I received an arc copy of this book from Net Galley in exchange for my honest opinion of it. I just was not able to finish. Between a 40 year old man being with an 18 year old girl, yes girl, and the sections of the book which was the past and was obviously prostitution, I had enough. The main character was so annoying with keeping her secrets. This just was not my cup of tea.

Oo even the cover of this book you could tell would be a thrill! Definitely loved the writing style as well as the characters. Great read!

This book is The Engagement Buy Samantha Hayes. When we first meet Hannah and her loving partner Rob they’re getting ready for her daughter and his stepdaughter‘s 18th birthday. It’s going to happen the day after she returns from being in France for two months. They spent lots of money on a lavish party bought her antique jewelry as a birthday present and cannot wait to see bell but they’re going to have to because she misses the first flight she was scheduled for and she’s not communicating with her mom and after going to the airport with welcome balloons happy faces and so much anticipation they came home without her. The party is the next night so no worries as long as she gets in in time and at the last moment she shows up to the venue but she’s not alone. 18-year-old bell has brought her 40 something-year-old fiancé and introduce him to her parents she says his name is Jack when Hannah sees him however she knows his name isn’t Jack and he isn’t some 40 something-year-old entrepreneur. Unfortunately she cannot share this with her partner Rob nor her daughter because that is the secret she wanted to take to her grave. Jack stores out a menace the first night when they cannot find the antique jewelry that Rob and Hannah save that for to buy Bell for her birthday Hannah is upset but at the moment it seems Jack is the biggest fish she wants to fry and get out of the pot. Rob says no worries will file an insurance claim and get her more jewelry… But wait when the family arrives home after the party with Jack in tow might I add rob thought it would be best because if not he would’ve taken Hannah to his hotel room and they wouldn’t get to see her. No back to the jewelry, now when Belle walks in the house she is so excited it seems the loving jack surprises Bell with an identical original antique jewelry set. When Rob mentions that the The jewelry they bought h, Hannah squeezes his hand and beg him to play along because at least Hannah got the jewelry … Right? Belt things her parents just accuse him of taking it to cause trouble for her. Now if I got engaged with a guy even as a teenager and my parents who I knew did not like him but no them to be trustworthy told me that this guy gave me their present this original antique jewelry said that there’s only one out in the world I would at least have to give it some thought I mean that’s my parents who I trust! not Bell though they’re just starting trouble and they’re jealous everyone’s jealous cause she has old ass Jack. Not only that Hannah says her and Jack think it would be a waste of her time to go back to school for her A levels and even college is out,as she’ll be working for Jack, but Hannah knows what kind of work Jack is in too! end it will be over her dead body! this time goes by secrets come out and Hannah has more than one chance to come clean with Rob unfortunately she double down on her lies that’s a bigger hole and as the book proceeds we learn why. At a certain point in this book I had a feeling I knew what her secret was and what she was running from and I knew that was her secret I was going to be livid because no one can be that stupid… But yes they can and Hannah isn’t the only one to prove her stupidity Bell is a complete idiot and I know she’s young but come the hell on… If I said certain things they would give key plot points away and I know many women are going to read this book and say oh this book was so awesome this was so great and I guess if you suspend logic and forgo common sense then I guess yes this is a good book but everyone in this book are not who they have been pretending to be for the past 20 years! It even gets to the point where Hannah and Rob get together in reacquaint their self with each other and tell each other things you would say on the first or second date I found that ridiculous and in the middle of all this she invites to abuse sisters to come live with her which I thought was crazy because she got this pedophile after your daughter so you invite two more girls to entice him! I have thoroughly enjoyed Samantha Haze’s books in the past and I did want to finish to see how this cluster crunch of storylines we’re going to come together. Do I recommend it… Yes I think I do there’s many twist many laws lots of duplicity but it is lacking in common sense but once you start reading it you’re probably gonna want to see how it ended I know I did! I received this book from NetGalley and a publisher but I am leaving this review voluntarily please forgive any mistakes as I am blind and dictate my review.

The Engagement was a good read; some of the storyline was a little ridiculous but it was good. I especially liked reading about the past as the stir alternates between the past and the present.

Hannah and Rob can’t wait for her daughter, Belle, to return from spending some time in France working on her French because they are planning a big 18th birthday party for her. Rob is her stepfather and together the couple have another daughter, Amber, age 10.

When Belle arrives home, she has brought an older man named Jack with her whom she says is her fiancé. Hannah is shocked because she knows this man and also knows he is evil. Together, they share a secret about her past that her family must never find out.

Writing more about this plot would be giving away spoilers and I don’t want to do that. There is a distasteful, but sadly, a realistic business, if you will, that goes on worldwide targeting young women. It would be nice to see this eradicated but as long as there are greedy people and naive young women out there, it may continue to flourish. I hope this has you intrigued to read this book. It enlightened me about this evil business. Maybe if enough people realize this happens, we can help stop it.

Copy provided by NetGalley in exchange for a fair and honest review.

Many thanks to NetGalley and Bookouture for gifting me a digital ARC of the latest thriller by Samantha Hayes - 4.5 stars!

Hannah and Rob are throwing a surprise 18th birthday party for their daughter, Belle, as she returns home from a class exchange trip to France. But the surprise is on them when she walks in with a much older man, Jack, and says she's engaged. But Jack isn't a stranger to Hannah and she's terrified for her daughter.

Told from multiple POVs and from a past timeline, this book was well-written and kept me engrossed. You can feel the fear in Hannah as she worries about her daughter, as well as Belle's desperate feelings on her first love. While I figured some things out - I never saw that ending coming! Bravo!

**please note due to low rating I will not be leaving a public review for this book as I have not paid for it.**

I have a really strong dislike for Then/Now books. Usually the 'Now' is more interesting than the 'Then' but this time it was the 'Then' that was far more interesting.

Overall I didn't enjoy this book. I didn't believe that Bella and Hannahs reactions to things was in anyway believable. It was all just a little boring.

First time trying this author and while I strongly disliked this book I would try another one.

Happy birthday!

When Belle introduces her fiancée at her 18th birthday party, Hannah, her mother is quite surprised, but not in a good way.
Jack, a man from her past, is introduced to her and hef only thing on the radar is getting away from him.

This book captivated me, loved the twists and the thriller side of the book.
Loved reading it!

It was my first book by this authoer, will not be my last!

3.5 stars rounded down

This book was definitely a 3 star read until the last few chapters and wow they made the book.

Hannah is planning her daughter's 18th birthday party, but when her daughter shows up engaged to a man she met less than 3 months ago, Hannah's past comes slamming into her present. As Hannah deals with trying to parent an 18-year-old convinced on marrying someone 20+ years older than her, dealing with her own past, and her partner, Rob, she finds herself being caught up in a web of secrets and lies.

The Engagement goes back and forth between past and present with multiple POV's in the present, which did a good job of giving background and context of the present. The build-up to the ending seemed to drag on a bit, and there was a few parts that seemed unnecessary (like Leanne and Kate), but the last few chapters of the book WOW - I did NOT see that coming.

The book dives into deep topics about the sex industry, which might be triggering to some people.

Overall, I recommend reading The Engagement and buckle up for a wild ride!

Thank you to NetGalley for letting me read and review this ARC of The Engagement. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

Surprise, Surprise!

Hannah and Rob are throwing a surprise eighteenth birthday party for their daughter, Belle. They have everything planned but are shocked when Belle has a surprise of her own! This book is full of surprises. What, on the surface, seems like a straightforward story, soon becomes a twist filled journey full of secrets, lies and danger!

Belle brought home a much older man to meet her parents. A man, who she says, she is going to marry. Jaws drop, shock and confusion set in. Belle's fiancé is no stranger to Hannah, and she is frozen to her core with fear.

The engagement is a twist filled ride which kept me on my toes and shocked me with a jaw dropping twist. This is a psychological thriller which was clever, gripping and captivating.

Samantha Hayes has written another brilliant psychological thriller .
Told in two different timelines this book was an absolute page turner right from the beginning to the end.
I loved it and highly recommend .
5 ***** stars from me .

BLOG TOUR REVIEW

Review for 'The Engagement' by Samantha Hayes.

Read and reviewed via NetGalley for Samantha Hayes, Bookouture publishers and Bookouture anonymous

Publication date 10th January 2022.

This is the second book I have read by this author. I have also read 'The Trapped Wife' which I would highly recommend!!

I was originally drawn to this book by its stunning eye catching cover and intriguing sounding synopsis and title. The synopsis stated that this book is 'A totally gripping psychological thriller from an Amazon No1. bestseller that will take you on a rollercoaster ride of emotions and have you gasping at the twists. Fans of The Housemaid, Gone Girl and The Girl on the Train will be flipping pages all night long!' I am a huge fan of 'Gone Girl' so am looking forward to seeing if this lives up to this statement. I am also a huge fan of Samantha and if this book is half as good as 'The Trapped Wife' it is guaranteed to be a page turner! I must admit I was also biased due to the publisher being Bookouture. I have yet to read a book published by Bookouture that I haven't enjoyed. Hopefully this won't be the first... Watch this space! (Written before I started reading the book).

This novel consists of a prologue, 50 chapters and an epilogue. The chapters are short to medium in length so easy to read 'just one more chapter' before bed...OK, I know yeah right, but still just in case!

This book is based in London and Bristol, England 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿, UK 🇬🇧. I always enjoy when books are set in the UK as I'm from Wales and have sometimes visited areas mentioned in the book. This makes it easier to picture where the scenes are set at times. I have actually visited both places recently and only live a couple of hours from Bristol so am looking forward to seeing if I recognise any areas mentioned.

This book is written in a mix of third and first person perspective and the protagonists are Hannah, Belle and Molly. The benefits of books written in first person perspective are as long as they are well written it makes you feel that you are being spoken to by the protagonist and it can create more of a bond between yourselves and them. If there are several protagonists you also get to see more of what is going on. The benefits of third person perspective with multiple protagonists are that it let's you see the bigger picture of what's going on and you get to know more characters more, what they are thinking and what they are doing. It feels like you get to see the whole picture and not miss out in anything. To have the benefit of both first and third person perspective ensures you don't miss out on anything.

'The Engagement' discusses some topics that may trigger some readers or may not be suitable for others. I like to point this out ahead of time in my reviews so you can judge if this book is for you or not. In this book Samantha discusses/includes exploitation of women and prostitution.

OMG!!!! WHAT DID I JUST READ!!!! I DID NOT EXPECT THOSE TWISTS!!! MIND BLOWN MUCH!!!

Wow!!! This book is fantastically written and had me hook, line and sinker from beginning to end. The descriptions were so in depth and vivid that the hair on my arms was standing on the ends and my heart was pounding throughout. The synopsis, title and cover were perfect for the storyline.

I was absolutely absorbed throughout this page turner. It is filled with tension, suspense, lies, secrets and omg the twists!!! I DID NOT see any of them coming!!! A MASSIVE CONGRATULATIONS Samantha!! It is getting harder and harder to shock me but by God you did that over and over!!! What an ending!!! One of the most gripping unputdownable nerve wracking psychological thrillers I have EVER read!!! You lady have one hell of a talent and I cannot wait to get hold of your previous and future books. I cannot remember the last time I was so hooked by a book but you managed that big time!!! The storyline is filled with crime, shocks, suspense, regrets, lies, friendship, tension, deceit and family. There were at least not one, not two but three explosive bombshells I did not see coming!!! There was so much going on and it was very fast paced and kept me on the edge of my seat throughout. The storyline is scarily realistic and what happens in the book and what Molly and Hannah went through happens to thousands of girls, if not more all over the world. It is a heartbreaking story and a parents worse nightmare!! The fact that Samantha has done her research absolutely shines through so a huge WELL done Samantha!! There is nothing worse than an author not doing even basic research on the subject they choose to write about as it can completely ruin a book of it is littered with unnecessary mistakes. Clear your schedule before you start as I read this in one sitting as I could not put it down!! Practically every chapter ended on a cliff hanger so no way could I put it down!! Absolutely hooked!! I would absolutely love to see this turned into a movie!!!!

It is set over multiple time lines. When books show what has happened in the past and what is happening in the present I find it really helps the reader (if it is well done) understand why things are happening and what has lead to the present activities and decisions. It also shows the bigger picture.

I was completely invested in both the storyline and the characters. Each of the characters had their own unique personalities and I felt differently about each of them. I really liked Molly and Hannah and felt so sorry on them throughout the book. Sadly, like many they felt they had no choice to do what they did after being manipulated and brought into their lives under false pretences. Hannah spends her whole life hiding her secrets and blaming herself but is she the only one with secrets? My heart broke for her with everything that was going on with her daughter Belle and as a parent myself I could feel my heart going a million miles an hour with hers. I'm not going to say too much about the other characters as I don't want to risk giving anything away. I could not stand Darren who was a horrible, twisted and sick person but again, strong and realistic and Samantha portrayed what many men in this world are like through him and what he does to the girls and how he treats them and the lies he says is exactly how these girls get dragged into these lives and caught in the webs that ruin them. My heart went out to Rob who was an absolutely amazing Dad to Belle and was worried about his family. I am not going to say anything about any of the other characters as it isn't worth the risk of dropping any hints but there was definitely mixed feelings with some of them and some major shocks to be had!! If you want to know more you will just have to click the link below to get a copy!! All in all a great mix of characters that worked well with this storyline.

Welcome to my top author Club Samantha and your book is one of the best psychological thrillers I have EVER READ!! Bring on the next one!!! I cannot wait!!! Here's to the next success 🥂

Make sure you read to the very end of the book to read the prologue and the prologue of Samantha's 'Date Night' ' which promises to be another explosive page turner and one I am looking forward to reading myself!!

Overall an absolutely heart racing, nerve wracking, emotional unputdownable addictive psychological thriller!!!


Genres covered in this book include Women's Psychological Fiction, Mystery, Thriller, Suspense, Psychological Fiction, Crime Fiction and Psychological Thriller amongst others.


I would recommend this book to the fans of the above as well as fans of 'Gone Girl', Shari Lapena, 'Housemaid', 'Gone Girl' and 'The Girl on the Train', Rachel Abbot and anyone who loves an explosive ending!!!


365 pages.

This book is just £1.99 to purchase on kindle, free on kindle unlimited and £8.99 in paperback via Amazon which I think is an absolute bargain for this book!!!

Rated 5 /5 (I LOVED it ) on Goodreads, Instagram, Amazon UK and Amazon US and on over 30 Facebook pages plus my blog on Facebook.

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I have read lots of Samantha Hayes novels and I was looking forward to reading this. I have to be honest and say it does not live up to some of her other novels but it is still a great and exciting read.

We meet Hannah who is married and has 2 daughters Belle and Amber. Belle is currently away on an learning holiday and Hannah is setting up a 18th birthday party for her. On the day of the party Belle shows up with a man who is much much older than her, Jack and Hannah is surprised to find out that they are engaged and the other huge surprise is that she knows Jack/Darren from a past life. A life that Hannah wanted to leave very much in the past and Jack is now wanting his revenge with Hannah.

Each chapter is from Hannah's perspective, then and now and also Belle's perspective. In these chapters that are about Hannah's past, we learn exactly why Jack is out for revenge and the seedy life that Hannah once led. I do not want to give too much away. I found Hannah to be somewhat a silly woman and annoying at times that she did not just come out and tell her husband of her past.

This book for me was quite slow paced, I found my mind wandering and missing chunks of text which is when I know that I am not entirely invested in a book. The last half of the book really quickened up the pace and it was great.

Thanks for allowing me a copy of this novel in exchange for my honest review.

What do you do when your just 18 year old daughter tells you she is engaged to a man that you know with complete certainty is using her to get at you?

Samantha Hayes latest novel has twists and turns galore! It has deeply hidden secrets. It has characters that you will either love or loath! But, best of all is that awe inspiring ending!

Superb!

I absolutely love this author! This one was a cracker. Poor Hannah and Rob, their teenage daughter Belle comes home from a trip to France engaged to a man old enough to be her father. We know from the outset that he has ulterior motives and the engagement is a way to infiltrate the family.
This one is seriously twisted and I could not stop reading!

This was a completely gripping read that I found almost impossible to put down. The storyline was excellent with a few unexpected twists along the way. Once you start reading this book be prepared to not get anything else done as you will be so engrossed in this read. This is told in a dual time line and both timelines are absolute page turners. Everything about this book is brilliant from the prologue to the very last chapter.

If I remember rightly, it was at about the turn of the millennium that my mum had a special birthday. And for it, the family clubbed together to buy a ride in a hot air balloon.

I recall the brochure advising us to bring twice as much camera film - yes, film, that's how long ago we're talking - as we thought we would need, and they were right. Don't forget that in those days, there was no such thing as Google Earth. The only sensation that I, and I suspect everyone else there had previously had of seeing the world from the sky had been from peering out of the tiny window of a commercial aeroplane.

The balloon was far, far better. Your view was unrestricted and you were closer to the ground, so it really did feel as though I was seeing places that I thought I knew, but from a completely different perspective and in a whole new level of detail.

There were other new sensations, too. I don't know why, but for some reason I had expected it to feel cold at however many thousand feet in the air. But it didn't, because of course the balloon moved with the wind. Which meant that the breeze that had been apparent on the ground was non-existent up in the sky.

It was a fantastic experience, but here's the thing. I suspect that, if I were to go up in a hot air balloon again today, I have no doubt that the organisers would still do everything they could to make it the best possible experience. And yet I suspect that I still wouldn't be wowed in the same way. Partly this is because I've done it before and know how it feels, and partly it's because, thanks to the aforementioned Google Earth, I know how it looks as well.

This brings me nicely to 'The Engagement' by Samantha Hayes - bear with me - because this book does what it does extremely well. The happy family dynamic of Hannah, devoted husband Rob and beautiful daughters Belle and Amber is about to be shattered when eighteen-year-old Belle returns from her first solo holiday to announce her engagement to 'Jack'. Hannah knows that this did not happen by chance. Because Jack is someone that she herself escaped from years ago. And she has kept this secret ever since ...

It's a fantastic premise, and from there the reader is easily drawn into 'past' and 'present' storylines. The 'past' storyline is told with both sensitivity and insight, and it doesn't matter that the reader already knows that Hannah ultimately escapes it because we still want to know how. Meanwhile, we also think we know where the 'present' storyline is going but that doesn't matter either, because we can still scream at the characters to wake up and realise what's really going on.

I really enjoyed the book and was compelled to carry on reading to the finish as quickly as possible. However, there's a problem. I'm not for a minute trying to suggest that this book is a copy of anything else, but at the same time it didn't really contain anything that I haven't read before in a psychological thriller. I suppose it felt a little bit like going on a hot air balloon ride for a second time. It's very, very enjoyable, but the initial wow factor has been lost.

The ending of the book was kind of a continuation of that. It's very well done and I certainly hadn't seen it coming, but at the same time it wasn't enough to leave me open-mouthed. I actually found myself feeling a little bit annoyed that one or more characters hadn't admitted to their closely-guarded secrets earlier, which could have saved them a great deal of trouble.

Ultimately, however, 'The Engagement' is a fairly easy and yet gripping read. It's for this reason, together with its many, many good points that it gets an easy four stars. If you're a bit less jaded than me, there's every possibility that you'll end up loving it.

My thanks to Bookouture for my inclusion on the blog tour. I will post my review on Goodreads, Amazon, Instagram and my personal blog.

This was my first book by Samantha Hayes. I did enjoy it but I felt like something was missing. I can't point my finger on it. Maybe it was the ending felt rushed or I guessed the ending. The character development was good. The writing style was great but still wasn't 5 star for me. I would give it 3.5 stars

Well that was a twist that I never saw coming and then there was another one! Don't want to say much and give anything away but recommend this one. Thank you to Bookouture and NetGalley for an advanced copy.

The Engagement by Samantha Hayes was a tense, psychological thriller that enveloped me right from the beginning. So many lies and so many secrets, all of which are revealed in the last few chapters of the book and the twists which I could never guess. Even though the book felt a bit long and drawn out, I enjoyed the multiple PoVs , dual timelines, dark and gritty premise and absolutely stellar writing but the icing on the cake was one last surprise in the epilogue that shows what a masterful storyteller Samantha Hayes is.

Thank you @netgalley and @bookouture for the digital ARC. The book is out now.