Wow I loved this book so much! I find Tess Sharpe to be a brilliant writer and I really enjoy the nonlinear timeline storytelling.

Chloe and Mel’s banter was everything. I know the focus was on staying alive and it’s a thriller not a Romance and blah blah but I was so obsessed with those two. All I wanted was to see the two of them have a happy ending together.

If you’re looking for a fast paced thriller full of dangerous secrets and life or death stakes with a sprinkle of badass peacocks on top, pick up this book the second it releases!

Thank you to NetGalley and MCD for a copy of this eARC.

Bisexuals, sapphic romance, and a thriller survival mystery? I wish I could have liked this more. I actually really loved Tess Sharpe's previous novels and this sounded right up my alley... but I just struggled with this one. I struggled to connect with the characters and the pacing of the story just felt lagged down and slow for me. The constant swapping of times was also just irritating if i am being honest. I just felt like the flow of the story and the way everything unfolded just didn't hook me as much as I would have liked and I found myself getting bored with the story halfway through. I normally love a dual timeline mystery with a touch of romance but I guess the spark just wasn't there this time. I will be reading Tess's future works but this one was just a bit of a miss for me.

Thank you to Netgalley and MCD for a copy of the eARC.

Release Date: July 15, 2025

Publication/Blog: Ash and Books (ash-and-books.tumblr.com)

*Thanks Netgalley and Farrar, Straus and Giroux | MCD for sending me an arc in exchange for an honest review*

No Body No Crime by Tess Sharpe is a razor-sharp, heart-pounding thriller that completely consumed me from the very first page. It’s been a long time since I’ve stayed up late into the night unable to put a book down, but this one had me gripped all the way through.

This book hit the same for me as The Girls I’ve Been, the authors first book, and honestly might even top it. With a dual timeline, multiple POVs, and twist after twist, this story unfolds in such a unique, suspenseful way that kept me fully hooked the whole way through. While jumping timelines aren’t always for everyone, I personally loved it, it added layers to the characters and narrative that made the story even more satisfying.

I adored both main characters, Mel and Chloe. Their relationship was complicated, raw, and beautifully written, and I loved watching them grow, individually and together, over the years. The bisexual representation was, once again, so well done. Sharpe writes queer characters with such nuance and authenticity, and it’s always a joy to read.

The title also drew me in, a thriller with queer rep with the same name as a Taylor Swift song, sign me up!. Most of the ones I’ve seen inspired by Taylor’s songs have been straight romances, so I was extra excited to pick this one up.

This is an easy 5-star read for me and likely my favourite book of the year.

Thank you to NetGalley and Farrar, Straus and Giroux for providing me with an eARC in exchange for an honest review.

Tess Sharpe never misses. I read this in one sitting, that's how you write a thriller, I was on the edge of my seat the whole time. It's fast paced and full of twists, with a well written romance who doesn't downplay the thriller aspect

Thank you to NetGalley for providing this ARC.

This book was so fun! I love Tess Sharpe and the description sounded great so I had high hope for this one and it didn't disappoint. 

Chloe and Mel were so sweet. I loved both of their characters and I loved them together. 

The story is told from multiple POVs and in multiple timelines which can get confusing if not handled well, but it was always marked very clearly here. The voices of the different characters also sounded distinct enough that it wasn't an issue. 

I loved the way the mystery unfolded in the different timelines. The book was exciting, fun and so damn cute!

2.5 stars, rounded up. This was certainly an entertaining sapphic romance/action/adventure/thriller novel, but the plot strained credulity to its breaking point. I did enjoy the wilderness survival sections, and Chloe and Mel were great characters, very easy to root for, but overall I just felt like I rolled my eyes too many times to really get into this story of murder and corruption. In the end, this felt way too similar to Sharpe's previous novel The Girl in Question, and even though this one is billed as an adult novel, it still had a very YA feel. Thank you to NetGalley and Farrar, Straus and Giroux | MCD for a digital review copy.

3.5/5

This was fun!

This had a dual timeline situation that actually worked really well to build the right tension for what was currently happening (sometimes, I find that the past timeline feels a little unnecessary in books like this, but it really worked and added to the book in the perfect way).

I enjoyed the characters (we get some bisexual icons, so if you're looking for some bi representation, here you go), and the side characters were also fun (and I love to love side characters), this could get rather predictable at times (but I find that once you've read enough thriller/mystery books, you can do that), the twists and reveals were set up well, and there were some nice heartfelt moments (they did feel a little forced at times though or just inopportunely timed, maybe we don't have a super tense relationship conversation in the middle of the action).

If you're looking for a mysterious adventure in the Canadian wilderness, crime and bisexuals - look no further! I really do think that so many people are going to really enjoy this book. It has the right mix of multiple genres and it really entertained me.

Thanks to NetGalley for the e-ARC of this book in exchange for my honest review! My Goodreads review is up and my TikTok (Zoe_Lipman) review will be up at the end of the month with my monthly reading wrap-up.

I love that this is narrated by the author! It always feels a little special when this happen. I was able to easily picture how these two characters acted, and I felt like I was slipping into these girls' shoes and living through these events with them.

I picked this book up because I loved The Girls I’ve Been by Tess Sharpe. This one didn’t hit quite as hard as the YA thriller featuring hostages in a bank heist. Though, maybe that’s because I just like heists too much.

I really liked the relationship in this. I don’t read many romances, but I felt Mel’s and Chloe’s connection and tension instantly. This kept me connected to these characters even if I wasn’t always following the plot.

The biggest piece keeping me from loving this was the way the story was told. I like switching between the various characters (and like I said before, it was easy to distinguish between the two girls), but I didn’t love the constant time jumps. We have our inciting incident—the horrible night in the woods. Then we have two years later. Next is four hours before the night in the woods. It led to interesting reveals, and I understand why the author did them, but it made the story harder to piece together.

This may not have been a new favorite from her, but I’ll keep coming back to Tess Sharpe to be sucked into another page-turner!

Mel and Chloe’s plane crashes. Someone immediately tries to kidnap their prone bodies. They get chased through the woods while people alternately try to kill them or kidnap them - the bad guys can’t seem to make up their minds. Mel is clueless as to what is going on. She was sent to find Chloe because her father is dying. Chloe, on the other hand, knows why and is guarding her secrets with their very lives.

I love this cover. It reminds me of the movie posters from the ‘70s (Coffy, The Sting, The Outlaw Josey Wales). It brings pulp fiction to mind. I immediately gravitated towards it.

This line just hit my funny bone. I’m still chuckling over it.

No Body No Crime is so good. If I couldn’t underscore it multiple times, I would. Tess Sharpe gives us an action-packed thriller that sucks you in immediately. You wouldn’t think that Sharpe could top a plane crash, but they do. It’s violent, death defying, and peacock pecked (you have to read this book 😅).

We get to hear from the main characters, plus the secondary characters. The author moves back and forth in the timeline to show us what happened ten years ago to kickstart this chase. It works. We get fed the tidbits as Mel does. I will say that there is one death that we don’t see, but we get the aftermath of that is heartbreaking. If you’re sensitive, brace yourself. The author doesn’t dwell in it, but like I said, if you’re sensitive, this will still hit home.

The relationship between Mel and Chloe is complex. From fascination, to death, to hidden desire, to abandonment, and then running for their lives. It definitely runs the gamut, but their love stands strong. I think what makes it so believable is the fact that trauma bonds us like nothing else. When you’ve gone to hell and come out on the other side covering each other’s backs, the foundation is formed.

I love all of the secondary characters with probably the exception of Junior. He’s just annoying. He’s supposed to be though, so Sharpe did him justice. They are all complicated and tied together by events they have no clue about. The more the bodies drop as people look for answers, the more connected they become.

I greatly enjoyed No Body No Crime. It’s the action story of the summer.

Thank you to NetGalley for an ARC!

DNF @ 59%

I loved Far From You by this author so I was excited to read her adult debut, but it didn't feel very adult? It's not because of the narrative style, which jumps back and forth from when the MCs are teenagers, to the present time, when they are in their early twenties. I thought it was pretty cool, getting to gradually uncover the events that led to where they are currently. It's not because of the romance, which, although it starts when they are teenagers, the tension between their current adult selves doesn't read as YA to me. No, this book feels YA because of the antagonists and the plot.

SPOILERS AHEAD
First of all, the antagonists are presented in a kind of humorous, goofy way. I don't mind some comedy, but when you're talking up this big dangerous threat, and the first appearance of the main bad guy is him trying and failing to hunt a peacock named Doris, there is no way I'm going to take him seriously. Not to mention, there's a gag where all the bad guys are part of the same family and are all named Richard, and one of our MCs nicknames them The Bag of Dicks, and repeats this several times. I do enjoy a dick joke, but this is so childish.

Next, the big reveal about why the bad guys are after them is so lame. Not to give too much away, but basically, when they were teenagers, the MCs inadvertently buried diamonds that belonged to the bad guys, so now the bad guys are pursuing them to get back their diamonds. What kind of Famous Five Nancy Drew plot is this??? There's so much high stakes stuff; the plane crash, the dead body, the murders. And this is the big reveal?? like bffr 🙄
SPOILERS OVER

Anyway, I couldn't take the book seriously after that, which is why I DNFed.

Not even the bisexuals could keep me from dnfing this, I’m afraid.

It’s always a bad sign when I struggle right away with an arc, but I feel like it’s a particularly bad sign when your book opens with a plane crash and I’m completely apathetic and bored while someone is getting shot with an arrow and pushed out of burning fuselage. Mostly, I just really struggled with the writing. I always find third person present a bit finicky, but here it was especially clunky. The third person—along with lots of telling over showing—left me feeling detached from the characters and events and the present tense didn’t lend to a sense of immediacy or immerse me in either character’s POV.

I was drawn in by the beautiful cover and was really intrigued by the dual timeline, along with the mystery in the past and present (I love those), but if a mystery/thriller doesn’t intrigue me right away I consider that a bit of a failure.

I couldn’t connect with the characters, I couldn’t get invested in the mystery, and sadly I just couldn’t keep going.

Thank you to Netgalley and MCD for a copy of the eARC.

No Body No Crime is like if Yellowjackets and Riverdale had a baby and I’m honestly here for it. This is like if Jackieshauna had a happy ending.

Sapphic girl bosses in the wilderness, murder mystery, action thriller— it was just very fun! It’s a fast paced, quick read.

4 word summary: be gay, do crimes.

Great book. Not a fan of books that jump around in the story telling but These did a great jib of putting this all together. Was difficult to put down. Will definitely read more from her.

I was excited to get this book on NetGalley after I saw a comment about Veronica Mars. As a diehard Marshmallow who is always craving anything Veronica Mars I was curious to see if this book would stack up or not. I was very pleasantly surprised to be sucked into the story and the characters and the mystery immediately. This book definitely gave me the VM vibes I was looking for. I enjoyed the PI angle, the multiple timelines and the love story. I was surprised by some of the twists and felt really satisfied with how the story ended. I love a book with strong female leads so much. Also, let's not underestimate Doris the peacock. 5 stars and I will be digging into other books written by this author.

This book is such a fun, thrilling, murderous romp! The author does such a fabulous job pulling the reader into the story's world and keeping us guessing and at the edge of our seats. The story unfolding non-linearly gives it a compelling unpredictability and like we can't quite trust the characters because we don't know everything they do yet. If you like murderous sapphics hellbent on vengeance, do yourself a favor and pick up this book!!

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the e-ARC in exchange for an honest review.

suspense, action, romance
This was an action packed suspense with quite a few twists and turns. I loved that quite a few strong women, among them the main characters Mel and Chloe, battled it out against all odds. One of the major points of this novel was to show how a crucial night shaped the future of two 16 yr old girls. Although Chloe has been on the run for 6 years it has made her stronger, more cunning. Mel has been going her own way despite her „white trash“ background. Together they‘re a force to be reckoned with.
The multiple storylines though were at times irritating and difficult to follow. The writing could‘ve profited from a final polish.
I enjoyed the fast pace and the action and cheered those two along.

I received an ARC. The review is left voluntarily.

Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for an advanced reader copy

No Body No Crime by Tess Sharpe is a third person multi-POV Sapphic romantic thriller. Chloe and Mel were young and in love six years ago when they were sixteen. Now, Chloe has been missing for years and Mel is a PI. When Mel is hired to find Chloe, she does so and gets involved in the very thing Chloe didn’t want her involved in.

Multiple timelines are used to slowly piece together what is happening in the present and what happened over the years between Mel and Chloe. The top of each chapter states clearly where in the timeline the chapter takes place in relation to very specific events, such as the plane crash and Chloe’s birthday. It’s up to the reader to put all of these things together, but if someone really likes thrillers that are also puzzles, it will be a lot of fun.

Between Chloe and Mel, I think I preferred Mel. Chloe keeps a lot of secrets and we understand those secrets more over time, but there’s something more raw about Mel that I found really interesting. Both women are obviously pining for the other and they are each other’s ‘the one that got away,’ which makes it more complicated when they finally see each other again as neither wants to officially put the relationship to bed but Chloe is determined to not involve Mel is what is happening.

I would recommend this to fans of multi-timeline thrillers and readers looking for a book with messy Sapphics

This was a suspenseful story, that unravels more and more as you read on. This book was full of twists and turns and was obviously very well thought out
I did find the multiple timelines to be confusing at times. There was also a lot of different character POVs that added suspense to the story, but again I found it challenging to follow.
No body no crime’s writing style was not for me, but it does not take away from it being an exciting book full of thrills.

No Body, No Crime’s cover called to me. I love the throwback pulpy vibe with badass women. The reviews were equally compelling. And then, sadly, the book fell flat for me. I found the shifting in time storyline hard to follow and the characters hard to connect with.

Not recommended. Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

*3.75*

“too tall, too tough and just a little too smart to be anything but a threat”

bisexual girls secretly in love get caught up in a ,order, tried bodies, running from a crime family who are politicians and know how to play dirty. years separating them but their teenage love still runs deeply and powerfully through their bodies.. and love can be a dangerous thing, there’s nothing we wouldn’t do in its name.

I’ve always loved sharpes work, they have the ability to write a fast paced story that keeps you hooked from the first page to the very last. I almost greedily devour them, wishing I could read faster just to get my answers because I need to know where the story is going to go. I adore how she writes powerful women who use the fact that they get underestimated as a method of strength, always fucking men over with their chosen weapons and witty intelligence.

I really did love this, I thought it was so fun and so fast- it almost had hints of holly jackson in, which yk a fav of mine

the only reason this isn’t getting four stars is because the jump in timelines felt a little disorientating at times, I almost wished we were in each period for longer but really it’s such a small thing that my enjoyment was still high