Eyes Like Mine starts off with Nora Watts learning that her daughter Bonnie that she gave birth to 15 years ago, but didn't keep has gone missing. Has Bonnie run away, or have she been kidnapped? For Nora is Bonnie just an awful reminder of something traumatic that happened to her years ago, but still, she can't help, but try to find out the truth about what happened to Bonnie.

Eyes Like Mine is a bleak thriller about a woman that has been through so much since she was a child that it's amazing that she has the strength to keep going. Her mother left her and her younger sister and her father killed himself when they were very young and they ended up in foster care. Then, years later she ends up pregnant with a child she doesn't want. And, now she has to face the past and through the book, we learn the truth about what happened to her that made her give up her daughter.

It's not hard to feel sorry for Nora Watts, she has been through so much and not with not much support through her life. Her sister is a real bitch. She does, however, have the greatest bosses, a gay couple and she also has a dog that, despite Nora's pessimistic nature seems to like her more than Nora thinks. She also has a strained relationship with her ex-sponsor.

The book is engaging to read, you get pulled into the story and it doesn't let you go. I did, however, feel that I wanted to know more when the story ended, not that the ending was bad, just that I wanted to know what would happen next.

I want to thank the publisher for providing me with a free copy through NetGalley for an honest review! ( )

Eyes Like Mine starts off with Nora Watts learning that her daughter Bonnie that she gave birth to 15 years ago, but didn't keep has gone missing. Has Bonnie run away, or have she been kidnapped? For Nora is Bonnie just an awful reminder of something traumatic that happened to her years ago, but still, she can't help, but try to find out the truth about what happened to Bonnie.

Eyes Like Mine is a bleak thriller about a woman that has been through so much since she was a child that it's amazing that she has the strength to keep going. Her mother left her and her younger sister and her father killed himself when they were very young and they ended up in foster care. Then, years later she ends up pregnant with a child she doesn't want. And, now she has to face the past and through the book, we learn the truth about what happened to her that made her give up her daughter.

It's not hard to feel sorry for Nora Watts, she has been through so much and not with not much support through her life. Her sister is a real bitch. She does, however, have the greatest bosses, a gay couple and she also has a dog that, despite Nora's pessimistic nature seems to like her more than Nora thinks. She also has a strained relationship with her ex-sponsor.

The book is engaging to read, you get pulled into the story and it doesn't let you go. I did, however, feel that I wanted to know more when the story ended, not that the ending was bad, just that I wanted to know what would happen next.

I want to thank the publisher for providing me with a free copy through NetGalley for an honest review! ( )

Nora Watts works as a research assistant to a prominent investigative reporter. She lives, unconventionally, in the basement of the building in which she works.

Over fourteen years ago something dreadful happened to Nora, which she only partially remembers. She was left for dead in a ditch, and was in hospital in a coma for several months. When she emerged from the coma she was five months pregnant, too late for an abortion. Her doctors considered her a danger to her unborn baby, and she was put into protective custody. Her baby daughter was put up for adoption. All the details were supposed to be secret, but now someone has found her. Not only that, her daughter is missing.

Nora is a very striking character, not particularly likeable, but likely to resort to violence if it suits her.

I found the pattern of the novel un-settling - several very short chapters followed by much longer ones. There is no consistency. The "voice" of the missing girl is introduced without warning, although the book is mainly written through Nora. Occasionally there is third person narration.

However it is the search for the missing girl that keeps you reading, although the reasons why she is missing were a little hard to believe, and the final chapters almost impossible. ( )

I really wanted to like this book and worked hard to get to like the main character, Nora. I really like 'bad' characters and thought this one would be up my street.

Unfortunately, it didn't work for me. I found her mixture of alcoholism and general aggressiveness a bit too much and her abuse of another character in the book (Bradzuca), really turned my stomach.

I also found the final scenes unbelievable. Sorry, this wasn't for me.

I received a copy of this book from NetGalley. ( )

Eyes Like Mine – Wow what a breath-taking debut

Sheena Kamal smashes it out of the park with her breath-taking debut, Eyes Like Mine, it grabs you from the first sentence all the way to the end. Her characters are supposed to be rough round the edges but you still cannot help but love them and as for Whisper, a dog that gives more love than one knows but never one for the easy option, rather like her keeper! This really is a dark, female-driven thriller that keeps you on edge all the way through and you cannot help but hope for the best but fear the worst.

Nora Watts, alcoholic, rape survivor, runaway, chronic failure, sometime secretary and occasional investigator and general bull spotter, Vancouver resident, and general outsider. It is late at night and Nora receives a phone call, and we all know nothing good comes from a late-night call, she tries to ignore it but she answers. She is informed that the daughter she gave up at birth has runaway, possibly disappeared and her adoptive parents have turned to her as Bonnie’s possible saviour.

As a former runaway, Nora knows nothing good can come from a teenage girl that are lost to the streets, the police do not care about them, especially if they are not blonde and pretty. Her daughter like her is a woman of colour, who has mixed heritage who is just not telegenic enough for anyone to really care about this child, other than those close to her.

As Nora begins her hunt for the daughter she has never known, she discovers that there is a dangerous conspiracy while at the she may have to face her deepest fears during the search. What she discovers is a harrowing journey to hell, full of deception and violence, where she travels from the streets of Vancouver, to the snowy playground of the rich and back down to an island and the sea around it.

While this really is, a gripping read, there are times when you just want to turn away as you can feel the pain Nora feel as the perpetual outsider, never seen always ignored, and the only one that loves her is a mutt, Whisper, who chose her. Throughout the story, you are gripped as you get to see the good, the bad and the very ugly, all shades of life packed in to Nora’s journey, showing the depths we humans can go to.

Eyes Like Mine is such a gripping read, it is difficult to believe that this is a debut, but it really does have the wow factor. Pick this book up and you will never want to put it down, you will be left breathless, you will fall in love with the characters, even though you shouldn’t. One hell of a brilliant psychological thriller that will keep you in suspense throughout. ( )