I loved this book. It was incredibly well written as usual. I've loved this author ever since her first book. I have purchased a physical copy.

3.5 Stars My expectations for Daughter of Mine were high as I am a longtime fan of Megan Miranda. I liked the mystery aspect of it, but I wasn't hanging on the edge of my seat in anticipation and couldn't become fully immersed in the story as a whole. I also didn't connect with the main character and secondary characters. The ending was abrupt and underwhelming, and the pacing was too slow. Also, the countdown of the days of the drought as a header at the beginning of each chapter was annoying. A few moments were suspenseful, and IMO it was underwhelming and short-lived. I enjoyed reading her last ADC of The Only Survivors more than Daughter of Mine, but I will anxiously await her next book.

"When Perry Holt, a longtime resident of Mirror Lake and local detective, dies suddenly from a heart attack, his daughter Hazel Sharp becomes drawn back to the town she left behind almost a decade earlier and to her family and friends she left behind to attend her father's memorial. She receives unexpected news from her uncle Roy, a lawyer, who informs her that she has solely inherited the family home and all its contents. Her brothers, especially Caden, are shocked upon hearing this. But Hazel's not the only relic of the past to return: a drought has descended on the region, and as the water level in the lake drops and exposes long-hidden secrets, buried begin to emerge, including evidence that may help finally explain the mystery of her mother's disappearance." and dark family secrets, betrayal: Is her mother alive? Was she murdered by someone close to her? Will the answers tear this family apart or bring them closer together?

I want to thank NetGalley and Simon & Schuster Canada for an ADC in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own.
Daughter of Mine is now available to buy.

This is my second book by the author, and it was an okay read for me. I liked the book, but I wasn't in love with it.
There were some things I really liked about the book, while a few things irked me.
For example, most of the characters were unlikable and made questionable decisions.
Another thing that I didn't care for too much was the rushed ending. To me it felt as if the author had a few pages to wrap it up, and managed to tie everything nicely to fit the required number of words. A tad too convenient for my liking.
Now, some of the things i did enjoy:
The author has a way of weaving the story that gets me hooked from the first page. The chapters are short and there's a nice flow to the narration. I flew by the book in a couple of days, which is always a positive thing, in my opinion.
All in all a solid three stars, but it won't make my top faves of the year, unfortunately.

4.5/ 5 stars

Daughter of Mine is a Family drama/suspense thriller. It is my eighth book by this author.

The book is divided into four parts: Father, Mother, Sons, Daughter.

The story takes place over 10 days. Hazel had left the small town of Mirror Lake. But she returns for her dad's memorial (Detective Perry Holt). At the same time the town is having a drought. And as the water in the lake drops secrets emerge.

Hazel has two brothers Caden and Gage. Her mom left her when she was 14.

I really liked this book. It is eerie and creepy. And I had no idea who Hazel could trust. Her brother Caden was so mean to her. And I could not figure out who was good and who was bad.

I really enjoyed the mystery and I could not put this book down. It was so riveting and at the end I could not turn the pages fast enough to see how it would end. Such a great thriller!

Packed full of tension and mystery, this thriller delivers it all! Just what I expect from a Megan Miranda book!
Definitely recommend!

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for providing me with an copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

Daughter of Mine is a tangled web of a mystery that slowly ratchets up the tension chapter by chapter. The first half is a bit slower than I would have liked but the second half really picks things up and it all comes together in the final pages, as any good mystery does. I loved the small town setting, the complicated family dynamics and the overall tone of the book but would have liked the pacing to be a bit more swift. Not the most memorable thriller/mystery I've ever read but fans of the genre and fans of Miranda's other work won't be disappointed. I'd recommend.

“… A drought has descended on the region, and as the water level in the lake drops, long-hidden secrets begin to emerge.”

This book was SO good. I had so many theories and NONE of them were right. Although some people thought the book was slow-paced, I found it the opposite. I was on the edge of my seat the entire time, eating up every little bread crumb, and it kept me guessing until the very end.

I’m definitely going to be recommending this to everyone!

Thank you to NetGalley and Simon & Schuster Canada for the advanced reader copy. All opinions are my own.

When Hazel Sharp discovers her father has left his house to her in his will, she returns home to a town and the people in it that she left almost a decade ago. She is quickly pulled back into the past when her mother’s car is found submerged in the lake which immediately raises questions that Hazel may die finding the answers to.
Great read! Highly recommended.

* I received an advanced reader’s copy of this book from NetGalley and Simon & Schuster Canada | S&S/ Marysue Rucci Books in exchange for my honest review.

📚 Book 19/52 of 2024 📚
⭐️ 3/5 stars!

GENRE: contemporary mystery thriller suspense
SUMMARY: “When Hazel Sharp, daughter of Mirror Lake’s longtime local detective, unexpectedly inherits her childhood home, she’s warily drawn back to the town—and people—she left behind almost a decade earlier. But […] as the water level in the lake drops, long-hidden secrets begin to emerge…including evidence that may help finally explain the mystery of her mother’s disappearance.

Received as an e-ARC in exchange for an honest review - all thoughts are my own. Thank you Megan Miranda, Simon & Schuster Canada, and Netgalley for my complimentary copy of the book!

🍑 PEACHES & PITS (likes and dislikes) 🍑
peaches:
- experienced some chills/goosebumps in the intense moments, which is always nice when you’re in a thriller mood
- I liked the final resolution between characters
- use of the drought was interesting to increase intensity

pits:
- the formatting of my copy made it challenging to read at times
- I honestly felt really lost for a lot of the book plot and wasn’t as involved/drawn-in to the experience as I can be for suspense reads —> this subsequently impact a lot of the plot twist moments for me, as they didn’t feel shocking for me because I already didn’t know what the heck was going on anyways 😂
- overall the quiet tense-ness was hard for me personally to get into

Daughter of Mine was definitely a 5 star read.

When Hazels dad passes away and she returns to her small town for his memorial, the tensions and family dynamics are palpable. As the story unfolds, more mysteries and questions come to light as a drought is uncovering long lost secrets that have Hazel second guessing everything she knows about family and her moms disappearance 13 years prior.

Overall, the book has a feel of a slower pace yet somehow has you captivated and sitting on the edge of your seat wanting to know what next! The suspects are a plenty and your opinion changes throughout the book as to who could be the villain. Because of this, i found myself taking the same emotional ride as Hazel. From the shadows, feelings of people in the house, extra noises, lights turning on creepiness to the whole who is responsible has you fully in suspence the whole book.

I have enjoyed several Megan Miranda books and this one is no exception. Definitely a recommended read!

Thank you to NetGalley, Megan Miranda and the publisher for the ARC in exchange for my honest review.

There’s something about small town thrillers that just get me!!

Hazel arrives back home after the sudden passing of her father, around the same time the area is going through a drought and the lake is revealing its secrets.

Daughter of Mine is slow burn, but at the same time edge of your seat? I was so invested in this plot and all the townspeople; it was secret upon secret upon secret. Megan Miranda did some awesome work with her intense family dynamics and atmosphere. It feels like you’ve been living in Mirror Lake your whole life. I also thought there was JUST enough subplots to keep the reader guessing and in suspense.

Definitely a great thriller to pick up, this was my first Megan Miranda and I had a blast!

Megan Miranda has been on my radar for a while, but this was my first book by her and what an amazing, creepy read!

This book gave me full-body chills so many times! I read at night a lot, before bed, and I was truly too afraid to go to sleep sometimes. I also didn't want to stop reading, I was OBSESSED.

I loved everything about this thriller: the small town in the middle of the mountains setting, the creepy atmosphere, the pacing, the complex characters and relationships! A lot was going on at the same time, this was unputdownable!

I loved the small-town/family drama, how everyone is like family to each other, having grown-up together, so how can you believe one of them could do horrible things? Who do you suspect?

Honestly, I can't recommend this book enough! If you're a fan of suspenseful, atmospheric thrillers, then this is for you!

I loved all the twists in this one! Everytime I thought I had the answer, a new suspect would pop up!

Thank you Simon & Schuster Canada + Megan Miranda for providing the digital ARC before its release!

Confidently giving this 5 stars because dang this thriller kept me hooked until the very end. All of the twists and turns made it hard to put this down. Hazel’s story is a roller coaster because I was SO on edge the entire time, constantly second guessing what I thought I knew.

Disappearance after disappearance turned into murder after murder. I thought Hazel’s mom was perhaps accidentally killed by Gage and Caden as children (in a fit of rage?) and that Holt covered it up. Then I thought Caden killed Jamie and her mom, because we were made to hate Caden. Then I thought maybe Nico did it and was playing the good guy to suck Hazel in. LITTLE DID I KNOW OR SUSPECT THAT IT WAS UNCLE ROY. (But was also quite happy it wasn’t Nico because I loved what him and Hazel had going on, until for a split second we thought it was Holt that did the killings, deliberately). The fact that she was left the house and its assets (or what remained) by Holt after he died sparked everything for me, because I thought, maybe this was his way of saying sorry? But it also didn’t make sense to me that he would leave his own sons with nothing, despite Hazel being the “I’ll know what to do” child (again, part of the guessing game which kept me on my toes!)

I felt for Hazel in SO many ways. The poor girl loses her mother, then her father, her one brother hates her, her best friend married that same brother and is now a total jerk to her, she has to come to the realization years and years later that her mother was murdered, things aren’t as she thought, and her whole world crumbles. At NO point in this novel did I think it was too predictable (like some thrillers can be) nor did I find it unrealistic - I mean, if you live in a woodsy lake town, it is believable people would dump cars in the lake, I’ve seen it done in way more populated urban areas. Her gut feelings kept telling her otherwise and it’s not often that you see a female protagonist persevere with cold cases and GET the answers herself.

TL/DR: 5 star 10/10 whodunnit thriller that will leave you guessing until the end. Oh, and don’t trust your uncle.

I used to devour Megan Miranda’s books when I first got sucked into the rabbithole of suspense thrillers. Some of them I love, others were just ok for me. Then I read The Only Survivors. That one was so good that when I got the ARC of Daughter of Mine, I jumped for joy!👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻

I just read a fast-paced thriller so the slowburn from this book is a welcome respite. I loved that the author used the drought as the starting point where long-buried secrets surface… especially love the book cover where the car emerges from the lake! So eerie right? I so enjoyed the atmospheric setting, the family dynamics between Hazel and her brothers, and of course, THE PLOT TWIST/s! My only issue is about the reveal.. I still had some questions! I want more explanations lol!!! Mind you, this is a me problem — I always want a “clean” ending 😁 I still would recommend this book of course, especially for those who love slowburn suspense thriller.

This is my favourite Megan Miranda story yet. Megan always has a way about creating a small town that I feel like I’m a part of. The setting is always its own character in one of her novels, and Daughter of Mine is no exception. The small town of Mirror Lake is where Hazel Sharp spent her life from when she was 8 years old until she headed to college.

Her mother left her when she was only 14 and her father, Detective Perry Holt with the local police department, raised her as his own since. After he suddenly passed from a heart attack, Hazel comes back to Mirror Lake for the memorial. She learns that she has solely inherited her father’s home, leaving her two brothers Gage and Caden (also cops) with only his financial assets.

Mirror Lake has been experiencing a drought for the last two months. The lake’s water level is slowly lowering and a car has been found in the water. Days later, another appears. As news spreads around town, people start to go missing.. Hazel starts putting her nose in other people’s business: however, we find that people are tight lipped and keeping secrets. In a small town, everyone is friends with one another.

As Hazel stays in her new home, she finds things are not as they seem. Lights are on when they shouldn’t be, mud is tracked through the home, windows are left open. What is happening? Will she be safe? What does her father want her to find in the house? Why did he give it to her and not the boys? What was he telling her?

This was a fantastic read and I devoured it. I usually take longer to read Megan Miranda books as they can be slow burns but I really loved this one.

Happy publication day! I finished this ARC just in time. Thank you to Simon and Schuster Canada and Net Galley for an e-ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Thanks to NetGalley and Simon & Schuster Canada for this read. I find recently that Megan’s book start of slow or rather that I feel I need to adjust to her writing but as it gets going and picks up it is always a rollercoaster ride. This book was quite wild and made me keep pushing though.

If you think to give up, I say don’t! This is quite good and had a good ending as well.

When her father passes away, Hazel returns to the small town of Mirror Lake, nestled in the mountain where she grew up. The town is experiencing a drought, as the water is receding old vehicles are being discovered in the lake. Hazel starts to question her mother’s disappearance when she was only 14.

This is a slow burn thriller, usually not my favourite as I don’t have the patience for the slow part! But I did find this to be well paced. The way Miranda used the family tension, untrustworthy characters and the creepy atmosphere Hazel experienced all lead to an ending I wasn’t expecting.

Thank you to NetGalley and Simon & Schuster Canada for the advanced copy.

If Megan Miranda writes it, I’m most definitely reading it. My level of excitement at diving into the world of Daughter of Mine, matched the speed with which I read it! If that pesky thing called sleep didn’t interfere, it easily would’ve been a one sitting read, instead of two.

Hazel reluctantly returns to Mirror Lake after her dad passes away and leaves her their family home. Her return coincides with long time drought which has brought dark secrets buried in the depths of the lake. Hazel’s search for the truth might lead her down a dangerous and lonely path…

I love the way Megan Miranda transforms small, tight-knit communities into something much darker and more sinister. The isolated location of Hazel’s childhood home also added to the creepy vibes. And I was wholeheartedly there for it! Her complicated relationship with her brothers, her past, her first love, the town itself, had me hungrily flipping pages! I love these kinds of thrillers - atmospheric, dark and secret driven.

I anticipate seeing this gorgeous blue cover everywhere this summer! Highly recommend it!

A huge thank you to Simon & Schuster Canada, Marysue Rucci Books and NetGalley for my ARC in exchange for an honest review!

4.5 stars

It took a bit for me to get into this one, but oh man!! I couldn't put this down for the last half of the book. It's been a while since I've read a mystery that had me so stressed and on the edge of my seat!

The characters were all so untrustworthy and honestly that ending I didn't expect at all - I had a totally different thought!

This is one of Miranda's best yet!

Huge thanks to NetGalley and Simon & Schuster Canada for an advance copy in exchange for an honest review.