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A review by suspensethrill
Never Let You Go by Chevy Stevens
5.0
I am pleased to announce that I am back on the Chevy train! I’ve been an avid follower of Mrs. Stevens and her books since I first picked up [b:Still Missing|7159515|Still Missing|Chevy Stevens|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1260468195s/7159515.jpg|7383770] back in 2010. I’ve read all of her books and, while I have my favorites *cough cough [b:Still Missing|7159515|Still Missing|Chevy Stevens|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1260468195s/7159515.jpg|7383770] and [b:Always Watching|16044953|Always Watching|Chevy Stevens|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1356403777s/16044953.jpg|21823166] cough cough*, I’ve thoroughly enjoyed all of them except her last book, [b:Those Girls|23014603|Those Girls|Chevy Stevens|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1462090625s/23014603.jpg|42580742]. While it was entertaining and not terrible, it didn’t feel like the rest of her books and I wondered if maybe she’d lost her touch. Not so peeps; I’m so excited to inform you that [b:Never Let You Go|29939148|Never Let You Go|Chevy Stevens|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1467486445s/29939148.jpg|50329782] was a fantastic read, so fantastic that it might take the spot of my favorite Chevy book to date.
The plot is very similar in style and formatting to her other books, especially her earlier stories, and this worked well for me. I loved how the POV and tense changed rapidly between chapters and caused me to pay attention more closely. In fact, this book includes a couple of individual plots, past and present, and then merges them together so flawlessly I had to give a mental standing ovation to the author for her sheer talent. I was able to connect well with the characters in this book and even found myself empathetic toward the naive teenage girl that I occasionally wanted to give a light smacking to and say “Listen to your mama, little lady!”. I found myself pleased with how much more realistic the characters felt in this book rather than the last one and was impressed with the growth in the author’s writing. The pacing was incredibly fast; even at over 400 pages I read almost the entire book in one day. The building suspense and concluding action ramped up my heart rate and made this book easy to blow through.
There are twists, big and small, and if I’m being honest I thought they were well done regardless of how much they shock and surprise you. I think as readers of psychological thriller and suspense stories, we have come to a point where the [b:Gone Girl|19288043|Gone Girl|Gillian Flynn|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1397056917s/19288043.jpg|13306276] frenzy has turned us into little monsters that demand to be duped in every single book we read. No matter if a time comes where authors begin to struggle coming up with new scenarios, since we all know there are really only a handful to choose from; we have begun to base our ratings and reviews on that one remote aspect and it is killing the genre. I’m as guilty as the rest for doing this, and I’ve decided I can’t keep holding authors responsible for re-creating a feeling I had while reading someone else’s book. Back to this plot– there are a very limited number of characters to choose from, so you might figure it all out before the reveal, and if so, good for you. I had briefly flirted with the who but the why and how shocked me, as the pace is moving so fast you really don’t have much time to think things through as with those slow burners. All in all, I was extremely pleased with this read and couldn’t have asked for anything more.
If you enjoy fast paced thrillers with ever changing POVs and multiple twists of various sizes, this book is for you. If you are a fan of animals, you will also likely enjoy Chevy’s books as she is a hard core animal activist in real life (yay!) and this is portrayed well in her novels. There is a brief instance in this book that is emotional involving an animal, but it is neither violent or physically abusive toward such, and in turn very easy to stomach. I’m so excited for fans of the author’s works to read this book; it had a very different approach to the domestic abuse sub-genre while also keeping that same tense, breath holding terror we all come to look for in those type of reads. Highly recommended!
*Many thanks to St. Martin’s Press for my copy; it was a pleasure to provide an honest review.
The plot is very similar in style and formatting to her other books, especially her earlier stories, and this worked well for me. I loved how the POV and tense changed rapidly between chapters and caused me to pay attention more closely. In fact, this book includes a couple of individual plots, past and present, and then merges them together so flawlessly I had to give a mental standing ovation to the author for her sheer talent. I was able to connect well with the characters in this book and even found myself empathetic toward the naive teenage girl that I occasionally wanted to give a light smacking to and say “Listen to your mama, little lady!”. I found myself pleased with how much more realistic the characters felt in this book rather than the last one and was impressed with the growth in the author’s writing. The pacing was incredibly fast; even at over 400 pages I read almost the entire book in one day. The building suspense and concluding action ramped up my heart rate and made this book easy to blow through.
There are twists, big and small, and if I’m being honest I thought they were well done regardless of how much they shock and surprise you. I think as readers of psychological thriller and suspense stories, we have come to a point where the [b:Gone Girl|19288043|Gone Girl|Gillian Flynn|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1397056917s/19288043.jpg|13306276] frenzy has turned us into little monsters that demand to be duped in every single book we read. No matter if a time comes where authors begin to struggle coming up with new scenarios, since we all know there are really only a handful to choose from; we have begun to base our ratings and reviews on that one remote aspect and it is killing the genre. I’m as guilty as the rest for doing this, and I’ve decided I can’t keep holding authors responsible for re-creating a feeling I had while reading someone else’s book. Back to this plot– there are a very limited number of characters to choose from, so you might figure it all out before the reveal, and if so, good for you. I had briefly flirted with the who but the why and how shocked me, as the pace is moving so fast you really don’t have much time to think things through as with those slow burners. All in all, I was extremely pleased with this read and couldn’t have asked for anything more.
If you enjoy fast paced thrillers with ever changing POVs and multiple twists of various sizes, this book is for you. If you are a fan of animals, you will also likely enjoy Chevy’s books as she is a hard core animal activist in real life (yay!) and this is portrayed well in her novels. There is a brief instance in this book that is emotional involving an animal, but it is neither violent or physically abusive toward such, and in turn very easy to stomach. I’m so excited for fans of the author’s works to read this book; it had a very different approach to the domestic abuse sub-genre while also keeping that same tense, breath holding terror we all come to look for in those type of reads. Highly recommended!
*Many thanks to St. Martin’s Press for my copy; it was a pleasure to provide an honest review.