What happens when your worst fear comes true?Her only daughter has just gone away to college, and Maggie O’Farrell knows she’s turning into one of those helicopter parents she used to mock. Worrying constantly, texting more than she should, even occasionally dropping by the campus “just to say hi.” But Maggie can’t shake the feeling that something terrible is about to happen to Emma. And then, … happen to Emma. And then, just as Maggie starts to relax, her daughter disappears.
The clues are disturbing. An empty dorm room where Emma was supposedly living. A mysterious boy described as Future Husband in her phone. Dormmates who seem more sinister than friendly. As Maggie combs over the campus looking for signs of her daughter, she learns more about Emma’s life than she ever thought possible.
Kelly Simmons delivers another gripping novel in Where She Went, an unforgettable story of letting go and the secrets that surface when the person keeping them is gone.
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A mother’s worst nightmare is for her child to disappear. In this case, the child is an 18 year old girl who has recently started college. The story is tense and I thought it was a real page-turner – I was anxious to find out if the daughter was found and where she’d been. There were lots of clues that lead you in the wrong direction which made the ending even more interesting.
When Maggie’s daughter Emma goes away to college, Maggie is very worried about her. In the last year, her husband (Emma’s father) had been killed in the line of duty when he was with his partner who was also his mistress on police business. So the last year hasn’t gone well for Maggie and she is looking at everything negatively and is sure that something will happen to Emma when she leaves home for college life. The novel is told by Maggie after Emma goes missing and by Emma before she went missing to show how she got from being a college student to where she ended up (can’t tell you any more than that without spoiling it.) When Maggie finds out that Emma is missing, she goes into full scale mama bear mode. She wants answers and she wants them now. She tries to tell the police what to do and when they won’t follow her suggestions, she does things on her own. The more she finds out about Emma’s life at college, the more worried she gets. All of Emma’s clothes are gone but her cell phone is still in her dresser. And the more worried she gets, the more demanding and difficult she is for the police to handle. Even though they had been very close, Emma started keeping secrets from her mother when she went away to college which makes finding Emma even more difficult.
This is a taut well written book about a missing child and about the changes that happen in a parental relationship between a mother and a daughter as they grow up. Overall it’s a story about love and how far a mother will go to protect her child.
hanks to the publisher for a copy of this book to read and review. All opinions are my own.
What could have happened to college freshman Emma? Her dorm room is empty and her roommates aren’t concerned. The police think Maggie, the mother, is overreacting but she’s sure her daughter is in danger. By alternating between the mother’s and daughter’s point of view this mystery kept me turning the pages. I thoroughly enjoyed this novel!
/ 5
I finally read a book by Kelly Simmons!! Where She Went was a fairly short book at under 300 pages, and they really flew by for me as I waited to find out how all the things would come together.
Maggie’s daughter Emma has just started college and is living in the dorms, and Maggie has been missing her a lot but trying not to be a helicopter mom. But when she gets a visit from a police officer saying Emma seems to have disappeared she intermediately demands they take her to the college. What she finds is a room empty of all her daughter’s things and the police saying she should go home and let them do their job. Clearly Maggie does not do that, and she starts to do a little digging on her own. I really loved both Maggie and Emma, and they had just the right amount of depth for me. I also really liked the fact that Maggie was no nonsense and such a strong woman.
I also very much enjoyed the setup of the novel. It switches back and forth between Maggie and Emma with Emma’s viewpoint being everything leading up to her disappearance. Emma was sassy and smart, and clearly had great morals which was nice to see in a teenage character. I found Where She Went to have just enough suspense to keep me reading, and I had a hard time putting it down.
Song/s the book brought to mind: Whatever It Takes by Imagine Dragons
Final Thought: I’m not entirely sure how believable everything that happens in Where She Went actually is, but I don’t care about that and I really enjoyed the plot. If you only like books where you could picture it happening in real life, you may not like this one, but if you are like me and use books as an escape you should really enjoy it! I thought the ending was a tad anticlimactic, but overall I really enjoyed it and I can’t wait to read more by Simmons!
Thank you to the publisher for my advanced review copy via NetGalley. All opinions and thoughts are my own.
What would you do if your child disappeared from her college dorm? Maggie will do whatever it takes to find her daughter, Emma. This is a tense and riveting book that will keep you turning the pages. It is told in the alternating voices of Maggie and Emma and this works very well. The book transitions smoothly from chapter to chapter. Emma is working on a story for the school newspaper when she disappears. All her belongings are gone. Where is Emma? I loved these characters. They are so realistic and believable. I had to know what happened. I could feel the fear and the panic. This is a very quick read because you can’t put this book down. Well written with a great storyline. You don’t want to miss out on this book. Great read! ##tallpoppywriter ##bloomreads #tallpoppyblogger
Kelly Simmons’ WHERE SHE WENT is the complex, twisty story of a college student who may or may not be in over her head and a mother who will do whatever she must to save her–whether her daughter realizes she needs saving or not. Fans of smart, sophisticated suspense will love Simmons’ bold, relentless, and yet utterly relatable heroines. Highly recommended!
This book takes every mom’s worst fear, and turns it into a realistic and terrifying story! This page turner will keep you up long past your bedtime, and you won’t be sorry. Be warned-chapters jump between mom Maggie and her daughter Emma. This can make for a choppy story, but after a few chapters it didn’t bother me in the slightest
This is a book I won in 2020 through BookTrib.
Emma was not raised a spoiled rich brat. Her mom was a hairdresser, her dad a cop. She was not prepared for college at Semper at all. She decided to sign up for the roommate bingo and was placed with four other girls … to say they did not get along well is an understatement. In Emma’s quest for trying to fit in, she stumbled into the journalism room where she met Jason. Jason, the paper’s editor, basically told her to go find a story. So, she did.
This story is told in the voices of Emma and Emma’s mom, Maggie. An entertaining tale of the road Emma traveled down to find her story. A tale of the road Maggie traveled down after Emma. Maggie, the overprotective mom. Maggie, being a cop’s widow, was not happy with the police that were involved; she felt they were not doing enough. Emma met some folks while chasing her story that she would not necessarily have met otherwise, an eye-opening experience for her.
Not a bad read to start 2021 off with, a tale of the intricacies of college life for those who fit in and those who don’t, a tale that ends Emma up somewhere that you won’t expect in the end.
Where She Went was a twisted mystery! I enjoyed how the story was told in a sort of round about way to keep the truth well hidden until the very end. Maggie finds out that her daughter Emma is missing from the college campus. When she arrives at the college she finds out the strange circumstances about her daughter’s life and what happened to her. She is determined to find out what happened to her and to get the authorities to listen to her. At the same time we are seeing what Maggie is investigating, we learn about what happened to Emma before Maggie found out she was missing. While investigating a controversial story for the newspaper, Emma finds out exactly how far reaching it is and how many people are involved. After losing her husband, Maggie has struggled with her daughter being gone at college and trusting that Emma is strong enough to take care of herself. So after she finds out that Emma is missing, she is determined to find out the truth before she falls apart.
Where She Went is my first book by Kelly Simmons. Having your freshman child disappear from her college is every parent’s nightmare. Maggie has to face the disappearance of Emma alone. Her husband, Frank, a policeman was killed. This is a fast-paced read for most of the story told by chapters alternating between Emma and Maggie. I think this would be a good bookclub book as there is lots to discuss. My thanks to Sourcebooks Landmark and NetGalley for an ARC in exchange for an honest review.
Where She Went was a definite page turner and considering this is every parent’s worst nightmare, I expected it to be.
I loved the characters of Maggie and Emma and the alternating chapters that were theirs. The story flowed well, I was pulled in immediately and I just wanted to read more and faster in an attempt to see how this would end.
I think every parent who ever sent a child off to college, a new job in a different city or anything similar understands Maggie’s fear and can relate to it. That is what drew me in.
I think this book would make a great read for anyone who enjoys women’s fiction or a thriller although I think this is less a thriller than it is women’s fiction.
Thank you to Netgalley, the author and publisher for providing an ARC at my request. The opinions in this review are my own.
Author, Kelly Simmons, knocks this one out of the park! Where She Went is a page-turning, must-read-nonstop, edge-of-your-seat, thriller that could’ve been pulled from recent headlines. It pulled at my mama heartstrings and had me twisted in knots until the end. I say this with each book that I read by Simmons, but this is my new favorite!
Maggie O’Farrell lost her husband in the line of duty, then her daughter went off to college. She and her daughter had always been close, but now she is trying to reconcile being both a widow and an empty-nester, finding it hard to let go, but trying not to worry when she doesn’t hear from her daughter daily. College is supposed to be fun, exciting, and wonderful. That all changes when a police officer comes to tell her that her daughter might be missing and Maggie vows to do whatever it takes to find her daughter.
Emma is trying to find her place and thinks the campus paper may just be it. While searching for a story to show what she can do, she stumbles into something much bigger and more dangerous than she expected.
Told in alternating view points, WHERE SHE WENT will keep you on the edge of your seat as we find out how far each woman will go to chase what is important to them. The characters are interesting and I found myself rooting for each to succeed on their quest. This is a perfect read to curl up with a cozy blanket and a warm drink.
#WhereSheWent #KellySimmons #TallPoppyWriter #BloomReads #TallPoppyReviewer
Where She Went: A Novel by Kelly Simmons
October 1, 2019
Sourcebooks Landmark
I received this digital arc from NetGalley and publisher in exchange for an unbiased review.
Maggie O’Farrell owns a hair salon called Bubbles and Blowouts which helps pay the bills after her husband Frank died. He was a police lieutenant who was gunned down on the job. It never seemed clear what happened that day. Maggie’s main concern is her empty nest after her daughter, Emma leaves to attend Semper University. Although she tries to trust her daughter’s new found independence, she can’t help but worry about her. The daily calls begin to annoy and embarrass Emma whose roommates find ridiculous. The one comforting factor about Emma going to college was that her best friend Sarah would be there.
Just when Maggie starts to relax and focus on herself, there’s an increased in college campus crimes. Then, Maggie gets the call no mother wants to get…that her daughter is missing. Maggie will not let anyone stop her from finding her daughter including the police. She uses her intuition of years living with a police detective to track down the missing pieces of the story.
Unfortunately, Emma’s roommates are not very cooperative with their own secrets to hide. This is a page turner as the story flows back and forth between mother’s search for her daughter and her daughter’s search for justice. Amazing story which keeps your interest to the last page.
This was my first ever read by Kelly and I couldn’t turn the pages fast enough. How would you handle if your daughter in her first year of college went missing? All twists and turns keeps you guessing. I will definitely be rereading and recommending to all that want a fast pace read!
When I read the blurb to this book, I was immediately intrigued by the story most likely because I have a familiarity with helicopter parents. I’m also a fan of suspense so I thought it might be interesting. While I agree with other reviewers that this book is more women’s fiction over a thriller or suspense, there are some very suspenseful moments during the story.
Where She Went is the story of mother Maggie and daughter Emma. Emma is attending a local university in the Philadelphia area and even though her mom lives nearby, she chooses to reside in the dorms at the school. She also chooses roommates she doesn’t know over one of her high school friends. All of this doesn’t turn out quite like she expected because the roommates are mean girls and possibly more as Emma starts uncovering what they really do late at night. As a budding journalist, Emma goes to the school paper with what she knows and there she is encouraged to “find the story” which puts her in danger as she attempts to uncover the story about the “sugar babies” recruited at the school. Somewhere during the investigation, she disappears and no one is saying a word about where she might be.
When Maggie hears her daughter is missing, she immediately goes into cop mode. Her husband had been on the force before he was shot and Maggie is very familiar in police procedure. She knows it isn’t enough and begins an investigation of her own.
What I really liked about this story was the way it was told. The chapters alternate between Maggie and Emma’s point of view bringing some nice contrast between these two women and their impressions of what is going on around them. It seems like Maggie really doesn’t know what her daughter has been doing at college and there are many people who will tell her that. In spite of these frustrations, it is Maggie that ends up putting the pieces together to figure out what happened to Emma.
I did find the first half of the book a bit on the slow side. I can’t put my finger on why, all I know is that I kept looking at my progress on my ereader and thinking I should be farther along in the book. But the story was engaging enough to want to know what happened to Emma, and although there were some loose ends that never got explained, I did enjoy the last half of the book very much.
Overall, a suspenseful story of two women that deals with some basic situations like making friends, moving forward and resolving past hurts.
I was quickly looking for answers here, and trying to put myself in the shoes of a mother with her daughter missing, really unimaginable!
This story did keep my attention, and I kept thinking the worse! It could have come for the pages of the daily news, it is similar to what has happened on a national level.
The answers do come, and we walk in both the daughter’s and mother’s shoes, and hope for the best.
Emma is one brave girl, spunky for a freshman, and trying to fit into life here, but she is going alone into a dark world.
This quickly became a page turner as I looked for answers, and I so want the good to overcome evil!
I received this book through Net Galley and the Publisher Sourcebooks Landmark, and was not required to give a positive review.
Maggie is a mom of a new collage student and seems to be having a hard time cutting the strings but after her daughter Emma goes missing she doesn’t seem so wrong after all. Her daughter is a journalist and was working on a story about prostitution when she seemed to drop off the face of the earth. This story is a well thought out one that keeps your interest it is a slower book to read but very enjoyable. would definitely recommend this one.
Where She Went tells the tale of Maggie O’Farrell, owner of a hair-salon and recent widow of a police lieutenant killed while on duty, and her daughter Emma, a freshman at Semper University in Philadelphia, PA. The story advances in chapters which alternate between Maggie’s and Emma’s POV.
Maggie is a helicopter parent who has been part of and kept track of everything and everyone in her daughter’s life. Having Emma move “away” (in reality, to the campus of a near-by university) puts her in a bit of a tail-spin. She is having trouble adjusting to the change, and is dismayed by Emma’s attempts to gain some independence, telling Maggie “no one else’s mom calls three times a day or bakes cookies. Please stop.”.
As a result of her mother’s past hovering, Emma is more immature and naïve than the average college freshman. She looks forward to getting a fresh start in college, making new friends, and coming into her own. To her, college is a new beginning, with a level playing-field for everyone.To her dismay, she finds it very difficult to make friends and worse, she is basically ignored by her more worldly suite-mates (Fiona, Taylor, Annie and Morgan) at the dorm. Emma becomes more resentful towards and angry with them as time goes on. She attempts to get a job writing for the student newspaper, but is told be the editor to come up with a finished story and then they’ll talk. Frustrated all the way around, Emma is determined to turn in a good story, and begins investigating and fact-gathering.
Maggie is horrified when her husband’s ex-partner stops by for a “wellness check”. Her daughter hasn’t been seen or heard from for a few days and the police want to know if she’s been in contact with Emma lately. Convinced that harm has befallen her daughter, Maggie goes into mama-bear mode in OVERDRIVE and starts to steamroll the investigation as to what happened to Emma.
This novel was a “meh” read for me. I give it three stars because the story kept my attention, but the book isn’t as suspenseful as it’s marketed to be. The middle seems to be a bit drawn-out with Maggie’s domineering behavior becoming boorish and strident. The ending is wrapped up a bit too quickly and sweetly for my taste. More balance would do the trick.
My thanks to NetGalley and Sourcebooks Landmark for allowing me to read an ARC of this novel in exchange for an unbiased review. Publication date is 10/1/19.
Maggie is a helicopter mom and when her only daughter goes away to college, she needs to learn how to let Emma live her own life. When Emma goes missing, Maggie has to figure out what happened to Emma. This wonderful thriller is told by Maggie in the present and by Emma in the past leading up to her disappearance. This is a story of a mother’s love and what a mother will do to keep her child safe. I received an advanced readers copy and all opinions are my own.
A quick, fast-paced at times read with a few twist and turns that were very predictable.
As a mother, i can relate to all the feelings that are described in the story.
I liked that we get both pov as it’s interesting to know the story from both parts as to how each one sees everything that happens.
What i didn’t like is the reference to the church that is a bit overused here and it makes me think that maybe this story is more Christian read than what it’s presented (no judging here, just a thought), and the fact that is treated in the thriller category which in my opinion is not or has very few resemblances to it.