No Child of Mine is a beautiful and tragic tale that I read in one sitting. Throughout the story, there are chapters written from three different women’s point of view: Essie, Isabel, and Ana. Essie is a married third year law student who just bought her first home when she discovers that she is pregnant. She has very mixed feelings about the pregnancy because she never planned to have a baby in her life. The pregnancy itself is challenging and even before the baby arrives, Essie finds that her life is changing from the life that she could have had. Essie also begins hearing some noises in her fixer upper home and there are some serious haunted house vibes. Her devoted husband seems to be spending more time alone in his home office in the creepy attic and is becoming more distant. Essie is deeply concerned about everything going on and is determined to keep everyone safe.
Isabel and Ana are childhood best friends who are happy and content, but like all young women of the time have to grow up and get married to men that they barely know because it’s what’s expected of young women during their time period. These women navigate the loss of their childhood and being a part of their respective family units as they try their best to be make a good life with their new husbands while grieving the loss of their adolescence. I loved the relationship between these characters and truly wanted them to find happiness.

The way that Giraldes writes about the pregnancy seemed very raw and authentic. The way that a woman can be overjoyed and full of love for a new baby while grieving the life that she could have had if she chose to remain childless was very well written. I love that she was also able to make it very clear that at no point did Essie not love the baby. This story was full of grief and longing, yet also full of hope. I loved it and look forward to more works by this author.

Wow!!! I highly enjoyed this book. Essie is very much unexpectedly pregnant. She struggles with adjusting to the world changing news of being a parent. Not only that but her and her husband Sanjay just moved into an old fixer up home. As time goes by Essie starts having paranormal experiences all while her husband’s personality is changing and her baby is growing inside her. As we go through life with Essie we also are in the midst of a emotional story between Ana and Isabel. I loved the story and really enjoyed following along with Essie and ESPECIALLY enjoyed the Ana and Isabel story. It was exciting and I just wanted to keep reading more and more as things unraveled and all the details came together. The author did such a great job with this story. I love the amount of detail the twists it has and her writing story. I will be looking forward to her writing more books!

The synopsis seemed very interesting. I’m always in for a good haunted house story. The book started out great, I binge read the first half rapidly. The second half was a little slower, I had to pick up the book a few times to get though. The ending, in comparison to the rest, seemed very rushed, so that was a let down.

Positive notes:
At times, I reread some paragraphs because I thought some of them were absolutely beautiful. Some quotes really took my breath away. The authors obviously very talented.

I also really, really loved the fact that the author has written about pregnancy in such an honest way. It’s not all butterflies and rainbows for everyone when they find out they’re pregnant and there’s still a stigma surrounded around that. So thank you for that.

Thank you to NetGalley and Poisoned Pen Press for the ARC of this book.

The first half of this book was an absolute 5 star for me. It was the type of thriller/horror that I like - it took an everyday concept such as pregnancy and buying an old house and made it spooky. I like when an author can make something mundane into something scary...its just fascinating to me. The writing was good and I felt like I had to keep turning the page to find out what was happening next.

The writing shined the brightest during those early spooky scenes. As someone who has never been pregnant it gave me descriptions and details that made me feel as if I knew what it felt like. The imagery made me feel as if I was actually in the room. I couldn't put this down for like the first 60%. (The first and second trimester)

The last trimester, however, was not as great to me. The pacing slowed to a snails pace and I felt that some of the chapters were telling me the same thing over and over with nothing happening. The ending was the real bummer and I felt like it was rushed - as the ending didn't start until the last chapter or so of the book. Which would have been fine if I felt satisfied with it but unfortunately it just kind of fizzled out.

I've read a couple reviews that people didn't like the main character Essie. I for one liked her. I identified with her a lot but maybe that is because I could understand her thought process as an adult without children. I don't think she was selfish I think she was realistic. A woman who gets pregnant when she doesn't plan it is allowed to have certain feelings about it.

I want to get into the Isabelle/Ana chapters as well because this was a big part of the book. The author did a good job of grasping the relationship between the two characters and made it so we understood both of their motivations for why they did what they did. However...I think this became apparent enough early on and we didn't need several chapters that continued to harp on this unbreakable relationship. It was getting to a point of being too repetitive. Speaking of repetitive...

The repetitive phrases that Sanjay, our MC's husband, said during the book was killing me by the end. The "Are you okay" thing... Was this supposed to be there to make it seem that he was in a fugue state or was it just his catch phrase? Because I felt that I was reading the same conversation between Essie and Sanjay several times.

Overall, I enjoyed this book. It was unique in its premise and was very readable with characters that I identified with. I will gladly read anything Nichelle Giraldes puts out next.

No Child of Mine
by Nichelle Giraldes
Pub Date: 12 Sep 2023

"No Child of Mine" is a supernatural thriller covering a love story that went between the past and the present. I loved that part of the book. The story was truly fantastic, there was some mystery, suspense, sadness, love and ghosts.

It was very hard for me to put down until I got to the final page! I highly recommend reading this 5 star book.

Many thanks to #NetGalley and #PoisonedPenPress for giving me an E-ARC of this book.

Engaging storytelling with an interesting premise. Hooked me right off the bat.

The women in Essie's family always find true love. And their loves always meet a tragic end. But why? And what is the connection to Ana and Isabel, two women from the past whom the reader meets? Essie, however, only encounters them in the form of whispered voices and nightmares as she's trapped at home on bedrest during a pregnancy she never wanted.

The ending answered a lot of questions but was anticlimactic. The rest of the book makes up for it as you grow to love and worry about Essie and Sanjay as well as the mysterious Ana and Isabel.

I so appreciate my ebook from Poisoned Pen Press and NetGalley.

🫣 There is something in the dark … and it is starting to whisper 🤐 in Nichelle Giraldes “No Child of Mine”!

BOOK REVIEW: 🖤🖤🖤🖤/5

Essie and Sanjay have moved into their new home with plans to renovate and redecorate from scratch to create their dream home. Shortly after they move in, Essie finds out that she is pregnant and the home becomes more and more unwelcoming and a darkness begins to spread throughout the house.

As Essie’s pregnancy grows difficult, Sanjay also begins to drift away from her. He suddenly spends all his time upstairs in the attic pacing the floors and talking to himself. There is a possibility that a long standing family curse has been passed down through the generations and has landed on Essie and is lurking within her house. This sinister curse has left every daughter fatherless in its wake. WILL Essie be tempted to make a deal with the devil in order to protect her husband?? Or to protect her child??

I really enjoyed this book and all of its buried secrets! The curse on all the females in Essie’s family is haunting to read about and adds a major CREEP FACTOR to the story! This book is a perfect read for Spooky Season, especially if you enjoy a ghost story and haunted house setting!

Thank you kindly to @nichellegiraldes @poisonedpenpress @netgalley for my advanced digital copy! This book releases on September 12, 2023!

No Child Of Mine by Nichelle Giraldes

There is something in the dark and it is starting to whisper. This book is hauntingly powerful.

I didn’t enjoy this book. With the chapters going from one person to another, the story didn’t really flow. I only read half of the book.

Thanks to Net Galley for sending me an advanced reader’s copy for my review.

Thank you @poisonedpenpress for the #gifted copy of this e-arc!

This book is about a girl named Essie who is independent and focused on her career. She meets and falls in love with Sanjay and her aspirations are on pause for a bit. She knows what she wants but moving and his career have taken precedence. One thing she has always known is she doesn’t want to be a mother but one day she suspects her body has betrayed her. Underneath her doubts of becoming a mother lies whispers of a family curse. 😱

Now pregnant and not having an easy go she slowly withdraws from life because she feels so terrible. Constantly sick she always is wondering how much is the pregnancy and how much is her mind. Is she hearing whispers? Seeing things in the shadows? Her new house has her on edge and it feels like something dark lives within their four walls. Sanjay soon is pacing in the attic and isn’t quite himself. Essie’s life seems to be unraveling right before her own eyes.

Thoughts: I did enjoy the two timelines in this book and how they came together in the end. I initially was excited to scoop this one up as I saw it be compared to The Push (which I loved) but I have to be honest I see zero relation to it. I’m not sure what part would even be compared to it. 🤷🏼‍♀️ This felt like a slow burn horror book to me with no shocking or twisting moments.

It was interesting to see the slow unfolding of both characters and their psyche. Essie wasn’t particularly likable in this book because she was always on edge and not participating in life (not that I blame her fully). Sanjay was easier to become invested in because he seemed like a caring partner to her. My intrigue was definitely piqued trying to understand what was happening to him the whole time. 😱 Overall I did like this book however I am think I wanted there to be more twists or a big reveal.

No Child of Mine is an entertaining psychological and supernatural thriller. Sanjay and Essie have been a couple since high school and throughout college. Essie having put her post grad studies on hold for Jay, is now looking forward to her turn at finishing her medical degree. In another turn of bad decisions, Essie also agrees to move into an old house to please her husband. Childless and seemingly happy about it, an unexpected pregnancy occurs in tandem with creepy things happening in the home. Serious doubts about becoming a mother filter in and out of the progressing pregnancy along with severe morning sickness. Jay, also seems to be having issues of his own and mysteriously hides away in the upstairs office. A family curse is taking hold.
Chapters that contain letters between two women of a century or more before paint a picture of an illicit love affair between friends and their subsequent marriages. A deal with the devil creates havoc for all future generations.
A good epistolary story on one side, and a modern marriage on the other with smoky, ghostly happenings tying the two together. I enjoyed the letters between the lovers the best. Essie's relationship with her husband is unbalanced and she never seems to accept the pregnancy she chose to continue. I kept trying to figure out if that had to do with the haunting or not.

The ending is where this tale lost me the most. Things between Jay and Essie were unclear then new info was revealed at the end which spurred Essie on to stand up and make things happen for her family in a way she was unwilling or unable to before. Still and all, and enjoyable read.

3.5 stars rounded up to 4

Thank you to Poisoned Pen Press for access to an early e-copy via Netgalley.

This one was bit topsy tirby for my liking. I wanted to like it very much but I found the story strange and disorganised. The cover art doesn’t really make sense to the novel. The book is based around a woman who gave up her career so that her husband could progress and move up in the world and then when it was her turn she feel pregnant. Essie and Sanjay had never thought about having children and this threw a spanner in the works for both of them. Sanjay seems to really want one and Essie just didn’t seem to have a maternal feeling to her (I guess that’s the point in this case) to add to all this there was a random family curse from like years ago that for me didn’t add much to the storyline. I guess I just had different thoughts when I read the synopsis.

However I am glad that at the end of the book both Essie and Sanjay came back together after all the trials and tribulations that happened in the book and it was a somewhat happy ending. I guess the shock of finding out Essie was pregnant would have been a lot to digest and it was so unexpected. I would praise the book in that light cause it just shows the progression of maybe not being able to juggle so much as pregnancy goes on and that sometimes evaluation needs happen for a positive outcome ( I can not relate as I don’t have kids) I can only imagine the struggles that happen.

review will be posted on publication day

After reading the first few chapters of this book, I realized that the story is not for me, unfortunately.

Creepy house,hearing voices.
Essie is in a family curse.
Story was a little slow. She's a lawstudent whose pregnant who adores Sanjay

I enjoyed this book, but I didn’t love it. However, Nichelle Giraldes spins a fascinating tale of hardships, love, grief, and what it can really be like to grow another human being within yourself.

Essie comes from a long line of women. These women have daughters that must succumb to an everlasting family curse- the love of their lives must die.

Essie is hugely independent and stubborn when it comes to how she has planned out her days. She will become a lawyer and be successful in her career. She had to wait while her husband, Sanjay, took steps toward an architecture degree first. So when she learns of her unplanned pregnancy while finally able to step her feet into a classroom, it does not come lighthearted. She’s far behind and feels that she deserves to focus on herself. Her entire life will change and she isn’t sure if she wants that. But in the end, she loves the life she is creating. When she must endure a terrible pregnancy full of pain and isolation, she becomes cognizant of forces that can irrevocably transform her life into one without love. Without Sanjay.

This novel is marketed as horror. I don’t necessarily agree with that notion. There were creepy moments sure, but nothing that would keep me up at night. I want gore. I want jump scares. I wanted more!

Every other chapter was also a blast to the past. At first, I really didn’t like it. Another book with the plot surrounded by something that happened ages ago. I’m kind of over that trope, so it didn’t settle well with me. In the end, it makes sense, but still…

Overall, I gave it 3 stars. It was quick and entertaining, but I don’t believe I’ll find myself thinking about it again. A huge plus was that it did have a different feel and type of plot line that was unique and I honestly found it refreshing!

Trigger warning- If you have strong feelings about pregnancy and motherhood, you might want to skip this one!

A great thank you goes out to Nichelle Giraldes, Poisoned Pen Press, and NetGalley for this ARC in exchange for an honest review.

*ARC provided by Netgalley in exchange for an honest review. *

First of all I want to say thank you to Netgalley and the publisher,  Poisoned Press Pen to give me the opportunity to read this book. This was an okay read for me. I was fist confused with the dual timelines but after awhile I started to enjoy it. 

I missed the suspense and the haunting in this story. I have expected a lot more. I felt like the haunting house aspect in this was on the back burner. With the dual timeline aspects I always wonder why we were reading the story of Anna and Isabel and what where the connection with them to Essie. You would only find out the answer later in the book. 

Now this book is about Essie Kaur who is a very headstrong women that is studying to become a lawyer. She has been delaying it for a few years for her husband, Sanjay. However she will have to delay that dream once more when she found out she was pregnant. At first she was not happy about this because she never wanted kids - she did decide to keep the baby. 

In this book we have read all the sacrifices she has to make for the pregnancy. All the changes she feels her body has to go through. The men don't go through such changes when they find out there wife is pregnant. 

This book was an interesting read and was written well enough. I just needed more suspense. The ending though was quite abrupt for me. Especially when it came to this family curse. The foundations are there to develop this writing style and I would read more books from this author.

No Child Of Mine by Nichelle Giraldes is an intensely compelling book that grips you from start to finish. It is a riveting story that delves deep into the lives of its characters, exploring their deepest fears, struggles, and desires.

The protagonist, Essie Kaur, is a fiercely independent woman who is forced to confront her deepest fears when she finds out she's pregnant. The story takes a dark turn when she discovers that her family has been cursed for generations, leaving a string of fatherless daughters in its wake. As Essie's pregnancy progresses, she is forced to grapple with the reality of her situation and to face the terrifying truth that her family's curse might destroy everything she holds dear.

Giraldes writes with a raw honesty that makes the characters come alive. She delves deep into their thoughts, feelings, and motivations, exploring the complex relationships that exist between them. No Child Of Mine is an emotionally charged story that will have you on the edge of your seat from start to finish.

The book's themes of family, love, and sacrifice are embodied in Essie's struggles and the choices she makes. This is a story that will resonate with readers who have faced similar challenges, and it offers a powerful message of hope and resilience.

In conclusion, No Child Of Mine is a profound and thought-provoking book that will leave a lasting impression on its readers. It is a must-read for anyone who enjoys complex, character-driven stories that explore the intricacies of the human experience. I highly recommend this book to anyone looking for a gripping and emotionally charged read.

2.5 stars

No Child of Mine is a book I really wanted to love. The cover gave off a creepy vibe, and the idea of a haunted house storyline was a definite plus. Unfortunately, this book just didn't work for me.

Please take my thoughts with a grain of salt, as there are many that loved it. But for me, the pacing was painfully slow and dragged on for far too long. It became so repetitive that I actually started feeling nauseous as I read about Essie's never-ending morning sickness throughout her entire pregnancy.

The story is told from Essie's perspective and I couldn't help but wish that I could have heard from Sanjay as well. It would have been a nice change of pace and given me a glimpse into his thought and feelings. The book is divided into two timelines, one in the present and one in the past. However, I found the chapters in the past to be too short, making it difficult to connect with the two women and truly understand their emotions. It just didn't feel authentic to me.

No Child of Mine follows the journey of a couple as they embark on the next chapter of their lives in a new house, with a baby on the way. As I mentioned before, the pacing was slow, repetitive, and lacked any suspense or tension to create a truly horrifying atmosphere. I was left feeling disappointed.

But like I said, many are loving this book story.

No Child of Mine releases on September 12 and my thanks to Poisoned Pen Press for an advanced copy in exchange for a honest review.

Thank you Nichelle Giraldes, Poisoned Pen Press and NetGalley for allowing me to read this ARC e-book. This book sets around a wife and husband and weaves in a storyline that sets us up to dislike the wife from the beginning. Throw in that she does not want to have children yet suddenly finds herself pregnant and here begins the story. As her pregnancy progresses and her body and life changes she finds her husband pacing the attic at night changing into a complete stranger before her eyes. Suddenly the house wraps her family up in an inevitable curse that has plagued her family for generations and she must figure how to finally fight off the destruction for those she loves. This book read a little slow paced and if we were supposed to hate the wife from the first chapter... mission accomplished. I think that may have played into show her devotion to only her husband but honestly she treated him not that great too so I'm questioning that.

Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️.5, rounded to 4 for Netgalley and Goodreads.

Release date: September 12, 2023

Becoming a mother was never part of Essie Kaur’s plan. She’s graduating law school in the spring, taking the bar in July, and then vacationing with her husband wherever they want. But when she finds out she is in fact pregnant and is eventually put on bed rest, she finds herself entangled in a family curse that’s haunted them for generations.

I enjoyed this, it was an incredibly fast read (I finished in just just a couple hours). I liked how driven and fierce Essie is. The main reason I didn’t give it a full 4 stars is that based on the summary I honestly expected it to be more spooky. While there are scenes in it that definitely have that ghostly spooky vibe, they feel sprinkled throughout whereas I was expecting it to be much more consisten throughout the story. Otherwise, it was an interesting and enjoyable read!

I started reading this a few months ago and took a break because I couldn’t get into it. I decided to finish it up this week and it was still just very underwhelming for me. I feel like pieces of the story were very well written but it could have been executed so much better, it was just really really slow.