Alison Ragsdale always delivers stories that pull at my heart strings. Any novel that involves children is especially heart wrenching one way or another. Get your tissues ready, and be prepared to want to read this in one sitting. I don’t know where Alison Ragsdale gets these stories from. She is a genius at writing about relationships.
I Fall in love with her writing over and over again!


I just reviewed Someone Else's Child by Alison Ragsdale. #SomeoneElsesChild #NetGalley

This was a read that gripped me from the start and was a page turner for me.
The story is set in a picturesque Scotland with the natural beauty of the countryside and the loch running alongside the cottage. Catriona and Duncan live there happily with their two children Hope and April. This is an everyday family that deals with the day to day challenges that family life brings. Tragedy then happens that threatens to destroy and tear everyone apart.
Cat frustrated me at times when she ignored her husband, Duncan’s opinions, and feelings. I wondered whether this is Ragsdale encouraging us to consider how a person’s life experiences can affect them and how the grief can affect their judgement. On top of this Cat is struggling with April’s own grief, trying to desperately break through to her as she begins to shut Duncan and Cat out.
I really enjoyed reading this book and would like to read more of her books. Many thanks to Alison Ragsdale, her publishers and Netgalley for giving me the opportunity to read and review this book.

Loved this book. I loved the plot, I felt the characters were realistic , and I felt their emotions. It was an emotional roller coaster ride which I absolutely adored. I cant wait to read more of her books.

The book had many emotional scenes, and the characters were well developed. Set in a small town it captured me in the first few pages. I could understand the Protagonist's fears and pain. The story was written to wrench our heartstrings. But soon the plot line felt to be slightly repetitive in its thoughts. Slow-paced, I couldn't connect to the main characters. Overall, it was an okay read for me.

An emotional story based on motherhood, grief and tragedy..As always very grateful to the publisher and Netgalley fior the advanced copy of this book. Catherine' believes she may be given a second chance when her twin girl Faith dies and little April comes into her life and Catherine adopts her. When q second tragedy strikes the family, Catherine has to fight for her strength. An enjoyable readthat I'd recommend

A family drama that pulls at all your emotions. You will root for this family to overcome such a heartbreaking loss.

It was one of my favorite books that I’ve had the chance to read this year. The story of an adoptive mother who is facing the impossible challenge of parting with her beloved child since the biological mother is back in the picture… Heartbreaking at times, yet so genuine!

Loved the Book. They agreed to an open adoption. Yet every adopted Mother's fear is that someday the birth mother will show up and want their child back. When that day comes, and she decides she wants to be a part of her daughter's life, the fear is real. I love how the book navigates through the emotions of the adopted parents, Child and birth mother and the surprising way they resolve it. Worth your read.

Someone Else's Child
by Alison Ragsdale
WARNING!! Tissues needed.

What a beautiful, touching, and yes very sad in the right places. My heart broke for April. Wow, thanks Alison Ragsdale for the advance copy for my honest opinion and tears.

Oh I just adored this book so much! I have loved this author’s previous books and knew that I was in for a treat, but it just exceeded my expectations.

Straight away I found myself totally absorbed in the story, and I liked Catriona immediately. There is so much heartache for Catriona and her husband, which I won’t go into or it will spoil the story, but what they experience is such a nightmare and they go through some very hard times. Lauren appears when they are very vulnerable.

This beautifully written story of love and loss is such a heart-breaking but totally compelling read. I enjoyed every page of it and couldn’t put it down. A story that is so sad ends up becoming ultimately quite uplifting, and it’s just a wonderful book from start to finish.

Wow! Make sure you have a box of tissues ready for this one. This book is so well written and full of emotion. You won’t be able to put it down. I loved the characters and just couldn’t get enough of this one.

In a Nutshell: I was expecting to love this book and rate it 5 stars until the initial 20-25%. But it became somewhat repetitive after that and I couldn’t agree with some of the decisions taken by the main protagonist. I would have loved the book much more if I had found her sensible.

Story:
Catriona gives birth to twin girls – Faith and Hope - but loses one of them soon after birth. In the aftermath of grief, she is given a chance to adopt a baby girl April born around the same time as her daughters. April’s arrival in her life helps somewhat to make their family seem complete.
Eight years later, tragedy strikes again, and then once more. There is one heart-breaking loss, and there is one unexpected arrival – a letter from April’s birth mother Lauren, asking to meet her little girl.
How will April react to the tragedy and to this new person? Will Lauren’s arrival break Catriona’s family even further?
The story is written in a third person narration mainly from Catriona’s perspective.

Where the book worked for me:
❤ The story is set in a small Scottish town and it makes wonderful use of the location. The setting adds beautifully to the atmosphere and the emotions of the narrative.

❤ I loved the basic idea of the plot. How would you react if you think that the birth mother of your adopted child is connecting better with her? It’s a tough situation to be in, and I could understand Catriona’s dilemma.

❤ The secondary characters – Catriona’s parents, her new neighbours, the local fisherman Mungo and the children in the story (Hope, April, and Graham – their neighbour’s grandson) – are very well-sketched and quite memorable. Even Catriona’s husband Duncan is shown not as perfect but as human. I could empathise more with him than with Catriona.

❤ Some of the family scenes are really touching and very emotional.

Where the book could have worked better for me:
💔 Main problem: I didn’t like Catriona, though I felt tremendously sorry for her. I just didn’t understand her decisions. How could she not believe her husband of seventeen years but trust a new acquaintance right from the first meeting? She seemed very biased and overly naïve. She ignores the red flags in everyone’s behaviour except Duncan’s. Emotional upheaval might explain away some of her decisions but not all of them. I felt very irritated with her.

💔 The book held me hooked till about 25% into it. It was captivating to the point that I just didn’t feel like keeping it aside. However, after this mark, the situations became quite repetitive. There was a slight spurt of novelty when Lauren comes into the story but again, her track also ends up going round the same circles again and again.

💔 The GR blurb spans more than 70% of the story. To give you a clue of how long the story takes to move ahead, just see my story blurb. My first paragraph is from the prologue. The first tragedy hits quite early in the book and the aftermath lasts until the midway mark. Lauren’s request for a meeting comes only after the 45-50% point. So the blurb doesn’t work as a promo but more like a summary without the ending revealed. Plus, the story doesn’t move fast enough in the early chapters to have a better blurb.

💔 I didn’t pick this up when I was in a positive mind-space and I feel that also affected my reading experience. It is very strong on grief. So if you are feeling low for any reason, it is not a good idea to pick this up at that time.

As you can see from the GR rating, most readers have loved this book. So please go through the other reviews before you make up your mind. Mine is somewhat of an outlier opinion. I did like the book a lot but my timing with it didn’t work out, and my annoyance with Catriona’s behaviour didn’t help matters.

3.25 stars from me.

My thanks to Bookouture and NetGalley for the ARC of “Someone Else's Child”. This review is voluntary and contains my honest opinion about the book.

Thanks for allowing me to read this Arc.
A brilliant story from a brilliant author!!
An emotional and intense story. It was dealt with in a compassionate way by the author. I love all Alison Ragsdale's books and this one didn't disappoint. Definitely worth a read and five stars.

Someone Else’s Child by Alison Ragsdale is a beautifully written story about a family’s loss of a child and how they deal with it. I cannot imagine the pain.

Omg, Alison does it again! All her books are amazing stories that take you thru all the feels, from lowest lows to highest highs. You can't go wrong reading her books and this one is no exception. Story blurb already read if this far so won't go into that. Just going to say "Read it".

Catriona became April's adoptive mum along with Duncan, her hubby becoming her dad when April was 2 days old. Catriona is a person who sees the good in everyone and didn't question why, after 8 years, April's birth mother wants to meet her although Duncan wasn't so sure but he felt he is unable to do anything as he's away on business. Is April all she seems? This emotional story had me reaching for tissues.

I was instantly drawn in from the first page. So much tragedy struck the lives of Cat, Duncan & April in the first half of the book, I was devastated for them. I couldn’t imagine what was to come in the second half. But oh did the trouble just keep coming. Reading this heart-shattering book of secrets, sadness and hurt, kept me enthralled to read this in one sitting. So moving, it’s gonna be on my mind for a long time.

Did you see the cover to this book? Were you as mesmerized by this beautiful little girl like I was? Look at those eyes! You just know there is so much going inside that mind of hers… Grab a copy of this book and read all about sweet little April. I was completely hooked from the first page to the very last page and loved it all. My heartstrings were pulled over and over, and I felt so many different other emotions as well. You know the author did a great job at creating and presenting her characters when the reader gets real-life emotional when reading about them as if they are someone known personally. Of course my favorite character is Sarah. I literally had tears in my eyes early on in the book and then again later when two very momentous moments happen to her (no spoilers). Catriona is such a devoted and loving mother who wants nothing but the best for her daughter. I felt as if she were a friend of mine and I wanted to hug her, talk to her, and share the advice I had with her. Thank goodness she had her neighbor Peg to do just that. I absolutely loved this compelling and emotional book, the author has blown me away yet again!

Alison Ragsdale always tells a story that will tug at your heartstrings. Make you weep. Make you keep turning the pages. Her books have such feelings. My emotions were all over the place with this one. Mainly weeping for a mother and child. Even for the dad, though I was very angry at him for a while.

When Catriona and Duncan lose a baby right after it's birth their lives take a sharp turn. They had twin girls and lost one. But there was another baby girl that needed a home. A baby girl who they needed also. Even if they didn't realize how much at the time. There was only a couple of days difference between these baby girl's birth. Hope was the biological baby who was suppose to have a twin sister coming home with her. April was a baby who they adopted. Little did they know how much this little one would mean to them. Little did they know the pain their lives were going to feel. A pain that is beyond words.

This story made me weep. It went through many tissues reading this one and loved every single minute of it. It brought feelings out that I wasn't expecting. Made me feel the pain that Cat felt. The silence she experienced from her daughter. The loneliness she felt from her husband, Duncan. Then the fear she felt from Lauren. Cat goes through so much after a devastating loss. She pushes her husband away and in many ways I understood why. I was angry at him too for a while. I felt like he ran. Deserted his wife and child. His grieving didn't seem to resonate with me. Until it did.

This is a very touching story of love and loss. Of a family almost destroyed. Of such pain that you wonder if they will make it through. Will they come out the other side together. Stronger. Or will they be alone to grieve separately. What will become of this family. Tragedy strikes and people change. But they can heal. Can't they?

Thank you to #NetGalley, #AlisonRagsdale, #Bookouture for this ARC. This is my own true feelings about this book.

5/5 stars and a very high recommendation. Just please make sure you have lots of tissues as it is typical Alison Ragsdale tearjerker reading. With just enough love to keep you sane.

Oh dear, this book was simply put-wonderful. Thank you to Alison for my review copy and to Noelle at Bookouture for having me on the tour, stay tuned on Monday for that!

I just finished reading and had to put my thoughts out into the universe. Today is PUB day, so a HUGE Congratulations goes to Alison!!! This is the story of Catriona, Duncan, April and Hope and the beautiful way of them coming back together.

April and Hope are not twins, Hope’s twin passed away at birth and Cat and Duncan received a call later on that April needed a home. The girls are inseparable until one night at eight years old, Hope drowns. Things become difficult and tragically, April stops speaking. Duncan and Cat separate to try and work on their grief. And in the wake of all this, Lauren breezes in and April becomes enamored by her. She smiles and her personality just shines. Lauren, you see, is April’s biological mother…

My heart hurt for this family, I teared at the tragedy unfolding. The story was sad but, ever heartwarming at the same time. It made you want to reach out and just hug these characters. The writing was exquisite, as always. Alison just has a way of bringing you straight into the story, as though you’re in the middle as it’s happening.

I absolutely LOVED this beautifully, tragic and tear laden story so very much. Dr Sam is telling you all that you MUST go and purchase this read. You will not regret it. Thank you again to Alison, another heartfelt book of yours to proudly display on my shelf.