I don’t know how Shalini does it but every book she writes hooks me quickly. She takes a family and completely upends their life, spinning it into a riveting drama, in this case it’s a child going missing at the fair.

But omg the characters in this book drove me doolally, to the point that I was messaging my friend Daniella, who was reading it at the same time, to discuss the mother in law. I totally understood Claire’s reaction and Jill is fortunate that I’m not her daughter in law, as I wouldn’t have let her off so lightly. I was going to add that Claire did come across as having a slight superiority complex and was a tad judgemental but then realised that I had made the same judgements and I think as a parent you just automatically point blame the second something happens to your child that you had no control over.

That is precisely what Shalini does so well with her books, she gets to the core of people and sees them for what they are, giving them realistic personalities and responses. The relationships have flaws that many people can easily relate to, especially when they come with baggage.

Narrated in first person by Claire and Jill, really forces you to see from both perspectives, and you will pick a side and fairly quickly. You will either choose team Claire, a mum who was looking forward to a night out and who left her husband Oliver in charge of Bea, only to discover he had palmed her off to his mum who you don’t trust. Or you will choose team Jill and see how much she loves her granddaughter but makes silly mistakes that causes Claire to mistrust her with Bea. Her heart is in the right place and you can’t help but feel sorry for her.

With red herrings along the way this is not only a great whodunnit but a richly drawn family drama. It will have your fingers glowing red from turning the pages so fast and the nails bitten to the quick until you reach the dramatic conclusion.

My Little Girl, by Shalini Boland

One of the things that I love about Shalini’s books is, they’re almost always in first person and diff POV.

This book had me guessing on whodunit several times, I was wrong every time.


Clare Nolan is getting ready for a night out with the girls, 💃🏼💃🏼her husband Oliver is taking his daughter Beatrice and her playmate to the fair. 🎡🎢🎠 But instead, he has his mother Jill take them. Jill IMO is an airhead. It’s hard for me to read about airheaded women. {I know they’re out there in this world. I pray 🙌🏼 for them }. (The ROUNDABOUT situation raised my BP, they’re not confusing. It’s simple. 🤬🤬) I digress... Jill loses Beatrice in the house of mirrors, Clare is furious Oliver bailed on his responsibility and blames him for his daughter's disappearance and blames Jill for not paying attention.
It’s a race against time to always find children in the first 48, but when 48 hours turn into days usually the outcome is never good. You’ll have to read this excellent book to find out what happens.
🌟🌟🌟🌟 stars from me ❤️

This was really twisty and gripping I actually forgot to download it before it archived thankfully a friend of mine had it on her Kindle app and let me read it

Overall it was a well done story about a mother's worst nightmare but it definitely had a lot more potential.

I wasn't a big fan of how kind of predictable it was in the way the store was told and unfolded just wasn't quite the writing style I love and that keeps me constantly turning the page and gripped.

Despite how picky I am it still was enjoyable and fast-paced and I only read in about three sittings or so

Holy mother forking shirtballs. This gripping, suspenseful thriller was every bit of amazing as Gone Girl, if not more. There was always some creepy person or act to throw you off the scent. I was SHOCKED at the ending. Now I 100% recommend this book to everyone I know, and Boland is on my list of new favorite authors.

This is a compelling read. The author's ability to take a traumatic incident and weave an ethos of menace and suspense is what makes her stories so addictive. Told from multi viewpoints, the reader gains insight into the two unreliable protagonists and the unknown antagonist.

The family unit is scrutinised, and the devastation a missing child causes is convincingly written. The believably written relationship dynamics immerse the reader into the characters' traumatised world. The story keeps its secrets well, and although I did work out the antagonist, the author still has the final word.

I received a copy of this book from Bookouture via NetGalley in return for an honest review.

Shalini has done it again, another brilliant psychological thriller deserving of five stars yet again. This is a perfectly happy little family that’s life comes crashing down when their daughter gets abducted. Blaming her Mother in law who has looking after her daughter at the time of her abduction doesn’t help with her relationship with her husband, nor does it help she was on the phone to his ex wife at the time. This is a tense page turning read that you won’t want to put down.

A little girl disappears from the fair while her grandmother is watching her. Everyone is pointing the finger at each other laying the blame. Where was her father, why wasn’t he with her? Why did her mother think it more important to go out with her friends than take her daughter to the fair. Everyone is feeling guilty but who has taken her and will they get her back safely?

This was easy to read in a few days and kept you guessing!
#MyLittleGirl #ShaliniBoland #Netgalley

First, I want to thank Shalini Boland, Bookouture and NetGalley for providing me with this book so I may bring you this review!

YES!! Shalini Boland is back and better than ever in her latest thriller My Little Girl. Honestly, there isn’t a book I have not disliked of hers. She has been truly blessed with an incredible gift of storytelling.

Shalini’s storyline about missing Beatrice stood out to me above and beyond the rest. She focused on the human side of the story and what the family was experiencing. You could feel how passionate Shalini was about them through the emotions that were expressed. It was refreshing to see this aspect more than the crime itself.

The setting she picked was sheer brilliance!

Ohh poor poor Granny sure her share of bad luck! My heart was with her.

Shalini showed us how twisted and evil the media can be at times. I was literally fuming and yelling at my kindle!

My Little Girl addresses many important issues in this book.

The climax of the story was packed with action, suspense, and revelations that came out of nowhere. It was just amazing.

Every mother’s worst nightmare wrapped up in a novel. I loved the idea of this story. A missing child is my worst nightmare. I adored the characters, the setting was also well done. The story line was solid. I found the book was a bit slow especially for this author whose works I normally love. I also found that the whodunit was pretty easy to guess. But overall the story was well told, the characters were well developed and the relationships between the characters were very lifelike. This one just didn’t ramp up fast enough for me.

A really twisty gripping read.
There were moments when I felt it wasn’t the best, but they were few.

This book is every parent's nightmare.

Claire’s 7-year-old daughter Beatrice goes missing at a funfair from the care of her mother-in-law Jill. Who I may add is a ditzy light-hearted quirky character who is fabulous in this bleak situation. I love how the author brought out her character and you feel as if you are in her head seeing her perspective.

My Little Girl is deeply terrifying, Claire is frantic with worry about Beatrice’s disappearance, which is turning into an abduction before her eyes. her husband Oliver seems to have his own worries and keeps disappearing to the pub. Her relationship with Jill was strained to start before this happened.

Everyone seems to have secrets and trust levels hit an all-time low. Friendships are tested to the limits and trust me you won’t be able to put this down until you discover the truth about Beatrice’s abduction. I was shocked with the ending and didn’t think it would go that way at all!

Absolutely recommended if you have a few hours to spare – you won’t want to put this down!

⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

I have read other books from this author and have enjoyed them. I’m afraid I found this book a bit predictable with the way the plot unfolded. There were very few surprises.

Many thanks to netgalley and Shalini Boland for the advanced copy of this book. I agreed to give my unbiased opinion voluntarily.

This was another great read by the author, who I believe is the queen of psychological thrillers.
The characters were great and there was suspense and lots of twists
Highly recommended.

Right away, this is a book any parent can relate to. Seven year old Beatrice has disappeared without a trace!

The time my 3 year old got away from me in a huge department store and hid under the clothes rack? Check! The time I had to chaperone 5 boys on an elementary school field trip to the zoo? Check!

If anything, I would have wanted everyone involved to be a little bit more panicked. Claire is definitely not going to sit around and let the police work at their own pace, but she also calls in every suspicion she has, which rubs quite a few people the wrong way. Based how scatter brained Jill (Beatrice's grandmother) was described at the beginning I was shocked to learn she was only 65 - so that took away some of the believability for me. But her attempts to redeem herself were heartwarming! I felt like shaking Claire's husband, Ollie when he became emotionally unavailable to her. Although they supposedly had a good marriage, he winds up withholding information from her that could have helped the case.

Overall, this was a fast paced suspense novel with a lot of red herrings, lots of suspects and a great ending and epilogue.

Thanks to NetGalley and Bookouture for an advanced reader's copy for review.

This is a riveting, compulsive and extra fast-paced domestic thriller, and we are thrown into the middle of all of the action and suspense from word go. It is an enthralling, mystery-laden and engrossing read made all the more terrifying by the nightmare fuel of a subject - a missing or abducted child. Highly recommended.

Brilliant. Thrilling. Addictive. Just fab. A gripping tense and suspenseful read that completely absorbed me. Cannot recommend it enough.

This book was a page turner from beginning to end. I literally couldn’t put this book down and finished in one reading. The twists and turns that come after will give you whiplash. I literally couldn’t put this down until I found out the truth. I received an advance review copy for free, and I am leaving this review voluntarily.

Jill is watching her granddaughter, Bea, at the fair when Bea goes missing. Who in the world could’ve taken a child so quickly, in such a crowded place, without any notice?! Claire and Ollie, Bea’s parents, begin their worst nightmare as they try to find their daughter...but every avenue, every hint, every theory has a dead end shortly thereafter. Who in their life could’ve been a part of such an evil act? And will they ever see Bea again?

As a mother, I can’t imagine Claire’s situation. I felt so poorly for her and Jill, her mother in law! I empathize with all the characters, even the “bad guy” — and this character development was very enjoyable and really redeemed the book for me. Otherwise, I found it a bit bland and predictable for all but maybe the most novice thriller-lovers. A definite enjoyable read, but nothing revolutionary. I did like the little epilogue and would read a sequel if it was ever released!

Thanks to the publisher, author, and NetGalley for my review ARC. All opinions are my own!

The horror starts right off the bat. Jill is taking her granddaughter and a friend to the fair. All is fun and laughter and in a split second Bea her granddaughter disappears. Claire the mom was planning a night out with friends and never liked Jill taking sole care of Beatrice but Oliver her husband thinks his mom can do just fine and he’s tired so he let’s Jill take them. Through days of searching and police investigation nothing turns up. The three are fragmented and search separately. Each carrying their own emotional pain. Day after day and no results they start turning on acquaintances, family, neighbors anyone in their desperate search. Wow what a story. So well written and so many suspects and so little results. This book keeps you thinking and trying to figure who and why? Thank you NetGalley, bookouture and Stalinist Borland for allowing me to read this eARC. This is the first book of Shalini’s that I’ve read but I know I’ll read more she keeps you interested and guessing. Well written and excellent character development of all. I am giving my honest opinion. Well worth your time!

Another brilliant book from Shalini Boland.
Claire is shocked to receive a call to say her daughter has gone missing whilst at the fair. She was there with her friend and her grandmother, who was meant to be looking after her.
Claire and Ollie are devastated when the search for Beatrice finds nothing.
Days go by and still there’s no sign of Beatrice so Claire starts to grasp at straws as to who has taken her. She suspects her neighbour and Ollie’s ex wife but all lead to dead ends.
I was surprised when the person who took Beatrice is uncovered and admit I never suspected them.
This is a clever psychological thriller that definitely had me hooked.
Thanks to Bookouture and NetGalley for the opportunity to read this book.