Book Review: Don't You Cry by Mary Kubica

Synopsis (from Goodreads):

In downtown Chicago, a young woman named Esther Vaughan disappears from her apartment without a trace. A haunting letter addressed to My Dearest is found among her possessions, leaving her friend and roommate Quinn Collins to wonder where Esther is and whether or not she's the person Quinn thought she knew.

Meanwhile, in a small Michigan harbor town an hour outside Chicago, a mysterious woman appears in the quiet coffee shop where eighteen-year-old Alex Gallo works as a dishwasher. He is immediately drawn to her charm and beauty, but what starts as an innocent crush quickly spirals into something far more dark and sinister than he ever expected.

As Quinn searches for answers about Esther, and Alex is drawn further under Pearl's spell, master of suspense Mary Kubica takes readers on a taut and twisted thrill ride that builds to a stunning conclusion and shows that no matter how fast and far we run, the past always catches up with us in the end.

My Thoughts:

I have read both of Kubica's other novels, The Good Girl and Pretty Baby.  I loved The Good Girl but I found the characters in Pretty Baby to be annoying and unrealistic.  I was very interested to see how I was going to like Don't You Cry.  I am pretty sure this book will remain on my top ten best books of 2016 list.  Don't You Cry was so filled with twists and turns and every single time I was sure that I knew what was going on, Kubica would throw in another twist and everything I thought I knew went out the window.  For  me, this book was very unpredictable, I had no idea what was going on until Kubica wanted me to know and it kept me intrigued through the entire story.

The story starts out with Quinn.  Quinn lives in Chicago with her roommate Esther.  Quinn wakes up after a night out to discover that Esther is missing.  Her bedroom window is open, her blankets are on the floor and Esther is gone.  Quinn is sure Esther will return and spends the day waiting for her.  When Esther doesn't return and Quinn finds some disturbing letters and other strange items in Esther's room, she finally starts to really worry.

Then we skip to Alex.  Alex lives in a small town in Michigan, about an hour from Chicago, and works at a local diner.  His mother left his father and him when Alex was  young and Alex's father is nothing but a drunk.  Alex has heard stories about the dilapidated old house across the street from him.  Stories that claim the house to be haunted by a 5 year old girl who drowned in a bathtub while her mother was busy attending to her younger sister.  Alex and his father see strange lights in the house and just figure it is squatters.  Then comes the day when "Pearl" enters the diner that Alex works at.  Pearl fascinates Alex and he takes a great interest in her.

This story is told in alternating views of Quinn and Alex.  You don't have any idea how the stories intertwine until the end (even though you think you might know....you don't).  Quinn works hard to find out what happened to Esther and in return she finds out some horrible things that make her believe Esther actually wants Quinn dead.  Alex gets to know Pearl and then finds that she holds some very dangerous secrets.

This book is fast paced, intriguing, and completely unpredictable.  It hooks you from the very first page and keeps you turning those pages late into the night.  If you want a psychological thriller that you can't put down, get this book when it comes out.  You won't be sorry!

**A huge thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for allowing me to review this book**

Teaser Tuesday: Don't You Cry by Mary Kubica

Teaser Tuesday is a weekly bookish meme, hosted by MizB of Books And A Beat.


Anyone can play along! Just do the following:
• Grab your current read
• Open to a random page
• Share two (2) “teaser” sentences from somewhere on that page
• BE CAREFUL NOT TO INCLUDE SPOILERS! (make sure that what you share doesn’t give too much away! You don’t want to ruin the book for others!)
• Share the title & author, too, so that other TT participants can add the book to their TBR Lists if they like your teasers!

 Anyone with half a mind would have immediately called the police or ran in the other direction, not trailed her.  But now here I am, hiding in the bushes of an all-but-abandoned cemetery while some wackadoodle unearths a corpse from the ground.

~page 264 of Don't You Cry by Mary Kubica

I am loving this book!  It is so creepy and twisted and completely unpredictable.  I wanted to finish it last week but had a crazy week so I will definitely finish it tonight and write up my review!

Teaser Tuesday: Don't You Cry by Mary Kubica

Teaser Tuesday is a weekly bookish meme, hosted by MizB of Books And A Beat.


Anyone can play along! Just do the following:
• Grab your current read
• Open to a random page
• Share two (2) “teaser” sentences from somewhere on that page
• BE CAREFUL NOT TO INCLUDE SPOILERS! (make sure that what you share doesn’t give too much away! You don’t want to ruin the book for others!)
• Share the title & author, too, so that other TT participants can add the book to their TBR Lists if they like your teasers!

My Teaser today comes from an ARC of Don't You Cry by Mary Kubica.  So far, I am really enjoying it!

Every single town in all of America has its own haunted house. 
Ours just so happens to be right across the street from mine.

~page 69-70 of Don't You Cry by Mary Kubica  

Book Review: Pretty Baby by Mary Kubica

Synopsis (from Goodreads):  

She sees the teenage girl on the train platform, standing in the pouring rain, clutching an infant in her arms. She boards a train and is whisked away. But she can't get the girl out of her head...

Heidi Wood has always been a charitable woman: she works for a nonprofit, takes in stray cats. Still, her husband and daughter are horrified when Heidi returns home one day with a young woman named Willow and her four-month-old baby in tow. Disheveled and apparently homeless, this girl could be a criminal—or worse. But despite her family's objections, Heidi invites Willow and the baby to take refuge in their home.

Heidi spends the next few days helping Willow get back on her feet, but as clues into Willow's past begin to surface, Heidi is forced to decide how far she's willing to go to help a stranger. What starts as an act of kindness quickly spirals into a story far more twisted than anyone could have anticipated. 

My Review: 

This past summer I read and LOVED The Good Girl so I was pretty excited when I got my hands on this book. However, I was a little disappointed in this one. It definitely was not up to par with The Good Girl.

Heidi is always trying to help people. She is married to Chris and has a 12 year old daughter, Zoe. Heidi's dream was to have a large family but a bout with cancer derailed all those plans. Heidi's husband, Chris, is an investment banker. He spends a lot of time at work and on different business trips. Zoe is a very angry 12 year old. She hates everyone and everything. Zoe's attitude reminded me more of a 15 or 16 year old's attitude. I thought it was strange that she was only 12. I have an 11 and a 13 year old and neither of them act anywhere close to that (maybe I'm just lucky?) yet. I don't know but it just didn't ring true to me.

Heidi sees Willow, a young, homeless girl with a baby one day at the train station. She then makes it her mission to take the girl and the baby in to help them. Chris, understandably, has a problem with this. Who takes in a homeless girl and her baby with NO information about them. From this point on, I really disliked Heidi. She did not care at all about her family's safety. She has a 12 year old daughter and she just brings in this stranger and expects her husband and daughter to be okay with it and also for her daughter to let Willow "borrow" some clothes.

From this point on, it is hard to tell you about this book without giving away some major spoilers. So I will just tell you that I really didn't like Heidi. She obviously has some serious issues that need to be dealt with and towards the end, her attitude towards her daughter is ridiculous. She completely ignores her, forgetting to pick her up after soccer practice, forgetting to attend her soccer games or pick her up from them or make her dinner. You will find out what is going on with Heidi but I still didn't like her.

Chris was so busy with work that he was hardly home but with a wife like Heidi, I kind of don't blame him. Once Heidi brought Willow in, Chris was more involved for the safety of his daughter but was still gone a lot. At least he had a little common sense though. I actually really liked Chris.

Willow was a sad and complicated character. Her story was heartbreaking to me and I could completely relate to the things she did. That's not to say she made the right choices but you could understand how her mind was working.

I thought the book was a little slow through the beginning and middle. It was one that I was easily able to put down and do other things and not pick up for a day or two. Once I got towards the end though, I could not put it down at all and ended up staying up late to finish it. I was disappointed in the ending because I had so many questions left over. What happened to Matthew? What happened to Heidi and Chris and Zoe? So many unanswered questions...

So, this was definitely a good book but not the best. If you like psychological thrillers, I would recommend this. Just know that the conclusion will leave you with many unanswered questions.