After finishing this book and reading a bit about the author Hollie Overton, I was surprised to learn that this is her first novel. Also, Hollie is a twin. This helps her describe the bond between Lilly and Abby, the twins in the story.
From the beginning, I became interested in Lilly and her attempt to escape her hostage situation with her 6-year old child Sky. Her captor, Rick (not Ricky, this upsets him terribly and you really don’t want to do that) is a well-admired teacher at the high school, married to a wonderful lady and living a quiet, peaceful life. But he has a terribly dark side, a mental problem, an inability distinguishing between what is real and what he has imagined.
At times I feel like the book is shadowing what we know of actual long-term kidnapping and hostage situations that have been in the news the past few years. I’m not comfortable with that aspect because I don’t want to be a part of glorifying something so inhumane. But it’s only the basic story line that sounds familiar. Overton adds enough unique and unexpected twists and turns to help me appreciate that this is pure fiction.
Hollie does a good job of creating each character’s strengths and flaws.
You’ll want to continue reading out of sheer curiosity, how does it end and who settles for what?
(I received an advance copy of this book from NetGalley in exchange for an unbiased review. Thank you to Redhook Books and NetGalley for making it available.)

Hollie Overton sure knows how to grab your attention from the first chapter and keep a firm grip on it through the end.

You get everything you need about the crime at the very beginning of the book. You know a young girl was kidnapped, held against her will for years, was impregnated and one day she and her daughter escape. You are also told who kidnapped her and how he is apprehended right away.

Really this book is about examining the consequences not just on the person who had to undergo that ordeal but the family, friends and community that were left behind in the wake of such a tragic event. In that sense it’s an interesting scope of the human psyche, how to heal, stages of grief, and the denial people put themselves in when they can’t accept the truth. Overton did a credible job flushing out the psychological tidal wave of disease that occurs with criminal activity and its aftermath.

This isn’t the kind of book where you’re waiting to find out who the criminal is, how/why they did the crime and how they’ll get caught so it’s not a normal mystery HOWEVER there is one hell of a shocking twist towards the end that has to be read to be believed.

My only complaint is that I wish she could’ve used a more first person perspective so we could feel what the characters were feeling and seeing particularly as this book was ripe for that the way she wrote it with altering character chapters.

Baby Doll by Hollie Overton is another in a line of books this year whose greatest failing is that it simply does not live up to it's hype. This is really too bad because what we have here is a pretty good story told from a original point of view. While on face value it might seem like another one of those tales about a child abduction and eventual escape, Baby Doll begins it's story with the escape and not the abduction. The story of Baby Doll is what happens to her once she gets back home.

Eight years ago Lily accepts a ride home from one of her favorite teachers. He is a well respected man in the community and considered a pillar of the small. What happens next will not only happen to Lily, but to her family and the small town they live in. Because Lily does not make it home. Lily will spend the next eight years a prisoner in the basement of a secluded cabin. She will be tortured and raped and controlled. She will grow from teenage girl to a young woman in that basement. She will also give birth to her daughter Sky in that basement.

For Rick, the man who took her, Lily is his Baby Doll. The perfect woman who he can control and manipulate so that he can have anything and everything he wants. On the outside, he is a kind and caring school teacher, married to a wealthy and beautiful woman. But it is in the basement, with Lily, that Rick can be his true self. It is with Lily, who he controls and whose sole purpose is to please him.

Until the day, she escapes.

What happens next, when Lily makes it through the cold and dark night back home to her parents house is as traumatic and damaging as the past eight years have been. Lily finds her father has died while she was gone, her mother has found solace in a string of meaningless sexual encounters and worst of all, her sister Abby.

Abby is Lily's twin and has spent the last eight years blaming herself for Lily's abduction. Abby was supposed to give Lily a ride home but they fought like sisters do and Abby left Lily alone at the school. Now Abby's life has spiraled into drug abuse and drunkenness and an unwanted pregnancy. A pregnancy that happened between Abby and the boyfriend Lily left behind.

Now, with Lily free, Abby and Lily and their mother must fight to bring Rick to justice. But can they do that and still somehow pull themselves back together.

Baby Doll is so much more about the relationship, the tattered remains and broken pieces of Lily and her family and the sisters, Abby and Lily. Abby's self destructive and impulsive behavior. Lily's calm demeanor in the face of all that has happened. Eve, their mother, inability to hold what remains of her family together. Abby is perhaps the most powerful character in this tale. Her behavior, much more than Lily's, drives this novel to its conclusion, unfortunately, a fairly predictable conclusion.

This is a good book. It really is, don't let this review dissuade you from picking it up. It is just not Gone Girl or any of those other novels that set the tone for the genre. To be quite honest its not even in the genre. This is a drama, not a thriller. It is about family and relationships and recovery. There are elements a thriller in this tale, especially centering around Rick and his attempts to escape. But overall it is a character novel. A novel of sisters and the bonds that could not be broken, but that can break the very people they are meant to protect.

A good book that would have been served by honest marketing.

Baby Doll by Hollie Overton was marketed as a thriller in the vein of Gillian Flynn's Gone Girl and Paula Hawkins' The Girl On The Train. Now, with all of the new releases trying to cash in on Flynn's success with Gone Girl, I wasn't surprise to see yet another book comparing itself to the latter. To say that Baby Doll is a thriller is a bit far-fetched. For me, it fell into the drama category. Which is fine, but misleading. Going into this book, my expectations weren't high since I'd never read Overton before, so there wasn't much disappointment there.

The structure of the book was fine. I didn't think much of the writing. It was fine, I guess. When you think about a subject as tragic and as terrible as kidnapping (and sequestration), you think you'll be submerged in raw emotions from start to finish. That wasn't the case with Baby Doll. The characters were going through the motions. It was very mechanical.

Lily Riser is the main character of Overton's novel. She's been kidnapped at sixteen and eight years later, she escaped. She's been victimized in every way possible. The most horrible, sadistic things happened to her on a regular basis at the hands of her captor. The character is very flat. There was no sense of real trauma in Lily. She bounced back like nothing happened. The way she was acting was laughable at times, which when you explore a heavy subject isn't a good thing. You want your characters to be taken seriously. I couldn't take Lily seriously.

Throughout Baby Doll we also meet Lily's twin sister, Abby, Lily's mother, Eve, Lily's ex-boyfriend, Wes and Lily's captor, Rick. I could go on and on about each of these characters, but I'll try and keep this short. None of these characters really stood out to me. Hum, they are all uninteresting. Abby was build on swear words and contradictions. Eve was a horrible, uncaring mother even if the author tried to make her sympathetic. She's just awful. Wes was a cardboard cut-out of the "perfect" boyfriend that can be find in any bargain-bin teen flick. He was just unrealistic, he didn't feel real. Now, let's talk about Rick. He's Lily's captor and a sadistic monster. Or so we're told. The character has no nuances. He showered Lily, the cops, his wife and anyone who'd listen with cheesy one-liners. I wouldn't have been surprise if he'd start twirling his mustache. There was nothing chilling about Rick. I could easily guess every step he took because he was that much of a cliché.

There wasn't a lot that didn't make same in Baby Doll from a legal and logical point of view. Lily's whole attitude and behavior after escaping wasn't realistic at all. She was acting like she'd been out for a walk, not like she'd been kidnapped and tortured and sheltered for nearly a decade. That made no sense! The way the cops handle the investigation was wrong and illegal.The whole trial was also filled with problems. The incident that happened there wasn't realistic at all.
There shouldn't have been any romance involving Lily in this book. But, not only is there a romance, there is a love triangle. The whole thing was just distasteful.

Baby Doll is a lifetime movie, not a good one from the 90's, but a terrible one from a week ago. Over-the-top, not credible plot-twists, horrible, selfish characters and sickening romance. Baby Doll has very little redeeming qualities to counter its lack of cohesion and realism. The book cover is beautiful, the writing is fine, the premise is interesting and had a lot of potential. I give a lot of chances to books, especially ones that are the first of an author, but Baby Doll just isn't good. If you are looking for something similar, stream Stockholm, Pennsylvania instead.

This book is more about how Lily, her twin sister Abby, her mother and her captor deal with the aftermath of Lily's escape and return home. It started off great. I couldn't turn the pages fast enough. But then two things in particular started to bother me: 1. Abby!! Oh my God I did not enjoy reading the chapters about her. She was so overbearing. She drove me nuts! I can't remember when I've disliked a character so much. 2. Lily did some odd things when it came to her captor when she was free. I've never been kidnapped and I'm not an expert but she handled things quite well afterwards and seemed relatively normal. I don't know. It just wasn't the fast paced psychological thriller I was hoping for. It started off with such promise but ultimately left me unsatisfied.

"Next Gone Girl and Girl on the Train" this is not. This was a lot more like Room than anything else. I was thinking of a crazy twist filled book, and while the first couple of chapters were intriguing, the middle left me wanting more, and was easy to put down. The ending was good, but I do not think enough to make me love this book and have it stick with me. I was happy I read it, but it will not be one I recommend to everyone I know.

This is a debut author and it does need some work but the story line could be taken from todays head lines. Had to finish the book to see what happens to everyone and how they deal will the past

Lily spent the last years of her life locked in the basement by someone who raped her, physically and mentally abused her. She even gave birth to his child. One day she finds that the door was left unlocked and Lily and her daughter Sky ran. They were able to escape the hell they have been living; now you would think the nightmare was over but this was definitely not the case…. When Lily returns home she finds out that her disappearance has torn her family apart. The pain that her father endured was just too much for him to handle, Abby her sister is an addict and her mom is just a train wreck as any family would have reacted.
This gripping novel takes us on a journey of how Lily became captive. No detail was left unsaid; Hollie even went into the story of the abductor. I was so intrigued but this story, it was full of twists and some totally floored me. This was a good debut book from Hollie and I look forward to reading more from her.

The novel Baby Doll by Hollie Overton is a mystery/thriller about a sixteen year-old girl who was kidnapped and held hostage for eight years. Every chapter alternates between the perspectives of four character's: Lily, Rick, Eve, and Abby. Lily, the protagonist, finally escapes after being held in captivity for eight years with her six year old daughter Sky after their captor makes a mistake. Before the abduction, Lily was docile and delicate, but over time became a strong and unbreakable woman. Rick Hanson, a high school English educator and a self-proclaimed writer, is a manipulative and calculating psycho. He is married and an active pillar in the community, but lives a double life where he keeps the girl he abducted locked in the basement of his "writing" cabin with the child that was conceived from rape. Eve, the twins mother and hospital director, is numb and without purpose, merely existing in life. Abby, Lily's older twin sister, is the bossy, domineering twin who was fearless and sassy, but after Lily's abduction, became the weak and fragile one.

Not one of the most thrilling books I've ever read as there are no surprising plot twists typical of thrillers, but interesting enough to finish. If you enjoyed the book Room by Emma Donoghue, this novel has a similar storyline. The characters do lack some depth and can seem a bit contrived or superficial, but if you're looking for a quick beach read, this will do. I rate it 3.5 out of 5 stars.

Thank you NetGalley and Redhook Books for providing a copy of this novel in exchange for a fair review. https://moesbookblog.wordpress.com/

Reviewed: March 12, 2017. Novel Publish Date: July 12, 2016.

All the characters in this book are damaged someway. I think that Abby was the one that was worst off . I hated her character. She reacted before thinking. Hurting others peoples feelings and not even caring of the outcome. Wes Is another character that made my blood boil. I wanted to shake senses into him. The mother, Really??? no wonder Abby turned out the way she is. The only character I liked was Lily. She suffered enough and deserved that nice ending.

If there was a section in the book store labeled 'compulsively readable' 'Baby Doll' by Holly Overton would be in it.

Mixing suspense, family dynamics and edge of your seat tension this is the perfect combination of all of the things that make reading books great.

I received a free ARC from NetGalley in exchange for an unbiased review.

There is much to like about Baby Doll, a troubling take,about a kidnapped young woman who was held captive for eight years. Impregnated by her captor, Lily creates a life for her daughter, Sky, and somehow manages to maintain her sanity under horrific conditions.

Unlike Room by Emma Donahue, Overton begins her story with the escape of Lily and Sky. The novel is more about resilience and love than about depravity and fear. Lily is amazing.

One thing Overton does very well is demonstrate the far-reaching effects of one man's cruelty. Lily is not the only victim; her twin sister Abby's life is twisted and sidetracked by Lily's disappearance. Thinking of her twin helped Lily survive while Abby's thoughts of Lily led to self-abuse and stagnation.

I only gave this book three stars because the plot line was a little too familiar to news stories. Reading it, I imagined a "thump, thump" followed by a "Law and Order" introduction.

Outstanding book that I read in one sitting. I could not put it down. About a young woman who escapes after being held captive for 8 yrs in a basement. She relives the horrors of captivity and tries to regain her life back. Strongly recommend

An engrossing and easy read. Caught my attention from the beginning and I finished in one sitting. Heart-pounding suspense. A touchy topic that was well written and not too graphic. Would definitely recommend.

aby Doll By Hollie Overton

This story has been told already in the book "Room". This story is not for me--it isn't a good match.
The writing may be to someone else's liking. The book has been done before and it lacks originality. The character's are not well developed. I wanted to like it, but it is not unique.

Thank you to Net Galley, Hollie Overton and the Publisher for providing me with my digital copy for a fair and honest review.

First off, you will enjoy this book much more if you don't go into it thinking that it is in any way similar to Gone Girl or The Girl On The Train. It is not, and comparing it to those two is pretty unfair. What this does have similarities to is Room, which in itself is also a great book and would give readers a much better idea of what one can expect. That said, this is kind of like Room-lite. The story line was very engaging, and i finished this book in one sitting, but I felt like it started very strong and sort of descended into melodrama. I felt like the focus on the two sisters bickering over a boy seemed silly in light of what Lilly had been through. In fact, after Lilly escapes from her captor it seems like she just brushes off the experience altogether. Room is such a moving novel because it really shows you the aftermath. Here, the focus is mostly on family relationships. Also, the mother's narrative does not really add to the story at all. I would have much rather have heard more from Rick, or even Rick's wife.

Thanks to NetGalley, the publisher and author for the opportunity to read and review this book.

This is promoted as a thriller but it's really more of a family drama - one starring a couple pulled-from-the-headlines plots. The story begins when Lily, held captive in a cabin basement for years, escapes with the child fathered by her kidnapper. We never learn too much about what happened in the cabin, other than that there were "training periods" where her captor broke her into behaving the way he wanted.

Most of the story is what happens when Lily is reunited with her family - her twin sister, Abby, her mother, Eve, and her boyfriend at the time of the kidnapping, Wes. I was intrigued enough to keep reading to find out what happened and thought it was a good story - it just wasn't the thriller that it could/should have been.

In her debut novel, Hollie Overton tackles the journey of a young girl who went from captive to freedom:

Eight years ago Lily disappeared without a trace, many think that she is dead, but she is not. She has been taken captive, abused, and taught to be his perfect Baby Doll, she would never try to escape, the punishments have been too harsh in the past when she has tried, but this night is different. She is sure she did not hear the door lock and heard him leave the house, is this another trap to see if she is still his perfect doll, or is this her one chance to escape. Lily has to make a decision and she has to make it now for her own life and that of her daughter's Sky. But will anyone believe her if she makes it, will they accept that a trusted member of their community was her kidnapper and tormentor, she has to take the chance, it is the only hope she has left. This is the story that happens after.

Overton is no stranger to writing, she is also a writer for the Shadow Hunter Tv series (I do not watch this series so I cannot comment on the writing for that show), however, this is her first novel. As far as debut novels go, this one is good but there are certain aspects you can tell that make this a debut novel. I found that there were areas that I thought needed more exploring that were only hinted at throughout; mainly the Twin connection. The twin connection is referred to quite often in the book but never really expanded upon in any way. I never really felt like Lily and Abby were twins most of the time (other than their looks), just sisters and I think just having them as sisters would have made no difference in the book or how it played out. What I did like about them was that they were completely different people when Lily came back. Lily was stronger than ever and more protective than ever while Abby was weak on many front in her life. I enjoyed reading about this contrast between the two.

I am always a fan of a book that can surprise me and I there were times in this book that Overton was able to achieve this, especially in regards to Abby's character. There were events that I did not see coming or a turn that a character would make that I had not expected. I think surprises are key in this type of book when things can go very straightforward, so I am happy that Overton was willing to take some risks. I also think that Overton did a good job of understanding the dynamic between Lily and her kidnapper and the relationship that they had "built" through their year together. I wish there would have been a little bit more focus on this, but this is just a preference.

I dislike that the publishers compare this book to Girl on the Train and Gone Girl, this book is neither. I do not mean this in a bad way, this book has a different writing style, tone and overall idea that it is unfair to compare it to these two books. I also do not think that this book should be classified as a thriller, but that is my personal opinion when it comes to that genre.

This was a good read and a good debut novel. There were a few elements that I think could have been expended on and developed more, but overall I enjoyed reading this book. I look forward to reading more from Overton.

Enjoy!!!

This book was non-stop awesome. From the first sentence, it had me hooked and I couldn’t put the book down. I stayed up all night and finished the book at 8 AM the next morning. Yes, it was that good.

The story embraces all the human emotions; joy, love, hate, fear, confusion, despair, hope, and the ever binding “twin-ship”.

“Escape was just the beginning”. Doesn’t sound like much as a sentence. Until you read the story. Then it becomes such a powerful, all encompassing sentence. It means so much more than it seems. There is a lifetime in that one sentence.

Abby and Lily are identical twins and their lives reflect all that being a twin involves. 1 set of shared DNA, 1 egg that decided to split into 2. The bond of a twin is almost like 1 soul that occupies 2 bodies.

When Lily is kidnapped at age 16, twin Abby's life falls apart. Abby is completely lost without her other half. Life isn’t the same, can never be the same and at times Abby thought life was not worth living. Abby spirals through depression, alcohol, drugs and attempted suicide.

Lily, kidnapped at age 16, held hostage, repeatedly beaten, raped and tortured for 8 years. Her kidnapper thinks he has broken her spirit, thinks he has created his perfect “Baby Doll”. He is mistaken. So badly mistaken.
Lily's escape, after 8 years…… is just the beginning.
The story takes the reader through the experience of a family united. A twin come home. All the hope, dreams, confusion, complications and the ever present fear that it will never really “end”.
I loved the book and recommend it to anyone over age 16.

I have had a copy of this book on my Kindle for a while but wanted to wait for the hype around it to calm down before I read the book to be able to give it a fair review. I enjoyed it but I wasn't a huge fan of any of the main characters so that automatically affected how I felt about the book overall, I have never been in the position of Lily or Abby but both of them really irritated me, particularly Abby but I carried on with the book and was pleased when it picked up pace towards the final third of the book - 4 stars from me, good, but I'd expect more for 5 stars