The story line is great! I never expected the twist with Peter, very shocking but made the story line even better! At the beginning it was alittle hard to get into but things started to pick up and i ended up finishing it in one sitting!

I just could not get into this book. I tried so hard, but it was just <i>so</i> boring. I kept finding other things that I had to do instead of read this because I just didn't want to (I literally convinced myself to organize my bathroom closet last night).

It kind of felt like nothing was happening throughout the entire book, even though quite a few things were going on. I'm having a hard time putting my thoughts into words; all I can really say is that I was bored from beginning to end.

I thought maybe it would pick up after a while, but it never really did. Even after the ending it feels like "...that's it?". Nothing ever really shocked me and I figured out what had happened very early on.

Book: My Darling Boy
Author: Helen Cooper
Publisher: Penguin Group Putnam
Pub Date: December 3, 2024

Is it possible to feel like something is too far-fetched yet enjoy it at the same time? That is how I felt about this book. It was so easy to read and I flew through it which I love books like that. I thought it was a really good depiction of what can happen to a close friendship when one child does something to the other’s child. But there was just a lot of murder that no one seemed to pay for. The author created a fair amount of tension and presented a really good mystery with several twists. I had strong emotions toward Georgie and trust me you will also. But the flip side was it was just all too easily solved in the end. Murder is murder and if you kill multiple times there just seems to be a need for punishment. Right? Maybe not. Who knows? I can think of several different directions this book could have taken for a more plausible storyline. In the end I did enjoy it and can recommend reading it. The Downstairs Neighbor and The Couple In The Photo are two of her books that I highly suggest putting on your TBR.

Thank you Penguin Group Putnam and NetGalley for this sneak peak! Publication date is December 3, 2024.

Chrissy and Alice have been best friends for decades. Naturally, their sons Robbie and Leo became best friends as well. When twenty-something-year-old Leo accidentally kills Robbie in a bar fight, he is sent to prison for manslaughter. This is where the book began... It's been 2 years since the murder and Leo is released early for good behavior. Chrissy, Leo's mother, anxiously waits for him outside the prison gates but it seems he left without her. He never makes it home. Where did Leo go? Did he take off willingly or was he forced? Why did Leo kill Robbie in the first place? Who is the newest addition to the village and why is she inserting herself in the middle of everyone's business? What secrets are the villagers hiding?

This was a perfectly fine thriller. It was an easy read and had decent pacing, but overall... it just wasn't memorable. At some point, I caught myself thinking, "for a book that has so much going on, I'm awfully bored." The ending was predictable and I guessed every twist before they happened. I enjoyed the plot, however, and (despite the predictability) I liked how cleanly things wrapped up in the end. I also appreciated the development that went into the main characters; Chrissy and Alice's friendship, especially, was very well written.

Overall, this was a solid 3-star-read.

Thank you NetGalley and Penguin Group Putnam for this ARC in exchange for an honest review.

I discovered Helen Cooper with her terrific “The Couple in the Photo” and I’m so thrilled to read another well-crafted story from her. This time it’s the traumatic tale of two mothers of twenty-something sons, both sets of former best friends, whose lives were harshly separated when a fight broke out on New Year’s Eve two years ago. It was either a punch or a push, but Alice’s son Robbie died and Chrissy’s son Leo went to prison for manslaughter. Chrissy, the local pub owner, lost her business as the entire small village punished her as well as her son. Alice cannot let go of her absolute rage and even led a group of people to buy the pub (and ban Chrissy from it).

Leo is being released early, but tensions are simmering. Except when Chrissy goes to pick up her son, he’s missing. There’s more than meets the eye in this village — and quite a few secrets are being kept, even by newcomer Georgie who seems a tad over-invested in the local gossip.

Cooper creates another tension-filled mystery that explores friendships and motherhood. As the hunt for the missing Leo goes on, the cast of characters reveal themselves slowly and surprisingly. 4 stars!

Literary Pet Peeve Checklist:
Green Eyes (only 2% of the real world, yet it seems like 90% of all fictional females): YES Chrissy has green eyes.
Horticultural Faux Pas (plants out of season or growing zones, like daffodils in autumn or bougainvillea in Alaska): NO

Thank you to Penguin/GP Putnam and NetGalley for an advanced reader copy!

I really enjoyed this thriller. It has some great twists!

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for allowing me to read this arc in exchange for an honest review!

Thank you to NetGalley for allowing me to read this in exchange for an honest review.

This was a perfectly fine mystery novel. It just didn’t draw me in like some or make me care about any of the characters. Well-written, just okay for me.

What a great thriller. I couldn’t put this book down. It was so enthralling from start to finish. Don’t skip this book over.