Very tense book that kept me interested. But the characters are so dumb. And mark is an asshole. 

This book will leave you guessing until the very last chapter. Never would have suspected the ending.

Overall, the book was well written and kept me on the edge of my seat, but I think the title is incredibly misleading because

the entire plot is very forgiveness driven from the perspective of the main character, and the wrapup literally includes a message of forgiveness contrary to the title

so overall I felt disappointed after finishing the book. 

I Don’t Forgive You was an extremely action packed book that was so very hard to put down. I was re-cleaning things that were already spotless just so I could keep listening. I just couldn’t fathom the shit show Allie was going through! ⁣⁣
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It started off with a simple neighborhood party. Allie and her husband Mark had just moved into a upper class DC development with their little boy. Allie was anxious to get to know the residents and make some friends. She had a couple of drinks and got a little flirty with a single dad who took it to far. He cornered her in the bathroom which was scary enough but then he called her by an old nickname she had long ago buried with her dark and secret past. So frazzled and upset Allie decides not to tell her husband about the assault worried about the matter escalating.⁣⁣
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The next day Rob, the handsy single dad ends up dead and it looks like murder. Allie becomes suspect number one after the police find their ongoing Tinder engagement. The problem is Allie doesn’t have a Tinder account or had even known about Rob until the night of the party. Someone has hacked her and they are continuing to do so, writing crazy Facebook posts and doing other online damage. It is affecting everything in her life. Her marriage, her job and her freedom, maybe even her life. Allie has to find out who is behind this and figure out if her demons from the past are coming to haunt her. ⁣⁣
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I really enjoyed this domestic, psychological thriller, it was a fast paced and entertaining read. There was definitely an abundance of tension. Pretty much felt myself mopping my brow of sweat a couple of times..lol. I really wasn’t sure who was behind Allie’s personal attacks. The book offers you a wide range of suspects. People like her aloof and unfriendly neighbor, her completely self centered sister, some of her “friends”, even the babysitter, and of course people from her past. ⁣⁣
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And while I really liked it, I did have a problem with a couple of things. Namely a couple of the characters. ⁣⁣
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Mark is a serious jackass and I couldn’t believe as Allie’s husband he really didn’t believe his wife. She got zero support from him. I get people cheat, but some of what was being posted and other things that were popping up at home were completely out of character for Allie. That should have made him think a little…hmm is this really like my wife?! 🤦‍♀️ At one point he was worried she needed to go to rehab for a drinking problem. Hello! I’d be drinking too if I was a suspect for murder and my life was being shredded to pieces! ⁣⁣
To me it was a little unbelievable how completely unsupportive he was.⁣⁣
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Oh and her little boy was a whiny brat that really got on my nerves. I wanted to reach in and give that kid a spanking myself!⁣⁣
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One of the main themes I got out of I Don’t Forgive You especially was about the importance of social media. To be careful what you post. Things that you have posted in the past can and just may come back to haunt you, because once it’s out there on the web it’s pretty much there for life. 👀⁣⁣
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𝐓𝐡𝐚𝐧𝐤 𝐘𝐨𝐮 𝐌𝐚𝐜𝐌𝐢𝐥𝐥𝐚𝐧 𝐑𝐞𝐚𝐝𝐞𝐫𝐬 𝐂𝐥𝐮𝐛 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐜𝐚𝐩𝐭𝐢𝐯𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐞𝐀𝐫𝐜 𝐢𝐧 𝐞𝐱𝐜𝐡𝐚𝐧𝐠𝐞 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐦𝐲 𝐡𝐨𝐧𝐞𝐬𝐭 𝐫𝐞𝐯𝐢𝐞𝐰. ⁣⁣

 

I Don’t Forgive Youpresents us with Allie Ross, a professional photographer, mother, and new resident of an exclusive D.C. suburb. Her life seems to be falling into place, but her past is waiting for her. Allie is so ashamed of her past, of events that transpired while she attended a private high school, she has not even told her husband, so when someone calls her a name she only used for a very short time at that school and when a shirt from that school shows up among her child’s clothes, she thinks someone is coming after her.

And are they ever! A local man is murdered the night after he called her a tease and accosted her at a party and there is a trail leading right to her door. And still, she does not tell her husband. He recommends a lawyer and she dilly-dallies. Even after meeting with the lawyer, she goes on her own to the police to file a complaint about false identities being used on social media.

There is a lot to like about I Don’t Forgive You. The suspense is real and I wanted to know who was persecuting her. Was it her former high school teacher, her sister-in-law, her former best friend, or some other neighbor? There was plenty to wonder about, but it was ruined by how completely stupid Allie was.

So, I get that people are reluctant to speak about past trauma. It’s certainly horrible that the victim of a predator carried the blame for so many years. But, when you’re husband thinks you are either unfaithful, an alcoholic, or losing your mind, you come clean. For your child’s sake, if you are a murder suspect, you tell the truth to your husband and your lawyer. You don’t risk losing your child and your liberty out of embarrassment, especially since the most damning element, a nude photo, has already been made public.

My frustration with Allie, the ability to know that her confidential work would be posted, her absolute stupidity made me angry. Seriously, the bad guy would have won the day if winning depended on her own actions other than one fortuitous move near the end, and that involved instinct, not intellect. It was the oh-so-tired ending of all spy films where the evil genius recounts all the steps of the plot before killing the spy but then is thwarted by some move or another.

It does say quite a lot about Aggie Blum Thompson’s writing skills that I remained in suspense and involved to the end of a book that irritated me so much.

I received an e-galley of I Don’t Forgive You from the publisher through NetGalley.

 

https://tonstantweaderreviews.wordpress.com/2021/06/22/9781250773913/

woah!! this book was INSANE !! Talk about a revenge story, dang !! 

What would you do if someone was trying to ruin your life... and it was working ?? 
Allie Ross lives a simple life with her husband Mark and their son Cole in a nice suburban neighborhood. Or so she thinks!! While at a neighborhood party, Allie get sexually assaulted in the bathroom by a guy she was flirtatiously talking to-- the next day this same man (ROB) , is found murdered in his home. As if thats not strange enough, he called her by a name she hasn't heard in 16 years-- Lexi. All of this is freaking her out because Allie hasn't told ANYONE about her past and is very confused and worried about how he knew, and now hes dead!! 

Everything falls apart after this-- she becomes the prime suspect in Robs murder, she discovers someone created a fake tinder and Facebook account and are going crazy on them, her husband Mark doesn't believe her that its all fake, her mom is doing worse with her dementia, and the list goes on.. literally everything that could go wrong does do wrong plus more. Her marriage, her son's life, her job-- everything has been affected. The only people there for her are her friends Leah and Daisy. The whole neighborhood is convinced she was having an affair with Rob and killed him because of it. 

I was literally so worried about Allied the whole book. No one believed her and everything horrible was happening to her, one thing after another !! I have never been so pissed off at a character either- you'll know who when you read it. The ending and the twist made is all worth the ride.. sooooo good and insane. I think what made it even more thrilling is to think about this actually happening. People get their identities hacked and stolen all the time, but this was Personal and it was so scary.  I could not put this book down!! I was hooked from the start and really wanted Allie to win the whole time! Loved it. I cant wait to read more for Aggie Blum Thompson!! 


Thank you to Netgalley and Macmillan- Tor/Forge for the advanced reading copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.