Reviews with content warning for Death - Then She Was Gone

Overall, it’s a solid read. A very surprising ending indeed. I get that how it’s organized is very much intentional, but it felt all over the place to me and felt like it took awhile to find some footing and flow. The first half of the book is great. The second half is also good, but that’s where a lot of the narrative jumping is. The pacing at which things are revealed is nice, but this narrative problem doesn’t lend itself kindly to it.

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sierrabowers's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional hopeful mysterious reflective sad tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? N/A
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

5.0

This was a great read that told a chilling story. I did predict the ending, but I thought it was still a great book. I was sad for Elle the entire book and found myself gasping when I found out all of the things that happened to her.

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chapters_and_pages's review against another edition

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dark emotional mysterious sad fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.0

Lisa Jewell is honestly becoming one of my favourite authors!

Then She Was Gone follows Laurel, who’s 15 year old daughter, Ellie, went missing 10 years prior. Throughout the book, we learn about the events that lead up to Ellie’s disappearance, what happened during the 10 years Ellie was gone, Laurel’s discovery of what exactly happened to her daughter.

I’ll be honest, I pretty much guessed the plot twists within about 100 pages, but that didn’t stop me from loving this book!

My heart broke for Laurel, Ellie and Poppy, as well as the rest of Ellie’s family, and reading a book like this, it reminds you that even those this is a fictional story, there are people out there who have gone through similar things, whether as a direct victim or a loved one of a victim.

Even though I really enjoyed this book, it felt like a 4 star read for me for a couple of reasons. Firstly, I guessed the plot twists very early one. Secondly, Poppy was written quite unrealistically for a child of her age. I get what the author was trying to do, but it kind of missed the mark for me personally. Thirdly, while I really enjoyed this book, I didn’t enjoy it as much as some of her others.

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amberv92's review

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dark emotional mysterious sad tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.5

I give ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Ellie is young, vibrant, funny and the golden girl of her family. She is a genius when it comes to numbers just not knowing when her number is up. One day Ellie leaves home says bye to her mom just like every day before but this time she doesn’t come home. 10 years later Ellie’s mother Laurel is still trying to find closure unfortunately she gets some closure when bones are found and they prove to be Ellie. Laurel decides to find life again and jumps right into falling in love with a man she just met. This man has a daughter named Poppy Laurel feels an odd connection but she will never be ready for the connection that is confessed to her by the man she quickly falls in love with.

This is definitely a must read when you think you have it figured out another mystery is thrown at you. I knocked one star only because this is a book that resembles many other plots. The author Lisa Jewell definitely has plots that set her books apart from many others. She uses many real world situations where other books you see the characters getting into out of this earth situations that just don’t help you picture the story. This book is a definite TBR for you if you love romance mixed with suspense.

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