“And you’ll think back to this moment, the first sign of trouble, and wish you’d killed it when you had the chance.”

Still Mine was one of those novels where I genuinely had no idea where the story was going. I had my theories, but I had them early on within the novel before I learned more details about the characters and their stories. I tend to be completely off course when I start guessing early on in the story and I definitely was by the time I reached the end.

Still Mine tells the story of Clare, a young twenty-something who shows up in the small town of Blackmore unannounced, a town in which no one ever stops by to just visit. Clare sticks out like a sore thumb and the townspeople are quick to notice her. A woman by the name of Shayna, who shares similar features and who is roughly the same age as Clare, has recently gone missing and the regular citizens of Blackmore are quick to jump on Clare and accuse her of being an undercover cop or reporter who is just there to try and get more information out of them.

Still Mine took a while to pick up and get going, but once it did I was hooked and eager to continue reading. The more I read the story, the more I learned about the characters and their backstories. The plot kept thickening and it felt as though it was building up to something intense and shocking. Unfortunately, that shock never came. I was expecting some sort of twist, but nothing really happened. The story kept building up, but it never reached anything. It kind of just fell flat. I wasn’t shocked or surprised by anything, I mostly just felt let down.

The way the characters were interacting, with Clare especially, made it seem as if these characters lives were more intertwined than they actually were. I found that the story focused a lot on Clare. I understand that she is the main character, but there was also the important storyline of Shayna’s disappearance and the mystery behind what happened to her that got less attention than I would have liked. I found that this aspect of the story was overshadowed by Clare and her interactions with the rest of the people of Blackmore. I don’t think the focus on Clare would have bothered me as much if we were able to find out more about her and her past. We get quick mentions of her mother, father, brother and husband, but none of it was very detailed. I wish I could have learned more about her, as well as the other characters for that matter. There were so many of them, it was almost hard to keep track, especially with similar names like Sara and Shayna or Jared and Jason. None of them were particularly interesting, but with just a bit more detail and insight into their lives, they could have been great.

I did like the interactions and tensions between some of the characters. A traumatic event that occurred 5 years ago has caused a lot of problems between residents of Blackmore which created great moments of anger and drama between these characters. Overall, I really enjoyed the writing style. It was fast paced and kept me wanting more, it’s just unfortunate that there wasn’t really anything more to give once the story came to a close.

Overall, I was left wanting to know more about Shayna and her life in Blackmore. Unfortunately, we don’t really learn much about her. Even with multiple journal entries written by her scattered in between chapters, I was left wanting more.This story had the potential to be amazing, but sadly, it just fell flat.

Note: This book was provided by the publisher in exchange for a fair and honest review.