EXCERPT: "You're deluded. Just let go, let go of him." He looked at her with a new distance, as if he didn’t know her. "Stop making excuses for your obsessive behavior. You've driven him away- you- and you've only got yourself to blame. "

THE BLURB: A girl. A boy. His mother. And the lie she'll wish she'd never told.

The Girlfriend by Michelle Frances is a gripping and chilling debut psychological thriller, based on the fall-out following an unforgiveable lie. It looks at the potentially charged relationship between girlfriend, boyfriend and his mother, which most women can identify with, and locates it in an extreme but believable setting.

Laura has it all. A successful career, a long marriage to a rich husband, and a twenty-three year-old son, Daniel, who is kind, handsome, and talented. Then Daniel meets Cherry. Cherry is young, beautiful and smart but she hasn't had the same opportunities as Daniel. And she wants Laura's life.

Cherry comes to the family wide-eyed and wants to be welcomed with open arms, but Laura suspects she's not all that she seems.

When tragedy strikes, an unforgiveable lie is told. It is an act of desperation, but the fall-out will change their lives forever.

MY THOUGHTS: The Girlfriend by Michelle Frances is a good, but not great read. It is a little slow in places, and I was not particularly enthusiastic about the ending. The level of suspense varies, and I found that some situations that ought to have been suspenseful just weren't. The opening chapter, a scene from later in the book, didn't work for me. I imagine it was designed to increase the reader's anticipation, but it did nothing to increase mine. This is one book where the story should have just started at the beginning and continued to slowly build up the tension until the final denouement.

But, having said that, the characters are well portrayed. I particularly enjoyed the relationship between Laura and Izzie, Laura's best friend. The close bonds between the two women, friends of old, is well depicted. As were the scenes where Laura and Cherry first meet. Cherry's social awkwardness just oozed from the page, and while Laura is doing everything to make Cherry feel welcome, Cherry is almost searching for things to take offense at. And everything escalates from there, with Laura trying to be friends and Cherry pushing her away, both from herself and Laura's adored only son, until Laura catches Cherry out in a lie and decides that there is more (or perhaps less) to her son's girlfriend than meets the eye.

The basic storyline is good, and although The Girlfriend missed the mark with me, only just, I think that it is a good debut novel from new author Michelle Frances, and I will be a definite starter for her next book.

Thank you to Kensington Books via Netgalley for providing a digital copy of The Girlfriend by Michelle Frances for review. All opinions expressed in this review are entirely my own personal opinions.

Please refer to my Goodreads.com profile page or the 'about' page on sandysbookaday.wordpress.com for an explanation of my rating system. This review and others are also published on my blog sandysbookaday.wordpress.

My Thoughts: The Girlfriend is your typical gold-digger girlfriend story, but with a twist. Michelle Frances did a nice job setting up her story, giving each of the characters fairly convincing backstories that wove together nicely. From the very start you know that Laura, the devoted mother, and Cherry, the conniving girlfriend. are going to have issues. You’re just not sure how they’ll play out. The tension between the two rises with each chapter, and then the story takes a surprising twist, followed by one big lie that turns the story on end.

Sounds pretty good so far, right? Well, it was, but the lie is also the point where this fun story began to derail for me. First of all, the lie itself was was a whopper and one that I had a really difficult time seeing anyone make. The revenge for the lie also took some unlikely turns and the ending had two big problems. First, you clearly see it coming, and second? Really! Just too unbelievable. Still, if you’re willing to overlook the over-the-top drama, you just might enjoy The Girlfriend. Grade: C

Note: I received a copy of this book from the publishers (via netGalley) in exchange for my honest review. My thanks to all.

Laura’s son, Daniel, is home briefly from medical school. She loves seeing him. He tells her that he has met a girl named Cherry, a realtor helping him find a flat for when he begins his hospital work.

Laura and Howard are quite wealthy and live in a large home. But, their marriage is not happy. Howard has had a girlfriend for many years and Laura just accepts it. She has been the one to raise Daniel as Howard never took an interest. Laura now has a good job herself.

Cherry lives in a poorer part of town. After her father died, she and her mother had to struggle for money Now, Cherry tries to appear as classy as she can. Daniel is quite taken with her and when his mother invites her to visit their home in southern France for a weekend, she is thrilled. Laura is kind to her and does her best to make her feel welcome. But Cherry is aloof, not accepting Laura’s friendship and wants to monopolize Daniel’s time. Cherry pulls some stunts that makes it look like Laura is at fault.

To Laura, Cherry doesn’t appear to be who she says she is and Laura can’t help but check into her. When Cherry finds out about that, she is livid. But a devastating accident turns their lives around. Can these two women come together as friends?

I found this to be a mesmerizing book that I did not want to put down. The twists and turns will have readers doing the same. I think that every mother who has had to walk on eggs around their son’s significant other will see themselves in this book. I loved it!

Copy provided by NetGalley in exchange for a fair and honest review.

What do you get when the ultimate helicopter mom and the ultimate gold digger go head to head? You get a pretty spectacular book!

Laura is a true mama bear who cannot let go... her obsession with her only son borders on odd...Cherry grew up thinking she deserved so much more... and she will stop at nothing to get what she feels she deserves.... so who will be left standing at the end.

The beginning of this book was a definite slow burn.... watching these two equally unlikable women manipulate each other and Daniel... was quite entertaining.... as a mother who has sons I tried to empathize with Laura.... but the woman just went WAY. TOO. fAR! I actually had more sympathy for Cherry during this book, there were times I truly felt she loved Daniel, maybe?

About halfway through, this book takes a crazy turn.... and the speed absolutely picks up.... I couldn’t wait to find out what woman did what next, it was crazy! Poor Daniel, he was basically screwed no matter what happened.... he should’ve locked them in a room and let them battle it out and then take off to San Tropez....



This book is proof positive that you can like a book and not like the characters.... because even though Laura and Cherry were terribly unlikable they were extremely well developed.... by the end of this book I felt as though if I had run into either of these women walking down the street I would know who they were... then head quickly in the other direction!

Highly recommend! A crazy ride with a fresh approach and fabulously developed characters....

*** thank you to the publisher and Net Galley for a copy of this book ***

THE GIRLFRIEND is about a mother, Laura, who owns a TV production company. Her 24-year old son, Daniel, comes home to continue medical school, and meets a young woman named Cherry, who he is instantly smitten with. Over the course of only a few days, he and Cherry are already getting serious, and Laura asks to meet the lady who's taking all of his extra time.

Cherry has had a very unhappy life, growing up poor (what she believes) and embarrassed of her mother, who always worked hard to support her. When she meets Daniel, she knows this is her way out. He has wealth, a great future planned, and more...What could be better?

Laura sees there's something not right about Cherry, and decides she's going to uncover her secrets and expose her lies to save her son heartache. What she doesn't realize is that Cherry will stop at nothing to get Daniel and keep him.

This sort of sounds like a cliched Lifetime movie, but this book was absolutely fantastic! The tension builds between Laura and Cherry, and there's a point about halfway through where I was a bit shocked and appalled by the actions of one character and wondering how the story would proceed. It completely exceeded my expectations and kept the suspense mounting to a great conclusion.

This is one of those books that I didn't want to end because I was so engrossed in the story and couldn't wait to find out what happens next. This is the author's first novel, and I cannot wait to read more from her!

Thanks to Author Michelle Frances, Publisher Pan Macmillan & NetGalley for an ARC of this novel.

Despite being a relatively “new genre,” domestic thrillers have really over-saturated the book world recently, making it difficult to weed out the fabulous ones from those far less compelling. I was worried The Girlfriend might fall into the latter category when I first heard early raves and was thrilled to discover just how excellent of a read it was. This is truly a nail biting “cat and mouse” edge-of-your-seat, need to know, story!

This whole story was told from three different perspectives, and I think Laura and Cherry shared the spotlight as the main characters, and Daniel was kind of supporting actor. I really enjoyed reading these different perspectives, I like to see what different characters think and how they analyze the situations. One thing was very obvious to me, that no one would be excepted into the “rich circle” with the name like Cherry. It just sounds trashy to me. I really enjoyed the unique personalities, which characters brought to this novel, as well as the complex relationships between each other. If I would have to pick my favourite in this book, I think it would be Daniel, I liked his personality and was feeling pity, that he was stuck in this crossfire.

Even though the narrative was sometimes quite repetitive to me, I enjoyed it. I liked the twists and turns which author incorporated in this novel, they made me more curious about what else the author has up her sleeve. I can easily see authors personal experience in this book. This book felt like some of the movies I saw, I think that’s where author’s knowledge of scripts and film industry comes in, as well as details of the TV serials which Laura was creating. I think that the daughter-in-law – mother-in-law relationship was quite realistic and relatable to some of the readers, I heard plenty of stories about evil mother-in-laws/ daughter-in-law.

I really enjoyed the easy flowing writing style of this novel, as well as great knowledge of London and rich people’s lifestyle. I loved the short chapters of this book, which kept me interested of what will happen next, till the last page. Even though the ending was quite predictable, I think it rounded up the story nicely and left me very satisfied with it. So, to conclude, it is a chilling thriller filled with unique characters and interesting story, which really hooked me, as I really wanted to see how this mother-in-law – daughter-in-law relationship will evolve. I really enjoyed it and I do recommend to give this book a try.

Listen up sons: Your mother always know best even if we go about it in the wrong way. Laura knew that something was off about Cherry but other than figuring she was a gold-digger after her son’s money, she couldn’t figure out what was nagging her about Cherry.

Cherry, on the hand, is all about seizing an opportunity that will help her and Daniel is that for her from the minute he walks into her realty office.

What happens then is a lot of build up to the point when you wonder if Daniel is really all that smart!

If you are looking for a novel that slowly builds up and lays a lot of crumbs, then this one is for you.

This book was fantastic with great characters! I loved how this book kept me guessing and kept me turning pages into the middle of the night. When I thought I had things figured out, things would change again. The main characters in this book were intense especially Cherry! This book was quite chilling and the psychological thriller that I needed to keep my mind off of things! I highly recommend this book!

Many thanks to NetGalley, Kensington Publishing and Michelle Frances for the opportunity to read and review this book!

Clear your schedules now and read this book when it is published on Tuesday! It's a long book but it won't matter - I literally could not put this one down because my heart was pounding to see what was going to happen next.

Laura Cavendish has revolved her life around her son Daniel, now 24 and in medical school. Although Laura started her own production company, besides Daniel, her life is pretty empty. Very wealthy, her and her husband, Howard, are basically just going through the motions of a marriage - he golfs and has a mistress. When Daniel meets Cherry, a girl from the wrong side of the tracks, Laura is at first excited to meet her. Then she starts thinking that Cherry is a gold digger and only out for Daniel's money. Both women have their claws into Daniel and won't let go. Then Laura makes a fateful error and lies to Cherry. When Cherry discovers the deception, watch out.

This is just a thrill ride - don't miss it!

Mother (Laura) clashes with grown son's (Daniel) girlfriend (Cherry). Is Cherry a gold digger as Laura suspects? Or, is Laura a little too overbearing and protective of her grown son? Read this suspenseful thriller to find out!

There have been so many thrillers that focus on the crazy wife or the crazy husband, so it was fun to have a different perspective this time. Who is the crazy one this time? The girlfriend or the mother??

With my boys getting closer and closer to dating age, reading this story was like my worst nightmare coming true. I thought I knew where the story was going until about halfway through when something unexpected happened, changing the course of the story. This one will keep you in suspense and on your toes. I felt my heart racing a couple times as I tried to guess what would happen next.

I could tell here and there that this was a debut writer, but overall, it had a strong plot and I look forward to more from this author!

Thank you to the author, the publisher, and the Great Thought’s Ninja Review Team for a free ARC of this book! All opinions are my own.

The Girlfriend by Michelle Francis has received a great deal of buzz in the months leading up to its publication. I've heard people call it addictive, spellbinding, and unputdownable, so, of course, I had to give it a try. It's a complicated story filled with extremely flawed characters, and I imagine it's perfect for readers who enjoy their mysteries with a lot of interpersonal drama mixed with the suspense.

Laura loves her life. Well, that's what she wants people to believe anyway. Her marriage might be crumbling before her eyes, but that's a closely guarded secret. Everyone around her is only aware of the good things: her successful career in the movie business, the close relationship she has with her twenty-three-year-old son Daniel, the beautiful house she lives in, and her wide circle of fashionable friends. FOr Laura, Daniel is the most important part of her life. She considers him to be the very best part of herself, and she would like nothing better than for him to spend the rest of his life at home with her.

Daniel, as one might imagine, has other plans. He loves his parents, but he's very aware of the cracks in their marriage, and he's ready to spread his wings and move out of the family home. To this end, he wanders into a local real estate office in hopes of picking up some leads on a flat, and that's where he meets Cherry, the pretty, young real estate agent who will change his life in ways he could never have imagined.

Cherry hates being poor. She grew up the only child of a single mother who worked a series of low-paying jobs just to keep food on the table, and Cherry knows she wants more than that. She'd like fancy clothes, a flashy car, and a rich husband to lavish her with gifts. When she lays eyes on Daniel, the obviously well-off med student, she knows he's exactly what she's been looking for, and she formulates a plan to seduce him.

When Daniel brings Cherry home to meet his parents, Laura is immediately suspicious and isn’t taken in by the younger woman's wide-eyed innocent act. She's sure Cherry is hiding something, but she can't lay her finger on exactly what that might be. Still, she does her best to make her feel welcome, knowing that's what Daniel expects her to do, but, as time passes and Cherry becomes ever more enmeshed in their lives, Laura's sense of unease increases. Now, she'll do anything to free Daniel from the web Cherry has woven around him, even if it ends up costing her everyone and everything she holds dear.

If you're looking for a fast-paced, clear-cut mystery, The Girlfriend probably isn't the book for you. It's a slow, meandering story that relies heavily on the machinations of its characters to keep it moving forward. It's not filled with startling twists; instead, everything is laid out for the reader to see, and the fun of the story is watching the characters try to figure out what you already know to be true. It's not something that will work for everyone. In fact, I found myself troubled by parts of it, but those who are willing to suspend their disbelief for a while are likely to enjoy the story.

Both Cherry and Laura are incredibly manipulative people, and I sometimes grew frustrated with all their scheming. Both women come up with some outlandish ways of getting even with one another, and while I was initially fascinated by the strange ways their minds worked, I did eventually grow a little tired of the constant cat fighting. For some reason, neither woman seems capable of straightforward communication, something I think the novel could have benefited from, and I was occasionally tempted to scream at them to just talk to one another instead of coming up with all these elaborate revenge plots.

It's obvious that both Cherry and Laura absolutely adore Daniel, but I wasn't always sure why. He's kind, funny, and super smart, the kind of character who often seems too good to be true. He never flies off the handle or stomps off in a huff, but, despite the many virtues with which Ms. Francis imbues him, I never felt he was worth the fuss Laura and Cherry made over him. In some ways, he felt more like a puppet than a flesh and blood man, and for someone so (supposedly) smart, he did some really stupid things sometimes.

Having said all that, I did find The Girlfriend to be a compelling read. I wanted to see how things turned out for the characters, and so I kept reading, even when the story bordered on the ridiculous. The ending was satisfying, and not something I completely saw coming, so I count The Girlfriend as a qualified win.

Buy it at: A/BN/iB/K

I appreciate the chance to read this and I truly hoped that I would enjoy it but unfortunately I feel this is simply a case of "it's not you, it's me".
Despite my rating, I can see why many have/will enjoy it. It is a solid read and I believe my main issue with it was that I expected it to be more of a psychological thriller than it turned out to be. As a result, getting through this was a bit of a chore. I don't necessarily mind unlikable characters but there wasn't one that I even remotely cared for so I found myself not caring how it turned out.

I have seen The Girlfriend on a few websites over the past few months and when Kensington Books decided to re-release the title, I didn't hesitate and requested the book. I must say that Michelle Frances wrote a really interesting story.

Laura has it all: a thriving career, a long marriage to a rich husband, and a 23-year-old son, Daniel, who's soon becoming a doctor. When Daniel meets young, smart and beautiful Cherry, she finally got what she always wanted: a priviledged life, just like Laura's. But Cherry doesn't only want a life like Laura's, she wants her life and she does everything in her power to get it. Then tragedy strikes, a lie is told and nothing is as it used to be.

Michelle Frances' debut novel was definitely interesting. The story was less about a great plot twist and playing with readers' minds, but more about manipulating and intrigueing against other people. Since Frances used a third person narrator, the reader experienced the story through Laura's, Cherry's and sometimes even Daniel's POV. Because of that, the reader always knew who manipulated who, who told whom a lie and who fell for both the manipulation and the lies. It was an interesting concept because you always asked yourself why a certain character didn't notice the manipulation because it was that obvious - at least to the reader. ;)

Although the book seems to be about Laura, Cherry and Daniel, The Girlfriend was mainly about the two women. Daniel was just an innocent bystander in the feud between his mother and his new girlfriend - he was the pawn in their game. I felt sorry for him most of the time.
It's safe to say that I didn't like Laura nor Cherry. Laura was a lying, obsessive and controlling woman, especially towards her son Daniel. As a mother it's great to have a good relationship with your son but the relationship Laura had toward Daniel was way too close. In the course of the story it is revealed why she is the way she is, but it is still an odd behavior to witness from the outside.
I immediately felt a dislike toward Cherry. There was something off about her from the very beginning. With every chapter, Cherry got more conniving, manipulating and jealous.
My dislike toward the women changed over the course of the story. There were a few situations in which I couldn't stand Laura and felt sorry for Cherry. In other situations I couldn't stand Cherry and felt sorry for Laura. It was a constant back and forth and I sometimes couldnt keep up myself. It's safe to say that they both have their positive traits, but unfortunately their bad ones mostly predominated.

Although I really liked the idea of the whole story, there was something missing for me to make it a really great thriller. However, I think the book would make a great movie. Who knows, maybe Hollywood will take notice of this story soon. I could see Mila Kunis playing Cherry and Cate Blanchett playing Laura.

I really enjoyed this book. Laura is very close to her son Daniel, who is 23 and training to become a doctor. When Daniel meets and falls in love very quickly with new girlfriend Cherry, Laura is worried as to what Cherry's motives are as Daniel comes from a very wealthy family.
Laura does her best to make Cherry feel welcome in the family, but from the outset, things are uncomfortable between them.
Being a mother of a son of a similar age, I was firmly on Laura's side! It's not easy when your wee boy gets serious about a girlfriend, and when Cherry pulls a few stunts that show she is no stranger to lies and manipulation in order to get her own way, it gave me the fear! However, Laura is no stranger to a bit of manipulation herself and she does perhaps go a bit too far in trying to get rid of Cherry...
This was a great read, both women play a cat and mouse game and there quite a few twists and surprises along the way. Poor Daniel, I did feel sorry for him being in the middle of the two women.
I would certainly recommend this book!

I enjoyed The Girlfriend. It was a fast read for me. Although it kept me engaged through to the end, I wasn't wowed by anything in particular.

oooh- this is a good one. The creepiness builds slowly in this tale of Cherry, who wants it all, and Laura who doesn't want Cherry to have her son. You know from the outset that this is a mismatch but the depths to which Cherry goes are beyond what I expected (animal lovers beware!). Poor Daniel, the much loved son and boyfriend, is badly injured in a rafting accident and Laura, in an attempt to be rid of Cherry, tells her he's dead. Big mistake. There are times when you'll be (somewhat) sympathetic of Cherry and more when you'll side with Laura but on balance, this is a war with really no winners- especially not Daniel. It's well written and suspenseful. Thanks to the publisher for the ARC. This is a page turner.

I enjoyed reading this book,however it didn't move forward very quickly. The two main characters were at odds with each other from the first time they met. The mother,who has a loveless marriage to a man who has cheated on her for years, dotes on her son. When he meets someone that is really interested in his mother believes she is only interested in his wealth. So a horrible lie gets told and thinks really become twisted. All in all I feel it is definitely worth reading.

4.5 stars
Wow. I did not expect this book to blow me away like it did. My heart is still racing a bit from the ending. I spent the last 100 pages totally engrossing and tuned out of the world around me.

This may seem like the typical story of a girlfriend and mother not getting along and fighting for a man's attention. Daniel was the most unsuspecting party in this triangle and for the most part, had no idea what was going through Cherry and Laura's heads. This book took twists and turns that I just did not expect. And that compelled me to keep reading the first half. By the second half I was hooked and could not put it down.

What really was amazing about this book, was the description of emotions. I could feel every emotion from each character, from rage to fear to cold calculation. It got to the point where I was feeling each emotion so strongly that I had to put the book down a couple times just to tune back into reality and make my body realize that I did not need a pounding heart....a frustrated frown. Though it felt real...these things were not happening to me. Laura's emotions and thoughts were the most visceral and had me almost afraid to be in my house at dark.

The characters were absolutely frustrating, which I think was the author's intent. How could Cherry be so truly evil, but think herself the victim. (She honestly had so many thoughts about how life was unfair for HER and how SHE deserved more). How could Laura be so dramatic and desperate, instead of maybe looking for a truce (before everything went past that point). How could Daniel be so darn oblivious?! And Wendy truly broke my heart. Cherry's treatment and thoughts about her own mother made me want to slap her and adopt Wendy as my own.

This book was great because it was believable. It wasn't a crazy situation that maybe would happen one in a blue moon. It made me feel like this could easily happen to anyone who was as motivated and sociopathic as Cherry. She didn't go over the top with any of the situations, which made it more eerie.

I absolutely recommend this book!

I received this as a review copy from Net Galley in exchange for an honest review.

This book was perfectly enjoyable, but the plot was not original and the characters are stock and not well developed. If you only this kind of thing, it’s passable for an afternoon that needs to passed (I banged it out in a few hours waiting with my son at CityMed), but if you don’t love female-led psychological thrillers, it may not be a must-read