Kiss Her Goodbye by Susan Gee #travelingsistersread #BookReview #BlogTour @Aria_Fiction @SusanGeeWriter

KISS HER GOODBYE BY SUSAN GEE BLOG TOUR

Hello everyone and thank you so much for stopping by! We are so excited and it’s our absolute pleasure to be a part of the blog tour for Kiss Her Goodbye by Susan Gee and share our individual reviews with you. Thank you so much to Victoria Joss from Aria for inviting us to be a part of the blog tour.

The Traveling Sisters ~ Norma, Brenda & Lindsay! xxoo

About the author
Susan Gee was a finalist in the Daily Mail Write a Bestseller Competition as well as a finalist in The Good Housekeeping fiction competition. This is her first novel.

Follow Susan
Facebook: @susangeewriter
Twitter: @SusanGeeWriter

About the book
Seventeen year old Hayley Reynolds is unwanted at home, and an outsider at school. Pushed away by her best friend Kirsten Green, she makes a deliberate, chilling decision – if Kirsten can’t belong to her, then she won’t belong to anyone….
DI Beverley Samuels has the body of a schoolgirl on her hands – a murder that brings back the hauntingly painful memories of the case she’s tried so desperately to forget.
There’s something deeply disturbing about this crime – and yet with little hard evidence it’s up to her to decide who she will believe….

Tightly-plotted, tense, and a finale with a heart-stopping twist – get ready for the biggest
thriller of 2018. Fans of Claire Mackintosh, Laura Marshall, A. J. FInn and Alice Feeny won’t be disappointed!

Norma’s Review

Enjoyable, entertaining, and a highly compulsive read!

KISS HER GOODBYE by SUSAN GEE is a haunting, chilling, disturbing and dark psychological crime thriller novel that features quite the nasty, sinister and manipulative teenage psychopath.

The opening chapter was quite distressing and made me feel a little uncomfortable but once I got through that chapter and into the mindset of this brilliantly portrayed psychopath then I was totally consumed in this novel and couldn’t put it down.

SUSAN GEE delivers an intriguing, unsettling, and sometimes repetitive read here with one of the most disturbing main characters that I have ever read. Even the supporting cast of characters weren’t all that likeable or endearing. The whole sordid tale in general was so irresistible and totally grabbed my attention but I would say though that the tone of the novel was a little juvenile at times. Although I really think it reflected the characters well in this story though.

There were some aspects of this novel that did have me questioning what I was reading but it didn’t bother me at all though. One of the things was changing my mindset that college in the UK wasn’t how we perceive college to be in Canada. So I did have to remind myself that college in the UK starts at the age of 16 and typically ends when they are 18 so therefore some of the logistics and scenes in this novel were a little distracting but really not all that much though. Just made me pause a time or two and then continued on.

What made this novel really stand out was the manipulation and deceptive nature of the characters as well as how Susan Gee manipulated that deception into the plot. Very impressive!

Brenda’s Review

First we meet Hayley Reynolds a teenager who appears to be calm and quiet on the outside but terrifyingly chilling on the inside. We get a good look inside her disturbing and manipulating mind and she makes for a fascinating psychopath. Hayley feels like an outsider and unwanted at home and that only makes her even more dangerous. I was intrigued by her and starting turning those pages as fast as I could.

Then we meet DI Beverley Samuels who is haunted by painful memories of a case where she missed some things. She is determined not to make the same mistakes again and I started to question if this affected her judgement.

At times I really enjoyed the dynamics here between the characters and the game Hayley plays here to manipulate her innocence and keep the finger from pointing to her. At times it was exciting, tense and entertaining but I did become weary with the back and forth between them and the pace slowed down a bit for me. Things did pick up for me again near the ending and I really enjoyed how it all came together. That ending was chilling and a bit unsettling and I didn’t see it coming.

I recommend this one to readers looking for something a little different here with a teenage psychopath and a DI with the case that haunts her.  Just a heads up it does have a little juvenile drama at time.

Lindsay’s Review

Hauntingly atmospheric, suspenseful and unsettling.

This dark and chilling story follows Hayley Reynolds, a teenage girl who feels unwanted.  With a highly unstable homelife, troubled childhood and very few acquaintances at school, Hayley is often left on her own, her dark and disturbing thoughts the only thing to keep her company.   One day, Hayley makes an unsettling decision that changes her life, along with everyone in her small town.

DI Beverley Samuels is on the case in Hayley’s town to find answers to a young girls’ disappearance. However, Beverley is deeply haunted by a past case.   She can’t get over the young girl’s murder – it preoccupies her every thought.   This story really opened my eyes to how damaging a past case can be on a police detective.   Beverley suffered from an extreme sense of guilt related to missing some critical pieces of information on a case – it consumed her.

This novel unfolds through Hayley and Beverley’s perspectives in alternating chapters.  I found both narratives equally intriguing. The author, Susan Gee, did an excellent job immersing us into each character’s mindset, the tension building in each chapter.   I felt chills creep up my spine at several points throughout this book.  There was such a dark and unnerving tone to this story – I felt completely drawn into the unsettling and eerie atmosphere.

Norma’s Stats:
Cover: Ominous, eye-catching, and intriguing. A good representation to storyline but maybe a little bit deceiving.
Title: Intriguing, suspenseful, and an extremely fitting representation to storyline.
Writing/Prose: Straightforward, captivating, and repetitive but oh so alluring though.
Plot: Dark, disturbing, engrossing, fast-paced, held my attention fully and extremely entertaining.
Ending: Shocking, disturbing, and satisfying. I was extremely pleased with the outcome even though it wasn’t necessarily a happy one.
Overall: The book was just as disturbing as the characters were which made this an exciting and gripping read! Would recommend!

Thank you so much to NetGalley, Aria, and Susan Gee for the opportunity to read an advanced copy of this book in exchange for a review.

Kiss Her Goodbye is available now!

SUSAN GEE – AUTHOR Q&A

Tell us more about your new novel, Kiss Her Goodbye.
Kiss Her Goodbye follows two characters, Hayley Reynolds, a teenager who has murdered a girl from her college and DS Beverley Samuels, the detective who is trying to solve the crime. Hayley is a flawed and complex character and the story follows her as she manipulates those around her. DS Samuels is haunted by a past case and Hayley uses that to manipulate her. The story is more of a ‘will she get away with it?’ rather than a ‘who done it?’

How did you come up with the idea for this novel?
I wanted to write about a teenage girl who was a killer rather than a victim. I also wanted to explore a story from a troubled character’s perspective to see what made them tick. I was interested in trying to understand the complexity of a troubled character like Hayley.

What was the hardest part of the book to write?
Hayley’s character is dark, but I didn’t want to demonise her. I wanted to portray a flawed character with a degree of sympathy. Trying to do that against the terrible acts that she commits was a challenge, but it was an interesting journey.

Did you do any specific research for the book?
The book is set in the 1980’s so I did have to research events taking place at the time. Also as the book is set in a real place I wanted to make sure that the shops and bars were the ones that were around at that time. The main character loves New Order and so it was fun to revisit some of their music.

Can you describe Kiss Her Goodbye in 3 adjectives?
Dark, troubled and twisted.

How long did it take to write the novel and how many drafts did you write?
I finished this novel and then put it away for a couple of years while I explored new ideas. I decided to send it out to two competitions and was lucky to be the runner up in both. From this I secured an agent who suggested adding the character of the detective so I rewrote it again with the new point of view included. So it has had a few re-drafts.

Do you have a special place where you like to write?
I write in bed or on the sofa. It can be hard to find a quiet space in a busy household so I’m used to working with people around me.

What authors have inspired you in your writing journey?
Flawed characters and dark stories are the ones that I’m drawn to. I loved The Wasp Factory by Iain Banks and The Long Walk by Stephen King when I first read them. Annie Proux write so concisely and truthfully, Broke Back Mountain is a brilliant short story. When I was younger I loved a wide range of books from John Irving to Jane Austen. I think inspiration comes from every book that you read. There is always something that you take away from a novel.

When did you decide to write and what prompted you to start?
I have always written. I used to write short stories, but always wanted to write a novel. I realised that the only way for my novel to exist was to actually get down and do it. I was tired of hearing myself say the words, ‘I’ll write a book one day.’ I took an MA in Creative Writing at Manchester University, which was very useful. It introduced to me to other writers and gave me the confidence to finish the book.

Can you tell us a bit about your plans for the future?
The future will involve writing more words. I have started a new draft for another novel. It will be dark and there will be a dead body in it. This is inevitable.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Please check out these other fantastic blogs that are participating in the blog tour!