Anna grows up not knowing her mother Debbie. When she was a baby Her mother disappeared and Anna grows up with her father Peter, brother Robert and step mom Monica.

Thirty years later Anna wants to know what really happened to her mother and find out who is sending the family notes, could they be from her mother?

Beautifully told in 2 timelines, we have the past where we can see what happens before Debbie disappears and the present where Anna tries to cope with growing up without her mother and feels her family is holding something back from her.

Loved the way the tension slowly builds up and I felt like I could not trust anybody in this book. I’m pleased to say I did not see that ending coming, I was fooled by the red herring but pleased by the outcome.

Thank you to Netgalley for my copy in exchange for a review.

I loved Elisabeth's debut but struggled with this one. For me the book failed to deliver on the synopsis and at the conclusion I was left feeling befuddled as to what I even read.

This was a lovely story about love, family, and a mystery!

Sometimes how you feel about a book has everything to do with expectations and nothing really to do with the book itself... I picked up this book expecting a twisty psychological thriller and what I got was women’s fiction with a side of mystery.... now I love women’s fiction with a side of mystery, but when I’m expecting some kind of dark twisted story I don’t like it quite as much.... hope this makes sense, it’s kind of like when you take a drink expecting 7-Up and it is water, you like water but you were expecting 7-Up so it’s not as palatable... All of this is to say this is a good book and I think it would be even better if you go in knowing what you’re getting!

This is a story about a mother and a daughter.... we get Deb’s story in 1986 and the events leading up to her “disappearance“.... we also get Anna‘s perspective in the present day and her life coping with having been abandoned by her mother at the age of two years old.... I found both of these ladies stories compelling although admittedly I was a little more drawn to Deb then Anna... Deb was a very sympathetic character, I felt so much for her I had a hard time wrapping my head around the fact that she would ever leave her daughter? Anna interestingly was quite a lot like her mother... The mystery of Deb’s disappearance kind of took a backseat to these ladies captivating tales....

This is a story I’d love to give a second chance to, I think I would really love it a lot more the second time around!

Full review to come.
I deeply apologize, but life is a handful lately and I'm using all my free time to read, not review. I hope everybody understands.

I really enjoyed reading this book. It had enough mystery and suspense to keep me turning those pages throughout the entire book.

30 years ago Anna’s mother disappeared, she always believed she died that day, but now and email has appeared and a body has been discovered. A study of two women across time and how they deal with truth and fulfilment.

Not great, not bad just didn’t care.

I was a little unconvinced by the ending, but it didn't take away from the fact that I found this an entertaining read that just took a couple of sittings to get through.

I loved this book. If you like books were you don’t know what’s going to happen then you will love this. I like the fact they flip from character to the other so you get the story from both points of views. There was a lot of twists in this story also which I liked it kept you in your toes. I liked the story line it was a very sensitive subject but I think the author captured it just right and gave the reader a good idea of what it was like for the character to go through that difficult time in her life. The twist at the end was not what I was expecting at all and when I thought I knew what was going to happen I didn’t which I really like. All in all a very good read

I picked this book because I love psychological thrillers. It wasn’t what I expected once I got to the end. I was looking for a little more thriller. It definitely covered a tough mental issue and had its moments of whose doing what and to whom. Over all I’m glad I read it but I really wanted more out of the book.

I really enjoy this author’s style of writing and thoroughly enjoyed 99 Red Balloons so was looking forward to this and it was just really disappointing. There was no real intrigue and I wasn’t the least bit gripped. I gave it to halfway through and then started skim reading so I could find out what happened and that was all a let down too. Thanks to Netgalley, the author and Avon for an advanced copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

When I read the blurb for this book I was keen to get my hands on it.

This is the story of Anna, who believed her mother had died 30 years ago, but never got an explanation to what happened the night or her mother’s disappearance/death. She turns to her husband Jack but after finding a love note from another woman in his wallet she realises that she has no one she can turn to. This books jumps between two times the present and 1986 when Debbie had just become mother to Anna.

I found this book quite hard to follow with the sheer amount of characters and jumps in time. It felt like there was a lot of unnecessary characters. It took me quite a while to finish it.

That being said, the story concept is a good one and you do find yourself continuing to read to unravel the mystery surrounding Debbie.

Overall the writing style isn’t bad and the story keeps you guessing. If you like mystery’s you may enjoy this. For me I have mixed emotions about it and found in places the story just fell flat.

I discovered Elisabeth Carpenter some 6 months after her debut novel, 99 red Balloons was released. To find a second was looming imminently was very exciting, and I got my hands on it as soon as it was available. I was not disappointed. Yet again, there was intrigue, and concern, and quite a lot of 'Seriously? WTAF?!' Libby Carpenter keeps you guessing right til the end, and she leaves you hanging on her every word, trying to figure 'what next?'. Awfully glad to have just discovered that her third offering, "Only A Mother" will be out in time for freezing nights at the start of 2019!

Your mother disappears when you are too young to remember her at all. Why? A better question might be why no one will talk to you about her. Anna's mother disappeared 30 years ago. Anna has spent a good portion of her life wondering why and trying to find her, even when she's led to believe her mother is dead. This book is written in two parts. One is, of course, Anna's story. The other is her mother's story up to the time she disappears. Elisabeth Carpenter has done a great job of leading the reader where she wants them to go. As the story unravels you'll enjoy the way the two women's lives are similar and how she brings the stories to an end.

This book was enjoyable, but quite far fetched. Alternating between the 1980s and present day gave the book so.easy life. The chapters set in the 1980s seemed much more interesting - may be for the nostalgia? Really wasn't what I was expecting as the title of the book leads you to think it would be something much more thrilling. No idea how the title relates to the story.

This book had me up until the ending. I enjoyed the suspense, and trying to figure out what had happened, amid the intrigue of the other mysterious things which were happening. However, the ending just kind of "happened" and sort of felt off-- like something didn't add up. This woman just kind of showed up after 20+ years, with a quasi explanation of why she left, and everyone was kind of like "okay". The wrap up between Anna and her husband also was a little too neat for my taste. I am not sure why the ending annoyed me so much, and am going to pass along the recommendation to read to some of my coworkers and customers, mainly just to hear their opinion as well.

I really enjoyed reading this. I'm really into documentary's about missing people at the moment so it was definitely my cup of tea.
It's the mid 1980's and Debbie has just given birth to her second child, Anna. She's finding everything a real struggle with a new baby, 6 year old Bobby and her husband Peter, who's not much help. She confides in her friend Monica that she's been hearing voices feeling low and has, also, been receiving poison pen letters. Monica thinks a holiday in Tenerife for both of their families is just what she needs to lift her spirits. But, that's where everything comes to a head and Debbie just disappears. No-one knows if she just decided to leave, was injured somewhere or has been killed.
The chapters in the book alternate between Debbie in the 80's in the run-up to her disappearance, and, 30 years later to Anna, and her life long search for her Mother.
I loved all the little details the author used when writing Debbie's part of the story; what songs were being played on the radio, what people were watching on the tv, fashion and even Thatchers politics. She also wrote Anna's heartbreaking story so well. She absolutely nailed it all.

Anna was only a month old when her mother, Debbie went missing. Presumed dead by many, left her kids and ran off with a lover by others. For the past 30 years Anna has been obsessed with finding out the truth about what happened to her mother. Out of the blue Anna receives a letter and knows it has to be from her missing mother ... But how?
11 Missed Calls jumps between Anna's present day viewpoint to Debbie's viewpoint 30 years prior before she went missing.

Having really enjoyed the author’s previous book I was keen to get started with this one, she had a great writing style that I really enjoy.

I was intrigued by the plot for this one and certainly wanted to know more. I liked how the story is told from the differing view points and we have the past and present coming to light and we get to find out more about what happened as the story progresses.

There was just the right amount of suspense for me, I liked the pace and the plot was well thought through and I did enjoy the ending.

Four stars from me – a good mystery crime thriller – I really enjoyed it!

This contains mystery, family drama and profound questions waiting to be answered but the underlying tone was just too depressing for me.
The switch between the two time periods works and helps to provide explanations for what sometimes felt like unbelievable coincidences.
Thankfully the conclusion was more cheerful but, again, it just felt a bit too convenient for me.

Thank you to NetGalley and Avon books for this copy in exchange for an honest review.

3/4 stars A good mystery thriller but somehow I just failed to connect to the characters but overall it was not a bad read and perhaps it just wasn't for me.