3.75 stars

This was a really enjoyable story. I thought the author did a great job of creating this really creepy atmosphere with the story. I did find the overall ending quite predicable but I did still really enjoy the story.Although, I did really like that in the end she was still visiting him in jail and kind of supporting him, not what you would typically expect from this type of story.

A fun, fast read! The story flowed quickly and was descriptive without being overworked. The plot offered a few surprising twists and stayed interesting all the way through the conclusion. The story felt very current and realistic.

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A fun, fast read! The story flowed quickly and was descriptive without being overworked. The plot offered a few surprising twists and stayed interesting all the way through the conclusion. The story felt very current and realistic.

disappointed in the ending, but overall the story was very intriguing and kept me wanting to listen

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disappointed in the ending, but overall the story was very intriguing and kept me wanting to listen

3.5

The book wasn’t bad, but the characters were just so hard to like (which was probably the point) that I even when I found myself somewhat hooked on the plot I also felt really distanced from it.

Unrelated, I noticed about three typos (not a huge deal but a bit surprising).

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3.5

The book wasn’t bad, but the characters were just so hard to like (which was probably the point) that I even when I found myself somewhat hooked on the plot I also felt really distanced from it.

Unrelated, I noticed about three typos (not a huge deal but a bit surprising).

Really impressive for a debut novel, I must say. Book kept me on the edge of my seat pretty much from the very beginning. On the side note: I could never understand women who fall in love with prisoners serving life sentences or on death row. I think psychologically, they want to be in a situation with no way out and no future for them or their relationship, they like to live in the sort-of fantasy world where they can create their own "happily-ever-after" without actually facing realities of it. Our main character here, Samantha, is kind of like that. She falls in love with Dennis, who has spent 20 years on a death row for a murder he committed when he was 17. Sam believes wholeheartedly that Dennis is innocent and there is a big online following of a like-minded individuals. When Dennis is finally acquitted and released, Samantha is forced to face reality - her "happily-ever-after" is not quite like she's imagined it will be. It's not always flowers and unicorns. For once, Dennis is very different now, that he is out: he is very cold towards Samantha, very distant. Even the consummation of their marriage (when it finally happens) is as romantic as an enema. On top of that, Dennis might have some secrets that he doesn't want Sam to know and is it possible that he just may have done something really bad in the past?

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Really impressive for a debut novel, I must say. Book kept me on the edge of my seat pretty much from the very beginning. On the side note: I could never understand women who fall in love with prisoners serving life sentences or on death row. I think psychologically, they want to be in a situation with no way out and no future for them or their relationship, they like to live in the sort-of fantasy world where they can create their own "happily-ever-after" without actually facing realities of it. Our main character here, Samantha, is kind of like that. She falls in love with Dennis, who has spent 20 years on a death row for a murder he committed when he was 17. Sam believes wholeheartedly that Dennis is innocent and there is a big online following of a like-minded individuals. When Dennis is finally acquitted and released, Samantha is forced to face reality - her "happily-ever-after" is not quite like she's imagined it will be. It's not always flowers and unicorns. For once, Dennis is very different now, that he is out: he is very cold towards Samantha, very distant. Even the consummation of their marriage (when it finally happens) is as romantic as an enema. On top of that, Dennis might have some secrets that he doesn't want Sam to know and is it possible that he just may have done something really bad in the past?

So this was an enjoyable, engaging, fast read BUT I felt like the last 10-15 pages were rushed and could have been given more time and suspense. There was a good amount before that could have been speed up to make room for a more thrilling ending. I hate when a book has so much build up and then spits out the ending in somewhat of an afterthought. I would recommend though as I loved the premise and still thought it was a good read. Lots of parallels with Making a Murderer for which I loved.

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So this was an enjoyable, engaging, fast read BUT I felt like the last 10-15 pages were rushed and could have been given more time and suspense. There was a good amount before that could have been speed up to make room for a more thrilling ending. I hate when a book has so much build up and then spits out the ending in somewhat of an afterthought. I would recommend though as I loved the premise and still thought it was a good read. Lots of parallels with Making a Murderer for which I loved.

This was the book I read immediately after one I hated so I feel my adoration for it may be somewhat linked to that…regardless, this book has everything that I could ask for - I am a SUCKER for a psychological thriller as well as anything vile and strange just as much as I love a love story. With this book was based around a complex love, all my AOI were ticked. In a bid to not give anything away, this book danced between horror, thriller, mystery and romance and was pretty realistic (compared to some other thrillers) I loved it from start to end and was NOT prepared for some of the scenes. Pretty graphic and super compelling. Yes yes yes pls.

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This was the book I read immediately after one I hated so I feel my adoration for it may be somewhat linked to that…regardless, this book has everything that I could ask for - I am a SUCKER for a psychological thriller as well as anything vile and strange just as much as I love a love story. With this book was based around a complex love, all my AOI were ticked. In a bid to not give anything away, this book danced between horror, thriller, mystery and romance and was pretty realistic (compared to some other thrillers) I loved it from start to end and was NOT prepared for some of the scenes. Pretty graphic and super compelling. Yes yes yes pls.

This book was just okay to me. It was slow moving, jumped around, and left a lot of unanswered questions. I don’t believe in DNF but I was just about to with this one. Without giving too much away a school teacher saw a movie and became obsessed with a man on death row, Dennis, who claims he was falsely convicted. Her obsession ruined her relationship and she decided to visit Dennis in prison, fell in love, and married him. THAT RIGHT THERE...WHY??? So the man gets released for being wrongly convicted and the story falls apart. They are all wrong for each other. What seemed like a gentle, tender, and caring man turns into a sociopath. ARE YOU SURPRISED!?! And there’s this woman who hangs around all day every day without any explanation. The ending was intense but very confusing. I had a hard time falling asleep last night but the more I thought about it the more it didn’t make sense. Why would she stick around after seeing everything she did? Why would she stay married to Denny in hopes that he gets convicted and has a prison relationship? And why wouldn’t he have sex with her, did he have romantic feelings for Howie???

I don’t know, I just didn’t really care for the book.

Well written, creepy.

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Well written, creepy.