First and foremost, thank you to Netgalley and Macmillan Audio as well as Farrar, Straus and Giroux | MCD for providing this ARC copy in exchange for my honest review

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⚝ Rating ⚝: 3.5✩ / 5✩’s (rounded up)

⚝ Review ⚝: I have slightly mixed feelings about No Body No Crime. It was very enjoyable, but also...pretty far-fetched?? Which I guess makes sense for a thriller, but sometimes it was enough to kind of jerk me out of the story.

Mel and Chloe have one thing in common: At 16, they killed a man. Now, years later, Chloe has disappeared, having gone into hiding in the Canadian wilderness, while Mel has become a PI in their hometown. But now Chloe's dad is dying, and so is Mel's mentor and Chloe's dad has hired Mel's mentor to find Chloe. In turn, Mel's mentor hands the assignment to Mel.

Using the information given to her by her mentor, Mel gets to Canada and is able to track down and convince Chloe to come home with her. But things don't go according to plan. After their plane crashes and Mel wakes up to find Chloe once again gone and determines they were drugged, she runs into a strange man, asking if she needs help, but something is off, and then Chloe shows back up, killing the man without question.

Now the two need to get through the wilderness and somehow get home while being pursued by one of the most powerful families they know of, but they are tangled up in so much more than one dead boy, both holding pieces to a puzzle that has cost lives.

This was a Dual POV (kind of a Triple POV as it occasionally jumped to Rick), and Dual Timeline. While at times it was a bit hard to follow from the bouncing around, that's definitely more of a 'me' problem that could have been fixed with physically reading the book over listening to it. ESPECIALLY considering most of the antagonists were named some variation of 'Richard'.

Even still, it was entertaining, decently paced, and while I wasn't 100% sold on the relationship dynamics between Mel and Chloe, I enjoyed them enough as separate characters to keep going.

⚝ Audio/Narrator⚝: This is the first time I've either read or listened to by anything by Tess Sharpe. For the vocals, I wasn't disappointed. Her voice is easy to listen to. The only critique I had for the characterizations was the voice choice for Junior. Now, I know he's supposed to come across as a petulant and spoiled individual, but every time he had dialogue, it gave '6 year old'. I was shocked when they mentioned he was old enough to be running for a political office, more so than when he mentioned wanting to stab Chloe.

⚝ Representation ⚝: Sapphic, Bisexual, Lesbian

⚝ TWs ⚝: Blood, Murder, Strong language, Death, Child Abuse, Gun Violence

My monthly reading breakdown for June will be posted to TikTok, IG, and Threads the first week of July.

What happens when you murder someone with the girl you'll eventually fall in love with? Nothing really for a handful of years. Nothing...until you're hired as a PI to find the girl you helped because she's been missing! Has she really been missing though? Or has she been protecting you from potential harm because she's hiding purposely?

At times the story was a little lost on me with the flipping back and forth between not just narratives, but past and present. In that sense, I would definitely recommend reading it via physical/ereader format and not in audio so you can easily reference points. I would have loved to have it more focused on the present with sprinklings of the past so that we as readers would still get a bit of knowledge about the characters we encounter.

Overall I truly thought the concept was there, but overall, it was a bit of a miss for me.

Thank you NetGalley for the ALC.

What an incredible read! This book tells the gripping story of Mel Tillman and Chloe Harper, who, on Chloe’s sixteenth birthday, together murdered and buried Toby Dunne deep in the woods. The most surprising part? They didn’t really know each other that well before that fateful night, but I guess nothing bonds people quite like committing a crime together.
Years later, Mel is a rural PI, hired by Chloe’s family to find her—she’s been missing for six years. When Mel accepts the case, she can’t resist the chance to hunt down the one who once stole her heart. But when she finally finds Chloe, everything is different from what she expected. Chloe’s reasons for hiding are more complex—she’s been protecting Mel from a powerful family, Toby’s family, who held something over him before they murdered him.
This story hooks you from the very first chapter and doesn’t let go until the final page—be prepared to lose sleep over it. It’s a romantic thriller that truly delivers on its promises. The narrative alternates between past and present; although I usually don’t enjoy this device, Tess Sharpe masterfully uses it to add depth to the story and deepen the characters’ backgrounds.
The main characters are truly badass, and I appreciated how their strength and resilience come through through their actions, not just words—a quality I find rare and refreshing. Their chemistry and connection feel authentic, and Sharpe excels at writing compelling romances. My only critique is that sometimes the pacing felt a little uneven, and the multiple villains named Richard confused me a bit, making it hard to keep track of who was who.
Overall, I highly recommend this book. It’s a masterful blend of suspense, romance, and character-driven storytelling that will keep you hooked until the very end. Thanks so much to NetGalley, the publisher, and Tess Sharpe for the ARC!

3 stars

This is a great concept, but I struggled to get into the read for a couple of surprising reasons.

Almost every time I listen to an audio version, I find that I get even more into the read. I really enjoy a good narrator and the distinctions that a pro can bring to multilpe characters and emotions. I do not think it's the narrator's fault that I found certain parts of this really difficult to listen to. The characters experience stress and are even noted as going up in pitch by other characters. I'd have rather imagined what that sounded like than actually listened to it, it turns out, and I found this vocalization so grating over time that I really think the intended stress pitchiness made me enjoy this less than I might have if I'd read by sight alone. In other words, the narrator may be doing their job too well for me!

The more significant issue is that while these characters have a lot of backstory, I somehow still found it hard to connect with them or understand the depth of their bonds to each other. The characterization felt too surface level, and with a fairly predictable set of outcomes on the horizon, I needed something to hold on to here.

This is not a bad book, but it did leave me wanting in several areas.

Action packed with twists and turns. This is a little of a detour from my norm, but I really enjoyed it. The violent parts weren't gory, which I appreciated. The love story is a small part of it, and that's okay! I liked how it was an underlying part of the story. I was entertained throughout. The author narrated this one and that always makes me a little leery. She was a great narrator though! I don't love how she narrated the male voices but it didn't distract me too much from the story. I always will think a book as action packed as this one would do better with duet narration. This one would make an amazing graphic audio with a full cast!

3.5 stars. Story is great and is what kept me going. The characters drove me absolutely nuts. So annoying and listening to them made it even worse. I would probably buy this in print for my library.

I thought this book was pretty good, if sometimes a little hard to keep track of the switching back and forth between timelines. Overall an interesting iteration on a murder mystery.

I've waffled between a three and a two stars. I could not get into this, at all. Which is so disappointing considering how much I loved "The Girls I've Been".

The story follows Mel and Chloe, two women who have been separated since they were teenagers after they killed a boy and hid the body. Chloe seems to have become a total paranoid survivor-woman living in the woods while Mel is hired as a PI by her family to find her. But other, mysterious figures are after Chloe, and the two women must survive the danger together.

Two main things were lacking in this: the characters and the plot. It's told with alternating viewpoints, with the occasional flashback to when they were teenagers. However, the flashbacks just make the reader most confused than add intrigue or give any context to what's happening. I didn't get a grasp on any of the characters, their motivations or personality. We're TOLD they loved each other just sooo much in the past, but you don't really feel that in any of their scenes. The author keeps teasing mystery after mystery, but without any answers whatsoever along the way, it gets more tedious than captivating. With the flashbacks, and retelling the story from different POVs, the plot to drags on unnecessarily.

The writing is also just not very exciting. It's overly descriptive for the genre, which makes the action scenes feel slow and the scenery is boring. Without any attachment to the characters, and a slow plot, I kept skimming and/or pausing the audio to do something else.

For the audiobook version, I do think author Tess Sharpe does a good job. Her inflection is entertaining, the voices are varied enough, but unfortunately it does not save the book from its flaws.

Overall this just isn't gripping, and lacked characters I connected to.

No Body, No Crime by Tess Sharpe is a fast-paced thriller about a missing girl in a small town filled with secrets. The premise is intriguing, blending mystery and revenge with a fierce, flawed protagonist who keeps you rooting for her. Sharpe's writing effectively establishes the scene and maintains reader engagement, though it may be challenging to follow in certain chapters.
However, the plot sometimes faces limitations because of foreseeable developments and characters that resemble archetypes rather than fully fleshed-out individuals. The ending, while satisfying, didn’t quite land the emotional punch I was hoping for. It is an engaging read for enthusiasts of thrillers; however, it does not achieve the lofty standards set by the genre's exemplary works. Thank you Netgalley for this advanced audio ARC. I would give this book a 2.5/5

I have a feeling this book would be better read than listened to. It was easy to get lost in both the characters and which timeline we're in. Overall, I enjoyed the story and think Tess Sharpe is a great author. This is my first book by her and I have looked into some of her other works already. This book definitely keeps you on your toes and second guessing every conclusion you think you've made. This is a great book to kick off Pride month with!

I enjoyed this story a lot! Chloe and Mel were secret girlfriends in high school, until Chloe mysteriously vanishes just after graduation. In the years that pass, Mel becomes a fully licensed PI and is tasked with finding Chloe.

What follows is an entertaining story about Mel and Chloe and what actually happened in their small town more than six years ago.

One of my favourite parts is that the bad guys all belong to one family (father, son, grandfather, cousin) and they are all named Richard, and Chloe lovingly refers to them as the bag of Dicks.

I love how the story shows these strong, smart women absolutely OWNING these Dicks. The ending is completely satisfying, with all of the loose ends neatly tied up.

Such a well woven, well told story. I wasn’t sure how everything would work out in the end (duh, kind of the point) but Tess did such a masterful job of tying up all the loose ends and making everything make sense. I was invested in the characters and the plot which I think was bolstered knowing they
the author was also the narrator.

This was fast paced and intense from the start. There were lots of twists to keep you on your toes. A fun action packed read! 4/5 stars

Tess can literally do no wrong. The perfect mix of action and emotion, romance and mystery. Excellent for new adult readers.

I've always been a big Tess Sharpe fan, and this one was a clever, suspenseful ride from beginning to end. I always appreciate the shifts of perspective and watching a strategy unfold, and the grit of these characters is always appreciated.

Tess Sharpe is one of my favorite YA authors. She perfectly captures the big feelings and sharp angst that come along with first loves while crafting unique, loveable characters that are fun to follow and puts them in page-turning stories full of deep emotion. And she has effortlessly translated that skill into this novel for adults. I was pulled in by the characters and the mystery and had a blast tearing through the pages. The villains strayed into cartoonish territory, but it helped keep the tone light so it’s okay. I can’t wait for her next book!

I was so excited to receive an ALC of this book. A sapphic thriller sounded amazing but, in the end, No Body No Crime did not work for me at all. I do not think this story benefited from the split timeline. It made the story move very slow. This type of storytelling did not work for a thriller. The book was also marketed as having romance and had very little romance elements in the actual character interactions and story. The characters also fell very flat to me. When the narrative switched from one woman to another there was not a distinct tone switch.

No Body No Crime was also not my favorite book for an audiobook. I did not like the dual POV mixed with the dual timeline. This made the book hard to follow on audio. The characters were also VERY hard to distinguish from. In addition to the lack of variation in narrative voice, the narrator did not have a different voice quality for the two women and this made it even more confusing.

Overall, this audiobook was not for me. I did not connect with the characters or the storytelling method and did not like the audiobook format.

No Body No Crime was a super fun and enjoyable mystery, that managed to incorporate both serious and at times softer tones as we navigated some of the romance and friendship aspects of the relationship between the two FMC’s. In my opinion, the plot was unique and just believable enough to keep this story grounded in reality, which I really enjoyed!

DNF
I had to stop listening to this story. I was 40% into it and I still was totally confused. It kept jumping back and forth from birthday, to plane crash, to Dick's planning revenge...for what? Totally confused with no explanation in site. Very uncomfortable read.
And the narration was not good. The women characters weren't too bad but the men ...well..not good.
I was given this ARC in exchange for an honest review.

No body no crime by Tess Sharpe
-The music put me right into action movie vibes and I’m here for it . We get right into action with a crash, drama and my heart is poundinggg.
-Chloe is a badass for surviving in the woods but I’m so intrigued about why and what happened
-Mel is so me being confused and wanting to understand
-I think I’d feel even more in it without 3rd person writing and more their POVs if that makes sense
-I love the murder, on the run and mystery vibes
-the tension and connection between them is chefs kiss
-their spit fire back and forth is too good
-Rick had me questioning everything
-girl the drama and twists truly had my brain ready to pop like damn but also intrigued
-this was a thrilling adventure wow
Rating : ⭐️⭐️⭐️.5