For the month of December, my book club decided to read this book and I had seen a lot of reviews about this one and was super excited to check it out.
I have never read anything by this author before but I have seen a number of her books and often thought about picking them up to see what all the buzz was about, but then for some reason fell back to other authors that I knew or had read before.
Well after reading this one, Megan Miranda will be an author I read more often. This was a great read and I was often sitting there wondering what in the world was going on and how this was all going to come together! The ending was especially great!
Summary
Everyone knows the story of ‘THE GIRL FROM WIDOW HILLS’.
Arden Maynor was just a child when she was swept away while sleepwalking during a terrifying rainstorm and went missing for days. Strangers and friends, neighbors and rescue workers, set up search parties and held vigils, praying for her safe return. Against all odds, she was found, alive, clinging to a storm drain. The girl from Widow Hills was a living miracle. Arden’s mother wrote a book. Fame followed. Fans and fan letters, creeps, and stalkers. And every year, the anniversary. It all became too much. As soon as she was old enough, Arden changed her name and disappeared from the public eye.
Now a young woman living hundreds of miles away, Arden goes by Olivia. She’s managed to stay off the radar for the last few years. But with the twentieth anniversary of her rescue approaching, the media will inevitably renew its interest in Arden. Where is she now? Soon Olivia feels like she’s being watched and begins sleepwalking again, like she did long ago, even waking outside her home. Until late one night she jolts awake in her yard. At her feet is the corpse of a man she knows—from her previous life, as Arden Maynor. (summary from Goodreads)
Review
This one starts out a little on the slow side with a main character that I just didn’t love. When I started this book, I did NOT like Olivia at all—for a number of reasons but mostly because I just didn’t trust her. Some times I felt like she was over the top with her paranoia about people finding out about her past. Like ok I could almost believe that but then she would say thing like ‘she’s more carefree than me’ and that made me wonder if she actually saw herself as ‘carefree’ or if she was trying to be ironic? I was confused by her character at times and I felt like her inability to trust people, especially close friends like Bennett, with her past seemed really odd and bordered on unbelievable.
But then a body is discovered. Olivia is sleep walking and wakes up to find a dead body next to her and she is covered in blood. What in the world?! I was immediately hooked and couldn’t put it down. To be honest this story had a lot of plot holes and sometimes I wondered why things happened the way that they did and why there wasn’t more explanation toward the end of the book, but at the same time I was so so so hooked and loved it.
I loved the premise for this one and thought it was a rather diverting read all around. While I might have had reservations about some of the plot and overall characters, I did enjoy trying to figure out what was going on and who was responsible and why. It was pretty clear that at some point, someone was drugging Olivia and having many of the suspects be working in the medical field or having access to medications like that, made everyone a suspect. It kept me on my toes and I was suspicious of everyone—even the police! I devoured this one in a day and couldn’t put it down.
But just because I read it super fast and enjoyed it, that doesn’t mean that I LOVED it. As I said before, there were a lot of plot holes and questionable motives that I struggled to buy into fully, but at the same time I didn’t know who the killer was until the very end and I thought the ending was twisty enough to keep readers engaged. I am also eager to pick up more of Megan Miranda’s books now. Other reviews say some of her other books are better which makes me excited to check those out as well!
Book Info and Rating
Audible Audio, Unabridged, 10 pages
Published June 23rd 2020 by Simon & Schuster Audio
ASINB07Z6P9STY
Review copy provided by, personal collection. All opinions are my own and in no way included.
Rating: 4 stars
Genre: thriller, psychological thriller, mystery
The Lit Bitch 
Great review, I really enjoyed this book as well!