THE LIFE SHE HAD by KL Armstrong-a review

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ABOUT THE BOOK: Release Date July 19, 2022

If someone was threatening your home, how far would you go to protect it?

Celeste Turner has a woman living in her shed. A woman who is definitely not supposed to be there. The local police, however, are ill-inclined to help. Celeste is a newcomer to a region of rural Florida. It doesn’t matter that her family is originally from the area or that she returned to nurse her dying grandmother. All the locals see is a city girl who swooped in to secure her inheritance . . . a rundown house in need of extensive repairs. Celeste needs her new life to work, and this woman is a threat to that.

Then she meets her. To her surprise, she finds out that Daisy is polite and friendly; a backpacker who is just making her way through the area. Quickly, Celeste begins an unlikely and beneficial friendship with Daisy–she can’t help herself and, besides, Daisy will be moving on to her next stop soon. Why not take advantage of the extra help?

Both women have secrets they want to keep buried, and when a body is discovered in the glades near Celeste’s house, they must move quickly to prove their innocence and protect the lives they’ve built for themselves.

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REVIEW: THE LIFE SHE HAD by KL Armstrong (aka Kelley Armstrong) is a contemporary, adult, suspense thriller focusing on four people in a swampy, rural area of Florida: Celeste Turner, Daisy, mechanic Tom Lowe and attorney Liam Garey.

Told from dual first person perspectives (Celeste and Daisy) THE LIFE SHE HAD is a story of secrets and lies, mystery and suspense in the wake of the death of Celeste’s beloved grandmother Maeve Turner. Living alone on Maeve’s property, Celeste will discover a young woman living on her grandmother’s property, a young woman who knows more than anyone could have imagined. As Daisy and Tom’s lives begin to implode, Celeste discovers Daisy and Tom’s secrets but not before Daisy and Tom reveal Celeste’s own secrets and lies. A local legend that crosses the line between myth and reality brings four people together but not everyone will survive when the truth is revealed. As the story line unfolds, the twisted truth and hidden clues reveal the true depth of greed, obsession, secrets and lies.

KL Armstrong pulls the reader into a slow building, intense, dramatic, and impassioned story of desperation and delusion, family and friendships, murder and suspense, preoccupation and love.

Copy supplied for Netgalley

Reviewed by Sandy