From the author of Behind Her Eyes, Soon to be a Netflix Original Series
“Sarah Pinborough is about to become your new obsession.”—Harlan Coben
Lisa is living a lie and everyone is about to find out.
Lisa lives for her daughter Ava, her job and her best friend Marilyn.
But when a handsome client shows an interest in her, Lisa starts daydreaming about sharing her life with him, too. Maybe … an interest in her, Lisa starts daydreaming about sharing her life with him, too. Maybe she’s ready now. Maybe she can trust again. Maybe it’s time to let her terrifying secret past go.
But when her daughter rescues a boy from drowning and their pictures are all over the news for everyone to see, Lisa’s world explodes.
As she finds everything she has built threatened, and not knowing who she can trust, it’s up to Lisa to face her past in order to save what she holds dear.
But someone has been pulling all their strings. And that someone is determined that both Lisa and Ava must suffer.
Because long ago Lisa broke a promise. And some promises aren’t meant to be broken.
more
Cross Her Heart is my first time reading a novel by Sarah Pinborough, but it will definitely not be my last. It seems that her novels can be rather polarizing, and I am happy to report that I really enjoyed this one.
What it’s about: Lisa is living a fairly quiet life – she has a best friend named Marilyn, a teenage daughter she loves named Ava, and a great job. But when her daughter saves a boy from drowning and it ends up in the papers, it creates a whirl of activity brought on by a terrible secret from her past… and threatens Lisa’s life as she knows it.
THIS BOOK. It did take me a bit to get into, but once I was hooked I was HOOKED. I thought it was predictable in some parts, but not in all, and the balance was fine for me. Marilyn was by far my favorite character, and even though she has shit of her own going on, she ended up being a source of comic relief throughout the novel. She was a badass and a very strong female character that I loved.
I think the best part is that the blurb doesn’t tell you a whole lot, and I really don’t recommend reading reviews before you read the novel. This is a great one to read and find out if you like it or not for yourself. People seem to be on both ends of the spectrum for this novel and I can see why. I thought that it did get a bit confusing with her chapter titles, but besides that I was able to keep up with the situation, and was so drawn to see what was so bad about Lisa’s past.
Pinborough did a great job with pacing for me, and it really kept me interested in what was going on. Cross Her Heart does start a bit slow, and Lisa may drive people crazy with her overbearing mother routine, but it does pick up and get pretty interesting.
Final Thought: This is a great novel to spur a discussion as it will not be for everyone. It moves quite quickly, and I definitely recommend checking it out as it is a very quick and engrossing read once you get into it. Abuse does become a heavy theme though, so just beware of that if it is a topic that makes you uncomfortable to read about. The author doesn’t really dwell too much on it though so that is something to take into consideration as well. All in all, I really liked this novel and would recommend it to almost everyone!
This was my first Sara Pinborough novel and it definitely won’t be my last!! Cross Her Heart was based about a main character Lisa, her best friend Marilyn and Lisa’s daughter Ava….and the secrets they keep. May not sound like much but it actually full of suspense, mystery and is a book you won’t want to put down. (I don’t like spoilers so I am not giving any) It goes back in time to give pieces of Lisa’s life as a child throughout the book to help
understand the present day. What I loved are the twists and turns the novel has…Love a plot where the author takes you in a place you don’t see coming. I definitely recommend this book!
Dark, unflinching and disturbing… Heart-breaking in places, twisty as hell. I’d like to claim that I guessed the ending but Sarah stayed one step ahead of me all the way through. Pacy, unnerving, addictive read with a dark, dark heart.
Cross Her Heart started a little slow but, wow, did it deliver in the end! What a book! Disturbing, gripping and very twisty. It’s a story of three women: Lisa, a single mom, her 16 year-old daughter Ava, and Lisa’s best friend, Marilyn. All three women have dark secrets that they hide from each other, but, of course, secrets have a tendency to come out and when they do, Lisa’s, Ava’s, and Marylin’s lives start to unravel and their relationships change irrevocably. Despite being close, did they know each other at all? There were so many twists in Cross Her Heart, my head was spinning, and once I got over the slow start, I was unable to put this book down. I highly recommend this suspenseful read.