Penny was a fascinating MC to read about. She's neurodivergent, a savant who is able to remember everything that has ever happened to her in vivid detail. Despite her abilities she's very sheltered, which leads to some interesting scenes. The narrator did a great job of portraying her innocence!

The action on this road trip is nonstop entertainment. It reminded me a bit of Finlay Donovan, where one thing after another happens to comically keep the MC on their toes.

My only gripe was the cliffhanger ending. Some people like those, but I want closure! Regardless, this was an interesting thriller that was hard to press pause on.

This was a wild ride and I am totally here for it! This book did not go how I expected, and I love that! This was my 1st book by Carter Wilson but will not by my last, I am adding all of their books to my TBR!

#TheFatherSheWenttoFind
#NetGalley

Penny has a goal - to find her father who left when she was seven. After being pushed down the stairs and falling into a coma at age six, Penny has no memories of anything prior to the fall, but developed savant syndrome after the fall and remembers everything since then. Her mission to find her father begins on her 21st birthday. Along the way she meets new friends, finds enemies she didn't know she had and makes discoveries about her life that she didn't see coming.

Starting this book, I wasn't expecting much - the title was so long and that was an immediate turnoff for me, but I had heard such good things about Carter Wilson's books that I thought I would give it a shot. I must say, I was pleasantly surprised at how much I enjoyed this. It sucked me right in and kept me guessing the whole time. The characters were well developed and the audio narration was great. Overall, this one is a winner!

Thank you NetGalley and Dreamscape Media for the ARC audio of this book in exchange for my honest review.

I'm not sure exactly what I was expecting when I started this book, but this was actually so much more! I never ever expected the twists that came as the story unfolded. This was fast paced and entertaining. I was on the edge of my seat. The narrator also did a great job bringing the characters to life. I highly recommend this one!

Thanks NetGalley and Dreamscape Media for the opportunity to listen to and review this audiobook.

Thank you to NetGalley and Dreamscape Media for giving me the opportunity to listen to the audiobook. This is a 3 ⭐️⭐️⭐️ for me. The premise was intriguing to me and thr book did not disappoint. I enjoyed the pace of the book and the tone the narrator assumed for the main character, Penny, who is an accidental savant. Her brain made sharper by a traumatic fall. I enjoyed the story of the good and bad she experienced when she decided she was going to go on a trip to find her father after being in a specialized institution since her accident. The story twisted and turned, especially at the end to a conclusion that left me both happy and sad. I was completely invested in the characters, wanting to continue to find out what was going to happen next.

I read the kindle copy of this book and absolutely loved it! When I saw there was an audiobook version I knew I had to listen to it. And it was like experiencing it for the first time all over again. I would absolutely read AND listen to a follow up book.

"The Father She Went to Find" by Carter Wilson presents a compelling premise with intricate character dynamics, but its pacing may deter some readers. Wilson skillfully navigates the emotional terrain of a daughter's quest to uncover her father's secrets, weaving a tale of suspense and familial intrigue. While the narrative's gradual unfolding adds depth to the story, the pacing occasionally lags, slowing the momentum. Despite this, Wilson's adept storytelling and nuanced character development make for an engaging read, offering a thought-provoking exploration of identity and connection.

Such an interesting protagonist in this one. She’s a savant. I wasn’t sure I would connect with her, but I did. I really like that she sees colors for numbers. I’d never heard of that. I was invested in the story, wanting to know what had happened with her father.

Action packed and full of mystery and suspense. It had moments that made me wonder a little if it had veered off course, but I was oddly drawn to it and had to know what happened.

And the nostalgia of the 80s jumped off the page at me. I’m such a sucker for remembering the times before always being connected.

Gina Rogers did a great job with the narration. Voicing Penny’s inner and outer thoughts.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for a copy of this audiobook in exchange for an honest review.

I loved Penny! She was such a great character and an amazing narrator. I really enjoyed this book and the journey that Penny took to find her father. The story was fast paced and gripping. This book was a pleasant surprise and was wonderful.

I was definitely hooked from the beginning. The idea of Penny being a savant was so interesting, and even more-so that she wasn't from birth but she gained these skills from a fall as a child. For somebody so smart, Penny doesn't always make the best life decisions throughout the book, but it certainly fit well. Penny's treatment throughout the book was just jaw-dropping. I definitely felt for her and wanted to reach through the book to help her. I enjoyed the narrator reading the part of Penny, but didn't love her voices as she read for male characters. It didn't quite work for me. Overall, this was a great listen and I would recommend it!

Thank you to Netgalley, Dreamscape Media and Carter Wilson for this ALC.

This book is absolutely jaw-droppingly amazing! I'm at a loss for words, but trust me, it's WOW-worthy. Can't wait to explore more books by this author.

Wow, I was hooked from the start and this book did not left go. This was such a unique premise and I felt so connected to Penny. Just within the first 10% I could not believe how Penny was treated and my mouth was floored while listening to the audiobook. This book definitely needs to be made into a movie, it is action packed and such a thrilling ride. The ending is mind blowing 🤯.

Add this to your TBR but just go in blind because you are in for a wild ride. I loved the narration of this audio and it just kept me thoroughly involved and not wanting to stop.

This is my second book by Carter Wilson and it definitely won’t be my last!

*****Many thanks to Dreamscape Media, Kaye Publicity, Carter Wilson, and NetGalley for my gifted copies!

<b>A slightly misleading and pretty chaotic, but entertaining cross-country ride.</b>

3.5 stars rounded up.

This book was certainly not what I was expecting, with both its title and its blurb being slightly misleading.

To begin with, the title seems absolutely random by the end of the book. Sure, Penny - who just turned 21, and is a savant with, among other things, perfect memory ever since she fell down the stairs as a little girl - initially sets out to find her long-lost father, who sends her a postcard every year on her birthday, But what happens after she sets out on her trip (which, by the way, takes place in 1987) has actually little to nothing to do with her father, except for Penny's very weird internal monologues with the guy.

Instead, the book then evolves into a story of Penny making her way across the country while being confronted by every danger imaginable in the world - think, among others, criminals, shootings, dirty cops, sexual assault, and even highly-trained government assassins (yes). She does most of this accompanied by a random nineteen-year old who impulsively follows her, and some of it in the additional company of an equally random woman Penny decides to save but who seems to have no self-preservation or common sense at first (though I will say that Fia is actually a really amazing character by the end of the book).

I liked the writing of the book, liked Penny, and thought the pacing worked really well. All in all, it was a thrilling and entertaining read. Furthermore, I listened to this as an audiobook, and the narrator did a spectacular job of voicing all the different characters.

However, there was just way too much happening in one book, and it would have benefitted greatly from some streamlining. I personally would have preferred less chaos and a more concise storyline. For example, we never really learn a lot about Penny's time at the extremely creepy and weird "Institute of the Brain", which may or may not be feeding savants into government agencies. That in itself would have been an amazing book (or should have been scrapped completely), as would have countless other scenarios - but all of them mashed together provided too little opportunity for each storyline to be fully developed. Finally, Penny, for all her smarts, just makes a lot of not-so-smart decisions that ultimately propel the story forward from one unlikely scenario to the next. Worst of all, it seems she never even gets to use her extreme smarts unless she is trying to talk her way out of trouble by using random facts.

Nevertheless, I enjoyed the book and would read another one by its author.

Thank you to NetGalley and Dreamscape Media for the ARC in exchange for my honest review. "The Father She Went to Find" is slated to be published on April 2, 2024.

I really enjoyed this one, I listened to the narrator and she took on the character’s personas and made them each their own. I loved the author’s writing style, a little jumping around but it all made sense. Lots of surprises in this one!

This book was a great thrilling ride! It was such a nail-biting and captivating story from the get go. And even with that, there was a lot of heart and the found friendship trope was such a great break from the nonstop drama throughout the book. I didn't know what to expect when I dove in this, and honestly, I recommend going into it blind to get the surprises and fun out of it. You would be rewarded with a great thriller.

It was definitely more intense than I thought it would get, given the title of the book. It wasn't until the end when I truly get why the author titled it this way, because that title didn't give it justice for the wild ride of this. The intensity was written so well, and the evolution of Penny was done brilliantly. Trigger warning in some scenes for sure.

Thank you to NetGalley, Carter Wilson, and the publisher for a copy of this top contender of a book. All opinions are my own.

The Father She Went to Find is a good book. I enjoyed the story although I found it a little odd how trusting people can be especially when they are trying to keep secrets of their own.

At seven years old, she fell down the stairs and ended up in a coma. When she woke up she discovered that her father left while she was in the coma and also that she now has acquired savant syndrome. She sees numbers as colors, has an eidetic memory and can draw people in minutes. After that she lives a sheltered life mostly at an institute for the brain. Fourteen years later, on her 21st birthday she decided to go find her dad. She meets interesting people along the way, and gets into some dangerous situations! I felt the book could of been a little shorter, but worth the read!

Master storyteller Carter Wilson returns following The New Neighbor with his latest intriguing coming-of-age complex mystery thriller—THE FATHER SHE WENT TO FIND. An exceptional, emotionally wrought tale of a young girl who sets out on a road trip to uncover the secrets of her past and find her father.

Fabulous—Like no other book you will read!

Set in the 1980s in Wisconsin. Penny Bly just turned 21 and received her annual birthday card from her father. Has he been traveling all over the world? However, this card will be the last by his note and the only one with a return postage stamp. She has received a card yearly since childhood—since he left.

Penny had a tragic accident falling down a flight of stairs when she was only seven years old. She was in a coma and experienced a brain injury.

She became a savant and can remember everything. She has the uncanny ability to remember details, see numbers as colors, and more. She has a brilliant mind. She remembers almost nothing of her life before October 1973. Every now and then, she recalls something of that lost period of her life with small details.

Her father left her after the accident, and she has not seen him since he left her and her mom. Her mom was unable to take care of her. She studied at an academy devoted to those with brilliant minds, and they also studied her.

She feels like she is at a turning point. She remembers bits and pieces of a road trip she took with her father when she was six.

At age 21, her mentor, Dr. Brock, is leaving the school, and she decides this is the perfect time to venture out into the world and out of her comfort zone. The doctor says she has abandonment issues. She has an acute fear of desperation and cannot seem to find hope for a good outcome. She processes the information and holds all the pain inside, talking to her father. The one who left fourteen years earlier. How deceiving memories can be.

It is time to find her father—the man who left her. Why? She has always wondered. She needs answers. She has no address, only a postmark. Penny sets out on a road trip to find her father and the clues they buried all those years ago in their final moments. She needs closure and possesses a solid need to face her fear of abandonment.

She and Travis, a starving artist she met at the mall (funny story), are two artistic minds who begin to travel to California (where the last card came from) with a woman named Fia. They run into all sorts of problems, dangers, and adventures. She soon learns she is out of her element and may get in over her head in this complicated world she has been sheltered from. She is intelligent but not worldly (street smart).

Will Penny find answers to what she seeks —happiness over or through tragedy?

Carter Wilson is a gifted, dynamic, creative writer whose stories are compelling, intriguing, and thought-provoking. From action, suspense, and mystery, THE FATHER SHE WENT TO FIND is unique, emotional, and intensely psychological, with opposing forces of joy and happiness, despair, fear, abandonment, and the unknown. Penny possesses a fierce drive to understand her past.

As we find in the story, Penny is an interesting character—intelligent and bright, book smart but not street smart. The story is told in first-person narrative, giving the reader a complete view of her thoughts.

A vast long-time fan of the author, THE FATHER SHE WENT TO FIND is a memorable and incredible road trip journey—Beautifully written, unpredictable, immersive, absorbing with well-developed characters, and a fascinating heroine to root for. It's a heartbreaking family drama, a wild ride, and a thriller with lots of heart.

I hope we see Penny again. I loved it, and it would be a great Father's Day novel and book club pick. Discussion questions included. I also enjoyed the Author's notes and inspiration. The novel would make a noteworthy movie.

AUDIOBOOK: I enjoyed reading the e-book and listening to the audiobook, narrated by Gina Rogers; delivering a superb performance— making the characters come alive!

Thanks to Poisoned Pen Press, NetGalley, and Dreamscape Media for an advanced reading and listening review copy.

Blog review posted @
JudithDCollins.com
@JudithDCollins | #JDCMustReadBooks
My Rating: 5 Stars
Pub Date: April 2, 2024
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Isn't it ironic? Yes, The Father She Went To Find by Carter Wilson is absolutely ironic, in the way that only a psychological thriller with a character driven plot can be!

The idea for this book came to Wilson in the form of a female character, Penny, whom he thought about for months; it's clear that he developed her thoroughly, looking at every aspect of her personality in detail since she is such a fully formed entity. Penny has savant syndrome, meaning she is extremely intelligent, but also undeveloped socially. It was incredible to watch how she interacted with others on her quest to find her father, a man she hasn't seen since she was in a coma fourteen years ago.

I was constantly wondering where Penny's journey would take her, but instead of guessing, I just let the story unfold before me. The plot took many turns along the way, but none more shocking than how it ended! I could tell it was going to be this type of ending shortly before it unfolded, but watching it play out was a beautiful thing! This ending is perfection and I'm not sure I've ever encountered a finale that perfectly fit the main character and book so well!

I love what Wilson said about Penny's happiness in the Author's Note (especially related to the books ending). As a lover of character-based novels, Penny's story will be one that stays with me for awhile!

This audiobook is narrated by Gina Rogers and she did a phenomenal job embodying Penny. There was both empathy in her voice towards Penny, while still completely personifying the character. I really noticed the slight quietness that Rogers employed at times, emphasizing the importance of the specific scene.

I can't wait to read more from Wilson, after loving this one so much!

Thank you NetGalley, Kaye Publicity, Poisoned Pen Press and Dreamscape Media for the complimentary copies to read and review.

Penny is a savant- one of 75 in the world with her abilities. But she wasn’t born with them, she gained them after a tragic accident when she was young. After leading a fairly sheltered life, Penny decides to leave her school and the only place she has ever lived at age 21 to find the father that abandoned her the day of her accident. She sets off with no plan, food or transportation and very little money. She may be book smart but not overly street smart. She meets Travis who helps her with transportation and the two quickly become involved in dangerous situations on their journey out west.

I enjoyed this book, it was fast paced and was suspenseful the whole time, it did a good job creating tension and I couldn’t wait to see how they would get themselves out of the messes they got theirselves into. The audiobook narrator was easy to listen to and did a good job at capturing Penny’s unique spirit. I enjoyed finding out Penny’s brain worked, how numbers equal a color (I thought putting the color that correlated with each chapter number would have been really cool) Penny’s growth though out the book was great also, discovering how strong she was when she had to be

Thank you to Netgalley, Dreamscape Media and Carter Wilson for the audio ARC in exchange for my review.

This book was a real mixed bag... There were parts that were clever, different, and unexpected. But there were so many things that I could have done without or just felt overdone..
The whole storyline felt like a case of "anything bad that could happen, will.". While I enjoyed Penny's special talents, I could have done without the synesthesia, seeing numbers as colors. It just seemed like one more thing and didn't necessarily help the story at all besides being a fun parlor trick that you couldn't really prove anyway, because anyone could randomly assign a color to a number..
I appreciated it being set in the 80s,as it was still modern enough without having all of the tracking concerns of modern technology. I did think that the use of strong language, especially in the first half of the book, felt so unnecessary and kept pulling me out of the story... It just didn't feel like it fit with the innocent, protected Penny...
The last thing I'll say is that I thought the ending was well done and I don't regret listening to it, even if it's not going to be high on my list of books to recommend to people.