I received a digital arc of this from netgalley in exchange for an honest review. I'm only sorry that it has taken me so long to read this book, as it was so brilliant. From the first page I wanted to know more. I had to find out what really happened that night - what happened to Ginny. Were the rumours true? I won't ruin it for people but I will say I can't believe so many lied during the initial investigation. The family could have had answers and peace long before they did. I loved the way this was written and the main characters were great. I'm glad Skye and her family finally got closure. Would recommend to anyone.

I received a copy of this book in exchange for my honest review. Thank you NetGalley.

My Mother's Secret wasn't all I had hoped it would be to be honest. It took a LONG time for the story to pick up. There were a few times I was tempted to just put it down and not finish. It did start to pick up about half way through.
The book covers the topic of death, how it effects the family, dealing with the grief and more. The MC has a hard time coping with the death of her sister and the questions around how she died. There is also a romance that develops.
The world building was good; I just wish the story picked up a lot sooner.

After her twin sister, Ginny, died in what everyone assumed was a tragic accident, Skye Turner knew she couldn’t stay in the Scottish Highlands. Not when her mother blamed her for what happened. Fifteen years and a music career in the U.S. later, though, she returns, dredging up the same old secrets and gossip. But soon she hears rumblings of moments that don’t quite fit into her memory of that night. Unsure of whether she can trust her memory or the people around her, she begins an investigation that could finally reveal some answers—or pull her already fractured family even further apart.

Lauren Westwood knows how to twist a story. Sure, she knows how to weave one, too—and there’s no doubt this is a superbly crafted novel. But in My Mother’s Silence, much like in her haunting Moonlight on the Thames, she tugs at convention, dropping her characters into an atmospheric world filled with mystery, a bit of thrills, a heavy dose of family drama, and a hint of romance for good measure.

Thankfully, her characters are up for the literary challenge. Skye bounds onto the scene, a little timid in the return to her past, but steadfast in the painful decisions she had to make so many years ago. These early moments vacillate between the strength and confidence she’s managed in forming her own life away from home to the cutting shame that can only come from family. Westwood immediately makes Skye relatable and sympathetic, and this energy carries through the rest of the book. Ultimately, I wanted her to uncover the real truth surrounding her sister’s death not just because of my own curiosity, but because Skye needs to know—to patch the strained relationship with her mother? To find closure? To make an excuse to leave again? Who knows. But she has to have something good happen.

Of course, good is relative, and Westwood takes her time plotting in plotting plenty of resistance to the traditional happy ending. There’s a mysterious neighbor who may be more help than she thinks. A cadre of locals looking worried about Skye dredging up the buried past. And then there’s memory. Skye went through a lot of trauma. With all the facts laid out, does everything really add up?

With a lesser writer, all of this together might feel a bit confused. With a talent like Lauren Westwood, it’s another knockout book.

I enjoyed this book. It was slow to hook me at first but it really picked up after that. Good twists too. I'm new to the author but I will definitely look out for more!

This is the story of three women. It is a story of anger, jealousy, love and hope.
I love the characters in this book. The author has created them in such a way that they are so relatable to the reader
This book is powerful and intense. It takes the reader through a range of emotions. A great book.

I found My Mother’s Silence very had to get in to. The characters aren't very strong and the plot quite weak and not very plausible. It just wasn't very well thought out. I don't enjoy it, but that that's not saying others wouldn't.

Fifteen years ago, Skye and her twin sister Ginny were 20 years old with their whole future ahead of them. They planned to leave Scotland and head to America to pursue their dreams. Unfortunately, those dreams are never realized as Ginny dies in a horrible accident. Skye feels the blame coming from her mother and decides to run away to America and hopes to never return.
The day comes when her brother Bill asks her to come home to help care for their mother. After she arrives, she immediately feels that something doesn’t feel right and she knows that this all dates back to that awful night that her sister died.
I enjoyed this book although it did move a little slowly for me. Overall it was a good family drama with great characters and scenery that came to life in my imagination.
Thanks to Lauren Westwood, Bookouture and NetGalley for the ARC.

This book will not be memorable for me. The plot failed to engross me and there was no real substance or depth to the plot or the characters. This book was not for me. Thank you to NetGalley and Bookouture.

I requested this book because of the blurb. I was intrigued by Skye's story and wanted to know what secrets she would unravel about the death of her twin sister.

What I Liked:
As promised, there were lots of secrets about the time when Ginny died. People knew more than they would admit or less, and that gave Skye a mystery to continue to unravel.
I liked Nick, the neighbor in the rented cottage, who promised a bit of a love story for Skye. His dog, Kafka, and the fact that they were both knights in shining armor definitely didn't hurt my love for them.
I also liked that Skye's family all came together for Christmas, which gave some insight into why Skye had been away from home for 15 years.

What I Didn't Like:
The overall mystery wasn't very impactful. There really wasn't much for Skye to figure out, and there's no reveal at the end that made me feel satisfied and like I had read a really great mystery novel. The payoff wasn't really what the blurb promised.
The character of Byron took a quick turn from being likable to not, but without much work on the author's part. I needed more of a build to believe that he wasn't a good guy in the present, regardless of what he had done in the past.

Overall, this book was fine, but it's wasn't what I had wanted it to be. There are other books published by Bookouture that I would recommend over this one.

My Mother’s Silence

by Lauren Westwood

I find genres and categories useful up to a point. When it comes to Lauren Westwood’s My Mother’s Silence, the designator “Women’s Fiction” seems to fail. It is definitely fiction, but I think a lot of men would like it too. The subtitle is A Gripping Page-Turner Full of Twists and Family Secrets. I usually associate “gripping” in this context with a thriller, a genre which doesn’t usually attract me. I am happy to report that “gripping” in this case could be defined as a plot that draws you in more and more tightly as you progress. It is full of secrets, life altering secrets—bombshells that explode after lying dormant for fifteen years.

Skye Turner leaves the little Scottish town of Eilean Shiel to fulfill her dream of making it big as a songwriter and musician in America. She carries a heavy weight, however, as her twin sister Ginny has passed away, and it is presumed that she slipped off a cliff and drowned. Skye returns home at the urging of her brother Bill. She hopes to be able to work things out with her mum and her brother, but she arrives to find her mother in mental disarray. Things don’t add up about her sister’s disappearance or the car accident Skye was in on that same evening.

Skye is not a perfect woman, but it seems she has made a lot of decisions based on the lies was fed. She tries to uncover and untangle the fabrications and piece them together with the help of a former DCI who is renting a cottage from her mother.

This book has a Christmas setting that is incidental to the plot but provides a reason for the family to gather. Westwood weaves a web with her amazing storytelling skills. The reader needs to discover what happened to Ginny as much as Skye does. Some romance is woven into the story as old boyfriends and new are included as important threads. There are several mysteries to be solved and parts of the book can claim to be called police procedural. Without a doubt, this book is a page-turner that made me glad I escaped from my comfort zone to find a new happy place.

I would like to extend my thanks to netgalley.com and to Bookouture for giving me the opportunity to read this book in exchange for an honest review.

Rating: 5/5

Category: Women’s Fiction, General Fiction (Adult)

Notes: Sprinkling of vulgar language

Publication: November 11, 2019—Bookouture

Memorable Lines:

…the land doesn’t care that I once went away, or that I’ve come back again. My life is small, my little dramas and struggles unimportant against the vastness of sea and sky.

But there’s something about this land that gets in your blood. Even when I thought I might never come back, I still felt the pull of this place. No matter where I was in the world, if I listened hard enough, I could hear the whisper of home.

I can still remember what it’s like to be in a teenage strop. That feeling of isolation—that everyone else in the entire world is against you and complete morons to boot. But it’s only worth keeping up as long as there’s an audience.

As a fan of Lauren's book, I was very excited to read this book given that the author has written a story in a different genre to what she usually does.

I thoroughly enjoyed reading this from start to finish, and it was entertaining trying to piece all of the pieces of the puzzle together so as to establish what really happened to Ginny. Despite having a few ideas as to what the outcome would be come the final chapters, I was very much wrong, so this is definitely not a predictable story at all.

As always with this author, the story was very well written and the characters were well developed and believable in all scenarios.

I'll be looking forward to reading her next book as always, regardless of what genre it will be.

I found My Mother’s Silence very difficult to get in to. The characters and plot seemed quite weak and not well thought out. Not for me but others might like it.

I received a free ebook from Netgalley on exchange for my honest review. All thoughts are my own.

Honestly I thought this book to be something totally different than it actually was. For some reason I thought I'd be reading some serious mystery thriller with murder of some sort. I came back many times to read the synopsis again and again but I guess I didn't read it thoroughly.

The start was really slow and not much happened. I was tempted to either DNF or skim read until something started to happen. The story rolled over and over Skye's life and past and just didn't seem to go anywhere.
But about 50% in the book, things actually started to get somewhere. Skye started to truly dig in to her sister's death and what happened that night.

What also happened about halfway through, was a romance starting to lift it's head. And even though I am a romantic, I didn't like it. I don't like instant romance because it just doesnt happen. Not in a situation like this at least.

I was also bothered by the fact that everything was so hasty. Like the author wanted this and that to happen on one book, but still wanted to keep it short. The 'investigation' for example: it started and then it was over. The romance: one moment spent together and it was love.
In my opinion this could have been better being a little longer and spending more time with things going on. Yes, I don't like if things keep rolling too long, but when investigating a crime etc. those just don't get solved by snapping fingers.

All on all it was a nice book and a quick read. Not exactly what i expected it to be but it was a nice change to read a mystery that had a happy ending, sort of.

Lauren Westwood has written an age old story of how death affects a family so that it is impossible to move forward together. The premise is not original but Ms Westwood's treatment of it is.
Returning to town 15 years after her twin sister's death, a young woman must work to fit into the community she grew up in and try to heal the pain. Even after all this time, many questions remain on how her sister died and who should bear the blame. The death was ruled an accident but as she works to answer her won questions, many more come forward.
A really good read that captured my interest and held it right from the start.

Skye’s twin sister dies in a suspicious drowning and Skye unable to cope with her grief after a car accident leaves her unable to remember what happened that night decides to leave and go to America. Fifteen years later Skye’s brother asks her to come home after her mother falls and begins asking for her.

 

When Skye returns she is met with rumors that her sister committed suicide. Skye doesn’t believe it and yearns to understand what really happened that night. After finding her sister’s journals filled with more secrets Skye becomes determined to find out the truth.

Her mother is keeping secrets about that night and she isn’t the only one after reading Ginny’s diaries Skye realizes her sister had secrets of her own before she died. This is a vivid tragic tale of grief and loss the story is haunting and unforgettable. The world building is amazing and the Scotland landscape described has me wishing I could hop on a plane and see it for myself. The picturesque and rugged Scottish landscape of the western highlands sounds amazingly beautiful. It truly gives a feeling of remoteness and isolation. Perfect for the story and truly captivated my imagination. I received this book from NetGalley for an honest review.

My Mothers Silence is a beautifully done family drama, the characters are cleverly layered, the hint of mystery sitting nicely in the background, the author keeping you on board with the main protagonist throughout.

I'm not sure where to place it in my psyche, it was a bit of a mash up of psychological thriller and domestic noir and I did occasionally find the prose a little too saccharine for my personal taste, which doesn't detract at all from the novel as a whole but is just a thing.

Family secrets, love, loss and final reckoning all feature here and as such it is a page turner, descriptively the sense of time and place is wonderful so overall a very good read that didn't quite hit the sweet spot for this reader. But if you are fan of novels that explore fascinating familial relationships this one may be perfect for you.

Skye’s twin sister dies in a suspicious drowning. Skye decides to leave and go to America.
Fifteen years later Skye’s brother has been in touch to say her mother has had a fall and Skye decides to com home.
Skye returns to rumours that her sister commited suicide but Skye doesn’t believe it.
Skye finds her sisters journals with more secrets coming out .Her mother seems to know more than she’s letting on.
Will Skye upset more people trying to find what happened to her sister Ginny. And will she find the truth?
Great Read
Thanks NetGalley

★★★★ 3.5 stars (rounded up)

I've not come across Lauren Westwood before but that's possibly due to her usual genre being women's fiction. This time she brought us something a little different woven into the mystery genre with MY MOTHER'S SILENCE.

When I requested this book I had initially thought it would be more of a psychological mystery than what it actually was, given that it was actually listed in the Mystery/Thriller genre. And while it certainly does have an element of mystery, with part of the main focus being on the mysterious death of one woman's twin 15 years before, it is a poignant yet tragic tale of guilt and what ifs and ultimately how to rebuild something that was lost to tragedy.

"‘Mum wants to know when you’re coming home.’ They were the only words that could ever make me return; the words that I’d been waiting to hear for all these years."

Following the tragic death of her twin sister Ginny 15 years ago, Skye Turner left Scotland to follow her dream in America. It was the dream she and Ginny shared - to become travel the world together with Skye on guitar and Ginny's hauntingly beautiful voice. But instead Skye left alone...to follow their dreams for the both of them.

But now she's back.

Returning to the remote Eilean Shiel upon learning her mother was ill and asking for her, Skye was not prepared for the memories that would engulf her as she stepped off the coach and looked across the raging waters to the peninsula where she grew up. Or the silence that encompassed her as she stepped into the Fisherman's Arms, suitcase in hand. Or the indifference from her mother when she opened the door to her long lost daughter.

This is why she left. The guilt that ate her up inside, not knowing what happened that night...the night Ginny died...the night a car accident robbed her of her memory of "that night"...her mother's silent accusations...and her need to escape the pain. And now all eyes were on her once again as fingers pointed and whispered rumours began to circulate.

And then there is their bedroom. The one she shared with Ginny. While the rest of the house has enjoyed a makeover, their room has remained a shrine to her sister. This only serves to haunt Skye, adding to her confusing flashes of memories of that night and those of her sister. But Skye wants the past buried and feels it is time to pack away Ginny's life and store them in the attic along with all their other childhood memories. But then she finds Ginny's old journals and, feeling a tug of conflicting emotions, she leaves them not wanting to open that door as well as respecting her sister's privacy.

But then her brother Bill and his family arrive, sending the house into a whirlwind of chaotic activity. But it's not until her niece Emily, who is obsessed with the idea of Ginny, brings down the box of her old journals does Skye secrete them into her room to explore later. And explore, she will. Because Skye has learnt that her sister had secrets from her, secrets that she knew nothing about...and she thought she knew everything about her but she is suddenly discovering that maybe she didn't know Ginny at all.

And then finding a coach ticket to Glasgow for the day of Ginny's death, Skye finds herself questioning what really happened the night her sister died. Everyone in the community accepted it was an accident, but was it really? If only she could remember...

But the deeper Skye digs into the past, the more she realises that she's not the only one haunted by the secrets of that night. Was she really to blame or were people lying? Did they know something about Ginny's death? Did they have something to do with it or were they protecting her from the truth? Was the story of how her sister died all a lie? If only she could remember...

Told in the first person from Skye's perspective, I did find the story slow moving though the pace did pick up the deeper Skye delved. I didn't take much to Skye and her constant monologuing of second guessing kept the pace fom picking up. Whilst reading I felt like I should escape Eilean Shiel myself, the atmosphere was quite chilly...even moreso in her childhood home with her mother's equally chilly reception. Although this is all part of the story to be fleshed out, I was more interested in the mystery aspect and what really happened the night Ginny died and Skye's accident.

Unrestrained and poignant, MY MOTHER'S SILENCE is a moving story about a family torn apart by tragedy and secrets. It tells of unimaginable grief blended with misconceptions, harboured secrets and long buried memories to create an absorbing read of family drama and mystery.

MY MOTHER'S SILENCE is both compelling and suspenseful, despite the slow start, stirring up emotions and questions that have been long since buried. It is part chick lit part mystery with all the family drama thrown in, as well as a touch of romance. It has a little bit of everything.

My favourite part of this book would have to be the picturesque yet rugged Scottish landscape of the western highlands. It truly evokes that feeling of remoteness and isolation mirrored in the book's protagonist. Perfect for the story that unfolds here. And yet, the landscape is utterly stunning.

I would like to thank #LaurenWestwood, #NetGalley and #Bookouture for an ARC of #MyMothersSilence in exchange for an honest review.

My Mother's Silence has such a great premise, but sadly it fell flat. This book could have been written in half the the pages, most of it was just filler.

3 for neutral, as I wasn’t able to get into it enough to finish on occasions I tried. Will update at a later date, if it’s my mood, but just wasn’t not at all what I was expecting.