A great read! This book kept me completely hooked until the last sentence. A mystery unfolds as Nan - a. 60 ish widow must relive her past to make peace with her future and ......with son who is about to be married. Lots of twists and turns as this thriller unfolds.

A good psychological thriller that gets pacier the further you get into it with some clever twists and turns.

A psychological thriller with older than usual main characters made for a different and refreshing read. Kate McQuaile's books read like she really cares for her characters, giving her story lines a sympathetic edge

This was an easy to read thriller thaylt kept my attention all the way through! Lots of twists and surprises I didn't see coming. Very good, would recommend!

Very well written and flits between now and then to give you more of an in-depth story. It was a bit of a slow start. This is my first book by this author.

Thank you NetGalley for my complimentary copy in return for my honest review.

'Broken Flowers' by Kate McQuaile is the story of a woman who decades earlier fled her youthful dreams and a house called Paradise Place with devastating secrets she hoped she'd never have to address again. Upon arriving in London for her estranged son's wedding, she finds herself looking up at the very home she ran from all those years ago. The voice and face of a man she longed to forget, already plaguing her mind.

The narration shifts constantly between characters and unfortunately lacks any distinction of 'voice' leaving the reader to rely on overt statements to remind them who's telling their story, despite the name appearing at the start of some chapters. But the story itself is interesting, if not a bit overreaching at times.

It very much so feels like a novel that was written with plot points first as the writer tried to weave her way toward the scenes she envisioned and moments she felt were crucial. Now, it's not uncommon for a book to be approached that way, but I don't often find myself feeling it along the way as I read.

Nan, our main character, has a strained relationship with her son.. to say the least. I think McQuaile does an amazing job at the emotional narrative between those involved in her story. Most of the interactions seemed very genuine and though I didn't yet know exactly how these people had failed each other, their pain felt reasonable and I wanted to champion their attempts to bridge those gaps.

Almost all the characters have a relatability factor to them, regardless of their strengths or social statuses, they have realistic vulnerabilities. They're likable and I even found it difficult at times to choose how I would have wanted things to work out. For even the 'villains' certainly didn't see themselves as such and admittedly, I didn't entirely either.

Puzzle pieces were delivered slowly, but sometimes felt ill-placed as if the author felt they were necessary in that moment to turn the direction of the story she wanted to tell. In all fairness, I'm just picky about how these things are handled. I like a natural pattern to emerge and feel that if you have to use another character to insert information in order to create a turning point, you should reassess. But make no mistake, that's my preference and this author still did a wonderful job of driving her story steadily toward the crescendo she foresaw.

Though I traversed the majority of the novel with a relatively accurate expectation as to where certain aspects of the story were going, McQuaile does hit us with a bit of a 1-2-punch in the reveal, which I'd only half considered. From there, the landscape is a steady shift of change. In fact, she did so much 'footwork' in the story throughout the last chapters, I was unsure to the last moment which outcome I was going to get.. and I applaud her for that.

It's certainly not as finessed as classic thrillers like Du Maurier's 'Rebecca' or 'D'entre les morts' (the novel from which Hitchcock's 'Vertigo' was born) by the French duo known simply as Boileau-Narcejac, I do believe fans of these titles would find 'Broken Flowers' highly enjoyable and I'm happy to recommend it despite my small misgivings.

Broken flowers by Kate McQuale.
Widowed Nan is on her way to her beloved son's wedding. She should be excited, but she is dreading her return to Paradise Place - a small area of Notting Hill that she hasn't dared set foot on for decades. Nan had arrived there as a young girl in the late seventies, desperate for freedom and a career as an artist. But, drawn into a dark obsession that spun out of control, Nan was forced to flee.
A very good read with some good characters. I liked Nans character. Little confusing with the then now and Hugo. But I slowly enjoyed it. 4*.

As other reviewers have stated before this book is a bit slow in the beginning but if you stick to it you will find a very well written and interesting book. I really liked that the author wrote it on two different times past and present I love books like that. Overall I enjoyed the book it was not a favorite of mine but glad I stuck it out till the end.

Nan is on her way to London for her son's wedding. She fled from London in the 70s and hasn't set foot in the capital since. She is scared of the memories London holds and scared of her relationship with her son which fractured after her husband's death.
I really struggled with this book and just couldn't get into it. I returned several times and finally finished it in a rather piece meal fashion. It just didn't hold my attention.
I am not sure exactly what the problem was. It isn't a fast moving book and I found that the action rather dragged. It was certainly padded out in places.
The story itself is set in two time periods - London in the 1970s when Nan was a young and quite immature student. The other thread is set in the present day where we follow Nan as she meets her future daughter in law and her family for the first time.
I don't think I can exactly pinpoint one problem with the book. It dragged a bit, was a bit padded in places & had some events that seemed to me to be very unlikely even in the world of fiction. Add in characters that I failed to relate to; in fact I couldn't like most of them. In all it just didn't work for me.
I received a free copy of this book via Netgalley.

I loved this book. The synopsis got me straight away. The only negative was the talk about art. It also started off slow and picked up towards the end. It was a bit predictable but I still really enjoyed it. It kept me engaged and wanting to find out more.

This book is a slow burner. Brilliantly written that builds to a crescendo.
NaN on leaving school heads to London to study art. There she shares a house with the charismatic Hugo and Eddie.
Years later she is invited back down toLondon to celebrate her sons wedding. They haven’t spoken since her husband’s death 2 years ago. Whatever has happened for them to fall out. And you is the godfather of Bens bride to be.
Secrets will keep tumbling out and things hidden for years come to the surface.
Well worth 5 stars.
Thank you to the publisher and Netgalley for the arc in return for an honest review

Nan is having to face all her fears to return to London for her estranged sons wedding. She hasn't been back since she jumped on a late ight train forty years ago. She hasn't seen her son since her husband died two years ago. Once she's in London, Nan starts metting the family of her future daughter-in-law. But there is one relative she has not met yet. The mysterious godfather of Marie -Laure. But they are in the same house that Nan had rented a room in all those years ago. The night that had changed her life for good.

Thenstory flips back and forth between the past and present and it's told from multiple perspectives. The pace is slow and the twists were a little predictable. It took me a few chapters to get into the story. We learn the secrets from Nan's past and the choices she had to make. The last quarter of the book was by far the best. I also thought that there was a fee chapters that were written just to bulk the book up.

I would like to thank NetGalley, Quercus Books and the author Kate McQuaile for my ARC in exchange for an honest review.

What happened to Nan all those years ago that was so bad that she left London for good? Told in dual time line, you'll slowly come to understand why she's been reluctant to return and why she's been estranged from her son. Now, however, she's got to face her fears because he's getting married. His fiancé Marie-Laure is an interesting one too; she's got a mysterious godfather out there who will be relevant to the story (or will he?). This one gets a little out there but that's ok because McQuaile is a good storyteller and she's carefully crafted her plot. I also liked that Nan is an artist. No spoilers. You will be sympathetic to Nan as you turn the pages.

An entertaining read that kept me engaged!

I loved the flashbacks between the present and the past and the fact it was told from different characters points of view as it really help to set the scene, I had a couple of light bulb moments along the way only to find them challenged and disproved which is what's expected in a truly good suspense novel.

3 for neutral. I couldn’t get into this book, even though I tried on a few occasions. It was just too slow and dragged way too much for me to get into it and enjoy. I will update my review if able to finish at a later date.

Don’t they say revenge is a dish best served cold?

If you’re a fan of slow-burning thrillers where tension meets suspense in a whirlwind of lies, secrets, and bloody cold revenge? Then this book might be for you!

For me, this was a slow-burner that didn’t pick up speed till about the last quarter of the book and when it did, the twists were either predictable or far-fetched. I did, However, enjoy the writing and the premise of the book and would still recommend it.

I would like to thank the Publishers, NetGalley, and the Author for sending me an ARC of this book.

I wasn’t too sure about this one with the first few chapters, but the writing was so great that I kept going and man am I glad I did! I did not expect that twist! I love when books do that!

I read this book in one day because I couldn't put it down, it's also a quick read. I enjoyed it, it's a bit like a soap opera but the main character Nan is smart, realistic, and insightful. I love thrillers that have commentary about class, so this is right up my alley.

Thanks for the ARC.

Thanks to Netgalley for a preview of this book. It was a good read. I found the plot very slow at times especially in the first few chapters & it didn't immediately grab my attention however once the book got around ten chapters in the course of the novel changed & it became much more interesting

Thank you NetGalley for a copy of this book for my honest opinion.

3 stars out of 5. I almost didn’t finish this book. The beginning felt drawn out and it didn’t really hold my interest until about halfway through. However, once I got past that slump it was actually pretty good. The twists were a bit far fetched, but they were enjoyable.