Yet again, Delaney proves himself to be one of my favorite writers! I loved the first person perspective chapters from Gabe, Susie, and Anna/Sky. I love being in the minds of the characters. It moved quickly and held my attention from the first page until the last! I’m totally blown away by things I learned in this book and I couldn’t turn the pages fast enough! Now for the long wait for him to put out another book! I’ve read everything Delaney has written and this one, by far, is my favorite!!!

Susie gave her baby daughter up for adoption when she realised her situation meant she couldn’t care for her safely. 15 years later, she and her musician husband Gabe have been trying to have a baby together but following a number of miscarriages realise that maybe this isn’t going to work for them and they may have to consider adoption themselves. Out of the blue, the baby she gave up for adoption came into their lives and immediately starts to cause mayhem.

I was totally engrossed with this book. One always assumes that adoption is the best thing for a child but this isn’t always the case, although hopefully not quite as dramatic as the story of Gabe and Susie

This was completely original and gripping. JP Delaney has an incredible knack of writing about ordinary events and behaviours that take on a whole different meaning and importance once you found yourself in a difficult situation and needing to prove your innocence. For example, giving your fifteen year old daughter money for a taxi takes on a different meaning when she's taken that taxi to visit her boyfriend for (underage) sex and you are being investigated for sexual misconduct. It's difficult book to talk about without spoiling the plot but it's a real tension building and thought-provoking roller-coaster especially as you keep realising how something is going to play out just before it does. I totally recommend this.

There's something menacing threatening all through this story making it at times quite unsettling to read. Something bad is clearly going to happen but what, when and by whom? Uncomfortable but addictive and difficult to put down.

I've enjoyed all of Delaney's books, and I did this one too. The subject is really very raw, and might be triggering to some.

I also felt that this was more a domestic (thriller), with emphasis on the relationships between the characters. I enjoyed reading from different view points through the alternate chapters of all the main characters.

Ending fell a little flat for me but overall it was good.

Trigger warnings: self-harm, loss of an infant, miscarriage, domestic violence and sexual abuse, drugs

Thank you NetGalley for this advanced copy. Overall, this book was great. JP does an awesome job of bringing suspense, terror, and thrillers to life. It held my attention. The parts that bothered me were how far out of hand everything got. I work in the criminal justice system in the USA and very closely with social services. Now I can't speak for the UK, but in the US, Skye would have been arrested long ago and placed in a juvenile home. Social services also never would have done an assessment on Susie. It's insane what it takes to get them to actually open a case. So in that regard, the book was very unlikely for me to believe.

I have just finished this book in record time. A real page-turner! As well as a gripping and interesting story and characters, I learned so much about the adoption system.

Susie Jones gave up a daughter for adoption fifteen years ago and has never come to terms with the loss. When a young girl contacts her out of the blue saying she is her daughter Susie is elated but concerned about what the girl, now called Anna and not Skye, says about her home circumstances and adoptive parents.
Susie is married to Gabe, a minor rock star, who supports her when the two make contact.. however everything is not quite as it seems and events rapidly spiral out of control leaving everyone reading from the fallout.
For me this was an ok psychological thriller which tackled some difficult subject matter including county lines and adoption breakdown. A bit bleak at times.

A great cast of characters- I particularly liked the polar opposites of the birth parent musician and party lifestyle and the adoptive parents who could not be more straight laced and it was interesting to read Anna as the go between, playing them off against each other.
There are some bits of the book that are a bit muddy in terms of what the truth really is but the further you read the more important the muddiness becomes as the personalities develop and the truth is revealed.
clever, interesting and thought provoking..

I loved this book! JP Delaney is fast becoming one of my favourite authors.

We meet Susie and Gabe, successful musicians who are living an amazing life. One day Susie is contacted by the daughter she gave up for adoption 15 years ago asking for help. Susie and Gabe jump to action but not all is as it seems.

This is the first book I have read by J P Delaney and I will certainly be reading more. This was such a great read, I was drawn into the story from the first page. Each chapter is told from a different perspective and gives y0u a real insight into the plot and adds to the drama as the story unfolds. Great story, fab characters, loved it!

Another good read from JP Delaney. He always has the knack of inventing and developing unusual stories and this one, unusually focussing on a teenage girl as the protagonist, is no exception.

Initially sympathetic to Anna/Sky, as the story developed, my sympathies changed dramatically, but changed again as more and more secrets are revealed. Nature v .nurture ….

I didn’t find any of the lead characters particularly likeable or attractive, but the nicely revealed story of Sky was somewhat shocking as were the back-stories of Suzi and Gabe.

I can thoroughly recommend this book and thank NetGalley and the publisher for offering me the opportunity to read this ARC.

True to JP Delaney's style this book is an absolute whirlwind of emotion and confusion.
It's harrowing how true this tale often is and it's inspired to write a novel around interactions with social services and Foster parents etc.
I would recommend this book to anyone who can read.

I've read all of J P Delaney's thrillers and would say he is one of my favourite authors. I was on holiday when Netgalley kindly invited me to read this so perfect timing! It took me less than 24 hours to devour this one. There's a lot of detail here about how Social Services and the law. Delaney covers a lot of heavy duty topics within his this story. It is in this way, a thought provoking novel - how even a 'nice, decent, caring' person can become en-trapped and snared. HIGHLY recommend.

I read this in a day!
It is a complex story needing knowledge of the care system and the damage that can be done by social media.
The story moves through happiness to disaster and back again exploring the impact of secrets, the wish for a child.and the love and loyalty of a partner.
Recommended

I’m a huge JP Delaney fan and I loved My Darling Daughter, although it was slightly different from his previous novels. The psychological element was there, but it seemed more based on exploring emotions than building tension. An interesting take on the themes of adoption, attachment theory, and manipulation and lies, this book will certainly appeal to anyone interested in how significant life events can affect and influence your later life. Having been raised in Bucks, I also appreciated the local references!

Being a Foster Carer previously, and now someone who works with vulnerable children who have lived through trauma, I found this a fascinating read. Sky/Anna displayed many behaviours I have seen in children with attachment disorder. The topics were handled with care and the actions of the characters were mostly believable. You can’t help but have sympathy for them all, for different reasons. I will continue to read new books from this author.

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for the ARC in exchange for a fair and honest review.

My darling daughter is the latest offering by J. P Delaney. I have read all the other books from this author. So, I was excited to been given a copy of this.
Fifteen years ago, Sandie Jones becomes pregnant from a one-night stand. She is not ready to be a mother as she is not in a committed relationship, so she gives her baby up for adoption. Fifteen years later, now married to Gabe and several miscarriages later, she is finding it hard to conceive. Gabe’s daughter died in a previous relationship. She has never forgotten her daughter she gave away.
Out of the blue her daughter contacts her, now 15 and they decide to meet in a nearby café. But when they meet, she finds out that her daughter didn’t have the happy childhood they she thought she would have and things that she tells her mother concerns her. She asks for Susie’s help. But her adoptive parents first put a restraining order and tell Sandie not to contact her. But it is easier said than done when she turns up at their door. And slowly when things are revealed about her. She is not as innocent as she seems. She is a pathological liar and a troublemaker.
Thank you, Quercus, for the invite to read My Darling daughter. This is unputdownable, gripping read from the author and although this is some tough subjects to write about (mental health, rape, self-harm) I thought it was sensitively written and well researched. As I couldn’t stop reading, I virtually read this in one sitting. I did think though that Sandie and Gabe was naive in what Sky/Anna was doing. But it all came out in the end. 5 stars from me.

Absolutely, 100% without hyperbole, fantastic. Well written and gripping this is the true meaning of an unputdownable novel. The only thing that’s made me enjoy the heatwave in fact - because when I can’t sleep at 2am I’ve read this instead.

Brilliant characters, fast paced and just perfect. A triumph.

My thanks to NetGalley and Quercus Books for a copy of “ My Darling Daughter

This new title is another book that attains the high standard of Delaney’s previous books.
I found this to be an original, tense, and thought provoking novel that had me wondering just how things would
Work out in the end.
As with “ The Girl Before “ I could imagine this would make for a good adaptation for Tv.