Dark family curse added with pregnancy and motherhood. Such a touchy subject, but I liked this nonetheless.

Essie is a fiercely indoctrinated woman, who loves her husband adoringly, but never really imagined herself as a mother. But as the pregnancy progresses, there’s just something a bit sinister lingering in the family. Isolation can make a person go mad.

We pretty much are first person just feeling the feels of Essie and her thoughts. So we’re seeing things as if her eyes are ours. So it can make the story tense. Essie just wants to be happy and to have a healthy baby, but tight secrets make it hard .

There were parts that confused me. Like connections or why this curse is there.. maybe I missed it. It is a bit slow moving and more of a tension building story. But all in all, I liked the concept and how pregnancies can be a nightmare.

Initially I like this book. It was intriguing and the well written however, about half way through it became very repetitive. I realize this book is about Essie’s pregnancy, but it just became too much too much for me. I found it was the same thing over and over again just on a different day. Essie feels nauseous, she’s tired, she hates pregnancy, she’s having weird dreams (which are all sooo similar) and Sanjay never comes to bed and spends the nights in the attic.

It is also told in multiple POVs with the other characters being Ana and Isabel and maybe it was just me, but I kept mixing those two up. Also again maybe I missed it, but I have no idea what year Ana and Isabel’s story took place.

All in all, this book just missed the mark for me and I think it would have worked better as a novella.

Thank you to Poisioned Pen Press & Netgalley for a copy of the arc. This review is my own.

Basically going into this book blind, I was delighted to realize it involved a creepy haunted house.
A newly wed couple buys a fixer up and happily plans a future for themselves and their potential careers. A surprise pregnancy, has Essie struggling to come to terms with all she has to give up by being pregnant. She is also reminded of their families curse by her grandmother, as every previous generation has lost the love of their life.

Essie refuses to believe in the curse and will stop at nothing to ensure her husband has a long life.

Combining a nightmarish pregnancy and a haunted house this was a great debut novel.

Thank you PoisonedPen Press for the gifted EARC.
3.5 stars

**3.5-stars rounded up** No Child of Mine follows Essie Kaur, an ambitious young woman who has recently found out that she is pregnant for the first time. Essie is in a very loving marriage with her husband, Sanjay, whom she adores, but in spite of that, Essie is less than stoked about the news. In fact, privately, she's pretty upset about it. Essie is currently in law school, almost through, ready to take the bar exam early the following year, how is she going to make that work now? The baby will be three months old when she is supposed to sit for the bar? Essie keeps a lot of her feelings to herself; well, most of them honestly. She's afraid people will judge her for not having the ecstatic, happy reaction society teaches us we are supposed to always have. She wants to be happy. She loves the little being growing inside her, she really does, but that love is being shadowed by a lot of other darker emotions right now. As the Reader, we sit inside Essie's head as she struggles with these emotions, her changing body, her changing relationship and her ever changing reality. While some of it borders on repetitive, I feel like as a person who frequently suffers from repetitive thoughts, it still made sense to me. I could imagine being Essie and having these same exact thoughts over and over. In addition to Essie's perspective, we also get a historical perspective following two women, Isabelle and Anna. It's unclear initially how these women are connected to Essie and her story, but as their narrative evolves it becomes clear where it is going. This aspect adds the impetus behind some of the darker elements in the present perspective. Particularly, what's going on with Sanjay. As a soon to be 45-year old woman, who made a conscious decision at a very young age to never have children, these types of stories revolving around pregnancy and early motherhood either drive me crazy, or I end up connecting to them in a powerful way. Regardless of the final outcome, I do enjoy picking up stories that involve these themes, because I like to see what sort of new elements, or perspectives, various authors will bring. I think Giraldes did a great job of writing Essie's perspective. To me, Essie's concerns and emotional struggle was 100% believable. She was a woman who had a plan for her future, who had sacrificed to reach her goals, and so close to the finish line had everything up-ended while her husband still got to live his dream. I was nodding along in many parts, even yelling words of support for her. The only issue I had with this story really, and it's a minor one, was the connection between the historic perspective and Essie's present perspective. For me, there were times, when it felt a little too disjointed. By this I mean, the transition between the two sometimes seemed jarring; like it wasn't as fluid as I would hope. Essie's sections felt so straight forward, but for Isabelle and Anna, my brain was working overtime trying to figure out why it was even included. Because of this, for at least the first half, every time it switched perspectives, it kicked me out of the story. At times, I felt a bit like I was reading two separate books. With this being said, there is a certain reveal that happens, where after that, it started making sense. Plus, additional things were happening in the current perspective, where you could feel that distinct influence from the past. Giraldes brought it around. It was eventually cleared up and tied together by the end. Although, one final nit-pick is the ending was too abrupt for my tastes. Overall though, this is a very solid story. I think it provides a lot of food for thought, as far as a women's role in the modern world, as well as interesting commentary on women's issues spanning generations. Thank you to the publisher, Poisoned Pen Press and Dreamscape Media, for providing me copies to read and review. I found this quite absorbing and am looking forward to picking up more from this author. Also, I would definitely recommend the audio format. The narrator did an incredible job bringing it to life and making it compelling. I feel like it's a great way to take in this story.

Rating: 2.29 leaves out of 5
-Characters: 2/5
-Cover: 5/5
-Story: 2/5
-Writing: 4/5
Genre: Horror, Thriller, Suspense
-Horror: 1/5
-Thriller: 1/5
-Suspense: 1/5
Type: Ebook
Worth?: No

Want to thank Netgalley and publishers for giving me the chance to read this book.

Where do I even start in this shit storm? Well the MC is unlikeable in the beginning or hell a good chunk of the book. She is rude for no fucking reason. Besides that you know those people who just shove in your face over and over again about them being pregnant or wanting babies and it gets to the point where you snap? Yeah, she does this about NOT wanting a baby. Look, I don't want kids of my own but you just did way too damn much. I don't know how many times in each chapter you have to freaking remind the damn reader you don't want kids. WE FREAKING GET IT. She clearly had options. It was RIGHT THERE and you decided to let her keep it and just... drag on and on and on about it.

Besides that we had two women back in the day who didn't want to be married to men, which we all can understand. They were more bearable. Hell I always looked forward to their chapters.

In the end the concept of the story could have been SO GOOD if she would have dialed the MC back.

3.5 stars

I really liked the premise of this book. It seemed interesting. I think this would’ve been better if it had focused more of the horror aspect of the story than Essie’s pregnancy. I was wanting more jump scare moments or creepy revelations from the past, and this book have minimally in this area. There was so much backstory to Isabel and Ana, which I believe was important, but I think before we find all of this out there could’ve been more happened within the home with Essie and Sanjay.

What an amazing book - I loved it! I was holding off on reading this closer to the publish date, especially since it is around spooky time, and I am so happy I did. For a debut novel, this was so well written! I cannot wait to get a physical copy as well!

This is scary, creepy, and intense story. I love the two different timelines from past to present intertwined with each other. Giving you bits and pieces of the puzzle. It had me at the edge of my seat. I would love to read more from this author.

Wow! This was great! I’ve been pregnant twice in my life and this was a creepy way of writing about pregnancy. The slow build of erie-ness and the dual timelines make for a pleasant page turner.
Definitely recommend adding this to you list of reads for spooky season!

Thank you for letting me read this ARC.

Through generations of women in their family, upon the birth of their daughters, their lives are ripped from them. It’s a curse that Essie’s mother and grandmother have told her all about. But, it is okay because Essie has never wanted children. All she wants is Sanjay, her amazing husband, and her law career.

When she is surprised by news that she is pregnant, her body immediately begins to feel like not her own. She is going to have to rethink her law career timeline, and she is always so sick, but she knows she wants this baby after all.

Quickly, nightmares plague her, and the curse that she never gave any real thought to becomes a glaring problem. Sanjay is increasingly looking worse and acting strangely and panic begins to overtake her.

Meanwhile, we get interspersed chapters of a love between two women decades upon decades ago. We see slowly, how their lives impact the life of Essie and her family.

I loved this. I thought the slow crescendo of fear was well done. I thought the story was great, the characters all very well formed. The pacing of this was perfection, creating a truly ominous atmosphere. The only thing I didn’t like was the portrayal of Essie when it came to how strongly she felt about not wanting children juxtaposed with how instantly she came to terms with it. It felt like a commentary on the ideology that women who don’t want children would change their mind when becoming pregnant. Like that’s all it would take for a woman to realize that she was mistaken about knowing herself and what she wanted from her life. I do get that it happens, but that just isn’t always the case. It felt a little pushy. Even still, for the sake of the story, I could get past that and really enjoy the entirety of the book.

Wow, what a debut by Nichelle Giraldes! It's just the right amount of creepy to be believable without going completely over the top -- the perfect spooky season read. The dual timelines really works in No Child of Mine, and they were tied together perfectly. There's no what I like to call Scooby-and-Shaggy moments, where the mask is pulled off the "ghost" and it's all revealed. There are some things we don't understand, and No Child of Mine lets the story play out in a realistic, believable way. Nichelle Giraldes is an author to watch!

No Child of Mine by Nichelle Giraldes #sixtyfifthbookof2023 #arc

CW: difficult pregnancy and its symptoms, domestic violence, family curse, death, murder, depression, suicidal thoughts

This is the story of a woman who after moving into her first house with her husband, learns she is pregnant, and the strange happenings that begin that may be tied to her new house. Things like her seeing a mysterious woman’s figure, her husband acting strangely at night, and hearing someone walking when there is no one else at home.

The story alternates between Essie and her husband in present day, and Isabel and Ana in a historical setting. I won’t spoil the relationship between the two narratives, but while I thought Essie’s story was interesting, I did prefer the historical one better and I would have read an entire book on those two women.

I wouldn’t call this a domestic thriller, it’s more of a psychological mystery, I guess? Definitely some supernatural elements, and I didn’t mind it. It’s a solid story. I could do with fewer descriptions of vomiting, but it’s worth a read.

Thank you to @netgalley and @poisonedpenpress for the advance copy. (Pub date 9/12/23)

No Child of Mine is a slow burn novel that unfortunately missed the mark for me. I went into this book thinking it would be horror and creepy, but it felt more like an old wives tale was a hint of thriller.

This is Nichelle Giraldes debut novel, and is told in dual timelines. In the current day, we have Essie and her husband Sanjay, and several generations earlier we have Ana and Isabelle, two women who were deeply in love when it was impossible for women to have a romantic relationship.

An awful curse born of both love and selfishness has taken fathers from their daughters for generations in Essie's family. I had hoped there would be some spookiness in Essie's new house but other than some whispering and an object occasionally being displaced nothing much happened. I thought that when the curse began to take hold of the family, this is when the Horror/Creepy part of the story would reveal itself. Sadly, there wasn't any suspense. The ending seemed too easily wrapped up since so many generations had suffered this curse. It just felt rushed to me.

Thank you to NetGalley and Poisoned Press for this ARC.

Essie and Sanjay have a once in a lifetime kind of love unfortunately essie’s family also has a once in a family‘s kind of curse that could ultimately take her love away. Although her grandmother Joon believes in the curse her mom Kelly insist it isn’t real after all her husband is alive and well. The family lore claims when you find a once in a lifetime love and have a daughter, your love will only live at the most another year. Unfortunately Essie is expecting besides her morning sickness since moving into their dream home strange things have been happening. There’s also a second POV in the book from the point of view of a woman name Isabell who is once in a lifetime love was named Anna the times Bing what they were they were both sent to marry men chose by their parents. Isabel moved a couple of towns away while Anna stayed in the town where they grew up and as they say absence makes the heart grow fonder but when she sees Anna again and they’re getting ready to go swim and she sees bruises all on Anna‘s arms and back and it breaks Isabel‘s heart. she begs Anna to run away with her and although Anna says no something drastic does happen and how this involves the modern day Essie and Sanjay you’ll have to read this fabulously haunted house story to find out. Because I haven’t even mentioned if the curses real and if so where it came from and a horrible thing that happens to Sanjay in so much more. This book is so good and unlike most haunted house stories and Hayes para normal in the book but it’s the kind that feels authentic to the story this is such a good book and there’s so much more I wish I could say to get you to read it it is a long book and I wouldn’t read it at night at least not the last 60% but OMG it’s so worth reading. I want to thank poison pin press and net galley for my free Ark copy please forgive any mistakes as I am blind and dictate my review.

ARC audiobook provided in exchange for an honest review.

The multi-cast narration really made this story stand out! All the narrators did a wonderful job and it was very easy to listen to for long periods of time. The story takes place in two different timelines, the past and the present, and I found all the curse stuff from the past really intriguing. I liked how everything was explained and I had no questions by the end of the book. I would recommend to anyone who likes mystery, fantasy, and some suspense!

This was not at all the horror story I was expecting but was more about the love between soul mates with minimal supernatural elements.

The story is told in dual timelines in alternating chapters but the correlation between the two was not drawn until late in the book.

Essie is the pregnant protagonist, who has moved emotions about whether she wants a child which could be a trigger for some. I feel the story focused too much on Essie's pregnancy and her pregnancy-related symptoms which became repetitive throughout.

This was a slow burn that I struggled to get through until the final few chapters but I did appreciate the ending.

Thank you to NetGalley and Poisoned Pen Press for allowing me to read this ARC in return for my voluntary and honest review.

Essie is a strong, independent woman and she loves her husband, Sanjay, fiercely. She has a strict plan for her life and is in law school. She’s never wanted kids before, but when she finds out she’s pregnant she decides to scrap her master plan and go with a new one. But her pregnancy is far from perfect, the women on her family are cursed. Essie is struggling and her husband is becoming distant and barely sleeps.

This was a great slow burn horror book. It jumps between multiple POV, some of which are told through letters. It had me guessing the whole time as to how Ana and Isabel played into Essies story.

My only criticism is that it ended very abruptly and I thought it could use an epilogue. I definitely wanted to see it wrapped up a little more.

This is a tricky book to review. I think I went into it with the expectation that it would be a horror story, maybe a haunted pregnancy and a creepy kid. It was definitely a slow burn - and the majority of the book focused on Eddie’s pregnancy related symptoms.

There was a creepy element with the house and whispers. To me it felt like that was going to play a larger role in the plot (kind of like rosemarys baby).

The dual timeline was fun because it kept me wondering why the past POV was relevant and how they would ultimately come together.

Overall I don’t feel that the ending made sense after the major slow burn of the book. I ended up with more questions.

I enjoyed the writing and I will definitely read more by this author. This story just didn’t quite resonate with me the way I was anticipating.

No Child of Mine is marketed as a horror, and the authours profile indicates she writes female-centered horror.

I have to acknowledge that I have a very high threshold for what I define as horror. For me, this book did not meet my expectations as a horror novel.

That being said, once I level set my expectations, I still found an extremely thought-provoking novel, definitely in the women's fiction genre, with a super natural element to it.

No Child of Mine centres around married couple Sanjay and Essie, told from Essie's perspective. Essie finds herself unexpectedly pregnant. Having never planned to have children. This book focuses heavily on the complicated feelings Essie has about being pregnant, a difficult pregnancy no less, and the tension this causes between Essie and Sanjay.

But, woven throughout is this story, going back generations in Essie's family of two friends, female friends and lovers, in a time where this was definitely not accepted and when parents marry off their daughters. The story that is told is one of great love, the lengths that people will go to protect it, and the impact that can reverberate for generations to come, including the dangerous consequences for Essie and Sanjay.

This book was very well written and did keep me captivated. I definitely found Essie's feelings on her pregnancy simultaneously infuriating and relatable. I struggled with the level of detail, though. At times, the level of detail on the minutiae of Essie's pregnancy affected the pace of the book, dragging it down a bit.

Overall, though, I found an extremely interesting and thought-provoking novel on pregnancy and love and did really like how the super natural element was entwined throughout the story.

Thank you to Poisoned Pen Press and NetGalley for an advanced digital copy of this book. My opinions are my own.

🌟🌟🌟🌟

Releases Sept 12th

"No Child of Mine" is a gripping psychological thriller that revolves around Essie, a career driven woman and her husband, Sanjay, the love of her life. Her life is perfect until she finds out she's pregnant, which was not a part of her life plan.

Essie is reminded constantly by her grandmother of the family curse. See the women of this family for generations were cursed, and any woman who becomes pregnant with a daughter in their bloodline will inadvertently cause the death of her one true love. Will Essie be able to break the curse or will Sanjay meet the same fate.

Nichelle masterfully weaves together suspense, mystery, and family drama, keeping readers on the edge of their seats until the very end.