Thank you Netgalley for the ARC!
Oh, how I wanted to LOVE this book. I’d heard so much buzz - so much “you won’t guess the end!” So much “you keep switching sides!” But I was ultimately disappointed.
The first half of the book was well-done (hence 3 stars instead of 1 or 2). It established a dynamic cast of characters with their own motives and perspectives. But then the author gave away too many hints. There’s a particular motif that comes up too many times. There are certain exchanges in dialogue that tell us what’s up. At some point, I mentally compared the book to a dramatized version of the tv show House, and then a few minutes later, one of the characters in the story referenced House! I guess I wasn’t alone. It ultimately read as a medical drama that’s been done a million times.
The writing was good. I would be interested to see what else the author writes. I feel like a lot of people will love this book, but I just wasn’t one of them.

This book started out a bit slow for me. It didn’t initially make me want to put life on hold and keep reading. The big questions throughout the book - Is Meghan really sick or is her mother Becky doing something to make her sick? Does Becky have Munchausen by Proxy causing harm to her daughter? Is Meghan making herself sick to be the center of attention? Does Meghan’s father Carl have anything to do with her illness? At various times throughout the book you could believe that any of those things are possible! The ending is truly a shocker and makes reading through the slower parts worthwhile.

Thank you NetGalley for the opportunity to read this book.

Wow, that was quite the ending in Saving Meghan by D.J. Palmer! Throughout the story I found myself switching sides; is it Becky or is it Meghan - what is going on! Jees Louise you really pulled a fast one and I liked! A desparate roller coaster ride indeed, and you have to aske yourself, to what lengths would you go to save your child - or save yourself. Great story! #NetGalley # Saving Meghan #StMartinsPress # DJPalmer Thanks!

Many books claim to be psychological thrillers. Few truly are. Saving Meghan is a TRUE psychological thriller! I found my heart rate increasing as I read about and imagined Meghan’s hospitalization. My pulse quickened, my breath became shallow as I read about and imagined something like that happening to my daughters. I could feel the tension of the characters. For that reason: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

This is a true thriller that will reach through the pages and grab you! It will keep you turning the pages and will not give up its secrets (which are organically derived) easily.

Saving Meghan delivered what it promises!

See full review here: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/2705341694

Saving Meghan – D.J. Palmer

I was fortunate to receive this book as an Advance Reader Copy from Netgalley, in exchange for an objective review.

Meghan Gerard is your typical teenager – with some disturbing medical symptoms. Mostly neuromuscular complaints – fatigue, migraine headaches, syncopal episodes – but no one can diagnose her. Meghan is the only child of Becky and Carl, and Becky will do anything – ANYTHING to keep her daughter safe and get her the care she needs.

Becky, in her younger years, lived with a very manipulative mother, named Cora. Adding to the stress is the fact that Cora is dying of cancer, and she’s 3000 miles away, leaving Becky torn between returning home to make amends, or remaining in New England with her ailing daughter.
Throughout all this is Carl, left on the back burner, and not quite convinced that Meghan is as sick as Becky thinks – at times he wonders if she’s faking things. Meanwhile Becky feels as if her husband isn’t as concerned as he should be, which causes some strain between them. And Meghan is keeping a secret of her own, straining her relationship with her parents as well.

Then, Meghan comes under the care of Drs Zach Fisher and Amanda Nash. Dr. Fisher has some suspicions about Meghan’s symptoms, but as Meghans symptoms escalate, testing comes back negative, and concern is raised over the possibility of Munchausen by proxy. Protective services become involved and Meghan is removed from Becky’s care. But Becky will do whatever it takes to get her back.

Told from the different perspectives of the varying characters, Saving Meghan is a fast paced, head -scratching, difficult-to-put-down page turner that’ll keep you up well into the night trying to guess the ending of this book…and you’ll be wrong…. A fabulous read from D.J. Palmer that will remain in your thoughts long after the last page is turned!!

I’d like to thank St. Martin’s Press for making it possible for me to read an E-ARC through NetGalley.

I could not put this book down! I was on edge until the very end. I loved the fact that it was a medical thriller as well as a family drama. I highly recommend that everyone read this book!

I had been hearing a lot about the upcoming book, Saving Meghan, and I was not disappointed! Saving Meghan tells the story of the Gerard family, whose teenager daughter, Meghan, is constantly in and out of doctor's offices and emergency rooms with various ailments that no one can seem to find the answer for. Meghan's mother, Becky, devotes her life and her time to taking care of her and trying to find answers to her daughter's strange illnesses. While trying to find answers, a doctor's visit to a specialist, and subsequent referral, lands the Gerard family into an investigation by Child Protective Services when it is suspected that this is a case of Munchausen Syndrome by Proxy, a psychiatric disorder in which a caretaker purposefully causes the medical symptoms of someone, usually a child, in order to garner to attention that comes along with having a chronically ill family member. While the hospital suspects Meghan's mother of making her daughter sick, her husband begins to openly display his own doubt's about his wife's innocence. It's hard to say more without giving away the ending of this story, but it was shocking for sure! Saving Meghan does a wonderful job of taking a look at the rare disorder of Muchausen by Proxy, and incorporating it in to this book! Highly recommend this book, and look forward to reading more by D.J. Palmer in the future. Another winner by St Martins Press! Thank you to St Martins' Press and NetGalley for providing me with an advanced copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

I received an advance readers copy of Saving Meghan. I thoroughly enjoyed this gripping thriller. Reminiscent of Jodi Picoult, D.J. Palmer, meshed a complicated medical drama, with a who done it type mystery. This page turner will touch your heart and chill you to the bone. 4 stars

See my review on goodreads.com and on the discussion page of Bitter is the new book club!

This was a very slow read for me at first, some chapters felt superfluous and I was ready to quit. But I'm glad I didn't give up. Meghan is taken by the courts as a danger from her own mother and father. Doctors think Becky, the mom, has Munchausen syndrome by proxy and is using her daughter for attention. Is Meghan really sick or is it all in her head? I couldn't fathom how Meghan, or anyone with Munchausen syndrome, could feel such acute, REAL pain and be a victim of this disorder. I was definitely intrigued and had to keep reading to see how this story played out. Things started picking up in the last half of the book and the ending was a complete surprise! An interesting read, especially if you're into medical mysteries.

Wow! I loved this book. Great writing, great story. A young girl who has unexplained illness after illness, test after test that do not show anything wrong. A mother who is her advocate, fiercely protective and insistent that something really bad is wrong. A father who doesn’t believe her illnesses are real. Things spiral out of control and get even worse. I was blown away wh3n all was revealed.

The mystery was intriguing but towards the end I found myself skimming just for it to be over with. It seemed to begin to drag and was a bit predictable.

This book is absolutely amazing! The characters our personalities are fun to try to figure out and get to know. I have been up way too late reading this book!

Saving Meghan by D.J.Palmer

April 2019
St Martin’s Press
Fiction, psychological suspense

I received a digital copy of the ARC from NetGalley and St Martin’s Press in exchange for an unbiased review.

Becky Gerard is a 48 year old mother from CA who moved her family to MA in a desperate attempt to save her daughter Meghan’s life. Although it seems admirable there is an underlying, dysfunctional motive for her. Despite growing up in a toxic home environment, she manages to become a successful real estate broker and marry Carl, her dream husband. Similarly, her moving to MA served another purpose for Becky, that is, to move as far away from her hometown as possible. Sabrina, Becky’s sister, remains in CA caring for their manipulative angry mother who is dying of cancer. Meghan’s mysterious illness becomes her excuse for avoiding anything unpleasant including forgiving her mother.

As much as I wanted to feel empathetic towards this family and their experiences, it was difficult due to their unlikeable characters. They live in a tony neighborhood of Concord, MA and surround themselves with privileged materialistic acquaintances. It becomes obvious that life experiences has made forming genuine relationships with people impossible for Becky. Unfortunately, she hovers and controls Meghan so much that her daughter doesn’t thrive as a once healthy 15 year old varsity soccer player.

Because of Meghan’s consistent poor health with unfounded medical etiology, she misses school and is constantly being dragged around to doctor for tests and evaluations. Becky, feeling the guilt from her own childhood, transfers her anxiety and need for attention onto finding a cure for Meghan. After 2 years, she is eventually confronted with accusations of Munchausen by proxy. How could a mother actually be to blame for making her child sick? When there are no apparent medical explanations for all the vague unrelated symptoms, it raises red flags for medical professionals who have an obligation to protect the minor child.

Of course, this story has many twists and turns drawing in several characters who all have their own agenda. There are clues along the way but only mere breadcrumbs to keep you reading to find out how it ends. The story addresses mental illness and it’s lasting effects on families. Confronting the guilt and shame that people carry for unavoidable situations becomes important for healing and moving forward.

Thank you to net galley and the publisher for giving me the opportunity to read this book it was a wild ride had alot of twist and turns

How do you begin to review a book like this that brought out so many emotions and at times had me shouting out loud at my kindle!! The story centres around Meghan and her ongoing illness, but is it an illness or Munchausen’s by proxy or even something else more sinister ? Well I found myself torn to say the least as the book progressed suspecting one thing then changing and thinking something else it was twist after twist of a story spinning me round in circles trying to figure out just what on earth was going on and it’s hard to say more without giving too much away. It was a very different read to what I was expecting, told from differing points of view it was compulsive reading at its best. The writing and characterisation was superb (I hated the mother!!) ...so I can rate this a massive 5 stars and highly recommend it it’s an exceptional book.
My thanks to NetGalley and St Martins Press for giving me the chance to read the ARC in exchange for my honest opinion.

Really great book. There were so many twists and turns it made me dizzy. I love when I can’t figure out what is going on. The characters were well written and enjoyable. I really wanted to know what was making Meghan sick! Very grateful to Net galley for the ARC.

This psychological thriller will keep you guessing until the end. The story evolves around Meghan who is constantly exhausted and has symptoms that seem to defy diagnosis from various doctors. Her mother Becky is understandably worried about her, and uses her charm to get the doctors to try and help Meghan. Her husband Carl is always by her side, but thinks that she is becoming obsessed with trying to find a cure and that there may be underlying issues to cause her persistence.

Then Meghan takes a turn for the worse and is hospitalized. But staff slowly realise that Meghan is in excrusiating pain when she is around her mother. 

One minute you think you have solved the mystery and then you turn your attention to another person in the book. This story flows so well that you just have to read to the end

I received an advanced readers copy in exchange for an honest review.

This book is really creepy and not in a good way. The women are all evil and the men are all good, big surprise the author is mail. None of it makes any sense in the realm of human emotions. I was disturbed as a mother and a mental health worker. And I really love disturbing stories about psychopaths. But this was too much. I literally felt my skin crawl off my body. And not in a good way

Meghan is increasingly ill, with symptoms all over the board and no-one can give her mother, Becky the answers she so desperately seeks to see her become better. Meanwhile, her husband, Carl, constantly blames her behaviors on her own upbringing in a household with a mother who was a malingerer and who used that to get services and aid that she would not otherwise qualify for. Sometimes, Becky herself even questions what is real and what she is imagining! But when Meghan gets an appointment with Dr. Zach Fisher, whose own son died of a rare mitochondrial disease, he sees many resemblances in Meghan's symptoms to his child and begins fighting to save her. Unfortunately, one of the referrals he makes is to Dr. Amanda Nash.......her father's lover.......and a fierce competitor for taking over the hospital entirely. What follows is a horrific look at what may happen when a hospital reinforces the need to protect their patients (rightly so or not) and the incredibly bravery of a mother who knows that her daughter must be saved before it is too late. Tense and thrilling.

Becky Gerard is obviously an unstable, depressed woman. Her marriage is on the rocks, she lost her young son to SIDS and she’s convinced her 15-year-old daughter has some strange undiagnosed disease. She’s an open and shut case of Munchausen syndrome by proxy. As you listen to Becky’s thoughts, how she rambles on with no set focus, you begin to wonder if her daughter will survive her mother’s constant barrage of testing and disciplined care; if her young son’s death really was due to SIDS, and just how much will her sweet and hunky husband Carl be able to stand before taking Meghan away from Becky, saving her from a slow and painful death at the hands of her own mother.
And Meghan, such a sweet and innocent young lady who only wants to please her mother, really can’t describe her symptoms, only that they’re very unpredictable and suddenly painful. And they often seem to occur when she’s around her mom. The only thing she can attribute any discomfort to is the painful secret she’s harboring against her dad.
So wait. Is sweet and hunky Carl doing something to harm his daughter? He sure loves to catch the eye of other women, especially the drop-dead gorgeous doctor he’s recommended for Meghan’s care.
Just when you’re sure you’ve got this plot pegged and you decide to keep reading just out of curiosity, Bam! Another twist you never saw coming. So you keep reading and keep questioning. One minute the answer is so obvious, but the next, you’re back at peg one. D.J. Palmer has done it to you again.
This is an enjoyable quick paced read with lots of twists and turns!
(I received an advance copy of this book from NetGalley in exchange for an unbiased review. Thank you to St. Martin’s Press for making it available.)