Where I Left Her

By: Amber Garza

Narrated by: Vivienne Leheny

"In this high-tension domestic drama, nothing is as it seems. Don’t look away, you won’t want to miss a thing!” (J.T. Ellison, USA Today best-selling author of Her Dark Lies)

"Garza establishes herself once again as a master of domestic suspense...a pitch-perfect thriller.” (Mindy Mejia, best-selling author of Everything You Want Me to Be)

From the author of When I Was You comes a spine-tingling new thriller about a mother’s worst nightmare come true, when her teenage daughter goes to a sleepover and doesn’t come back.

Whitney had some misgivings when she dropped her increasingly moody teenage daughter, Amelia, off at Lauren’s house. She’d never met the parents, and usually she’d go in, but Amelia clearly wasn’t going to let something so humiliating happen, so instead Whitney waved to her daughter before pulling away from the little house with the roses in front.

But when she goes back the next day, an elderly couple answers the door - Amelia and Lauren aren’t there, and this couple swears they never were, that she’s at the wrong house. As Whitney searches for Amelia, she uncovers a trail of lies her daughter has told her - from the Finsta account to rumors of a secret relationship. Does she really even know this girl she’s raised? And Amelia’s not the only one with secrets. Could Whitney’s own demons have something to do with her daughter’s disappearance, and can Whitney find her before it’s too late?

©2021 Amber Garza (P)2021 Harlequin Enterprises, Limited

Parenting: The Good, The Bad and the Scary

This is a journey of parental exploration. First I thought, “wow, this mom is a gullible pushover”. Then I thought, wow, I’m a gullible pushover. Next, “ok, this mom is a stage 3 clinger”. Then I remembered I have also been a clinger. Finally, I thought… “whoa… wow… holy 💨 ….” well, never-mind, I’m not gonna spoil it for you.

This one is thinker. I have a 16 year old daughter, and teenage girls are basically temporary sociopaths, so the first half was extremely relatable for me. I also can’t imagine being single and trying to date with my 16 year old daughter in the house. There are a lot of perverts out there, so you just never know. Obviously, this wouldn’t be in the thriller section if it didn’t go off the rails at some point, but it took a long time getting there.

For the narration…. I just love Vivienne Leheny, but she is feeling really type-cast right now. She’s playing the same boring role over and over, and I don’t know if it’s 💯 doing her justice. She has the most beautiful voice, perfectly suited for dry sarcasm and just a little something extra that these characters don’t bring. I would love to hear her in something a little less “basic mom” and something a little more ball buster before the past few chapters of a book.

Ok book.

This book was ok. The voice of the daughter was so annoying, it was hard to get through the book. The ending was bland.

Kept me guessing!!

I really enjoyed this book! The narrator was perfect and the story kept me guessing what was next. I loved the woven little details that made me question things over and over again. I could use a part 2 to know the rest of the story! I’m invested. What happens NOW. I would definitely say it’s worth the credit!

That was UNEXPECTED!!

I liked this story! Very suspenseful. The ending was not what I expected at all and I’m generally good at guessing!

Dislikes: Not a fan of the narrator as I felt she struggled with playing the different characters. All sounded too similar. The story was also a bit hard to follow if you missed one word so I found myself having to rewind regularly to confirm where the story was taking place.

Overall good read and love when I don’t guess the ending!!

Stunned!!!

This book left me puzzled for so long!! The ending was so worth it. The author really knows how to keep the reader in the dark this was amazing!

Uncommonly good

I really didn’t expect the ending. Chilling! I took off one star for the structure of the story with time jumping. I think most authors keep it firmly within specific chapter that tell you from the start what time period you’re in. This book did that but it also had these excerpts within chapters that time-jumped, and it made it difficult for me to keep track of where we were and what was happening.

Frustrating main character, unexpected spin at the end.

While I didn’t guess the ending (a positive attribute), the main character frustrated me with her whining, over-protectiveness of her 16 year old. How many times did I think to myself, ‘She’s Nuts!!” With half of the book left and effectively “running away” too, I skipped to the final 20 minutes hoping for some firm conclusion or resolution…… It will be very interesting to read other reader reviews on this book.

Not good

This is not a good story. The plot and the mother's actions are not believable. The ending is stupid. It is not worth the time or money, unless they offer it for free in the catalog. There are so many other great books to choose from.