Thank you NetGalley and the publisher for providing me with a copy of No Child of Mine by Nichelle Giraldes in exchange for my honest review and opinion. This was a creepy, haunted house type of story. If this is your jam, you'll love it!

This had so much potential, but fell flat at the end. This follows the story of Essie and her pregnancy, in a house full of creepiness. The amosphere set-up was good, definitely felt the horror vibes for the first half or the book, but I did not care about the characters. The flashbacks to the past were what did not work for me, I really disliked Isabel and felt more anger than horror. And the ending just did not work.

Great book! It had all the fears of growing up. Make a choice. Turn the page or close the book. Enter the darkness if you wish!

Where are my ghostly readers, those who like a good ghost story that has been handed down from generation to generation? This one is for you!
Essie (present day) and her husband Sanjay have moved into a house, though they had no idea what this house had in store for them.
Ana and Isabel (from the past) are quite interesting ladies. Back in their day, their relationship was forbidden; thus, their families married them off to men as, I believe, they figured their relationship would slowly dwindle. And, through each of their marriages, Ana and Isabel each had an inner strength that came through loud and clear.
Not to mention the family curse that had been handed down through the generations because of a deal that was made a very long time ago. Essie, while she believed in the curse, while scared to face her fears of the slinky darkness, refused to let Sanjay be taken.
This read definitely has a dark vibe and pulls the past into the present. The way the author described the darkness and the smell Essie smelled made me feel like I could almost smell the same thing, almost feel the darkness closing in. I liked the dark vibe of this one, the way Essie faced her fears in many ways, the way she found the truth that wrapped around her own parents and this inherited, if you will, family curse. I’d be interested in reading more by this author just for the visualizations she portrays through the use of words. If anyone is a holiday-themed reader, this would be good around Halloween.

Creepy, strange vibes. It is a perfect read for the October season of the year. Love, family, loss, grief.....hauntings. This book has a bit of everything. I don't know that I would read it again, but it was not a bad read the first time around.

I loved this book it was such a great read. Things the first from this author and I’ll be reading more in future.

Sadly not for me, even though I did enjoy the writing style, the pace was not my cup of tea. Will def. be keeping an eye on this author though :))

The book was ok, wasn't what I expected. Was kind of a slow read but I was determined to finish it. Unfortunately, I was not able to finish the novel because I ran out of time.

DNF unfortunately! I was SO excited for this one but is all about the pregnancy so far and I just cannot get into it and so far it’s boring.

I will preface my explanation with the fact that I don’t and have never wanted kids, particularly via being pregnant myself.

I have an extremely hard time with the fact that the main character (who’s name I forgot already) has never wanted kids and has known this forever basically, we hear about her not wanting kids even in high school, who, when she finds out she’s pregnant, is just like yeah, sure. We’re going to have a baby!

I just can’t imagine someone who knew they didn’t want kids thinking that way because I personally wouldn’t think that way.

So she decides she’ll keep the baby but the whole time so far she’s just complaining about being pregnant (fair) and expressing her distaste for the baby already. Like, do you really actually want to have this baby!? I just can’t. It makes no sense to me. So on top of all that, it’s just not interesting so far and the flashbacks weren’t keeping my interest at all either.

It may work for someone else but it did not for me as much as I wanted it to

There’s a few things I always love in my horror stories and that’s haunted houses, haunted people and flashbacks to the past. This book has ALL of that and for the most part, it was really well done. It was so suspenseful seeing Sanjay and Essie completely unravel as her pregnancy progressed. We, as the reader, know it’s because of Essie’s family curse but there were times where it seemed like mental illness could have also been a factor.

There were flashbacks to the past where we get to see Essie’s ancestor, Isabel, and eventually find out why the curse began but here’s where my issues with the story started. For the first 75% of the book, it’s nothing but creepy suspense because we don’t have all the answers. Unfortunately, after everything was revealed, it fell apart.

The characters, especially in the past, were extremely flat. We’re told that Isabel is in a forbidden relationship. She essentially makes a deal with the devil that all of her future daughters will lose their loves so that she can be with hers. However, we don’t see her fall in love and we never find out how the devil (or whatever it is) finds Isabel. She doesn’t seek it out, it simply appears in her home; there isn’t a dramatic crossroads meeting or anything like that. Isabel is also a generally unlikable character. She’s selfish until the very last moment and I never cared or felt sorry for her.

Essie is able to defeat the generational curse and save Sanjay but the way it’s done is so simplistic that it completely ruined all of the build up and the good aspects of this book. She basically slips into this between/dream world where the dark spirit lives and is able to light a figurative fire and burn away the darkness…

I can truly say I’ve never had an ending ruin a book so completely for me. Despite feeling like the characters were not well developed, I still would have rated this book at least four stars if the ending would have been well done. The suspense and feeling of creeping dread throughout most of the book made for an excellent read so if you can get past the disappointing ending, this one might still be worth reading.

This was an okay read for me, I liked the dual timeline and how the stories came together in the end, the haunted house aspect and the writing style was good. What I missed was the suspense, I think you could have made the house so much creepier if that had been more majorly a focus, it was very much just a side storyline in this. The past timeline remained very surface-level, I didn't love the letters and I don't think you really got to know the characters there.

This was very slow burn, not much happened for most of this, but I didn't feel like the ending was worth the waiting. I wish there had been more action and suspense in the end, it was just kind of a letdown. Still, for a debut, this was pretty solid. I would read more from this author.

I started off reading this and thinking it would be kind of like a horror. Nope, not really what it was about. It was kind of a let down and not something I would recommend to anyone who wants something creepy.

This book was a little slow in the beginning & was hard to get into but it did pick up! An ok read, not my favourite!!!

The multi-cast narration really made this story stand out! Made it interesting by gong from one character to the next. This is a good debut from this author, I enjoyed the thriller and supernatural elements and it kept me reading to find out how the links between past and present would come together. It was a good read.

Thank you NetGalley and to the publisher.

Unfortunately ran out of time to finish book, would be happy to give a full review if given an extension. Score given for what I managed to read of the book.

Loved No Child of Mine! It took me a while to grasp where it was going, and I really liked the contrast of the main characters. Would certainly recommend

Well, all I can say is, is that the cover leads the reader to believe that this book is going to be horror. I love gothic stories. This was more about a pregnancy and everything that goes along with that. I didn't ever feel scared or on the edge of my seat with it, unfortunately. I was hoping for more.

I love a good book with multiple timelines and POVs and this was one of those books. I loved the mystery and suspense of the novel and finding out how everything would come together and for questions to be answered. I highly recommend this novel.

No Child of Mine by Nichelle Giraldes was not for me, personally. I am still thankful that I got to read this!

Though no fault of this book, I just could not get into it. I am in *another* reading slump and this one just couldn't hook me enough to keep going.