Never Say Never

by Toni Larue'

Loving the wrong man can make you snapFor Marla Vaughn…cheating is a deal breaker. When she overhears a conversation with her husband on the phone with another woman, she's confronted with a truth she never wanted to face. And hard decisions must be made. Does she leave her husband? Or does she get rid of his mistress?

When her husband's mistress is found dead, Marla becomes the number one suspect, and Detective Eddie Brown is dead set on putting Marla Vaughn away for murder, for more reasons than one. Can he solve his case before his secret is out? Or will his number one suspect get away with murder?

What starts as a desperate attempt to save her family quickly becomes a terrifying spiral of obsession, lies and betrayal.

Never say Never is a gripping psychological thriller with a twist you won't see coming

219 pages, Kindle Edition

Published August 20, 2022

Reviews

[April · Rating 5 out of 5]

Another great read by Toni Larue! Any book that strikes up this much conversation wondering how things will play out, will always be a great read in my eyes… This book showed many examples of how far a woman would go when she feels her home is under attack. Marly lost herself in Chris and felt she needed him like she needed oxygen. If you’re looking for a story full of lies, deception & infidelity, that’s messy messy and more messy, this is it! Definitely recommend.

[Demetrius · Rating 5 out of 5]

I thoroughly enjoyed this book from beginning to end.

[Toya Davis-Stokley · Rating 4 out of 5]

That one late night phone call set into motion, events that would lead to murder. Marla, a housewife, feels like her husband is pulling away from her. He’s secretive, spends a lot of time away from home, and she convinced he’s cheating. That phone call pushed her over the edge, and she became a low-key private eye. There wasn’t much to go on to prove that Chris was cheating on Marla, but she had it her mind that she was going to catch him. It didn’t help that she had witnessed her father cheating on her mother for years and saw how it affected her; so those thoughts were also with her. When her behavior became more and more unhinged, I began to think did Marla do it? 👀

Then when Lance offered to become her attorney, and his conversations felt a bit off, it made me shift. It was like he wanted her to plead guilty, and he would TRY to get her off. Huh???? Sir what the hell kind of attorney are you to tell her that!! 🤬 Hmmm….. What does he know? Is he the one who did it?

That turn of events shocked the hell outta me! Really? 🤯 I would have never guessed that this person was responsible. New author to me, and this one kept me right on the edge of my seat the entire time. Enjoyed it. 👍🏾👍🏾

[Kim’s Kindle Reads. · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a fun read. I enjoyed every page.

[Casey R Kelley · Rating 4 out of 5]

Newly Discovered Author

I found this author because one of my favorite booktokers (adoseof.books) recommended this book. I was deeply engrossed and anxious to know what happened. I will definitely read more from this author.

[kiriahsbookshelf · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a fun read. Def didn’t expect that ending. Caught me off guard for real.

[adoseof.adri · Rating 4 out of 5]

Stuck between 3.5-4⭐️! This was a good one. Pulled me right in, the story was full of short chapters and constant drama/suspense/reveals. I did guess the ending a little over halfway but it didn’t take away from my enjoyment. Gives me 2000s lifetime movie network!

[Nikki Clark Wade · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was a fast pace thriller which was really good. Poor Marla at first I was like this lady crazy. Her parents relationship wasn't the best so she projected that onto her marriage. Marla trying to keep her marriage together by confronting Anglea and Angela ends up dead. This was diffently lots of twist and turns and diffently a good read that I would highly recommend

[Amber · Rating 5 out of 5]

If you're looking for a psychological thriller that will give you Freida McFadden vibes but with Black characters? This is the one.

Did I predict it from the beginning? Absolutely. But did I have a fun time the entire way through? ABSOLUTELY! This book has all the markers of your perfect psychological thriller. Unstable FMC, Domestic/Relationship issues, Gaslighting, Lies and a plot twist (even if I predicted it) at the end.

The FMC definitely makes you want to scream "Girl what is you DOING? Your husband is a lawyer, you know better!"

SN: There are quite a few typos, especially towards the end (mix up of the names of the characters) but if you use context clues you will be able decipher very quickly what she meant.

I definitely will be reading more from this author.

[Laurenlovesstories · Rating 4 out of 5]

Solid 4 🌟

This was entertaining and pretty good. All I have to say is damn, Marla…believe in him!

[Sharonda Isadora · Rating 4 out of 5]

Marla, Marla, Marla smh.

This was a wild ass ride of reading lols. So bacially here, We have Marla who thinks her husband is cheating on her. After having their baby, Marla isn't feeling her best self. Her self esteem is below hell but as we read further, Marla has always been in the mind frame of "he cheating on me" and this is because Marla comes from dysfunction. So when she possibly gets proof of the cheating, we as readers see Marla loose her sense of self. Bish, she was a mess. It makes it extra hard when she finds out that her husbands "mistress" is a younger and talented lawyer at her hubsbands law office. What to do when threatening doesn't work?

Eddie has been a detective for a long time and its difficult most days but attempting to work on a relationship with his adult daughter is probably the hardest thing he has been through. When she ends of dead, Eddie needs to catch the killer and Marla is on his radar. All he needs to do is prove it.

This story was crazy! Marla was a damn mess and Eddie honestly was right behind her lmao. But this who done it has more twists than a damn twizzler. Marla may have had it out for Eddie's daughter but did she kill her? Would she go that far to save her marriage?

There were times throughout the read, I thought the story got a little long in the toothe but reading the messiness of it all made up for that. But at the end of it all, this story and its characters were chaotic af and you know what? I liked it a lot.

**A review will be up on my Youtube channel shortly.

[tre be · Rating 3 out of 5]

𝐒𝐡𝐞 𝐝𝐢𝐝𝐧’𝐭 𝐰𝐚𝐧𝐭 𝐚𝐧𝐨𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐫 𝐰𝐨𝐦𝐚𝐧 𝐥𝐢𝐯𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐥𝐢𝐟𝐞 𝐬𝐡𝐞’𝐝 𝐰𝐨𝐫𝐤𝐞𝐝 𝐡𝐚𝐫𝐝 𝐭𝐨 𝐜𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐭𝐞. 𝐖𝐚𝐬 𝐬𝐡𝐞 𝐬𝐭𝐮𝐩𝐢𝐝 𝐭𝐨 𝐩𝐫𝐞𝐟𝐞𝐫 𝐭𝐨 𝐥𝐢𝐯𝐞 𝐢𝐧 𝐦𝐢𝐬𝐞𝐫𝐲 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐧 𝐭𝐨 𝐥𝐞𝐭 𝐚 𝐰𝐡𝐨𝐫𝐞 𝐰𝐢𝐧?

And I oop…

I was happy to read this book for the @theofficialchapterchat Book Club selection this month. It was a quick and drama filled read. 

In the beginning I kinda sympathized with Marla. She was a new mom, insecure in her post-baby boy and feeling like her husband was having a fling with his attractive, young colleague.

But as the story progressed, Marla quickly got on my ever loving nerves with her unhinged antics.

I actually highlighted quite a few yesss girl statements. One that made me have an entire conversation with myself about was, “Maya was almost one years old; how long could she continue to use her baby as an excuse for being out of shape?” Chileee, my daughter is 18 yo and she’s still my excuse 🫣😭😂

I liked that there was an unreliable narrator, short chapters, and unexpected twists throughout the story. I did find it predictable, but it was still a decent read!

[Coia Preston · Rating 4 out of 5]

Husband cheats, wife catches him, wife kills mistress, wife gets arrested, the end. Pretty straightforward, right? WRONG! At least that’s the case with this book. The way I called everyone in this book out of their names except for Maya, the baby 😭🤣. Love truly can break people and have them acting a fool in the worst way.

I enjoyed reading this. I also solved the case, even though it was in a “it’d be funny if” kind of way 🫠. This was definitely a memorable read for me. I just wish we could’ve got more of the true culprits’ actions behind the scenes with a little more detail once everything was revealed.

I enjoyed reading this with The Official Chapter Chat!

[Lisa · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excellent suspense thriller!

I was so convinced Marla killed Angela and was shocked when the truth came out! Chris could have easily removed that feeling of him cheating if he'd just been honest with Marla. Rachel was not a real best friend her and Lance were a whole mess! Detective Eddie Brown was determined. He didn't protect his daughter in life but he truly got justice! Excellent read!

[Whitney · Rating 4 out of 5]

Marla seemed so consumed by her trauma, that she missed some signs. Rachel was not a good friend, and their conversations gave hints to an ulterior motive. And it was very odd Lance encouraged her to turn herself in based off of circumstantial evidence. And assuming Angela’s baby was Chris’?

It was easy to figure out that Lance was the one having the affair and Rachel killed Angela, but overall this was still an entertaining fast paced read.

[Nina Powell · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excellent As Always This author delivers!!!!

First off I would like to say I have a strong dislike for people that write reviews and tell you who did it. I read some of these reviews and they really wrote what happened in the end its annoying for a real true blue reader. Anywho this book is about infidelity betrayal and loyalty. Lots of drama and real life situations the twists and turns are so messy lol

[Pat Smith · Rating 5 out of 5]

Never Assume

I just knew I had figured out who the culprit was! A good author leaves you guessing until the reveal though and that's just one reason I loved this thriller. It had a good flow, was written well and was fast paced. I could hardly put this down.
This is my second read by this author and I have added her to my list of favorites.

[Keo Hall · Rating 4 out of 5]

Marla believes her husband Chris is cheating on her with a coworker, so she confides in her bestie Rachel. The coworker, Angela, ends up dead. And all fingers point back to Marla. Angela’s father is working the case & is determined to put Marla in jail. But you know… plot twist. This book put me in a thriller mood, let’s see if I can keep it going!

[Yanie · Rating 5 out of 5]

what a Twist!!!

This book was such a great read. I did not know what to expect when first coming across this story, but I’m so glad that I gave this book a chance. Definitely will keep you on the edge of your seat!

[Keisha Lazenby · Rating 5 out of 5]

yes

This was good and i definitely did not expect the ending! I mean no clues we’re giving. The whole time i thought i knew what was going on and i didn’t. Definitely was a page turner

[Lesanda Moore · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was my first book by this author, and I love her writing style. The story is very well written and a page-turner. The characters are relatable and the pacing is on point. I finished the entire book in one sitting. I'm looking forward to checking out some more of her work.

[Tommie Maxwell · Rating 5 out of 5]

Never Believe

What a wild ride. I could not stop reading this book until the end.
Marla, Angela,Chris, and Rachel all contributed to wild ride.
I had know ideal that the ending would be like it happened.

[Gabby Penn Farmer · Rating 5 out of 5]

Freida has nothing on Toni!

One thing Toni knows how to do is write a damn twist! Freida who? Toni has become one of my favorite psychological thriller black woman authors, authors period! Her books always keep me guessing, on edge, and surprised at the end.

[Shunita O · Rating 5 out of 5]

The reader was too stunned to speak

Oh my God…. Here I was thinking that Marla killed Angela but nooooo I did not see that coming. The way my mouth hung open as I read who the killer actually was. 10 out of 10… highly recommend.

[Ty Danielle · Rating 4 out of 5]

WHEWWW

This was a good fast read. I enjoyed the plot and the twists. To be blindsided by love and betrayal is so destructive. It’s even worse when it’s coming from someone you deeply love!!

[Suprina Bracey · Rating 5 out of 5]

Never Say Never!!!! Such a great book!!!

[Tamii McGee · Rating 5 out of 5]

This

OMG 😱 this novel was definitely fast paced. You are brilliant sis 🙌🏿 definitely recommend 12/10❣️ Thank you for sharing

[Arnell Peterson · Rating 5 out of 5]

Edge of my seat!

This story was very interesting excited many twist and turns. It doesn’t end like how you think. Just read it and enjoy!

[Tanesh Buckner · Rating 5 out of 5]

Ok now loved it. Messy bihhhhh and murder perfect combination 👌

[Ecia · Rating 3 out of 5]

Kind of obvious whodunnit as there’s only 4 characters. Lol But great for a quick, fast paced read.