Ellen O’Clover’s The Someday Daughter reads like a character study with a hint of romance.

Audrey can’t help but wonder what the world’s fascination with her mother is. Sure, Camilla says all the “right” stuff in her book, but that’s far from Audrey’s own experience with her. Everything about this summerlong book tour feels manufactured.

Audrey is so laser focused on her dream of becoming a doctor, of maintaining her perfect appearance, that when she falters, she doesn’t know what to do. It’s only when she lets down her walls and lets people help her that she realizes perfection isn’t what she thought.

O’Clover’s exploration of panic attacks, anxiety and depression against the backdrop of multiple relationships are thoughtful and heart wrenching. O’Clover makes you think beyond her novel, and in doing so, makes The Someday Novel stick with you.

The Someday Daughter is not a particularly fast-moving novel, but it’s one that holds interest. It’s complicated. It’s messy. It’s worth your time.

After loving the author’s debut, I was so excited to see what she had in store for us next. Good news, this sophomore offering certainly did not disappoint! The Someday Daughter didn’t quite hook me from the start the same way Ro did, but it definitely delivered on the complex relationships and characters, as well as an overall feel-good story that I was very satisfied with by the time I was done.

“I went searching for my mother in the one place I can always find her: the airport bookstore.”

I loved that quote because it totally summed up Audrey’s feelings about her mom when we meet her. Audrey’s mother has been pretty much a non-presence in her life, dropping her at boarding school to tour the world as a famous author and self-help guru. Problem is, she now wants Audrey to spend the summer with her, as a spokesperson of sorts for her book, the titular Someday Daughter. But as you can imagine, Audrey feels kind of cheated- her mom is profiting from the concept of Audrey, without actually putting in the work to be a mother.

Audrey, when we meet her, is quite cold, and not all that likable. She has kind of become a perfectionist, and has this idea of what her life has to be. No wiggle room, no room for change. But as the summer forces some changes upon her, Audrey starts to see that maybe she doesn’t have to have her life completely mapped out in order to be happy. I love the character growth during this book, and the focus on all kinds of relationships- obviously the parental relationships, but also friendships and romance, even some mentor stuff too. There is also some great commentary on mental health, too.

Bottom Line: Another hit from Ellen O’Clover, cannot wait for whatever’s next!

Thank you to NetGalley, author Ellen O'Clover, and HarperTeen for providing me with a free ARC in exchange for my honest review!

WOW, what a lovely surprise this book was!! I thought the premise sounded super unique and was drawn to that before starting, but this truly was such an enjoyable and well-written read. It is definitely a bit more mature than the typical YA book because Audrey is headed into college, so it is kind of in between a YA and adult novel. Because of this though, the book reads mature in a very positive way; the book tackles some complicated issues and feelings, such as anxiety and mother daughter relationships, and it really resonated with me even though I am several years older than Audrey. I appreciated the candid way O'Clover portrayed anxiety and Audrey's emotions surrounding her experience with it. The characters do not shy away from being flawed, but the book shows that it is okay to be human and flawed in the end. I do think the ending wrapped up too quickly, and there was a big reveal that happened about 85% of the way in that definitely would have benefitted from being mentioned earlier on to have more time to resolve. Things were also a bit too "picture perfect" in the end, and the romance was a little cheesy. However, I did really enjoy seeing Silas and Audrey's relationship develop, and none of these "issues" detracted from my overall enjoyment of the book. Ellen O'Clover will definitely be an author I look out for now if I'm wanting a more mature YA read.

Having grown up stuck in the shadow of her famous mother, Audrey St. Vrain has always felt as though she didn’t live up to the book that made her mother famous. Letters to my Someday Daughter put Camilla St. Vrain on the map and gave the world a perception of their relationship that was not at all what she has lived. Audrey wants to create a life for herself outside of being the famous ‘someday daughter’ but her summer academic plans are ruined when her mother asks her to be a part of her tour. This might be the last chance for Audrey to find out if there’s any real relationship to salvage with her mother and this summer will bring a lot of unexpected surprises.

I feel like nearly everyone has a complicated relationship with their mother and this book really encompasses that feeling and explores it in depth which was refreshing. Each of the characters are well rounded and add something valuable to the story and the way the main character is written we get to know her straight away and understand her feelings and struggles with anxiety. She’s put herself in a box and we are inside her mind as she attempts to unwind the thoughts and feelings that made her that way. The heavier aspects are really well balanced with light hearted and fun moments which further brings us closer to Audrey.

There is a romance story in this which I think compliments the main plot really well and there’s a great opposites attract element that is a lot of fun. I do think that the ending was maybe a bit fast and after the revelations that come out I would have liked some further exploration of the characters emotions as so much of that is what this is about.

This is a true coming of age journey to discover not only herself outside of her mother but also, self acceptance, love, friendship, freedom and family.

Very well-written coming of age story that explores a complicated mother-daughter relationship, self-discovery, mental health, and more.

This was an okay read for me! Nothing too special or life changing but still enjoyable to read and relatable at times.

The author did a wonderful job capturing the moments of anxiety and depression in this book. I was able to really connect with Audrey and feel with her throughout the book. She was a very well-written and thought-out character!

Overall, I liked it!

Thank you to the author, the publisher and Netgally for the eARC in exchange for an honest review!

3.5 stars

The first half started a little slow for me but the second half flew.
The Someday Daughter is a beautifully told coming of age story that deals with anxiety and relationships.
Audrey St. Vrain navigates her mother's fame from "Letters to My Someday Daughter" while seeking her own identity. When her mother invites her on a tour, Audrey's plans are shaken. Amidst summer romance, Audrey redefines her path

Thanks to netgalley and the publisher for this eARC!

Audrey St. Vrain has lived her whole life as the eponymous Someday Daughter of her famous mother Camilla’s most famous book. Audrey has never felt connected to her mother and when she joins her for a book tour to promote the book’s anniversary their strained bond creates friction all around. Spending the summer with her mother and the tour staff is the opposite of what Audrey wants to do, but she realizes along the way that maybe she doesn’t need to have her entire life mapped perfectly at eighteen.

Ellen O’Clover is quickly becoming one of my favorites for heartfelt, thought-provoking YA. I loved her debut, Seven Percent of Ro Devereux, so much. I loved Audrey and The Someday Daughter for wholly different reasons but it was a love just the same.

This book is often pretty heavy as Audrey sorts through her really complicated feelings about her relationship with her mother, her relationship with herself, and her actual romantic relationships. There is an adorable and charming romance element here but it’s definitely not the key focus of the story. At the heart of The Someday Daughter is a story about what it means to be a mother and what it means to be a daughter, and how none of us really know what we are doing but we try our best anyway.

There’s also a very candid look at anxiety and panic attacks in this book that I found to be treated sensitively and with care. I have anxiety and occasional panic attacks and the depiction here was very true to my experience.

Thank you to Netgalley and HarperTeen for the advanced copy to read and review. All opinions are my own!

Ellen O’Clover is a new auto-buy author for me! I rated her first book 5⭐️, so I was so excited to get my hands on this one. While I didn’t like it quite as much as Ro, it is still very much a solid YA novel. It did take me a minute to warm up to this story — Audrey was definitely frustrating me, and I was waiting for *something* to happen. But once it did get going a bit, I didn’t want to put this book down. I love a found family trope, and we had the added bonus of a repaired mother/daughter relationship, too. I would have liked more building of the relationship with Silas. That relationship sped up too quickly and a bit too inauthentically for me. Puddles, however, is 10/10.

4.25⭐️

Oh how I adored this book. Ellen O'Clover has easily become one of my favorite YA authors. Audrey St. Vrain is the daughter of self-help author Camilla St. Vrain. When Audrey goes on a book tour to celebrate the 10 year anniversary of Camilla's bestseller "Letters To My Someday Daughter" she is torn between creating her own identity and helping her mother to promote the book. While on the tour, she meets Silas, an picture perfect love interest intern, and the cutest dog named Puddles! I loved the connections made between these two characters as Audrey navigates her past, prior to the tour her present and her dreams of being a doctor.
This book was such a heartfelt coming of age story involving fantastic banter and wit, as well as deep messages that will hit you *right in the feels.* The book also explores Audrey's own anxiety in a way that is all too relatable. This book was such a fun adventure and I truly can't wait to see what Ellen O'Clover does next.

Thank you to NetGalley and Harper Collins for an ARC in exchange for my personal opinion.

The Someday Daughter is a gripping and thoughtful novel, tackling the depths of complicated family dynamics, friendship, and mental health. As an over-achiever with anxiety, myself, this book brought me to tears in a way I don't recall any other book doing. I greatly appreciated the writing style and felt an emotional connection with the protagonist.

I thought this book would be a fun and sweet story about a daughter who has a complicated relationship with her mother. I wasn’t expecting it to also be a poignant portrait of motherhood, mental illness, and celebrity.

The love interest was a little bit of a manic pixie dream boy, but all the women in the story were so well written that I didn’t mind that a young man wasn’t.

gorgeous teen ya romance that worked really really well. i found the premise really unique and the characters engaging. tysm for the arc.

They say no one can mess you up like family can, and that's certainly true in this moving, messy look at a 'famous' family and the changes and revelations that happen over one summer.

I got this yesterday and couldn't stop reading it; it's so true to life (while of course I have no experience of anything like this!) Audrey is so well written and everything makes sense for her, as it happens. I loved the friendships she developed with her mother's team as the summer went on.

I did feel bad for Ethan; he's steady and logical and calm, and somehow all of those are bad things. But that's the way stories go sometimes, it's true to life. Also, although I am a cat person, Puddles was - well, not 'cute' exactly, but very very loveable.

Everyone should read this for an outstanding look at complicated family dynamics wrapped in an amazing story.

After reading Ellen’s debut novel, I knew I have to read ALL the books she publishes. This, THE SOMEDAY DAUGHTER did not dissapoint either.

I really loved how raw and beautifully, yet realistically the daughter-mother relationship was explored. It was really pulling on my heartstring, meant a lot to see myself in Audrey’s character, me who has a troubled relationship with her own mother as well and while growing up had all the expectations set out for me,

This novel really moves your emotions and pulls on your heartstrings, giving a satisfacory ending, and also presenting a golden friendship and a sweet romance subplot.

Highly highly recommended!

Thank you so much for the publisher, EpicReads and Netgalley for the earc!

I'm confident in saying Ellen's an autobuy author for me, her books always feel so real and organic, so rich with emotions and relatable characters. Someday Daughter was such a compelling story, I loved reading about the complex relationship between mother and daughter, the fun friendships and very sweet romance!
It ticks all the boxes for me.

Special shoutout to Puddles!

This was a bit of a tearjerker and really pulled at the heartstrings. It's a nod to the blogging families that use their children for a media presence and its side effects, highlighting the fragility of their relationships. It's a sad truth!

A thought-provoking story that I'll definitely be recommending :) thank you for letting me read it!

I loved this.

I'm not gonna lie, Ellen had me in the first lil bit when introducing a boy LI wearing hiking sandals LOL

But alas, said LI is redeemed and this book proves itself to be a truly heart-rending and beautiful story. (Also, the cover slaps.)

It had real "The Truth About Forever" by Sarah Dessen energy (bf going to brain camp, etc) and obviously that sold me. Ellen is a skillful writer and a brilliant creator of character. THE SOMEDAY DAUGHTER had such an intriguing (and unique) premise and captivated me through developed romance, emotional heft, genuine growth arcs, and page-turning twists.

It dealt with a lot of heavy conversations -- family relationships, anxiety, the dissolution of our future plans, honesty, identities -- with care and meaningful relevance. There were so many beautiful, insightful themes throughout this book, crafted along with swoonworthy romance and genuinely funny dialogue. It captured adolescent feelings so well and built an important story honoring and exploring them.

Read for:

- RO DEVERAUX easter eggs 👀
- honky tonk
- a pug named Puddles
- road trips
- romantically-fraught arguments during a hurricane
- new plans
- (emotional) hurt/comfort
- "You don't need to earn it."
- captain underpants name drop
- "Can we try something?"
- "I've fallen in love with you five times just since I walked into this room." !!!!!
- the navigation of (really) complicated family relationships
- bare feet
- resting mathematician face
- capital 'm' Moments

A truly great read.

Thank you to HarperTeen and Netgalley for the e-ARC in exchange for my honest, unbiased review. THE SOMEDAY DAUGHTER it out 2/20/24.

Rating: 3.5 stars

I read this author’s debut last year and definitely wanted to read another by her since I thoroughly enjoyed the first.

The book is told from one point-of-view and it comes from Audrey St. Vrain. She is the daughter of high profile quick to fame author who goes around teaching the importance of self-love and developing a relationship with daughters. The only problem with this is that her mother doesn’t realize the issues within her own relationship with her daughter and everything that her mother says about her to the public makes her question who she really is.

A lot of what happens to Audrey reminds me of blog families. The kids end up suffering and everything isn’t as happy as it seems on the outside looking in. I really felt bad for her. She wanted a relationship with her mom, but it didn’t feel like her mom actually wanted one because it felt like she was pushing her away instead. Communication was definitely a big part of it, but even when Audrey communicated about what she wanted it was pushed to the side.

Through the book Audrey learns about herself and what she wants out of life. This can be seen through her family relationships and romantic ones. She finds herself through this tour she didn’t want to be on and makes friends along the way as well.

One thing that made not love the book was the romance. It was just okay. There is a love triangle, but also not really. The relationship she is first in seems more like a friendship and I totally thought that’s what it is. I didn’t even realize the guy was her boyfriend. She finds someone else while on tour and even though they don’t do anything that would be considered cheating I just didn’t see the chemistry.

Overall, this was a good book! It has a great message and I think a lot of teens will be able to relate to Audrey.

THE SOMEDAY DAUGHTER is filled with so much hurt, love and hope, which touched me in ways I can’t even begin to describe. One thing, however; is for sure: Ellen O’Clover is an author to watch!

What sold me? The dog and a book on the cover. What can I say? I'm a simple (wo)man. What kept me hooked? The way I felt connected to the characters. I think this is something everyone needs to read simply for just the characters alone. I think this was a great book. Could it have been better? Sure. But all things can in my opinion. I think this was fantastic and my teenager self would have adored this as much - if not more - than my adult self now.

I received an ARC of this book from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

I haven't been enjoyed YA novels as much lately, but this one sucked me back into the genre. I enjoyed it a lot!