This book is a typical Jennifer McMahon book so if you’ve enjoyed reading any of her other books, you will love this one! Alison agrees to have her mother Mavis come to live out the rest of her life with her family. Even though Alison has had a terrible childhood with Mavis as her mother she moves in a hospital bed into the guest room and hires nurses to visit daily. Alison and her husband hope their two daughters can get to know their grandmother before she dies.

Unfortunately, strange things begin happening and Mavis seems to be a different person at different times to Alison. This book is filled with twists and turns keeping the reader interested the entire time!

Thank you NetGalley for the advance copy for review.

Trigger warnings: child abuse and alcoholism

Jennifer McMahon is the queen of disturbing. Her books always pull me right in and I have a hard time putting them down. This story took me a little longer to get into. It was not the nail-biting plot twisting book that I expect from McMahon. I felt like I knew exactly where the story was going and there was no guessing.

Alison seems to have it all, a husband, two daughters, a best friend who gets her and a best selling children's book with another in the works. She has never been a huge fan of Christmas and it is right around the corner when she gets a phone call. Her estranged mother, Mavis, is dying and wants to live out her remaining days with Alison and her family.
Alison and her brother both had a very difficult relationship with their mother to say the least. Having suffered years of physical and psychological abuse, Ben, Alison's brother, chose to extricate her from his life living on the other side of the country. Alison, however, did speak with her mother from time to time. She agrees to have her mother move in. Things start out great, Mavis is befriending her granddaughters and everyone seems to adore her much to Alison's disbelief. But things go sideways quickly. Will anyone believe Alison when she tells them that Mavis is not really Mavis?

Noticing just 17 minutes left of the book on my Kindle, I knew the ending was going to be unexpected but quick, so I needed to pay attention. Eerie and suspenseful, this was almost as good as Children on the Hill, but still pretty great. I found myself remembering my own childhood as I read about Mavis, which wasn’t always a good thing, but it kept me reading. Truly a different and difficult read but worth it.

I requested this book because I've loved a lot of the author's previous books. This one was a creepy thriller! A very messed up mother/daughter relationship. It had me hooked from the beginning.

This book is super creepy with well-developed characters. I would characterize it as psychological horror, which I normally don't read, but My Darling Girl was very entertaining and pulled me in quickly.
Alison agrees to take in her mother who is dying from cancer even though Ali spent years suffering psychological and physical abuse from her mother. At first, all is good, but then the Mavis starts verbally abusing Ali, but no one believes her since Mavis is the epitome of a nice person in front of everyone else.
Things get super weird, and Ali is convinced there is something else going on.
I liked the creepy atmosphere and the juxtaposition of Christmas cheer with the evil going on in Ali's house.
There are things Ali does, though, that were really irritating. She lets her mother stay with her after Mavis' continuous abuse and the (almost) end how Ali stops the evil was too easy. Although she definitely pays the price at the very end of the novel.
Overall, this one will pull you in and you need to see how it ends!

Oh my gosh! I have loved Jennifer McMahon's work for a while now so I was eager to read this newest offering. I was not prepared for this one! This is far and away her best work and delivers the horror and suspense like never before. A perfect read for fans looking for the darker side of Christmas, this one has brilliant pacing, settings that provide a delightful backdrop to the creepy relationship between our main character and her mother. Just a stellar read.

This was way more creepier than I expected! I loved the contrast between the cheer of Christmas and the storyline of demons, mental illness, and a warped mother-daughter relationship. I will definitely seek out more of this author.

This was one of the most enjoyable books I have read in a long time. McMahon is one of my favorite horror/thriller novelists, and I deeply enjoyed this piece, set against a quaint town at Christmastime. Easily one of the best books I read this year!

Jennifer McMahon does not disappoint with this one! One of her best! It was creepy and scary and thrilling, keeps the reader guessing. Five plus stars.

The subject matter felt like a bit of a deviation from McMahon's other work, but definitely nothing too unexpected. It was a great read with hints of her other titles shining through.

4 stars

Another winner by McMahon. She has a way of writing that really sucks you in. It brings the creep and dread, while still being edge of your seat pulse pounding. She writes well developed characters with a tight plot.
I highly recommend.

Heart pounding thriller that left me on the edge of my seat. I thoroughly enjoyed reading this one. Definitely one of the best books this year.

Thanks to NetGalley for allowing me to read this in exchange for an honest opinion.

Jennifer McMahon is my FAVE for spooky reads! Love reading these books on gray rainy days. This one did not disappoint - about a VERY messed up mother/daughter relationship with a horrifying twist and a devastating ending. Loved it! 4.5 stars.

I really love this author's work and this was, as usual, pretty great. Creepy and with emotional depth. I can recommend this to all readers, regardless of their prefered genre.

This was once again creepy greatness by Jennifer McMahon!! The story was wonderfully written and I enjoyed most of the characters. I normally shy away from anything to do with demons and possession. That being said, I only picked this up because I love McMahon's previous books. This was a tough read with hints of child abuse and alcoholism for our main character Ali. She perseveres then makes a fatal mistake and pays the price for sure.

One of my favorite horror authors, Jennifer McMahon has written another page turning, well written, scary novel.
However, how do I rank it when I think the main character an idiot? Ali has a fantastic life, a husband and two children she loves dearly, a best friend who understands her, a growing career in art, and yet she throws it all away because she’s naive and doesn’t understand that definition of insanity which states doing the same thing over and other and expecting different results is crazy.
When she gets the call her estranged mother is dying wanting to spend her last weeks with Ali and her family, Ali actually moves her in as her brother screams not to do it. This is the mother who physically and emotionally abused Ali and her brother all their lives, torturing their bodies, leaving their backs and psyches scarred. In front of Ali’s family she’s kind, when they’re alone the vitriol she spews at Ali is just the same. Why Ali does not throw her out at the first sign of this behavior drove me crazy. Instead she keeps using the excuse her mother is ill, surely she doesn’t mean what she says. By the time Ali finally realizes her mother is not really her mother it’s too late. Her children, husband and best friend think the problem is Ali, not her mother, and no one will believe her.
I realize there’s no book without the “ going in the basement alone when you know there are monsters” syndrome, but Ali drove me crazy. Which just goes to show how well the book worked.

If Jennifer McMahon’s name is on the cover, you know you need to cancel anything else you have planned because you won’t be coming up for air until the last page. In her latest, Alison learns that her estranged mother, Mavis, has terminal cancer and only has weeks to live. Her dying request is to spend time with Alison, her husband and their children. Alison has too many bad memories of her mother’s drinking and abusive behavior, bur she reluctantly agrees, hoping her mother can pull it together, here at the end of her life. The woman who arrives appears to be Alison’s mother, but strange, otherworldly things begin to happen around her. Is this really Allie’s mother? If not, who has she allowed into her home? Nobody does creepy, literate suspense like McMahon