Nicole Baart

I really wanted to like this book. I loved the author's first series After the Leaves Fall and I remember saying to someone that it was like reading poetry. It was beautifully written. The author has slowly evolved since then and this book just didn't do it for me. I enjoyed the way the book was set up. I liked the different POV in each part and I liked all the different things that were interspersed between the chapters in each different section. I found those interesting to read and thought they added to the story.
I quite enjoyed the first part of the book and was quickly reading to find out what happened to Eva. But the story took an odd turn and it just didn't fit with the first part of the book. I found Charlie to be a bit on the annoying side and didn't really care for her character. I really liked Eva's character and was rooting for her.
The author does have some more poetic type phrases in this book but instead of me thinking of it as beautiful writing they just annoyed me. In my mind they just didn't fit in this type of genre. For example: "The slam of the front door hits Eva like a bullet to the chest." "Charlie can feel frustration coming to a head, foaming up and out of her chest in a fizz of frantic energy."
There was a few instances of mild profanity.
This book was reviewed on the Literary Club Podcast episode 59
https://www.buzzsprout.com/1984185… (altro)

I've waited a day to review this so that I give it a fair shake. Everything we Didn't Say was my first read by Nicole Baart. Unfortunately, I 'read' this via audio; therefore, I needed some time to compartmentalize the reading vs. the writing. Suffice to say, I was not a fan of the narrator - Every. Word. Was. Spoken. In. Anger. I nearly gave up and put it on my DNF - ever, shelf; I'm glad I persevered. I liked the book.

While not a fast-moving or mind-bending thriller, Everything We Didn't Say was a well-written, entertaining novel that held my attention. Set in an obscure, sleepy town in Iowa, I could appreciate the know-it-all tone and the ho-humness of the life led there; I, too, grew up in such a town.

The book vacillates between the present (written in third-person) and 14-1/2 years ago (written in first-person; I liked that shift). Juniper Baker's brother is suspected of murdering the Baker's neighbors, June becomes pregnant by an unknown, hands her child over to her mother, and runs away to live her own life (we can all guess who the father is). Finally, all the pieces come together through a very slow burn, and the dangling mini-mysteries are solved; much to my chagrin, happily ever after.

Perhaps it's my age, and maybe it's the experiences I have had, or, likely, I have read too many books with HEAs, but what I wouldn't give for a good, old-fashioned, reality ending of: He's actually the killer, your childhood lover really just used you for sex and wants nothing to do with you or the baby, and the daughter whom you abandoned at birth to your mother, still abhors you. The End.… (altro)