A truly heart wrenching story of a very kind woman and her love for her child while trying to navigate a world that has been incredibly unkind to her at each and every turn. Callie is trying to be the best mother she can to her very tender sweet son Billy with zero support. She is estranged from her mother who made some truly awful assumptions about her without giving Callie the opportunity to tell her the truth, gossipy old biddies for speeding terrible rumors that are believed rather than questions as to their validity, is pouring the loss of her beloved father who is the only one who ever knew and understood her, feels no love or even kindness from her awful step-father and step sister, must contend with a lot judgmental nasty women who under the guise of friendship read her as badly as their horrible children treat Billy. Everyone of them would win an award for the hypocrite of the year award. In essence, she just can’t catch a break. And then miraculously after a terrible accident things seem to take a turn for the better. Or do they? Not an easy listen (or read) and I found myself just hoping one single thing would go right for her. Have tissues nearby when reading. This is not the easiest story due to the subject matter, but is well crafted and will will take you on an emotional ride throughout. Be prepared to experience all of the highs and lows along.

A novel that pulls on your heart strings as is very emotional!
It deals with love, loss, relationships, family and trust.

What would happen to your child if you weren't around anymore?

This book is about the relationship between Billy (a very sensative child, aged 10), Callie a single mum and her bond to her child (how she longed to be a mother and then trys to be the best mum she could be), and Rueben (who we dont know who he is for some time) but has never been told he was a father. It iis a real page turner!
It explains how much all their lives have been changed. It was easy to feel attached to these characters and can relate to them.

I liked this book as it was very emotional, heart renching and had lots of unexpected twist and turns, and was beautifully
written. It deals with a lot of issues from different P. O.V. it covers topics such as abuse, unplanned pregnancy, lies and anxiety and so much more. It had a bit of a slow start. But was captivating from then onwards and right up to the very end.

It helps that it was set in the author's home down that makes it so orthtically descriptive and had great depth.

Thanks to NetGalley and the publishers for giving me a complementary digital copy of this ebook in exchange for a full, frank and honest review. All opinions expressed are completely my own.

Callie kept a secret for years. She never told anybody who the father of her son Billy was. Callie loved Billy to distraction, and when she is injured in a car accident, her life - their lives - will never be the same again. Callie not sharing who fathered Billy caused a lot of conflict between her and her mother. In fact, they grew apart because of her secret.

Because of her injury and hospitalization as well as recovery, Callie’s mother did step in. This was a real joy to Billy, because he always wanted to know his grandmother. But there is another important person in this very touching story. That person is Billy’s father. This is where we meet Reuben. He is currently home to care for his ailing father and a connection starts to be recognized between him and Callie from years previously.

As I listened to this as an audiobook, I was completely pulled into the story, especially as this strong, emotional drama between four people whose lives were intertwined, but would also be changed forever. The title alone definitely tells the reader that there would be a tragedy involved. How intense, how harsh, how sad that tragedy would end up being is almost made clear, but the story is so warm, so touching, that it was impossible to put down. Ali Mercer has written, yet another effective story that pulls you into the drama involved. Stephanie Lane did an excellent job in her narration, especially when it came to the emotion of all of the characters involved.

Many thanks to Bookouture and to NetGalley for this ARC for review. This is my honest opinion.

Emotional and heart-wrenching, A Child’s Goodbye by Alie Mercer was an unexpected treat to read. This is a different reading genre for me but I found the domestic / family dynamic to be just what I needed. The characters were strong and well developed. The bonds they had (and enhanced) were beautiful to see and the storyline was captivating. It was very touching and definitely a special read.

Thank you netgalley and the publisher for the ARC. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

This one was hard to follow and kept losing my interest. While there were definitely some parts with good writing and interesting plot points, I didn't love it and found myself wishing for more..

I love this author, everything I’ve read by her has been thought provoking as well as emotional. This one was another well written story, I loved the dual timelines. I listened to the audio version and enjoyed the narrator. Highly recommend!

For this book I totally get the emotional pull and intenseness of a mother's love, But call me ice woman, it just didn't hit me like it should have. Kinda like it just missed hitting me in the funny bone (but not the funny bone for this book--sad bone..) The whole time I felt this sense of doom, like I just knew I was paddling along a river and there was a cliff of a massive waterfall I was approaching, I just didn't know when my canoe was going to go over the edge.
There were several times I thought I was going to go over the edge. Situations would arise in the book and I was like, Oh here comes that bus that is going to end someone's life, or they are going to get a terrible diagnosis or fill in some sad situation. There was just impending DOOM.
Don't get me wrong it was a well told story, a bit dragged out and the main character really frustrated me. She refused to speak up. She didn't fight for herself. People in her life treated her so terribly, But I totally admire how she sacrificed her life to give her son everything. It is a beautiful relationship she has with her son, and whats so sweet is you can see what a great kid he is (unlike the other punk kids in the book
Ali Mercer is a great reader and can build such depth of characters I will defiantly read more by her.
The only reason it is not a 4 star was it went on a bit too long.

Thank you Net Galley and Ali Mercer for this advanced copy read. I was not influcenced or reimburst for this honest review of this book.

As much as anything this book is about motherhood and growing up. There are really two threads to the story; that of Callie, including hark backs to her young adult life, and the real time pressures which her son Billy experiences. It would be a mistake to say much more as there is a lot to find out in this novel. A great family saga but also a sad one.

Such an emotionally heart wrenching yet heart-warming story. This was a slow burn to start with but I'm so glad I stuck with this as every relationship is so beautifully written and unique in its own way with a lot more tear jerking parts than I ever expected. I also loved seeing the characters develop and seeing how relationships grew over time, overall this was a really nice family drama.

Thank you netgalley for letting me listen to this audiobook. I enjoyed it for the most part. I love audiobooks but the narration for this book was horrible. Made me want to give up listening to it early on. However I’m glad I stuck it out because the story was great.
I enjoyed Callie’s story. She was a single mom to her 10 year old son-Billie. Secrets in the past caused her not to tell the father. After an accident Reuben comes back into her life and the secrets start coming out. Such an emotional story. I wasn’t expecting the ending.

A powerful, emotional and great story. From three different point of view, Callie, Rueben, the love of her life, and Billy, her ten year son. A dark secret kept Callie and Reuben apart for more than ten years but he is back in her life after an accident. Can they forgive and forget their past, the betrayal, and move forward or will life get in the way again? The audiobook is absolutely magnificent. Making an amazing story, if possible, even better.

What a great read this was!
The story has so many layers to it but yet it is still easy to get to grips with and to follow each storyline going on in it.
I really liked how the friendships and relationships unfolded and developed thoroughout it with many of the characters.
I thought the theme of this book was done so delicately and tenderly that it really warmed my heart as I read it, which I really love when a book does that to me.
I have to give a mention for the narrator of this book, Stephanie Lane, because although this is a strong, solid story that I’m sure comes across perfectly as a physical read, Stephanie also manages to bring it to life beautifully with her reading of it.
I’d definitely recommend this book if you like a well written family drama.

The Secret

Wow! This was one fantastic story. It had so much in the story. The love of the mother and child, the secret kept and the missing father.

Callie loved Reuben from the first time she saw him in the house next door. He never noticed her until one day when they were both with friends and she was dated with him for her friend's wedding. They connected that night in a way that made Callie's heart sing, however, in the morning he was gone. Then a terrible misunderstanding kept them apart.

When Callie found out she was to have a child she never told her friends, nor her mother who the father was. It was a huge tension between her and her mother and eventually her mother and her had a terrible argument that would keep them apart for the next few years.

When Callie is injured on the street while rushing to pick up her son Billy from school, because of the injury and Billy's safety both her mother and Reuben came back into Callie's life. But was it too late?

It is a story of a young boy Billy growing up alone with his mother, finally meeting both his grandmother and his father and building relationships with them. He sees his father and his mother getting closer together and he has some high hopes, but then his mother is injured and he must find a way to say goodbye to her.

It is a story of happiness and sadness. Also of miscommunications and secrets. Of living every day and making the best of each day as it comes along. Forgiving those you must and forgiving yourself as well. Reconnecting with family and the bonding between an estranged father and his son.

I loved listening to this audio book. The narrator did a wonderful job, the voice was very pleasant to listen to and very easy to understand. The book brought me to tears more than once. I would recommend this book.

Thanks to Ali Mercer for writing a great story, to Stephanie Lane for the wonderful narration, to Bookouture Audio for publishing it and to NetGalley for making a copy of the audio book available to me to read and review.

I have tried more than wants to give a good summary of this book but there is just too many different timelines and too many different moving parts and too many things that would be spoilers. The stories about Kayla and Kayla has an accident and despite she hasn’t spoken to her mom in 10 years her best friend decides that’s exactly where she needs to bring 11-year-old Billy while Kayla is in the hospital. Ruben is her mom‘s neighbor and then another timeline in the past we hear about Caleb meeting him and how she liked him ET see and then there’s little Billy he’s bullied by Kayla‘s best friend‘s son Jack. The story progresses although very slowly in the head with you twist in the book but they take so long to get to not only that but there were a lot of things in this book that I found pointless but I’m sure others are going to say how great this book was and they loved it and that’s fine I did not the only thing I enjoyed was the narrator I thought she had a great tone to her voice and did a wonderful job narrating the book. I did listen to the whole thing even though at one point I thought the story would never end but it eventually dead in this book would be three hours shorter it may be a great story but there’s a lot of who shot John in the book and I kept zoning out. They were part of the book I liked but they were too far and few in the in between had me wanting to fall asleep. I received this book from NetGalley and a publisher but I am leaving this review voluntarily please forgive any mistakes as I am blind and dictate my review.

Thank you netgalley for providing me an advanced copy of this audiobook in exchange for my honest review.

First off, I love audiobooks. I typically listen while driving back and forth on my commute to work and rely on them to keep me entertained. I did NOT enjoy the narrators voice in A Child’s Goodbye. It was putting me to sleep and I felt like it was dull and monotone and ruined the story a bit for me. I had to keep turning it off and coming back to it. Sometimes the Audio can make or break a story and in this book, it broke it for me.

Overall I did like the storyline… Callie, a single mom who gets into an accident picking her son up from school and gets taken to the hospital to have surgery. Who will care for her son if something happens to her? She’s not close to many people in her life and doesn’t have a lot of family support. I feel like the author wrote about a lot of interesting relatable issues, but the beginning of this book read a little slow for me, and I really could not deal with the narrators voice. I think I would have enjoyed it more had I read it myself.

A Child’s Goodbye
Ali Mercer
Callie was thrilled when she discovered she was pregnant. She refused to tell anyone the name of the father. She took her role as a single parent seriously and was determined to be the best mother she could.
She was rushing to meet her 10-year-old son, Billy, when she stepped off a curb in front of a bike. She was admitted to the hospital and taken to surgery. The events left her contemplating what would happen to Billy if she wasn’t there to protect him. Her friend Lauren was called to the school to pick up Billy but instead of taking care of Billy Lauren took him to Callie’s mother and dropped him off. Callie was estranged from her mother and step-father. Callie’s mother used Billy as an opening to come back into Callie’s life but her stepfather wasn’t thrilled to have Billy around.
This was a difficult book for me to listen to. It was to slow moving. Billy was a sweet child but picked on by bullies; he suffered from anxiety. I liked Callie. I did not like her stepfather. This book deals with unplanned pregnancy, death, bullies, anxiety.
There were several quotes that were touching:
"Did you know,' he said, 'that when you look at the night sky, you're looking at history? The light of the stars you see has been travelling towards the earth for millions and millions of years. Some of those stars might not even exist any more. They might have burnt away to nothingness, and be all dead and dark. But the light is still real. The light is like a time traveler."
"If you love someone, you don't stop just because they've done something bad. you might feel different about them. You might be angry with them. The love might be mixed up with all kinds of other feelings. But it would still be love. Love isn't a rational thing, like deciding to do more exercise or... or give up smoking. Maybe it isn't always very good for you. But when it's there, it's there, and you can't get rid of it just because it isn't convenient any more."

You’d better have the tissues ready for this. I was sobbing like a fool more than once.

Although this is very much a story about love, lies, deceit, abandonment, bereavement and family secrets. It is also beautifully hopeful and uplifting. Cally captured my heart. I could very much relate to the bond and the stress of being a single mother with little support. More so I fell in love with little Billy. Then of course Rueben. This is a beautiful book. Read it, you won’t regret it.

Written beautifully and narrated beautifully too. Thank you to NetGalley and bookature audio U.K. for the opportunity to listen to this audio book in return for an honest review.

What an endearing and tear jerking story that teaches forgiveness, truth, patience and true understanding of celebrating life and love.
This is a story about a young girl who falls in love with someone she feels is untouchable. She aches for the love she has lost in her family. Until one day things change. She is given open opportunities, consequences of innocence and needs to make decisions. As she matures, she realizes the possibilities made available in her past decisions and with grace, accepts and makes changes. What did she do, what does she choose, how does she rectify those choices?
To get those answers, read this highly recommended book that teaches you forgiveness in it’s purist form and unconditional love.

I thought that I would really be into this book and while it was heartbreaking, it just didn't do it for me. The story felt far fetched and unrealistic. The narrator was also not my favorite.

I could not get into this audio book. The reviews on the ebook were mixed and I have to say I agree with those. The book sounded good, but it was very long and drug out. I even skipped ahead an hour or so at a time and it did not grab my attention. I also didn't care for the narrator. Just not for me, but I have enjoyed her books in the past.