Name: Everything We Didn't Say
ISBN: 9781638081678

Nicole Baart

Juniper Baker had just graduated from high school and was deep in the throes of a summer romance when Cal and Beth Murphy, a childless couple who lived on a neighboring farm, were brutally murdered. When her younger brother became the prime suspect, June's world collapsed and everything she loved that summer fell away. She left, promising never to return to tiny Jericho, Iowa.

Everything We Didn't Say

From the author of Little Broken Things, a “race-to-the-finish family drama” (People) following a mother who must confront the dark summer that changed her life forever in order to reclaim the daughter she left behind. Juniper Baker had just graduated from high school and was deep in the throes of a summer romance when Cal and Beth Murphy, a childless couple who lived on a neighboring farm, were brutally murdered. When her younger brother became the prime suspect, June’s world collapsed and everything she loved that summer fell away. She left, promising never to return to tiny Jericho, Iowa. Until now. Officially, she’s back in town to help an ill friend manage the local library. But really, she’s returned to repair her relationship with her teenage daughter, who’s been raised by Juniper’s mother and stepfather since birth—and to solve the infamous Murphy murders once and for all. She knows the key to both lies in the darkest secret of that long-ago summer night, one that’s haunted her for nearly fifteen years. As history begins to repeat itself and a dogged local true crime podcaster starts delving into the murders, the race to the truth puts past and present on a dangerous collision course. Juniper lands back in an all-too-familiar place with the answers to everything finally in her sights, but this time it’s her daughter’s life that hangs in the balance. Will revealing what really happened mean a fresh start? Or will the truth destroy everything Juniper loves for a second time? Baart once again brilliantly weaves mystery into family drama in this expertly-crafted novel for fans of Lisa Jewell and Megan Miranda.

A Novel

armoni mayes

i should have DNF’d this when i found out that “Law” was short for “Lawrence”. that’s just annoying

Alexa M

honestly boring. overwritten and so overdramatic. the pacing was way off and the flipping between timelines just didn’t work for me. i will say i didn’t see the reveal coming so that’s a plus i guess ? idk this was just way too overly dramatic imo

Kristen Claiborn

I’ve never been a fan of the phrase “less is more.” No it damn well isn’t. However, in the case of this book’s jacket synopsis, less might have been better. There was an awful lot there. 
	The biggest issue I had with this book was the insane number of questionable decisions made by every friggin character in this book. How in the world does an entire town collectively make bad choices? It bordered on not very believable. Juniper not divulging ANYTHING about her daughter to the people she should have divulged that information to is the first on that list. Women like that give the rest of us a bad rep. That was the one thing about this book that really just chapped me a little. 
	The rest of it was just secrets…bad secrets, petty secrets, secrets of omission, etc. Pretty run-of-the-mill murder mystery material, but Baart really does spin a compelling tale. The family drama felt genuine, the jealousy, the anger…it was very well done. I wish Baart had written Juniper’s character with a little bit more integrity. She wasn’t a very respectable main character, so it was hard to root for her, especially regarding her relationship with her daughter. 
	This is a well-done murder mystery. The ending is more likely to sadden you than shock you. Well, maybe both.

Ryan Angel

I couldn’t help but want to rush through this. Kept me guessing, still somewhat predictable, but overall pretty enjoyable. Maybe a 3 star book if I finished this on a bad day lol.

CN. Holly

3.5 stars out of 5, and that's only because of the ending. the ending was great, which is why it was given the extra .5 star. It wasn't the greatest book i read all year, but it wasn't the worst. it just never grabbed my attention how other murder and mysteries do. 

(spoilers...) 

this book was way too predictable for me, and not even in the 'I just know' no if you've never read a mystery book you'll figure it out before the book was over. It was never the brother it was always the father, you could tell that it was always the father. 

Juniper's baby daddy also being the baby daddy to her ex best friend, saw that from a mile away. everything that happened we knew was going to happy but I'm not mad about it because it was written well, which is why I enjoyed it so much. It didn't throw in a shock like a couple other books I read, because they just throw in something and it doesn't make sense it was just for the wow factor. 

This book wasn't that, this book was well thought out and just a great read, I just expected a little more in the back story from Juniper before the ending, I didn't really like the character in the beginning, I didn't enjoy her character until the last couple of chapters. oh god and the Police officer? i felt that entire bit was unneeded. 

Overall, I would read it again, if there's a second book i'll def read it and hope there's more backstory I wanna know about her college life and her and her daughters life and how her and her baby daddy are doing now that he left his current wife. 

Sammie Piotrowski

I enjoyed this book. The beginning was pretty slow for me, but once things were actually unraveling it went by in a flash (That reveal actually got me!). This was one of my first mystery/ thriller type books, and I think it was a great introduction.

Amberlyn Holmes 

I didn’t think I was going to love this as much as I did. Kinda Slow but the ending was worth it! 

Samantha

The main character was unlikeable and the flashbacks were tiresome. 

Emily S

~a thriller that I didn’t find particularly thrilling 😢 ~

I figured, hey, thriller, perfect for spooky season, good reviews, let’s do it. Well…

Brief synopsis: June is returning to her hometown years after the summer that changed everything (i.e. when her beloved neighbors were murdered in cold blood, and a clearly innocent person was put away for it). Now weird things are happening again and it looks a little too familiar…

My best piece of advice for this book would be that I think it could make a pretty great one-season mystery show. That would give it more time to flesh out the characters and the town and the flashbacks and the feelings and everything. And we could add in some suspenseful music. For me, in book form, while it was very readable (except for the entirely duplicated paragraph that was missed in editing), the twists were neither surprising nor interesting, and that’s what makes thrillers great. So, off to a lending library with this one where maybe it’ll find its intended audience 😔

Everything We Didn't Say

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