From the New York Times bestselling author of The Last House Guest–a Reese Witherspoon Book Club pick–comes a “hauntingly atmospheric and gorgeously written page-turner” (Kimberly McCreight, New York Times bestselling author of A Good Marriage) about a young woman plagued by night terrors after a childhood trauma who wakes one evening to find a corpse at her feet. Everyone knows the story of … feet.
Everyone knows the story of “the girl from Widow Hills.”
Arden Maynor was just a child when she was swept away while sleepwalking during a terrifying rainstorm and went missing for days. Strangers and friends, neighbors and rescue workers, set up search parties and help vigils, praying for her safe return. Against all odds, she was found, alive, clinging to a storm drain. The girl from Widow Hills was a living miracle. Arden’s mother wrote a book. Fame followed. Fans and fan letters, creeps, and stalkers. And every year, the anniversary. It all became too much. As soon as she was old enough, Arden changed her name and disappeared from the public eye.
Now a young woman living hundreds of miles away, Arden goes by Olivia. She’s managed to stay off the radar for the last few years. But with the twentieth anniversary of her rescue approaching, the media will inevitably renew its interest in Arden. Where is she now? Soon Olivia feels like she’s being watched and begins sleepwalking again, like she did long ago, even waking up outside her home. Until late one night, she jolts awake in her yard. At her feet is the corpse of a man she knows–from her previous life, as Arden Maynor.
The girl from Widow Hills is once again at the center of this story in this “compulsive page-turner” (Booklist).
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I wanted to love this book, I really did. I’ve loved every single book that Megan Miranda has released but this one just did not live up to the wonderful storytelling abilities I know she has. It started off slow but disturbingly creepy which is what kept it at 3 stars for me. The rest of the book is a twisted convoluted mess of characters that are probably supposed to make the reader question if they’re the true suspect but it just fell flat for me. I’d still recommend it for those that enjoyed Miranda’s other books, perhaps it was just me and my mood but no matter how hard I tried I just couldn’t make myself care about the MC.
Twenty years ago, six-year-old Arden Maynor was swept away in a storm while sleepwalking, and found three days later clinging to a storm drain. This sensationalized story follows Arden throughout her life, until she leaves her past behind to live as Olivia Meyer. Now, as the anniversary of that harrowing experience approaches, she finds herself sleepwalking again—only to wake up with the dead body of someone from her past at her feet. Okay, first of all, what a premise! I was hooked from the very beginning, with an alluring prologue that introduces us to one of the book’s major themes: how the stories told about us can easily become a cage. I admire Olivia so much for how hard she’s had to fight to outrun her story, and I felt so much empathy for her as she tries to figure out how and why the past has caught up to her. This book is filled with so many interesting characters, and Megan Miranda makes sure we’re suspicious of all of them, creating a taut sense of unease on every page. There were so many things I never saw coming in this book—including the ending, which is horrifying and satisfying all at once. I continue to love Megan’s beautiful writing, and the prose in this novel, like all her others, sings in a way that never distracts from, but only amplified the suspense.
I really enjoyed “All the missing girls”, but this novel fell flat. Very disjointed and frustrating to read. I only finished it because I hate to leave a book unread. I’m glad it’s over.
This was a great page-turner. I could not put the book down and what I predicted was not what would happen at the end.
“The Girl from Widow Hills” is Megan Miranda’s latest novel and is a slow burn mystery thriller.
Having read this author’s previous books “The Last House Guest” and “The Perfect Stranger” and only just enjoying them, I was bit dubious about reading this her latest book.
It wasn’t bad but it wasn’t good. A very simple and quite predictable storyline that was particularly slow and had (for me) a silly denouement.
The main protagonist Olivia is very dull and all the cast were sadly uninteresting and lacked character. I also felt there was some unanswered matters or unfinished business with a few people too.
The writing was professional though and flowed easily and I totally loved the way transcripts and journalists reports were interspersed between the chapters, giving you a ‘real-time’ feel of when Arden went missing twenty years ago and this kept me going through the story.
Overall a ‘meh’ book but that is just my opinion, I’m sure “The Girl from Widow Hills” will be enjoyed by many a reader and I will read more by this author again.
3 stars
With Hitchcockian flair, Megan Miranda shrewdly examines what becomes of the people at the center of those rare, sensational news stories that capture the nation’s attention. The Girl from Widow Hills gave me the creeps in the best way possible.
I typically love Megan Miranda’s books, so I was absolutely thrilled to receive this DRC. Unfortunately, this one didn’t hit out of the park for me.
When Olivia was a young child, she went missing during a rainstorm, possibly because she had been sleepwalking, and was found three days later. She received tons of media attention, her mother got a book deal, etc and once she was old enough, she ended up moving and changing her name. Fast forward 20 years and she’s got a dead body in her yard.
The Girl From Widow Hills started off slow for me, but I was extremely interested to see where this book would go since I myself used to sleepwalk and could relate to waking up and not knowing where you are and what was going on.
This is told from a first person perspective and a single point of view, with the exception of an interview at the end of each chapter. I think that works perfectly for this story with an unreliable narrator.
As someone with extreme anxieties and phobias of suffocating, there were times when Miranda’s writing really got to me and I’d have to take a break. It was just THAT descriptive and really immersed me into the story.
Overall, this was a good story for me. Not fantastic, but also not bad.
What I liked:
1.There were some twists, one shocked me.
2. An unreliable narrator (which I love)
3. Is a spoiler I won’t mention lol
4. Her writing is still fantastic. She made me feel uneasy, trapped, and watched…..totally creeped out.
What I didn’t like:
1. While it was interesting getting to know the people as Olivia (Arden) did, it also made it difficult for me to connect.
2. Too many side characters.
3. It was far too slow for my tastes. It didn’t pick up until well past the half way point-like 80-90%.
4. Too redundant for my likes.
I feel like this is more suited for people who like a more mid levelish mystery vs. a thriller or mystery/thriller.
Many thanks to Edelweiss and Simon & Schuster for the DRC
As a young child, Arden sleepwalked out of her house in the middle of a rainstorm and was swept away. Search parties were led by people in and out of town, and the event made the news well beyond the town of Widow Hills. Against all odds, Arden was found days later, alive, clinging to a storm drain. Ardens mother capitalized on the publicity, writing a book and going on talk shows. Arden gained fans and stalkers. The scrutiny became too much and as soon as she was old enough Arden changed her name to Olivia, moved and disappeared from the public eye. As the 20th anniversary of the rescue approaches Olivia feels like she’s being watched and begins sleepwalking again. Then late one night Olivia wakes in her yard – next to a dead man. A man she knew when she was Arden.
At first the idea this miraculous rescue would remain in the minds of a nation, and continue to be worthy of a news story on it’s anniversary, seems outrageous. In the 24-hour news cycle, how could something like this – something positive – be this enduring? Yet, I can see it happening. If you watch the news, or spend time online, you know that there is a need for a break from horror; a miracle survivor story has the power to provide that, particularly if there is name recognition likely to get a lot of “clicks”. Also, if you consider some of the famous people in the world, they are famous for nothing. Famous for existing. Famous for a mistake that might have been intentional. Et cetera. The plot of The Girl From Widow Hills was intriguing, as was Olivia. I recommend it for fans of psychological suspense.
Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for the ARC. The opinions in this review are honest and my own.
This one came to me from Simon & Schuster, and once I started it, I didn’t want to put it down. I requested to review this one because, I too am a sleepwalker, and I loved the idea of things going so fantastically awry for Arden. Miranda wrote her suffering so well. The combo of the lifetime fear of enclosed spaces and the fear of being found is a perfect storm to keep her PTSD alive.
I can’t even imagine how hard it was for her dealing with the fallout from her disappearance. To suddenly start sleepwalking again and then wake up to a dead body would have you questioning yourself and those around you. The storyline has you constantly guessing what is going on and who Olivia should trust. I was not prepared for the secrets that came out or the big reveal. The closer I got to the ending, the faster I read. This was a super fun read from start to finish.
Can you ever escape your past? What do you do when people won’t leave you alone and everyone wants something from you?
Arden Maynor became known to the nation when she was swept away by flood waters during the night when she was six years old. Police, firemen, rescue squads and townspeople in her town and the surrounding areas searched for her and prayed for her. She was found three days later, clinging to the grate of a storm drain. Her life would never be the same again.
As the nation celebrated, Arden struggled to get over the trauma of what she went through. With reporters and TV shows calling all the time, Arden just wanted to be left alone. Her mother, however, felt differently. She enjoyed basking in the attention, and was all too happy to cash in on offers from newspapers, magazines and TV shows. She even got a book deal. But with the fame also came the strange people, the stalkers, the creeps; and with every milestone anniversary it started all over again. It is no wonder that Arden moved hundreds of miles away Widow Hills as soon as she was old enough. She changed her name hoping to start afresh, never telling anyone about her past.
But the past doesn’t let go that easily. With the 20th anniversary of her rescue approaching, Olivia finds that she is reliving the trauma of what happened to her. She feels as if she is being watched, and she’s not wrong. When she stumbles over a corpse in her back yard one night, she finds herself cast into the spotlight once again.
The Girl from Widow Hills is a very entertaining and suspenseful read that is well worth your time. The author keeps the suspense at a level that makes you want to read on and on. A perfect escape from the stress of our global pandemic!
My thanks to NetGalley and Simon and Schuster for allowing me to read an ARC of this book in exchange for an unbiased review. All opinions expressed here are my own.
Arden Maynor was just 6 years old when she was swept away for 3 days during a storm. She was found after a search clinging to a storm drain. The media covered the story and every year after. Arden changes her name to Olivia and moves to another town to get away from the media. When she starts sleepwalking again, things start to happen. As her new town finds out who Olivia really is, Olivia finds out who her true friends are. Has the past caught up with Olivia or is a new terror after Olivia? I really enjoyed this thriller of a book! It kept me guessing until the very end! I received an advanced readers copy and all opinions are my own.
Rating: 3.5 stars
I wish I’d like this book more than I did. After I found out about Jessica McClure, “everybody’s baby”, that was stuck in a well for three days and had a whole nation rooting for her rescue, it definitely brings a chilling reality to this book.
This was almost a great book. This author definitely has a knack for tension, throughout the story you just know, you FEEL, something is wrong about Olivia/Arden’s past (don’t worry I won’t spoil anything), but you can never tell what. I absolutely loved that aspect of the book.
But other than that, this book just lacked that extra OOMPH that makes a great story. The character’s personalities just lacked depth and that connection with the reader. The pacing, in thriller book style, took things very slow until the very end. The setting was literally just a regular, plain old town.
There were definitely some bright lights: the backstory of sleepwalking, the twist at the end. But just not enough for this book to really stick to me to different. I am interested in reading more of this author, though!
This book was provided by the publisher via Netgalley in exchange for an honest review. The prologue of this book drew me in and this kept my interest throughout. Olivia thought she outgrew sleepwalking as a child, but 20 years later, her neighbor finds her outside in the middle of the night. The next night, she wakes up next to a body. Olivia has changed 20 much in the last 20 years, to protect herself – from the media, from the public. But her past is catching up to her. Olivia feels like she is being watched, she is suspicious of everyone. I liked all the characters, I could connect with them. I felt all questions were answered and I wasn’t left thinking, “what happened with this?”. I would definitely recommend this book.
I enjoyed one of this author’s previous books, “All The Missing Girls” so I thought I’d give this one a try. I’m glad that I did. Although it started off a bit slowly, by 30 pages I was invested in the story.
Can you imagine having something so traumatic happen in your childhood that your memory has been completely blocked? That’s what happened to Arden Maynor. At six years of age she created quite a sensation in her small town of Widow Hills. She was known by her mother to sleepwalk on occasion. One morning her mother wakes to find Arden missing and a terrible rainstorm raging. Eventually, 3 days later, Arden was found, holding on to the grate of an outlet for part of the drainage system in the town. It was considered almost a miracle that she could survive the raging waters for such a long time and to be found by her rescuer, Sean Coleman.
Afterwards she was a marked girl. Wherever she went through her life, until college, she was known as the girl from Widow Hills. Her mother seemed to enjoy the notoriety, she wrote a book that sold well. She went on talk shows and made lots of money off of Arden’s story, but somehow the money, in the end, was gone. Arden as a young woman starting college decided to shed her past history, changed her name and got a good education. She never wanted to see her mother again, she felt that her mother had made a lot of money on her story of trauma and then in the end lost it all, she was no support to Olivia, they were very different people.
Upon graduation Arden, now called Olivia, is enjoying a job as part of hospital administration and a lovely older home somewhat isolated in the woods where she enjoys being alone, enjoys her solitude. She finds out, rather traumatically, that her mother had died 7 months previously and she hadn’t known it. She is left with nothing but a box of memories that her mother kept. Nothing means much to Olivia and she puts it away in her closet.
Olivia has a great neighbor, an older man named Rick, and they both look out for each other. She is doing well and is happy when she fears that the sleepwalking has returned. One night she finds herself outside and stumbles upon a body. She runs to Rick who does everything he can to support her.
The past has a way of catching up to you and that is what happens in this story. Without getting more into the plot I can tell you that there is a myriad of characters, well described and believable. My favorite is probably the young police woman who is determined to find out what really happened that night, who the dead man is and what happened to him.
The ending of this thriller was a good one and I didn’t see it coming! Throughout the story it often seemed as though everyone we are introduced to could possibly be the killer, but nothing really stuck! In the end my suspicions were wrong and that was a great way to end this page turner of a novel.
I received an ARC of this novel from the publisher through Edelweiss.
The book is set to publish on June 23, 2020