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agrinczel's review against another edition
I got about 1/2 way through & found that I really didn’t care what happened so I abandoned it
jencunn2024's review against another edition
3.0
3.75* This definitely does not start out with your average book club meeting. We are reading this for our book club just for fun. I expected this to be a fairly light read but was pleasantly surprised by the amount of intrigue, anxiety, suspense and pressure in the plot. It definitely isn’t boring. I only downgrade a bit because the writing and editing are not spectacular. The character development is weak but eventually comes around some. And the book is a bit too long because it weaves, circles back on itself, and throws in too much subplot. It’s fiction, so for me, it doesn’t have to be entirely plausible which is the most frequent complaint I saw in the negative reviews. I was most impressed with how sinister, dark, and conniving it becomes. I will try another book by Joshilyn Jackson.
moco71's review against another edition
3.0
Good, not great. A woman makes a tragic mistake as a teenager that comes back to haunt her. The author wanted to make scuba diving an integral part of the story, but it was not really that compelling to me...
wondernikel's review against another edition
3.0
3...A bit of a slow start for me, but the ending was pretty good! A lot of twists and turns to leave you guessing...Definitely good enough to have me check out more works by this author!
shelbyshelbxo's review against another edition
3.0
I would have given this book a 4 star, but the ending wasn’t very satisfying!
rebeccasreadingrambles's review against another edition
5.0
4.5 stars
Wow this book turned out nothing like what I was first expecting. I will admit, the beginning of the book was a little slow and frustrating for me. I was worried that we would just have a bunch of insecure female characters and one annoying villain. Well I was completely wrong about that. This book had so many twists and turns and the tension was high. After about 100 pages I was feeling so much anxiety and it took me a moment to realize that it's because it book hooked its claws into me. The writing was just perfect for story and tension building and the emotions were jumping off the page and I was hooked.
_
The best thing about this book was the characters. Roux was extremely manipulative, a true sociopath who had convince herself that all the evil things she were doing were for the greater good. She was so twisted in her head and I loved how secrets were slowly revealed about her, even up to the very end. Amy was more complex than I could have imagined and wow was she strong. Despite the things in her past, she had been keeping a lot on so much and it took brute strength to keep it all in, struggle and recover how she did. In the first scene or two she irked me, but when we saw who she truly was, I was absolutely rooting for her. I absolutely loved being inside her head and she is one of my very favorite flawed characters.
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A lot of this book involves diving and these descriptions were fascinating. Being terrified of scuba myself, I felt like I was down there in the ocean with the characters and understood the calm that Amy felt from it. I loved her relationship and bond with her stepdaughter.
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Speaking of the ending, it was a veritable rollercoaster of emotions. At one point my heart was racing and I could not turn the pages fast enough. I had to take a deep breath and slow down because my eyes were racing over the words. It shocking to the very end. I loved this book and highly recommend this thrilling book!
_
Thank you to the publisher for a free copy of this book. I was happy to give my honest thoughts.
Wow this book turned out nothing like what I was first expecting. I will admit, the beginning of the book was a little slow and frustrating for me. I was worried that we would just have a bunch of insecure female characters and one annoying villain. Well I was completely wrong about that. This book had so many twists and turns and the tension was high. After about 100 pages I was feeling so much anxiety and it took me a moment to realize that it's because it book hooked its claws into me. The writing was just perfect for story and tension building and the emotions were jumping off the page and I was hooked.
_
The best thing about this book was the characters. Roux was extremely manipulative, a true sociopath who had convince herself that all the evil things she were doing were for the greater good. She was so twisted in her head and I loved how secrets were slowly revealed about her, even up to the very end. Amy was more complex than I could have imagined and wow was she strong. Despite the things in her past, she had been keeping a lot on so much and it took brute strength to keep it all in, struggle and recover how she did. In the first scene or two she irked me, but when we saw who she truly was, I was absolutely rooting for her. I absolutely loved being inside her head and she is one of my very favorite flawed characters.
_
A lot of this book involves diving and these descriptions were fascinating. Being terrified of scuba myself, I felt like I was down there in the ocean with the characters and understood the calm that Amy felt from it. I loved her relationship and bond with her stepdaughter.
_
Speaking of the ending, it was a veritable rollercoaster of emotions. At one point my heart was racing and I could not turn the pages fast enough. I had to take a deep breath and slow down because my eyes were racing over the words. It shocking to the very end. I loved this book and highly recommend this thrilling book!
_
Thank you to the publisher for a free copy of this book. I was happy to give my honest thoughts.
sweet_p0tat0's review against another edition
dark
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
Content Warnings
Minor: Child abuse, Sexual assault, and Sexual content
jamiecakes0522's review against another edition
3.0
Thank you William Morrow and Harper Collins for the advance reader copy of Never Have I Ever in exchange for an honest review.
A neighborhood book club gets bogarted by a newcomer. The book club meeting turns into a drunken game of Never Have I Ever. As you can imagine - shit starts hitting the proverbial fan.
Trigger Warnings: Eating disorder, sexual assault of a minor
I was thrilled when I received my early review copy of Never Have I Ever. It was one of my most anticipated summer reads! I started reading it ahead of some of my other prioritized books because I just couldn't wait to read it. Although it didn't exactly live up to my hype, it wasn't a bad read either. This is a tough one for me to review.
The book starts with a bang. In the first few chapters I was giddy with excitement about where this book was going to take me. But, after the initial chapters, it started to slow down. Like, way down. It started to feel a bit sluggish and bogged down with over explanations. But, then I would get to a twist, and it would keep me reading.
Amy, the main character, is dynamic and well written. But, our protagonist, Roux? That's another story. I was not buying it with Roux. Some of her motives and behavior were too outlandish to make her a believable character. She didn't seem capable of the things she was doing or had done. I think she may have been a bit weakly written.
I enjoyed reading about scuba diving, as well. It was evident that the author had done her research. The parts of the story with the scuba are detailed and it made the journey with the characters feel so vivid.
I enjoyed the writing style of Never Have I Ever. It has wit and heart and twists. But, I wish it had been a bit more edited down.
Overall, I would recommend it to anyone whose reading life isn't over saturated with domestic thrillers and doesn't mind a lot of extra details in the writing.
A neighborhood book club gets bogarted by a newcomer. The book club meeting turns into a drunken game of Never Have I Ever. As you can imagine - shit starts hitting the proverbial fan.
Trigger Warnings: Eating disorder, sexual assault of a minor
I was thrilled when I received my early review copy of Never Have I Ever. It was one of my most anticipated summer reads! I started reading it ahead of some of my other prioritized books because I just couldn't wait to read it. Although it didn't exactly live up to my hype, it wasn't a bad read either. This is a tough one for me to review.
The book starts with a bang. In the first few chapters I was giddy with excitement about where this book was going to take me. But, after the initial chapters, it started to slow down. Like, way down. It started to feel a bit sluggish and bogged down with over explanations. But, then I would get to a twist, and it would keep me reading.
Amy, the main character, is dynamic and well written. But, our protagonist, Roux? That's another story. I was not buying it with Roux. Some of her motives and behavior were too outlandish to make her a believable character. She didn't seem capable of the things she was doing or had done. I think she may have been a bit weakly written.
I enjoyed reading about scuba diving, as well. It was evident that the author had done her research. The parts of the story with the scuba are detailed and it made the journey with the characters feel so vivid.
I enjoyed the writing style of Never Have I Ever. It has wit and heart and twists. But, I wish it had been a bit more edited down.
Overall, I would recommend it to anyone whose reading life isn't over saturated with domestic thrillers and doesn't mind a lot of extra details in the writing.
boundinspines's review against another edition
4.0
Slow start, but very twisty. My prediction of how it would end changed several times once I got into the meat of the book!
ashwhee's review against another edition
2.0
I was really enjoying this one, up until the final twist. I’m just grossed out. :/ It’s unfortunate because it happens like 98% in and I was otherwise enjoying the narration and themes of guilt… but ugh.