Never Have I Ever audiobook

My reviews can also be seen at: https://deesradreadsandreviews.wordpr...This was a FANTASTIC novel. One of my favorite reads this year.Forty-two year old, Amy Whey has a great life. She has a wonderful family and a terrific best friend. She finally feels at home for the first time in her life.Tuesday, May 28, 1991, was the night that Amy’s life, as well as many others, changed forever. After that night, Amy tried a variety of ways to stuff her feelings. Eventually, it was diving that saved her. Being underwater was the only place she could forget… if just for a little while. Then Amy met Davis and his daughter, Maddy. They became her family, eventually adding baby Oliver to the mix. Finding a new best friend, Charlotte only added to Amy's happiness.The last seven years have been amazing, but there are times she wonders if she should have told the people she loves about her past.Amy’s life is about to become VERY complicated. “Is this where the book club meets?” Book club is well underway when the doorbell rings. Amy opens the door to a pretty woman with beautiful dark hair. The woman's name is Angelica Roux, Roux for short. She is a single mom with a teenage son and they are staying at the Airbnb next door. She thought she would come to book club to meet some new people.Amy never thought that book club would be the place where her life would start to unravel. Roux introduces herself and the other women immediately start trying to impress her. However, Charlotte, who is the leader of the group is far from impressed. Roux insults the book, sits in the host's chair, and mixes drinks like she owns the place. She basically hijacks the evening.Soon, Roux, has the women drinking shots and playing a game called, “Never have I ever”. The game starts out innocently enough, but then one of the women confesses something that hits very close to home. Suddenly it doesn’t seem like such a harmless game. Roux says that Amy would win this game hands-down. She seems to be indicating that she knows something about Amy's past. Amy has had enough and tells Roux to get out. As Roux is leaving she tells Amy that they need to get together, that they have a LOT to talk about.Amy has no intentions seeking Roux out, but she is worried. She tells herself that it’s impossible for Roux to know about her past. Truly impossible. But when Roux comes looking for her, Amy’s instincts are proven right. Roux wants something from her and if she doesn’t get it, she’s going to make Amy pay...How will Amy protect the precious life she’s built? I LOVED this book!The story is told from Amy’s point of view. Most of it takes place in the present, but we do learn about Amy’s past and what happened that fateful night.Filled with fascinating characters, an engaging plot, and twists that I NEVER saw coming. I thought the story was well-paced with perfect timing, and I loved how it all came together in the end.Joshilyn Jackson is a tremendous storyteller, and I found this book so hard to put down! It held my attention completely.A thrilling story about memory, betrayal, guilt, lies, love, friendship, and revenge.I highly recommend this incredible domestic suspense novel!!I'd like to thank William Morrow for providing me with a copy of this novel. All opinions are my own.

I was wrapped up in these characters from the first chapter! The characters popped off the page with their strong personalities and I wanted to know what they were "all about". It was like watching a movie and things were unraveling fast.It starts with a mommies "book club" and the newest member is a doozie! All the drama starts when this newest member, Angelica Roux, breaks out the drinks and engages the club mommies in a revealing game of "Never Have I Ever".  This will begin a series of events that I couldn't have ever imagined. Roux totally "hijacked" the book club!Insert "shocked"Amy is on high alert with Roux's game and feels threatened by what it could cost her. She has worked hard to cover her past. Who is this new book club imposter? What is it she wants?Lots of eye popping, heart racing moments that I never could have predicted. No Never! I loved the twisted game they were playing and it was nuts. The characters are center and the skillful plot moves along with the fascinating tale of greed and guilt.Bombshell secrets will drop, blackmail and dangerous gambles will occur, each player digging up dirty laundry until the final chapter.Did I mention "page-turner"? I enjoyed this entertaining read. Highly recommend to fans of drama, what would you do scenarios and plenty of gasp worthy twists!Thanks to the publisher for my early copy. OUT on JULY 30, 2019Blog review closer to publication.

To be three or not to be three that’s the question, no, no ,no, I’m going back and forth between three to four like swinging on teeterboards, because this book started good, then it got slow, slower, slowest, and BAMMM…no, I don’t talk about the twists, I just dropped the book out of my hands because I started sleeping…But as a summary, let’s stick with four hardly given stars! Reading this book is one of my most interesting experiences in my life. Because first impressions are so important for me, if I like something from the first glance, my feelings stay that way. I hardly change my opinion. But this book really confused me. The blurb was so intriguing. Before it’s released, I was so curious and I wanted to have it ASAP. I haven’t written any books of this author but as far as I saw her writing is highly recommended to me from so many readers which excited me more. The beginning of book was good. We’re witnessed a book club gathering organized by Charlotte and taken place in Amy’s house. We’re introduced Amy, Charlotte, other club members and finally Roux came into the party (or forcedly included herself) and took the control of everything by making all the members drunk and force them play “Never I have ever” game. But we may have sensed she had a different agenda. Her target was Amy who did a really bad bad thing as mentioned at the song lyrics. And Roux thinks it’s time for payback and hunter-prey, cat-canary or mouse-cat kinda evil games are about to begin! So WHAT I mostly LIKED about this book: CHARACTERIZATION! In my opinion author’s focus was creating a thriller story. She concentrated on characters’ development, their past faults, flaws, motives, background stories and took us to a journey inside their heads to show how they think and inside their hearts to show how they feel. It’s a different kind of story telling but it’s detailed, well-rounded, poignantly described. BUT… yes… here comes the big and fat BUT part… I was so ready to read a page-turner but this is definitely not a gripping, unputdownable story. It needs patience. You may want to stop, skip and choose another book. It might bore you to death. You start yawning. You may feel like your eyelids getting heavier and your couch pillow starts to look heavenly. You may suffer from unbearable lightness of taking a quick but peaceful nap. My suggestion is if you have enough patience, please keep reading. (Mostly I don’t but this time I trusted my guts not to put it down.) Because after the second half, too many twists are going to be GAME CHANGERS and when you were taking baby steps on this book, you are starting to run and then fly!I wish this game changer part could come sooner!!! So the writing is good, the second half is excellent. These facts made me give four stars to this book. But there is always an option to stop reading before reaching the second half and automatically giving two stars and starting another book. Writing a slow-burn thriller is so tricky and compelling thing. If the author couldn’t capture the attention of the readers from the beginning of the story, you may lose them forever. Questioning elements of the story which rekindle your curiosity could be added carefully so you want to learn more. I’m happy to keep reading. I was expecting something more mind-bending, thrilling, nail-biter, sitting at the edge of the couch kind of book but I liked the character development, writing and second half. So far it worked for me.

I opened the door to a stranger, standing easy with the fat moon rising behind her, practically perching on her shoulder…She was the pretty that’s on television:symmetrical features, matte skin, and that kind of long, slim, yoga body that still made me feel self-conscious about my own…She smiled and I had no premonition as I smiled back. She didn’t look like my own destruction to me. ======================================== The past is never dead. It's not even past. ---William Faulkner - Requiem for a NunSometimes it comes crashing back in dramatic fashion, banging on the door, in a moonglow of dark intent, and demanding that attention be paid, and paid, and paid. Roux, a new neighbor dropping in on the local moms book group, must have parked her broom somewhere out of sight. The ladies would not really get around to discussing Edith Wharton’s House of Mirth, even though at least some of them had surely read it. Those who had might appreciate that an evening supposedly dedicated to a book about the hypocrisy of social mores in the high society of late 19th century New York would spark a battle royale in which the secrets of their small society were at risk of exposure. The model-level-stunning Roux is a charismatic presence, everyone wanting to earn her approval. She encourages excessive consumption of alcohol, starts a souped-up variation of the Never Have I Ever drinking game, assigns everyone individual spirit animals, and begins harvesting secrets. But this is collateral entertainment. Roux is there for one person only and lets her know in no uncertain terms. ”You don’t want to play? That makes no sense,” she said, and her spirit animal was a more sinister version of the Cat in the Hat. Hers was feral, invading to unpack trouble in a house, where no mother would ever come home. In this house I was the only mother, and I had let the trouble in. I’d swung the door wide for it, hoped it had the right house, even. “Because, Amy? C’mon. You would win this. I’m thinking you got these low-stakes bitches on lockdown.” Amy Whey has a good life. She has a happy marriage, a beautiful baby, a pretty sane thirteen-year-old stepdaughter, and a successful career as a scuba instructor, here in Pensacola. It had not always been so. One spell of adolescent foolishness had changed what had been a decent life into something else. Half her high school a blur, her relationship with her parents ruined, disgrace brought down on her family. Wastrel years followed, with self-destruction denied its ultimate prize when Amy was introduced to scuba, (Buoy meets girl?) in which she found a joy that was spiritual as well as physical, and a way forward to having a life. But Roux knows Amy’s secret, and that life is in mortal peril. All Amy has to do to keep that life is give Roux every cent she has and then wonder when she will be back for more. Jackson diving under the salt pier on Bonaire – image from The Big ThrillIt turns out that Amy is not entirely sunk by Roux’s threat, but rises to the surface, gasping for air and finds a way to shore. The benefit of having kept secrets all her life is having a pretty decent feel for how to go about uncovering the secrets of others. It requires some pretty bold action, but having guts, plus an excellent brain, gives her the wherewithal to give Roux a serious run for her money. Amy is no goody two shoes, even since she began on her more righteous path. She has made decisions about how much to reveal of herself, of her history, particularly that dark bit, to the people closest to her. This makes Amy a particularly relatable character. I mean don’t we all have things in our past that have somehow never made it into conversation with the people we are close to now? Little pockets of privacy we can rue in private, at our leisure, presuming we have failed to remove them from our memories entirely? Ok, well then kick it up a few notches into felony territory. No more nice neighborhood. Maybe no more husband and possibly baby. What would you do to keep that secret from becoming common knowledge? What lines would you cross? What further crimes might you commit? Amy faces many moral forks in the road ahead. It was sweet to see Jackson work Amy’s feeling for diving into how she sees the world, and the particular form of misery she faces in Roux. I knew from long experience that I only had to wait the feeling out. People say, I don’t know how she lives with herself, but every single one of them was living with their own worst thing, just fine. No one walks around holding their ugliest sin in the palm of their hand, staring at it. Our hurts are heavy and we let them sink. Every day they drift lower, settling in murky places where the light can’t reach. All I had to do was wait. My bad would fall down into the darkness again, because the bad things always do. The book alternates chapters, up to a point, between the contemporary blackmail duel and the events of Amy’s adolescence. We get to know what there is to know, bit by bit, and with some nifty misdirections. One of the truly fun things about this book is Jackson’s ability to keep ending her chapters with twists and hooks that make you want to read just one more chapter. Read, hook, repeat.Another fun element is how Amy comes to see Roux, ironically, as the only person who really gets her. I couldn’t call her. I was not such a beaten dog that I would belly-creep for petting from the hand that held the whip. I bit and swallowed, tearing at the meat. What did it say about me that Roux was the only person I could be honest with? Only she saw me down to my core, dark and deep, bitter as wormwood. All the things that made me hate myself, she actively admired, and she was the only one who saw me whole. Roux keeps finding herself surprised that someone she had thought would be an easy mark had turned out to be a tough competitor in a game of spy versus spy. Frenemies on steroids. There is a nice scene in which Amy gives Roux a book to read, Stephen King’s Hearts in Atlantis, maybe hoping she would, on reading it, consider where she had gone wrong, maybe rue her current life gig? The author here is reminding those who are familiar with the book that many, many of us have not always lived our best lives. Jackson had an interesting approach to her scene-writing, informed by her other career, that explains why her dialogue makes sense, and feels credible: “After I draft a scene with, say, five people in it, I do one more revision per character. I work my way through the scene through each point of view, so even if a character has only one line, it comes out of an arc and a train of thought and a motivation that I understand completely. It makes a difference. Even if each character’s motivation is not explained to the reader, if I know the arc, if their reasoning and their individual desires are clear to me, that character’s actions feel more authentic. I learned to do this working in summer stock theatre. I did a scene where my character sat silent on stage and watched actions unfold for 15 minutes and then said one line. But to deliver that line authentically, I had to feel every feeling and think every thought, and react to every moment that happened. I try to do the same in novels. - from The Big Thrill interviewThis is in addition to doing some serious hands-on research into scuba diving. There are several elements in Never Will I Ever that readers familiar with Jackson’s writing will recognize. Redemption is a frequent theme. Amy is certainly trying, in addition to besting Roux, to make up for what she had done. Secrets are a favorite central pillar. Amy has a few, and so does Roux, but they are not alone. And Jax can usually be counted on to look at the construction and disassembly of families. In this one, Amy has forged a new family for herself with formerly married Davis, and his daughter, Madison, (adolescents seem a mandatory element, so check, and Roux arrives with one of her own, so double-check) while her original family seems to have pretty much dissolved. Jackson’s books can be counted on to present (at least one) mystery, which is exposed to the light in a final reveal/twist. A pretty killer one here. Somehow Jackson uses these familiar parts to construct a novel that feels quite different from her earlier work, while somehow still managing to remain engaging and satisfying. Highlighting the what-are-they-hiding elements makes it feel more like a thriller/mystery than her prior work, although there was no shortage of mystery in those. I have one gripe about the book. There is a point at which Amy misleads Roux by telling her something that was not true, hardly an unreasonable approach when dealing with the criminal element. But not having been clued in by the author makes Amy, who had seemed pretty reliable, an unreliable narrator. It seemed inconsistent.But that's a quibble, really. Bottom line is that I found Never Will I Ever to be an addictive page-turner of a thriller, by a reliable author at the top of her game. A terrific beach read, but with plenty of meat on those bones to make it an excellent book-club item as well. Strap on a tank, rub some spit on your mask, slip into some flippers and take a long step over the side of your boat. Never Will I Ever will take you for a time out of your world and let you float about in another for however long it takes you to read it. Dive in. Look around. You won’t be sorry. Review first posted – July 19, 2019Publication date -----July 30, 2019 - Hardcover-----April 28, 2020 - Trade paperback=============================EXTRA STUFFLinks to the author’s personal, Twitter, GR, Instagram and FB pagesMy reviews of other Jackson work-----2013 - Someone Else's Love Story-----2016 - The Opposite of Everyone-----2017 - The Almost SistersItems of Interest-----BookReporter - an excerpt-----Interview - The Big Thrill - Grown-up Games, Redemption, and Diving the Deep - by K.L. Romo-----Publishers Weekly - BookExpo 2019: Joshilyn Jackson Asks if Redemption Is Possible - By Beth Levine - May 30, 2019 -----JJ demonstrates the proper gin to drink while reading her book-----JJ’s Pandora play list for never Have I Ever - what she listened to while writing

Never Have I Ever by Joshilyn Jackson is a 2019 William Morrow publication. A thrilling battle of wills!! Most of us have heard of the ‘Never have I ever’ game. But what if the game was mixed up a little? What if, instead of admitting to things you've never done, what if you confessed to the worst thing you did that day, or week, or month, or ever? Now, that could be a very dangerous game, indeed. Amy Whey is happily married, has a teenage stepdaughter, and a young son. She has a close friendship with her BFF, Charlotte, and lives in a nice home, in a nice community, and enjoys hosting Charlotte’s book club. Her nice, contented life is threatened in the worst way when the seductive, Roux, a new resident in her neighborhood, pops in on their book club meeting and proposes they all play a little game. Some shocking revelations come to light as the alcohol flows. But the worst thing is, Roux homes in on Amy, pegging her as the one person at the gathering with the biggest secret – the one who has done the worst thing of all. She then proceeds to lure Amy deeper and deeper into her cat and mouse game. The strange thing, though, is that Amy seems to almost enjoy the challenge, rising to the occasion to protect all she knows and loves. Thus, begins ‘a winner takes all ‘battle of wills’ between Amy and Roux. Let the games begin! This book is a wild, psychological thrill ride. It is jam packed with stunning mental maneuvers, breathtaking revelations, and taut suspense. I loved every minute of the ‘game’. One could never put their guard down for a single minute. The characterizations are well done- even the secondary characters, who add a great deal of depth to the story. Jackson did a very good job with this book. The timing and execution had to be pitch perfect to pull it off, and it was, all the way down the line. No matter how hard I tried to put this book down, I couldn’t. It was just too much delicious fun, and wickedly entertaining! 4 stars

Fucked up, twisty and with a solid ending. 4 stars ⭐️ This was a sinister read. When at her local neighbourhood book club Amy opens her front door to a stranger, she has no idea the danger she is inviting into her home. Roux is charismatic and sexy – she soon has the entire book club drunk and revealing their secrets, and it’s not long before she hints that she knows more about Amy’s past than she should.As Amy’s secrets threaten to become exposed, she takes drastic measures to keep the new life she has made for herself safe. (view spoiler)[ Roux was an absolute bitch. Prying on other people’s secrets and blackmailing them for money, honestly she was vile. But that’s what kept me hooked – I wanted Amy to beat her. (hide spoiler)]And that ending was spot on. Shocking enough without being unrealistic and a good way to tie up the novel.

4 Games Can Be Deadly Stars ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️Amy has secrets she has spent years hiding. When new neighbor Roux shows up, determined to shake everyone's skeletons out of their closets, Amy finds herself drawn into a deadly game of cat & mouse. Who has more to hide? Who has more to lose? Who will win - Amy or Roux? I love a good twisty thriller and boy did Joshilyn Jackson deliver with the twists here! Just when I thought I had things figured out - another juicy tidbit came into light. The pace was a bit slow but it never bothered me here - it felt a bit like Jackson was playing a game of cat & mouse with the reader. I was hooked and determined to figure things out. I never did! I loved Amy. She was full of layers - loving one minute and tough the next. She was smart, no nonsense & quite a formidable opponent for Roux. Roux was the kind of character that had me shaking my head in disbelief. I love an engaging female villain and Roux was exactly that. The two of them together were pure entertainment. One twist after another and an ending that left me shocked in the best way. Well done Ms. Jackson, well done!

Amy is living a quiet suburban existence as a mom and part-time scuba diving instructor with her husband, infant son, and stepdaughter when Roux moves into the neighborhood. She shows up unannounced at book club and is the book club member from hell who hasn’t read the book and takes over the meeting. She quickly livens things up with free-flowing alcohol and the spilling of secrets by playing a game of Never Have I Ever. The problem? Amy has big secrets that she wants kept secret. And Roux seems to know what they are. How far will Amy go to keep them hidden? What follows is a cat and mouse game between the two women that escalates with each move. I absolutely loved this one and especially loved Amy. Tough as nails yet soft in the center, she is a surprising opponent to the cunning Roux. I fell in love with her sweet family and loved the relationship she had with her stepdaughter. She’s a great character to root for. The side stories of the other characters were just as delightful as the battle of wits between Amy and Roux. I appreciate that Joshilyn Jackson has tried something new with this book. I love her Southern fiction books full of humor, wit and warmth. And now she’s proven she can do domestic suspense, and do it well. This was a buddy read with Marialyce and we had a lot of fun with this one!Summer isn’t over yet. Don’t miss this page-turner!*Many thanks to Edelweiss for a copy of the book for review. All opinions are my own.* For this and other duo reviews please visit https://yayareadslotsofbooks.wordpres...

Never have I ever read such an instantly gripping and captivating book! This book had my attention from page one. Wondering what was going to happen and how it would all come to pass. I found this book to be original, engaging and thought provoking. Who was going to win this battle of wits and cunning? How would she beat Roux at her game? This was a well written and thought out page turner. Highly recommend.

Now available for pre-order! On Sale July 30th! Wonderful - suspense and surprises, real characters, and a scary, ominous backbeat. This feels like the book Jackson was born to write. –Lee Child #1 NYT bestselling author A smart, original thriller with real, compelling characters and a chilling reveal. I couldn’t turn the pages fast enough. -Clare Mackintosh, NYT bestselling author “Jackson is a master of timing, meting out tension and detail impeccably. By the time of the explosive, entirely unexpected climax, I was clinging to the edge of my seat…This book reveals a side of Jackson I’ve never seen before, and it knocked my socks off.” -Sara Gruen #1 NYT Bestselling Author

It always starts with one drink that turns into one too many. A dangerous game. Loose lips sink ships. Secrets are revealed. Regret the next day. This has booze, a book club and a bitch. And a heck of a storyline that will have you question how well do you really know your friends? 4⭐️ another entertaining one, Jackson.

Nice writing, interesting and well-developped characters hiding plenty of secrets and, most of all, a lot of twists ! Jackson put her main character, Amy, in a situation we can't help but wonder: what would I do in her place?! And that is a real moral dilemma...About Amy's relationships: I really appreciated reading about Maddy and Charlotte. On the other hand, I think Davis could have been more important in the story. It's the only character I didn't connect with.My only real complaint is that Amy had a lot of similar reflexions over the course of the story and that felt repetitive. This is where the book lost half a star.All in all, this book was touching, well-written, surprising and entertaining!4.5

Amy Whey loves the life she’s created for herself after a very troubled time as a child and teenager. She’s married to a good man, mother to an infant son and a teenaged stepdaughter, with whom she has a strong relationship. She’s a scuba diving instructor, active within her community and best friend to her neighbor Charlotte who she adores. Char runs the neighborhood book club but Amy has hosted it in her basement as they grew in attendance. But the night mysterious new neighbor Angelica Roux shows up for the first time, she orchestrates a power shift that is all kinds of sly and crafty. It soon becomes clear to Amy that this woman is trouble and she’ll need her wits to protect all that she treasures from her machinations. I cannot emphasize enough how emotionally disturbing this story was to me. It’s all due to Roux (as she preferred to be called). She was diabolical and even when I wasn’t all that happy with Amy, I just couldn’t bear seeing her win at her “game.” Amy has lots of explosive secrets from her past, which could disrupt the lives of all those she holds dear. Who is this woman and how did she manage to discover so much about Amy and other neighbors? This was like foreseeing a highway pileup about to happen and being on the side of the road praying it doesn’t. Amy’s a complicated soul, struggling with her own innate tendencies to fight back using Roux’s tactics. It’s a fantastic challenge between good and evil, and not just between Amy & Roux but within Amy herself and the reader. I really wanted Roux to not win, which is different from losing. You’ll have to read the book for yourself to better understand that distinction. The author narrated her own story and she was way too good at portraying these characters! She got under my skin (can you tell?) with Roux and made me get her in a way I didn’t want. This is the ultimate in psychological thrillers and I’m just glad I made it through and came out on the other side. Posted on Blue Mood Café(Thanks to HarperAudio for my complimentary copy. All opinions are my own.)