Magpie was a great read - a few twists and turns, and some confusion all made clear in the end. It kept me turning pages late into the night, needing to sleep, but also wanting to know what happened.

Marisa and Jake are a perfect couple. And Kate, their new lodger, is the perfect roommate. Except—no one is truly perfect. Kate is too familiar with the couple, and Marisa isn't getting pregnant as fast as she hoped. The trouble really starts when Marisa meets Jake's mom. And when she discovers the secret going on behind her back.
Mapgie is touted as a psychological suspense novel about motherhood. So I read it on Mother's Day. It was entertaining, and I connected emotionally with the two female characters - I wanted them both to fulfill their dreams.
But Jake was a twat. And the plot of his codependent relationship with his mother never concludes.
The story also fell short as a thriller. I was only surprised once. The big twists didn't actually affect me, which was disappointing. Maybe that's because of the spoiler editor's note at the beginning of the novel that hints that everything could be a lie. I kept reading and thinking, "Is this true?" And when the twist came, it was a letdown. I would have rather not known the novel's direction.
There is plenty of information about infertility. That part was interesting and heartbreaking, especially on Mother's Day.

I highly enjoyed this book about motherhood, infertility, pregnancy, and mental illness. Jake and Marisa move in together after a short courtship and want to start a family together. After awhile Jakes work slows down and they decide to take in a boarder to help with finances. Things were good in the beginning but soon went awry. In the second part of the book every thing turns around and you won't see it coming. If you like domestic thrillers you will love this one.

Loved the suspense. This worked so well for me as a boost from a reading rut -good thrillers do that. I also want to comment on the way the author handled infertility and motherhood. It was so graceful, a quality so many thriller type books lack.

We first meet Marisa, who has just recently embarked upon a relationship with Jake, and has moved into a house with him, with plans to begin a family quickly. This is rather too quickly followed by the appearance of Kate, who makes herself right at home with the two, much to Marisa's dismay.

A bit unusually, a rather major plot turn occurs about 1/3 of the way through the book, making the remaining 2/3 tricky to comment on. Overall, the reader is kept questioning where this is all going, with a red herring or two thrown in, though I found the ultimate reveal to fall a little flat. However, and probably not all will agree, the ending was satisfying, and a little unexpected, especially considering the dark subject matter touched upon throughout.

Thank you to NetGalley, the publisher and author for the ARC in exchange for my honest review.

If you like domestic thrillers, especially those that focus on motherhood and children, then you will love Magpie! This one is definitely a slow burn, and if I’m being honest it was a little too slow for me. I felt like it rambled a little too much and had a little too much inner dialogue, but the basis of the story was good! There’s definitely some good twists in there and the ending did help to make up for some of the slow parts. Overall I’d say this was a solid thriller, but I do prefer mine to be a little on the faster side.

Infertility meets mental illness meets motherhood....

From the blurb: Marisa and Jake are a perfect couple, and Kate, their new lodger, is the perfect roommate--and not just because her rent payments will give them the income they need to start trying for a baby. Except no one is perfect. Sure, Kate doesn’t seem to care much about personal boundaries and can occasionally seem overly familiar with Jake, but Marisa doesn’t let it concern her. Kate will soon be gone, and it will just be her, Jake, and their future baby.

It was obvious to see from the above that taking in a boarder while trying to start a family isnt going to be the ideal situation, no matter how great the tenant appears in writing. Motherhood is the heart of this book and it looks differently from different perspectives (mother/child, mother/mother in law, mother to be/and another woman living in the house). Magpie is told from both Marisa and Kates POVs and they depart greatly.

This is a dark, yet interesting tale. Elizabeth Day does an excellent job taking us into their minds and showing us different perspectives of the same scenario. Being a mother is a fierce protectiveness for a tiny being. I was fortunate not to have fertility issues, but for many this book could be a difficult read. Day takes sensitive issues and explores them fairly.

Many thanks to NetGalley, Elizabeth Day and Simon & Schuster for this book about family dynamics and friendship. As I near Mothers Day, I appreciate a book that explores what it is to be a mother and how far a mother will go for her child.

This is a thriller to add to your summer beach bag ! A quick read that leads you one place and then zigzags somewhere else which. I loved that I didn’t see things coming guessing one thing and finding out I was down the wrong path - so fun. Go in blind. Don’t read the flap - it’s more fun to go in cold. The writing is fun and propulsive and I’m so grateful to Simon & Schuster for the advanced copy. Yay to summer reading!

Many thanks to Netgalley and Simon & Schuster for a copy of this book. This book is full of big reveals--each act seems to explore a different question, and when you think it's answered, a new question appears. I appreciated that but did not find any of the parts of the story particularly compelling. The characters feel a bit shallow, even as they deal with issues of mental health and infertility. I did think the tension was very well done.

"Magpie" follows Melisa as she navigates a budding relationship with Jake. Things start to take an odd turn when a lodger, Kate, comes to live with them. She is overjoyed when she finds out she is pregnant, but the relationships between the three of them turn sour and something doesn't feel right.

I am always a sucker for mystery and thriller books because I almost never figure out what is going on. I thought I knew what was happening, but I didn't. This book was interesting in its format, rehashing the same events from a different point of view. I was slightly disappointed in the ending. I thought for sure something else sinister was happening, but that's not quite how it ended up. I did enjoy how the women lifted each other up, despite everything else that happened between them. That was great to see considering how horribly things had gone.

It's hard to talk about this book without spoilers, so instead I will talk about themes and characters.

At the heart of the book is the idea of the ferocity of motherhood. That can take the form of protectiveness for, obsession with, or even a sadness or yearning in the case of (trigger warning) infertility. It becomes especially tricky when there is more than one mother involved - mother/son, mother/newborn, mother/in-law, and pregnant vs. another woman living in the same house, as is the case here, with Marisa, Jake, Kate, and Jake's mother, Annabelle.

The other theme is mental illness - when does obsession cross the line? What is the moral gray area of sharing a home as a couple with another woman? Can you trust another woman to come into your home, even when you have the best intentions? And what happens when someone is telling lies?

With the story told from different perspectives, the twist was a big surprise. I loved how the author was able to take us inside the minds of each character, and to provide retellings of scenes from that character's frame of mind. I think readers will fall on either side of interest in this book depending on their comfort level with the themes, but for me, it was a dark, interesting and well done book.

Thanks to NetGalley and Simon & Schuster for introducing me to Elizabeth Day through this advanced reader's copy.

What a fun ride! This thriller starts with what feels like a predictable plot line and then the twists and turns really hit. I enjoyed the way this story was told, in a dual POV.
The story itself centers around a couple who are moving into a bigger place where they can start a family. When the man in this partnership, Jake, is unable to close a deal at work, the couple has to pinch pennies. They decide to take in a boarder, who can use one of the rooms for the short term. All seems legit until things get more and more unusual. The relationship between Jake and the boarder seems to be more involved than expected. Did they already know each other? Where they cheating with each other?
This is a terrific mixture of tropes and is a pure psychological thriller. Really fun and well done. I was hooked!
Highly recommend!
#Magpie #NetGalley #SimonandSchuster

This book started extremely strong in the first 2/3! I thought the writing was immersive and I really wanted to see what was going to happen. Once the climax was reached about 60% in I was confused on what could happen next but wanted to keep reading to find out. Unfortunately, I was pretty underwhelmed with the direction the book took in the last 1/3. I feel like this could have been much shorter as well as there was a lot of overly descriptive paragraphs. I'm giving this three stars because I really did like the beginning!

Magpies. Count them; salute them: One for sorrow; two for joy. 'Why are magpies considered to be evil? Superstitions. The bird is associated with the devil and its pied plumage associated with evil and bad fortune. Magpies are also known for stealing shiny objects (like jewelry) and can deceive others. Therefore, the attribution of being evil.'

Marisa has met Jake, the man she hopes will be the love of her life. He asks her to move in with him and talks about wanting a baby. They just need a bit more money so he suggests taking in a boarder, a woman named Kate. But is there more going on here than Marisa realizes?

At about 40%, the author hits the reader between the eyes with an amazing, totally unexpected twist. As you read further, you will begin to wonder who is the real magpie in their lives? Well done!

I received an arc of this thriller from the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. Thanks to them for the opportunity.

Thank you @simonandschuster @netgalley for the review copy!

📖Marisa and Jake have a perfect relationship. Currently trying to get pregnant, they decide to take in a lodger to help them out financially. When the lodger, Kate, starts displaying weird behavior, it leaves Marisa unsettled.

💭I was pleasantly surprised by this one! I started off not finding any of the characters likeable and didn’t know if this book was going to be for me. I was pleasantly surprised though. I liked the way the story was told, and once I got going, I didn’t want to stop. I wouldn’t call this one a thriller per se, more like a domestic suspense. If that’s your jam, I recommend picking this one up.

⚠️Content Warnings- infertility, miscarriage

Magpie
Elizabeth Day
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Out Now!

Thank you Simon & Shuster for the review copy of this book.
Magpie is a domestic thriller unlike any that I have read before. While this book lacks what one might consider to be “scares”, the tension in this novel is taut and electric, creating an overall mesmerizing (if somewhat exhausting) experience.

I don’t want to spoil this novel for anyone, and I feel like the nature of the plot is one that can be very easily spoiled if even discussed openly. That being said, I will say that this revolves around a couple and a roommate living together, and the unexpected twists of their home as the main character becomes pregnant and awaits the birth of their eagerly awaited child. The characters in this novel are complex, obsessive, flawed, and often heartbreaking. This thriller was hard to read not only because of the things the characters must go through (see content warnings below), but also because of what they want so desperately and can never seem to really secure.

Okay, things I didn’t like: I felt that some of the characters needed more closure. There was a lot of backstory that was revealed, and I felt that the way the story ended there were too many things left not dealt with. In addition to that, despite the fact that it did effectively keep me engaged, I felt that the last third of the book should have been trimmed down a bit, as the reader has already been through so much at that point, that I felt the slow burn should have been sped up just a tad. Those are pretty much all of my negatives though, I really found this book to be solid!

I have a lot of thoughts on this book, but many are spoiler-filled, so I will say this: please check out my content warnings, and if they are something that you can handle, consider checking out this thriller that was moving, engaging, and highly memorable.

CW: Drug use, alcoholism, mental illness, sexual assault, infertility, infidelity, abandonment of a child.

Magpie by Elizabeth Day was not my kind of book, although it was very well done. It was a story about a trio of people: a couple and a surrogate. it was a portrait of mental illness its finest. Although sometimes it was hard to tell who was mentally ill and who was not. And then there were Jake's (the father) parents, at least his mother, who was definitely in the running. I read to be entertained and to escape. This was neither. It was frightening and absurd. The world has lost its mind.

I was invited to read a free e-ARC of Magpie by Simon & Schuster, through Netgalley. All thoughts and opinions are mine. #netgalley #simonandschister #elizabethday #magpie

Magpie is a twisty tale with several surprises. It is about the hardships that many go thru to maintain relationships, it is about the hard struggle to be sane, it is about love and giving, and the intricacies of the mind. Magpie is a reflection of a relationship that goes awry. Seen from two different women's perspectives it comes together in the end. The characters are all different. They all want different things and their life goals are disconnected until a baby is on the way. Two women are competing for a life they both want. A husband is confused and a mother-in-law is out of control. It is a surprising tale of life set in London with real characters in a current time frame. I enjoyed the book, it had an uplifting but boring ending compared to the rest of the book. If you like mysteries and intrigue, twisty romances, and strong women you will enjoy this book. Thanks to #NetGalley#Magpie for the opportunity to read and review this book.

Magpie’s synopsis had me hooked and I could not WAIT to get into this multi-part psychological thriller. The story is told in third person and has dual timelines, focusing heavily on Marisa and Kate’s unique experiences throughout their surrogacy.

By the end of Part One, I hated all the main characters. Part Two started to throw me for a loop, and I really wasn’t sure where the story was going to go moving forward, especially in regards to Marisa and Jake’s marriage. The more information I was given, the more questions I had.

Unfortunately, I’d have to say this story really fell flat for me overall. I found myself really hoping the ending was going to throw in some major twist, and when it didn’t, I was left feeling completely underwhelmed. I read a lot of books in this genre, and probably won’t remember this one after a month or so.

Thank you to the author and Netgalley for providing me with a copy of Magpie to read and honestly review!

Magpie, was one of my most anticipated reads for this year.

Early on, I kept seeing Magpie, all over social media. I instantly gravitated toward the cover and needed to know what mystery the title held. Magpie? Are those not the creepy birds that surround death? Well, I had to do my research.

Magpie : bird; associated with the devil and its pied plumage associated with evil and bad fortune. Magpies are also known for stealing shiny objects and can deceive others, therefore, the attribution of being evil.

Creepy, right?

I thought so. So of course I was intrigued and needed to know everything about this book. All I can tell you is that it is absolutely amazing. Mind blowing. The list of praises can go on and on but I suggest you find out for yourself.

Elizabeth Day's narration of Magpie, was perfection. This story was expertly told and instantly draws you right in. The twist was one I never saw coming and left my jaw on the floor. I have been reading some incredible books this year but I can say without a doubt this book is definitely in my top 5.

I highly recommend this mind blowing 5 star read!