Lily’s mother died of cancer only a year ago. When she finds out that her father is not only seeing someone else already, but planning to get married again, Lily is utterly horrified… and even more so when she discovers it’s Maria, a friend who helped Lily’s mother out during her cancer battle. Something about Maria seems off to Lily, and when Lily’s little sister Emma vanishes, Lily just knows Maria is at the bottom of it.

Every now and again I come across a book with a protagonist so utterly insufferable, I just want them to be proven wrong about everything. Unfortunately, Lily is one of those characters. She was juvenile and determined to be right, no matter the cost to anyone else. I felt desperately sorry for Maria from the beginning, having to put up with such a self-righteous, entitled little madam hellbent on sabotaging her life, and that feeling only intensified as the truth of Maria’s past was revealed. She’d been through enough, and the worst part was, by the end of the book, even though Lily knew the truth, she still didn’t seem to think Maria actually deserved happiness. I honestly despised Lily, and it’s rare I say that about a book character who’s not clearly intended to be a villain!

The premise was interesting, but the execution left me cold as we repeatedly rehashed Lily’s desire not to have Maria around and Lily continuously searched for justification that Maria was an awful person who didn’t deserve to be happy. By the end of the book, I was gritting my teeth every time the narrative moved from Maria’s POV back to Lily’s, and for that reason I cannot give this more than two stars.

Lily has lost her mother Ruth to cancer and she’s now left to take care of her father Gareth and her little sister Emma, with the help of Seb, her boyfriend. Nevertheless, less than one year after her mother’s death, Lily finds out that her father is dating Maria, the kind beautician who works in her own salon and also gives beauty treatments for free for cancer patients like Ruth. Lily is raging: it’s too soon and Maria has to have ulterior motives to be with her dad, who is handsome and rich. It turns out that Maria is actually a very nice lady, although one day Lily discovers that she’s getting threats in her post. Why is Maria been threatened by anonymous people? And why doesn’t she ever talk about her past? Unfortunately, Maria did a huge mistake when she was very young and, although she has changed her name since, she hasn’t yet atoned for it, and now Emma and Gareth could be in danger too.

This one was an OK book for me. I read it pretty quickly and I mostly enjoyed it. It’s overall a nice read and there’s nothing terribly appalling about it. Nevertheless, it has to be said that there are several things that I noticed. First of all, the novel is really repetitive. Sometimes it looks as if the author has a notebook filled with sentences (always the same ones) and she randomly picks one and put it into the novels and then she repeats the action until she has 300 pages filled with sentences that are actually more or less the same. One example: Maria’s two fingers tapping on her wrist to calm herself. If I’d read this sentence one more time, I would have screamed. And so it goes for Lily thinking “Maria has something to hide” and for Maria thinking “I did something terrible ten years ago”. Maybe, during the editing process, lots of this stuff could be cut out of the book in order to make it lighter and more enjoyable. Also, the dialogues felt really staged, which reflected badly on the characters, making them look flat and not particularly easy to like. Probably the only character I quite liked was Maria herself, while Lily seemed to me as a spoiled and irrational person. All that business of her going “asking questions” in the salone is cringeworthy. I know this sounds like a terrible review, but the book is OK, as I said at the beginning. It’s an average read, probably okay for summer.

•Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for the ARC in exchange for an honest review•

A dark and sophisticated thriller showing the relationship between a young woman and her stepmother who is acting more than a little suspiciously. You can’t help but wait with bated breath for the outcome!

I enjoyed reading this book. The characters were very well developed. The author gave just enough back story to tie in the twist of the story. I felt that the story moved along at just the right pace.

I highly recommend this book.

I would say that this book is deserving of 4.5 stars.

First, I want to thank Karen King, Bookouture and NetGalley for providing me with this book so I can bring you this review.

WOW!! Karen King lured me into her latest book The Perfect Stepmother with her cryptic, intense and eerie prologue!! Oh I just had to know what happened to Emma and if the Stepmother was really behind it!!

Ohh I totally agree with Lilly and felt compassion for her!! Come on now Lilly’s Mom just dies of cancer and her father coviently marries her beauty specialist!! Someone who she adored and considered a friend!! Now that is just creepy and wrong on so many levels. He couldn’t just grieve her loss and be single for a while?! Shaking my head at some men these days!

I loved Maria’s explanation of why she became a beauty specialist for cancer patients. Even though I didn’t care for her character I did commend her on her career choice.

Ohh how we learn that The Perfect Stepmother is not so perfect after all!! She has secrets about her past that she would rather keep hidden in the past.

The climax of The Perfect Stepmother was crazy good filled with a lot of suspense and major drama!! I was at the edge of my comfy chair seeing how it would all unfold!

I was granted an advanced copy of this text by Netgalley in exchange for an honest review. This book was just ok for me. It was slow to start and the story never left the predictable path. I was hoping for a twist on the tropes of the genre, but it was quite generic. Disappointing.

I am a huge fan of this author. I was so excited for this book and it definitely isn’t one that has disappointed. This has been an addictive read from page one.

King has packed in the surprises to this one. There are well-developed and believable characters filling the pages of this one. This is an unpredictable and intriguing novel which I have devoured in one sitting. I have loved Lily from the beginning.


This is definitely a page turner. I have been completely pulled into the pages of this one. I cannot wait to read more by Karen King.

A suspenseful page turning book with realistic characters that draws the reader in from the first page until the last page. It's a great book to take with you to the beach or the pool and if you're a fan of Shari Lapena or Riley Sager, you should grab a copy today and read it!

Brilliant.... I absolutely loved this book. Original, intricate and completely riveting it had me captivated from start to finish. I just could not put it down.

A brilliantly written thriller where the suspense starts from the very first page and continues throughout. A totally engrossing read with twists and turns and an ending you don't see coming. Can't wait to read more from this author.

The story was fast-paced but took its own time to create the ambiance. The mystery aspect was meh but the thriller aspect especially at the end was not bad. Though not fully satisfied with how the story came out, it was not a total disappointment. You may like this book if you are a fan of domestic thrillers.

I would love to read more thrillers from the author in the future because she does know how to write one!

This is a contemporary, suspense-filled mystery which starts with the disappearance of a child, five year old Emma, then goes back to events leading up to this.

Lily’s parents had a happy marriage and were overjoyed by the birth of Emma, some twenty years after Lily. However, their idyllic life was torn apart by their Mum’s battle with cancer and it is almost a year after her death that the story starts, when her Dad informs Lily that he intends to marry someone who cared for her Mum, Maria. Lily can’t say why but she just doesn’t trust Maria, even though she seems to love both Lily’s Dad and her young sister……

This is a story of secrets, lies, revenge, mental illness, grief and family. It is an enthralling read, a real page turner that has so many surprise revelations to keep you guessing right to the end. If you enjoy family dramas, packed with mysteries, grab yourself a copy of this!

Thank you to Bookouture and NetGalley for my copy of this book which I have voluntarily read and honestly reviewed.

The Perfect Stepmother opens with the disappearance of little Emma the youngest daughter of Gareth who has another daughter Lily. Gareth has a new wife, Maria following the death of his first wife, Ruth (Lily's mum). The story then goes back eight months where it is told from the points of view of Lily and Maria in the lead-up to Emma vanishing. Lily is wary of her father’s new bride given that it is not yet a year since her mother passed and she believes there is more to Maria than meets the eye. Maria, the owner of an upmarket beauty treatment salon, donates Fridays to cancer patients, giving them free access to her services. However, she is hiding a harrowing secret that can’t be allowed to escape as, if exposed, threatens to ruin her marriage and her newfound happiness.

This was a cracking thriller that positively whizzed along and I was certainly kept on my toes. I kept thinking I had everything all worked out only to later realise that I didn't. The Perfect Stepmother is a great tale of lies and mistrust. Highly recommended.

I received a complimentary copy of this novel at my request from Bookouture via NetGalley. This review is my own unbiased opinion.

A well written psychological thriller full of suspense.

The story flows at a good pace, it's well developed and interesting until the end.

The cover is beautiful.

Thank you to NetGalley and Bookouture for the ARC of this book. This is my honest review. All opinions are my own.

Lily lost her mother less than a year ago to cancer. Her father and small sister Emma live a short distance from Lily and her boyfriend Seb. When her mother was ill, she really enjoyed treatments from Maria who owns a beauty salon and does free treatments for cancer patients once a week. Lily sees Maria rather closer to her father than just a friend. When things move rather faster than Lily would like she is protective over not only her father but little Emma too but does realise that life moves on and her father is entitled to his own life and relationship. Maria is overly protective of Emma, something Lily quickly picked up on and when Maria goes white when a strange note is hand delivered, Lily wants to find out more about Marias past life- she has said nothing about family or even friends. We begin with Emma supposedly in the garden and then chapters work back from Lily seeing her father with Maria to when Emma is missing. A book that had me on edge- in a good way- one where you just know there is something not quite right- that certain something missing. To me the skill of a good writer is to be able to build the tension and keep the pages turning when for the most part it’s the story of the formation of a new family but there is the cloud of that little piece of the jigsaw missing. A very well thought out plot with twists along the way. A highly enjoyable read.
(amazon done- misfits farm)

BLOG TOUR REVIEW

Review for 'The Perfect Stepmother' by Karen King.

Read and reviewed via NetGalley for Karen King, Bookouture publishers and Bookouture anonymous

Publication date 17th June 2021.

This is the second book I have read by this author. I have previously read Karen's 'The Stranger In My Bed' which I would also recommend reading.

I was originally drawn to this book by its interesting eye catching cover and its intriguing synopsis and title. The synopsis stated that this book is 'Perfect for fans of Shalini Boland, Claire McGowan and Gone Girl.' I am a huge fan of Shalini and 'Gone Girl' so am looking forward to seeing if this lives up to this statement. I am also a fan of Karen and if this is as good as 'The Stranger In My Bed' it is sure to be a gorgeous read. I must admit I was also biased due to the publisher being Bookouture. I have yet to read a book published by Bookouture that I haven't enjoyed. Hopefully this won't be the first... Watch this space! (Written before I started reading the book).

This novel consists of a prologue, 62 chapters and an epilogue. The chapters are short to medium in length so possible to read 'just one more chapter' before bed...OK, I know yeah right, but still just in case!

This book is based in England 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿, UK 🇬🇧. The bonus for me of books that are partly or fully based in the UK is that I live in the UK and have sometimes visited places mentioned in the book which makes it easier to picture. I have actually visited and had holidays on England on several occasions so am looking forward to seeing if I recognise anywhere that Kennedy has based the book on.

This book is written in third person perspective and the main protagonists are Lily and Maria. The benefits of third person perspective with multiple protagonists are that it let's you see the bigger picture of what's going on and you get to know more characters more, what they are thinking and what they are doing. It feels like you get to see the whole picture and not miss out in anything.


Wow!!! Well fair play the first thing I must say is congratulations to Karen King on another HUGE success!! Absolutely fantastic!! I never did work out who had did what and that is quite a feat considering it is quite hard to shock me now thay I have read so many suspense and thrillers yet I never did see that coming!! Anyway on with my review....

As you can tell from the above I loved it!!! This book is very well and smoothly written it just drags you straight into the storyline and keeps you in there under you have finished. A true page turner this book has an absolutely compelling and addictive storyline that kept me guessing throughout. I was continuously questioning who did what and who the victim was. I loved the ending and thought it fitted perfectly. The storyline is realistic and believable making it easy to picture what is going on. I enjoyed that we got to see from both perspectives and see what was going through each person's heads. Great descriptions throughout the book really putting the reader in the story and getting a good feel of what is going on.

The characters were very realistic and well rounded and again their personalities reflected the storyline and how they would act, etc perfectly. The narration gave a really good in depth view of both Lily and Maria. It is very thought provoking and makes the reader question what they would do in that situation. I really felt sorry for a certain character when I found out what was going on and what had happened. However I can't say too much due to not wanting to give anything away. Needless to say I really seemed to click with both of the main characters at certain times while deflecting from them at others.

I am looking forward to reading more psychological thrillers by this very talented author. Going from romances to psychological thrillers cannot have been an easy feat but you absolutely smashed it!!

Overall a page turning addictive psychological thriller that will have your heart racing.

Genres covered in this novel include Thriller, Noir Fiction, Psychological Thriller, Domestic Fiction and Psychological Fiction amongst others.

I would recommend this book to the fans of the above as well as fans of 'Gone Girl', Shari Lapena, Sheryl Browne and Sam Hepburn.


299 pages.

This book is just £1.99 to purchase on kindle via Amazon which I think is an absolute bargain for this book!!!

Rated 5 /5 (I LOVED it ) on Goodreads, Instagram, Amazon UK and Amazon US and on over 30 Facebook pages plus my blog on Facebook.

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After Lily loses her beloved mother to cancer, she splits her time between her boyfriend Seb and tending to her grieving father and little sister Emma. Not even a year later Lily is shocked and hurt to find out from her father that he has fallen in love and is getting married to Maria, the beautician who visited her mother weekly while she was sick. Lily's shock turns to determination to find out everything she can about Maria. Despite how sweet and charming she is, Maria never talks about her past. When Seb and her father brush off Lily's questions and doubts, she finds herself on her own to figure out what Maria is hiding. When Emma suddenly goes missing, Lily realizes that it may be too late to expose Maria for the fraud she is.

This is the first book I've read from this author and I really enjoyed it. Told mainly from Lily and Maria's POV's, you see what's going on in Maria's mind and the fear of the past coming back to destroy the perfect life she's built for herself. Lily will do anything to keep her father and Emma safe and is obsessed to proving Maria is hiding something. The book was slow-paced, leading up to the truth about Maria and what Lily discovers. Although I predicted some of the surprises and twists, the book was entertaining and a page-turner for me. Looking forward to reading more from this author.

Thank you Netgalley and Bookouture for the opportunity to read this book.

My first book by this author and after a few ‘settling in’ chapters I was hooked
Full of twists ,turns and excitement this book had me page turning to reach the end to see what would happen
It was good to see mental health issues tackled and featured
A really well written book and a genuinely good read

I really enjoyed The Perfect Stepmother. I found it a quick read, full of twists, turns and suspense.
I definitely recommend this one.

Thank you to NetGalley and Bookouture for my ARC.

I loved this book! I expected to enjoy it but this book was on a whole other level, it was way deeper than the surface story I was expecting. I will be looking for more from this author!

It took me a few chapters to get into this, my first thoughts were it was going to be quite predictable in terms of the relationship between Lily and Maria and I didn’t have high hopes. However, this books absolutely got me. I think it’s because I was so shocked by the plot and the ending, I felt so much emotion it literally made me LOVE the book.

I started reading with not much excitement, by the end I was literally nearly crying, feeling sad and empathy for every single character at one point. It did take a while to build up, and you don’t find out certain characters until quite late on but wow does it hit you!

The fact it covers grief, mental health and family dynamics as a whole is incredible and the way it’s written is incredible. I felt so many emotions and it took me a while to get my thoughts together last night when I finished it.

I love it. The whole story, the characters, the ending. I loved it all. I really cannot fault it and as soon as it’s out I’ll be buying a physical copy 😍