Abi Knight was awakened in the middle of the night to learn that her teenage daughter Olivia had fallen from the ZigZag River Bridge and had suffered permanent brain damage, and her fall had been deemed an accident. Before Abi could even mourn her loss, she learned that Olivia had been placed on life support because she was found to be 13-14 weeks pregnant. This necessitated that Olivia must be kept alive until the baby was born, according to state law. After her initial shock over Olivia’s fall and surprise pregnancy, Abi suspects foul play and makes it her life’s mission to piece together the fractured story of Olivia’s last days before the fall. Single mother Abi and Olivia had always been very close, and Abi was surprised to learn that her daughter had kept any secrets from her. She talks with Olivia’s football team captain boyfriend Tyler, best friend Madison and Olivia's mysterious new friend Kendall to try to uncover secrets about her daughter. As the novel unfolds, through chapters that alternate between Olivia in the past and Abi in the present, the explanation of Abi’s demise starts to come together. In addition to learning some of her daughter’s secrets, Abi discovers that a seventeen-year-old secret from her own past was revealed to Olivia days before she fell. This psychological thriller introduces readers to a mystery chock-full of secrets, lies, and corruption. The novel also conveys the enduring love between a mother and daughter.

I don't know if I can fully explain the emotional toll and journey I went through while reading this book. I haven't had such a good cry - a really long good cry, in a long time. From the beginning till the very end, I went through the heartbreak and heartache experienced by Abi and Olivia. By the last few chapters, I was encompassed and engrossed by pure sadness. I don’t know if I’ve ever cried so much during reading.

This was a beautifully written, heart-tugging, edge-of-your-seat novel and I loved every bit of it. Wow.

This book is told from two character’s perspectives, Olivia and her mom. In effect, the book becomes a cross between a young adult novel and a mystery.

Throughout, you’ll be obsessed with trying to figure out the mystery, however the mystery is just the undercurrent. The true story is about the love between a mother and daughter - all the rights and wrongs that occur within that love. I definitely recommend this book. But warning: DO NOT READ THE END OF THIS WITHOUT A BOX OF TISSUES!

4.5 Stars!

Creating character emotion that evokes reader empathy is an author’s biggest challenge, and Christina McDonald achieves that in spades in her debut novel The Night Olivia Fell. Sentences can be rewritten during the editing process and facts, grammar and spelling can be verified or corrected during copyediting. However, no amount of rewriting or editing can put emotion to the page if an author is unable to channel sentiment from her creative mind to her reader.

The Night Olivia Fell is a mystery and a thriller with a subtle secondary romance that softens the edges of sharp, painful human emotions like jealousy, loss and rage, and brings hope after despair. Though the story includes several important characters, it is a mother/daughter tale that will keep you guessing and turning the pages until the very end.

Received an ARC for an honest review from NetGalley.

Olivia’s mom, Abi, gets a call in the early morning hours that her daughter is in the hospital. She finds out her daughter is brain dead but the doctors need to keep her on life support to protect the baby. Abi is shocked to find out Olivia is pregnant. She starts on a mission to find out what happened to her daughter that is heart wrenching. The story is told in alternating chapters from Olivia’s viewpoint leading up to the fall and Abi’s viewpoint after the fall. I loved this style of writing. I read this book in 2 days because I could not put it down. I would highly recommend this book!

Christina McDonald’s debut book, The Night Olivia Fell, is an emotional and suspenseful story of a nightmare scenario that every parent dreads. Abi Knight is awakened in the middle of the night and told that her teenage daughter is in critical condition at the local hospital. A terrible fall from a bridge has left her in a coma.
Abi Knight is a single mom who has tried her best to give her daughter, Olivia, a stable and loving home. What happened is a shock and a mystery. The local policy seem to be very lackadaisical in finding out what really happened to Olivia. To add to Abi’s distresses she learns some shocking news about her daughter and she is determined to find out for herself what really happened on that faithful night.
From the very beginning I felt drawn in by this book. It is an excellent mystery and I was surprised to learn the truth in the end. Christine McDonald is a talented new author and I look forward to more of her books in the future.
I received n Advanced readers copy from the publisher and Netgalley and this is my unbiased review.
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I am crying as I write this. Christina McDonald wrote a powerful book of motherhood and love. I connected with it as a single mother with two children I raised from 4 and8 years of age with very little involvement from their father. Now they have families. Isob wrenched out of my throat. I wished I could do it all over again, go back in time and be a better mother. But there are no redos in life. You can’t go back and make things better. All you can do is live with it and move forward.made and continue to mistakes but as the book says “A sob wrenched out of my throat. I wished I could do it all over again, go back in time and be a better mother. But there are no redos in life. You can’t go back and make things better. All you can do is live with it and move forward.”

This book wasn’t the greatest mystery I’ve read, by far. It was predictable and moved too slowly to be a thriller. I also feel like the author was trying too hard to use “teenager speak” throughout the book. All-in-all it was just super cheesy and a bit of a letdown based on the previous reviews. I’m grateful to NetGalley for an ARC of this book, despite my mediocre opinion of it.

⭐️⭐️⭐️/5
The Night Olivia is told from the POV of 17 year old senior Olivia in the months preceding the fall that results in her being placed on life support and by her mother Abi, in the months following. This timeline works really well; you get both perspectives and it moves the story along at a great pace. This novel is as much a character study in grieving as it is a mystery. The characterizations and the emotions felt genuine and believable. The mystery, however, fell flat for me with a fairly obvious protagonist. I really enjoyed the supporting cast, even more do than I Abi, who sort of bugged me. The sideline stories were engaging, making it enjoyable but overall I didn’t find it memorable. 📖📖📖
Thank you to # netgalley for the arc copy in exchange for an honest and fair review. Book to be published February 2019.
#bookreview #bookshelf #bookstagram #book #2019bookrelease #christinamcdonaldauthor #mysteryandsuspense #winterbooks #februarybookreleases #bookstagrammers #reading #currentreads

Abi's daughter is in the hospital, on life support, after a tragic fall from the local bridge. The police are treating it like an accident but Abi doesn't believe it. Then she finds out that her daughter is pregnant, but it's not her boyfriend's baby. As Abi struggles to find the truth, secrets long hidden bubble to the surface and a cast of suspects keep you guessing to the end.

I LOVED this book. Will post a review on Amazon & Goodreads when they let me and mention it in my newsletter.
(I'm a mystery author.)

The Night Olivia Fell is a story told from a mother and a daughter's perspective- Olivia, a teenage girl in the Seattle suburbs has fallen off of a bridge, and is severely brain damaged. Though she survives the fall, her mother, Abi, is told that she will never wake up. Abi's difficult decision is prolonged by the fact that Olivia is pregnant.

Readers are left following Abi in her search for the truth... why was Olivia on a bridge when she was supposed to be at home? Did she jump? Did someone push her?

Abi is a single parent who has done her fair share of worrying about her daughter and trying to give her the best possible life. Olivia is a good girl who tries her best to do right by her mother and her rules, but tells an occasional fib from time to time. I felt like the characters were relatable and made for a good mother-daughter dynamic. I enjoyed the intrigue and I think that this title would be a great book club selection.

Overall, I enjoyed the book and am grateful to the publisher for giving me the opportunity to read this title in advance!

I really enjoyed this story I was immediately hooked to the story and the pacing was really fast. Only flaws I did not like was how some things were repetitive other than that I enjoyed McDonald's writing.

I had some mixed feelings on The Night Olivia Fell. I feel like the cover art and description led me to believe this was going to be a typical thriller with lots of twists, but I wasn’t necessarily surprised by the few twists there were. I also felt like there were a lot of similarities between this book and Reconstructing Amelia (which the description compares it to). I did enjoy Olivia more than Amelia though, as the plot lines felt a bit more believable and interesting. Overall, I enjoyed the story and it kept me interested, it just felt like I was reading a slightly better version of something I had already read.

I was drawn to this because of the gorgeous cover and the fact that NetGalley compares it to Reconstructing Amelia, which I enjoyed.

I was drawn into the story really quickly. It's very apparent early on that Abi loves her daughter more than anything. As a lot of you know, strong familial story lines are some of my favorite types of stories.

I liked Olivia. She was a very typical teenager, but you could tell she was a good person. By the end of the story I was completely heartbroken by her situation and wished things could have turned out differently. She wanted to be there for her daughter but wasn't given the chance.

I didn't super love the big reveal of who murdered Olivia, (nor was I very surprised) but I did feel like it was really realistic and I applaud that. Often times thriller novels like this try to make their books shocking, but also tends to make them unbelievable. I'm glad this was different.

I liked Derek a lot. I'm not super into romance, but I did really like his and Olivia's. They were sweet together and I wished they had had more time.

By the end of the book I was SOBBING because of how sad it was to read Abi having to say goodbye to her daughter. I finished this at 2am and had to muffle my sobs to keep from waking people up. I know I enjoyed a book if it can illicit that type of reaction from me.

I definitely recommend this book to people who enjoyed Reconstructing Amelia, and people who like thrillers!

Thx to Gallery Books publisher, NetGallery, and Christina McDonald for this ARC. This book was one that I was highly interested in and anxious to read ever since I first heard about it.
It did not disappoint ! The title was perfect for the story, and it was continued to be mentioned throughout the book, which I thought was quite clever if the author. The mother, sister, and Olivia were well written characters. The storylines both past and present in the book were nicely presented. I loved this book, one of my favorites this year. I have recommended it to so many people ! Thanks again and I’m looking forward to more by this author.

I found another new, great author, Christina McDonald! The Night Olivia Fell by Christina McDonald is a book that will keep you up all night. I always love when I take a break from Historical Fiction and find a great read. Teenagers, mother/daughter relationships, mother/son relationships, politics, mystery, all combined to make a story you will not be able to put down. It comes out February 5th, it is a must for your to be read list. Thank you NetGalley and Gallery Books for the ARC. I highly recommend this book.

This was an enjoyable, quick read. I liked that McDonald wrote from the perspectives of both Abi (the mother) and her daughter, Olivia. The book really had me guessing as to what happened to Olivia. I wouldn't say I was shocked by the ending, but it unexpected from other leads in the story.

I could really relate to this book and can honest say I don't know what I would do if anything like this happened to my daughter. For a debut novel I was surprised that it was so well written and this author is someone that I would definitely read more of.
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Told from both perspectives... we get the events leading up to the tragedy. Christina McDonnell did a fabulous job with getting into the mind of both a 17-year-old and her mother

This was an emotional domestic suspense. What I came away from the book is always try to answer your child honestly when asked a question.

The Night Olivia Fell was absolutely amazing. I could’ve finished it in one sitting. Honestly, it was hard to put the story down and when I went to bed I dreamt of it and woke immediately having to finish it and find out what happened to Olivia. The novel is told between Olivia‘s point of view, in the past, and her mother‘s point of view, in the present. There are many players within the story but you don’t feel overwhelmed. Every character is well thought out and has a background along their own personality.It’s a suspenseful thrill ride that will keep you on the edge of your seat flipping through the pages to get to the end and find out what happened the night Olivia fell?
Thank you Netgalley