Thank you to Poison Pen Press for letting me read NO CHILD OF MINE early. This one publishes on September 12.

I love a gothic horror and creepy houses and generations of heroines. Unfortunately, this is not that. I really don't care about doctors appointments and take out food. There wasn't enough meat in this one, it was just surrounded by too much salad. Sadly, this one just didn't do it for me.

Interesting tale of a woman who's pregnant but doesn't want to be, her husband, Sanjay, the atmospheric house they've moved into, and a family curse.

Told in a dual timeline from three female's points of view, this story had some intriguing elements, but I didn't really connect with it and decided it wasn't my cup of tea. Other readers may enjoy it more.

Many thanks to Poisoned Pen Press and NetGalley for an advance copy of this book. My thoughts and opinions are my own and without bias or favor or expectation.

No Child of Mine is an atmospheric horror story following multiple generations of women who are subject to a curse. Their husbands suffer an early death leaving wives and daughters without male role models. Essie and Sanjay marry, buy a house, and fall pregnant. Like most pregnancies, it was not easy for Essie in many ways - timing, career aspirations, and support. As they remodel the house, strange occurrences begin to change the way they feel about each other and the growing child. Eddie faces the challenge of the curse and the haunting of they house while Sanjay weaves himself into becoming part of the house. This story is told through Essie’s lives experiences and letters between her ancestors -Ana and Isabel.

A generational curse told from alternating timelines made this story interesting and that much more haunting for me. A young couple finally buys their first house and have no idea what is in store for them. It is a story about love, pregnancy and the changes that brings, and the strength of the bond between mother and child. It is also chilling with supernatural elements playing a large part in the story.

A fast paced novel on a woman’s journey to save her marriage from a curse that has spanned across her family. Thrilling and leaves you guessing.

This is a Gothic horror, and I'm generally drawn to and enjoy Gothic horror, but I didn't really enjoy this book. The main reason is because the story seems mostly about morning sickness and how protagonist, Essie, is resentful of the fact she is having a baby. This may be where the story is for a certain reader, because the many scenes of hospital checkups and other medical appointments (that don't add to a horror feel) are not of interest to me.

For a Gothic horror, it is light on the elements of the sub-genre. In a lot of ways it felt more like a possessed house, or character possession horror, more than Gothic. The sense of romance between the characters was stronger than any sense of horror. The book felt confused to me. The house did not feel menacing enough. The supernatural/paranormal element was barely noticeable for most of the story. There is macabre imagery, but in dreams only, and the dreams felt very repetitive. I'm not sure about the purpose of the dreams being repetitive and extending that device for so long in the book. I don't think it helped the story move along at all. There is a sense of isolation and madness, but not all for the protagonist, and the isolation didn't drive the Gothic feel in the story. I'm left wondering how to categorise the story.

What this book needed was Sanjay's POV, because the slow-burn story with Essie's POV was not working for me. I would have removed most of the interrupting chapters from Ana and Isabel, which are a past narrative and most of their history is not required, and add Sanjay's POV. Maybe to show his change of emotion or show what was changing his personality. The reason I say this is because it wasn't shown vividly enough through Essie's POV. The observations weren't strong enough. Maybe it was written this way to add intrigue and suspense. But Essie's reactions were strong enough to add the suspense I needed.

I can see in the story the attempts to bring about supernatural tension. Creaks in the house, doors creaking open. That sort of element was used in the book, and used often. But the thing that was missing is the heightened psychological tension because of those things. Creaks and the like need strong reaction to be creepy and foreboding. Sadly that was missing in this book.

I would have loved to enjoy this book more than I did because the concept is so interesting. It looks like this book is receiving favourable reviews from many readers, which is great. As I said, this may be a book for a certain reader.

Thank you to the author, the publisher, and Netgalley for proving a free copy of this book for an honest review. All comments are my own.

A very atmospheric tale - could really get into the vividness of the environment and story. The plot itself was slower than I would have liked and took me some time to get into.

Thanks to Poisoned Pen Press for the copy of this book!

What a super spooky read for Fall! I loved the multiple POVs and fast pace for most of the book. The imagery was pretty good to create a bit of suspense and scariness. I love narratives that show that pregnancy isn't a cake walk for everyone. Some connections could've been a little better, but overall I liked it.

Unfortunately, this was a DNF for me.
I could not handle the story. I tried to continue and push through it until I made it to about 35% in and had to DNF.

I appreciate the ARC and this is my honest review.

I struggled with this one quite a bit. Our main character Essie is unlikeable and down right miserable. She finds herself pregnant after meticulously trying NOT to get pregnant and she is resentful and depressed. I can understand, but that’s literally most of the book. Aside from that, alternating chapters bounce between her and two women Isabel and Ana from centuries ago, who are now haunting her and her husband. Theres also an ominous curse that has plagued the women in Essie’s family for generations, and her husband Sanjay’s life may be on the line.

I’m not sure why the title is what it is, because it didn’t make any sense. There wasn’t much mystery, dread or horror so for me it kind of flat lined the entirety of the book. As always, thank you to the publisher, Poisoned Pen Press, for my eARC.

No Child Of Mine is told on two timelines. In the current day, we have Essie and her husband Sanjay, and several generations earlier we have Ana and Isabelle, two women who were profoundly in love in the days when it was just impossible for women to be together.

From the book's description I was expecting a scary read but mostly what I got was a love story interspersed with bouts of morning sickness. Or morning noon and night sickness since poor Essie seemed to be plagued with vomiting at all hours of the day and night, and although I remember what that feels like from my own experience, it did get a bit repetitive to read about crackers and nausea and bile for so many pages.

I enjoyed the characters from the past more than the present day and learning how the curse came to be. An awful curse born of both love and selfishness has taken fathers from their daughters for generations in Essie's family.

I had hoped there would be some spookiness in Essie's new house but other than some whispering and an object occasionally being displaced nothing much happened. Even when the curse began to take hold there wasn't any suspense. The ending seemed too simplistic after so many generations had suffered this curse.

You may enjoy this one more than I did, but it just wasn't for me.

My thanks to Poisoned Pen Press.

No Child of Mine is a beautiful and tragic tale that I read in one sitting. Throughout the story, there are chapters written from three different women’s point of view: Essie, Isabel, and Ana. Essie is a married third year law student who just bought her first home when she discovers that she is pregnant. She has very mixed feelings about the pregnancy because she never planned to have a baby in her life. The pregnancy itself is challenging and even before the baby arrives, Essie finds that her life is changing from the life that she could have had. Essie also begins hearing some noises in her fixer upper home and there are some serious haunted house vibes. Her devoted husband seems to be spending more time alone in his home office in the creepy attic and is becoming more distant. Essie is deeply concerned about everything going on and is determined to keep everyone safe.
Isabel and Ana are childhood best friends who are happy and content, but like all young women of the time have to grow up and get married to men that they barely know because it’s what’s expected of young women during their time period. These women navigate the loss of their childhood and being a part of their respective family units as they try their best to be make a good life with their new husbands while grieving the loss of their adolescence. I loved the relationship between these characters and truly wanted them to find happiness.

The way that Giraldes writes about the pregnancy seemed very raw and authentic. The way that a woman can be overjoyed and full of love for a new baby while grieving the life that she could have had if she chose to remain childless was very well written. I love that she was also able to make it very clear that at no point did Essie not love the baby. This story was full of grief and longing, yet also full of hope. I loved it and look forward to more works by this author.

Wow!!! I highly enjoyed this book. Essie is very much unexpectedly pregnant. She struggles with adjusting to the world changing news of being a parent. Not only that but her and her husband Sanjay just moved into an old fixer up home. As time goes by Essie starts having paranormal experiences all while her husband’s personality is changing and her baby is growing inside her. As we go through life with Essie we also are in the midst of a emotional story between Ana and Isabel. I loved the story and really enjoyed following along with Essie and ESPECIALLY enjoyed the Ana and Isabel story. It was exciting and I just wanted to keep reading more and more as things unraveled and all the details came together. The author did such a great job with this story. I love the amount of detail the twists it has and her writing story. I will be looking forward to her writing more books!

The synopsis seemed very interesting. I’m always in for a good haunted house story. The book started out great, I binge read the first half rapidly. The second half was a little slower, I had to pick up the book a few times to get though. The ending, in comparison to the rest, seemed very rushed, so that was a let down.

Positive notes:
At times, I reread some paragraphs because I thought some of them were absolutely beautiful. Some quotes really took my breath away. The authors obviously very talented.

I also really, really loved the fact that the author has written about pregnancy in such an honest way. It’s not all butterflies and rainbows for everyone when they find out they’re pregnant and there’s still a stigma surrounded around that. So thank you for that.

Thank you to NetGalley and Poisoned Pen Press for the ARC of this book.

The first half of this book was an absolute 5 star for me. It was the type of thriller/horror that I like - it took an everyday concept such as pregnancy and buying an old house and made it spooky. I like when an author can make something mundane into something scary...its just fascinating to me. The writing was good and I felt like I had to keep turning the page to find out what was happening next.

The writing shined the brightest during those early spooky scenes. As someone who has never been pregnant it gave me descriptions and details that made me feel as if I knew what it felt like. The imagery made me feel as if I was actually in the room. I couldn't put this down for like the first 60%. (The first and second trimester)

The last trimester, however, was not as great to me. The pacing slowed to a snails pace and I felt that some of the chapters were telling me the same thing over and over with nothing happening. The ending was the real bummer and I felt like it was rushed - as the ending didn't start until the last chapter or so of the book. Which would have been fine if I felt satisfied with it but unfortunately it just kind of fizzled out.

I've read a couple reviews that people didn't like the main character Essie. I for one liked her. I identified with her a lot but maybe that is because I could understand her thought process as an adult without children. I don't think she was selfish I think she was realistic. A woman who gets pregnant when she doesn't plan it is allowed to have certain feelings about it.

I want to get into the Isabelle/Ana chapters as well because this was a big part of the book. The author did a good job of grasping the relationship between the two characters and made it so we understood both of their motivations for why they did what they did. However...I think this became apparent enough early on and we didn't need several chapters that continued to harp on this unbreakable relationship. It was getting to a point of being too repetitive. Speaking of repetitive...

The repetitive phrases that Sanjay, our MC's husband, said during the book was killing me by the end. The "Are you okay" thing... Was this supposed to be there to make it seem that he was in a fugue state or was it just his catch phrase? Because I felt that I was reading the same conversation between Essie and Sanjay several times.

Overall, I enjoyed this book. It was unique in its premise and was very readable with characters that I identified with. I will gladly read anything Nichelle Giraldes puts out next.

No Child of Mine
by Nichelle Giraldes
Pub Date: 12 Sep 2023

"No Child of Mine" is a supernatural thriller covering a love story that went between the past and the present. I loved that part of the book. The story was truly fantastic, there was some mystery, suspense, sadness, love and ghosts.

It was very hard for me to put down until I got to the final page! I highly recommend reading this 5 star book.

Many thanks to #NetGalley and #PoisonedPenPress for giving me an E-ARC of this book.

Engaging storytelling with an interesting premise. Hooked me right off the bat.

The women in Essie's family always find true love. And their loves always meet a tragic end. But why? And what is the connection to Ana and Isabel, two women from the past whom the reader meets? Essie, however, only encounters them in the form of whispered voices and nightmares as she's trapped at home on bedrest during a pregnancy she never wanted.

The ending answered a lot of questions but was anticlimactic. The rest of the book makes up for it as you grow to love and worry about Essie and Sanjay as well as the mysterious Ana and Isabel.

I so appreciate my ebook from Poisoned Pen Press and NetGalley.

🫣 There is something in the dark … and it is starting to whisper 🤐 in Nichelle Giraldes “No Child of Mine”!

BOOK REVIEW: 🖤🖤🖤🖤/5

Essie and Sanjay have moved into their new home with plans to renovate and redecorate from scratch to create their dream home. Shortly after they move in, Essie finds out that she is pregnant and the home becomes more and more unwelcoming and a darkness begins to spread throughout the house.

As Essie’s pregnancy grows difficult, Sanjay also begins to drift away from her. He suddenly spends all his time upstairs in the attic pacing the floors and talking to himself. There is a possibility that a long standing family curse has been passed down through the generations and has landed on Essie and is lurking within her house. This sinister curse has left every daughter fatherless in its wake. WILL Essie be tempted to make a deal with the devil in order to protect her husband?? Or to protect her child??

I really enjoyed this book and all of its buried secrets! The curse on all the females in Essie’s family is haunting to read about and adds a major CREEP FACTOR to the story! This book is a perfect read for Spooky Season, especially if you enjoy a ghost story and haunted house setting!

Thank you kindly to @nichellegiraldes @poisonedpenpress @netgalley for my advanced digital copy! This book releases on September 12, 2023!

No Child Of Mine by Nichelle Giraldes

There is something in the dark and it is starting to whisper. This book is hauntingly powerful.

I didn’t enjoy this book. With the chapters going from one person to another, the story didn’t really flow. I only read half of the book.

Thanks to Net Galley for sending me an advanced reader’s copy for my review.

Thank you @poisonedpenpress for the #gifted copy of this e-arc!

This book is about a girl named Essie who is independent and focused on her career. She meets and falls in love with Sanjay and her aspirations are on pause for a bit. She knows what she wants but moving and his career have taken precedence. One thing she has always known is she doesn’t want to be a mother but one day she suspects her body has betrayed her. Underneath her doubts of becoming a mother lies whispers of a family curse. 😱

Now pregnant and not having an easy go she slowly withdraws from life because she feels so terrible. Constantly sick she always is wondering how much is the pregnancy and how much is her mind. Is she hearing whispers? Seeing things in the shadows? Her new house has her on edge and it feels like something dark lives within their four walls. Sanjay soon is pacing in the attic and isn’t quite himself. Essie’s life seems to be unraveling right before her own eyes.

Thoughts: I did enjoy the two timelines in this book and how they came together in the end. I initially was excited to scoop this one up as I saw it be compared to The Push (which I loved) but I have to be honest I see zero relation to it. I’m not sure what part would even be compared to it. 🤷🏼‍♀️ This felt like a slow burn horror book to me with no shocking or twisting moments.

It was interesting to see the slow unfolding of both characters and their psyche. Essie wasn’t particularly likable in this book because she was always on edge and not participating in life (not that I blame her fully). Sanjay was easier to become invested in because he seemed like a caring partner to her. My intrigue was definitely piqued trying to understand what was happening to him the whole time. 😱 Overall I did like this book however I am think I wanted there to be more twists or a big reveal.