Digital Reads Reviews

Many thanks to publisher Bookouture for my spot on this Blog Tour.

This was a book which would stay with me for a long time. A gritty tale of domestic abuse and secrets. Some families had it tough and they made sacrifices. Love bound them even when they didn’t know how to show it.

Carol was abused, she left her husband, Jim came into her life. But her son Graham was lost to her. Daughter Nicky made something out of herself.

In between these lines, there was a story of a family’s journey from 1984 to 2019.

Author S. E. Lynes has surpassed herself, her previous books have nothing on her. This was by far the best. Her writing with its authentic words and accents pulled me in. It was hard hitting and raw. It bespoke of a truth with honesty underlying the words. I couldn’t help but read it at one go.

The writing evoked a wealth of emotions as the story progressed. I couldn’t help but empathize with the characters as they found their own niches in life. The hard knocks sure kept coming. But the frail string of love bound them together and kept them afloat. But this was a suspense novel, and the author has weaved it in such a way that throughout the book, I kept wondering what it would be.

I suspected one of them but the others were pretty shocking. One of the best reads, I would say!!

I received a free ARC from NetGalley and publisher, and this is my journey into its pages, straight from the heart!! STRICTLY HONEST AND UNBIASED.

All my reviews can be read here

S E Lynes is the Amazon best selling author of psychological thrillers, VALENTINA, MOTHER, THE PACT and THE PROPOSAL.
After graduating from Leeds University, Susie lived in London before moving to Aberdeen where she worked as a producer at the BBC before moving with her husband, Paul, and two young children to Rome.

In Rome, she began to write, snatching time where she could. After the birth of her third child and upon her return to the UK, she gained an MA in Creative Writing from Kingston University.

She now combines writing, mentoring and lecturing. She has also published two children’s books in Italy.

Her fifth novel, THE WOMEN is out May 22nd 2019.

The truth can set you free, or make you a prisoner…

Thirty years ago, Nicola Watson lived with her parents and older brother in a respectable suburb. At ten years old, she didn’t yet understand why her stomach tightened when she heard her father’s heavy tread as he returned home late at night, or why it made her brother Graham’s stammer get worse, or why one night her mother Carol woke them both, wide-eyed and whispering, and took them out of their home and into the unknown.

Now a successful lawyer in the city, with a life poles apart from her dark beginnings, Nicola has returned home for her mother’s funeral. But as she stands in her mother’s house, remembering the woman who sacrificed everything for her children, Nicola has to confront the guilt that she feels for leaving her family behind. And the belief that she played a part in the events that led to her brother going to prison for murder.

All Carol wanted was to protect her children, but escaping her husband was only the beginning of the story. And when Nicola learns the truth of what her mother did, it will change everything she thought she knew about herself and her family.

Publication Date: 4th December 2019

Publisher: Bookouture