Another fantastic book by the author, this reminded of Playing Nice, which I loved.

This is a book that will really make you think, through the book we see the adoption process from both sides and the impact it has on all involved.

I felt sorry for Anna, but was shocked by some of her behaviour!! This wasn’t as shocking as Susie’s, she infuriated me at times.

This is a book that really grips you in, definitely a one sitting book! Add this to your TBR now.

My Darling Daughter is a phenomenal thriller from start to finish. Filled to the brim with twists and a captivating plot, this one is sure to keep readers hooked. The characters are well-developed. The story is incredibly fast-paced. This is one not to be missed! Highly recommended! Be sure to check out My Darling Daughter today.

Having been off thrillers for a while I thought this one might help. I really enjoyed the first third, the writing had me interested and keen to continue. Unfortunately the storyline let me down and I found it extremely unrealistic and a little silly at times. As an author I love the way they write and my attention is always there so I’m not put off by this for future books.

I am always very entertained by JP Delaney's psychological thrillers, even if part of the time I'm thinking "well this is ridiculous" - and My Darling Daughter is no exception. Yes, two of our viewpoint characters made some terrifically stupid decisions, but you can't have a thrill ride of a plot without your main characters making terrible choices. Here's a few of the hot-button topics covered in this novel - adoption, drug addiction, domestic abuse, sexual abuse, sexual abuse allegations (a tricky topic to cover that I think is done well). It'll keep you glued to the page, even if you're saying "oh come ON now" at the same time.

Very readable indeed - although the characters were a little frustrating - especially the mum - really not sure she would be so totally naive.
A page turner though that is for sure.

JP Delaney has done it again!
Another fantastic thriller that will keep you on the edge of your seat.

I loved the multiple perspectives throughout, it adds to character depth.

Susie has the career, the man and the life she wanted... or does she?
The daughter she gave up for adoption 15 years ago finds her and Susie is determined to make things right in her daughters life. Is her daughter who she claims and are her stories really the truth?

The only downside is it ended.

I found this thriller an interesting, if at times frustrating, read. It’s well written and uses multiple narrators, to great effect, revealing different perspectives and events. One drawback for me personally is as someone not a parent I couldn’t always connect with the feelings and decisions of Susie.

JP Delaney is fast becoming one of my go-to thriller writers. This was another gripping tale. I loved the characters in this book and I was gobbling up every word. I actually read this book in one day. Highly recommend if you are looking for an addictive thriller!

Gabe and Susie are both musicians and have been together for a long time, bonding early on over the daughters they lost: Susie who had to give her baby up and Gabe whose toddler daughter passed away. Their relationship and lives are going well and then the daughter Susie gave up finds them and wants to be part of their lives. What could go wrong?
This was a gripping read about the nature of relationships and how the malicious and manipulative acts of a person can tear them apart and ruin multiple lives. Saying too much may is risking giving away the plot but a great story told from multiple perspectives.

Susie & Gabe are musicians. They have no money worries & are very much in love. The only cloud is the fact that they have been unable to have a family despite many heart-breaking miscarriages. When Susie is contacted on Social Media by a fifteen year old girl who claims to be the baby Susie gave up for adoption. Her P.S. that she is very unhappy strikes Susie to the core & she determines to contact her & seeing how much this means to her Gabe goes along with it. The tales Sky ( now called Anna) tells of her home & the attitude of her adoptive parents means that Susie is determined to provide the love & care she was not able to give all those years ago.

But be careful what you wish for! Sky has many issues & Susie's attempt to give her all she might want. But just how damaged is Sky & how much damage might she do if she is thwarted. Told by Susie, Gabe & Sky the reader is taken through a nightmare scenario. It seems that unless something drastic happens nobody seems inclined to step in before the worst happens.

This was a gripping read- even if at times I wanted to shake Susie as no matter how much she wanted to make things up to Sky, children need borders - especially those who are insecure. It's a book I won't forget easily. As an adopted child myself I think there might be a lot to be said for a Catholic guilt ridden childhood after all! (It was also a happy one & secure one!!) Thanks to Netgalley & the publisher for letting me read & review this book.

This is the first book I’ve read from this author. I’ve heard a lot of good things so this book was a bit of a let down. It started of intriguing, then it got a bit slow and then it stepped into ridiculous. It was like the author was just picking random things to add to the shock factor. All of the characters were pretty unlikable and I just couldn’t get my head around Susie and most of her actions. It’s marketed as a thriller but I would say it’s more of a family drama. It wasn’t for me.

I received a copy of the ebook via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review

This is the first book I read from this author. I was attracted to the tittle and the Amazon "hype" about this upcoming book and therefore was looking forward to reading it.

I am emotionally exhausted as it can be hard to read at times, particularly having a daughter of my own whom I adore more than anything else and having experienced miscarriages so beware of many triggers referred in this book.
The three POV narration was very insightful on the character's various psychologies allowing you to explore this unusual but realistic family dynamics

I also found the content very informative on the adoption aspect of our British system. It's a tough job to do and demanding from all sides involved.

I enjoyed the book but now feel like I need a gentle story to read not involving psychological traumas...

This was quite a quick and fairly simple read. I felt like some aspects of the plot could have been developed a bit further to flesh it out a bit more and make the characters feel a bit more rounded. The story follows a trendy married couple working in the music industry who are approached by a 15 year old girl who claims to be the daughter that the wife, Susie, gave up for adoption when she was 20. She insists that she needs help escaping from her adoptive parents and Susie falls for it, despite it being glaringly obvious right from the beginning that her daughter has significant issues, but by the time she realises it, it's too late. From then on I found the entire thing horribly frustrating - the whole "she's not a bad person she just constantly does bad things" attitude. Erm yes that does then make her a bad person, doesn't it - what are we other than the sum of the things we do? I don't doubt that social services have been known to handle cases like this in the way that they do in the book, but my God I wanted to tear my hair out at times. And Susie is frankly ridiculous. The only bearable person in the entire book is Gabe.

Well this book covered so much in a short time. It was more than the synopsis gave. We get to know Susie who gave up her daughter for adoption and the consequences that now haunt her and husband Gabe. 15 year old Anna is having trouble at her adoptive home and contacts Susie for help.

Delaney's writing really captured these characters. They are all so different and at times can feel the emotions right off the pages. With some difficult topics it still makes for a very twisted entertaining story. You get real feelings of sympathy for adoptive children and especially when it doesn't work out like its meant to. I did get a little frustrated that a 15 year old can be so conniving and get away with things.

A new author to me, and one that I will be checking out for other reads.

Thank you Netgalley and Quercus Books for the opportunity to read and review this ARC.

Susie Jukes was twenty when she gave her baby daughter, Sky up for adoption, a decision that has haunted her for fifteen years. Now thirty-five, Susie is married to Gabe and they live in a farmhouse. They would love a child of their own but for Susie and Gabe, this hasn't happened. Out of the blue, Susie is contacted by her daughter, now Anna Mulcahy, born in March 2007 who is requesting to meet. Susie is ecstatic; she can start to right the wrongs of the past.

I didn't want to put this down; JP Delaney is so good at writing about parental tension and family relationships. Well executed and sure to be amongst my favourite psychological thrillers of the year.

This review was written voluntarily and my rating was in no way influenced by the fact that I received a complimentary digital copy of this novel from Quercus Books via NetGalley.

The child you never knew knows all your secrets...

WOW! This is an intense and emotive read about an incredibly complex mother-daughter relationship in the wake of adoption. It's a psychological thriller with a difference in that you are taken on rollercoaster ride of emotions that leave you feeling as if you've endured the experience yourself. It evokes so many emotions from anger to disbelief to frustration to heartbreak over and over again. I'm not sure what I expected when I picked up this book...but it certainly wasn't this! Delaney has portrayed the circumstances and described the challenges faced with such expert precision and sensitivity because, let's face it, some of those challenges went way beyond the scope of normality.

Susie Jukes was twenty years old when she gave her baby daughter Sky up for adoption, a decision that has haunted her for fifteen years. Now thirty five, Susie is happily married to Gabe living in a beautiful farmhouse with converted outbuildings and a rescue dog. To complete this picture would be the longed-for addition of a child of their own. But sadly, Susie has been unable to successfully carry a pregnancy to term - the only blight on their otherwise perfect life.

So one day when Susie receives a private message on social media from someone called Anna Mulcahy claiming to be the daughter she had given up for adoption fifteen years ago, she is ecstatic. At last, she can get the chance to right the wrongs of the past and get to know the daughter she lost over a decade ago. Anna's descriptions of her home life are, by all accounts, far from happy and after meeting her, Susie begins to wonder whether Anna would be better off with her and Gabe.

But it's not as simple as that, apparently. Even talking about the circumstances surrounding the adoption now places Susie in contempt of court and not only that - Anna (or Sky) is only fifteen and is not yet the legal age of consent required by law that recognises her to make her own decisions. Therefore, she is still legally and technically in the custody of her adoptive parents...who sound anything but ideal. Things get even worse when Susie and Gabe are then served with a Child Abduction Warning Notice after Anna turned up at their place one day and stayed for two days, without the legal consent of her parents. But should Anna really be staying in a house that doesn't appear to have her best interests at heart, let alone safe?

All Susie wants is what's best for her daughter but she also wants to make up for lost time. But can she really do that after fifteen absent years? Who knows what has happened in that time. To all intents and purposes, Anna is literally a stranger and is no longer the sweet faced baby she once held to her breast. So is she being entirely truthful? Or is she manipulating that truth for her own purposes? She is, of course, just a teenager and therefore a product of an over-stretched and under-staffed system. And we all know what teenagers can be like.

But one thing is made clear the moment Anna steps into Susie and Gabe's life. Nothing will ever be the same again...

MY DARLING DAUGHTER is an intense and disconcerting read at times but with its fast pace and palpable tension this tale of domestic noir is bursting with twists and consequences I'm not sure some of the characters are even aware of. Sure, some of them were a little over the top but that merely added to the tension. It is so emotive you seriously will be tearing your hair out with this one in frustration and not knowing quite where it's going to go next.

The story unfolds through short snappy chapters - some even VERY short and snappy - and the alternating narratives of primarily Susie, Gabe and Anna/Sky. Some of which will have you shaking your head in disbelief - whether that be through suspension of belief or some of the behaviour and actions undertaken - you will be thoroughly entertained, that's for sure. There is a family dog, Sandy, and I’m happy to say he was not harmed during this novel, to spare you worrying.

This is the third psychological thriller by J.P. Delaney I have read and I'm never disappointed by his offerings. While his first "The Girl Before" wasn't my favourite it was unique in concept at the time, and "Playing Nice" was exceptional, this one is just as outstanding as the latter. I was thoroughly entertained throughout, as frustrated as I was, but I loved it.

Overall, the themes therein are tough and sensitive ones to say the least but I think Delaney handles them well. A thoroughly fantastic domestic noir and psychological thriller.

I would like to thank #JPDelaney, #NetGalley and #Quercus for an ARC of #MyDarlingDaughter in exchange for an honest review.

This review appears on my blog at https://stinathebookaholic.blogspot.com/.

I whizzed through this book in one day because the storyline was so gripping but also the style of writing made for effortless reading. That is not to take anything away from this talented writer but to add to the accolades probably already received about how easy it is to get immersed in a JP Delaney book. The unique angle of a daughter seeking out her birth mother prior to coming of age and all the pitfalls and emotional baggage that entails is beautifully handled with an unbiased touch which could so easily have been heavy handed in other writer’s/editor’s hands. Well done for approaching a difficult subject matter with empathy on all sides.

I do love reading a book that has me thinking there’s no way out of this dilemma/ drama and My Darling Daughter certainly had plenty of those moments. Nothing quite as it seemed and occasionally this was disappointing as it made me question my decisions on who I liked and who to disliked.
I’m close to giving five stars but I think four probably fairer overall but I can’t say why or I will give the plot away.
Thoroughly good read.

Slightly uncomfortable reading for people who have been adopted. If it were not for that, I would have enjoyed this book more. Putting that aside, I thought it was well written and a clever idea, with some good twists.
I was a bit disappointed with the ending, but that's probably just me, although having made some damning yet interesting observations about adoption, I thought rounding it off as it was, to be unlikely and somewhat contrary to the cautionary tale that this book had been until that point.

This was such a disappointment. I’ve loved the other books and was hopeful for this one. Unfortunately it just didn’t do anything for me at all. Please get back to your usual style of writing. My thanks to Netgalley and the publishers for giving me the opportunity to read this book in return for an honest review.