Stories We Never Told

By: Sonja Yoerg

Narrated by: Lisa Flanagan, Christopher Lane, Soneela Nankani, Steve West

Length: 9 hrs and 48 mins

Publisher's summary

From the Amazon Charts and Washington Post bestselling author of True Places comes an emotional novel of love, secrets, and obsession.

Psychology professor Jackie Strelitz thinks she’s over Harlan Crispin, her ex-lover and colleague. Why should she care if Harlan springs a new “friend” on her? After all, Jackie has everything she ever wanted: a loving husband and a thriving career. Still, she can’t help but be curious about Harlan’s latest. 

Nasira Amari is graceful, smart, and appallingly young. Worse, she’s the newest member of Jackie’s research team. For five years, Harlan enforced rules limiting his relationship with Jackie. With Nasira, he’s breaking every single one. Why her? 

Fixated by the couple, Jackie’s curiosity becomes obsession. But she soon learns that nothing is quite what it seems and that to her surprise - and peril - she may not be the only one who can’t let go.

©2020 by Sonja Yoerg. (P)2019 Brilliance Publishing, Inc., all rights reserved.

Critic reviews

“Stories We Never Told is a beautifully told story of love and obsession, a gradual unearthing of long-held secrets that can unravel even the happiest of marriages. Yoerg has a real talent for creating compelling and complex characters who wrestle with real-life situations, leaving the reader wondering who to root for until the very end. Yoerg should be on every reader’s radar.” —Kimberly Belle, New York Times bestselling author of Dear Wife

“It’s a rare psychological thriller that shows both the dark depths our obsessions can lead to and the unlikely breakthroughs that can let the light in. Sonja Yoerg’s Stories We Never Told does just that, deftly introducing a brilliant cast of characters for whom detachment and intimacy can be equally terrifying. A taut, clever, and satisfying read.” —Jessica Strawser, bestselling author of Not That I Could Tell

“Sonja Yoerg expands her literary repertoire into suspense with Stories We Never Told, a tale of obsession, love, secrets, marriage, and the lies we tell ourselves. The prose is lyrical and immersive, and the story builds delicious tension. But the characters are where Yoerg truly shines: they’re all so keenly developed, so realistic, and so surprising with their own crackling takes on relationships, academia, and each other that the story itself starts to feel almost immaterial. Until, of course, it shocks the living hell out of you.” —Kate Moretti, New York Times bestselling author of The Vanishing Year and In Her Bones

Some people just can't let go...smh.

I'll just start from the beginning. Harlan, Jackie's ex, who is now friends with her and her husband Mike's, brings a mystery date with him to dinner. This date turns out to also be Jackie's postdoc, Nasira, who is working with Jackie on her research into early childhood autism. At the discovery of Harlan and Nasira being a couple, Jackie is for whatever reason reminded that she still has feelings for Harlan. Her behavior from there becomes quite obsessive. She resorts to frequently driving past both Harlan and Nadira's residents, sneaking to read Nasira's text messages and managing to bring either up in conversation with her husband.

Before long, it is brought to Jackie's attention that some data is incorrect in the report of her research into early childhood autism that she is to present, that things start to become really muddled. Jackie sets aside her obsession with Harlan and Nasira to investigate the errors because ultimately, that's the most important thing to her as she's working to earn additional funding. During her investigation, Harlan starts to act differently towards her, she suspects her husband is cheating, she discovers her stepson may be into drugs and she and Nasiraset aside their issues to come together to determine what's going on.

This is where the book really starts to take some crazy turns. We learn a little back story on Nasira, Miles and Harlan. We learn how Nasira came to be Jackie's postdoc, Mile's long held secret, and an old ex-before Harlan-pops up on the scene. There's a murder-hardly a surprise- and a sordid secret is revealed that I honestly didn't see coming. My jaw had to be forced up from off the floor.

This was a pretty good book overall but I did have my questions. I'll only speak on one. I couldn't understand at all why Jackie was so obsessed with a man who treated her the way Harlan treated her, not to mention, she's moved on to be with another man whom she is married to. She and Miles have been together for 4 years and married for 1.5 of those years but I digress. I figure that was the catalyst needed to propel the story forward. Anyhoo, great book. Grab a copy and enjoy!

ok

So I gotta say that the book really "begins" about half way in, maybe more. I was bored through the first half with Jackie being a weird creep, and couldn't figure out why after all of this time she was getting obsessive with Harlan. Honestly I still don't know. She seemed to have a happy marriage, great job why was she getting all worked up about her ex boyfriend. Makes no sense still to me.

A Decent Read

While this book wasn't my favorite, it is a decent read. There were a few points that were a bit dull, but once you saw where the story was going, you were interested again.

I think this would be a great book for someone who enjoys a bit of mystery, but doesn't like profanity, vulgarity, or total shock in their stories. There is definitely an audience for this book!

Kept My Attention

While not amazing, this audiobook was good. The story and narration kept my attention and I listened
to the very end. Im glad I purchased it and wont need to exchange. It was very enjoyable and the storyline was easy to follow. I recommend this book. A very good weekend listen.

An intriguing read

Well written drama of modern workaday life and the difficulty people have trusting each other. Foreshadowing was spot on.

Stay with it

Halfway through this book I would have guessed that I would have given it 3 stars by the time I was finished. It was interesting, but not captivating. I did not anticipate how much better this book would get. Too often the opposite is true. We will get pulled into a creative story line and a book will show so much potential, only to disappoint. This is not the case with Stories We Never Told. Stay with it... you will be glad you did.

WOW

Loved this recording. The narrators were awesome. The story was amazing and full of twists.

how did this get almost 5 stars

this book was the dumbest book I purchased in a while lots of ramblingnot enough story being told the book doesn't even really start until chapter 26.I suffered through this book and the boring storyline just to get to the predictable end

Good Mystery with depth of Character

This is an excellent mystery--not a murder mystery, but a psychological thriller. The story was pretty unique in both plot and characters.

Heartily endorse!!!

Excellent book

I really enjoyed this book. The characters are so alive, the story full of suspense and the narration brilliant.