THANK YOU 🙏🏻 to senior publicist, Grace Fell for reaching out, asking me if I’d be keen to read this book and providing an e-ARC.
In her pitch, Grace said the following: ‘This fall, Zelly Ruskin uses her former experience as an adoption consultant to create a story full of courage, heart, and strength that explores adoption, fertility, and motherhood. Perfect for fans of Little Fires Everywhere and The Last Thing He Told Me by Laura Dave, NOT YOURS TO KEEP(She Writes Press, October 8) follows three individuals whose lives collide as they all balance lies, secrets, and desires. Perfect for Adoption Awareness Month (November) reading lists.’
I was intrigued and agreed so here are my thoughts! 👇🏻
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First and foremost, I’m not your mother, so check your trigger warnings!
Here’s some of what you can expect in Not Yours To Keep:
📌 palpable tension
📌 infertility
📌 secrets
📌 betrayal
📌 deception
📌 adoption
📌 abuse (child + domestic)
📌 guilt
📌 a search for the truth
📌 abduction
Not Yours To Keep by Zelly Ruskin is a psychological suspense novel filled with drama & gasp out loud moments. The opening was so gripping, I was immediately hooked. It was hard to fathom this was a debut because the characters, scenes and dialogue were so on point!
Told in multiple POV’s (Billie/Anne/Tyler), and looking at the past and present, a sinister story is woven and I have to admit that I was probably more invested in Billie & Tyler as characters however it was Anne’s POV’s that intrigue me the most.
At times you do have to suspend your disbelief as coincidences take over, but that didn’t affect my reading experience at all. There was a slow build up in the first half of the novel and then 💥BOOM💥 the pace really picked up and led to a satisfying conclusion.
Would I recommend this debut? I absolutely would. If you love sinister storylines, emotive reads with red-herrings that will have your head spinning – this would tick all those boxes!
