4⭐
Genre ~ domestic thriller
Setting ~ Maine
Publication date ~ May 13, 2025
Publisher ~ Harper
Est Page Count ~ 370 (68 chapters)
Audio length ~ 12 hours 33 minutes
Narrators ~ Kathleen Early, Caitlin Kelly, Sarah Mollo-Christensen
POV ~ 1st & 3rd
Featuring ~ murder, sexual harassment and assault

Rowan is an architect restoring an old mansion. How fun! But maybe not so when weird things start happening. Then she finds her ex-boyfriend murdered in the parking lot and we're off to find out what secrets this historic house holds, and what lengths some will go to in order to find out.

Coralie tells her story of being a secretary for a man that likes to take advantage of young women. Sleezy McSleezerpants. Her part is the slowest burn of them all.

Told in 3rd ~ Natalie (16) is Rowan's daughter and her father, Harrison, is in prison. Now he's out and wants to redeem himself. I was rooting for him because he wasn't bad at all. Ugh, though, I hate when the teens think they know what's best and be sneaky, bugs me so much. Although, she was a pretty good kid despite that.

Overall, this was really engaging and I was totally invested in seeing what would happen. There were some nice suspenseful moments that kept me listening into the night.

Side note ~ (I'll be vague without spoiling) I found it clever how the person that was in jeopardy at the end was located. I passed the info along to my college bound kid to try to always have hers.

Narration notes:
Thrilled there were 3. They all did a great job.

I listened to Dying to Meet You over two days and found it perfect for multitasking, engaging without requiring full concentration. I really enjoyed the multiple points of view and the surprise ending, which added depth and intrigue.

A single mom reenters the dating scene while raising a teenager, only to be suddenly ghosted by her new boyfriend. Things take a dark turn when she discovers his body outside her workplace and becomes the prime suspect in the investigation. As the case unfolds, her guarded past resurfaces, colliding with her present. Was this all just a coincidence, or is something more sinister at play?

The only downside was the pacing in the middle—it slowed down noticeably. I was still invested, but I kept checking how much time was left and was surprised I hadn’t made more progress.

I love a good story with layers upon layers of scandals, secrets, lies, and betrayal. Dying To Meet You is fast paced, easy to read and I simply devoured it.

Rowan is a single mom of a teenage girl simply trying to live. Rowan gets dumped via text and simply cannot let it go. She has a family tracking app in her phone and decides to follow him one night to their favorite meeting spot, the Wincott mansion. This unfortunately is a bad idea as she finds him dead and becomes the lead suspect.
Rowan is also hired to restore the Wincott mansion as she is an architect which seems a little sketchy off the bat. Rowan continues to dig deeper to uncover the real reason for the murder and discover if the location of the murder is a coincidence. While she digs, she uncovers secrets of many.

Dying To Meet You
Sarina Bowen
The setting is Portland, Maine. The main character is Rowan Gallagher, a single mother and a talented architect.
Rowan has been commissioned to restore a mansion for the influential Wincott family. Natalie, her daughter, is asking questions about and wanting to get to know her father who is in prison.
Rowan met Tim in a coffee shop; he was sweet and appealing. They date several times and she finds herself falling for him. Then he begins ghosting her without any elucidation. Rowan begins stalking him. He never turned off his location tracker on his cell phone. She tracks him on her Find My Fiends app. She knows she shouldn’t, but she can’t resist the lure.
She finds it both mesmerizing and maddening to know he is doing something while she sits at home. When he parks close to her home, along the waterfront (their favorite spot) she is curious to know who is with him. It was time to take the dog for a walk. She puts the dog on a leash and heads toward their favorite spot. As she walks toward the waterfront she expects to find him with another woman. But she doesn’t catch him in an intense embrace; she discovers his dead body…it appeared he was shot in the head. She was traumatized but managed to call the police…She became their prime suspect. Her daughter’s father returns to town and is another suspect.
This tale is written with multiple points of view. The characters in this tale are so real I could imagine them marching off the pages. My favorite characters were Natalie and Rowan. They demonstrated a realistic mother-daughter relationship. As a teenager Natalie displayed the behaviors you would expect. The secondary characters were important to the plot. The characters have just the right number of flaws to make them realistic.
The ending was baffling, I felt like I missed something along the way. The plot is intriguing with disgraces, enigmas, and deceit. This book is a great beach read, quick, easy and full of mystery, thrills, and suspense.


Thank you NetGalley for the ARC.

OH MY GOSH I loved this! It was so good and weird. I can't even imagine finding my ex boyfriend's corpse in front of my work. Like how rude to die there of all places! The twists were amazing. The romance was good too. It was all amazing. I also loved the other perspectives. The narration was everything! It was perfect.

Thanks to #NetGalley and #HarperAudioAdult for the book #DyingToMeetYou by #SarinaBowen. This book has secrets, murder and manipulation and is exactly what I love in a book. Rowan, a single mom and architect, has just been dumped by her boyfriend and is in a slump. She likes to watch where he is in the app on her phone and is borderline stalking him. One night she decides to show up where he is, and finds him murdered in his car. As she digs deeper into this man’s life, she finds he was actually stalking her and where she works. Can she figure out why before she is the next victim?

Thank you to HarperAudio and NetGalley for the ALC of Dying to Mee You by Sarina Bowen. This one’s a bit tough for me to review—I liked it, but it didn’t totally stick with me. The story centers on a single mom working as an architect, restoring a massive old mansion. Things take a turn when her boyfriend—who just broke up with her—is found dead in the mansion’s parking lot. Suspicious? Definitely. The pace is on the slower side as the main character tries to uncover the link between the hotel and his death. I really enjoyed the multiple POVs—they kept things fresh and helped move the story along.

4/5 ⭐️
I loved this! The characters, plot and mystery was so good! Definitely go into this blind if you can!

This was such a good audiobook. The narrator did a great job, I really enjoyed listening to this story and it kept my attention til the end. The story is fast paced and kept me guessing how things would turn out in the end. I enjoyed the main character's relationship with her daughter. The book setting taking place in Maine was perfect and the author's writing made you feel like you were right there in Maine at the old mansion. I recommend giving this one a listen or read if you are looking for a good suspense/thriller for the summer.

Thank you Netgalley and Harper Audio Adult for the audiobook in exchange for my honest review.

This was such a great popcorn thriller that I completely devoured on audio! It was impossible to stop listening as I had to figure out what was going on! The full cast narration made it easy to follow along as the POV switched between characters. I was truly shocked at the final twist and really enjoyed this one. I would recommend for thriller lovers in need of a quick read to binge!

I was prepared to write a lukewarm review, saying that although the book was well-written and the story captivating, the author had left one major plot thread hanging. And then with only moments to spare, the author proved me wrong in a most magnificent fashion. Dying to Meet You thus satisfies on all fronts. The mystery was well-crafted and delivered, and the peripheral romance was lovely. My only tiny criticism stems from my familiarity with and huge admiration of Ms. Bowen's earlier thriller, The Five Year Lie. Having paid close attention to how the author crafted that story, I was pretty sure I knew who the bad guy was in this novel, and I was right. My smarty-pants triumph in no way detracted from my enjoyment, however. I loved the secondary characters and particularly appreciated how our initial impressions of each one were artfully tweaked as the plot progressed -- except for the dog and cat, who remained terrific from their first appearances on the page to the very end!

Rowan was hired as an architect to restore the former Wincott mansion. When her ex gets murdered, she's on the suspect list. The more she uncovers, the deeper the secrets go.

Super quick read. I got this ARC as an audiobook and was very pleased with the narrator.

Pros:
□ Great audiobook, doesn't require your undivided attention to listen to.
□ Good plot, unique storyline. Ending isn't very predictable.

Cons:
□ Well written but does feel rushed at the climax. (that's what she said...)

Overall great for a summer read/listen. Available now!

Thank you #NetGalley for this ARC audiobook of #DyingToMeetYou

Not sure why this was titled Dying to Meet You? Very atmospheric this was my first time reading a book by Sarina and it did not disappoint

My first book by this author and I enjoyed it!

We’ve all been in the situation where the guy you’re falling for - hard, abruptly ends things, so you obsessively track their location to try and figure out not only what they’re up to now but exactly where things went wrong..

Well what would you do if you discovered they were 3 blocks away, went to confront them but instead of getting answers you get MANY more questions when you find them deceased..ergo resulting in an awkward conversation with the police 😂

Although this book was arguably slow paced (my least fave), I found it was a lot less noticeable given how well fleshed out the characters were. Following their movements and thought processes kept me entertained enough to not be bored whilst we made the journey from start to finish.

The audio narrators all did a great job my only comment would be a couple sounded pretty similar in voice so it could be hard to distinguish at times.

Thank you for the gifted copy!

Thank you, HarperAudio Adult | Harper and NetGalley, for providing me with this advance reader’s audiobook copy in exchange for an honest review.

“Dying to Meet You” follows Portland,ME architect as she restores a historic mansion uncovering lies, betrayal and murder. The story is engaging and has just the right amount of twists that aren’t too predictable. The story is told from multiple viewpoints and the audiobook uses different narrators which is engaging.

Thank you to the author, narrator, publisher and Net Galley for providing a free e-audio of this title in exchange for my review.

For some reason, I got the idea this was a women's fiction/cozy mystery sort of book - and it's really not. Maybe the title and cover was misleading. And it's hard to rate and review for me. I Finished it a few days ago and I'm still not sure what to think of this book. IT was a very, very slow paced book. I felt like it could get a good chunk edited out without harming the story. The characters were overall well developed, and the mystery wasn't terrible. But with the slow pacing, it just took far too long between events to keep me engaged.
The romance really felt out of place. I saw another review saying the author writes romance, so maybe they haven't left the romance fully behind.

I would recommend this to others, I would read other mysteries by this author, but I really don't love it.

3 stars, it was ok.

ARC audiobook provided in exchange for an honest review.

I really enjoyed the narrators on this book! They were clear and concise and made it easy to listen to and comprehend. The story was compelling and had me wanting to get to the end for all the answers. I definitely didn’t see certain parts availing while others were a bit more predictable. I loved how the story wrapped up and the characters got their perfect ending! I would recommend to anyone who likes psychological thrillers and mysteries!

I'm a fan of Sarina Bowen's romance novels, but I am all for the mystery thriller shift, and can't wait to read more from this Author!

Dying to Meet You isn’t just a genre shift—it’s a full-blown detour down a road paved with secrets.

Rowan Gallagher is an architect and single mother restoring a historic mansion! Her boyfriend suddenly dumped her, but forgot to turn off his location tracker. How fun! I loved this twist as you don't see novels in relationships or marriages that show a location tracker, since this is a modern thing many people and friends are doing. (At least I haven't read any.) Her late-night, post-breakup stalking felt both hilarious and horrifying, and when she walked her dog straight into a crime scene? I was all in.

The slow-burn suspense lets each character stretch out and unravel, especially Rowan and her teenage daughter, Natalie, whose dynamic was pitch-perfect in all its hormonal, heartfelt glory—everyone else, suspicious and deliciously so. The multiple POVs add texture without clutter, which was another plus, as some mystery thrillers that have multiple POVs can get confusing—an impressive feat, given how often thrillers with shifting perspectives can blur character voices. Characters often begin to sound interchangeable, lacking distinct traits or tone. This applies to the writing and audiobook narration, where poorly matched voices can make everyone sound like the same person. Sarina Bowen avoided both pitfalls masterfully.

What I enjoyed most was that since Sarina Bowen started as a romance novelist, her amazing romance storytelling also slipped in. It was like you were combining each of our authors' amazing talents.

More, please. I ate this 10-hour audiobook all at once in a day.

Dying to Meet You by Sabrina Bowen

I love Sabrina Bowen’s books and this one did not disappoint! This mystery/thriller gripped you into the story right from the beginning and has you guessing until the very end. The story has many twist and turns and has you wondering and unsure and keeps you captivates the entire time.
I highly recommend it.

The narration was excellent in the audiobook.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the alc.

I really enjoyed Sarina Bowen’s last novel The Five Year Lie so was excited to check out her new book. Unfortunately this one fell a little flat to me. None of the characters were all that compelling and while the narrators were fine, it didn’t wow me. The mystery element of the adoptions were the most interesting part of the story for me. While the end was a bit of a surprise, it felt pretty unbelievable.

Overall, this is a popcorn read that kept me entertained but isn’t something I’ll likely remember.