Everything We Didn't Say, Nicole Baart

I've waited a day to review this so that I give it a fair shake. Everything we Didn't Say was my first read by Nicole Baart. Unfortunately, I 'read' this via audio; therefore, I needed some time to compartmentalize the reading vs. the writing. Suffice to say, I was not a fan of the narrator - Every. Word. Was. Spoken. In. Anger. I nearly gave up and put it on my DNF - ever, shelf; I'm glad I persevered. I liked the book.

While not a fast-moving or mind-bending thriller, Everything We Didn't Say was a well-written, entertaining novel that held my attention. Set in an obscure, sleepy town in Iowa, I could appreciate the know-it-all tone and the ho-humness of the life led there; I, too, grew up in such a town.

The book vacillates between the present (written in third-person) and 14-1/2 years ago (written in first-person; I liked that shift). Juniper Baker's brother is suspected of murdering the Baker's neighbors, June becomes pregnant by an unknown, hands her child over to her mother, and runs away to live her own life (we can all guess who the father is). Finally, all the pieces come together through a very slow burn, and the dangling mini-mysteries are solved; much to my chagrin, happily ever after.

Perhaps it's my age, and maybe it's the experiences I have had, or, likely, I have read too many books with HEAs, but what I wouldn't give for a good, old-fashioned, reality ending of: He's actually the killer, your childhood lover really just used you for sex and wants nothing to do with you or the baby, and the daughter whom you abandoned at birth to your mother, still abhors you. The End.