This book is Megan Miranda at her best, small-town thriller with fast paced suspense and a romantic undertone that keeps you emotionally invested.

She had me hooked within the first few chapters with how well she establishes Beckett’s character and her present-day personality, even as we slowly start to discover who she was as a younger adult and the mystery surrounding her. Her daughter Delilah was a character that constantly surprised me in the best way possible. I’m used to Miranda’s characters being three-dimensional and the reader’s perception of them evolving as the story goes on but Delilah was written EXTREMELY well. 

The characters and their relationships were definitely the highlight of the book for me. It was so easy to root for Beckett and Trevor and I loveeeed that Miranda chose to go in that direction for their ~romance. Beckett and Delilah’s mother-daughter relationship though is very obviously the foundation of the book and I think it does a solid job of holding the plot up and keeping the reader attuned with Beckett’s motivations.

The twist with Adalyn near the middle definitely surprised me and I was so excited that Miranda still finds a way to shock the reader and not fall into the stereotypical tropes that can often be regurgitated in popular mystery/thrillers. 

However, my two main issues with the book were actually Adalyn’s character and the rushed ending (specifically the epilogue). It’s clear that Adalyn haunts the narrative of the book, but Beckett’s relationship with her just didn’t feel fleshed out enough for how “responsible” Beckett feels about everything that happened. And this ties in with the rushed ending for me personally because although Beckett turning herself in doesn’t feel totally out of character, it does feel out of sync with her growth throughout the book.

Overall I loved the book and more importantly I ENJOYED it immensely. It is a pretty fast-paced read but I felt engaged throughout the story and never felt like Miranda was extending the plot or leading the reader down rabbit holes for no reason.

I’m beyond excited to see what she comes out with next.

Thank you Simon & Schuster for the ARC!!