Such a sad read, that had me frowning, swearing, and tutting out loud all the way through.
Follows the story of a little girl called Abimbola or 'Abby' as she was known as, and follows her story of rejection at birth and her little life of all the destruction she caused through no fault of her own.
Gives you a true insight as to how hard it is to be a foster parent, as well as how hard it is for all the existing family as well as how hard it is for the child in care.
Absolutely heartbreaking 💔

Abby's Story by Louise Allen is a true story that tugs at your heart strings so you will need tissues and lots of them I also very hard to put down, this book is a 5 star read for me read pretty fast so a great page turner form start to finish

I highly recommend this book

Big thank you to Mirror Books and NetGalley for giving me the opportunity to read ‘Abby’s Story’ by Louise Allen in exchange for my honest and unbiased review..

Another true story that tugs at your heart strings. As with all in this genre very upsetting but hopefully light at the end of the tunnel for these children.

Abby's Story is the story of a foster child that comes into Louise Allen’s home. Abby hasn’t had the best start in life – can Louise help Abby? Will this troubled girl destroy the family or bring them closer together?
Louise is not only a foster career but was fostered & adopted herself. This gives her a unique perspective & whilst I presume that some names/details have been changed to preserve anonymity, this is a powerful story.
It's hard to "like" a story like this, but its a powerful read.

Disclosure: I received an advance reader copy of this book free via NetGalley. Whilst thanks go to the author & publisher for the opportunity to read it, all opinions are my own.
#AbbysStory #NetGalley

after reading this authors other books i wasn't disappointed, it is sad and very hard to put down, its always sad to see what some children have to cope with and makes you appreciate what you have

I’d like to thank Mirror Books and NetGalley for giving me the opportunity to read ‘Abby’s Story’ by Louise Allen in exchange for my honest and unbiased review.

Abby’s life begins on the floor of a school gymnasium as her thirteen-year-old mother gives birth. Named Abimbola after the nurse in the hospital, she’s adopted by Sarah and Gordon then when their marriage breaks down is handed over to be placed in care. From there on, little Abby is passed from foster carer to foster carer until at the age of five she arrives at the home of Louise, her husband Lloyd and their three children. Louse and Lloyd have given a home to foster children for the last ten years but with no paperwork or details from previous carers nothing prepares them for Abby!

‘Abby’s Story’ is the heart-breaking account of a little girl who’s continually failed by the social services system, and the foster carers who are left to cope with little support or recompense. The story’s been so well-written that I became immersed in Louise and her family’s experiences so much that I couldn’t stop reading and found myself in tears more than once at what had happened to Abby in her short lifetime and was going to happen to her in the long term. This is a wonderful novel, the first I’ve read by Louise Allen, but it won’t be the last and I have no hesitation in recommending it.

Thank you to Netgalley and Mirror books on the arc of this book.

this was a 5 star read for me read pretty fast, this is second in the Thrown Away Children series, i havent read the first in the series, but this is Abby's Story where her biological mother cannot love her, want her or look after her so she is put into foster care and Louise fosters her, and helps her, loves her.

really enjoyed this definitely recommend!

⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

Some many children are fostered and this is a book that deals with the issues around fostering, why so many are never adopted and how the system tries to make issues go away or ignores them. A good story in to how
children are never really considered.

Abby's mother was thirteen when Abby was conceived & spent her pregnancy hiding it & drinking to blot out the situation she has found herself. Needless to say she was in no position to care for her or to want to. She was adopted by a very religious couple who were desperate for a baby. As so often happened about a year after her arrival (a year that has not been in any way easy) her adopted mother had a baby & needless to say that didn't help Abby. She was shuffled from foster carer to foster carer before she ended up with the Allen household. By that time she was a whirling dervish of clumsy energy.

From the start Louise was concerned by the lack of information she was given, by the run around trying to contact previous social workers. Abby suffers from Foetal Alcohol Syndrome. This has affected her physically & mentally. Louise, who has been through the Care system herself. She wants to do the best for all the children that come into her care, but sometimes she needs to think of her own.

This was a heartbreaking story. I have read Louise's previous 'Thrown Away' book & I really admire what she & her family do. This shows how very hard it is to be a foster parent & how difficult it is to get information & help from an every changing social work department. Louise Allen writes movingly but also in a very readable style. Thanks to Netgalley & the publisher for letting me read & review this book.

I really enjoyed this I have read lots of books like this and am always interested but saddened by the tragic stories. As a health and social care teacher I have taught about FAS but it is interesting to read this first hand. Again it is sad to read how this little girl has been failed by social services, however a happy ending is uplifting. I will certainly be reading more from this author.

Little Abby starts her life horrible
And it got worse
It is a special book as it has all the saddest bits
I had an ARC

The making of a family, and the breaking of a family.

This was a really good book. A great start, a great first chapter, it really grabs you in.

'Abby's Story' is just the second book I've read by Louise Allen-but I already know I really like her style of writing. A bit different. You get different parts of the book from the different people/different family members. Not just the foster carer's side. Good as Cathy Glass' books are, she tends to write to a regular formula. Good for dropping in and reading her books in any order-but it does get a bit repetitive when you read a lot of them. Louise Allen's fostering memoirs are a breath of fresh air. There's another angle: Louise has been fostered and adopted. She knows. She can empathise, she's been through it herself.

How can it be that such a little girl can be such a powerful presence? Will Louise be able to help Abby? Or will she need to put her own family's safety first this time? I found this quite a page turner and read it in less than a couple of days.

Looking forward to more books from this author.

Abby’s Story is so well told by Louise Allen. It starts with her birth, although Abby wasn’t placed with Louise until later in life. Abby was let down by her adoptive family, social services and the medical profession. It is just such a sad and tragic story. Abby is fortunate that they are still some good people in life like Louise, and I hope that Abby is able to thrive in life to overcome the difficulties that she has.
Abby was born to a 13 year old girl who hid her pregnancy and due to obvious issues surrounding this, she dealt with it in the only way she knew, and drank alcohol throughout the pregnancy. As a result, Abby was born with FAS (foetal alcohol syndrome) and it appears to be a very severe case. Coupled with the terrible time Abby had during her adoptive placement, Abby was incredibly damaged on arrival at Louise’s family home.
I have read quite a few of this genre of books and this book touched me the most, as it really highlighted the failures in the system, and it is not an historic book, these are failures in the current system.
A really moving read.
Thanks to NetGalley for a Kindle copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

Another sad story from Louise Allen. Poor little Abimbola is unwelcome from the minute she is born – until she meets Louise. This is the third book in the unwanted children series, and it is the saddest. I felt so sorry for this poor child with a very unusual name, but hopefully she will get her happy ending! Perfect for fans of Cathy Glass and Casey Watson.

Louise Allen and her husband are Foster carers and this story is based on 'Abby' a terribly damaged 6 year old that arrived into there care. My heart goes out to her Nd all she had to deal with at such a young age and the story highlights the many shortcomings of the social care system in her short life.
Thank goodness we have good people like Louise as Foster carers in our country.
Another excellent but harrowing read.
Thanks to #NetGalley for the advance copy #AbbysStory

very similar approach to the books grom Cathy Glass, A foster family struggle to raise a little girl that should never have been placed with them. Im afraid it does not paint Social Services in a good light at all. The behaviour of some so called professionals was extremely questionable. Abby stole my heart.

Abby is a little girl who is born to a 13 year old mother and adopted by a couple. After the couple have their own baby, they feel a huge difference between him and Abby and eventually decide they can't cope with her anymore and put her into foster care. Louise, the writer, is the foster carer who looks after her. What I initially didn't like about this book is that while there are records of what happened, the 'scene' of the childbirth has been written and conversations imagined by someone who wasn't there. The same for the adoptive family. I took to it a lot more once Louise was discussing her own experience. It's a tough read and the child has been through a lot and her behaviour is really worrying. It's a good read, I just wasn't keen on the POV of some of it.

Abby's story is another sad tale of a child let down repeatedly by the systems that exist solely to protect children like her. Louise and Lloyd try everything to help her with inadequate support in their role as foster carers, until their supervising social worker, Jane, comes along. It seems that the social workers have little power or remit to actually help unless, like Jane, they choose to do so, almost in addition to their job requirements. It is yet another example of how the chronically underfunded system is failing children and families. Prepare to feel angry on behalf of these carers, their family and this traumatised little girl, none of whom should have been left to deal in such a horrific situation.

Abbey's story is such a heartbreaking story who goes from Foster home to Foster home, her whole life has been absolutely destroyed on abuse that she suffered.