The Sleepover is a book that talks about a Mother's worst nightmare. It tackles an experience of a mother who lost a child and how she cope up finding the child. It consists of characters that is likeable and very easy to understand. Though the concept may sound cliche, The Sleepover is still highly recommendable.

Overall, I really enjoyed this book. As a mother, this book definitely made me anxious. I found the ending to be somewhat lacking and maybe a little like the author tried too hard to keep you guessing

This was an interesting read. It’s not my usual read and it’s things that worry parents. It’s a well written book. I would recommend it to others.

This book was very well written, its actually every parents worst nightmare. The plot was filled with twists and turns and I loved the ending. This book had me on the first page. I loved it.

Izzy is a very protective mom. A year ago, her now 13 year old son, was bullied something awful from school and eventually was beaten up the first day he went to school by himself. They have both healed, but still wary, although they are now in a new school and Nick seems to be making friends.

The latest bone of contention between Nick and his mom is an invitation to a sleep over with 2 or 3 others from school ... those he calls friends. Mom finally relents and consents to him going, but she is still extremely nervous. Doesn't help with her ex-husband (Nick's step-father) left her claiming Izzy was neglectful last year.

She had a long sleepless night and was so happy to see the sun rising .. now all she had to do was wait a couple of hours and she could pick up her son.

But her son isn't there. His coat is there ... his backpack is there .. most alarming, his inhaler is there ... but the boy is missing and no one in the house has seen him leave.

A mother's worst nightmare come true .... did someone take her son?

Twists and turns keep the uncertainty about what may happen at a high level of suspense. The suspects are many and varied ... the boy's friends ... their parents ..... a well liked teacher .... old friend of the mom's ... the step-dad .. even the mother herself. The characters are deliciously drawn, each pulling the readers' eyes to watch and asking the question.. is he / she lying? Did he /she take the boy? The ending was unexpected and explosive.

Many thanks to the author / Kensington Books / Pinnacle / Netgalley for the digital copy of this psychological fiction. Read and reviewed voluntarily, opinions expressed here are unbiased and entirely my own.

3-4 stars, I did finish this book and for the most part found it to be a good read, but it didn’t wow me. I think if marketed towards those who are not into more disturbing or even younger thriller readers, it would be a much more successful book, as it seemed a bit off compared to my more dark thrilling reads. Overall, it was written pretty good, with some fun thrills, chills, and twists. I wouldn’t say it was unputdownable, but it was captivating enough to want to finish. I think that it had some really fast paced and hard for parents to read parts, but others were a tad too show for me. Overall, I think if you’re one who doesn’t want too much disturbing and dark content. This is your book!
Will make sure to buzz around and use low Amazon reviewer number on release date!

I requested this book blind as there was no description provided but I have read this author before and enjoyed her books.

The story is about a boy who is bullied but then invited to a sleepover. He then goes missing during the night. A parents worst nightmare!

The characters were odd. The mother was sufficatingly protective, the stepfather was weird and his portrayal was almost one of a paedophile grooming his victims. The kids were strange. The boots in the hall saga was also odd. Nothing played out as I thought it would. Having said all this i did feel compelled to keep reading to find out if the boy was safe.
Not my favourite read but I think others may enjoy it. Thank you Netgalley, Kensington Books and Samantha King for giving me the opportunity to read this advance copy of The Sleepover.

This was my first book by Samantha Hayes and I was not disappointed. the ending was twisty, which I like. There were some parts that felt that it went on too long but overall an enjoyable read. I will definitely be reading more by her in the future.

Izzy is thrilled but nervous when her shy, 12-year-old son is invited for his first sleepover. Nick has been bullied mercilessly in the past and so Izzy had reservations about the sleepover but decided to give in .Arriving to pick him the following morning, her worst nightmare comes true as Nick is missing and no one at the sleepover saw him leave.It seems as if he simply disappeared,without trace.. . .

The Sleepover by Samantha King is every parents worst nightmare come true. This is well written with skillfully drawn characters and a tightly woven plot packed with twists and turns and an unexpected ending

I would like to thank Kensington Books & NetGalley for providing an ARC of this book in exchange for my honest and fair review.

This was an ok read. The premise was very intriguing, but the writing was just too long-winded. I did think the writer did a great job with writing characters the reader can feel invested in.

You will read this book with your heart in your throat. Suspenseful and heart pounding it's a book not to be missed. A really well written thriller of a book with an ending you won't see coming. Happy reading!

This is the first book I have read by Samantha King and I wasn't disappointed.

The premise is so interesting. This is every paren't nightmare come true. Your child goes for a sleepover but when you go to collect him he isnt there!
Like... whaaaat??
How do you even deal with that??

This is Izzy, the protagonist's worst nightmare come true and the book is written with her POV.

The story has its pros and cons and though I did like the story I did not love it.
The pacing of the story is good and the author did use the usual tropes of untrustworthy characters, some twists
which were interesting and a premise which is believable but at times I just felt that the character buildup and fleshing out could have been better and more defined and this made a difference in my reading.
However I would still recommend people to read this because this is a story which has a lot of themes which are so relevant in today's world especially a child's. It has bullying, peer pressure, secrets, the influence of social media et al.

Worth a read.

Thanks to Netgalley and the publishers for sending a Digital ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Thank you #netgalley and #samanthaking for an eARC of this book for an honest review.
The book started off good with a lot of potential. Build up of suspense was good. Every time I thought I knew who it was, I was wrong. I really loved Nick character but my likeness for the book kinda ended there. It was a struggle to finish. I thought this book could’ve been written with about 10-15 less chapters. Kinda dragged on. Some characters never fully developed. In my opinion, definitely Katie and Craig. I’ve seen great reviews for her other books, so I will be giving those a try. Unfortunately for this one, it was just ok.

Thank you Netgalley for the opportunity to preview The Sleepover by Samantha King.
A young boy who has been bullied in the past struggles with a mom who is overprotective, an absent father, an over eager step father, and overall depression.
He is finally asked to go to a sleepover with a few friends. His mother doesn't want him to go, but the son wins out and goes. The next day, she goes to pick him up and he is gone. No one knows where he is, the other kids don't know anything, and they mystery ensues.
This is a good book, but i did find the characters annoying, and the chapters drawn out with more information that a reader needs.
2.5 stars

Izzy's son Nick was attacked by bullies= beaten so badly he ended up in the hospital- last year. It lead to the breakup of her marriage to Craig. She moved Nick's school and now he seems to have found a friend, Adrian, who invited him for a sleepover. She's happy but worried and then the worst happens- Nick disappears. This is told by Izzy, who is frantic to find her son. Her backstory is not a happy one. This has some twists and would have benefited a bit from an edit to tighten it so that there were more surprises. Nonetheless, it kept me turning the pages. Thanks to Netgalley for the ARC. It's a quick read.

I have children. This book is my nightmare! Nick lives with his mom. He doesn’t know his father and his stepdad has moved out. He has been bullied. Now he has made some friends and is going on his first sleepover. When his mom goes to pick him up, though, he is gone. Vanished. All the boys claim to know nothing. So what happened to Nick?
This book kept me reading. I was terrified for Nick. There were so many questions and dubious people. I was kept wondering all the way up to the reveal. I was on a roller coaster of hope and despair throughout. It is a heart pounding, page turner!
The Sleepover is a psychological thriller. I could certainly see it as a cautionary urban myth. It covers a lot of relevant topics for parents and children today. Peer pressure, social media pressure, bullying, social media usage, online chats, dark websites and people with hidden psychological issues. There is a lot to explore in this book.
Thank you to #Netgalley, #Kensington Books and the author who provided an ecopy for review consideration. My review of The Sleepover is based upon my experience with this book.

This was a decent book with a good mystery. Izzy allows her 12 year old son, Nick, who has been bullied the last couple years, to attend a sleepover (against her best judgement). When she arrives to pick him up the next morning, he can't be found, and the rest of the book is spent on finding him as well as piecing together what happened.

There was a tension throughout the story that kept me engaged- I had an idea of what might have happened and wasn't completely off base, but wasn't spot on either. The author did a good job at dropping tidbits here and there to keep the reader guessing.

The thing I didn't like about the book was the character development. While I thought Nick was lovely, he was the most built-out character in the book. I did feel like I kind of understood Izzy, but there were a couple times that I was frustrated that she didn't connect the dots on various happenings. I really couldn't figure out Craig- the book mentions him "acting uncharacteristically" multiple times, but I those things didn't fit together for me and I didn't understand what was IN character for him. Similar situation with Katie- I didn't think there was enough for me to understand her.

All in all, this was a good mystery fraught with tension, but not a home run for me because I couldn't really relate to the characters. Recommend for those who like domestic suspense and mysteries. Thanks to Netgalley for providing me a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

This books premise is every parents worst nightmare. I did like that it explores some serious topics. It was a quick and engaging read.

Wow! What a story! Every parents worst nightmare. 12 yo Nick has been mercilessly bullied for a long time. Bad enough that he was attacked and ended up in the hospital. He's finally doing a bit better, even made a couple friends. Then he's invited to a sleepover. When Izzy goes to pick him up the next morning, he's missing. Sucha good book; fast paced and great character development. Unputdownable!

What would you do for your child?

Izzy, the main character in The Sleepover by Samantha King, tries so hard to let her son, Nick, be independent and live his own life. At the same time she struggles because one year before the beginning of the book, Nick was beat up by some bullies at his old school. He had chosen, at the age of 11, to walk to school by himself.

Izzy struggles with her son's burgeoning independence. She wants to keep him her little boy forever, and wants to protect him from all the people that may hurt him. She's a little one-dimensional in this regard.

When Nick is invited to a sleepover at his friend's house, Izzy is reluctant to let him go. She's thrilled that he is apparently making friends, but she's scared that he could get hurt by said friends.

When she goes to pick him up from the sleepover, and finds out he's missing, the whole book is set on its course. Will she find him in time? Will he still be alive? What happened?

This book is told in first person present tense. It's a weird type of writing; one I can't really get past. I was taught in school not to write this way, so when I find a book that is, I find myself yelling in my head at the writing. I also ran across a couple proofreading errors, but they didn't really detract from the story.

I've noticed that Izzy "reflects" a lot. Yes, the author actually uses this word. This actually did bug me. I couldn't figure out why the author couldn't find other words to say the same thing.

The characters don't develop very well, either. The story is told very well, and had enough interesting twists to keep me reading, but I found the characters one-dimensional.

Luckily for me, this book is action-driven. I don't like books that are character-driven. I don't know why, but they tend to bore me. This book also has plenty of back story, which makes the present easier to understand. The flashbacks are told quite well.

All in all, this book is really good, and I will likely read it again. It will be a while, but this story was unique, and I really appreciated all the little twists and turns. Just when I thought I knew what was going on, the story would switch, and I would be confused all over again. I actually love stories like these. It's one of the reasons I love Saw 1.

The Rating

I gave this book 4 stars. It's really good, and I will enjoy reading it again, but the character development wasn't as great as I would expect from a thriller, and the main character was a bit one-dimensional for me. Character-driven books may not be my cup of tea, but I do like some in my action books.

If you enjoy a thriller, you should definitely check this book out. I could tell it wasn't professionally edited or proofread, but the story is good enough that it doesn't seem to matter much. I was reminded of The Family Upstairs a bit when reading this book, so if you like that book, you might like this one.

The Conclusion

I really did enjoy this book. I probably won't be adding it to my top-ten list any time soon, but I loved it enough to recommend it, and even choose to reread at some point. I won't be deleting it from my kindle anytime soon.