A well written enjoyable gripping read with an unexpected twist at the end, will be recommending to friends.

My first by Jill Childs and I knew nothing about her as an author.
I hadn’t read the blurb when I started reading, I just saw the cover. I like that it was a stand-alone, and described as an emotional story. Seemed perfect to me.
A story about normal lives, home life and work life, with a few twists and turns to make you suspicious about a few of the characters.
It really drew me in and I was keen to get to the bottom of it all.
I thoroughly recommend this book and look forward to reading more by Jill Childs.

Retired Angie is very lonely in her house following her mother’s death. She discovers one day that she has new neighbours and introduces herself to them. Teresa and Craig have moved in with Teresa’s young daughter, Jessica and Craig’s teenage daughter, Fran. Teresa, a salon manager, finds herself relying on Angie to look after the children, particularly Jessica, when she finds herself busier at work. This becomes more of a regular occurrence, and Angie seems to develop a special connection with Jessica. Was letting Angie into their lives the biggest mistake that Teresa could have made?

This was my second book by this author. The story began well with the introduction to Angie. Angie is retired and comes across as a gentle and kind woman. She is obviously very lonely and lives in the house that she used to share with her mother. As the story moves on you get the impression that all is not what it seems with Angie and as little bits and pieces are revealed about her, I began to (wrong or rightly) dislike her! Teresa and Craig have their own separate story with a lot of history as to how their relationship began. Craig is a busy salesman but appears to be living a double life, coming home late and getting mysterious phone calls. Teresa is the new manager of a local salon, and straight away finds there are problems with the staff at the salon. Just when you think that nothing else can happen, Jessica goes missing and this brings the slowing simmering story to boiling point.

To be perfectly honest I didn’t like any of the characters. It seemed that everyone had something to hide in one way or another and I really didn’t feel I could trust any of them. The story is told mainly from either Angie’s or Teresa’s perspective, and initially I did feel for Angie who was obviously a very lonely woman. As the story moves on, the whole scenario shifts and I began to dislike Angie, and then it all moves again and I felt sorry for her again…..by this point I honestly didn’t know what to think about any of the characters!

I know this sounds like I didn’t like the book, but in fact it was the complete opposite. I disliked the characters in a good way, if you see what I mean! This book is written to make you not like or trust them. By having so many secrets, mistrust and a general feeling of ‘what is going on’ gives this book such a dark and chilling feel. I won’t go any further in to the later part of the story as I wouldn’t want to give anything away, but it’s safe to say this is a book filled with suspense and tension. The biggest question of this book is would you trust someone you hardly know to look after your children? If you do, then you suffer the consequences!

A really enjoyable read which I would definitely recommend.

I thoroughly enjoyed reading this book and had never read anything by Jill Child's before now. I wasn't much disappointed, it was an easy read and the storyline flowed well. The only 2 criticism's as a reader I would have is that coming into the final chapter it felt the slightest bit rushed. I would of like to of known more so that the story felt more finished. The only other thought I had was I had no clue why the book was called "Jessica's Promise". This I found has no revelance to the story at all!, It didn't really tie in with anything other than the little girl being named Jessica!. If anyone has any thoughts as to why please enlighten me. Other than this, a good read. I would probably read more novels by this author.

When Angie Dodd hears voices in the back garden next door, she knows there is the possibility of a new chapter for her. Teresa and Craig have just moved in with their daughters, Fran, aged 11 and Jessica, aged 3. Quite quickly the neighbour's come to an arrangement were Angie will look the children whilst their parents go out to work.

Angie and Jessica form a loving bond whilst Teresa and Craig's relationship takes a nose dive. Then tradegy strikes and Jessica goes missing, bringing to the forefront the hidden secrets of the group of neighbour's. Who has Jessica?

I found this book riveting. It keeps you guessing from the start.

"It never ceases to amaze me that people will spend weeks researching a new car or a new oven but hand over their child to a minder on nothing more than a few endorsements that I've written myself."
"Jessica's Promise" is a gripping thriller that sees harried mum Teresa hand over her 3yo daughter Jessica into her neighbour Angie's care when Teresa starts her new job as a salon manager. She wonders if she's done the right thing as she barely knows Angie, but Jessica and her 11yo stepdaughter Fran both seem to like Angie, and she's so busy that she never gives it another thought. We soon learn that Angie has something dark in her past, but what is it?
It's a troubling time at the new salon though, not everyone sees eye to eye, and one employees absenteeism and rudeness seem to be escalating. Then some of the days takings go missing...
Life on the home front is no better. Teresa and Jessica often have screaming matches and Teresa struggles to control her young daughter. She wonders how on earth Angie seems to have no problems with Jessica's behaviour. Fran just seems to lock herself in her room with her earphones on all the time. In the meantime Teresa's partner Craig is coming home later and later at night, smelling of alcohol, even though her says he's been working. Then she finds incriminating messages on his phone. Just when Teresa thinks that life can't get any worse Jessica goes missing...
I really enjoyed this book, staying up late into the night to finish it in one sitting. All the characters are clearly hiding something, and the suspense builds slowly through the first part of the book, then catches you like a tidal wave in the latter parts. I truly couldn't work out where Jessica was. There were clear suspects and you could make a case for any of them, but nothing was straightforward. This is how I like psychological thrillers to be, gripping and twisty and with an ending you don't see coming. This is the first of Jill Childs books I have read, but it definitely wont be the last. I recommend this book to anyone who likes suspense thrillers.
My thanks to NetGalley and Bookouture for an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

A 3 year old child's mother puts her to bed but her bed is empty in the morning when she goes to wake her. Where is she?
There are plenty of suspects and lots of red herrings to keep you guessing. I enjoyed this book but hated the fact that a 56 year old is called an old dear. Really? 56? I don't know how old Jill child's is if she considers a 56 year an old dear but I would think someone of that description would be in their 70's or 80's not 50's.

I would like to thank Bookouture and NetGalley for giving me the opportunity to read ‘Jessica’s Promise’ by Jill Childs in exchange for my honest and unbiased review.
Angie watches as her new next-door neighbours move in, Teresa and Craig and their two little girls Jessica, three, and eleven-year-old Fran. Angie is delighted when Teresa asks if she can mind the children while she’s working as manager at a beauty salon. But Teresa’s life spirals out of control when she awakes one morning and discovers Jessica is missing. Could Craig who’s been acting strangely for a while be involved, or maybe Angie who avoids taking Jessica to play areas where women shout at her?
‘Jessica’s Promise’ is a gripping psychological thriller with a well-written plot and interesting characters. The tension mounts with each twist and turn and becomes increasingly spine-chilling. I had to keep reading to find out what had happened to Jessica, couldn’t put the book down, and although the end is a bit of an anti-climax it’s still a very enjoyable read and one I can recommend.

4 main characters all disjointed, all broken, some getting broken everyday, some breaking others.

2 adults: mother Teresa, neighbor/childminder Angie

2 children: Teresa’s daughter Jessica, her step-daughter Fran.

They are bound in secrets, they are cloaked in secrets. They want secrets hidden, they want secrets deleted. But life shows them a drastic truth, when 3 year old Jessica disappears suddenly one night from her bed..

Can open, worms everywhere. Cops are called investigation starts and the story rolls.

My second book by Jill Childs, and I enjoyed it just the same. The missing child arc never failed to capture my interest. In every book, I kept hope that the treatment of the story was different. This book appeared as a thriller with the writing and hints of truth. But it was actually a domestic story where each character was either frustrated or scared and took it out on the other.

In this story, I liked, hated, pitied Teresa. She had everything and yet had nothing. She stole something, yet had nothing. Her husband (I forgot that spineless fellow’s name) provided the hint of suspense and suspicion. Angie a 60-year old woman, had her own tragic past and her interest in Jessica raised my doubts.

These made the book an exciting read, yet something just niggled me, I kept thinking as I kept reading. Till I reached the end, I got it – I didn’t like any if those characters, they felt too disconnected to each other, didn’t like any of their reasonings. But since I realized this at the end, it was a time well spent. Enjoyable!!

I had high hopes for this from its description and I have to say it didn’t disappoint! As a mother myself I could feel the tension and despair. Well written and definitely made me want to read more from this author.

The love a mother has for her child is unlike any other. That is definitely explored in Jessica's Promise. There are enough twists and turns to keep the reader guessing, but this is a book that can not be put down until the very last page. Love the author's writing style and the way she makes you feel as if you know the characters. Definitely recommend Jessica's Promise. Thank you to NetGalley for an advanced reader copy in exchange for an honest review.

Who to trust? Where has Jessica gone? Teresa finds herself desperate and searching when her daughter goes missing. Told by two narrators in short chapters, this one will keep you guessing about Angie, the kindly neighbor, Fran the stepdaughter, Craig the husband, and Teresa herself. No spoilers! Thanks to Netgalley for the ARC. It's a quick plot driven read.

Angie senses there is something not right about the family next door. She is the baby-minder of three-year-old Jessica and the other daughter Fran who joins her after school while their mother, Theresa works at a salon. There is something odd about Angie too and as you speculate you know something bad happened in her past - that she is hiding something, but you are kept hanging. Given the circumstances, I would have expected Angie to keep a lower profile than she did. Rightly or wrongly I formed the impression that Theresa was all about Theresa. A false, superficial creature. She spent so little time with the girls or thinking about them. This supposition was because of Jessica's behaviour. Jessica is difficult and behaves badly in her mother's presence as if trying to achieve quality attention. Fran is surly and insecure. The bond between them all is blurred, and Theresa is so exhausted and stressed by her responsibilities and a partner she doesn't trust that her patience is thin on the ground. I thought that Craig was a weak-kneed creep. I'm not sure a man who was unfaithful to his first wife can be trusted. An incident changes the dynamics. This story kept me guessing. It is well written with a finely sculptured plot that it involves you immediately. I had reservations about the ending and the decision Theresa made over Craig. Thank you to NetGalley and Bookouture.

Children should always come first ...

I don't how to start. There were so many thoughts fighting for a space in my mind while reading this book. 

The author wrote the story in a way you did not know who to trust and who kept which secret. Everybody seemed suspicious. 

The main part of the story is told by 2 narrators, but 2 chapters give the reader an insight in the perpetrator's mind, but who is it?

One aspect of Angie's life I guessed pretty early on, but that did not reduce the reading pleasure at all. The author kept me more than enough in the dark about all the rest. When the culprit was finally revealed and all secrets were in the open, I could not believe my eyes. Not even in my wildest dream I could have guessed that!

The book is fluently written and fast paced, partly due to the short chapters, but mostly due to the fabulous and emotional content.

Thank you, Jill Childs, Bookouture and Netgalley.

Thanks Netgalley and the Publisher. really enjoyed reading the book and a lots happening between characters in the storylines. I definitely will read more this Jill Child books soon

Teresa and Craig Fox have a merged family. They move into a fully refurbished big house with their two daughters, Teresa’s Jessica and Craig’s Fran. The house used to belong to old Mrs Matthew’s, Angie’s previous neighbour. It had stood vacant for a while before being sold. Then, after months of comings and goings and lots of banging and sounds of a myriad of electrical tools, the new neighbours move in, catching Angie unaware with a small boy in her charge. She is a friendly lady and introduces herself over the garden fence as Angela Dodd, quickly learning about her new next door neighbours.
Craig is a salesman and Teresa has a new business as the manageress of a hairdresser’s salon. Little Jessica has not started school yet but her step sister Fran will soon be starting at new school. She will no longer be at primary school as she is moving into year 7. Angie offers herself as a childminder for both girls. What could be more convenient than a childminder that lives just next door? Craig and Teresa have already seen her with one of the children she looks after, playing happily in the garden. So it’s a done deal. What a relief.
Angie turns out to be wonderful with the girls. She is imaginative, loves playing make-believe games and has dedicated a spare bedroom upstairs as a playroom. Fran comes to her house straight from school and does her homework before tea time. Angie is a natural. She once had a daughter of her own called Susie, who is all grown up and living on the other side of the world. She has photographs of Susie in her lounge. She has the patience of a saint and will cover any time Teresa asks her to. So the arrangement continues with Angie happy to pick up the slack. Then one morning Teresa goes upstairs to call Jessica and she is not in her bed. She hunts everywhere, at first thinking Jess is hiding. Fran helps with the search but they cannot find her, so Fran is sent off to school and a distraught Teresa calls the police and Craig back home. The nightmare begins and soon Teresa trusts nobody, even Angie and Craig. Her ordered life becomes chaotic as the police investigators move in and the questions begin.
I enjoyed reading this fast paced and wonderfully told story about mother-love, secrecy, trust and family. The characters are so true to life, created and developed with great care and relevance to the story. I really liked the two step sisters and particularly the bond between them. I neither liked nor disliked the three main adult characters with their secrets and hang-ups, balancing childcare and work commitments. I was very surprised by the shock revelation of what had really happened to Jessica and I liked the ending of the novel and the anonymous passages interspersed alongside the main story and obviously the thoughts of the person responsible for the kidnapping. It was a good read and kept me turning the pages, especially after Jessica’s abduction. I also liked the originality of the plot, the different slant on the child snatcher theme.
I received this novel through my membership of NetGalley and from publisher Bookouture, all in return for an honest review. Thank you for sending me my copy. It’s a 4* review from me. All the opinions are my own with no influence from any other parties.

Thank you to the author Jill Childs and net galley for the arc of Jessica's Promise.
I thoroughly enjoyed reading this book and really felt drawn into the characters lives.
Angie is a loner and obviously has had trauma in her life which becomes obvious as the book unfolds. All the way through you are kept guessing as to wether she is a bad person or a good person.
Jessica's mum is complex with a lot of insecurities as well as the pressures that modern day women can experience trying to work and raise children.
The idea of how we can take our lives and the people important to us for granted made me take stock of my own life.
Highly recommended read

When Jessica, 3 years of age goes missing, her mum, Tessa is left devastated, who has taken her? A brilliant thriller all the way through, I really enjoyed it.

Tessa stops breathing when she looks in the bedroom who his Jessica and she has dissappeared .
Is it the Next door neighbor Angie or is it the step father or is it whoever .
Thank you for the ARC

Absolutely brilliant, brilliant and brilliant, didn't think Jill could 'do it again' after reading Gracie's Secret but how wrong could I be?

Loved everything about this book, the storyline got me interested from the very first page and I was gripped from the beginning which is just as I like it. I especially liked the different chapters relating to all the characters and I cannot fault the skill of this author she just draws you into the story behind them all.

I can definitely recommend this book and I look forward to reading more from this author in the future, well done Jill.