This is a very intense story and because for the most part it is set in the home of the Wick family I also found it quite a claustrophobic read. The tension never lets up from the get go really. It’s quite difficult to summarise the plot too, other than what is already in the blurb, for fear of giving anything away.

Sarah and Michael’s daughter Abigail was snatched while they were away on holiday on the coast. Daniel their son was 6 years old and Abigail 4, with Rebecca just a baby when the tragedy struck. Despite intensive police searches at the time, Abigail was never found. We the reader meet up with the family 14 years later. On the face of it, they seem to have come to terms with their loss. Rebecca obviously too young to have even known her sister, and Daniel now grown up, are getting on with life and happy enough. It’s been tough on Sarah and Michael’s marriage with Michael finding it difficult to give up searching for Abigail, while his wife Sarah has chosen to try not to look back, concentrate on her family and her career as a TV presenter and resigned herself to believing Abigail is dead. When they receive the news a young girl who would be the age their daughter would be now, has walked into a police station claiming to be Abigail it comes as a shock to the whole family.

The story is mainly told from the point of view of Sarah but we also hear of Abi’s life from the age of 7 up to the present time. She certainly hasn’t had a very pleasant life. As I followed the story I was intrigued to know how certain events would turn out. Though later into the book I had vague suspicions about one of the characters, I couldn’t work out why and the eventual reveal came as quite a surprise. Another twisty, compelling story from this author who has written some brilliant domestic noir and this is yet another satisfying read to add to the list.

You need hard evidence that will prove you either right or wrong. Once you have that in your hands, you will accept the outcome. Did your instinct betray you or were alarm bells ringing for a reason?

People deal with devastating situations in their own way. Some have to move on even though they will never forget what has happened. Others will be stuck in the past dwelling in memories. When this happens to a couple, it tears apart the bond they have and all there is left is a sham.

I liked Sarah a lot. She realises she needs time to deal with the situation, but breaking down is not the answer because people in her care are counting on her.

I was wrecking in brain trying to figure out the why, how and who. I was utterly surprised by the outcome and I loved it. I was barely recovered from the shock when the earth moved again...

Great story. 5 stars

Thank you

First of all I would just like to thank NetGalley, Lauren North and Bookouture for an ARC of “She Says She’s My Daughter” in exchange for an honest review.

This book is told from multiple POV’s and alternating timelines (past & present). It is also split into three parts, with an unnerving twist at the end of each.

I was very excited to read this as I absolutely devoured Lauren’s last novel “My Word Against His”. Unfortunately, I didn’t take to this one as much as I did the latter.

It was very slow paced to start with. I found myself at nearly half way through and it didn’t feel as though anything of significance had actually happened yet.

However it did keep me engaged and guessing throughout. Although I ultimately did guess the ending, it didn’t spoil the book for me. I think this is due to the fact that all of Lauren’s books are extremely well written and calculatingly plotted- it means that even if you gage the direction the story is going in, it doesn’t ruin the twist or book for you.

From about 70% onwards, everything happens very quickly and the pace increases dramatically- this left me unable to put it down until I had the answers I craved.

Ultimately, a really well written and plotted book with lots of twists and red herrings scattered throughout. Definitely recommend along with all of Lauren’s other books!

Hmmmm, I'm always a bit skeptical when books come with the description 'unputdownable', or 'addictive', with the promise of all those twists.

So yeah, an interesting book, yet a variation of what I've read before about missing children. Not that much of a surprise, but let me admit there was one stunning twist. However, some of the details just didn't add up for me personally.

Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for a copy of the book.

This was a good thriller. I thought it had a good atmosphere throughout and I enjoyed the authors writing style.

There was a couple of twists that actually caught me off guard and I didn’t work out who was behind everything (usually I do) so this is a good thing for the author because she wrote it in a way that had me constantly thinking and guessing.

Would definitely recommend.

This book grabbed my attention and had me guessing from the get go. Told from two different viewpoints, Sarah and Abi, moving between the past and present. Had lots of twists and the ending left me without any questions.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for this ARC!

Fourteen years ago Abigail Wick disappeared on a family holiday and suddenly after all of this time Abigail is back. Is this really Abigail and if she isn’t then who is she?

This was a well written mystery with an interesting plot. I was constantly trying to work out what was going on and did not predict what the outcome was. The characters were well written and the overall story was suspenseful. I did feel the story slowed in pace after the initial scenes and did not pick up again until quite further on on the book. This seems to just be personal opinion though as a lot of others loved it! Overall this is definitely a twisty thriller and an author who I will look out for in the future. Thanks to the publisher and NetGalley for this early copy in return for an honest review.

ARC Review
This book kept me on the edge of my seat! I thought for sure I knew what had happened and I was wrong. I loved the writing style, and I read it so fast because I just had to know what would happen next. Although I think the twist at the end could have been a little bit bigger, I still really enjoyed this. I felt for all of the characters, even through the lies, and that ending snippet was a great way to finish it up! Will definitely be recommending this when it's available to the public!

A very suspense-filled read.

With one holiday gone wrong, a family is changed forever. Not only is a mother's love for her children tested through the furnace, a girl on the other hand is made to do the unimaginable to experience that love.

There's no way your curious mind wouldn't be left with more questions than answers when you're done. So, enjoy the tension as you get lost in the story.

Without giving too much away I found this to be a fast paced, absorbing and compelling read. The story flowed really well, there were lots of plot twists to keep my attention. The further I read with this book, the better it got and I enjoyed it more. I think the author has set the bar high here. Will look forward to her next book and hope it is as good as this one. Overall 4 stars ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Wow!! My head in spinning from this book. Lauren North did a superb job writing this thriller. I cannot say much about what happens without giving the entire story away. A family is on vacation at the beach when their 4 year old daughter disappears. This rips the entire family apart and sets many things in motion. The author has a great way of bringing the characters to life. I was rooting for the mother, but did not like the father at all, which was the way it should have been. This is not a long book, and once I started reading it, I could not stop. I needed to find out what happened. This one I highly recommend. Thank you to the publisher and Netgalley for the ARC. I truly appreciate it.

The Wick's Michael, Sarah Daniel, Abigail and baby Rebecca a loving family on holiday enjoying this special family time Michael a business man running his company and Sarah a TV personality have finally had the time to enjoy this holiday until it changes in a flash. Their four year old daughter Abigail is missing while playing outside. Help from all over pours in to find this beautiful girl yet there are no real answers for this frantic family. Who would take Abi? Who is this dark haired man who races to a boat that would bring him and Abi far away from her loving family.

Fourteen years have passed and this once loving family is now a broken one. Sarah and Michael cannot stand to look at each other, Daniel has lost his best friend and has some troubling times in these fourteen years and young Rebecca who really didn't know her sister tries to make every happy but is she really harboring feelings that she cannot express herself. Enter a young 17 year old girl who claims to be the kidnapped Abigail Wick. She tells the police she was living with a couple she believed was her parents in South America isolated from the outside world. Her mother a depressed shell of a women who kept Abi by her at all times. A man thought to be her father which upon his death a letter she read told the truth of her existence Off to the Wicks she goes but will they accept her? Even with the identifying scar that is on her body that might prove that she is indeed Abigail Wick. All but Sarah believes that she is their missing daughter. Why does Sarah feel this girl is lying. Something is wrong, but what?

I could not put this book down. I would have given it a full five stars but I thought is dragged a little between the past and present. That was my only blip to a really suspenseful thriller. The characters were written beautifully. You go from a loving happy family to a broken flawed family that no one seems to want to fix. The story itself was very gripping all the way to the last page. It made me change my opinions about what really happened many times. Even the last page still has me wondering what could happen next.. I still cannot believe the ending.

Thank you Ms. North for a truly thrilling story. It hooked me in from the very beginning. Thank you NetGalley for the ARC and Bookouture for the approval. Loved it.

Sarah and Michael Wick, an affluent young couple, are very much in love and living the good life. Until, on a family holiday with their three young children, their daughter Abigail disappears while playing in the garden. Despite a media outcry and a frantic search by the authorities, the devastated family find few answers.

The only lead is the sighting of a dark haired man seen racing onto a boat with an unconscious child in a stroller. That is just the beginning, and the search continues for years, but Abigail is never found.

That is, until a 17 year old girl shows up claiming to be Abigail Rose Wick. Abducted by a couple she believed to be her parents, she has been living in peculiarly isolated circumstances in South America.

Abi, as she prefers to be called, has the same identifying mark as the lost Abigail, and is longing to be reunited with her birth family after finding out - upon her "father's" death - that she was not actually the child of the couple who had claimed to be her parents.

But while Sarah is suspicious, neither she nor Michael know that Abi's traumatic discovery of her parentage has left her vulnerable to the manipulation of someone who has his own agenda to fulfil: a long-awaited revenge on the Wick family. But who is he? And what role is Abi playing in this charade?

The story is fascinating and well-plotted, but the real strength of this book lies in how convincing the characters are. It's as if they have stepped out of the pages and moved into your head, and you really feel for them - all of them - in one way or another. Especially Abi, and her two siblings, who are ecstatic at being reunited with her.

Lauren North has outdone herself with this nail-biting thriller. It's hard to explain just how gripping this story is. Suffice it to say that the over-used term unputdownable genuinely applies here!

Thank you Net Galley and the publisher for an ARC of this book.
Wow this was such a good book. I couldn’t put it down. Their daughter has been missing for 14 years and a young girl shows up saying she is Abi and looks so much like her that the family believes her except Sarah , the mother is skeptical and wants a DNA test to prove her identity. Everything gets rolling on this and Sarah accepts it. Now the twists of this story will have you turning those pages and wanting to know the answers. I would highly recommend.

A perfect family holiday ends in a perfect family nightmare when 4 year old Abigail is kidnapped from the garden of her holiday cottage. 14 years later a girl walks into the London police station and says she is Abigail. But is she really?

This is the premise of She Says She’s my Daughter and boy, did I gobble this book up. This is how a psychological thriller should be executed. The whole time I was questioning everybody’s motives and every time I thought I had it figured out the story changed. When the big reveal came, I was surprised and that is exactly what I want in a thriller.

I loved that we followed three perspective. The one of the mother Sarah, the one of the returned daughter Abi and the villain. I was so engaged with this thriller that I read it in one sitting.

She Says She's My Daughter by Lauren North is a compelling, addictive read and, to be honest, I expected nothing less from this talented, not to be missed author.

Nearly fourteen years ago, four year old Abigail Wicks goes missing during a family holiday. Her mother, Sarah, will never forgive herself and suffers the ensuing agony in a way that only a mother can. But now a young woman has come forward claiming to be Abi. While the rest of the family rejoices, Sarah cannot bring herself to accept this stranger as her beloved missing daughter, her instincts warning her to be wary. Just who is this girl with the strange accent, and why has she materialized now after so many lost years?

Lauren North has successfully woven together a tale of domestic suspense that delves into the dynamics of a family, and the unbreakable bond between a mother and her child. 4.5 stars

Many thanks to NetGalley and Bookouture for an ARC.

All the other reviews for this are excellent so please take mine with a pinch of salt, but I wasn't thrilled.

Missing child stories have been done to death and this was really just another variation on that theme, so it was probably my fault for choosing to read it. I was interested enough to read the whole book and it was well written, but I found that the pace really lagged in the middle with a lot of repetition. I also guessed who the italic chapters were by straight away, which didn't necessarily spoil it but it meant there were no fun surprises either.

The writing was very good and the ending was satisfying. Although I would personally choose to read something else over this, most reviews I have seen have been glowing so it is probably just a personal disconnect as I feel that I have read this story a hundred times before.

What a read! Lauren North knocked it out of the park with She says She’s my Daughter.

A heartbreaking tale of a mother losing her 4 year old daughter while on. A family vacation. And how the family each takes on a different mindset of what their lives should be.
Of betrayal and how the family seeks vengeance against one another until the truth finally comes to light.

5 stars!

A family experiences the death of their 4 year old daughter at the beach. It is a trauma from which they never heal.
13 years later a girl comes to the family - announcing that she is their daughter. The mother can't quite tell if the girl really is her daughter but her instincts say no.
They embark on a quest to find the answer. If the girl is not their daughter, who is she and what does she want.

A creepy thriller I couldn't put down

A lost daughter. What happened to her. This mother counts the days…months…years…is this her daughter for real? This talented author has written a realistic story. This is a cannot put down novel. The characters are likable and move the story quickly. This book was sent to me electronically by Netgalley for review. Thanks to the great publisher and gifted author.