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I'll Be Watching You
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Kate Moretti's The Vanishing Year meets Kimberly Belle's The Marriage Lie in this twisty domestic suspense about a teenaged girl who disappears and is thought drowned--and the dark secrets she leaves behind.
Leah, a popular sixteen year old, is uncharacteristically apprehensive the night before her new school year begins. She decides to take a moonlight paddle at her ...more
Leah, a popular sixteen year old, is uncharacteristically apprehensive the night before her new school year begins. She decides to take a moonlight paddle at her ...more
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A dark disturbing domestic drama that will have you furiously turning those pages!
Courtney Evan Tate has written an unsettling story that hit a little too close to home. Ugh as a parent some of this book was tough to read, I couldn’t help but put myself in Emmy’s position. I can’t even imagine what I would do if my daughter were to go missing off the water right in front of my house. This entire book I spent grieving, questioning, and investigating right along with Emmy. What really happened ...more
Courtney Evan Tate has written an unsettling story that hit a little too close to home. Ugh as a parent some of this book was tough to read, I couldn’t help but put myself in Emmy’s position. I can’t even imagine what I would do if my daughter were to go missing off the water right in front of my house. This entire book I spent grieving, questioning, and investigating right along with Emmy. What really happened ...more
I’ve read two books by this author in about two months’ time and loved them both!
Leah is sixteen years old and popular. She takes a midnight paddle at the beach because she’s nervous the night before the first day of the school year. Leah disappears while on the water.
The police quickly investigate and deem it death by drowning because sharks have been in the area. Emmy, Leah’s mother, is not buying it and wants to know where her daughter’s body is.
Emmy is checking her daughter’s laptop ...more
Leah is sixteen years old and popular. She takes a midnight paddle at the beach because she’s nervous the night before the first day of the school year. Leah disappears while on the water.
The police quickly investigate and deem it death by drowning because sharks have been in the area. Emmy, Leah’s mother, is not buying it and wants to know where her daughter’s body is.
Emmy is checking her daughter’s laptop ...more
I’ll Be Watching You by Courtney Evan Tate is a thriller that begins with the unthinkable, a mother losing her daughter in the blink of an eye. The story is told in the present from the mother’s point of view and flashing back a few months in the past to get the point of view of the daughter.
Emmy Fisher and her fifteen year old daughter, Leah, live in the Florida Keys at the Inn that was passed down to Emmy from her family. Living on their own private beach in the Keys Emmy has often joked that ...more
Emmy Fisher and her fifteen year old daughter, Leah, live in the Florida Keys at the Inn that was passed down to Emmy from her family. Living on their own private beach in the Keys Emmy has often joked that ...more
Favorite Quotes:
She wants to sit and float on top of her board, staring at the moon, pretending the rays hitting her skin are fairy dust.
Bars always smell the same, even when they have open windows on the end of a pier. Like… old peanuts and neon lights, and felt-top pool tables and desperation.
My Review:
This cleverly paced and well-contrived tale started slowly and gradually built into a gripping tale that occasionally had me cringing and frequently found me biting my cuticles. I had narrowed ...more
She wants to sit and float on top of her board, staring at the moon, pretending the rays hitting her skin are fairy dust.
Bars always smell the same, even when they have open windows on the end of a pier. Like… old peanuts and neon lights, and felt-top pool tables and desperation.
My Review:
This cleverly paced and well-contrived tale started slowly and gradually built into a gripping tale that occasionally had me cringing and frequently found me biting my cuticles. I had narrowed ...more
When Courtney Evan Tate's I'll Be Watching You arrived at my doorstep, I was jumping for joy! What thriller aficionado doesn't love books surrounding someone who's stalking an innocent bystander?! Alright, ok, maybe just me!
Emmy owns a beautiful bed and breakfast/airbnb type of lodging facility that's been in her family for generations. Emmy loves this Inn and believes that it's her calling—so much in fact, that she divorced her husband Nate over it. Emmy has a fifteen year old daughter named ...more
Emmy owns a beautiful bed and breakfast/airbnb type of lodging facility that's been in her family for generations. Emmy loves this Inn and believes that it's her calling—so much in fact, that she divorced her husband Nate over it. Emmy has a fifteen year old daughter named ...more
Emmy Fisher is the mother of 15-year-old Leah. Receiving news that Leah has drowned while out one night has her deep in grief. It's only when she goes into her daughter's bedroom that the questions begin.
Her daughter, it seems, has been in a relationship with an older man ... someone who had o hesitation in taking Leah's innocence and not in a good way. Leah's life was nothing like her mother imagined. Why did she not know? Why did her daughter not turn to her for help? And was her drowning a ...more
Four Racey and Riveting. 's!
Ramblings from the Island long ago. It seems lately that I’m living in a nightmare, in a web of bad decisions. I’d like to get back to the good dreams again.
I fear that you won’t like me much, dear readers.
I’ve been telling you lately of my escapades, and my choices, and they haven’t all been good ones, have they?
I worry about that.
Culpability is a strange word, and one I’ve really never thought about before.
But I’m thinking about it now.
I’ve ended it with him, ...more
Ramblings from the Island long ago. It seems lately that I’m living in a nightmare, in a web of bad decisions. I’d like to get back to the good dreams again.
I fear that you won’t like me much, dear readers.
I’ve been telling you lately of my escapades, and my choices, and they haven’t all been good ones, have they?
I worry about that.
Culpability is a strange word, and one I’ve really never thought about before.
But I’m thinking about it now.
I’ve ended it with him, ...more
Sometimes I’m in the mood for a lighter style thriller, I’m kind of on a thriller break right now, but I liked the sound of this one despite my self imposed ban. I got the sense that it would focus on the domestic comings and goings of one family and their dynamics with the thrills being on the lighter side and I was right, which is exactly what I was looking for. Isn’t it the best when you read a book at the exact right moment?!
Books that tap into my worst fears as a parent always manage to ...more
Books that tap into my worst fears as a parent always manage to ...more
This was a great thriller!! This book alternated between two POVs of a mother Emmy who is 36 and her daughter 15 year old Leah. It also bounces between August present time and June. Emmy runs an Inn that has been passed down in her family in the Florida Keys. She’s recently divorced and runs the Inn on her own it’s set on a private beach. Leah loves living on the water and she has two best friends Skye and Liam who visits his dad who stays at the Inn. One night before school is set to begin Leah
...more
3.5 Stars
A missing child is a common premise in a lot of thriller books, and I've read a lot of them. Here we have a fifteen year old girl who simply vanished while in the water. This is where things get very interesting. I'll Be Watching You kept me turning the pages until the story's conclusion, with enough twists and turns to separate the book from other thrillers with a similar lost child theme. Though I found the protagonist’s poor judgement frustrating at times, she redeemed herself ...more
As an avid thriller reader, I am always overjoyed when I find a "lighter" thriller that really hits all my buttons. I'll Be Watching You certainly does that! The author brings us an extremely well written thriller with multiple POVs and I ALWAYS love it when we get the view of the predator.
The creepy thing about books like this is the plausibility. Creepy older man taking advantage of a young, naive girl. Here's the thing with this book - if you read a ton of thrillers like I do, this will be ...more
The creepy thing about books like this is the plausibility. Creepy older man taking advantage of a young, naive girl. Here's the thing with this book - if you read a ton of thrillers like I do, this will be ...more
This book starts with a bang and keeps you enthralled until the last page. The mom is so well written that the reader is able to feel her sorrow and understand her feelings of betrayal. It's a story of family and love and friendship with lots of other unsavory pieces.
Emily is 36 and owns a hotel in the Florida Keys where she lives with her daughter, Leah. Emily and Leah have always been close and Leah is a popular person in her circle of friends. Right at the beginning of the book, Emily allows ...more
Emily is 36 and owns a hotel in the Florida Keys where she lives with her daughter, Leah. Emily and Leah have always been close and Leah is a popular person in her circle of friends. Right at the beginning of the book, Emily allows ...more
Jan 24, 2019
Jennifer
rated it
really liked it
·
review of another edition
Shelves:
edelweiss,
coyer-winter-challenge-2019
I'll Be Watching You is the second book that author Courtney Cole has written under the pen name Courtney Evan Tate. I really enjoyed the first book, Such Dark Things. So I was very excited to get to read this latest suspense novel.
The book alternates between two POVs of a mother and daughter (36 year old Emmy and 15 year old Leah). The story takes place in the Florida Keys. And goes back and forth between two time periods (August/the present and June). Although the June time period goes forward ...more
The book alternates between two POVs of a mother and daughter (36 year old Emmy and 15 year old Leah). The story takes place in the Florida Keys. And goes back and forth between two time periods (August/the present and June). Although the June time period goes forward ...more
I won this book in a Goodreads giveaway. It was not what I’d hoped it would be. I didn’t like how the chapters were organized, nor did I feel connected to the characters. There’s a bit of forced romance at the end and the twist not so great.
3.75 stars
Forbidden love, or something darker?
That's the overall premise of this story following a tragic death.
This story is told in the past and present.
In the present, we learn of a mother, Emmy Fisher, trying to cope with the sudden death of her daughter, Leah. And in her quest to find answers, she discovers she might not have known her daughter as much as she thought.
In the past, we learn of Leah's growing attraction to an older man, and a relationship develops between them. To be clear, I ...more
Forbidden love, or something darker?
That's the overall premise of this story following a tragic death.
This story is told in the past and present.
In the present, we learn of a mother, Emmy Fisher, trying to cope with the sudden death of her daughter, Leah. And in her quest to find answers, she discovers she might not have known her daughter as much as she thought.
In the past, we learn of Leah's growing attraction to an older man, and a relationship develops between them. To be clear, I ...more
3.5 stars. I tore through the pages of this book...then I hit the reveal and ending and it was like crashing into a wall. I mean, it made sense, but in the same breath it was a little abrupt and a little bit too outlandish. A little bit about the book - Emmy owns an inn in the Keys. She lives there with her daughter, Leah. Emmy and her husband are divorced, but are good friends. One night, Leah asks to go night swimming, and Emmy allows it. But Leah doesn't come back. Emmy discovers that Leah
...more
It's the night before school starts back up and Leah and her mother are having a good heart to heart chat before Leah wants a dip in the water. Her mum is tired and is going to head inside, but she trusts Leah as she has done it hundreds of times before and never gotten hurt. This time though Leah doesn't return home, and by the next morning, everyone is searching for the girl who drowned or was eaten by sharks. As Emily wonders about her daughter as she can't have just vanished, she explores
...more
"Time was an enemy I hadn't expected. It raised its head and robbed me of my daughter."
First and foremost: I feel like the blurb that is on the front of this cover is a tad misleading. There is not hardly any domestic violence and the narrator is not "unreliable". I am saying that because I just don't want for any one to go into this thinking they're going to be getting some sort of Chevy Steven story. I know a lot of people (myself included) really tend to enjoy those type of books. I just ...more
First and foremost: I feel like the blurb that is on the front of this cover is a tad misleading. There is not hardly any domestic violence and the narrator is not "unreliable". I am saying that because I just don't want for any one to go into this thinking they're going to be getting some sort of Chevy Steven story. I know a lot of people (myself included) really tend to enjoy those type of books. I just ...more
I'm giving this three stars not because it was an especially remarkable thriller, or because I enjoyed it overall. The moralizing was a little heavy-handed and most of the characters were insufferably drawn. By the end, I just wanted them all to go away and stop annoying me with their histrionics and cookie-cutter personalities. But ...
This book, through the misguided character of Leah, did an impressive job of portraying what it feels and looks like to fall for an older man with unsavoury ...more
This book, through the misguided character of Leah, did an impressive job of portraying what it feels and looks like to fall for an older man with unsavoury ...more
May 03, 2019
Eve
added it
This story touches some sensitive subjects like losing a child and innappropriate relationships.
When a 16-year-old high school girl Leah disappears and apparently drowns, her mother, Emily is devastated and grief-stricken. When she discovers her daughter's blog and finds odd pictures of Leah, it becomes clear that her daughter was hiding from her mother an affair with an older man. Who was this mysterious man? Why Leah didn't tell about him? What really happened in Leah's life?
This story is ...more
When a 16-year-old high school girl Leah disappears and apparently drowns, her mother, Emily is devastated and grief-stricken. When she discovers her daughter's blog and finds odd pictures of Leah, it becomes clear that her daughter was hiding from her mother an affair with an older man. Who was this mysterious man? Why Leah didn't tell about him? What really happened in Leah's life?
This story is ...more
Mar 01, 2019
Charlie ✰ WLTB Blog ✰
rated it
really liked it
Shelves:
2019,
arc-provided-by-netgalley
This is the first book I have read from Courtney's pen name.
It is a good read and full of suspense and mystery.
Leah goes out for a swim in the water never to come home? as the book goes secrets are revealed about Leah, great story that will keep you turning the pages to find out what has happened it is kinda creepy in places. It is well written, It kept me guessing till the end.
Can't wait to read what this author has coming next.
I received an Advance Reader Copy from NetGalley in exchange for ...more
It is a good read and full of suspense and mystery.
Leah goes out for a swim in the water never to come home? as the book goes secrets are revealed about Leah, great story that will keep you turning the pages to find out what has happened it is kinda creepy in places. It is well written, It kept me guessing till the end.
Can't wait to read what this author has coming next.
I received an Advance Reader Copy from NetGalley in exchange for ...more
The secret life of a young naive innocent teenager is stolen right before her eyes. A child predator took advantage of a young girl by manipulating her into believing she was valued.
The timeline switches between the past and the present. The past and present unravel the truth about the mystery of what happened to her daughter.
Emmy chases away the days questioning all that was lost. Her mind won’t rest with the unanswered questions regarding her daughters secret life.
Overall:
I liked the ...more
The timeline switches between the past and the present. The past and present unravel the truth about the mystery of what happened to her daughter.
Emmy chases away the days questioning all that was lost. Her mind won’t rest with the unanswered questions regarding her daughters secret life.
Overall:
I liked the ...more
I received a DIGITAL Advance Reader Copy of this book from #NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.
From the publisher, as I do not regurgitate the contents or story of books in reviews, I let them do it.
IT’S EVERY MOTHER’S NIGHTMARE…BUT ONE SHE WILL NOT ACCEPT
In an unthinkable flash, Emmy Fisher’s fifteen-year-old daughter, Leah, seemingly drowns close to shore one summer night—at least that is what the police report says. In deep grief, Emmy needs time and courage before she can enter Leah ...more
From the publisher, as I do not regurgitate the contents or story of books in reviews, I let them do it.
IT’S EVERY MOTHER’S NIGHTMARE…BUT ONE SHE WILL NOT ACCEPT
In an unthinkable flash, Emmy Fisher’s fifteen-year-old daughter, Leah, seemingly drowns close to shore one summer night—at least that is what the police report says. In deep grief, Emmy needs time and courage before she can enter Leah ...more
A mother brings life to this world.
A mother shelters you, protects you and loves you like no other.
A mother knows her child perhaps even more than you know yourself.
For Emmy her world comes crashing down when her only daughter drowns. Once she has a hold of her grief she goes through Leah's room only to find a blog her teenage daughter wrote. This peaks Emmy's interest and it's a race against time to find out what really happened to her daughter that night.
I'll be watching you is a creepy, well ...more
A mother shelters you, protects you and loves you like no other.
A mother knows her child perhaps even more than you know yourself.
For Emmy her world comes crashing down when her only daughter drowns. Once she has a hold of her grief she goes through Leah's room only to find a blog her teenage daughter wrote. This peaks Emmy's interest and it's a race against time to find out what really happened to her daughter that night.
I'll be watching you is a creepy, well ...more
Do even the closest mother-daughter relationships involve a child who truly tells their parent everything? That’s the central question behind Courtney Evan Tate’s latest thriller I’ll Be Watching You.
It’s a normal evening for Emmy and Leah Fisher. They’re sitting on the porch swing, taking in the beauty of the summer night. Emmy is relaxing with a glass of wine, exhausted from a full day’s work at her Florida Keys beachside inn; fifteen-year-old Leah is mildly stressing about the start of ...more
It’s a normal evening for Emmy and Leah Fisher. They’re sitting on the porch swing, taking in the beauty of the summer night. Emmy is relaxing with a glass of wine, exhausted from a full day’s work at her Florida Keys beachside inn; fifteen-year-old Leah is mildly stressing about the start of ...more
An easy, intoxicating mystery right here! Inhaled in 2 working days, this is certainly a creeptastic pageturner
All is well on the island in Key West where Emmy runs an inn while raising her daughter, her friendly ex- husband living in Phoenix, offering parenting help in the form of buying a bear-like puppy for the teenage Leah. It is when the former spouses are catching up on the phone the night before Leah's first day back at school that their lives take a turn- Leah had insisted on a night ...more
All is well on the island in Key West where Emmy runs an inn while raising her daughter, her friendly ex- husband living in Phoenix, offering parenting help in the form of buying a bear-like puppy for the teenage Leah. It is when the former spouses are catching up on the phone the night before Leah's first day back at school that their lives take a turn- Leah had insisted on a night ...more
Nothing can compare to a mother’s grief. Emmy is reeling from the realization that her daughter drowned near the shore, but Emmy refuses to believe that her daughter is no longer on this Earth. Going through the motions of running her family’s inn, Emmy just cannot bring herself to walk into the room that holds all of the memories of Leah’s life. With Leah’s dog Bo by her side, Emmy finally takes the step into the place that holds the treasures of Leah’s entire world.
While sifting through the ...more
While sifting through the ...more
This is literally every parent's worst nightmare. I adore Courtney Evan Tate (Courtney Cole) and have read almost everything she has ever written.
I'll be honest and say that I struggled with this one despite the topic. Grooming and having someone close to my child that could be a pedophile is something that I struggle with. Did I teach my kids what to look for? Will they know to stay away? Are they smart enough to resist and not go down this path? The answers... I don't know but I sure pray to ...more
I'll be honest and say that I struggled with this one despite the topic. Grooming and having someone close to my child that could be a pedophile is something that I struggle with. Did I teach my kids what to look for? Will they know to stay away? Are they smart enough to resist and not go down this path? The answers... I don't know but I sure pray to ...more
This may be one of the worst books I’ve ever read, and I’ll break down why.
1. All the teenage characters are written as if they are 10 years old. No fifteen year old acts like the girls in this book.
2. The subtle misogyny. Men and women are not different species. The writing absolutely reeks of the whole “men’s brains are like waffles and women’s brains are like spaghetti” bullshit they fed us in middle school.
3. The subtle racism. Making your only black character a whore and then spending the ...more
1. All the teenage characters are written as if they are 10 years old. No fifteen year old acts like the girls in this book.
2. The subtle misogyny. Men and women are not different species. The writing absolutely reeks of the whole “men’s brains are like waffles and women’s brains are like spaghetti” bullshit they fed us in middle school.
3. The subtle racism. Making your only black character a whore and then spending the ...more
This book may have triggers for some readers.
This is a dark narrative exploring the ramifications of wavering self-worth. The plot revolves around the disappearance of a young girl who was, unbeknownst to anyone, in a twisted relationship with a pedophile. Her mother discovers the truth and fights for justice. Throughout the story, there is this constant underpinning revolving around the issues these women have with self-respect. The tertiary characters are interesting and play a pretty dynamic ...more
This is a dark narrative exploring the ramifications of wavering self-worth. The plot revolves around the disappearance of a young girl who was, unbeknownst to anyone, in a twisted relationship with a pedophile. Her mother discovers the truth and fights for justice. Throughout the story, there is this constant underpinning revolving around the issues these women have with self-respect. The tertiary characters are interesting and play a pretty dynamic ...more
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