I was really looking forward to reading this book and was extremely excited to receive a free copy!
The book explores the relationship between the main character and her Mother and their family secrets. Normally this is the type of genre I gravitate towards but I had a hard time getting through this entire book. I felt the story was paced really slowly and at times found it to be confusing.
Overall I was disappointed and would not place this book on my "must-read" list.

The Good Daughter by Alexandra Burt is a 2017 Berkley publication.


This book is not your typical suspense thriller. There is a crime, several crimes, in fact, but this is not a police procedural or detective novel, nor does it neatly fit into any other sub-genre category. However, it is a crime drama or maybe saga is a better word, it’s just not presented in a way anyone could possibly imagine.

Dahlia had an unconventional upbringing, to say the least, but eventually she and her mother settled in Aurora, Texas. Dahlia left home for fifteen years, but has returned only to find her mother is in ill health.

While going for a run, Dahlia discovers the body of a young woman, barely breathing, but still alive. This event, on top of her mother’s ever increasing erratic behavior, and a puzzling health concern of her own, triggers something long buried in Dahlia’s mind, that prompts her to finally insist on finding out the truth about her mother and her own past, as well as trying to press her old friend, Bobby, to look deeper into what happened to the young woman whose life she saved.

This is a very strange tale, and to be honest, I really struggled to get through it. I suspected the truth early on, but never could have imagined the bizarre scenario that eventually unfolded.

The plot is difficult and murky, told from Dahlia’s, and her mother’s, point of view, alternately. The pacing is slow and disjointed, and while I normally hate to see a book end, in this case, I was like a kid on a road trip, constantly asking ‘Are we there, yet?’

The writing style is unique, and the author has a vivid imagination, but once the threads all came together, I was disappointed that some things remained separate from others which left me a little puzzled, but did like the mostly optimistic ending, especially after having survived the oppressive and lurid tale that came before it.

Overall, this one just didn’t do much for me.

I'm not going to rate this book on here or anywhere else since I did not finish it. This just wasn't for me. The pacing was slow and there seemed to be too many small things thrown in that didn't seem to fit with the main puzzle.

Thank you for the opportunity to check out this book!

So I want to start off by saying that I liked this book. I'm glad I stuck with it, didn't listen to the negative reviews. But I understand where they come from.

First things first: one of the main storylines involves a violent sexual assault. Readers should be aware.

The story is good and has potential, lots of it: Dahlia is a woman who has come back to her hometown (or at least the place she lived the longest with her eccentric mother) to care for said mother and finally hear the truth about her past. Then, Dahlia stumbles upon a woman, badly beaten, in the woods. And her mother begins acting stranger than normal. All of it is connected, if Dahlia can only figure out how.

The issue with the story is that it's like an airplane that doesn't quite take off. Every time the story gets going, any time there's a big reveal, the author drops it and move onto another thread. Or starts a new chapter from a different perspective in a completely different place. Its hard to stay excited with that happening.

Also, it's hard to connect with the characters. They're so "eccentric" that they're aloof, really. I couldn't get a good read on them or their motivations. Like how Dahlia just accepts that she'll never be more than an under-the-table hotel maid. Just like that. It's hard to understand.

But the story did keep my interest. You can tell everything's connected somehow, and I did want to find out. I just didn't feel desperate to know, like with other mysteries.

I think this book is really miscast as a thriller, when it's more a drama. Maybe knowing some of that going in, people would understand it better. I might have had less of a "thriller" expectation, and understood that it would be slower paced.

I would say if you have the time and patience to read a good family drama, this would be a good book. It's going to take a little bit to get into it. But it will turn out enjoyable if you stick with it. Trust me.

If you're looking for a nice, tight thriller, skip it.

The Good Daughter was a reading departure for me, but it proved to me that sometimes it’s a great idea to read something different than you normally do! Alexandra Burt had me turning pages as fast as I could from the beginning. I couldn’t wait to find out what was going on with Dahlia and her mother and to know the truth!
Dahlia remembers moving from one place to the next all her life, and finds that she continues to do so as an adult. Why doesn’t she have a birth certificate? Not it seems like her mother is having a breakdown as well and Dahlia doesn’t know why. She does know that it’s probably related to her unorthodox upbringing.
Usually I don’t like stories that go back and forth in character and time, but this time it works. I almost found that Dahlia’s mothers story was more intriguing and I couldn’t wait until the story switched back to her!
Recommended…4/5 GoodReads
Thanks for the Advanced Reader’s Copy!

Dahlia left Aurora, Texas, 15 years ago without regrets but now she is back living with her mother and cleaning hotels. One morning she is out jogging when she finds a young woman buried in the woods. As she runs for help she falls and hits her head and since then she is been having strange visions. Dahlia feels a connection with the victim and tries to find her assailant. In the meantime, her mother's mental health starts to decline and Dahlia starts to uncover secrets from her mother's past. Why as a child did they move from place to place, living in cars, trailers, and motel rooms? Why did her mother finally settled in Aurora and gave them new names? And, more importantly what is her mother so afraid of?
This a chilling and suspenseful novel about the love of a mother for a child and what she would do to protect that child. The story is told from different points of view and, as each character tells her story, the truth slowly unravels. From deeply developed characters to atmospheric settings, from mystical elements to romanticism, this novel has everything to keep you glued to the page.

The Good Daughter is both a mystery and a narrative on the tragic reality of human nature and the desperate need to love and be loved.

I try really hard to pick books I think I will like, but I couldn't finish this book. It was very slow, choppy and confusing.

The main characters in The Good Daughter are Memphis and Dahlia. Memphis is Dahilia’s mother and has raised Dahlia by herself. They lived under the radar. No social security numbers, no school, nothing that could trace anything back to them.

With the underground way they are living, we can assume that Memphis is running from something in her past. We are given clues slowly, verily slowly. This is not a fast paced book, it’s more of a slow burn.

It held my interest from beginning to end.

I received an ARC copy.

Woman finally discovers why she and her mother spent her childhood living in so many different locations.

The premise of this one was so interesting. I enjoyed the writing style, and the storyline was fairly intriguing, but while reading, I kept wondering, where is this story going? Does it have a point? How long will it take to get there? I think that if it would have been written a bit differently, and with a better pace, I would have rated it 4 stars instead of 3.

Thank you to the author, the publisher, and NetGalley for a free ARC of this book in exchange for my honest review!

I enjoyed reading this novel however I did feel like it the storyline dragged in parts.

This book was amazing! I've read my fair share of books that jump back and forth but this was written perfectly! It enhanced the suspense making it a nail biter until the end!

Dahlia hasn't had the best upbringing. Her mom loves her but living paycheck to paycheck is tough. As she gets older things start to surface that makes her think that everything isn't what it seems. When Dahlia has to move home to take care of her mom long lost memories resurface and everything that you thought you knew you didn't.

When I didn't think my heart could take much more Burt's words pierced right through it leaving red, big drips of blood on the land below where it soared.

For all the hype this novel received, it was highly disappointing. I had expected the novel to be fast-paced but it was quite slow. I didn't mind that, in all honesty, as it allowed the author to build up the tension. However, there were so many useless things that were thrown into this story. There was a girl whom Dahlia found in the woods, and why this event was even a part of the story is something I'm still wondering. I liked the different perspectives of the story, but it was fairly easy to predict and so, I started to lose some interest. I didn't really like Dahlia's character at all; there were so many different ways that she could have approached her problems and she just .... didn't. Her mother was definitely more interesting - I'm pretty sure her character is the reason why I continued with the story. Overall, this story wasn't anything special. There was nothing wrong with the pacing but the way the story was presented as well as the predictability of the "truth" just made it lose marks for me. Unfortunately, it wasn't worth the hype.

My reviews are always honest, but this one is hard. I liked the idea of this book, the hook sounded so strong. However, the book is far short of the mark I hope it would have. I don't mind points of views swapping, as long as I can follow, but this book has lost of threads that just got lost. Dropped threads, things that feel random and were never answered or addressed again. That bugs the heck out of me. How could the editor and the beta readers miss this stuff?

It messed things up enough to make the book rate a "meh" and if I weren't so driven to read what I start, I probably wouldn't have finished it. I would suggest the author consider another editor and a revised version. I'm so sorry to say that, books are a labor of love, but this one needs some extra TLC.

My copy came from Net Galley. My review is my own, my thoughts and my options and I wasn't required to leave a review of any kind.

“What if you were the worst crime your mother ever committed?”

Dahlia Waller is returning home to Aurora, Texas. She doesn’t really want to go back to her mother Memphis but she has to. Dahlia has these memories of leaving in the middle of the night from her home as a child. They traveled around until they landed in Aurora. There was never any paperwork. No birth certificate. No vaccination records. Nothing. Her mother took jobs that paid her cash under the table. Something that Dahlia has had to do all her life as well.

While out for a run, she stumbles across a woman who has been attacked and buried under leaves and dirt. The woman is barely alive. Dahlia feels a strange draw to this woman and starts having these strange feelings and visions. As she tries to come to terms with what’s happening, her mother decides it’s time to tell her the real story.

The chapters go back and forth between the present with Dahlia and Memphis, and with a woman named Quinn. Quinn’s story will tell us everything.

There was a lot going on in this story. Maybe a bit too much. You will need a lot of patience to keep reading. And I kept reading but at times, I wanted to flip through to see how it all turns out. I really enjoyed her book Remember Mia so maybe I had a bigger expectation for this one. It is an interesting story with some very intriguing characters but it just fell flat for me.

I received a copy of this book from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

I’m not sure what I think of The Good Daughter. I liked it, I read it, I finished it but I am disturbed by the story. Maybe that was the idea of the author. The twisted story has definitely kept me thinking about it, wondering if this could really happen, and hoping that it doesn’t.

While I read the story I never felt fully connected to the characters. I couldn’t relate or feel for them. I was curious, wondering, and hopefully for their story. I wanted to feel more, to hurt for them, to cry for them, and to be happy for them but it just wasn’t there.

I believe this is a book that other’s could and will enjoy for me it just didn’t do it. I recommend picking up your own copy and forming your own opinions.

FTC: I received a free copy of this book from Netgalley in exchange for my honest review. I received no other compensation and the opinions expressed in this review are one hundred percent true and my own.

The Good Daughter by Alexandra Burt was a hard book for me stay interested in. Once I was about halfway in I did want to finish the book but this is one of those books that took me longer to get through because I would always want to read other books instead of this one. I really was interested in this book because of the back cover, and that is why I didn’t give up on it even though it took me a few months to read the entire book. I did feel like the book was slow in some parts and in others parts it almost went too fast. If you enjoy mystery books than I would for sure tell you to check this book out and let me know what you think of it.

I struggled to get lost in the pages of the Good Daughter. I so wanted to love this story, but unfortunately found the 1st person, present tense narration to be incredibly distracting. I very much appreciate the opportunity to read this book!

The Good Daughter, the upcoming suspense novel by Alexandra Burt, is a story of the relationship between families and their secrets. This one left me with mixed feelings. Let me explain:
The novel opens with Dahlia returning home to Aurora, Texas to visit her mother. As soon as she arrives, she goes jogging in the woods and stumbles across a woman buried in a ditch. Dahlia feels a strange connection to this woman so she stays in town while the woman recovers at the hospital. Dahlia takes this as a perfect opportunity to find out some answers about her shady childhood from her mother. Her mother begins to explain to her through narratives surrounding a woman named Quinn. The entire novel is narrated in small sections: we hear from Dahlia (searching for answers), Memphis (struggling to reveal her secrets to her past) and Quinn (a woman dealing with infertility issues and a husband who puts crickets in a jar).

Strange? I think so.

What I Liked:

The Characters: I found that Burt did an excellent job at developing her leads to the fullest extent. Memphis, Quinn, and Dahlia all had interesting qualities that allowed me to connect with them. Dahlia and Memphis were especially interesting for me!

The introduction of Southern Voodoo: this was the most fascinating part of the novel; Quinn, struggling with infertility, sets her sight to see a “witch doctor”, who lives in a trailer park on the edge of town; moments with her were creepy. I wanted more of her.

The Overall Plot: I did like the general story. A daughter searching for answers and a mother hiding secrets. This intrigued me and did propel me enough to continue reading.

What I Struggled With:

The Pace: The build up for this one took too long; the characters seemed completely unrelated until the last chapter. I understand that a novel needs to build, however, it happened entirely too slowly.

The Narrative Style: This book becomes downright confusing at times. I found it very difficult to follow the characters and the timeline of the story. It was very jumbled and jumped back and forth in time. This made it difficult to easily understand the plot.

Secondary Characters and Plots: I didn’t feel any connection to any of the secondary characters. They were so underdeveloped; I would have preferred not to have them at all. I also felt that Burt added too many subplots that were not necessary. For example, the girl in the woods? I don’t even feel like that was needed to push the plot. It seemed like an unnecessary addition.

If you want a fast-paced thriller, this will not be to your liking. However, if you enjoy a slow burning family saga, this one could be enjoyable.

Dahlia Waller spent her childhood with her mother moving her from place to place without ever giving a reason to why they couldn’t settle down and Dahlia attend school like other children. The day the pair end up in the town of Aurora, Texas though Dahlia’s mother finally settles down and stays but still guards her secrets about their past.

Shortly after turning eighteen and finishing high school though Dahlia packs up and leaves the town herself to try to have a better life than she did growing up but she soon finds her mother’s secrets have her trapped in dead end jobs and on the move without any paperwork or identification. After fifteen years of this Dahlia decides it’s finally time to return to Aurora and confront her mother about their past.

When starting off reading The Good Daughter by Alexandra Burt I thought the book had potential but it quickly became apparent this one wasn’t going to be a favorite of mine. It’s usually intriguing to learn about buried family secrets and the skeletons in their closets but the set up in this story had this reader a bit confused in the beginning. The story changes the POV without much explanation as to what is going on for quite a while but when it did become clear as to why the switching the entire plot became quite obvious to me.

Also, another complaint with this one was bringing in the main character Dahlia finding an unconscious woman towards the beginning of the story which really had nothing to do with the plot about her mother’s secrets. This part of the book just seemed like extra filler that got ignored and really had no place in the book and details with this part seemed to take away from the main story.

Overall, this one really wasn’t my cup of tea, main story a bit too obvious and a little too much extra thrown in that didn’t need to be in the book.

I received an advance copy from the publisher via NetGalley.