I’m not quite sure who the intended audience of this book is. However, I suppose it would appeal to an older teen, but as an adult reader, the overall storyline does feel rather basic.

I will say that I enjoyed the second half of this book more than the first. To the author’s credit, she introduces a lot of characters and does tie up pretty much all the loose ends of each character’s storyline (albeit the last chapter is basically just a super long explanation connecting all of the dots). But I do appreciate a book that doesn’t leave a cliffhanger or a giant question mark at the end. However, a lot of what happens is pretty predictable and other parts are a bit absurd. Again, I go back to this book being entertaining in a YA sort of way (just with a lot of cursing and a smidge of violence).

Again, I’d recommend this one for an older teen/young adult who is interested in a small town mystery.
Thank you to Net Galley, the author, and publisher for their generosity for providing me with this ARC. I am voluntarily providing my honest review of this book.

Thank you for access to read and review this ARC! The Buried Road is a very thrilling story of a mother and her daughter and their fight to find the missing piece of their family. There were lots of twists and turns and plenty of “on the edge of my seat” and “wait, what?!” moments. All in all, I’m glad I spent the time reading this great story.

3.5 stars for me! I really enjoyed this fast paced thriller that follows the journey of a mother and daughter as they look for their lost father figure. I did have a hard time with the character of Gus and the main protagonist was a young girl which wasn’t my total vibe. However, fairly enjoyable book!