Reading this during a pandemic was a choice. This felt real considering the real life pandemic. Although obviously different. This mention of healthcare workers being overworked and not having proper protective gear. Something I would see regularly online. The Government enforcing lockdown. Did Paul Tremblay travel to the future to write this book?

Since I had an e-arc of this I can’t tell you how long each chapter was, but they felt too long. As I’ve mentioned before long chapters slow me down. If it feels like it is taking forever to get through a book my mind shuts off. Which is stupid.

For some reason I feel like I would have preferred this as an audiobook. Which sounds crazy as it’s a horror set during a pandemic. This definitely gave off an eerie experience that would be heightened by the audiobook.
Natalie recording messages for her unborn baby got me a little. It’s heartbreaking to be that close to the birth and fear not surviving. I can’t imagine what she felt mentally while recording each message.

I found myself getting cored halfway through. Which is strange as the second half of the book had more “action”. But it wasn’t keeping me interested. I just felt like I wanted it to be over.

I’m sad that overall I didn’t enjoy this. It had a strong start that sadly didn’t stay strong for me. But I can see why others would love this. Maybe if I ever get a chance to listen to the audiobook my opinion may change.

Glad I gave this another go.

I went into this intrigued about how I would feel about Anna. Since she is having/was having an affair. Usually I would dislike that person.
I also hoped it didn’t condone cheating. Which thankfully it didn’t. We know the whole time cheating is wrong and shouldn’t happen.
The jumping in timelines confused me at times. But overall it being written in verse didn’t harm the story too much for me. This would be great as audiobook. Since it feels like she is just talking to Connor.
I didn’t know going into this that it was written in verse. Which made me a little nervous as the only other book written in verse I’ve read I disliked.
Anna came across obsessive with Connor. Their affair wasn’t healthy at all. The way they treated each other wasn’t healthy. Her trying to befriend Rebecca was worrying.
Anna definitely needs some help. Her destructive behaviour was uncomfortable to read. Her mental and physical behaviour, I just wanted to help her. Despite not liking her I felt for her.
The ending felt perfect. Her finally admitting the truth. The first steps to recovering. Sure I want to know what Paul does next. But overall it needed to end so open.

I was surprised by how quickly I managed to read this. Only took me an afternoon. Once I started I couldn’t put it down. Wanting to know the truth.
Going into this I didn’t know it involved a cult. That “twist” came as a surprise. I didn’t think of a cult when trying to come up with theories.
The second half of the book was darker and more intense. As you are learning what happened. Which made it even harder to put down.
We obviously knew who took Anna. The question was why. The reveal of this was a little underwhelming for me. I just expected something more since we are talking about a cult being involved. I understand the character reason but I wanted something more.
I don’t think we really needed Rosie POV. Don’t get me wrong I enjoyed her chapters. I liked how much she wanted to find her sister. But I feel like the book would have worked just as well being just Anna POV.

I hadn’t heard of this before receiving an email inviting me to an e-arc. After reading the synopsis I had to say yes. Despite Science Fiction not being my strongest genre I thought this sounded like something I would love.
This was slow to read. It just felt like it was taking me forever to read a chapter.
Chapters would switch POV between two chapters but I kept getting lose due to this. Another issue with this is with them swapping each chapter I felt I was only getting a tiny piece of information then it would swap again. Each POV felt like a completely different story just set in the same world. It was hard to stay invested.
I kind of wish this book was only about The First Sister. Then a separate book for Lito. I think it would of worked out better.
I did enjoy Ringer and The First Sister relationship. I wanted more of that. However I didn’t really see true chemistry between Ren and The First Sister.
I ended up DNFing at 73% I became too lost that I could no longer carry on reading.