This book keeps you on the edge of your seat, with no idea where you are going to end up! Thoroughly enjoyable, I really enjoyed the family drama aspect while incorporating the horror of genres past.

Alison’s mother has been diagnosed with cancer. She wants to spend her last days with Alison and her family. Alison eventually says yes, but with an extreme amount of hesitation. There is so much trauma from her childhood and her abusive mother, Alison is torn on what is the right thing to do. And can she actually trust her mother to be around her children?

Well! My October has started strong! This book kept me on my toes! Let me tell you! Now, it is not going to be for everyone. And I am not a huge “horror” reader. I would not necessarily classify this as horror…I mean it is but it isn’t. You will have to read this to find out. I have read every single one of this author’s books and I have loved them all. She always has a “borderline” horror feel to her reads. So to say she is suspenseful is an understatement.

When this story started out, I was afraid I could not read it. It has some triggers that set off some childhood issues. But, as the story unfolded…I could not put it down. And the ending…GEEZ! Not to mention…THE DEMON! You heard me! THE DEMON!

Need a story that will rock your world…THIS IS IT! Grab your copy today.

I received this novel from the publisher for a honest review.

Nobody does creepy, atmospheric, ghostly stories quite like Jennifer McMahon.
Alison grew up with a crappy mom…but now mom wants to move in with Alison for her final days, and make amends. But mom is not like Alison remembers. Is it even her mom? Or has something inhabited her body?

Don't let the cute little title fool you. This book is the perfect way to start spooky season. I would label this as supernatural, horror, phycological thriller. It is not my first book by author McMahon. She is amazing at eerie novels. She has a way of taking a typical story and twisting it just-so.

Mavis is a dying woman with a single wish: that her daughter take her in and care for her in her last few days despite the fact she was a cruel and horrible mother. Even though every bone in Alison's body says no, she agrees to allow her mother to stay in her farmhouse with her and her family. This could prove to be a horrible mistake.

Alison must relive instances of her past to try and find out what is happening in the present and figure out how it may effect her and her family's future. The process of doing so may just drive her crazy, literally.

I hate to give to much away. This was sooooo good. I got swept up in it and found myself not wanting to put it down and get back to reality. McMahon does such a wonderful job developing characters and setting scenes it seems like I am there, a part of the story.

I should have seen the ending coming, but honestly didn't! It was one of those endings that leaves you satisfied but weirdly wanting more.

Thanks to Netgalley and Gallery Books for allowing me an advanced digital copy to read and give my honest review. It was a 5 star read!

"My Darling Girl" is out today, October 3, 2023 here in the U.S. so get your copy now! A perfect fall read!

Happy Reading!

This novel started slow for me but really ended on a bang!

It took me a while to get invested in these characters and the storyline. McMahon paints a bleak picture of a childhood riddled with abuse and trauma that was occasionally tough to read. Determined to break the cycle, but also to put her relationship with her mother in a healthier spot, Alison agrees to let her ill mother stay with her during her final weeks. When Mavis arrives at her daughter's house, Alison questions her memories and even her current experiences when her entire family seems besotted with Mavis. Is Alison a reliable narrator? Or is Mavis the ultimate manipulator? Or something worse?

There were SO MANY red flags with this book and I can't give it a higher rating because there were countless times where I was yelling at Alison through the pages. As a mother, some of her decisions were absolutely baffling and infuriating and I really struggled to empathize with her as she made bad choice after bad choice.

Overall, this story is dark and kept me at the edge of my seat. There were some great twists and the writing was superb. The ending, while not totally unpredictable, was fantastic and I closed the last page with a smile on my face - nicely done!

This book was one of those fun novels that gives you creepy, spooky season vibes but takes place during the holidays so it's perfect for anytime from September through January!

I suspect this one is going to be wildly popular and while I really enjoyed it, but it didn't totally blow my socks off. Ultimately, I do recommend it and I'm looking forward to more by McMahon.

3.5 rounded down.

Thank you to Gallery and NetGalley for the copy.

Jennifer McMahon returns following The Children on the Hill with one of her best, MY DARLING GIRL —a chilling, gripping psychological thriller. A woman agrees to bring her estranged alcoholic and abusive mother into her home. She soon wonders who this woman is in this sinister, twisty, dark, and emotional holiday family drama of suspense and horror.

Set in Vermont, in December and soon to be Christmas. Mark and Alison O'Conner are married and live in an older, historically renovated farmhouse with two children.

Alison is a popular children's author-illustrator of the Moxie series, named after their six-year-old Lab. Her husband Mark is all about Christmas and loves the decorating and festive holiday season— Allison, not so much.

We learn that Alison (Ali Alligator) grew up with an abusive alcoholic mother to her and her brother Ben. Now, her mother is dying of cancer and wants to make amends during her final days and requests to come and live with Allison and her family.

Her brother thinks she is nuts for even considering it. She worries about bringing her mom into their home around the children. But this time, maybe it will help heal their past wounds, so she agrees.

Her mom is well off financially and can afford private care. She has had an assistant, Paul, for the last 15 years who handles her mom's personal and business life, her travel, gallery and museum events, and sales of her artwork. He lives in a carriage house on her mom's property in Woodstock and was always by her side.

At first, her mom is pleasant to everyone, but whenever she is around Alison, she turns into someone different. Sinister and evil begin happening, and she wonders if she is devil-possessed.

She begins reading all these books about how to break the spells and cure her mom. However, this leads Alison to do weird things, and she is a bundle of nerves, trying to protect her family from the terrifying monster when she has a book due and cannot get it together.

Soon, her family thinks she is the crazy one because Mavis acts differently around everyone else. The girls think she is a wonderful grandmother. But then she is afraid her mother is demon-possessed, and she will pass it down to her. Her brother wants nothing to do with Mavis.

All the while, Mark is involved in the holiday festivities, Izzy is interested in making a film, Mavis is manipulative and scary, and Alison's life has turned into a nightmare.

When she thinks she has solved the problem by protecting her family, the author gives you a final shocking twist!

Told from Alison's POV, alternating between the present and her childhood, MY DARLING GIRL is a heart-breaking, character-driven family drama and a suspenseful, creepy psychological thriller. The author explores both complex mother-daughter relationships and childhood trauma.

No one does atmospheric, spine-chilling, horror, mystery, suspense, evil, and haunting mixed with dark humor better than Jennifer McMahon! Even though I am not a huge horror, supernatural, demon-possessed fan, I enjoy the author's writing and storylines, and MY DARLING GIRL was both emotional and scary.

MY DARLING GIRL would make a perfect Halloween read, even though it is centered around Christmas. I highly recommend this one to fans of this genre and the author. I read in two sittings, and it was challenging to put down. Great characterization!

Thanks to Gallery Books/Scout Press and NetGalley for the gifted copy.

Blog review posted @
JudithDCollins.com
@JudithDCollins | #JDCMustReadBooks
My Rating: 4.5 Stars rounded to 5 Stars
Pub Date: Oct 3, 2023
Oct 2023 Must Read Books

Rating: 2.25 leaves out of 5
-Characters: 2/5
-Cover: 3/5
-Story: 1/5
-Writing: 4/5
Genre: Horror, Mystery, Thriller, Contemporary
-Horror: 1/5
-Mystery: 1/5
-Thriller: 3/5
-Contemporary : 3/5
Type: Ebook
Worth?: Meh

Want to thank Netgalley and publishers for giving me the chance to read this book.

I have never been so disappointed in any one of Jennifer's books like I did this on. WOW. Just... fucking wow. The main character is so.... horribly written. I understand where Jennifer was coming from. I understood what she wanted to do but how she wrote it was so poorly done. Everything was so badly placed. Besides that the story was good, had good potential to be better but uhm that ending had me.

Before I get into the nitty gritty of this book review, let me begin by saying that this book terrified me in a way that I've never experienced while reading a novel. About halfway through I became filled with such a creeping, primal dread that I almost didn't finish the book. I worried, however, that if I didn't finish I might have nightmares about how the plot could have played out. So, I waited for the next bright, sunny afternoon, put on my big girl pants, and settled in for the second half of the novel. I can say now, having finished the novel, that I will now be having nightmares about how the novel did end. Jennifer McMahon cooked up an ending beyond even my wildest nightmares and chilled me to my core with the last chapter of "My Darling Girl."

While Alison O'Connor's life appears to be perfect, a record smashing children's book, two beautiful girls, a devoted husband, and a gorgeously restored Vermont farmhouse, complete with best friends as next door neighbors, the beautiful façade covers up a seriously demented childhood filled with physical and emotional abuse suffered at the hands of her mother. Now, weeks before Christmas, she receives the news that the mother she's worked so hard to keep at a careful distance is dying of an aggressive cancer and wants to spend her last weeks in her daughter's home for a shot at one last chance to make amends.

Alison reluctantly agrees to let Mavis move in, worried about how her mercurial mother will fit into her picture perfect life, terrified that Mavis will scar her granddaughters the same way she scarred her. To her surprise she finds the mother she remembers replaced with a charming, grandmotherly woman who wants nothing more than to connect with her granddaughter, and is endlessly charming with her son-in-law and caregivers who come to provide medical care.

Alison seems to be the only one who can see through the carefully curated persona Mavis has put on for the rest of her family, and begins to wonder if the person she's taken into her house is her mother at all. Never one to believe in the supernatural, Alison begins to fear that her mother relegated to serving as a host for something much darker and more dangerous than she could have ever imagined. As she begins to confront the boundaries of what she thought possible, she's left with one question, how far will she go in the face of pure evil to protect the family she's fought so hard to build?

It is absolutely not an understatement to say that "My Darling Girl" is one of the most well-crafted, tightly written novels I have ever read. McMahon has always been an incredibly talented author (my very favorite if we are being honest), but she surpassed even her own past successes with this novel. It is a horror novel for the ages and one that I will never, never be able to forget. I'm not sure that I'll ever be able to read it again, but I'm equally as sure that I won't need to, because I don't think I could forget one terrible, horrifying detail of "My Darling Girl" if I tried. I have no doubt that this will be THE book of the fall, and that book clubs all over America will be sleeping with the lights on *just in case* after leaving the cozy glow of their October and November meetings. Thank you to NetGalley and Gallery Books for providing an Advanced Reader's Copy of "My Darling Girl" in exchange for an unbiased review.

My Darling Girl by Jennifer McMahon is, in a word, terrifying. If you love horror and suspense, this is the next read for you. Please proceed with caution, however; this novel has a LOT of triggers: child abuse (physical, psychological, emotional), trauma, gaslighting, mental illness, and occultic activity. There are so many disturbing images and scenes that I had to stop reading it before bed. I am a Stephen King fan, and this book scared the bejesus out of me! The suspenseful writing is truly excellent, if a tad too realistically terrifying for me!

Alison O'Connor is an artist, wife and mother, still processing and working through her abusive childhood, when she gets the call that her mother, Mavis, is dying of pancreatic cancer. It seems that Mavis would like to live out her final days in Alison's home, making up for lost time (and Alison's lost childhood). But almost immediately after Alison agrees to welcome her mother into her home, strange occurrences start to happen. Alison is convinced her mother is possessed and that this is the reason for her horrible childhood. Of course, no one believes her. Not her brother, or her husband or her best friend. Alison must battle this entity alone before it destroys her whole family.

*Special thanks to NetGalley and Gallery/Scout Press for this e-arc.*

Allison has risen from a toxic childhood and gotten away from her toxic mother. Living in a picturesque quaint Vermont town with her Christmas loving husband and children, she is finally happy. So when her mother is dying from cancer, Allison does what she feels is the right thing, and brings her mother to her home so she can care for her in her last months. But when unexplainable things begin to happen, Allison begins to realize that her mother - - may not actually be her mother at all. The latest Jennifer McMahon book is creepy with a capital C. I'm not a fan of books about demons or possession, but this book is so well written and subtly creepy that I couldn't put it down. Was I a little creeped out reading it alone at night (especially when my dog started barking at nothing?). Yes. Did I put it down? Nope. This was one wild demon ride that I couldn't put down until I reached the end. And what fun it was getting there. 5 stars and an excellent ending for this perfect October read.

Creepy, atmospheric, and suspenseful....Jennifer McMahon definitely has a type. But she does it well. My Darling Girl is no exception. This time, JM tackles demon possession. The story was great at exploring the complexity of mother/daughter relationships and I loved the supernatural tone to that exploration. I do wish the story was longer, in that there was more of the "creepy things happening around the house". It almost moves too fast into the climax of the story and I think it could have used some stretching out in the middle of the story. Otherwise, it's another win from JM and I would recommend this to anyone who has loved her previous work.

Thanks to Netgalley for a copy of this ARC in exchange for an honest review.

My Darling Girl grabbed my attention as soon as I picked it up. Unfortunately the middle dragged by, and it was nearly a DNF. However, I stuck with it, and the ending was great and I"m glad I finished it! I'm not one that typically reads supernatural books, so I'm guessing that was the problem. If you like supernatural elements, suspense, and a little evil at Christmastime, this book is for you!
Thank you to NetGalley, the author, and the publisher for an advanced ready copy of this book in exchange for my honest review!

Jennifer McMahon delivers goosebumps and chills in her new genre-defying story of a woman whose complicated relationship with her mother comes to a head when her mother comes to die at her house. In addition to being suspenseful and psychologically riveting, the writing is atmospheric and delivers a creepy vibe as readers embark on a journey with Alison as she tries to discover secrets that hold the answers to her troubled childhood and her mother’s mysterious and disturbing behavior. This book is unique and touching and draws you in to a world where your reality must be questioned, as well as your sanity. Thank you to Gallery Press and NetGalley for the advanced copy in exchange for my honest opinion. Wonderful reading experience!

I enjoyed this book! My first by this author and will not be my last. It kept my attention. When it got the paranormal stuff I was still interested just not as interested. It slowed down for me but it definitely had some twists I didn’t see coming. I will recommend this ! Thanks netgalley for this arc !!

Alison is reluctant to come let her dying mother stay with her family. She grew up with an abusive mother and worries that her mother will be cruel to her own two daughters. However, when her mom gets there, Alison realizes she might to deal with a supernatural entity.

I thought this one had promise but I was missing the suspense! It felt really slow to me all the way through, even after Alison learned about the demon. I think if McMahon had included more investigation early on, it could’ve built that suspense. It was also hard to read all the gaslighting in the last part.

I received my copy from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

Jennifer McMahon always succeeds in creating stories oozing with atmosphere and tension, and that is no different here! This is a suspenseful, dark story that was really hard for me to put down. That said, I did find the ending to be a bit frustrating. Overall, it's the perfect time to read this chiller, and I eagerly await her next novel.

3.5 stars rounded up.

I wanted to love this book. I've enjoyed some of Jennifer McMahon's work in the past, but I think she can be a bit hit or miss. This was a complete miss for me. It was a very slow build and the action didn't really start until around 75-80%. I didn't care about most of the characters, and the MC really frustrated me. I did want to know more about Paul and his relationship with Mavis - I wish the author had explored that a bit more. The end did surprise me a bit, but if I had really thought about the story I probably would have seen it coming. Overall, this lacked depth and character building and was too slow for the story it tried to tell.

This author can do no wrong. Another 5 star read a horror centered around a mother daughter relationship . Her storytelling is so magnetic that you are hooked within the first paragraphs.

My Darling Girl by Jennifer McMahon is a very highly recommended psychological horror. I was afraid to keep reading but more scared not to find out what happened. This one had me start biting my nails.

Alison's mother, Mavis, could be loving but was also an abusive alcoholic and she still has the physical and mental scars to prove it. It is early December and the family is decorating the house when Mavis's assistant Paul calls to let Alison know her mother is dying from cancer and only has weeks to live. Despite her childhood trauma, Ali is cautiously optimistic that Mavis really wants to try to have a relationship with her family and say good-bye, so she agrees to open up her home to her mother. It quickly becomes clear that her mother is not always who she seems to be and Ali may need to protect her own family.

That Alison would open up her home to her mother after the horrific childhood experiences she endured, is amazing and commendable. Then, when she didn't immediately ship her mother off to a facility when odd things begin to happen is shocking, more so after she begins to suspect what is happening. Clearly Alison is a complex, fully realized character. Once she begins to suspect demonic possession is stalking her family, all bets are off.

The writing is obviously excellent, compelling, and engaging. (Picture someone reading peeking between their fingers, scared, but still actively reading because they need to know what happened next.) The story is chilling and heartbreaking. Alison must unpack her mother's secrets in order to understand what is happening and then she will also know what her response to it will be. But her mothers behavior and words are bone-chilling frightening and her true self, or the evil side, only seems to come out when Alison is around.

The pages fly by in this totally engrossing, eerie foreboding narrative that will hold readers complete attention throughout. Well done, Jennifer McMahon you've proven yet again that you are an exceptional writer!

Disclosure: My review copy was courtesy of Gallery/Scout Press via NetGalley.
The review will be published on Barnes & Noble, Edelweiss, X, and Amazon.