From the Amazon Charts and Washington Post bestselling author of True Places comes a suspenseful novel of love, secrets, and obsession.
Psychology professor Jackie Strelitz thinks she’s over Harlan Crispin, her ex-lover and colleague. Why should she care if Harlan springs a new “friend” on her? After all, Jackie has everything she ever wanted: a loving husband and a thriving career. Still, she … a thriving career. Still, she can’t help but be curious about Harlan’s latest.
Nasira Amari is graceful, smart, and appallingly young. Worse, she’s the newest member of Jackie’s research team. For five years, Harlan enforced rules limiting his relationship with Jackie. With Nasira, he’s breaking every single one. Why her?
Fixated by the couple, Jackie’s curiosity becomes obsession. But she soon learns that nothing is quite what it seems and that to her surprise—and peril—she may not be the only one who can’t let go.
more
STORIES WE NEVER TOLD by Sonja Yoerg is wickedly deceptive. At first, I felt lulled into a sense of security, like maybe I knew where the storyline was headed. Then WHAP! She deftly pulled the rug out from under me and threw me for one heckofa loop! A great read—I highly recommend it!
How well do we know the people in our lives—and is it even worth it to uncover the truth? These are the questions at the heart of Sonja Yoerg’s gripping new novel about a psychologist and her inner circle, none of whom are what they seem. Smart, suspenseful, and ultimately jaw-droppingly surprising, Stories We Never told highlights Yoerg’s superb writing as well as her gift for getting deep inside the human mind … and heart. Another unputdownable novel from an author at the top of her game.
Having read Sonja Yoerg’s True Places, which is still fresh in my thoughts, I picked up this book without a second thought, as I knew ‘Stories We Never Told’ must be as intense as the former. I found it even better – a multidimensional plot, admirable character development and chilling revelations about relationships and people. The book makes a slow start but it picks up speed halfway and when it does, it just spins you around!
I could sense that Harlan is a creep, much worse than a monster but couldn’t fathom to what extent he could go when he says, “I went to Madison and grew a shell. And from inside of that new carapace, I took control once more.” Is it about weak women or controlling men? Is it about self-centered freaks who take pleasure in their own joy? While you try to guess, Sonja’s style of throwing in some nuggets of wisdom about happiness, about men who say sorry to make a deal, about women and their irrational jealousies, about how growing up is affected by home environment and the relationships of parents, about pain we carry within, trying to bury it deeper would also gnaw at your nerves. This is not just a hollow thriller. So many emotions have been compressed into this book, if you pay attention.
Stories We Never Told is a study in characterizations and in deeply layered plot. Readers are sure to be swept into its page-turning pace and cast of characters. I highly recommend this book; it bends the genres of domestic suspense and contemporary fiction, and is unexpected and refreshing, such that readers of either genre will enjoy and appreciate it.
This is my second time reading this author, and the 2 books couldn’t have been more different! Sonja Yoerg is able to go from family drama to suspense as smoothly as silk. This book kept me wondering where things were going until maybe the last 25%. Even when I had an idea of where the story was going, I couldn’t stop reading, needing to find out WHY? Intriguing and thought-provoking story
Thanks to author & NetGalley for an ARC for review purposes
Stories We Never Told is a superb, slow-burn suspense that brilliantly ratchets up the tension and character development notch by notch, layer by layer, culminating in a chilling, emotional ending. Sonja Yoerg is a master at creating characters you fall into, and her writing is stunning. A must read!
Truth and trust relentlessly collide in this beautifully written and riveting page-turner. Talented storyteller Sonja Yoerg will ensnare you from page one — and her determined and endearing main character, twisted by love and betrayed by expectations, will keep you turning pages as fast as you can. Loved this!
Sonja Yoerg expands her literary repertoire into suspense with Stories We Never Told, a tale of obsession, love, secrets, marriage, and the lies we tell ourselves. The prose is lyrical and immersive, and the story builds delicious tension. But the characters are where Yoerg truly shines: they’re all so keenly developed, so realistic, and so surprising with their own crackling takes on relationships, academia, and each other that the story itself starts to feel almost immaterial. Until, of course, it shocks the living hell out of you.
It’s a rare psychological thriller that shows both the dark depths our obsessions can lead to and the unlikely breakthroughs that can let the light in. Sonja Yoerg’s Stories We Never Told does just that, deftly introducing a brilliant cast of characters for whom detachment and intimacy can be equally terrifying. A taut, clever, and satisfying read.
STORIES WE NEVER TOLD by Sonja Yoerg is a riveting novel of domestic suspense that kept me on the edge of my seat from beginning to end. It is a story of love, obsession and manipulation with lots of twists and turns that had me guessing who to believe. Jackie Strelitz is a sharp and successful Psychology professor with a promising future. She is certain she has put her five-year relationship with her colleague, Harlan Crispin behind her and is now married to Miles, a man who is loving even though he sometimes appears distant. All is well until Jackie finds out that Harlan is seeing the new post-doctoral fellow in her lab. Strange things begin to happen at home and at work and soon Jackie is questioning her own sanity and wondering if there is anyone she can truly trust. As the story unfolds, the reader learns that every character has their long-held secrets and things may not be what they seem. I truly enjoyed this expertly-plotted and fast-paced book and highly recommend it! Thank you to the author, publisher and NetGalley for the chance to read an early copy.
Upon opening this book, the “slippery slope” starts.
We begin to see the main characters; Jackie, Miles, Harlan and Nasira and their personalities broaden as the plot thickens in this psychological thriller.
There is jealousy, rage, fear and distrust within each chapter and I never knew who to believe as my theories kept changing. It will leave you guessing until the end and then gasping as you realize what is really happening!
This is just one of those novels that you will need to stop your life and live with these characters for a bit!
Excellent!
An intricate and gripping novel about relationships! It’s a look at women and the intricacy and intimacy of their relationships with their partners. And their relationships with other women and their family. It’s full of love, regrets, and secrets. Jackie has been married for years to her husband, so why does it bother her that the man she used to date is seeing her colleague? Soon, she will feel entangled and confused by everyone around her as she sorts through her feelings.
Wow! This is a psychological thriller that will make your heart skip beats! I’ve read other books by Sonja Yoerg but this one is entirely different. I love an author who can cross genre lines and do it in a divine manner! Readers will love this story about a psycho ex boyfriend with a twisted agenda!
WOW! Sonja Yoerg, author of “Stories We Never Told” has written an intense, edgy, page-turning, suspenseful and riveting novel. The genres for this book are Psychological Thriller and Fiction. The story is set in the author’s present and goes to the past when it pertains to the characters or events. The author describes her dramatic characters as dysfunctional, flawed, complex, and complicated. Some are manipulative, unscrupulous, and suspect. There are betrayals, lies, and murder.
Jackie Strelitz, is a Psychological professor doing important studies with autistic children. On her team are very bright doctoral students. Jackie has a husband and is very busy. Her colleague and ex-boyfriend seem to be getting Jackie’s attention. He is dating one of the young members of Jackie’s professional team. Jackie is aware that this is causing her anxiety.
Jackie discovers that some of the data in her studies have been deliberately changed. There are strange happenings that are going on. Someone is a Master Manipulator and seems to be causing emotional and physical havoc. This has now become a deadly and obsessive game. I would highly recommend this chilling thriller.
Whew! What a ride. This novel kept me glued to the pages and my mind churning with each piece of information Sonja Yeorg doled out. STORIES WE NEVER TOLD is a suspenseful novel that makes you wonder how well you know the people around you, or even yourself.
Jackie Strelitz is a successful professor with a research project she is passionate about. She and her husband, Miles, have a good marriage and they are even friends with her ex, a colleague at the university she dated for five years. When Harlan meets them for dinner with a “friend,” who is also doing her post-doctoral work under Jackie, things start getting interesting. Why does it seem that Harlan and Nasira’s relationship is moving forward faster than Harlan and Jackie’s ever did? Why does Jackie care so much when she is married to Miles and they have such a great relationship? Or do they? Why does it seem that everyone is hiding something? As things unravel for Jackie, including professionally, she must step back and figure out what is really going on in her life and who she can trust before it’s too late.
Told mainly form Jackie’s point of view, we get Harlan’s and a peak into the lives and back-story of the other two players in this novel. Yeorg kept me on my toes and engrossed as she spun her tale and developed unforgettable characters. Don’t miss this one!
Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for an advanced copy of this novel. All thoughts and opinions expressed are my own.
#TallPoppyWriter #TallPoppyBlogger #BloomReads #StoriesWeNeverTold
Wow! This story took me down a path I was not expecting to go down. These people really have some issues with each other. Stories We Never Told is full of very interesting characters and relationships. We get to watch as these relationships start to fall apart and unravel. Seriously, do any of them have any redeeming qualities?
What I really like about Sonja’s books is that each story is so different from her previous ones. I never know what I’m going to find between the covers of her books. Each story is a new adventure and I never know where she’s going to take me. And I love that!
I’ve loved each of Sonja’s stories, right from her very first book. I love that I can be immersed in her fictional world for a bit and find characters that I am going to love, or love-to-hate, as the case may be.
I loved Stories We Never Told. It was definitely a page-turner, full of memorable, somewhat disturbed characters who kept me enthralled. Honestly, this was the book that finally pulled me out of my pandemic reading slump. I highly recommend it!
Sonja Yoerg has taken her writing in a different direction with Stories We Never Told. This book is a suspense novel. Jackie is married but her ex-boyfriend works at the same university as her. When she finds out that Harlen, the ex, is dating on of the research team working on the same program as Jackie the jealousy comes through. She stalks Harlen, she questions Nasira, and she questions the life she is living. As things start happening to Jackie at work and at home, she starts to question what was really going on.
I devoured Stories We Never Told. I couldn’t put the book down and was curious to see where the story would head next. The mystery of what was happening to Jackie, who was messing with her, who could she trust kept me turning pages, trying to figure out the who-dun-it aspect of the story, and hoping that I was heading in the wrong direction.
I can’t say enough for the ending, it was phenomenal. I didn’t see it all coming, I had some ideas and wasn’t entirely wrong, but the last part of the book was the absolute best.
Multilayered, tense, and guileful!
Stories We Never Told is a meticulous, chilling, domestic thriller that takes us into the life of Jackie Strelitz, an accomplished, intelligent woman who finds her life turned upside down when her ex-lover returns from a sabbatical with a new, younger girlfriend, her husband becomes more distant and her desire for a baby appears entirely one-sided, and someone suddenly seems extremely intent and determined to undermine and interfere with her research project at work.
The prose is intricate and raw. The characters are secretive, consumed, and vulnerable. And the plot, including all the subplots, intertwine and unravel subtly into a compelling tale of life, loss, family, manipulation, obsession, deception, jealousy, mind games, violence, and murder.
Overall, Stories We Never Told is a clever, taut, menacing tale by Yoerg that highlights just how easily people can be psychologically and emotionally exploited, and reminds us that even those closest to us often have deep, dark secrets they choose to hide.
Whoa! You think you know someone. You think you know yourself. And then, everything is called into question. I have read all of Sonja Yoerg’s fiction and gladly followed her into this new genre. Stories We Never Told is a multilayered, suspenseful novel about the said and the unsaid. Rich with insights into the secrets we harbor, in these pages, you’ll find an unsettling evolution of jealousy, obsession, and calculating manipulation, but also, trust, understanding, and a respect for the beauty of life. What I loved most as Jackie peeled the layers that distorted her understanding of those around her were the discoveries she learned about herself. In what ways do we create blind spots in our stories when we conceal our histories and truths, not just from others, but from ourselves? Riveting, thought-provoking, and wholly satisfying. Enthusiastic five stars!
3.5 Stars rounded up to 4.
Jackie is a child psychology professor, happily married to Miles…or is she? Her ex, Harlan, is also a professor at the same college, and is dating Jackie’s postdoctoral student, Nasira. After the four have dinner, Jackie starts comparing her previous relationship to Harlan vs. Nasira’s new one. That is just the tip of the iceberg, as things soon take a different direction.
I loved True Places, so I couldn’t wait to jump in. This is an enjoyable read for someone just dipping their toe in the psychological thriller pool. Sonja Yoerg writes beautiful, intelligent books full of emotion. I did not find this a heart-pumping read, but I loved the character development, and it really delved into the mind games. My opinions changed on many characters as the story unfolded. So many relationships to decipher and discuss…mother, husband, coworkers, stepson, ex lover.
Thanks to Ms. Yoerg, Lake Union Publishing and NetGalley for this ARC. Opinion is mine alone.