sloan harlow – GoodeyReads

Rating: ★★★★
Audience: New Adult Romantic Suspense
Length: 352 pages
Author: Sloan Harlow
Publisher: G.P. Putnam’s
Release Date: May 6th, 2025
Image & Other Reviews on: Goodreads

BOOK SUMMARY:

A sexy, dark romantic thriller—with a shocking twist—by the author of Everything We Never Said.

River Santos is stuck—in her job at the diner, in her dead-end town, in her grief. Her father died in a house fire just a few months ago, her mother has been MIA for nearly a year, and the only people she can count on are the aunt she lives with and her best friend Tawny.

Things feel like they’re turning around when Logan—the hot guy at the diner who’s always ignored her—seems interested. It’s complicated by her ex-boyfriend Noah, who she really needs closure with, and the fact that Tawny doesn’t think either of them is good enough for River… but the tension between River and Logan can’t be denied.

But love takes a backseat when new information surfaces about the fire. After all these months trying to move forward, River is forced to rethink everything… including the idea that maybe it wasn’t an accident after all. But who would commit this deadly act? And why?

River isn’t sure who to trust or who to turn to, but she needs to figure it out, fast. Because someone has more than love on their mind. They want revenge.

GOOD TWIST.

That was probably the saving grace for this book for me. I thought the twist was good and I felt like I should have seen it coming but the redirection throughout kept my mind going in different directions and I love that because mysteries and I historically don’t get along.

This book brings the DRAMA and suspense. Every time I turned there was new information, characters coming out of the wood work and some romance too. Though I will say the romance felt out of place? Or at least the spice did. I was rooting for them as a couple, but thought some of the scenes (there were 3-4) were unnecessary for the plot.

And while I River a lot and felt she was truly trying to do her best I was also wanted to shake her a few times. Things wrap up well in a twisted sort of way. I do think I got the answers I needed to close the book with satisfaction at least. It’s got a pretty decent pace and the audiobook is solid.

Overall audience notes: