This was a great read. I was gripped from the first chapter, and was eager to read more. The plot was quick paced and the characters felt real and relatable for the most part.

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for an advanced copy of this novel. Opinions are my own!

My Darling Girl is the first book of Jennider McMahon's that I've read and it certainly won't be the last. Intense and creepy, this one had be captivated from beginning to end!

I absolutely devoured this book! I love this author and her writing style. This is one you won’t be able to put down. It’s creepy and sinister, with evil lurking. It showcases mother-daughter relationships that are unhealthy and unstable. It has some seriously shocking twists that will have you reeling. It had the perfect amount of tension, suspense, and sense of dread. It is seriously intense, very character-driven but with a fast-paced plot. It’s both psychological and paranormal. This just had everything I could have wanted in a story like this. I will read anything McMahon writes. Honestly, I think her books just get better and better each year. This is my favorite one to date. I also listened to the audio and I thought it was well done. Definitely a five-star experience for me. Highly recommend this book to all mystery, thriller, and horror lovers. It is a must read!

This novel was absolutely terrifying - definitely falling more into the horror genre than a thriller. The premise: Christmas in a small New England town...and also demonic possession. I can't say more than that without giving away major spoilers, but this one has it all: demons, an unreliable narrator, TW for child abuse. It was absolutely riveting and - I can't say this enough - so scary. Absolutely amazing twist of an ending.

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for the ARC.

Absolutely riveting novel. Just the right mix of spine-tingling suspense and supernatural, and the juxtaposition of light and dark (a demonic possession set during Christmas) was a fresh twist.

I didn't love this one as much as others McMahon has written, but I read it quickly and was invested in the story. However, parts of it were slow and repetitive and I was waiting for something to happen already! Overall a good read but a little disappointing. I did like the ending!

Alison O’Conner survived an abusive childhood to become an author-illustrator with a bestselling book, a loving husband and two thriving daughters. Her husband Mark is obsessed with Christmas, which Alison indulges because it makes her feel like a normal person in the exact kind of normal family Mark himself grew up in. Their teenage daughter Izzy has just entered her rebellious phase, shutting out the mom she was once so close to, while their younger daughter Olivia is six and totally mad about ballet.

When Alison gets a phone call telling her that her own mother, renowned artist Mavis Eldeen Holland, has only weeks left to live, she isn’t sure whether this isn’t one of Mavis’ personal assistant’s periodic attempts to reconcile the two. Paul means well, but Mavis has held Alison at arms’ length ever since Alison was old enough to leave home and escape the abuse Mavis inflicted on her. But a visit to the hospital shows her that her mother really is dying:

QUOTE
Part of me wished I could backpedal, scramble out of the room, pretend I’d never gotten the call from Paul. But another part of me longed to be there, to make my mother see that I would do anything for her. To show her that I’d forgiven her for the terrors of my childhood.

I remembered all the times, when she was drunk and angry, that she’d called me a worthless girl. Maybe I was there to prove I wasn’t so worthless.

If she acknowledged I was worthy, would that deep feeling of worthlessness inside me stop sucking everything up like a black hole? It was what any therapist worth their salt might say.
END QUOTE

It’s in this frame of mind that Alison agrees to let Mavis live out her last days in the O’Conner home. Everyone else in her family is suitably wary. Mark knows about the abuse but is willing to go along with Alison’s assessment of the current situation. Izzy and Olivia are mostly confused about the sudden presence of a grandmother who’s shown very little interest in them to date, but adapt easily enough to her moving in. Alison is actually taken aback by how quickly Mavis adopts the role of good grandmother, even as glimpses of the abusive monster who hurt her become more frequent through the facade of the weak, elderly woman.

But it’s only when strange things start happening to the household that Alison begins to wonder whether there isn’t a literal monster lurking inside her mother. Flies and rats evoke terror, even before people start dying. Driven to dig into her mother’s life with the free hand that Mavis’ infirmity finally gives her, Alison discovers much more about her mother than she’d expected. The insight into Mavis’ past brings an unexpected amount of sympathy, even as Alison questions the rationality of her growing belief that Mavis has been somehow possessed by a demon. Isn’t it just as likely that Mavis’ cruel behavior is a continuation of her abuse?

QUOTE
I thought of my girls, of what would happen to them if I wasn’t me anymore, if I became someone–something–else. I stopped the thought because it was absurd. I was playing right into my mother’s hands. For surely she was not truly a demon named Azha but my mother, playing the cleverest and cruelest trick, one final terrible game to leave me reeling while she died. I remembered what she used to say to me when I was little: <i>You need to be a little less gullible. You can’t believe everything you hear, Alison.</i>
END QUOTE

Torn between reason and fear, Alison has to decide just how far she’s willing to go to heal the rift between her mother and herself, while still preventing any harm from befalling her own daughters. But Mavis isn’t quite as helpless as she looks, and is willing to use any weapon at her disposal to get what she needs.

My Darling Girl deftly explores the impact of lifelong abuse, and that liminal space between harm and healing where confusion reigns. It’s honestly one of the best arguments for keeping toxic people out of your life for good, especially when your wounds haven’t yet fully healed. Under her mother’s pernicious influence, Alison is driven to lie and hide things from the people she loves the most, even as she questions her own motivations and even sanity. The ending twist isn’t entirely unexpected, but is a chilling reminder that even the best intentions stand little chance against determined malevolence, human or otherwise.

Alison is a wife, mother of two, and author of the bestselling children’s book Moxie Saves Christmas. She lives in a lovely farmhouse in Vermont and spends one day every winter decorating the Christmas tree with her family. They make gingerbread and listen to Christmas carols and drink hot chocolate and laugh together. Christmas is Mark’s favorite holiday, as it is for their youngest daughter Olivia. Their teenager Izzy is skeptical of the holiday and would rather spend the day with her girlfriend, but Alison and Mark convince her to join in.

But decorating day is put on hold when Alison gets a phone call from Paul, her mother’s assistant. She’s barely spoken to her mother since she was able to be on her own. There had been an occasional phone call, a visit every few years. But otherwise, Alison had nothing to do with her mother’s life. Mavis Eldeen was an esteemed artist, wealthy and famous. But Alison had known her as a drunk and cruel mother. And now her mother was dying, and she wanted to spend her final weeks with Alison and her family, at their Vermont farmhouse.

Alison is slow to agree, but she does want to make some peace with her mother while she has a chance. She wants to try to understand her mother’s cruel remarks when she’d been a kid, the painful scars on her back, the mean-spirited pranks she had been subjected to. So she agrees. Paul takes over the planning, setting up the hospice nurse and providing all the paperwork, doctor’s orders, prescription information, everything Alison would need to care for her mother. They set up the guest room with a hospital bed and prepare for the arrival of Mavis.

Alison is worried at first, at how her mother would be around her husband and daughters. Would she be the same spiteful, abusive mother she had known as a kid? And if so, would she be able to protect her daughters from that? But as soon as Mavis shows up, she is generous and grateful, enjoying the ballet stories of Olivia, who is about to dance in her first Nutcracker performance. And when Izzy suggests video interviews with her grandmother, Mavis agrees to the interviews and encourages Izzy to make a documentary. Even Mark is charmed, playing cards with her.

At first, Alison is relieved that Mavis is being the mother from Alison’s good memories. But there are some unsettling events happening in the house too. A bunch of flies show up in Izzy’s room. Olivia starts having nightmares. And Alison feels unsettled, waiting for the other shoe to drop. And then her mother starts talking about a thing that happened when Alison was a kid, something that had happened when she had been alone in the woods. She had never told anyone about it. So how could her mother have known about it?

As the days go by, Alison tries to talk to her mother but her mother flips back and forth between the kind grandmother and the spiteful woman Alison had moved far away from. Sometimes it seemed like all Mavis cared about was the rock she had kept from her best friend. It was a special rock they had found on a trip to Mexico, beautiful with dark strands throughout. But for Alison, the rock seemed to make her crazy. Is the stress of dealing with her mother driving Alison crazy, or is there some dark magic that is seeping into their lives and putting them all in mortal danger?

My Darling Girl is a dark thriller about the demons that haunt us and the lengths we will go to trying to find safety and sanctuary. Author Jennifer McMahon is back to keep us all from a good night’s sleep with this twisted tale of family secrets, abuse, and dark magic.

This domestic thriller is a haunting good time, but it has some difficult moments to get through. Beside the child abuse, there is some animal abuse, talk of alcoholism, suicide, the painful reality of aging parents, and an overall chill that is hard to chase away without heavy blankets and a weapon stashed beside the bed. I love McMahon’s writing and her use of the supernatural, but there were moments of this book that may end up in my nightmares. This one is not for inexperienced thriller reader. It takes some work to get through. That being said, if you too ever wondered if your family member was possessed by evil, and you love a good horror movie, then My Darling Girl may just be the book you’ve been looking for.

Egalleys for My Darling Girl were provided by Gallery Books through NetGalley, with many thanks.

Allison O’Connor survived her childhood, and her mother, barely. Now she’s married, with two girls, and the successful author of a children’s book. She’s mostly put her past behind her, and then her mother’s caretaker calls and informs her that Mavis is dying of cancer. And she wants to spend her last days with her daughter and her family. So Allison- despite her fears and better judgment- moves Mavis into her house.

Her mother is at times sweet, and lovely, but her personality turns on a dime she into another person entirely. The person that Allison remembers from her childhood. Then strange, FREAKY, things start happening. Just what did Allison let into her house?

I won’t spoil anything for you, but suffice it to say bad things are about to happen. This is very much a character-driven story, that slowly ratchets up the tension and foreboding until readers are left gripping their Kindles in anticipation. And that ending- wow. I don’t even know what to say.

If you are looking for a creepy Halloween read- look no further.

Another home run for Jennifer McMahon!n! She has many talents--one is to take what seems like a benign plot and turn it into the scariest--keep you-up-all-night-long--horror--story. We meet an author famous for her children's books--she has what seems to be the perfect life in Vermont--a devoted husband and two daughters. The onion of her life is slowly peeled as we learn about her abusive childhood. Soon her mother is again part of her life and the abuse and bizarre behavior is back This story has amazing twists and a last line that made me gasp.

Allison's mother is dying.
She was toxic, abusive and probably drove her husband to suicide but she needs somewhere to spend her last days and Allison has decided to allow her to do so in her home, with her own husband and children.
perhaps searching for closure to their relationship, but in doing so she allows in much more than she bargained for.
This was a hard to put down thriller- no one believes Allison when she starts to think her mother is possessed by a demon(evil spirit?) and this was an excellent spooky season read!

Thanks to Net Galley for an advanced reader copy (ARC)!

Jennifer McMahon has become one of my favorite authors to read, particularly this time of year when the leaves are beginning to turn + there's a bite to the air + an edge of mystery creeping in...or is that someone with a knife...

I received my ARC in April and I was so excited to get into it! And yet...I kept putting off actually reading it. 1. because I've grown more favorable to audiobooks in the last handful of years and 2. because the content was so hard for me to digest. A spine-tingling psychological thriller about a woman who, after taking in her dying, alcoholic mother, begins to suspect demonic possession is haunting her family. Maybe I'm a bit more sensitive to this, not because I feared my mother was possessed by a demon, but "My Darling Girl" is not for the faint of heart. Particularly those opening pages of Chapter One. CW: child abuse

Things I Loved:

1. The unraveling. McMahon does an excellent job at revealing juuuuust enough at the perfect time to keep you on your toes. Especially Allison's backstory + her journey as she moves more and more toward the edge of unreliable narrator.

2. Moxie. My Darling Girl could also be called: Moxie: The Dog Who Knew Something Wasn't Right About Mavis.

3. Loved to hate: the gaslighting. Because OMFG, can ANYONE believe Allison? By the end of the book, I was so sick of her Hallmark-channel-Christmas-loving husband that I nearly screamed and dropped my iPad in the tub just to try and drown the man. Because, ugh. Fuck off Mark.

Cross posted on Goodreads

Uneasy and extremely creepy, My Darling Girl is the story of a woman who survived major trauma at the hands of her mother when she was child. Now an adult, Ali agrees to take in her mom who is on her deathbed, so she can die in peace surrounded by Ali’s family.

The writing is superb. The story is chilling, with quite a few scenes causing goosebumps and the hairs on the back of my neck to stand on end. I loved the pace of the book and the characters. While there are supernatural elements to the book, we also have a case of the unreliable heroine and when it comes to psychological thrillers, the unreliable heroine is among my favorite tropes.

Fans of Gillian Flynn will enjoy this tale with its underlying currents of supernatural horror and an ending that is quite unsettling!

Alison grew up in an abusive home with her mother that was very unpredictable. When her mom contacts her and tells her she is dying, Alison goes to her side. She decides to allow Mavis to come live with them for her final days even though it’s with lots of reservations. When she starts to suspect her mother may be possessed by a demon, Alison must find a way to protect her family while convincing them she isn’t insane.

This isn’t what I expected when I picked this book up at all. It was full of twists and turns. I don’t always love books about demonic possession but this one held my attention and presented it in such a way that it seemed believable.

My Darling Girl by Jennifer McMahon might occur over the winter holidays, but it is the perfect spooky read for October. The trace of otherworldliness existing at the fringes of Mavis' relationship with Allison is enough to give you goosebumps. Meanwhile, the lingering questions about Mavis' true identity will haunt you long after you finish it.

One of the reasons Ms. McMahon is one of my go-to authors is how well she leaves her stories unanswered. She is a queen of creating doubt within her readers. Most of her novels have elements of the supernatural in them. Except, you never know if they are truly supernatural in nature or a figment of an unreliable narrator's imagination. The doubt she creates sets Ms. McMahon's novels apart from her fellow writers.

In My Darling Girl, that doubt exists from the moment Mavis arrives at Allison's house. After all, Allison is the victim of childhood abuse, and she still seeks approval and love from her abuser. It would be easy to excuse what she sees as nothing more than PTSD. As her husband and friend suggest, the trauma of having her abuser in the house after all these years is a tremendous strain, and we know Allison never obtained the help she needs to heal from her past.

Yet, in Ms. McMahon fashion, Allison is a little too believable when it comes to her suspicions. The arguments she makes internally are good ones, convincing ones. You see what she sees, and what she sees is downright scary.

I love Ms. McMahon's novels, and My Darling Girl is no different. It has the right balance of creepy and sweet, surety and doubt, to leave you guessing. As for what the right answer is, that is up to each reader. But I would love to discuss it with you!

I don't read a lot of horror or paranormal suspense, so I went into My Darling Girl with some trepidation. But I really enjoyed this one!

While scary (and perfect for the Spooky Season), My Darling Girl was not overwhelmingly horrifying, which I appreciated. The mother-daughter themes were interesting and are something I'm seeing more in thrillers.

The ending was surprising perfection!

Just really enjoyed this and though some may think reading thrillers around the holidays is weird, this would make a perfect choice!

While this wasn't among my favorite Jennifer McMahon books, I do think it's a very solid entry, and it certainly delivered the chills I've come to expect from her work. I think this works more as a winter horror (obviously) than an autumnal/Halloween read, though.

One of McMahon's best! I've read many of her books, and have loved how she weaves in a little bit of supernatural into a very believable story. I couldn't put this one down, and will be recommending it!

I think creepy Christmas is almost creepier than creepy Halloween sometimes. We expect it at Halloween. It is more sinister at Christmas.

Do not be fooled. This one is a slow starter and my take some time to ramp up and bring the horror. It isn’t an in your face tale. But it has a great middle and ending. Just get past the slow build in the beginning.

First line: “Ali Alligator?” my mother whispered as she crept into my room, slipped under my heavy quilt, cuddled up next to me on my twin bed.

Summary: With Christmas on the horizon, Alison receives a phone call that her mother has cancer with only weeks left to live. Making the difficult decision to allow her mother to spend her last days with Alison and her family she wonders if they can heal the wounds of her childhood. As her mother moves in, Alison is reminded of the horrors her alcoholic and abusive mother put her through. But with each passing day Alison notices strange changes in the woman she knew. Who is or what is her mother? And can Alison stop whatever has taken hold in her house before it infects her family?

My Thoughts: This is one of those books that is perfect for this time of year. It’s a spooky Christmas story with a dark entity stalking our main character. There is a rising tension throughout the book leading up to the final chapter. Alison is plagued by her memories but keeps hoping for a better end but as a reader we know that this will never happen. Something has taken over Mavis. As the story continues you can see Alison’s fear and obsession taking over making conflict with others around her.

I loved/hated the relationship between Mavis and her granddaughter, Olivia. It was menacing. She is having her call her a strange name and keeping secrets from Alison. You instantly feel like something bad is on the horizon. As more is revealed about who Mavis really is and her back story the pieces start to fall into place. It is pretty easy to tell what a catalyst for the evil in the house is but it takes a while to dawn on Alison.

The story is more character driven as Alison deals with her past demons and her relationships. I never felt that I could completely trust her and her memories. But I got a shock in the last chapter that gave me chills! Such a fun read for either October or Christmas time.