Cross Her Heart

If author Sarah Pinborough’s previous best-selling psychological thriller Behind Her Eyes was the inspiration for the #WTFThatEnding campaign, then her new novel, Cross Her Heart, should be the inspiration for the #WTFThatWholeBook campaign.

Can the past ever stay in the past? No, and when it comes back, it comes back with a fury. Cross Her Heart is the story of three women: a single mom, her daughter, and her best friend. Lisa is a good person with a bad past. Ava is a rebellious teen, in a little over her head. Marilyn is a strong woman who seems to have it all together. They all have secrets. And faster than you can snap your fingers one of the secrets is out and their lives change – forever. Lisa’s past collides with show more Marilyn’s present, and everyone, including Ava, is put in a life-threatening situation. The illusion of control each of them had is broken.

I felt like a pinball in a pinball machine while reading Cross Her Heart – bouncing all over the place, thinking I had figured something out, and then wham! Nope, wrong. Sarah Pinborough is one of the few authors where I am constantly talking to the book: OMG! Oh No! What??? And this rapid-fire, totally confusing, totally satisfying pace keeps up right until the very last page.

Lisa is just a quiet, shy mom, Marilyn is her best friend who is always there for her, and Ava is just trying to grow up. You will love them and feel sorry for them, but there will also be times when you don’t like them. Lisa has been uneasy, thinking she is seeing things, that someone is watching. Something’s up with Marilyn but no clue what. Ava has a secret life going on, many layers of a secret life in fact. What is the significance of “Cross Your Heart and Hope to Die” and what’s this about a broken promise? Many things to keep you guessing – and guessing wrong.

Sara Pinborough’s characters are well-developed and complex, and her phrasing is exquisite. Some samples from the ARC I read: “The dark soil of his mind.” “. . . hot tar glued to the lining of my stomach,” the words gave me chills. And who hasn’t felt like this: “The inside information comes later. Those talks are for the middle of the night, heads on pillows, faces only outlines in the darkness. That’s when people surrender their weapons to each other and hope they don’t end up stabbed in the night by them in the future.”

Cross Her Heart is fast-paced and flows smoothly. So smoothly that when there was a big – no, giant - surprise I took a breath and relaxed, thought wow, what a story. And then I looked at my place in the book . . . half way through. What more could possibly happen? Trust me, lots more. Cross Her Heart will make you sad and angry and cringe and cry and want to turn away, but you won’t be able to put the book down. It’s amazing.

I received an ARC of Cross Her Heart from the publisher. I was not required to write a review and all opinions are my own. I will read anything Sarah Pinborough writes. show less

Why do so many reviews give books high ratings because of their last couple/few chapters? Case in point: CROSS HER HEART.

Just about all of CROSS HER HEART is figuring out secrets. Normally that’s OK in a mystery/thriller, which CROSS HER HEART is. But most of the secrets in this book are kept from the reader. I prefer to learn what is going on AS a main character does, not AFTER.

Sarah Pinborough does have Marion, one of the characters in CROSS HER HEART, solve mysteries at pretty much the same time as the reader. But the main character, Lisa/Charlotte, is a mystery to the reader until the last several pages.

Three quarters of CROSS HER HEART is frustrating, not thrilling . But that last quarter is not frustrating and is more thrilling show more than what comes before. That’s not good enough for a high rating. show less

Lisa lives a quiet life with her daughter Ava. Things seem ok until Ava saves a young boys life and their photos appear in the paper. The worst happens and Lisa's past catches up with her.

I read Behind Her Eyes last year and it was one of my favourite reads of the year. What BHE had was that ending which I never saw coming. This book I enjoyed but not as much as BHE.

This story is told before and after and from the point of views of Lisa, Ava and Marilyn who is Lisa's friend. The story is very engrossing, with me wanting to know what is going to happen next and what happened before.

The story however does not have an ending to blow me away like BHE. I was expecting one, a mighty big twist but it didn't happen. The story does have a twist show more and I didn't guess which is a good thing but the ending was a little predictable.

When all is revealed who 'it' is I found that a bit unbelievable. Saying anymore will spoil but when you read it you will see what I mean.

The story overall was good and their was certainly enough to keep me entertained but it just didn't quite have that final wow factor. show less

I’ve read a few domestic thrillers that really sucked lately, I’m pleased to say ‘Cross Her Heart’ was not one of them. It’s the utterly gripping, emotionally charged and believable story of three women whose lives are not what they make out. It uses the multiple narrator technique (which often I dislike) to good effect and has multiple twists and turns, a couple of which left me open mouthed with shock. To give much more of the plot away than that would spoil it, but there is a lot to enjoy here, although it should probably come with multiple trigger warnings. The only disappointment for me is that it lacks the crazed mind-fuckery of the ending of Pinborough’s previous book ‘Behind Her Eyes’. ‘Cross Her Heart’ is in show more many ways a better book, the emotional side of things in particular is really well handled here, and it ends up feeling like a satisfying, mature thriller that wraps itself up very neatly in the final chapter. I worry though that the sheer brilliance of ‘Behind Her Eyes’ is something that Pinborough will struggle to achieve again, it’s certainly hard to see how one writer could pull such an audacious trick off twice, and that it will cast a shadow over her future work.
That’s something of a downer ending to this review, so let me turn it around again by saying it’s a great book and you should read it (and if you haven’t read ‘Behind Her Eyes’ read that too!) show less

Oh, this book. Where to start? I honestly did not expect to be so addicted Cross Her Heart. My original plan was to start this, and then read it in between other books that I'm working on at the same time. Since, normally, Thriller/Mystery books take a little time to really get going. Well, scratch that idea. Sarah Pinborough's book is a slow burn sure, but one that just keeps you on your toes as every single turn. She expertly pulls you one way, then the other, never really allowing you to settle in. In short, I flew through this book. I'm really pleased about that.

It's going to be rough to say a lot about this story, because I absolutely don't want to give anything away. The joy of discovery is half of the fun of reading this book. show more What I can say, is that Lisa's character is perfection. Both her and her daughter are fully fleshed out people who you'll slowly finding yourself falling in step with. Even Ava's teenage petulance made me smile. There's something wonderful about reading a story like this and feeling like the characters could be your next door neighbors. In the case of a story like this, there's always something vaguely ominous about it too.

When I say that twists abound, I'm really not kidding. Cross Her Heart has a steady pace that just grabs you by the hand and tugs you along, never letting go. Even when you stop in your tracks because of what's around the next corner, it just pulls you along. I so appreciated the fact that nothing in this story felt forced. Every action, every plot point, felt expertly laid out. I felt like I was being told a real story which, like I mentioned above, added to the unease I felt while reading this book. I thought I knew where Sarah Pinborough was taking me. I was so wrong.

If you're looking for a very well written, very quick moving Thriller this is your next read. show less

This book really saddened me. I absolutely loved Behind Her Eyes and found the fact that I could not read that book fast enough. So, I was excited to jump right into this book. I was expecting the same intensity. Yet, it was apparent pretty early on that this book did not have the same magic as the prior novel.

I found the characters uninteresting. Also, they kind of turned me off from the way that they acted. There was not great connection shared with the characters and me. Additionally, the story didn't have the "big twist" or suspense as I came to expect from the author. Readers of these types of books, can figure out how the story will end. Which, I was right. I am holding out hope that the next book from this author finds that show more "magic" again like Behind Her Eyes. show less

Starting at 12:01 on Saturday morning and finished by 7pm Sunday night, CROSS HER HEART consumed almost my entire weekend. A fast paced thriller with so many twists and turns, I can honestly say that I did not guess how it would end. I love when that happens!

There are so many reviews out already, I'm not sure what I can add to what's already been said, but here we go. Lisa loves her daughter Ava so much, but is suffocating her by being so over-protective. Now that Ava is 16, she's chomping at the bit to get on with her life and for her mom to back off. Ava is an excellent swimmer and on the swim team at school. When a young boy falls into the water at a community fair, Ava doesn't hesitate to jump in and save him, and as a result, both show more her and her mom's pictures are plastered all over the local papers. This sets in motion a series of events that will change their lives forever. How do their lives change due to these pictures? You'll have to read this to find out!

This is only my second Sarah Pinborough novel, but I'm happy to know there are several older books for me to catch up with. Her writing style appeals to me because of the pacing, the depth of the characters and her ability to change the direction of the story on a dime. A dime, I say! I was rooting for Lisa and Ava to pull through. I was rooting for Lisa's best friend Marilyn too. With bad guys you can easily hate and protagonists that are easy to love, Sarah Pinborough has gained a reader for life.

Highly recommended for fans of mystery, suspense and thrillers!

*I received an e-ARC of this book from the publisher, via Edelweiss, in exchange for my honest feedback. This is it.* show less