This was an interesting story. The plot is good and explores the psychological effects of abandonment. I liked the writing style and was kept engaged throughout.
Many thanks to Amazon Publishing UK and to NetGalley for providing me with a galley in exchange for my honest opinion.

I have enjoyed all of Leah Mercer's books, even though they are heavier than the ones she writes as Talli Roland. So I was eagerly awaiting the chance to read Ten Little Words, and it did not disappoint!

I read this novel in two days. It was an enjoyable story, even given the circumstances. It moved at a good pace which kept me turning the pages. I like how it went back and forth between the past and the present. Both Jude and Ella's perspectives were interesting and they were sympathetic characters. I cared about both of them a lot. I was definitely eager to see what would happen and liked seeing how the story unfolded as more information came to light.

Fun side note: Jude and I share a birthday!

If you haven't read Leah Mercer's novels, definitely give them a try.

Movie casting suggestions:
Ella: Emma Watson
Jude (1980s): Ellie Darcey-Alden
Caroline: Caroline Quentin
Angus: Peter Gadiot
Bertie (1980s): William Moseley

Such a relaxing lovely read. Just enough to keep me interested. The characters were so likeable and relatable it was easy to become drawn into their lives! Perfect summer read!

While this book definitely went to some dark places, it ultimately felt full of light and hope. A little cutesy at times, it really draws you in to the story of this broken family and how assumptions and the inability to cope with trauma spread so quickly.

"Because love can't be buried under the weight of time. It's not something you can forget, or that you can root out. No matter what, it's there, just waiting until the ground has thawed and it can bloom again."

Thirty years ago Jude Morgan disappears and is presumed dead. She leaves behind a five year old daughter Ella, who is raised by her Aunt Carolyn and her husband Rob. This story is told in different timelines by Jude from the 1980’s and by Ella in the present day. Ten little words refers to two phrases her mother always said to Ella which remain of utmost importance to her.

I am always with you.
I will always be here.

Ella remembers how her mom used to make her feel safe, so Ella creates a life for herself where she holds a steady job, lives in loft and her only companion is her cat. She has closed off herself to building relationships, even with her aunt and uncle that love her.

I enjoyed how the story played out, the character development and progression throughout the story. Needless to say, everything was wrapped up in a perfect bow and I wouldn't have had it any other way!

What a read this was!
I sort of had an idea what had happened from the start but I think that was Leah Mercer’s intention.
Difficult topics throughout but definitely a book that you want to finish to know the outcome of the lives that were destroyed years and years ago.

Thank you to Netgalley and Leah Mercer for my copy of Ten Little Words, for an honest review.
The story tells about Jude and Ella ( mother & daughter) from each woman’s perspective. We see Jude struggling with depression during one of the happiest times of her life. Then we meet Jude, who lives with her aunt & uncle and has for years. Her mother is gone and she doesn’t feel a connection to her aunt and uncle. This is a deep story. It even kept me guessing the whole time. Difficult topics written beautifully. I loved hearing Jude and Ella’s versions of their lives, during different times.. present day and during the 1980’s. See my review on Goodreads
The words:
I am always with you
I will always be here
Are said and heard throughout the story and I love how it tied things together.
This was a 4 star read for me and I have recommended it to friends and family.
I really enjoyed this book.

Ella sees an advertisement in the newspaper that was anonymous, just repeating the ten words her mother always told her. After her mother’s disappearance which was assumed to be suicide, it took years for Ella to believe her mother was dead. She closed herself off emotionally from everyone, including her aunt and uncle who raised her. But now, was her mother alive? Discovering some old letters written to her mother, Ella starts on a quest to find the truth. I really enjoyed the book, especially the descriptions of the relationships between the characters. Thanks to NetGalley for the ARC.

The premise to this story features Jude (mid 20’s and mother to 5 year old Ella) walking into the sea following a period of hopelessness and depression. A flashback gives clues as to the circumstances that has led up to this significant moment. Nothing further is divulged until you progress through the book in a kind of dance between Jude, and Ella (aptly named due to her mother’s love for the singer Ella Fitzgerald and wish to emulate her professionally). 3 decades ago Jude was feared dead following a bag of her personal items being discovered on the beach near to where she had last been sighted approaching the water. Carolyn (Jude’s sister) took on the role of mum to Ella in addition to maternal aunt and it was one in which she cherished, albeit her surrogate daughter stubbornly refusing to give up on the woman who gave birth to her. 30 years later however, and Ella has resigned herself to the ‘fact’ of her mother’s suicide and that she would not be coming back for her. And that’s where she wishes to leave it...

Yet ‘I am always with you, I will always be here’

...10 little words that just won’t go away

This story was really rather touching and heartwarming along with some tragic experiences. It wasn’t challenging at all to try and keep up with who was who, and the characters were very well written. Although a little predictable there was a twist at the end that did have me sitting up straight in a ‘well I didn’t expect that’ moment in addition to it being a highly emotive one. The tears will fall out of your eyes, I confidently predict

Wow, this was an impactful read exploring difficult topics. I thought it would be a light, frothy read but it was very heavy and dark.

Many thanks to NetGalley, the publisher, and the author for my ARC. All opinions are my own.

Mercer gives the reader a touching tale of a family deeply hurt and still mystified by a thirty-year-old tragedy, then laces it with intrigue, hope and a touch of romance. There are twists and distractions to keep the reader guessing; lies and threats to stir the emotions; and heart-breaking moments and misunderstandings to bring a lump to the throat. Mercer easily captures the era and setting in this moving and enjoyable read.

Wanted so badly to like this book -- the premise of the words that reverberate through a lifetime grabbed me by the throat. However. The story itself failed to grab me. The situations, the characters, the settings, all was overwrought and clunky. Yes, it was sad, but I knew what was coming long before it arrived. Yes, there was serious merit in some of the critical issues that the author went directly into, such as mothers abandoning their children and how those children make their way in the world. However, it was too much, too overloaded, and just plain unreadable for me.

Using different voices, this book flips backwards and forwards in time to tell the story of unrequited love. It gives the reasons why, when she was so in love with the man she was soon to marry, Jude disappeared, leaving a young child in the care of her older sister. Ella has spent lots of years trying to come to terms with her mother’s disappearance but after reading an advert in the newspaper on her mother’s birthday, begins to research her disappearance. This leads to a voyage of discovery of the truth and her own feelings towards others, which will give piece together all the loose ends which have never been properly explained. By the end of the book, all the characters are free from all their previous misconceptions and we are left with a happy feeling.

I received a copy of Ten Little Words from Netgalley in exchange for my honest review.

Ten Little Words was a whirlwind of emotions. Ella was just five years old when her mother disappeared and was declared dead. She grew up holding on to the ten words her mother would repeat each night. I am always with you. I will always be here. Now, she's 35 and believes her past is behind her until she sees an advertisement in the newspaper that states those same ten words. She breaks out of her comfort zone to find out what they mean.

The book was so well written. The character development was on point and made you feel as if you knew the characters. My heart ached for Ella, Bertie, and Jude. The story is told in alternating time lines but never seemed confusing. It was a little predictable in a few places but that didn't distract from the story. I would definitely pick up another book from Leah Mercer.

“I am always with you. I will always be here”. These are the words that Ella’s mother, Jude spoke to her every night before she went to sleep. But when Ella was four her mother committed suicide and ever since she has drawn into herself and will not commit to anyone, even the Aunt that brought her up.

One day Ella sees these 10 words printed in a newspaper. But if it is not her mother who placed the ad, who did?
The story is told from both Jude’s and Ella’s perspective. Ms Mercer writes eloquently about Jude’s early life and I could see the colour of love that surrounded her. Ella is a complex character and I could feel all of her loneliness and anguish at having been abandoned by her mother as a child.

I loved Bertie. To me, he was the real hero.. A true gentleman who lifted the tone of this novel.

I really enjoyed this book, the story drew you in and as it played out you felt more and more involved in the story. Both tragic and uplifting, this was a lovely book which I would recommend.

This book follows the journey of Ella, after her mum disappeared when she was just 5 years old she’s bought up by her Aunt Carolyn. For years though she clung to the hope that her mum would return - despite her clothes being left on the beach and people seeing her walk into the sea. Her body was never found, and neither was the heart pendant that she’d always promised to Ella.

When one day ten little words appear in a national paper, ten little words that Ella’s mum always use to say, this hope is reignited. Is Ella’s mum actually still alive? Did she just leave her daughter and then not return? Or did she walk into the sea and leave her? Either way we see Ella struggle with her emotions, hope, anger and confusion rank highly!

I found this to be a slow burner initially and I was a bit confused at what was happening, but about a third of the way in the story seems to take off. The storyline was a bit predictable but this didn’t change its charm at all and you’re still unsure what the ending is going to be throughout.

My emotions were definitely on high alert as well and the tissues were almost needed at the end of the book.

In the end I loved this book and would definitely recommend it to others. It reminded me of Cecelia Ahern and JoJo Moyes books.

Ten Little Words tells the story of Ella, now 35 and orphaned, and her mother, Jude. I like the way the story is told, going back and forth between Ella's story in the present and Jude's, in the past. It's a real page turner.
The end is a bit contrived, but it doesn't make the story any less enjoyable.
I look forward to more books by this author.

With thanks to Net Galley and the publisher for the digital ARC.

Thank you to Netgalley, Amazon Publishing and Leah Mercer for this advanced reader's copy in return for my honest review. I'm a sucker for a dual time line book, especially when told from the POV of different characters. I absolutely loved this family drama, filled with engaging, relatable characters that I found myself genuinely caring about..

4.5★s
“I couldn’t say I was happy, but then, I didn’t want to be happy. Being happy meant you had something to lose, and I wasn’t about to risk that.”

Ten Little Words is the fourth novel by Canadian-born British author, Leah Mercer. For years after her mother disappeared, Ella Morgan hoped and believed that she would return. No body had been found. Why now, after she’d finally accepted that Jude Morgan had abandoned her five-year-old daughter by walking into the sea, had that haunting ad appeared? “I am always with you. I will always be here” was what her mother had told her every night, and there it was, in the classifieds of The Post, on her mother’s birthday.

The music and the songs had always been inside her, and in the early eighties, all Jude Morgan wanted to do was to go to London and sing: that was where she’d get her big break. For now, busking on the promenade at Hastings could earn her some pennies towards it, at least. But then she met Bertie McAllister, and the dream could be postponed for a while: never forgotten, but being with Bertie seemed more important.

Ella’s hard-won equilibrium, achieved through eschewing connection with others, keeping her heart safe, was now deranged; the nightmare was back and she was making mistakes at work. Perhaps it was time to relent, to talk to her Aunt Carolyn about what had happened with her mother. Perhaps the promised heart pendant was with her mother’s things... The letters were a mystery: a shoebox of unopened letters from someone called Bertie.

Eventually, Ella is convinced to take steps to find Jude: she’d had so many questions, but now “I stared out to sea again, feeling more alive than I had for years. My walls were down. My heart was open – at last. But … I wasn’t full of love. I was full of fury, and I was ready to attack. God, it felt good.” What would she find, if anything?

Mercer gives the reader a touching tale of a family deeply hurt and still mystified by a thirty-year-old tragedy, then laces it with intrigue, hope and a touch of romance. There are twists and distractions to keep the reader guessing; lies and threats to stir the emotions; and heart-breaking moments and misunderstandings to bring a lump to the throat. Mercer easily captures the era and setting in this moving and enjoyable read.
This unbiased review is from an uncorrected proof copy provided by NetGalley and Amazon Publishing UK.