Well....DAMN. What a book full of unlikable, terrible people!

Lots of people, names, places, things going on. Lots of violence towards women and children. Racism, both casual and just straight up out in the open.

I don't know why I read this and frankly....why anyone would. This is a terrible, just awful book.

Do not like. DO NOT READ.

I can’t wait to read more by Julia. This was intriguing, engaging and thrilling. The plot was cleverly unravelled as the story progressed.

Really enjoyed this! Think it's Julia's best one yet! Twisty and dark and takes a look at lots of important issues like mental illness, grief, blended families and a (possible) murder mystery! It's set in the leafy 'burbs of Muswell Hill, but is everything as well-heeled as it seems? Highly recommend.

The Daughters by Julia Crouch is a highly recommended thriller featuring a highly dysfunctional family.

First, lets look at the basics of this blended family. Carys has been married to Bill for 12 years, is 25 years younger than him, and the two have a daughter, Binnie. Bill's first wife Alice died by suicide. Bill and Alice had two daughters, Sara and Lucy. Lucy was only 6 when her mother died so Carys has been a step-mother to her while Sara, 5 years younger than Carys, has been off living in Australia during their marriage.

Now Sara is coming home for a long visit. She has evidence that her mother's body was never found and the casket was empty at her funeral. She blames Carys for controlling everyone since she and Bill married shortly after Alice's death and she's going to confront Carys. She also knows she needs to come back to help Lucy.

At the same time, Lucy has been suffering from various struggles with her mental and emotional health. Carys has tried to help her, so when she meets a hypnotherapist who is sure he can get to the root of Lucy's trauma, Carys takes Lucy to him without telling Bill. Lucy's sessions bring out all kinds of hidden secrets and thoughts from her childhood. She is sure she saw someone killed... and maybe more than one person. And she thinks she knows who the killer is.

There is a whole lot going on in the plot, so you have to pay attention while following all the various twists, turns, and new revelations. None of the characters are particularly likable and all of them have some aspersions cast their direction. You won't know who to believe or if anyone can be trusted, which is what makes The Daughters so entertaining. You have to set some disbelief aside as you sit back, enjoy reading, follow the clues left in the narrative, and see if you figured it all out by the end.

Disclosure: My review copy was courtesy of Bookouture via NetGalley.
The review will be published on Barnes & Noble, and Amazon.

Great author and another brilliant edge of your seat read - maybe a bit slowish to start but then was filled with twists and turns and more twists right till the exciting end - the book deals with some social issues such as racism and mental health and also suicide but at all times was in keeping with the story,really enjoy this authors books

I loved this book, very good! Keeps you guessing from the start & the twists are great. Very well written, definitely recommend!

I would like to thank NetGalley, the publisher, and the author for giving me the opportunity to read this book in exchange for my honest review.

Twisty til the end! Although it had a slow start for me, it really picked up and I was able to keep the cast of characters in order. I like that this book dealt with social issues such as racism and mental health issues such as suicide. It did assist in the story and all in all it was a great story and a good thriller.

Thank you to the publisher for my Netgslley review copy all thoughts are my own.

This book kept me guessing right up until the end. What happened to Alice? Did she commit suicide as had been believed for years or was there a more sinister reason for her disappearance and if so who was responsible. There are no nice characters in this book so I could happily believe any one of them capable of murder but were they?

Poor Carys. She must have been very much in love with Bill to take on Sara and Lucy. Particularly Sara. Talk about a couple of self entitled sisters. I really wanted to slap them and slap Carys for letting them take advantage of her in that way. However, I digress. The main theme of the story is Alice. What happened to Alice? Did she commit suicide as had been believed for years or was there a more sinister reason for her disappearance and if so who was responsible? As the mystery of Alice’s disappearance slowly unravels we face many, often uncomfortable, realities of every day life. Child abuse, alcoholism, racism, false memories or are they?

A fast paced psychological thriller with a difference. I found it hard to put down.

The Daughters covers a whole host of difficult subjects: racism; violence; suicide and self harm. It’s full of secrets and lies and has a fair few twists and turns to keep you enthralled. It did take me a few chapters to get into it but then I as hooked. Thank you to NetGalley, Bookouture and the author for the chance to review.

Thank you NetGalley, Bookouture and Julia Crouch for the opportunity to read this thriller.

The story started in a relatively slow pace, building the tension steadily. In the first three chapters, loads of names were interweaving - therefore I needed my notebook to clear my mind. Shockingly, their emotions, stories, experiences were connected in a gripping way.

Their mother “commit suicided” but still no one found her body yet. The eldest daughter Sara refused to admit her mother was passed away. Lucy, the younger sister, was under cured by a hypnotherapist. She said her mother Alice was killed by her father Bill…

Who’s telling the truth? Who to trust?

If you enjoy reading dark secrets and lies within family, you will love this one.

Overall a fun read--a bit twisty, but in my opinion, way too long and too many characters to keep straight. With a bit more editing, this could be streamlined and a perfect whodunit for a fluffy, summer beach read. I would recommend this author based on her clever plotline and would be open to reading something from her again.

The Daughters
by Julia Crouch
3 ⭐⭐⭐
Description :
My father said my mother killed herself. My sister says he’s lying.
The day of our mother’s funeral, my little sister Lucy and I clung to our father’s side. He promised he’d get us through it, and we believed him. But then I discovered that the coffin we wept over was empty. Dad says he was trying to protect us – that he thought it would be easier to grieve if we didn’t know our mother’s body was never found.
His new wife says she just wants to help us move on from the past.
Then Lucy has a flash of memory that leaves her shaking. Our father. A woman. A knife…
She insists she knows something about the day our mother died, but it’s buried too deep to see clearly. What happened to our mother? I need to find the truth. But I have no idea who I can trust. And what if the answer puts my life in danger?
💥MY REVIEW💥
The Daughters by Julia Crouch sounds like it would be an amazing read. Unfortunate for me I just could not get into it. The first half of the story went very slow and was really boring. It also had too many female characters which for me made it really hard to remember who was who . I also found all the characters to be unlikeable.
Readers should also beware that it is loaded with triggers. This story contains sexual assault,
racism, violence towards children, suicide and self harm.
*******Disclosure*******
I received a free E -ARC copy of this book from netgalley prior to release. Many thanks to NetGalley ,the publisher and the author for the chance to read and review a copy of this book in exchange for my honest review. I do not receive any type of compensation for reading & reviewing free books from publishers & authors. Therefore, I am under no obligation to write a positive review, only an honest one. All opinions I have expressed are my own.

The Daughters
by Julia Crouch

First, thank you to Bookouture and NetGalley for the advanced copy.
I just could not get into this one. Just far too much misery and sadness happening. Trigger Warning: Self-harm, suicide, Sexual Assault, Violence. All in one book. I could not finish this one.

What In The Field Of Flowers?! 😳😯🤯

While this was indeed a thriller suspense, I will say I struggled at times while reading. I'm not sure if it's because of some of the subject matter, or perhaps my head just wasn't in the right space for it, but I feel it fell short for me unfortunately. You will find there's a whole lot to unravel and decipher at the beginning of the novel so be prepared for that.
Carys is Bill's second wife after Alice passed away. Lucy, the second youngest, lost her mom Alice when she was six, and has been struggling ever since. Carys has been doing her best to help and after a self-harm attempt by Lucy, Carys meets a specialist who can help Lucy with a specific type of therapy. Sara, the oldest daughter comes to visit and believes her father Bill has killed her & Lucy's mother. And soon Lucy suspects it too after repressed memories resurface. Could it be true? Is Carys in danger or is it all a simple misunderstanding?
I will happily admit that the writing was great, it flowed pretty well & I definitely enjoyed all the lies, the what happened, & the unveiling of secrets and mis-truths you get along the way. The ending was unexpected and quite shocking which I truly enjoyed. It had major potential but all the trigger warnings involved I think detoured me that made it a bit more difficult.

🔴 Trigger Warning: Self-harm, suicide, Sexual Assault, Violence

Thank you to NetGalley & Bookouture for this ARC.
Release Date: May 26, 2022

I give this 3 / 5 Lily's! 🪷

Rating :5
TRIGGER WARNING** This story contains: racism, violence towards children, sexual assault, suicide and self harm.
first book by this author, and I loved it , it
was slow at frist ,but man did it pick up, and every time I tried to put it down I just couldn't, it made me questioning every thing I thought I knew or was finding out about these characters. As well as made it hard for me to trust any of them.

The novel The Daughters is a story about the idealized memory of a mother, a controlling man, and family relations that are never easy. A story of a family permeated by the mourning and suspicion of older daughters that their mother was murdered. And the killer? Perhaps their father, who is remarried to the much younger Carys and who seems extremely kind. caring and almost overly maternal. Almost the perfect stepmother and a wife.

Personally, the novel left me cold. The characters are, otherwise, everyone with their own inner turmoil, too two-dimensional, and the flow of the novel dragged on and on. The end was very predictable.

Sadly not my cup of tea.

I absolutely love this one! I've been struggling to get into domestic noirs recently but this one has such a unique premise and it just sucked me in fron the start. The characters were multilayered and original and the plot was so different and unlike anything I'd ever read before. I loved the pace and the style of writing. It's not one that's full of dramatic twists and big shocks or anything but it's very cleverly written to maintain this underlying tension and eerie atmosphere. A must read for the summer

Thank you NetGalley for the opportunity to read and review this book. The Daughters by Julia Crouch was unfortunately not my.cup of tea. I feel like there was/is something missing from the story. I would have liked to hear more of how Carys and Bill met. Their relationshipnwas glossed over. Also I was not convinced that Carys was this loving perfect step mother. Also the relationship between Sara and Tom was never explained just alluded to or maybe I missed it between the lines. I am still interested in reading more from Julia Crouch. This was just not for me.

Having read this author’s previous book, I was looking forward to this one.

A happy marriage, but is it? An attentive husband, but is he? A troubled step-daughter, what is she hiding? As secrets come to light, Carys is left wondering just what and who she should believe.

The story was slow to start but picked up quickly. A good thriller which keeps you guessing to the end.

3.5 stars rounded up

**TRIGGER WARNING** This story contains: racism, violence towards children, sexual assault, suicide and self harm.

Ever since Carys married Bill, she has tried to look after his daughters. Perticularly sweet, troubled Lucy, who was only six when her mother died. Over the years, Carys has done everything she can think of to help Lucy. Now, she has found a therapist who specialises in cases like hers. His methods are unusual, but Carys is desperate. Sitting in the sunlit waiting room, Carys allows herself to hope. Then Lucy comes running out of the room, wailing, her eyes wild. Lucy says she say her father kill someone.

Carys is the step-mother of Lucy and Sarah. Lucy has been suffering and Carys takes her to a hypnotherapist and Lucy's memories start resurface.

Secrets, lies, twists, turns, and a fast pace are all the things I like in a gripping read. There's also some dark themes which I'm not so keen on, but such is life unfortunately. There's lots going on ion this book and it did take me a little while to get into it, nut once I was in, I was hooked.

I would like to thank #NetGalley #Bookouture and the author #JuliaCrouch for my ARC of #TheDaughters in exchange for an honest review.