Wasn't for me
 Had this one for awhile and kept trying to get I to it. Just didn't draw me in.
Hope others find this a better read than i did.

I couldn’t finish this one. It just wasn’t working for me. I found myself not wanting to pick it up.

This is a slow and steady read, slowly pulling the reader into a twisted plot with a ending that you don't see coming.  Recommended.

While i found the pace of this book a little stately the twists in it far made up for it. Brava! I was blindsided several times after being lulled into a sense of "obvious plot" by the writing. I did feel the background was a little lacking, I personally prefer a little more description and I feel like the caretaker's character could have been developed further. I especially enjoyed the character of the mother, though found Helen at times very dense and flighty to the point that I couldn't like her. I also found myself frustrated by the rushed ending which is why I knocked a star off. The book went from stately to over within what seemed like a chapter. While the "big revelation" certainly didn't leave any loose ends it was almost anticlimatic how quickly after that it ended easily. Too easily in fact for blundering parents.

I loved The Mothers Lies. It hooked me in from the first few pages and felt it was a fab read. I will definitely be looking for more books by this author.

This is a good modern thriller. Helen discovers that her mother is not who she says she is. The story held my attention to the end.

Not a thriller by any means.. I was struggling to finish this book.  So many timelines that moved at a snails pace.  Not my idea of a mystery/ thriller. 

Thank you to the publisher for providing an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

I had a hard time getting into this book and sadly couldn't finish the book. It just didn't hold my attention.

I received a digital arc of this book from #netgalley in exchange for a honest review.

I hadn't read anything by this author before so I wasn't sure what to expect. This book seems to have had mixed reviews from other readers. However I really enjoyed it. It was a slow starter, moving between the past and the present. Initially that was quite confusing as I was having to work out how katy fitted into the present day story. The story then begins to pick up pace, and I loved that twist near the end!! 

All in all a good read which had a slower start (hence not 5 stars) and I would read more by the author in the future.

I really wish this could have held my attention a little more.
I’m sorry it didn’t draw me in and I found I was skimming pages I don’t want to leave a bad review as the storyline was very interesting it just dragged on far to much for my liking.

I was pretty engrossed in the beginning but my interest waned out as the story dragged on. Too many timelines and POVs and just too slow. It flip flopped from 1953 to 2017 to 1967 and in no particular order. I held on hoping for something shocking or thrilling, but it never happened.
Thank you to #Netgalley, the author and publisher for the opportunity to read this in exchange for my honest review.

I really like psychological thrillers but this one didn’t hold my attention like most. The story line had potential in it but wasn’t quite there. I wasn’t happy with the reason Barbara targeted her own family and Simon should’ve gotten something for what he did to Katy.

This is a very suspenseful story with a few twist to keep you flipping the pages.  Helen goes to visit her Mother Barbara and Dad when she discovers threatening notes alluding to a criminal past for her mom.  She starts looking into the past and discovers some painful  deeds that could ruin her life. When her young son is kidnapped it looks like the note writer is serious about revenge. The story line is a little conventional but does enough to keep you involved in the story. This appears to be Joanne Sefton's first novel and it's a good start, I'll look for her in the future.  I received a copy of this ARC in exchange for a fair and honest review.

Not that interesting. The first pages did not hold my interest. Will not comtinue, thanks for the chance to read this.

Oh wow. Put some time away for this book. It has all the ingredients for a terrific psychological thriller.

No spoilers from me.  Book is great with lots of lies, deception, tragedy, and twists. Also, loved the unpredictable ending.  Can't say enough great about this. Read it today!!

Thank you NetGalley for allowing me to read this fabulous book.

I enjoyed this book, although not as much as I thought I would at the beginning. It lost its way a bit with the main secret being revealed fairly early on (by thriller standards). Up until that point, the premise of the book was great but the suspense and pace tapered off after that. There was a bit of a twist after the reveal to keep me reading and intrigued but I wasn't truly riveted. I expected it to be a bit faster paced, especially with the direction the plot went in towards the end. I did like the timeline swinging between the past and the present, with a few different timescales featured. That added some depth to the characters and the plot. It was a good read but just not quite what I was expecting from the early parts and the promise it had didn't quite follow through.

I'm afraid that I found the book contained too many cliches and the characters were very stereotyped.  The twist was not believable (although I do not want to give it away) and I was left feeling  dissatisfied.

This is your usual thriller/suspense book that has secrets, lies, and betrayals. I found it to be very predictable. I also found the characters to be very frustrating , I still enjoyed it though.

When Helen finds out her mother Barbara has cancer, life takes on an unexpected twist. She realises her mother’s whole life has been a lie and now her whole family has been threatened. Who is sending Barbara threatening notes!!

This book did have me gripped and I loved how the different timelines slowly revealed the truth. If this is Joanne Sefton’s debut novel then I cannot wait for her next book.

Thank you to Netgalley for a copy in exchange for a review.

This book barely escaped being a DNF by the skin of its teeth... Whew!! A thriller of secrets which didn't thrill or entice me.

I love a book which has secrets hidden in its pages, but the writing here was so s. l. o. w., that everything in the world including painted my nails distracted me away from it.

The story goes thus, Helen is going through a separation, her mum Barbara is diagnosed with breast cancer. She comes down for surgery, has an overdose of medications, and soon after, Helen's child Barney is kidnapped. 

The story was told in many different timelines and with different POVs at a pace slower than a snail. (It had me banging my head on the kindle, gently!!) Not a good sign at all. Barbara's husband Neil was the ostrich, buried his head in the sand, not ever wondering about her past. Aaaghhh!! 

My first book by Joanne Sefton, and instead of me feeling all the emotions of the book, the book, for the first time, felt my varied emotions: excited, bewildered, bored, I dozed holding the kindle, perked up for the last 20% then disillusioned and resigned.

The premise was good, but the pace slow, the characters unlikable, the dampened plot reveal, followed by The End. My biggest niggle was not any of the above factors, it was - I was told main character Helen was a good mom. I didn't ever feel that, there were no such scenes show. She was more overwhelmed with everything.