I thought this book was interesting until it became clear that there was an implication about women who have to give up their children for adoption due to legitimate reasons - it seemed as though these women were being shamed for it through this story, and this was not something that settled well for me. As someone with an MSW degree and familiarity with the adoption system, it was uncomfortable for me to read certain things. I feel the story could have used some more compassion there, in that regard.

The Girl You Gave Away by Jess Ryder is another gripping read from a talented author who has become, for me, a firm favourite. Ms Ryder deftly crafts a story that will keep you reading into the night, desperate to see how it all plays out.

Erin is only fourteen when she becomes pregnant by the older, nefarious Dean. Frightened and alone, she gives birth to a daughter, Jade, to whom she immediately gives up all parental rights. Erin eventually goes on to marry and have two other children, and is blindsided when she receives a card on the day of her fortieth birthday from the daughter that she had given up so many years before. Jade, it seems, is back, but is this reaching out all in good faith, or has something, or someone, more sinister resurfaced in Erin's carefully ordered new life?

I am always thrilled to read the newest offering from a favourite author, and this one does not disappoint.

Many thanks to NetGalley and Bookouture for this ARC.

<I>First off, i would like to thank Netgalley and the publisher of this novel for the opportunity of reading an advanced digital copy in exchange for an honest review.</I>

Where to begin?

I feel like I read this story with my eyes and brain on autopilot. Reading, just because I wanted to get this book over with so I could move on to bigger and better things.

I found it mildly interesting because I felt that the story had potential. You see two perspectives, Erin (the main character) and Jade (the estranged daughter), written in a way that compliments each other’s story. It’s a story of a young girl who made some bad decisions and the aftermath, which becomes twisted and convoluted over time.

I’m not exactly sure why this is deemed a psychological thriller, as I didn’t really feel as I do when I’ve read other books of that genre. Anywho, neither here nor there.

The ending, in my opinion, was a bit abrupt and left me not really getting any closure in what had JUST happened.

This book is about main character Erin, who gave up her daughter for adoption when she was very young.
She is now 40 and has created a new life with a husband and two kids. when she receives an envelope from Jade, the girl she gave away, she wanted to accept her into her life and get to know her. But is Jade really who she says she is and why is Erin feeling so uneasy?

While I was intrigued by the concept, I expected so much more twists and unexpected turns, and was disappointed with the cliffhanger ending. Erin makes so many bad decisions, and while it is understandable at times, its frustrating that she isn't supported but her family or friends,


Thank you to Netgalley, Bookouture and Jess Ryder for an ARC in exchange for a honest review.

What a great book. Would definitely recommend to it others I no. Great work will look out for this author again

3 Stars

I really wanted to love this book, especially because psychological thrillers are among my favorite genres, but I didn't connect with the characters in this story. Thank you to Bookouture and NetGalley for providing an ARC of The Girl You Gave Away to read and review.

Yet another superb psychological thriller from Jess Ryder,Erin was a wayward child rebelling against her strict catholic upbringing and at aged 14 she falls pregnant by Dean an older boy,she is forced to give up her baby girl against her wishes and spirals into a life of drink and drugs.Years later she meets and marries Tom and they have 2 children Oliver and Chloe and life is perfect for Erin,but then on her 40th birthday she receives a card with a message from her daughter Jade who she gave up for adoption all those years ago.Things start to go all wrong then for Erin has she didn't tell Tom about her earlier life and all the secrets and lies Erin was hiding come tumbling out as her life starts to unravel,The Girl You Gave Away is an excellent psychological thriller and something Jess Ryder seems to excel in.A real page turner of a book and a certain 5 star read.

I always enjoy books by this author, and this was no exception. Gripping from the off, and stays exciting throughout with so many twists and turns. I did find most of the characters quite unlikable, though it was refreshing to see Erin acknowledge her faults and mistakes. A must read for thriller fans!

I found The Girl You Gave Away to be a very enjoyable weekend read. It’s billed as a twisting psychological thriller and it certainly lived up to that. As the book progresses the pace ramps up with some lovely twists and turns with the sense of unease growing with each turn of the page.

Thank you to NetGalley, Bookouture and the author for the chance to review.

This book is full of suspense and secrets! If that interests you then I would definitely recommend The Girl You Gave Away! It kept me hooked til the very end. I wish it ended differently with more closure. It almost felt like it was missing a chapter or two. Overall good suspense!

I received this ARC from Netgalley and the publisher in exchange for my honest review.

It’s Erin’s fortieth birthday, and life is generally good - she’s happily married, professionally successful, and has two teenage children who are generally doing ok, even if fourteen year old Chloe is rebelling a bit. But Erin has a secret - more than one, in fact - about which she has never told her family, and when Jade, the baby she conceived when she was just fourteen herself, comes back into her life, the consequences are explosive.

Pretty much everybody here behaves diabolically, so it’s hard to engage your sympathies. Erin’s husband Tom, supposedly a good and caring man prior to all this, becomes unbelievably cruel after learning he’s been deceived. Erin herself deals with things in generally the worst way possible. Her children, Oli and Chloe, show zero loyalty to her. And Jade herself, who has a lot of issues, is a bit of an enigma, but you certainly don’t trust her. Everybody makes a series of atrocious decisions.

Jess Ryder doesn’t sugarcoat anything - the situation is pretty dark, but it makes for an interesting and unpredictable read. I really never had a clue what anybody was going to do next. (Usually the most ill-advised thing possible.) I did find myself very confused at certain points in the story, but if generally came together. It ends on a bit of a cliffhanger, which some reviewers disliked, but didn’t bother me unduly in this instance - I don’t necessarily need all the loose ends tied up, and it wasn’t hard to predict the likely outcome anyway.

An interesting read, and darker than one might expect.

The story is a great psychological thriller.

The realistic depiction of mental disorders and the intensity of writing just added to the beautiful dark theme going on.

As said earlier, this story is a dark, extremely dark story. At times the darkness is so dense that I had to put the book down and calm my racing nerves. This just solidifies the fact that this book is no light reading.

If you can’t handle details and the constant feeling of blood rushing through your ears, this is not for you. I recommend this book as an adult read and that too if you can handle thrillers.

The books started great, with our lead characters Erin and her daughter Jade described beautifully. The characters are strong and penned down with great delicacy.

The pacing of the story is great too, and with a different theme of events going around, it’s a different read. It is not your common thriller, but altogether a different concept.

The major downs of the plot are the coincidences. The story has some points where the coincidences and the overlapping of events akin to attempted murder, kidnap, etc. get too much.

The ending is too open and with many questions still unanswered. This book needs at least two more chapters to close all the loose ties as the ending is too abrupt, and gives us a big question mark (not in a good suspense way).

All in all, this book is a good read for adults who seek the thrill, for one time read as more you read, more the question marks you find.

This is my first Jess Ryder book and I quite enjoyed it. A suspenseful read with a few twists in it. I liked the storyline and read the book quickly and although the book was enjoyable the ending wasnt. It felt like there was some chapters missing. I would still recommend the book though despite the ending.

what would you do if you woke up on your 40th birthday and everything what you have worked for loving husband and two children in a few hours everything changes .that is what happens to Erin a birthday party .and one thing changes everything this story very addictive .there are lies deceit and big secrets ,and very sad in parts I so recommend a must read

First I would like to thank Netgalley for an advanced copy of "The girl you have away" this is my first book by Jess Ryder. I look forward to reading more books by this author. I am a huge fan of psychological thrillers. I am also adopted and was given away at birth so I found the book interesting.
t gives readers both sides of the story, revealing both the birth mother and the adopted child's feelings surrounding the adoption and after the secret comes out. But it goes deeper, by considering the effects of secrets on other connected relationships, and damage that goes deeper than keeping secrets. If you like secrets,suspense and scandal this book is for you. I enjoyed reading the book and will look for more titles by Jess Ryder.

I really did try to get through this book. I made myself get to 40% but I still wasn’t feeling it. I just found it quite boring to be honest, and the writing style just wasn’t up my street. I found it to be quite over exaggerated in the most strange places, and a bit unrealistic.

I flew through this book after the first 20%, I was reading at every feasible opportunity. What’s with that ending though??! I need at least another 2 chapters to tie up loose ends!
4 strong stars

The Girl You Gave Away is a suspenseful read by Jess Ryder. Erin is celebrating with friends and family at her 40th birthday party. She has a good life, a husband and children she loves, friends, and a successful business. She has secrets though, one of the biggest ones may explode everything she holds dear.

Erin got pregnant at 14 and the child was adopted. No contact between the two in 25 years and now her "daughter" is dropping off birthday cards at her party. What does this young woman want? A relationship? Or are her motives for getting touch darker?

The book was suspenseful and I really wanted to know who Erin was and how her daughter Jade's appearance would affect her family. I didn't like that Erin's friends and family let her down when she needed them most. They treated her like a pariah, as if she was the worst kind of evil. This treatment made me wonder if Erin was really the person she presented herself to be or did she deserve this abandonment?

For me the ending was too open ended. I wanted more details, more results, I didn't want to decide for myself how the story would turn out. Too many questions were left hanging. That said, I enjoyed the book very much. I just needed more details before "The End."

Going in I thought this book had a great concept. I was excited to know who sent the envelope and how the fallout was going to happen. As a reader I was able to anticipate all of the twists and turns so nothing really shocked me as much as I would have liked. I also felt like the ending left me with a lot more questions that were not answered through out the whole book. What happened to their marriage? What became of Jade? Did she get her money back? What other types of things did Holly do to make Asha say she lived a double life?

Thank you to netgalley and Bookouture for allowing me to read an ARC of this book in exchange for my honest review.

This book was not as interesting as it seems from the blurb. It started off well and seemed interesting but it lost pace at about 25%. There are a few mistakes in the book with regards to the character names and it makes it impacts the plot unfortunately. I don’t think this qualifies as a thriller, the plot isn’t great and the characters are absolutely not relatable. It was hard to care what happened to them. When I was a child we had this game, it had 16 tiles with different pictures on it, you picked them randomly and narrated a story based on the picture you picked first- used to be a lot of fun but needless to say the story didn’t always make sense. Unfortunately this book felt like that. Like the author picked up tiles of attempted murder, blackmail, kidnapping, bad relationships, mental health issues etc. and just put them together to form a plot. The ending too was not satisfying at all.