Sandie Jones is not on the top of my list for favorite psychological thriller authors! This book will grab you from the beginning and not let you go until the very last page - and even then - you'll be saying to yourself "Are you kidding me?!" You will not be able to put this book down! Thank you Sandie Jones for another GREAT thriller!!

This story was an thrilling story from an author I don’t know or haven’t read before! Will look at finding other things by this author. I am grateful for the early access, thank you to those that allowed it!

2.5 Stars – A Mixed Experience

This book had a lot of potential, and there were elements I really enjoyed. The writing style was engaging, and the plot had a steady pace that kept me turning the pages. I typically love dual timelines, but in this case, they didn’t quite come together in a satisfying way. The transitions between past and present felt a bit disjointed, making it hard to fully invest in either storyline.

One of the biggest struggles for me was the characters. I never felt truly connected to them, which made it difficult to care about their journeys.

As for the ending—I’m still not sure if it was abrupt by design or meant to set up a sequel. Either way, it left me feeling unsatisfied rather than eager for more. Overall, while the book had a strong premise and solid writing, it just didn’t fully come together for me.

Thank you to NetGalley, Minotaur Books, and Macmillan Audio for the advanced copy in exchange for my honest review.

You can’t choose your family, and this book really makes that sentiment hit home. As the story flips back and forth between 80s London and 2010s San Diego, it’s hard to determine at first how the stories might be intertwined. Howvwer, it seems that the secrets that Nicole Forbes has spent decades trying to hide have finally crossed the Atlantic when a woman name Zoe knocks on her door and asks questions about her past.

This book took me a couple of reads to get into, but once I made it about a quarter of a way through I was hooked. I have to say that Cassie is as normal of a sociopath as one could write for much of this book. Stick with it to the end for some surprising twists and an expected ambiguous Sandie Jones ending.

Thanks to NetGalley for the advanced digital copy.

Definitely didnt work me the back and forth POVs didnt just work me. For some reason the timeline seems off.

I Would Die for You was my first book by Sandie Jones. It goes back and forth between 2011 in California and London 1986, following two sisters.
While I enjoyed the London chapters better, it still wasn't enough for me. The characters were not likable at all. Even by the end I just did not care to even see how it ended. Even with the twists it was just very predictable. The ending was very abrupt and felt like cliff hanger. Second book, maybe? But I would not plan on reading it. I will plan on giving her another shot and plan on reading something else by her(any recs appreciated) since I am not the type of reader that reads one book and be done with an author.

I do have to say, I went back and forth between the audio and digital copies. The best part of the book was Imogen Wilde. I really enjoyed her as a narrator and plan to put her on my list of narrators I enjoy.

Thank you to NetGalley and St Martin's Press/ MacMillan Audio for an advance copy in exchange for a honest review.

I wanted to love this so much more. The secret past catching up, the 80s throwback, a popular band, all that had such a good foundation to a great story. I did not like the switch between 1st and 3rd person, it made the book feel disjointed. The story was face paced with a lot of suspense but the ending felt rushed and unfinished.

I have never read anything by Sandie Jones before, but I like trying new authors. I'm usually a fan of dual timelines, but this one kinda fell flat for me. The surprises or twists weren't super shocking or entertaining. Overall, kinda meh

2.5 stars rounded up. I have read this author before and have really enjoyed her books, but this one did not work for me. I was not invested in any of the characters. I liked the idea of the story, but some of the pieces were confusing to me - the Zoe storyline for example. I think I might have liked this book more without the thriller/mystery aspect.

Thank you to NetGalley for the ARC in exchange for my honest review.

Thanks to Netgalley and St. Martin's Press for providing this ARC in exchange for an honest review.

In London, sixteen year old Cassie is obsessed with the band Secret Oktober and believes she and her friend are in relationships with two of the band members. She has an older sister Nicole, who is a singer/songwriter who is trying to make it by playing at bars. We also meet Nicole 24 years in the future in 2010 when she is married and living in San Diego with a daughter who know nothing about her past in London. It is a past she wants to keep hidden.

3.5 stars.

I read this one pretty quickly. It alternated between 2010 and 1986 and there were a lot of references to the secret Nicole was keeping about her past. This made me want to know the secret and keep reading to find out what it was, but when you have that kind of anticipation, there needs to be a major payout and I am not sure it was enough. We could guess that someone died but we didn't know who and we didn't know why. When we found out it was ok. Ultimately it was an ok and quick read but nothing overly interesting.

Sandie Jones newest book I Would Die for You tells the story how falling in love with a rock star can come back to haunt you later in life, while destroying your family. Nicole lives in California with her husband and daughter where she spends her days petitioning to save seals on a local beach. One day, a woman comes to her house and asks about Nicole’s long buried secret about her connection to the hottest rock star in the 1980s on the same day that her daughter’s non-existent aunt picks her up from school, causing a panic. Is there a connection between the two events? What will her husband do when he finds out she’s been withholding her role in the tragic events on the end of the band? And what exactly does she know about the day the music died?

Positives: What a great nostalgic return to the music of the 1980s and the style that came with it. It’s like every girl who fantasized about being the girlfriend of a guy in the band lives vicariously through Cassie and Nicole. (Hello NKOTB groupie right here!)

Struggles: This book is considered suspense/thriller, but I would say only the last 15% of it could fall in that category. The book is more of a family tragedy/nostalgia plot in 1986 and how that family tragedy impacts the 2010 storyline.

Thank you to NetGalley and for the advanced copy. Opinions expressed are my own. This book will be published on March 24, 2025. ⭐️⭐️⭐️.5

#netgalley #arc #bookstagram #MinotaurBooks #StMartinsPress #IWouldDieforYou #SandieJones

I Would Die For You is a unique novel, told in both present day and the 1980's by rival sisters. The 1980's is legendary for its style and music, which attracted me to the book. In my humble opinion, the 80's were among the best of times, and I enjoyed revisiting the decade in this thriller. Teen music fans can become obsessive about their idols, and that obsession is at the heart of this well-written story. Sixteen-year-old Cassie becomes a frenzied fan of the front man for a popular band, but when he notices her older sister, Nicole, their futures are altered forever. Mystery and thriller fans who remember 80's music might also enjoy this novel.

Many thanks to NetGalley and St Martins Press/Minotaur Books for providing an advance copy of the book to read and review. This review will post to Bayside Book Reviews.com at https://baysidebookreviews.com and its Instagram page on release day. Follow us! *NetGalley Top Reviewer*

I just finished my first novel by Sandie Jones. This mystery/thriller is about two sisters in a dual time line and their involvement with very popular band and its' members.. I was immediately drawn in from the get go. For me it was not your typical mystery storyline. There was lot of deceit and betrayal which really drove the characters and the storyline to make it hard to put down. Thank you NetGalley and St. Martin's Press for an advanced copy in exchange for an honest review. I look forward to reading more by Jones. ( I actually have 2 of her prior books)

I really enjoyed this book! There were a number of twists and turns throughout. I thought the premise was original and loved the flashbacks to 1986. This story follows the fictional band, Secret Oktober. Everywhere they went groupies followed. The events of that year have repercussions 25 years later. What does Nicole know, what did she do back then, and what does it have to do with her missing daughter? Thank you NetGalley for the ARC!

I was so excited to read this book. I have loved many of Sandie's books in the past and this one sounded right up my alley.

I was okay with the slow burn start because I thought there would be a huge explosion of an ending. But this book was such a huge let down.

It had a dual timeline and the "past" timeline is multiple POVs. I was okay with the idea of the multiple POVs, but it would have been soich easier to keep track of the POV if we were told under the chapter number which character it was. Sometimes it wasn't until the second paragraph we found out whose POV it was.

Nicole is the main character in the "recent" storyline (inside recent because it took place in 2010, compared to the 1986 past timeline). She was the worst! We don't really know what happened to her in the past, although we know something did to make her leave everything and everyone she knew behind. But was it so bad that she's not trust the person she loves??

This book has a lot of flaws, but I will say Cassie gave me the creeps a bit. She was well written. But other than Cassie, there wasn't much to love about this book. If it weren't for the advanced copy, I might now have finished it. I had to force myself to just sit down to read it and get it done.

Overall, I give it 3.5 stars. It does have potential, but it didn't quite live up to my expectations. Thank you to NetGalley and St. Martin's Press for the advanced copy in exchange for my honest review.

“If you’d been honest about your past, then perhaps none of this would be happening . . . “

I would Die for You by Sandie Jones is a dual time-period psychological thriller following. In 1986 Cassie becomes obsessed with the boy band, Secret Oktober – mostly their lead singer, Ben Edwards. Her sister, Nicole, simultaneously is trying to pursue her career as a singer and begins a secret relationship with Ben. When tensions rise, an accident happens that there is no coming back from. Trying to escape her past, Nicole moves to America and now has an amazing husband and daughter. But when her past suddenly catches up with Nicole, secrets emerge and there is now no escape from the life she was hiding from.

I’m not sure if I was supposed to or not, but I got One Direction vibes from Secret Oktober. This is groupie level status on a whole new level! Fan girls being obsessive and leaving reasoning at the door for all their over-the-top, dumb decisions!

I am a fan of Sandie Jones, and the buildup in the book was great! The suspense was there in every quick page-turn, but the ending ruined this novel for me. I (mostly) like my books finished… tied in a nice bow where I know exactly what happens, nothing is left to my imagination, and I know what the author was thinking.

The plot was great, good underlying themes, focused on family (and family drama), the mystery was there!!! Basically, there was tons of potential, but it was completely shattered by the ending. It was like a balloon that kept expanding with suspense, that simply just deflated instead of popping with a bang. I did not feel like this was a typical Jones book which I was expecting.

3.4 stars rounded down to 3.

Thank you to NetGalley for this arc in exchange for an honest review.

“If you ever loved someone as much as I love you, you’d know there is nothing I would do . . . “

Wow! What a good book. The main characters are two sisters, Nicole and Cassie. At 16, Cassie has a major crush on the lead singer of Secret Oktober Ben Elliott. This crush turns into an obsession. Nicole, also a musician, meets Ben while performing at a bar. The attraction is real and instant. When Cassie accidentally finds out a series of events occur that ends up in murder. Nicole moves to restart her life. Move forward twenty-five years and a knock on Nicole’s door causes the past to come forward. So many secrets, lies and devious behavior follows. What’s the truth? Who is the murderer? I couldn’t put this book down

I just could not get into this book. The jumping in timelines took away from any feelings of suspense. And I could not connect or care about the characters. I was just not interested in what was going on.

We've all been there—falling head over heels for a band or artist, covering our walls with their posters, and scribbling their name inside little hearts on our notebooks. We dream of meeting them, of being part of their world. But when does admiration cross the line into obsession?

This book started off a bit slow for me, but after a chapter or two, I was completely hooked! It transported me back to my late teenage years, when I followed my favorite band from show to show across the state. While I never took things to the extremes some characters did, I found their experiences relatable in many ways.

I ended up enjoying this story even more than I expected. A must-read for any music fan!

Thank you to NetGalley, St. Martin’s Press and Sandie Jones for the ARC.

Thank you to @netgalley and @StMartinsPress for this ARC. 1986: Cassie is obsessed with the boy band Secret Oktober. Her sister Nicole is a struggling waitress that would like to make her way into the song writing world and all this during their mother's last few weeks. Cassie would do anything to see lead singer Ben Edwards and Nicole falls into a chance meeting with him. What happens next shapes their entire life. 2011: Nicole now lives in California with her husband Brad and their daughter. All he knows about her is she fled London in the 80's and she never wants to go back. Now the secrets are coming out.
I was not a big fan of this book. It was really hard transitioning between time lines for me and trying to keep everything straight. I usually love Sandie Jones' books but this one sadly isn't for me.
I would give 3.5 stars. Three stars seem too harsh.

#IWouldDieforYou #SandieJones #StMartinsPress #March2025