ARC Review: No One Else Can Have You by Kathleen Hale (Jessica's Review)

Title: No One Else Can Have You
Author: Kathleen Hale
Rating: ★★★★★ (5/5 Stars)
Paperback, 384 pages
To Be Published January 2014

Oh my god. Oh my god. Oh my god. Or, to be more correct, oh my gah. This book was absolutely amazing to the point that I'm literally shaking. This is Kathleen Hale's debut novel, and I have to say...it's absolutely thrilling.

This book hasn't hit shelves yet*, so here's a quick description for any of you that want to know just what this book is about:

"Small towns are nothing if not friendly. Friendship, Wisconsin (population: 689 688) is no different. Around here, everyone wears a smile. And no one ever locks their doors. Until, that is, high school sweetheart Ruth Fried is found murdered. Strung up like a scarecrow in the middle of a cornfield.

Unfortunately, Friendship’s police are more adept at looking for lost pets than catching killers. So Ruth’s best friend, Kippy Bushman, armed with only her tenacious Midwestern spirit and Ruth’s secret diary (which Ruth’s mother had asked her to read in order to redact any, you know, sex parts), sets out to find the murderer. But in a quiet town like Friendship—where no one is a suspect—anyone could be the killer."

Like stated previously, this book was absolutely amazing. Other than amazing, it was also so creepy!!! The setting was enough to give me chills--it's a small town where everyone knows each other and everybody is entirely too polite and honest. It's just...weird. But I loved it. Throughout the entire story, I kept getting creepy chills and thinking to myself, Man, Hale is a pretty good author if she can scare me like this--books don't usually scare me. 

The part that definitely shocked me the most was the part where I found out who Ruth's murderer was. (Don't worry, I won't spoil it for you all.) Once I found out, I literally put down the book, picked up my phone, and started rapidly texting Amber about how it couldn't be possible and I couldn't believe it.

Like I said before, that never happens with me. Books usually don't make me have such strong reactions.

Hale is an excellent writer because she's able to create a story that's dramatic, eerie, chilling, and also a little bit scary.** It's perfect for keeping you on the edge of your seat, which I definitely was. 

Who would I recommend this book to? Anyone and everyone that loves a creepy, chilling murder mystery. In a way, I was sort of remind of Pretty Little Liars while reading this book--throughout the entire story, the author makes it seem like A (or in this case, Ruth's murderer) is one person, but when you reach the end of the novel...bam. It's nobody that you'd even think to suspect.

Ouch. Did that give too much away? I don't think so.

Anyway, be on the lookout for No One Else Can Have You by Kathleen Hale, which will be published in January 2014!

*-I received an Advanced Reader's Copy of this book from the author in exchange for an honest review. All thoughts, statements and opinions expressed in this review (excluding the book's synopsis) are entirely my own and have not been swayed in any way.

**-Special thanks to author Kathleen Hale (@HaleKathleen) for sending both Amber and I copies of this ARC to review. You rock and we'd love to get copies of your future works to review, too!