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Cassie is devastated when her only child dies in a tragic accident. Shortly after Josh’s funeral, Kim turns up on the doorstep with baby Samuel and he is the spitting image of Josh as a baby. Cassie begins to obsess over her new grandson but strange things start to happen…

It is clear that Cassie and Kim both have secrets from the past which they are desperate to keep hidden. Cassie receives mysterious text messages which descend to blackmail while Kim is evasive about the details of her relationship with Josh.

The narrative is delivered through multiple viewpoints including Josh in flashback chapters. These are particularly poignant as we know he has died and we are witnessing the events that lead to tragedy.

Cassie, Kim and Josh’s ex Jemma are all emotionally written by Sheryl Browne to create sympathy, whilst also raising questions about their actions and motives. The grief of losing a loved one is realistically portrayed and sensitively written. These characters have a vulnerability which makes them appealing despite their dubious activities.

Some parts of The New Girlfriend are quite dark. Kim’s homelife is quite tragic to read about, yet her stalking and desperation is creepy yet heartbreaking. The sinister messages and mental breakdown of Cassie, the tension in Cassie and Adam’s marriage all contribute to the sense of unease and danger that make us as readers feel concerned for the characters.

The final page is truly jaw dropping and I wasn’t expecting it at all (no spoilers!) Overall, this was an enjoyable book to read: part psychological thriller, part family drama but definitely emotional.

I have previously reviewed The Perfect Sister, The Second Wife, and The Affair by Sheryl Browne.

Book Description:

Leah Wright is an ER doctor but the one person she can’t save is her husband Ian who is violently tortured and murdered on Valentine’s Day. She arrives home to the promise of a surprise but finds his devastated body and her daughter cowering under a bed. Luka Jericho is called in to lead the investigation into Ian’s murder but the evidence seems to be pointing at Leah…

Leah and Luka are very likeable lead characters. Both are vulnerable emotionally due to their family relationships which feature heavily in this book. The danger that Leah and her daughter face is tangible and easy to imagine as a parent myself.

The dramatic nature of the plot and the mix of personal and professional relationships is enjoyable and engaging. The natural respect between the police and medical team is apparent yet strained due to suspicions. I understand that The Next Widow is the first in a series to feature Leah and Luka and it will be interesting to see how they move on from this case and work with their colleagues.

CJ Lyons’ style of writing is easy to read and engaging. The drama, danger and dread are all cleverly layered to keep the reader emotionally linked to the characters and their responses to events. The family dynamics inspired my anger on behalf of Luka and Leah as they are victims of the selfishness of others.

The Next Widow is a dramatic thriller with some graphic description and forensic detail. I did not find the ending and explanation of the motive particularly credible but it was an enjoyable story overall. I look forward to more in this series and the further development of Luka and Leah’s chaacters.

CJ Lyons Media Kit:

Title: THE NEXT WIDOW

Author:  CJ Lyons

PUBLICATION DAY: July 28th 2020

BUY LINKS:

Amazon: https://geni.us/B087V762MFSocial

Apple: https://apple.co/2SFxNkr

Kobo: https://bit.ly/2y7XbIx

Google: https://bit.ly/2WhDqGe

Description:

In the distance Leah heard sirens. She ignored them. Right now, her daughter needed her and Emily was just out of reach, curled up under the bed, her eyes closed, desperately shaking. Leah did the only thing any mother would do. She crawled through the blood to get to her daughter.

Dr Leah Wright returned to her childhood home in rural Pennsylvania with her husband to find peace and quiet, start afresh and raise her six-year-old daughter Emily. But when she gets home one dark winter night, clutching roses in her hand, she finds her daughter huddled under her bed and her husband’s blood all over the floor…

When Detective Luka Jericho is called to investigate, he’s shocked to learn that the killer left a witness behind – the victim’s young daughter. The scene is a painful reminder of his fiancé’s unsolved death, and he is desperate to find out what Emily saw that night. He knows that the killer could still be out there, waiting to strike again.

But growing up, Leah learned the hard way that the only person she could rely on was herself. And it’s not until she and Emily are attacked again that she realizes just how close the killer is. Can she trust Luka to keep her daughter safe?

Fans of Karin Slaughter, Kendra Elliot and Tess Gerritsen will devour this fast-paced and chilling new crime series from New York Times bestselling author CJ Lyons. You won’t be able to put The Next Widow down.

Author Bio:

As a pediatric ER doctor, New York Times and USA Today Bestseller CJ Lyons has lived the life she writes about in her cutting edge Thrillers with Heart.

CJ has been called a “master within the genre” (Pittsburgh Magazine) and her work has been praised as “breathtakingly fast-paced” and “riveting” (Publishers Weekly) with “characters with beating hearts and three dimensions” (Newsday).

Learn more about CJ’s Thrillers with Heart at www.CJLyons.net

Author Social Media Links:

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/cjlyons/

Twitter:  https://twitter.com/cjlyonswriter

All Dani has to remember her mother is a photo. She lives with her aunt and occasionally sees her dad Jon. She is 14 and has so many questions about her mother’s life and death but no one wants to talk about it. Is it the grief or is there a secret…?

Dani discovers her mother’s journal and begins to search for the truth. The narrative in My Mother’s Choice is divided between Dani’s viewpoint and Laura’s diary entries (although it reads as straight prose rather than having the personality I would expect from a personal journal, for example: people’s speech is written out verbatim whereas I would expect a diary to summarise).

It becomes clear to Dani that her parents had a tense relationship at times due to family circumstances, his first wife and daughter, and her sister. I enjoyed reading about the developing relationship between her parents which raised suspicions about the circumstances of Laura’s death but were actually red herrings (not telling you any more!) Jon is only ever seen through Dani and Laura’s perspectives so we do not gain an insight into his actions and emotions.

Dani is a stereotypical teenager and redhead: impulsive, determined, tempestuous. She feels that she has been deliberately kept in the dark and doesn’t trust the adults around her. Meanwhile, she is also a loyal and thoughtful friend, saving someone from being bullied.

I think the ending is emotional and tragic as the truth is revealed. The portrayal of mental confusion raises concern for me as to how we treat people that need care and actually really upset me. I felt that I wanted to know more about Dani’s response to events and see how she processes and moves on with her life but instead this is left to the readers’ imaginations.

The title My Mother’s Choice is good for making us think about what choices we would make in the same situation as Laura. The book is an enjoyable read overall but will pull at the heartstrings.

I have previously reviewed His Secret Family and Lost Daughter by Ali Mercer.

Ali Mercer Media Kit:

Title:  My Mother’s Choice

Publication Day:  29/07/2020

Author:   Ali Mercer

Buy Links:

Amazon: https://geni.us/B086T61VF1Social

Apple: https://apple.co/2wk3G9Z

Kobo: https://bit.ly/2xdGeMb

Googleplay: https://bit.ly/2UVLTjb

Description:

‘A heart-wrenching drama… an emotional rollercoaster with twists along the way… I read this in four hours and I know you’ll be hooked too.’ NetGalley Reviewer, ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

Nobody talks about my mother. Absolutely nobody. I have no idea what she was like. I’d always thought they kept quiet about her because they were sad. But what if it was because they were guilty?

I watch them at the school gates, all the mothers with their daughters. I see the hugs and all those thoughtful little adjustments to scarves and ponytails. How their love seems to overflow, they have so much of it to give.

And then I walk home to my aunt’s cold house, where there are a hundred rules for me to follow and only a single photograph of my mother to look at.

She is never spoken about in this house. They tell me that it will be easier if I don’t think about her.

It is strange though, isn’t it? That I know nothing about my own mother?

But they don’t know about the diary I’ve found up in the loft. Maybe they even forgot it was there. It doesn’t matter anymore if they won’t tell me anything. Because within these pages is what I’ve waited fourteen years to find out. And maybe some things I wish I could forget.

All I wanted was to bring our family closer together, but could what I find tear us apart instead?

My Mother’s Choice: a heartbreaking and powerful novel about family secrets and how we live with decisions we never thought we would have to make. Perfect for fans of Jodi Picoult, Kate Hewitt and Amanda Prowse.

Author Bio:

Ali decided she wanted to be a writer early on and wrote her first novel when she was at primary school. She did an English degree and spent her early twenties working in various jobs in journalism, including as a reporter for the show business newspaper The Stage. She started writing fiction in earnest after getting married, moving out of London to the Oxfordshire market town of Abingdon and starting a family. She has two children, a daughter and a son who is autistic and was diagnosed when he was four years old.
Ali is fascinated by families, their myths and secrets, and the forces that hold them together, split them up and (sometimes) bring them back together again. She always travels with tissues and a book and has been known to cry over a good story but is also a big fan of the hopeful ending.

Author Social Media Links:

For updates and pictures, follow Ali on Twitter (@AlisonLMercer) or Instagram (@alimercerwriter), or on her Facebook page (AliMercerwriter)

Abi arrives back in Elwood to confront her past after the death of her father. Minutes after she sets foot in her hometown, she witnesses a hit and run. The victim is her former best friend’s son, 8 year old Ethan.

Abi has personal issues due to her family situation. Her mum abandoned the family and left Abi with her alcoholic father. She reunites with old friends and boyfriends but it all feels awkward as she has changed so much. Plus she is unsure of who could be responsible for injuring Ethan…

The Child Across The Street is a wonderful character study of Abi. The writing is so realistic and natural that the revelations about Abi are compelling. Hints about her unhappy relationship with her dad add to the anticipation for the reveal of the truth.

The mystery of the hit and run becomes secondary and doesn’t pack a punch in the same way as the crimes or questions in Kerry Wilkinson’s other books. There are plenty of suspects and suspicious behaviour to maintain interest in the accident. The human element as seen in the aftermath for Ethan’s mum as she copes with his injuries and gets reacquainted with her former friend is so believable.

The style of writing is easy to read and engaging. Abi is likeable despite her flaws and the impact of her past on the present (the animosity with her parents, the secret alcoholism, her teenage friendships). We have no idea about her friends or career so this really is a snapshot of Abi’s life interspersed with her memories from twenty years ago.

The Child Across The Street is an enjoyable book but doesn’t quite have the wow factor that I have loved in Kerry’s other books (After The Accident, Close To You, A Face in the Crowd).

Media Pack

Title:  The Child Across The Street

PUBLICATION DAY: July 23rd 2020

Author: Kerry Wilkinson

Buy Links:   

Amazon: https://geni.us/B089YSY1K3Social

Apple: http://ow.ly/1HV350A4LdJ

Kobo: http://ow.ly/Yw7H50A4LbF

Google: http://ow.ly/txga50A4LlE

Description:

Wheeling my suitcase down the familiar, hedge-lined street, I smile at the sound of children playing in the park nearby. Suddenly, there’s a screech of car brakes. I rush over to see a bent bike wheel sticking out of the ditch, and underneath, a little boy…

As I turn the rusty key in the lock of the house I grew up in, memories flood back. None of them happy. I never told anyone why I left home twenty years ago, and all I want is to sort out Dad’s funeral as quickly as possible.

Now I’m trapped here, the only witness to a terrible incident that has left an eight-year-old boy fighting for his life. But after a lifetime trying to forget my past, I don’t know if I can trust my memory, or be totally sure of what I saw today.

Sorting through Dad’s things one night – shopping lists in his curly handwriting, piles of old newspapers, dusty sports trophies – I think I hear the back door handle rattle. I tiptoe downstairs, past an open window I’m sure I locked. And a figure darts across the overgrown garden.

Someone is watching me. Someone who knows I’m the only one who saw what happened to little Ethan… or could they know the real reason why I left? Either way, I’m certain that coming back was my biggest mistake. I can’t leave, but the longer I stay, the more danger I’m in…

An utterly addictive psychological thriller that will have you glued to the pages until the early hours. Fans of The Girl on the Train and I Am Watching You won’t be able to put down the next mind-blowing read from bestselling author Kerry Wilkinson.

Author Bio:

Kerry Wilkinson has had No.1 bestsellers in the UK, Canada, South Africa and Singapore, as well as top-five books in Australia. He has also written two top-20 thrillers in the United States.

As well as his million-selling Jessica Daniel series, Kerry has written the Silver Blackthorn trilogy – a fantasy-adventure serial for young adults – a second crime series featuring private investigator Andrew Hunter, plus numerous standalone novels. He has been published around the world in more than a dozen languages.

Originally from the county of Somerset, Kerry has spent far too long living in the north of England, picking up words like ‘barm’ and ‘ginnel’.

When he’s short of ideas, he rides his bike or bakes cakes. When he’s not, he writes it all down.

Author Social Media Links:

http://kerrywilkinson.com

http://facebook.com/KerryWilkinsonBooks