Where I Left Her
A Novel
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3.8 • 115 Ratings
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- $14.99
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- $14.99
Publisher Description
From the author of When I Was You comes a spine-tingling new thriller about a mother’s worst nightmare come true, when her teenage daughter goes to a sleepover and doesn’t come back.
Whitney had some misgivings when she dropped her increasingly moody teenage daughter, Amelia, off at Lauren’s house. She’d never met the parents, and usually she’d go in, but Amelia clearly wasn’t going to let something so humiliating happen, so instead Whitney waved to her daughter before pulling away from the little house with the yellow roses in front.
But when she goes back the next day, an elderly couple answers the door—Amelia and Lauren aren’t there, and this couple swears they never were, that she’s at the wrong house. As Whitney searches for Amelia, she uncovers a trail of lies her daughter has told her—from the Finsta account to rumors of a secret relationship. Does she really even know this girl she’s raised? And Amelia’s not the only one with secrets. Could Whitney’s own demons have something to do with her daughter’s disappearance, and can Whitney find her before it’s too late?
APPLE BOOKS REVIEW
Nearly every parent fears for their child at some point, but in this menacing psychological thriller, the terror is next level. Whitney’s own traumatic past has made her overprotective—maybe even paranoid—when it comes to her teen daughter, Amelia. When Amelia goes missing, Whitney is flung down a rabbit hole of horror and uncertainty, locking us into Whitney’s harrowing search for the truth: Is Amelia lashing out in an act of teenage rebellion, or have Whitney’s long-held parental fears finally come true? Amber Garza’s white-knuckle thriller brings us into the single mom’s head as she tries to track down her child while keeping the worst of her memories at bay. Where I Left Her is full of shocking twists.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
At the start of this stellar psychological thriller from Garza (When I Was You), divorcée Whitney drops off her 16-year-old daughter, Amelia, for a sleepover in front of the house of Amelia's friend Lauren. Whitney was hoping to walk Amelia to the door and introduce herself to Lauren's mother, but the moody, distant Amelia wouldn't let her. The next morning, when Whitney arrives to pick up Amelia, the elderly couple who answer the door insist there's no teenager inside and no teenager lives with them. Whitney's subsequent search for Amelia raises issues from Whitney's past, in particular the reasons for her divorce, and she discovers her new boyfriend is not the man she thinks he is. Meanwhile, an initially unidentified teenage girl writes in her diary about a friend named Millie, with whom the girl has an obsessive relationship and who sets her on a path she wishes she hadn't taken. The tension builds as the perfectly orchestrated story lines converge in a truly surprising ending. This is impossible to put down.
Customer Reviews
Good read
This was a good book, definitely not the ending I expected. This book needs a follow up book so that Amelia finds out the truth or maybe she is put in a situation similar to what Whitney did. This is a quick read and definitely recommend it.
Meh!!
I finished it and that says something because I hate to waste time on a book I don't like HOWEVER it was pretty weak! It did surprise me at the end but it was REALLY hard to believe. I know, I know it's fiction...but still! Not a great book. It was fine!!
Where I left here
This was a great book. Lots of twists and turns. Didn't expect the ending.