And Don't Look Back

Featured
And Don't Look Back
Age Range
13+
Release Date
October 03, 2023
ISBN
978-1665932271
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After her mother’s death, a teen pieces together the truth of her family’s past and what her mom was hiding from in this thriller that’s perfect for fans of Courtney Summers and Tiffany D. Jackson.

Harlow Ford has spent her entire life running, caught in her mother’s wake as they flit from town to town, hiding from a presence that Harlow isn’t even sure is real. In each new place, Harlow takes on a new name and personality, and each time they run, she leaves another piece of herself behind.

When Harlow and her mom set off on yet another 3 a.m. escape, they are involved in a car accident that leaves Harlow’s mother fatally wounded. Before she dies, she tells Harlow two things: where to find the key to a safety deposit box and to never stop running. In the box, Harlow finds thirty grand in cash, life insurance documents, and several fake IDs for both herself and her mom—an on-the-run essentials kit. But Harlow also finds a photograph of her mom as a teenager with two other girls, the deed to a house in a town she’s never heard of, and a handful of newspaper clippings discussing the disappearance of a woman named Eve Kennedy, Harlow’s grandmother…relics of a part of Harlow’s life she never knew existed.

With these tantalizing clues about her mother’s secrets and the power to choose her own future for the first time, Harlow realizes she has two choices: keep fleeing her mom’s ghosts or face down the nebulous threat that’s been hanging over her for her entire life.

Editor review

1 review
And Don't Look Back
(Updated: October 09, 2023)
Overall rating
 
4.3
Plot
 
5.0
Characters
 
4.0
Writing Style
 
4.0
Illustrations/Photos (if applicable)
 
N/A
Harlow Ford has been on the run with her mother Cora forever. After a tragedy, she is left with hints of the reasons why her mother was always on the run. Harlow goes to the place where it all started with more mysteries and secrets, including one that involves her.

What worked: Haunting pulse-racing thriller of a teen who finds out her mother left behind secrets that might in fact be deadly. Harlow lives on the run with her mother, changing her name at each new town. The story picks up after the tragic death of her mother. When Harlow opens a safe deposit box, she finds not only lots of cash but photos and a deed to a house. Harlow's interest though is peaked with a newspaper clipping of a dead woman. Against her better judgment, Harlow goes into town to put the pieces together.

The mystery grows once in town. Harlow's character is realistic in all the emotions she struggles with in trying to figure out why her mother left. Even the townspeople hide secrets and this only frustrates Harlow in her quest to find out the truth about her mother and herself.

There's hints of romance and growing attraction between Sloane, one of the locals. Harlow wishes she could in fact be a normal teen and act on her feelings, only she fears what might happen. My only comment has to be I wanted to see more between Sloane and Harlow. Only later did I find out that everyone in town is connected to the mystery behind Harlow's family.

It's halfway through the book that the author takes some serious twists and turns on what happened the day Cora left town. Some secrets reveal facts that took me off guard.

Great dialogue, pacing, and characters you care about who are flawed, but multi-dimensional. It all makes sense when the pieces of the mystery come together with an ending that is guaranteed to have you gasping in disbelief.

Gripping thriller that is perfect for fans of Tiffany D. Jackson.
Good Points
1. Haunting thriller
2. LGBTQ representation
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