Cross Her Heart by Sarah Pinborough

So Cross Her Heart was my Up, Up & Away book club selection, and I was excited when it was picked. But I was also a little nervous because I hated Behind Her Eyes, also by Sarah Pinborough. Now, you might wonder why I would select a book with an author that I have iffy feelings about, but I was in the minority of not liking Behind Her Eyes, and I wanted to give one of her books another chance. I am glad I did, because Cross Her Heart was much better, in my opinion.

(Source: Kelsey Darling)

Lisa is a mother to sixteen year old Ava, and is very overprotective of her. She needs to know where Ava is at all times, and what she is doing, and who she is with. She texts and calls her constantly. But Lisa knows about dangers  Ava is over it. She is sixteen after all; she is a woman. At least that is what the man online tells her. He gets Ava and thinks that Lisa is too overbearing and obviously does not trust Ava. Marilyn is Lisa's best friend and co-worker. She agrees that Lisa should let up on Ava a little bit, but also that maybe is Lisa does, Lisa can find someone special. Lisa has been alone for so long. But Marilyn knows that having someone special in your life does not guarantee happiness. These three women all have their secrets, some worse than others. But Lisa and Marilyn will have to work through their demons if they want to have any chance of saving Ava.

This book has a few alternating perspectives: Lisa in her youth, Lisa as an adult, Ava, Marilyn, and two side characters. I have a love hate relationship with books like this. I love it because I love knowing how different characters feel about what is going on; but I hate it because more often than not, every chapter flips to a different character and I am left on a mini-cliffhanger, and it sort of slows the progression of the book. This book also has a "Before" and "Now" that kept throwing me off. Again, it was appreciated because it allows you to learn what Lisa did and why she did it, and these chapters were not as often. Pinborough was also pretty good at making sure that a Before Lisa and Now Lisa chapter were not back to back. There is a lot of information in the book that would not have been able to be grasped had there not been rotating perspectives, but I do wish authors would stop the back and forth every chapter.

(Source: Giphy)

The start of the book was a little slow for me. I knew that Lisa had done something or been involved in something before Ava was born, and I knew that Ava was talking to some unknown man online, but those parts were really played up. You do not learn about Lisa's past until part two, which is also when you learn about Marilyn's role in the book. A lot of the first part of the book is Ava saying that she is a misunderstood woman and she hates her mother. Of course, all I could think during these rants where "you are only sixteen, you are not a woman, and stop chatting with a man you have never met who you think could possibly be married and is therefore too old for you." Of course, I remember feeling the same way at that age; but, I also never chatted with unknown men and engaged in unprotected sex with a boy I was planning on breaking up with anyway.

Once you get into part two though, I feel like Pinborough makes up for the lack of information. You finally learn about Lisa's past as Charlotte and the murder she committed and how she has spent her years after prison in a form of witness protection and a different identity. You learn about the horrors Charlotte experienced as a child at the hands of her step-father. You learn that Marilyn does not have the beautiful marriage Lisa lusts after, but is actually married to a man who abuses her. But Pinborough gives you just enough detail to want to read more into the next chapter; she does not give up everything until she is ready. Gotta love suspenseful books.

(Source: Giphy)

I have read some other reviews that have said that the book felt predictable and was not interesting. I would find myself agreeing with comments about the slow build, but other than that, I found the plot extremely intriguing and wanted to know about the characters. Aside from the slow build, I felt that the end was abrupt. I was listening to the audio book, and I am in the final parts of it, and I am wondering how the final battle will play out, when I look down to see that there are only eleven minutes left. The conclusion was good, but I wanted more from it.

Overall though, I was much more happy with this book over Behind Her Eyes. That novel had a supernatural theme to it that felt very unbelievable and slightly offensive. Cross Her Heart stays true to the thriller and suspense genres, which I feel were a better choice.

Rating: 7/10
Author: Sarah Pinborough
Genres: Mystery, Thriller, Fiction
Dates Read: May 11-14, 2019