Until You're Mine

A Novel

By: Samantha Hayes

Narrated by: Clare Corbett

Length: 11 hrs and 7 mins

Publisher's summary

You're alone. You're vulnerable. And you have something that someone else wants. At any cost. 

Claudia Morgan-Brown finally has it all. Pregnant with a much-wanted first baby of her own, she has a happily established family of two small step-sons and a loving husband with a great career. But she is also committed to her full-time job as a social worker, and her husband travels often. So when Claudia hires Zoe to help her around the house in anticipation of the baby’s arrival, it seems like the answer to her prayers. But despite Zoe's glowing recommendations and instant rapport with the children, there's something about her that Claudia cannot trust. Moreover, there has been a series of violent attacks on pregnant women in the area, and Claudia becomes acutely aware of her vulnerability. With her husband out of town for work and her family far away, who will be there to protect her? And why does she feel unsettled about Zoe? 

Realizing appearances can be deceiving even in her seemingly perfect world, Claudia digs deeper into Zoe’s blurry past and begins to wonder–how far would someone go to have a child of her own? 

Riveting from its very beginning, Until You’re Mine is a multilayered masterwork of twisted, psychological suspense. Listeners of Before I Go to Sleep and Turn of Mind will be enthralled by this multilayered novel, featuring a twisted plot that ends in a breathtaking and shocking finale.

©2014 Samantha Hayes (P)2014 Random House Audio

Critic reviews

“A twisted thriller…Hayes plants the seeds of suspense early, and they gestate until a truly spectacular ending bursts forth.”—Entertainment Weekly

"Terror lurks just below the surface in this excellent psychological thriller....The twisty plot builds to a surprising and unnerving finale." —Publishers Weekly (starred review)

“Wonderfully creepy…Hayes not only delivers a splendid mystery, she offers insights into the inner lives of today’s women and mothers in particular….Readers will find it hard to put this title down. A well-written, compelling plot, great characters, and a feminist viewpoint all add up to a satisfying read." —Library Journal

Having trouble..

I'm about half through -- enjoying individual parts, but the narration makes it very difficult.

Narrator Clare Corbett reads all the characters with the same quick, breathless, inflection, and I found -- at one point -- I was deep into "Lorraine's" story -- the detective -- without realizing we'd left Chloe and Zoe, the mother-to-be and the nanny, the two women who are supposed to be at the center of this story. How we got into the police detective's tale I don't really know.... and I've already backtracked twice. I'll just have to figure it out as we go along.

And yes, there's another problem too: this is another narrator who doesn't pause between these various segments of the story, which makes it even more difficult to follow.

No, I'm not quitting. As I say the various story lines are interesting and compelling enough. I just wish narrators -- who are presumably professionals -- would take the time to make the story more comprehensible, not less.

I don't ask for a thousand voices, I can understand the difficulty of that. But surely just a momentary pause -- one second, maybe -- between the ending of one character's story and the beginning of the next isn't asking too much. Is it?

Creepy

Did the plot keep you on the edge of your seat? How?

Yes,which is a good find for an avid reader.this book had the whole wow I wonder what will happen next thing going for it.

Which scene was your favorite?

The plot thickens at the end.

Any additional comments?

Creepy in general, but if you are pregnant or think you might be you might need a night light on if listening at night!

Not Up to Par

First of all, the same reader plays all parts and throughout the entire book, I could not tell which character's voice was talking which was quite confusing. This lack of clarity continued through much of the book. Secondly, the story was slow getting started and then gradually built to an interesting premise only to lose all credibility as it began to move towards the end. The storyline does keep moving, however, and keeps the reader guessing enough to encourage continued listening. This book had promise with its interesting and mysterious storyline, but it did not deliver overall. I need a storyline to have more credibiity than this one offered.

Good performance

Where does Until You're Mine rank among all the audiobooks you’ve listened to so far?

In the middle

What was your reaction to the ending? (No spoilers please!)

Surprised because it was difficult to follow the clues to this ending. It was almost as if the last chapters were thought of suddenly and then the author tried to fit it in the story line.

What about Clare Corbett’s performance did you like?

Very good narrator

Did you have an extreme reaction to this book? Did it make you laugh or cry?

No there are no dramatic climaxes

Depressing, Impossible

I thought this was a fairly interesting story until "the twist". Now I think it's the most ridiculous, impossible and depressing story I've listened to. It has no redeeming qualities.

No Clue - Loved It!

I read between 5 and 8 books a week (listen) and it's gotten harder and harder to be "surprised" by a book; this one, I even had to rewind in parts to believe my ears! Loved it.

wow!

I loved it. What a twist! what a bunch of twists! Just goes to show you, you don't know what you think you know. footnote, this writer has such a way with words... the narrator captures the spirit of the characters so intimately. perfect marriage of writer and narrator.

Good Twisted summer read...

This one kept My interest throughout it's lenghty chapters.. with the last few surprising Me with a wickedly fun twist.

I Had To Quit- Narration Is Awful

Until You're Mine has a great premise and I really like the idea of the story. The problem is, the narration is horrible. The voice is the same for all of the characters, and I can't distinguish between them- and there are a LOT of different characters. I'd really like to finish the book, but I simply can't tolerate the narrator. I think I restarted this 10-11 times and I had to keep going back and re-listening to the chapters.

Too bad, it has a lot of potential.

-Wendi

Wow!

There were a lot of bad reviews but this book was great to me! Give it a chance!!