Thank you so much to the author, Georgina Cross, NetGalley and the publisher, Bookouture, for an early read of this book for an honest review. This review is my own opinion.

Throughout this book, I suspected every single person, and wow what a great read, and great ending. I went back and forth about the responsible party, what exactly happened, and never was I correct.

This thrilling book, will reel you in from the first page, and will keep you guessing until the last chapter. What a great read, and I cannot wait to read more from this author.

This is a fast paced domestic/psychological thriller that I raced through in an afternoon as I had trouble putting it down. The plot had lots of twists and turns, the characters are well drawn and it kept me guessing until the end.

Great debut novel, I will look forward to more books from Georgina Cross

This is a great psychological thriller that I really enjoyed.
Mia has gone missing and Vanessa and Tripp are beside themselves with worry.
There’s also a fire roaring through the neighbours house at the time she went missing so the Police think the two incidents are linked.
We get an insight into Vanessa, Mia and their neighbour Julia’s thoughts at the time of the fire/disappearance and it takes a while to piece it all together.
It seems a few of the characters have secrets and as the book goes on more and more is revealed.
I was surprised with what really happened as I’d never have guessed it and I really liked how the book ended.
Thanks to Bookouture and NetGalley for the opportunity to read this book.

My very first book and I'm super proud of it. I hope everyone enjoys reading The Stepdaughter. Thank you for reading and leaving reviewers as it means so much to me.

Wow, Wow, Wow! This is definitely one of my BEST psychological suspense reads of 2020 and possibly ever! The tension ricochets with every page, every character believable and every one a suspect. The twists just keep on coming and the pace never lets up. And that ending - stunning! Just wow! Amazing. A book to transport you, thrill you, entertain you and keep you guessing. So very very glad to have discovered this author. I will be waiting eagerly for her next books.

Mia is the stepdaughter, Vanessa is the stepmother. Tripp is Mia's biological father.

Vanessa knows that she will never replace thirteen year old Mia's mother. But one afternoon when Mia was in Vanessa's care, Miagoes missing from the family home. Mia had been swimming in the pool in the backyard. The neighbours house went on fire at the same time Mia went missing. Was there a connection between them?

The story is told from multiple points of view. The dynamics of the relationship between Mia and Vanessa were well done. The story revolves around finding Mia. This is a fast paced and well written book with plenty of twists. The plot line is engaging, gripping and it will keep you guessing. The characters are well rounded and believable. Everybody has a secret that nobody else knows, or do they?

I would like to thank NetGalley, Bookouture and the author Georgeina Cross for my ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Thank you NetGalley for an advanced copy of The Stepdaughter!

Finally, we got a winner!! I feel like most of the books I’ve read recently have been “eh” at best but not this one. I was hooked from the very beginning and couldn’t put the book down!! Mia is a 13 year old typical teenager, moody and not getting along great with her father and stepmother, when she suddenly disappears from her backyard pool. Her stepmother Vanessa was only in the house for a matter of minutes. How did she not see someone take her stepdaughter??? The detective investigating knows this family, as well as their friendly neighbors next door who’s house just happened to burn to the ground at the exact time of Mia’s disappearance, are hiding something but what?? They all have their secrets and nothing is as it seems!!

I very much enjoyed this book. I found it quite thrilling! I liked how the author wrote the story switching perspectives between the characters; it helped build up each character and their personalities.
I didn’t want to put the book down because I wanted to know what happened. The ending caught me by surprise and I didn’t expect it.

First the good. Solid 3 1/2 star family drama about 13 year old Mia who goes missing from her backyard swimming pool. The story takes place over the next few days while a search is conducted by the police and her father and step mother. There are some good twists here although there are holes in the ending that can’t be ignored. The different narrators are all unreliable in their own way but not glaringly so as to be caricatures. The writing is ok and the story flows nicely. Now for the bad. First of all let’s talk about the cover. The girl pictured looks much younger than 13 and the yellow dress has no relation to the story. There are way more obvious clothing choices to have gone with and if you read the book you’ll wonder why in the world they weren’t used instead. Also, the voice the author uses for a 13 year old girl was all wrong. Young teenagers don’t say things like “this evening” “ far too soon” and things like that. It was distracting. Also the aforementioned plot holes in the last 1/4 of the book are too much too swallow. Still a nice family drama fiction type book perfect for vacation where you can easily put it down and pick it up again.

My first book by this author and it was ok, a good story that kept me guessing but unfortunately I didn't really like or engage with any of the characters

Thanks netgalley for allowing me to read this interesting book which I enjoyed.
Mia lived swimming, she was at her best in the water and she could forget everything that was going on in her life.
Mia is 13 and she was seven when her mother died.
She adored her mother and knew no one could ever take her place.
Until one day her father.brought home Vanessa to be her stepmother.
Mia is certainly not happy, and Vanessa keeps letting her down, and Mia has heard her on the phone to her friend saying how tired she is looking after a stepdaughter taking her swimming all the time,
Mia sees something in next doors window which will. Change her life for ever.

Mia, who is Vanessa's 13 year old stepdaughter goes missing one day from their backyard while Vanessa is at home. Told from multiple viewpoints the storyline is centered on figuring out what happened to Mia and how she vanished in the middle of the afternoon. I was so excited to get a copy of this and it did not disappoint one bit! It was twisty, fast paced, and kept me hooked the entire storyline. Thank you to Netgalley and the publishers for a copy of this. I will be keeping an eye out for more from this author in the future!

Quick and great read for anyone who likes suspenseful reading. The story is told from multiple point of views and all focus on the disappearance of 13 year old Mia. The dynamics of the relationship of Mia with her step mother Vanessa is wonderfully done and the book kept me on my toes until the end.

Rating 4.5
Publication Date: September 2, 2020

Synopsis:

It’s a normal afternoon when I walk out the patio doors of our kitchen to check on Mia, my stepdaughter, who is swimming in our backyard pool. But she’s gone. My heart stops when I see the back gate is open, her pink, fluffy towel lying folded on a chair. I was just feet away. Why didn’t I hear her scream? Who took our little girl?

My husband can’t understand how I could have let his daughter disappear. And when the police come asking questions, I wish I could wind back time to that normal afternoon when I was cooking lasagna for my family, Mia’s favorite. I can tell the officers don’t believe me: they’ve cast me as the evil stepmother.

I just wish I could understand the messages I’ve found from my husband on Mia’s phone: I’m so sorry, I still love you. And why his wedding ring is found at the bottom of the pool after Mia disappeared. He never told me it was missing. What else is he hiding?

But the detective keeps asking me where I was during those ten minutes when Mia vanished. And I can’t tell her my secret. From the way she’s looking at me, I know she thinks I did something to my stepdaughter. Mia and I haven’t always been that close and sometimes she drives me nuts, just like any normal teenager, but I would never hurt her.

I just need you to believe me.

As soon as I saw the cover and read the description, I knew I had to read this book!! Georgina Cross has blown my mind with this incredible story full of twists. I would recommend to anyone who is a fan of suspense. I am so happy to see the author has more books in the works and will be anxiously awaiting their release!!

Thank you to NetGalley, Bookouture and Georgina Cross for the opportunity to read The Stepdaughter in exchange for my review.

What are the chances? Thirteen year old champion swimmer Mia Tanner is doing laps in her backyard pool when her stepmother Vanessa steps out front to see what is going on. The house next door is on fire, uncontrollably burning to the ground. She’s only outside for minutes but when she returns to the pool, Mia has vanished. So begins the wild ride that is The Stepdaughter!

The story is told in several voices: Mia, Vanessa, neighbor Julia and her mother Charlotte, who has dementia. Mia’s mother died when she was five and a three years later her father Tripp married Vanessa. At Tripp’s urging, she left a successful career to become a stay at home mother. She tries her best but she misses her work and Mia is not an easy child. As flashbacks reveal Vanessa, Tripp and Mia’s history, a frantic search for Mia begins. The police are involved. Tripp accompanies the police and Julia stays with Vanessa. Although Julia’s house has just burned down, she knows that finding Mia is more important.

There are so many twists to this plot and you won’t be able to anticipate any of them! How could Mia, wearing only a bathing suit, disappear so quickly? What caused the fire? Why does Charlotte keep talking about a bride? These are only a few of the many questions that are not answered until the final exciting pages of The Stepdaughter. You won’t be able to put it down! 5 stars.

Thank you to NetGalley, Bookouture and Georgina Cross for this ARC.

A replacement wife. That is pretty much what Vanessa feels like, even five years after marrying Tripp Tanner. Tripp is a widower who had lost his wife two years before they met. A year or so later Tripp and Vanessa married. When Tripp met Vanessa, his daughter Mia was seven years old. Was he moving too fast when they began dating? Mia never fully adjusted to the loss of her mother. When Tripp and Vanessa decided to marry, in a rather casual manner, Tripp discusses Mia's needs. He wants a stay-at-home wife, someone who will be there for Mia's every needs.

Tripp is a busy attorney who works way too many hours. He gently encourages Vanessa to quit her job to care for Mia. Despite the fact that she is a well-respected career woman, she reluctantly agrees, much to the dismay of her best friend Janie. Actually, Janie saw red flags from the very beginning. Not so for Vanessa. She fell head over heels for Tripp, and vowed to be the best stepmother possible.

Mia was an elite swimmer, although thirteen years of age by this time in the story, clearly destined for the Olympics. One day after school she goes outside to practice in the pool, and before Vanessa can realize it, Mia has disappeared. She was in a swimsuit. Her towel is still folded on a chair. Where could she have gone? Meanwhile, her neighbor Julia's home goes up in flames. Distracted by what is becoming a devastating fire, Vanessa doesn't check on Mia for what couldn't be more than a few minutes.

Was she careless, neglectful even? With Mia's age, and the fact that she was a champion swimmer, a few minutes unsupervised in the pool should have never become an issue. However, because Mia is gone, it most certainly is a huge issue. The police ask a lot of questions and multiple search teams are employed. Where is Mia? Did she go off on her own accord, or was she taken? How could she be there one minute, and gone the next?

Vanessa is beside herself. She considers her relationship with Mia. With Tripp. Was Mia unhappy enough to have run away? Julia, the next door neighbor, is sitting with her, helping her while at the same time, understandably worried about her house burning down, and thankful that her mother Charlotte was resting at Vanessa's home at the time of the fire.

So, we have a lot of players in this story: Vanessa, Tripp, Julia, Charlotte, and even snippets of Mia as the story is relayed in first person alternately. What a thrilling story of family drama, angst, secrets and lies. For this to be a debut novel, I feel I must give Georgina Cross props for writing such a compelling story, one that captured my attention from beginning to end. The mystery did not turn out as I expected, and I think that is because this story had more than one unreliable narrator. The way this was written made it impossible to know who to trust. Who to believe.

Actually, I felt like I was watching a tennis match while reading this book. As soon as I cast doubt towards one character, I soon was feeling someone else was guilty. Needless to say, I was wrong on every turn. Well done Ms. Cross.

Many thanks to Bookouture and to NetGalley for this ARC for review. This is my honest opinion.

Thank You Netgalley and Bookouture for this book in exchange for my honest opinion about the book!

Vanessa Tanner seems to be living in a perfect glamorous life in Huntsville and her stepdaughter, Mia Tanner is a talented swimmer with hopes of joining into Olympics. Then one day, Mia goes disappearing while swimming at the backyard of the house and at the same time, their neighbor's house, Julia Campbell's house goes on fire. All eyes point to Vanessa as people blame for Mia's disappearance and Detective Angela, who is in charge of Mia's disappearance suspects Vanessa. But Vanessa, despite not really getting along with Mia and trying very hard to become a good mother to her insists that she has nothing to do with Mia's disappearance...

The story is so good that I finished this book in one go! A real roller coaster ride type of thriller, quiet fast paced with so many twists and turns in each chapter that will send your mind reeling. The story itself is realistic, particularly the stepmother-stepdaughter relationship between Vanessa and Mia. I was so hooked into the story that I didn't even know that I finished the book that fast! This is the first time I am reading from this author and is probably her debut book so I must say, she really did a good job with this book! The book is well written, fast paced and did a good job of making the reader getting engaged into the story!

Overall, I really enjoyed reading this book--a fast paced thriller with unexpected twists and turns you will not see coming. Quiet unputdownable that will make as a reader to want to read more. Looking forward to read more books by this author!

A young girl goes missing, a strong swimmer that was last seen in her backyard pool with the house next door up in flames there are a lot of questions as to what happened to Mia and who caused the fire.

Told through a lot of perspectives from the stepmother of Mia, the neighbor who lost her house and her mother who was possibly the last to see Mia, but is having memory issues. I will always love a story that uses multiple perspectives to tell a story because I feel as though you get a fuller story from hearing from more than one perspectives.

With short chapters and some that leave on such a hanging cliff, this book read so quickly that I started and finished it in a visit to my local pool. Like most mystery/thrillers the twists and turns were timed so well and I enjoyed each of them, there was one that I predicted maybe a little too early, but that didn't ruin the reading experience as a whole for me.

Another book that I was both sad and excited to find out it was a debut. There is no backlist to dive into, but I can quietly anticipate her next book!

Great premise for a story and this lived up to the blurb and was indeed a fantastically twisty novel with love, hate, teenage angst and murder.
Vanessa meets recently widowed Tripp and falls immediately for him. They marry quickly and Vanessa is persuaded to give up her high powered job to be full time step mum to his daughter Mia.
Mia’s mum died when she was 5 and although initially it appeared she was becoming fond of Vanessa this could not be further from the truth.
Near the start of the story champion swimmer Mia disappears. Vanessa has no idea where she is and at the same time the house next door burns to the ground.
Plenty of plot and great writing. I cannot wait to read more from this author.
Thank you to Netgalley, the publisher and the author for the opportunity to read this book in exchange for an honest review.

Mia only went out for a swim. However, she then went missing and the house next door burned down. It is connected or just a weird coincidence. Someone knows what happened to her.
Thrown into the mix is her step mum Vanessa. Tripp her father. Julia the neighbour and Charlotte. Julia’s mother with dementia. Can you piece together the clues to find Mia.
A great read. Will keep you engaged to the end.
Many thanks to the publisher and Netgalley for the arc in return for an honest review .