You thought you had escaped him. Until he proposed to your daughter.

‘There’s someone I want you to meet,’ Belle says, as a man draws up to her side. He’s tall with dark hair and stubble on his square jaw. He’s dressed in expensive-looking clothes – tan trousers and a fitted navy shirt. He’s not exactly smiling, but the corner of his mouth curls upwards as he slides his hand around my eighteen-year-old daughter’s waist.

When our kids grow up all we want is for them to be happy and hope that the partner they choose will not only fulfil all their hopes of a wonderful future with someone but also be a welcome addition to the family they are marrying into. Oh dear, this is definitely not the case here when Belle brings home to meet her parents but what it does do is provide us with a very enjoyable book that I stopped all was doing and spent the afternoon quickly turning the pages.

There are a few over the top moments but hey this is fiction, and I am open to going with the journey the author is taking me on. Samantha Hayes is an excellent author and I have enjoyed many of her books, this is now added to that list. A great psychological thriller that I highly recommend. Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for an advanced copy of the book in exchange for an honest review.

I read this book in three nights. It had me gripped from the start and I really could not predict where it was going. It goes back and forth from the past and present of Hannahs life. In the present every parents nightmare has come true when her and Rob are faced with their 18 year old daughter becoming engaged to her first serious boyfriend who is at least twice her age BUT also someone dark from Hannahs past that she would rather forget.
The more we find out about Hannahs past the more we realise how dangerous he is.
I don't want to give anything away but towards the end of the book I was happy to award this story a four star rating. By the time I got to the end with what I can only call an explosive double twist it definitely became five stars for me. A great read. Well done Samantha Hayes!

THE ENGAGEMENT
BY: SAMANTHA HAYES

Hannah and her husband Rob have been planning a surprise birthday party for their daughter Belle, who is turning eighteen. Belle has just spent time in France because she is studying to become a language translator. The two parents go to pick Belle up at the airport, and she isn't on her flight. When Belle finally arrives home she announces that she is engaged.

When Hannah meets Belle's Fiance she is horrified because she knows him from her hidden past. He has Belle convinced that he is a successful business man, but he is really involved with nefarious criminal sex trafficking of young girls. Hannah knows this first hand, because she was a sex trafficked youth who had been a captive of his when she was seventeen.

Both her and her husband Rob know that they are helpless to try to get Belle to break things off with her new Fiance Jack. They realize that the more that you try to persuade that doing something that they as parents think is harmful; the more Belle is going to dig her heels in and do it simply, because her parents don't like Jack. For one thing he is old enough to be Belle's father, and he is lying about his age, and another thing Hannah is keeping a secret, also from her family.

Hannah owns a successful business called, Greene and Clean and Rob is an investment banker. They share another younger daughter together named, Amber. Belle was named after the character in Beauty and the Beast. She has also just announced to her parents that she is quitting school to work in one of Jack's businesses. This has Hannah and Rob very worried about their oldest daughter.

Hannah knows Jack to be really named Darren and she knows that he has taken up with her daughter to punish her. For reasons that disclosing why they can't go to the police would get into spoiler territory. To find out more you will have to read this mystery. Hannah has a lot of hidden secrets, but so does Rob.

This started out with such a promising premise, but I felt that it dragged out way too long, and could benefit with some editing cutting some parts out or paring it down. I wouldn't recommend it as a suspenseful reading experience, and it tended to get bogged down with unnecessary details. There is a twist at the end which elevates this to three stars! Can Hannah save her daughter Belle from Jack/Darren? Because if she can't Belle just might be in for some bad experiences that Hannah is trying to save her daughter, Belle from. Belle is stubborn and has dug in her heels not to take her parents advice in breaking things off with Jack/Darren.

Publication Date: January 10th, 2023

Thank you to Net Galley, Samantha Hayes and Bookouture for providing me with my ARC in exchange for a fair and honest review. All opinions are my own.

#TheEngagement #SamanthaHayes #Bookouture #NetGalley

When Hannah's daughter comes home from a language study in Paris engaged she is understandably surprised. But when Hannah realizes her daughters fiancé is a ghost from her past she realizes she must act before losing her daughter to this man. How far will Hannah go in order to save her daughter and what secrets of Hannah's will be divulged along the way?

"The Engagement' is a fast paced read that keeps you turning the page until the very end. I will say I did see both of the ending "twists' coming but they were revealed well and still made for a great read! This isn't my first Samantha Hayes book and it most definitely won't be my last.

Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for the opportunity to read this in exchange for my review.

This is my first time reading anything from Samantha Hayes. To be honest the first half was a bit of a slow burn but that last half was a bullet train that I could not put down! I thought I had the book and twists figured out but every time I was proven wrong. It was a great book that I highly recommend!

Be ready to devour this book in one sitting. It is that good! It has a very unique plot that took me for a wild ride. The secrets from the past that Hannah and Rob kept from each other came back to haunt them. Their daughter Belle came home from a trip to France to tell her parents she got engaged. She arrived home with her fiance and Hannah could not believe who it was. Deep secrets are revealed slowly in a chain of events no one can stop.

Hannah is a wife and mother with many secrets, all being kept to keep her family safe. From her beginning in poverty and abuse, to escaping to a terrible situation in the sex trade. Hannah has done what she has to survive. When Hannah’s daughter Belle goes away to France on an exchange program Hannah gets the shock of a lifetime when her daughter returns with a fiancé who is not what he claims to be. Fast paced domestic drama that is impossible to put down. Definitely one of this authors best books so far.

This was such a great story! It was captivated and I was engaged from the very start. The twist at the end got me and I have been thinking about it ever since!

What a twisted thriller of a read with a totally shocking ending. I really didn't see that coming!

Hannah and her partner Rob are waiting to welcome their daughter Belle home for her 18th Birthday party. She arrives back from a trip to France a day late and newly engaged to a much older man. The problem is, Hannah knows him from her secretive sordid past, so she will do anything she can to protect Belle and prevent her going down the same path she did.

Jack, Belle's fiancé, is a nasty piece of work and just reading about him made my skin crawl!

The chapters are written in the present and the past, linking the story up gradually. The first half of the book is a slow burn, but then it really ramps up and the tension builds towards the end at such a fast pace I was rushing to turn the pages.

This is the third book I have read from Samantha and the third I have enjoyed.

Many thanks to Netgalley, the publishers and author for an ARC.

DNF @ 35% - I really tried to get into the vibes of this but sadly fell to the curse of unlikely plot lines and unlikable characters.

in thrillers, I tend to love to hate characters a lot because of their intrigue and background, but both hannah and belle in this one were SO whiny and superficial. they pretended to care about one another but truly didn’t even have a conversation longer than 30 seconds with each other. and don’t get me started on how easy it was for jack to fool everyone in the first five chapters 🫠 I think it just needed a better overall editing and plot line overhaul to intrigue the reader a bit more!

thank you to netgalley and the publisher for the advanced copy in exchange for an honest review!

The past is the past or really is it? Will it haunt you later in life and have lasting affects all your life? Inevitably, it will end up completely taking a toll on you. Does every person have a secret within, that not even the best of the best to them know.

The day your child turns 18 is a huge moment in any parents life, especially Hannah’s. Hannah grew up with an unfortunate and terrible life, that led to choices that would steal away her youth and scar her person for eternity. She made a promise to herself that her daughter would never encounter or experience what she had to, just to survive, no matter the cost or risk taken.

Hannah’s daughter, Belle, grew up sheltered, extremely protected, very loved, fatherless with a “stepped up” dad, who raises her as his own. She goes away for school and comes back home, just as her 18th birthday rolls around.

What Belle brings home though, is utterly shocking and was the gateway to open up all the trauma that her mother had buried deep within a long ago… and who else could be involved?

Hannah is shaken to the core, the life she worked so hard for, looking over her shoulder for so many years, the lies of her old ways, the life she made to give her family everything she could never have had… could now be flipped upside down. Possibly exposing truths of lives lived in the past.

How do the lies play out, will her daughter see the truth, will Hannah’s little family still be “perfect” after the truth unfolds? Who else has lies buried in the family and is also hiding another side of who they are?

As this, unimaginable- PAGE TURNER - WOW - story unfolds.. expect to read things, and be in complete shock with what this family goes through together and individually. The stakes and secrets they take and keep. How far they will go and think about how far you would go if you were in anyone of their shoes. You will be on a rough ride of twists and turns the whole book and will never see THAT HUGE BANG of an end coming.

This book was nothing short of phenomenal, but be prepared for some triggering scenes (sex, abuse, drugs, alcohol and men “pimping” women out). This is definitely one of my favorite reads this year. The whole story, then the ending had me completely mind blown. This was a first for me from this author and I am so glad I got to read it before it is released in January. Definitely add this one to your TBR list.

I received this book from NetGalley as an ARC, in exchange for an honest review. Thank you, Samantha Hayes, NetGalley and Bookouture for the chance to read this story and be one of the first to review it.

This book was absolutely fabulous! I was fortunate to receive an ARC from Netgalley and boy did Samantha Hayes deliver!! This book was jam packed with twists start to finish. I promise, you will not regret reading this book…. And the end I did not see coming!

Hannah is a mother, a business owner, and a badass. She has it all until her teenage daughter comes home with someone from her own shady past…. How far will Hannah go to protect what is hers?

I received this book from the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

Reading this book as a mother of a little girl gave me major anxiety, as I wasn't sure if I wanted to shake, or hug Hannah. I know I did want to slap Belle to wake the heck up. I never met another character who frustrated me as much as Belle,she moved past naiive mode into straight up stupid mode. She was impulsive, she was stubborn, she was just not intelligent at all. I need to learn about how she was raised, and do everything opposite for my kid.

The story was an easy and smooth read, the plot was frustrating, but the pace was quick and intriguing. I feel like it would make a good book club pick.

It's been a long time since I read a book where I couldn't predict most of the twists in the story, and this book had several that I didn't see coming! I loved that this book didn't gloss over the realities of how some sex workers are forced to live. The accuracy of the story in combination with the fast moving plot told from multiple perspectives made this such a great book!

Belle is about to come back after a couple of months in France.
Her mum organises a welcome home party but they are taken aback when Belle announces she's engaged.

A fantastic read. I really enjoyed reading this and watching the plot unfold. It is really easy to follow with a few twists thrown in. That kept me on the edge of my seat

I loved this book. I couldn't put it down as I needed to see how the story unfolded and WOW! Brilliantly written and literally had me gripped until the last sentences. I can safely say that it wasn't something that I had or could have predicted!! Honestly brilliant!

Just finished this book it was amazing. I really couldn't put it down. Fantastic read, great characters and I loved the different characters perspectives and two time lines. I feel this is very well written and twists and mystery is engaging until the end. I really couldn't expected the twist in identity of Hannah in the end, it's shocking but totally understandable. Highly recommended.

Very intriguing story from the beginning! Just when you think you’ve got a handle on the situation, it throws you for another loop! This is my first Samantha Hayes book and I’ll be back! Some parts seemed a little slow but honestly, I think it’s because I was impatient to get to the next reveal. The ending blew me away!

Really enjoyed this story! Twisty and unpredictable this book gripped me right from the start, I couldn't put it down and didn't know who to trust. Definitely recommend foe any thriller/mystery fan. Thank you NetGalley for this ARC

This book really surprised me! It was a bit of a slow burn for me on the first half. It wasn’t boring or uninteresting, it was just a little….. predictable/frustrating.
The story has a few good twists — one I didn’t see coming and one I did. Overall, it kept me interested, especially once you hit the second half of the book. I read the second half in half the time that it took me to read the first half.
The story was interesting, raw, and unique. I can’t recall reading anything quite like it!

Thank you NetGalley, Bookouture, and Samantha Hayes for letting me enjoy this ARC!