4.5 STARS

Oh, the webs we weave.
This book was a pleasant surprise as the author is new to me and she did not disappoint!

It was a little slow to start but quickly grabbed my attention. I did not see many of the twists coming leaving me on the edge of my seat.
The betrayal, manipulation and revenge were all so good.

Leah and her mother Jules are more alike than they think.
Jules learns of a secret relationship her daughter is having and shortly after the news is reporting his death.
Leah is experiencing young love for the first time and Jules is going through her own midlife crisis at the same time.

I listened to the audio book of this and felt the narrator did a fantastic job delivering the story as well as channeling all the characters and their personalities.

Thank you, Bookouture Audio, NetGalley and Natali Simmonds for this ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Thank you to Bookouture Audio, NetGalley, Natali Simmonds, and narrators Izzy Meikle and Claire Storey for an amazing audiobook. The story is about Leah who is still in high school and she has decided that she wants to find the perfect guy to sleep with at a rock concert. Imagine her shock the following Monday when she arrives at school to find out he is her new art teacher and wants nothing to do with her. Even worse her friends think she’s lying. Things get worse as she keeps trying to get him to resume their relationship only to find out he’s a jerk and has moved on. When she misses a big birthday party surprise that her parents and friends had set up, they want nothing to do with her and her “crush on the teacher “.
Meanwhile, her mom is having problems at work and home and gets hooked on a dating app. When she is feeling especially down and distanced from her husband she agrees to meet a stranger at a bar for drinks. It turns out to be the same stranger who slept with her daughter! Now mom and daughter have to get rid of this man before he completely destroys their lives.
Definitely a good book and fast paced. Highly recommend it.

I am a HUGE fan of angry women - this book had me shouting yes as Leah stretches into young adulthood.
A slow build with excellent character building only to lead you to a gut punching twist - and that ending!
Jules - a mother struggling with the boredom of her 40's, steady life
Leah - desperate for a taste of freedom
Together leads to a deadly combination.
The narration does an amazing job bringing these voices to reality - I could not stop listening!

This was slow going for a lot of the book. I didn’t care for the characters but I think that was the point. There were a lot of twists and turns that kept me intested.

Thank you to the author, publisher and NetGalley for the opportunity to read and review this ARC.

It was a bit of a slow burn but the pay off was soooooo worth it! I could not stop listening to the narrator was fantastic. The story had me on the edge of my seat the entire time.

Very interesting. I honestly was slightly bored at the beginning. Didn’t really know where the story was going to go. Some parts were quite predictable but didn’t take from the overall story.

I really enjoyed this twisty thriller. Mum in her late forties feeling neglected by her husband, ignored by the rest of the world. Teenage daughter with a history of obsessive behaviour and in a rush to be an adult.

The character writing is excellent, and combined with excellent performances, particularly mum Julia, it felt like Jenny Eclair’s Grumpy Old Women blended with Alan Bennett’s acutely observed character monologues. I loved it.

Plenty of twists, dread and tension, these characters go through hell.

When I finished I thought possibly a twist or two too many towards the end, looking back on it, perhaps it was just right.

Overall this was great! I’m sure it would be a great read, the audiobook performance is exceptional.

Thanks to Netgalley and Bookouture Audio

Really really enjoyed!
I found myself so engaged with this book if I’d had more time I think I could have finished it in a day.
An angsty teen, a mother trying to settle into a different rhythm of life and a dodgy love interest? I’m in!
Lots of twists and turns to keep you interested, I found the mums point of view getting a bit repetitive, boring and whiny towards the end but overall enjoyed and would recommend.
The narrators were excellent, particularly the actress voicing the teen girl 10/10

I was the wrong reader for this book.

Although I am a huge fan of revenge thrillers, I do not enjoy revenge thrillers with TMI about protagonists' sex lives.

I lost track of the number of times the protagonist complained about her husband's lack of sexual libido.

Details about how the protagonist's daughter lost her virginity to a much older man?

Sorry, NOT FOR ME!

But it was when the protagonist said "My husband walked into the room wearing boxers and all I wanted to do was put my hands down his pants", I told myself "Enough is enough!" and I pushed the STOP button.

I listened to the audiobook read by Izzy Meikle-Small and Claire Storey.

Both narrators did a fine job with the narration.

Special thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

If you like a high level of "spice" with your revenge thrillers, this would be the perfect book for you.

Special thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Teenage Leah is full of angst and trying to assert her independence, while her mother, feeling the invisibility and insecurity of middle age, is looking for validation. Mysterious and duplicitous men bind them together in this wicked, tale of love, life, death and identity.

It’s a familiar trope - the former hot girl turned pudgy middle aged mom, stuck in an unfulfilled marriage and starved for male attention. The beautiful teenager daughter, awakening to the effect her looks have on men. The resentment between the two, the mom envying the daughter and the daughter chafing against the mom’s rules. And murder…

Popcorn thriller or chilling exploration of the toxicity of valuing women (and women valuing ourselves) by some perceived sexual market value? How about both! Delicious and devastating, I enjoyed every bit of this.

The story is told from both the perspective of the daughter and the mother, in alternating chapters, and both characters are equally fun to get to know. I’m 31 and found myself feeling close to both characters, even as I’m caught between.

Think:
- sexual obsession
- sooooo much coveting
- envy
- ladies stalking
- teen girl deviousness
- secretssssssssss

I listened to the audiobook, narrated by
Izzy Meikle-Small and Claire Storey. They did a great job with the story! Both have very pleasant voices (and charming accents) and are great at giving characters distinct voices with personality that matches what’s in the text. I definitely recommend checking out the audiobook for a hands-free way to enjoy the story (perfect for end of summer travel)!

Thanks, NetGalley and Bookouture Audio, for the audio ARC in exchange for an honest review.

I am thankful to have gotten the audio ARC for free from Netgalley and Bookouture Audio so I can leave my voluntary review.

The best part of this book was the last 15% of it. It was a great twist that wasn’t apparent throughout the book. The first half of the book was a bit frustrating as it was repetitive and could have been edited down significantly making it a stronger book.

The narrator did a wonderful job. She had a lovely British accented voice and spoke at a great rate. She also gave enough emotion to her into the book but wasn’t dramatic.
That being said, I think I may enough the physical book better so I can focus more on the details.

The FMC was a bit annoying and whiny but it wasn’t too bad. As I said above, the end of the book was great and made the book well worth it to read.

My rating system since GoodReads doesn’t have partial stars and I rarely round up.

⭐️ Hated it
⭐️⭐️ Had a lot of trouble, prose issues, really not my cup of tea (potentially DNF’d or thought about it)
⭐️⭐️⭐️ Meh, it was an ok read but nothing special
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ Really enjoyed it! Would recommend to others
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ Outstanding! Will circle back and read again

I need a catcher's mitt for all the curveballs this book threw at me. I thought I had it all figured out and then boom, nope. The twists just kept coming. I loved it! Very well done thriller mystery that had me guessing right up until the end. I loved the revenge plot, the teacher/student scenario, the lonely housewife, and the secret app that lets you talk to strangers and confess your deepest darkest thoughts. This book had everything and I loved it. Looking forward to more by this author!

I think the audiobook narrators, Izzy Meikle-Small and Claire Storey did a great job of portraying their characters and the voices were distinct enough to tell which POV was being used.

Thank you NetGalley and Bookouture Audio for access to the ALC in exchange for an honest review.

Enjoyed listening to this book about a mother and daughter, with twists and turns,, lots of secrets , surprises, and psychopathic behaviors. Kept my interest/engagement throughout. Thank you for this advanced copy!

My Daughter's Revenge by Natali Simmonds
Narrated by Izzy Meikle-Small, Claire Storey

This audiobook was just what I needed. I have life long sleep issues and with a surgery coming up, I REALLY can't sleep. I listened to half this book yesterday and then when I couldn't sleep at all, I listened to the rest of it throughout the night it and I had a blast. I don't usually like so much focus on bad people but sometimes such stories are done in such a way that I get hooked into seeing what happens next. Some people are walking chaos, they don't even try not to be that way, and then they blame everyone else for what happens. Meet the mother and daughter wrecking balls, Jules and Leah. Mom is late thirties and Leah is just turning seventeen. Before this book even started Leah's been in trouble for a stalking incident that probably drove her victim out of town for his own safety. Mom hints she might have been a bit off when she was younger, too. These women feel intensely and it's mostly that they feel that no matter what wacky things they do it's never their fault, it's always someone else's fault.

I wonder why Jules feels so lonely? roll eyes Her kids don't want to be around her, her husband goes to great lengths to avoid her. She has maybe one friend who she never sees and she's an odd one out at work. And of course she is a constant pity party in her head so she decides it's a good idea to check out a "true confessions" dating app and that goes really well...just kidding!

Leah still has some friends at school but they are always side eyeing her since they know she can go all stalkerish on people. But she's determined to sleep with a guy for the first time and she makes it happen and instantly knows he's the one for her. She's all set to embed herself into his life but she has to be careful because he's a lot older than she is and he doesn't know it. Leah lies all the time and she lied about her age. What a shock for her and him when they meet up a few days later at a certain someplace...woo boy, bad new for everyone!

Both women proceed to make everything worse but it's never their fault. Not that this world is filled with winners. What a ride, all the way to the very end. Both narrators made the story even better, they really brought out the crazy, poor me, I'll make them pay mindset of both women. I would have had a hard time putting this one down even if I wasn't having a sleepless night.

Thank you to Bookouture Audio and NetGalley for this ARC.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the ARC.
Wow. This was a wild ride. I found the first half to be a bit confusing and complicated. There were some things I found out at the end that I had kind of guessed about earlier on in the book too.
But all around the final ending was as good. Narration was good and the book was creative and a bit different.

This audiobook frustrated the heck out of me. Pacing was really slow and inner dialogue of the main characters were exhausting and repetitive. The voice of Jules comes across older than 48 and the tone from this character swings wildly from insecure to outraged and then wildly accusatory. Her husband’s pathetic excuses for not having conversations with his wife don’t seem plausible. The daughter’s actions show her immaturity and really became a source of frustration for me.
Our “villain” was portrayed like a cardboard cutout. All he needed was a mustache to twirl to add a laughable quality to this pathetic portrayal. The ending pulled it up from a 2 star to 3 stars because it was pretty satisfying even if we never know “how” this character puts the pieces together of what’s been happening.

This could have used a giant edit of 75 pages to really make it a compelling story and give our female characters more backbone.

The premise of this book was intriguing!

The story however, did not pick up really until at least 60% of the way into it. I found myself skipping chapters and fast forwarding through the mom’s long monologues about how she is bored, feels old, and her husband doesn’t pay attention to her.

After the 60%ish mark, the story does start to get good and although I saw the first initial twist coming, I did not see the very last one which made the last part of the book worth it.

If this book was shorter, I think it would have been a better listen.

This audiobook had me hooked! It had all my favorite tropes and I felt like I was watching a movie. It had mystery, romance, obsessions, blackmail and gossip- what more could you ask for?

The daughter, Leah, was relatable in the fact of when you are her age (17), your mind tells you to do whatever you can to get your “love” back.

The mother, Jules, is also relatable- as a mother of two grown children, she is having a hard time feeling appreciated for what she does for her family. And her mind starts over analyzing every little move her family makes.

The events that take place are mind blowing and has you anxiously waiting for the next twist.

In the end, I really enjoyed this book and would recommend to other readers!

His death is reported on the morning news. The man my daughter’s been dating. Dead. Gone…

This kept me guessing until the end. Just when I thought I knew where we were going, there was a curveball I never saw coming!


I received this ARC from NetGalley and Bookouture to read and review. All of the statements are my own after fully reading the book.