In this game, even winning can be deadly...
Amy Whey is proud of her ordinary life and the simple pleasures that come with it—teaching diving lessons, baking cookies for new neighbors, helping her best friend, Charlotte, run their local book club. Her greatest joy is her family: her devoted professor husband, her spirited fifteen-year-old stepdaughter, her adorable infant son. And, of course, the steadfast and supportive Charlotte. But Amy’s sweet, uncomplicated life begins to unravel when the mysterious and alluring Angelica Roux arrives on her doorstep one book club night.
Sultry and magnetic, Roux beguiles the group with her feral charm. She keeps the wine flowing and lures them into a game of spilling secrets. Everyone thinks it’s naughty, harmless fun. Only Amy knows better. Something wicked has come her way—a she-devil in a pricey red sports car who seems to know the terrible truth about who she is and what she once did.
When they’re alone, Roux tells her that if she doesn’t give her what she asks for, what she deserves, she’s going to make Amy pay for her sins. One way or another.
To protect herself and her family and save the life she’s built, Amy must beat the devil at her own clever game, matching wits with Roux in an escalating war of hidden pasts and unearthed secrets. Amy knows the consequences if she can’t beat Roux. What terrifies her is everything she could lose if she wins.
A diabolically entertaining tale of betrayal, deception, temptation, and love filled with dark twists leavened by Joshilyn Jackson’s trademark humor, Never Have I Ever explores what happens when the transgressions of our past come back with a vengeance.
Never Have I Ever... it's a game you've probably played when you were in High School trying to get all the dirty details from you friends and frenemeies. Or in college on a late night of drinking and acting silly. But I bet you've never played a game like this before. When Angelica Roux makes the rules, it turns into a game of destruction, and takes Amy Whey, the seemingly perfectly together housewife, on a path of secrets, lies, and blackmail.
This story was a heart pounding, gripping, tale that had me captivated from the beginning. The secrets that come out as the book moves forward had me wide eyed on more than one occasion, but the true heart pounding moments were what came after those secrets were revealed. It became a twisted game of will she, or won't she as I read on to find out how Amy was going to deal with the craziness Roux was throwing at her. At one point I'm pretty sure I even gasped at the end of a certain chapter and I was flipping to the next page like a mad woman.
The only things that kept me from absolutely loving this story were the few times that the writing felt a little too all over the place. In the span of only a few pages it would jump from topic to topic and it made it hard to follow. Especially the beginning when we were still getting to know the players in this twisted game. And then we had the end that had some major shockers that I would have really loved to be able to explore a bit more, but it was over so soon after those were revealed.
Bottom line, any story that keeps me that intrigued get's a huge recommendation from me. This was my first read by Joshilyn Jackson but it certainly won't be my last and I'm excited to go back and see what other mysteries she can suck me into.
New York Times Bestselling novelist Joshilyn Jackson is the author of gods in Alabama, Between, Georgia, The Girl Who Stopped Swimming, Backseat Saints, A Grown-Up Kind of Pretty, Someone Else's Love Story, The Opposite of Everyone, and The Almost Sisters. Her books have been translated into a dozen languages, won SIBA’s novel of the year, three times been a #1 Book Sense Pick, been the Target Book Club Pick, and three times been shortlisted for the Townsend prize. A former actor, Jackson reads the audio versions of her novels; her work in this field has been nominated for the Audie Award, was selected by AudioFile Magazine for their best of the year list, and garnered two Listen Up Awards from Publisher’s Weekly.
She lives in Decatur, Georgia with her husband, their two children, and way too many feckless animals.
Connect with Joshilyn:
Goodreads - https://www.goodreads.com/author
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