Review – Never Let You Go

Never Let You Go

by Chevy Stevens

To be published: March 14, 2017

St. Martin’s Press

 

5 STARS!!!

I am a huge fan of Chevy Stevens. “Never Let You Go” is her newest novel that will be released in March of 2017.

After reading the book description I was pretty sure that I was going to love this book.

I was right!

The book starts off from Lindsay Nash’s point of view. It’s November 2005. Lindsay, her husband Andrew, and daughter Sophie are on holiday in Mexico. But this is definitely not a vacation for Lindsay. She can’t just enjoy the sun and relax by the pool. She wears a one-piece swimsuit, a cover-up, a hat and huge sunglasses to the beach. She averts her eyes and tries not to look at anyone, tries hard not to draw attention to herself. To others they appear to be another happy family. That’s not the case. Lindsay constantly has to walk on eggshells, careful not to upset her husband and at the same time try to shield her seven-year old from what’s going on. Lindsay can see the wariness that her daughter’s eyes already hold, how nervous Sophie is around her father.

Something as simple as Lindsay pulling away from his kiss before HE ends it could set him off. It’s a full-time job trying to keep Andrew happy. No matter how hard she tries she’ll never be able to be careful enough. An accidental brush of her hand against the male server is enough to send her husband into a rage. And if he’s been drinking it’s even worse.

But Lindsay is one of the ones who gets away. She leaves her abusive husband and he ends up in jail. It was hard starting over but she did it. She now runs a small cleaning business, hiring women who were once in her position. And she’s very focused on taking care of her teenage daughter, Sophie.

But what will happen when Andrew is released from prison? He promises that he’s not going to bother them when he gets out.

Will he keep that promise?

But then strange things start happening. Lindsay feels like she’s being followed, and even feels like someone has been in her home. It can’t be her ex-husband because he doesn’t even know where they are…does he?

By taking us back to their early years together, we see how the relationship grew into the nightmare it became. Most of the time an abusive partner doesn’t show their true colors right away. However, there are often those little red flags that pop up, that feeling in our gut that something isn’t right.

But there’s so much more to this story. Of course the toxic relationship between Lindsay and Andrew is a big part of it. But it’s also about Lindsay and Sophie, and many of the other characters. The character development was excellent. I liked and admired Lindsay and I also really liked Sophie. I felt their bond was realistic and I found that I related to the close relationship they had.

Of course some of the characters behaviors and choices had me wanting to shout at my Kindle again (but I’ve promised my daughter I would stop doing that).

The book flows back and forth from past to present and is told from both Lindsay and Sophie’s point of view. It was easy to follow along and their different perspectives on what was happening made it even more interesting. I would be positive I had it all figured out but then something would happen that had me second guessing everything I thought I knew. I was always uncertain as to what would happen next.

It was really intense and as the tension grew I knew I wasn’t going to bed until I finished it. Sleep…schmeep….I needed to know how this was going to end.

It was all worth it

This was a fantastic read. Fast-paced and highly suspenseful with plenty of plot twists, believable characters and situations. With a perfect amount of build-up and tension until the intense conclusion when we find out who did what and why. Honestly even if I had gotten lucky and guessed right….I would still have enjoyed the read.

I love the way Chevy Stevens tells a story. I highly recommend “Never Let You Go”. It’s a great read that gripped me from beginning to end.

Please Ms. Stevens….may I have some more??

Thank you to NetGalley, St. Martin’s Press and Chevy Stevens for an advanced copy of this novel in exchange for my honest review.

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