***2.5 ⭐️ ***

This is very much NOT a mystery, thriller, or a suspense novel!! Someone in the marketing department got this one extremely wrong 😒

Richard and Alice, a common-law couple (and explicitly stated NOT married) newly retired from their positions at a prestigious university, are soon to leave on a sailing expedition from England down the coast to France and Spain. Little by little, nuggets of information come to the surface that make one or both characters highly unlikeable.

It must be said that reading this book was a little like watching the Blair Witch Project, in that it jumped timelines, was all over the place in explanation, and generally painful to read. The ending didn’t conclude anything either, except for a wish and a prayer that the trip would still occur, based on the nuggets mentioned earlier. The title of this book was also misleading. There is an adopted daughter; however, the whole point of the story is something completely different and more in the realm of general fiction.

This ARC was provided by the publisher, via NetGalley, in exchange for an honest review.

I really enjoyed this story, it was an easy holiday read that I read in only a few hours as it kept me entertained the whole way through!

Thank you Netgalley for the ARC of this book. What did I just read?! What a ride!
This was twisty and suspenseful and not at all what I thought it would be.
Highly recommend

I don't know how I feel about this book. It definitely had the factors of a good thriller, but it was lacking in many aspects, too.
The first half, part one, was perfect, the tension was high, Richard's, supposedly inexistent, daughter came out of nowhere and wrecked havoc in Alice's life, also, through it all, we learned bits and pieces of the daily life of Alice and Richard, which highlighted the superiority and rudeness Richard had when dealing with Alice.
So far so good, the writing was sublime, the pace fast, and the plot, while not extremely unique, was still strong to get me hooked to the book.
Suddenly, a twist came out of nowhere. Some reviewers did see it coming, however, I was surprised by it, it just caught me off guard.
The problem started at the beginning of the second half, right after the twist was revealed; the author thought it was okay to rewrite multiple scenes just to add in additional sparse commentary. It was such a long recap that I had to skim it.
After a few chapters, the plot turned weak and inconsistent, it was just little twist after little twist, it felt like the surprises were squeezed out of the storyline. It turned the book super lame.
The characters thoughts and reactions, especially Alice's, were also questionable. They didn't go well with what was happening in certain situations.
Reaching the ending, I was really deflated, what started super strong ended so poorly. And the characters I liked and rooted for turned lame and unpredictable, in a bad way.
Overall, I don't hate it, but I don't like it either.
*I received an ARC of this book through netgalley and the publisher in exchange for an honest review*

A stunningly well thought out plot. I wasn't sure what was happening at first but when I worked it out I was surprised!

I voluntarily read and reviewed an advanced copy of this book. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

This book was great. An amazing thriller that keeps you guessing and has a lot of twists and turns. This is a book that I would recommend to my friends.

Thank you netgalley.

A mysterious woman claims she’s this man’s daughter but an underlying motive begins to emerge, and he questions why she’s really here…

A gritty, intense, fast-paced, riveting, edgy thrill ride full of dark secrets, shocking plot twists and pulse-pounding, palpable tension. A MUST for fans who thrive on high octane. superbly-written, unputdownable thrillers!

*I received a complimentary ARC of this book in order to read and provide a voluntary, unbiased and honest review, should I choose to do so.

This book is called The Adopted Daughter, but we very quickly find out that this novel isn't really about a daughter at all.

I'm going to say that the first half of this book was pretty great, and it kept me gripped, turning pages quickly, needing to find out where the rollercoaster was going to take me.

However, the back half of this novel gets a little out of control. I definitely found myself wanting Alice to figure out how to get out of the situation that Richard put her in, but I felt like Richards spiraled completely out of control. It's actually hard to believe that Alice had absolutely no idea what an absolutely awful human being is.

If I rated this book based on the first half, I would have given it a four. But the back half? Definitely a two. And so, I settled on 3 starts.

This was a hell of a ride I felt for this book and loved the orphan vibes I got from the book and the plot this author is a genius

Rated 2⭐️

I felt like this book was really predictable. I had most of the husband's part of this story figured out by 24%. The storyline was a nice concept, but kinda fell flat for me.

Halfway through the book felt very repetitive and I lost interest for a few chapters. It did pick up again, but it felt too late for me.

Overall, the book was an easy read and I read it within a few hours. I kept hoping there was going to be some shocking twist before the end, but unfortunately that didn't happen.

Thank you to Netgalley and JJ Burgess for the Free Ebook. This review is 100% my own and honest review.

This story had me not knowing whether I was on my head or my heels, a bit like Alice. Every time I thought I had worked out what was going on the author threw another spanner in the works. Not that I'm complaining, there's nothing better than a book that keeps you on your toes. There's no half dozing while reading this, you might close your eyes for a second and miss a whole subplot. There were more twists and turns than a labyrinth and one of most fiendish plots I have come across in a long time. I will be keeping my eyes peeled for the next book by this author.

This was an unexpected great story. I wasn't sure if I would like it. But I read other reviews & decided to give it a try. And I am glad I did. I thoroughly enjoyed this one. I am going find more writing from JJ Burgess!

Thanks netgalley for this great book, really enjoyed it and could not put it down.
Alice and Roger were a happily married couple they had no children and decided to sell their house give up their jobs and do a once In a lifetime journey around Europe in their boat.
Everything was arranged they just had packing to do and away they go.
Until a young lady came knocking on their door saying she was Rogers daughter and had been adopted as Roger had an affair with her mother and he did not know she was pregnant.
This was a great shock to both of them and they had a DNA test done and it was true she was his daughter.
Alice was horrified and could not forgive Roger for this and decided to pay him back.
Great read and recommend to everyone who enjoys a guessing game.

I read this ARC for an honest review
All thoughts and opinions are mine

I wasn't necessarily looking for a thriller but the write up intrigued me

Oh my word - this was wonderful!!

Twisty, turny. Unpredictable. Loved all the twists and genuinely didn't guess the outcome, the character development was truly fantastic.


highly recommended read

I liked the pace of this book, it was clever and kept me guessing. I hadn't read this Author before but would certainly read more! It was full of twists, revenge and scandal, all the things that make a BANG of a Thriller!

Wow how devious some people can be. Reading this story I could never imagine being able to do what Richard and Sally were capable of doing to Alice. This book was good but don't understand why the author went back and rewrote the same things twice. I know he was writing it from another characters point of view but to me it was just him trying to add more pages to the story. As a retired teacher it felt to me like he was just putting in extra words that were not needed
With saying that though the plot was good, the execution of the story was good and it is a pleasant read.

I literally thought I had already read this book and am not sure if it’s because it was predictable or so much like another story. It centers on Alice and Richard, who are going to sail around the Mediterranean for a few years as a retirement gift to themselves, when lo and behold a young woman named Sally shows up and said she is Richard’s daughter. The book repeats events because it’s told from both Richard’s and Alice’s points of view.

This was a super fast read with lots of action but was definitely predictable and in some areas, not super realistic. I liked seeing how each character thought they knew something the other characters did not know, only to find out that there was more going on in the background.

Overall, quick and action packed read but still felt like something I had read before. Thanks to Netgalley for providing me with a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

Thank you to Netgalley for providing me with an ARC in exchange for my honest review. Richard is taking early retirement and he and Alice are about to go on an adventure of a lifetime in more ways than one. They purchased a boat and will be travelling through the Mediterranean and living at sea. One morning while they are finishing packing up their belongings their doorbell rings and a young lady named Sally tells them that she is Richard's daughter who was previously given up for adoption. This was a very intriguing story at this point and I looked forward to see how it would all come about. There was one part of this story that I felt did not need to be in the book at all, yes it helped at the end but really it just kind of seemed misplaced for me. Overall, I did like the majority of the story but was not a great one for me. The twist was great but it was just that one part that didn't belong that kind of had me lowering my rating. Enjoy!!!

I will say I enjoyed this book but found it to be very repetitive. The scenes repeated a bit too much for me. While I understand this book to be a thriller I found it to be a bit predictable. This is an easy quick read and fast paced as well. I did enjoy the conclusion and the storyline butr would really only recommend to someone just now starting out in the thriller reading world.

I read this book using NetGalley so I thank you for the advanced read of this book!