Thank you Netgalley for the opportunity to preview this ARC of Not Her Daughter.

*Within this review there may be spoilers, proceed with caution.*

Nope nope nope, couldn't stand this one. I don't know if I have ever rolled my eyes at a book more than I did with this one. Not only was it not even a little believable, it was overly dramatic, sanctimonious drivel. I really hoped it would get better, but it never did.

Sarah is beautiful, successful, and absolute drama queen, and apparently without ethics at all. After witnessing a young girl, Emma, being mistreated twice by her mother, she does what every totally sane person does and calls CPS. Oh wait, no she doesn't, she freaking abducts her. Rips five year old Emma right out of her dysfunction, yet familiar life, and takes it upon herself to do what she thinks it the right thing. Granted the "right thing" does involve cutting and dying a five year old's hair, running from the law, and robbing even more stability from this young girl, but I digress. And the worst part? We are supposed to be rooting for Sarah? Send her to jail! She kidnapped a kid! Here are some other major issues I had with this story:

Every single person in her life, except maybe her ex-boyfriend, is a moron. Even the cops. She completely falls off the grid, makes up the most BS excuses for walking away from her high powered job, changes her appearance, blames it on boy probs and no one bats an eye. Only her ex calls the cops on her, to her utter outrage and dismay, and STILL, she is never heavily pursued.

Also, they offered the perspective of the Emma's mother Amy, who is also a career woman, but unlike our perfect vigilante Sarah, an absolute wreck. She's overweight, and burps (apparently fat burps qualifies you as a bad person), she totally hates being a mom, hates her husband, hates her life, actually finds calm amidst the abduction, and spends all her money discovering who she was in her past lives. She's the reason Emma got abducted because after slapping her, she locked her out of the house, leaving Super Sarah no choice but to claim her as her own. Here's the thing. Amy was not a good mom, and bad moms exist, but I am highly suspect of any story where the characters are SO black and white. And, even bad moms are loved and adored by their children, especially at that age, so to be kidnapped like that would be highly traumatic and do way more damage than good.

Let's talk about five year old Emma. Her mom hates her because she's so difficult. But of course once Sarah swoops in, suddenly she's the most perfectly behaved, well mannered, soft spoken angel baby with a waaaay too sophisticated vocabulary and ability to express her feelings that most 12 year olds.

I really can see the appeal of this book. Nothing is worse than seeing a child mistreated, and even I have sometimes wished I could swoop in and save a child from their parents. But it's completely naive, super harmful, and TOTALLY ILLEGAL. There is an ethical protocol that needs to be followed in those circumstance that ensure that the best interest of the child is being met. Maybe it's the social worker in me, but I just couldn't do this one.

I'd been saving this book for a quiet period to really focus on it and I was not disappointed. I was hooked from the very start as we follow Sarah, a young professional running a successful business and mourning a break-up. I loved how the book was structured, it takes a pro to weave a plot like this through different time points and view points from various characters. Despite some plot flaws that were not resolved by the end, this story was gripping, well written and had me constantly evaluating my morals.

Tug-on-your-heartstrings book that will have you questioning everything nothing like any other kidnapping book out there!

*Thank you Netgalley for the ARC

I loved the way Rea Frey's 'Not my Daughter' throws interesting curves on the moral front: Does giving birth to a child make a woman a mother than one who is in no way related to a child? Can a mother be not judged because she cannot go all out to take a shine to the child she has given birth?

Sarah Walker, a successful entrepreneur sees a five year old girl being dragged with much violence by her birth mother. Another chance encounter peels the layers of Emma’s life and affects Sarah so much that she decides she cannot stay away: she HAS to step in and rescue the girl. What Sarah ends up doing is called kidnapping but to her, it is the only way to rescue Emma and keep her safe.

Emma’s mother Amy Townshed is weighed down by more than her physical girth: she is exhausted with child care and parenting, of being someone who has had nothing special going on with her life. She does have a spot for her younger son but none for Emma whose very physical appearance riles her no end.

Sarah’s life soon unfolds: her childhood trauma of her mother walking out on her when she was a eight year old and a relationship that has only recently ended which looks like the trigger to her risky behaviour. We get drawn into Amy’s life and struggle but the writing and character dilemmas is such that one does not get trapped into looking at the right and wrong of the actions. What Rea Frey does with this book is to ask tough questions on who is a mother. It is a book that will look at mother daughter relationships and parent offspring bonds.



This is a gripping read and one that will make you pause to contemplate.

What is your response when you see a child being mistreated, verbally or physically abused? How do you respond when a child is living in terrible conditions? Sarah faces those questions and more when she spots little Emma being berated by her overbearing, cruel mother.
Raised in less than ideal conditions herself, Sarah does the unthinkable.
This book follows the heartwrenching ramifications of decisions so effectively. I loved how the entire story unfolded and will be eager to read the author's next book.
I received an Advance Review Copy of this book from netgalley and St. Martin's Press. All opinions are my own.

Is it really kidnapping when you're rescuing a child?

Not Her Daughter is the story of a little girl named Emma Grace. Her mother, Amy, is an unhappily married mother of two who constantly feels frustrated and overwhelmed with her life. She's often impatient and angry with Emma, treating her roughly one minute, negligently the next. Sarah Walker had a similar relationship with her own mother, and when she witnesses Amy's abusive manner, she feels the need to help Emma. When she crosses paths with Emma a second time—witnessing more abuse—Sarah steals her away, risking everything for the sake of a little girl not her own.

I love a book featuring moral conundrums, particularly when a character is driven to doing something wrong in order to do something good—in this case, protecting a child from her abusive mother.

The story features the perspectives of both Amy and Sarah. On the surface, neither woman is likable; one is an abusive mother, the other is a kidnapper. I found it easy to sympathize with Sarah, though, because she truly believes she's helping Emma by stealing her away—and Emma doesn't seem particularly bothered to be away from her family, which convinces Sarah she was right to take her.

I was surprised when I felt sorry for Amy, as well. It's true she wasn't a good mother to her daughter, but I felt sympathy for how completely overwhelmed she felt and her inability to cope with things. That doesn't excuse how she treated her daughter, of course, but it made her a bit more relatable; stress is a heavy burden to bear, even more so when you have a family to care for.

Right or wrong, I wanted Sarah to keep Emma, and felt she would have a better life with her, rather than her family. Pretty sure that's the first time I ever sided with a kidnapper in a story... which feels kind of weird, but the kidnapper was the 'good guy' in this story.

Not Her Daughter is a fantastic book, and I can't wait to see what comes next from Rea Frey!

I received an advance reading copy of this book courtesy of St. Martin's Griffin via Netgalley.

This is one of those books that you either ADORE or HATE. It can be terribly predictable to some, but even to them, I believe they could hold on simply because of the writing.

Rhea Frey here has writing one amazing story or pain and of how the human mind and heart survives through it.

Simply put, this book for me was AMAZING.

My first Rea Frey book but definitely not my last.
It took me a few chapters to follow where the book was the book was heading. At no point was the plot clearly followable but that just added to the books charm.
I loved the family dynamics between Amy and Richard in no way were they your typical parents of a lost child.
It made me question everything I ever thought I knew about missing children and their families and totally made me re think the reasons why a child could go missing.
An absolute page turner that will continue to resonate with me for weeks!

I've got slightly mixed feelings about Not Her Daughter by Rea Frey. The characters and plot were interesting enough to keep me turning pages and reading it almost straight through, but I always had a nagging thought in the back of my head that things couldn't happen that way, maybe because the events were just plausible enough for me to even bother thinking about that. Sarah, a young professional with no children of her own, sees Emma and her family rushing through an airport and has the kind of reaction to Emma's mother that we all do sometimes. That horrible woman doesn't deserve such a wonderful child. When Sarah encounters Emma again later, she decides to rescue the girl from the awful family who doesn't properly care for her or appreciate her.



Sarah thinks she is a perfect parent and that Emma is the perfect child, and the fact that the two of them never had any conflict at all made me wonder if maybe Sarah wasn't the most reliable narrator. Emma's mother, Amy, is stressed and unhappy and mean and once I found myself wondering if Sarah was as good as she saw herself as I also started to wonder if Amy was being presented in an accurate light. She is awful, but how awful?



Sara should have been caught almost immediately. There's no denying that her plan relied on a lot of unrealistic luck. I know that women like Sarah and Amy exist. Crimes slip through the cracks in real life. In order to enjoy this read, you'll have to suspend your disbelief.

This was a bittersweet read, which I hadn’t anticipated. There were things I really enjoyed, but others I was very annoyed at. I’m very torn and still haven’t decided what rating I will be giving this book – but I’m hoping that writing the review will help!

Buckle up, my friends, this is going to turn into a rant 😅



PLOT & WRITING

NOT HER DAUGHTER is a story of kidnapping, but it is atypical. Rather than reading from the perspective of the victim, the victim’s family, or the detectives looking for the victim, you actually follow the kidnapper’s point of view! Well, you also see the perspective of the family, but the kidnapper is definitely the central element. Right off the bat, that sounds like a great premise, which made me super excited to read it. The kidnapper, Sarah, is atypical herself, since she means absolutely no harm, and thinks taking Emma is the right thing to do. Sarah thinks this because, in her eyes, Emma’s mom is mean to her for no reason.

The plot itself is good, and so is the writing. It reads pretty fast once it picks up, which is a plus for me. However, there was something that made me pause my reading about 40% of the way in: the characters…



RIDICULOUS CHARACTER BEHAVIOUR

This is the reason it took me a while to finish the book. The main characters in this story are ridiculous in terms of how they think and behave. Allow me to elaborate:

AMY, the mother of the missing child, finds herself in an unhappy marriage, with kids that drive her crazy – keep in mind she didn’t want the kids in the first place – and a mediocre life. So, since she hates the life that she chose, because she’s an adult and let herself get to where she is, what does she do? She flips her shit one day, slaps her kid across the face, yells at her, and locks her outside, which leads to her going missing. Can I get a round of applause?
Oh, and let’s not forget the fact that, the whole time Emma is missing, Amy keeps thinking to herself “I feel really bad but also, do I really want her back? I mean she never does what I tell her to do”… because kids are known to do exactly as they’re told, right? 😒

RICHARD, the father of the missing child, also hates his life but actually loves his kids. He’s useless though, and that’s basically all Amy says about him. They hate each other but they still married and had kids and now this mess happened. These two should definitely teach Adulting 101

SARAH, the kidnapper, tries to convince herself that she’s actually not a criminal, but some kind of hero. “Oh my god her parents are soooo terrible, I have to do something about it” commits a crime for the greater good, doesn’t consider it a bad thing
She also doesn’t seem to grasp the concept of children being annoying and people being annoyed by them, which is outrageous to me. Everyone knows children can be annoying and throw fits all the time when you tell them no, right? I mean, I can’t be alone in this. I threw fits all the time when my mom didn’t buy me candy, and I KNOW a lot of you out there did too. Don’t even try to deny it 😄 But Sarah, based on what she witnessed during the 2-3 times she saw Emma with her mom (which amounts to, what, 20 minutes in total?), decides that this woman is a monster. Not just a mom of a 5-year-old after a long day, but a total monster who ignores her kid when she is clearly throwing a fit. Granted, Amy sure doesn’t get the Best Mom Award, but I mean it’s not like the kid was in danger or not being fed or anything. But because Sarah’s got mommy issues herself, she decides that she has to intervene… not by letting CPS know that Emma is being mistreated, but by taking her away from the monstrous creature 😒
Then, she is discovered by someone she knows and is completely shocked when that person tells the cops that she has the girl that everyone is looking for… you do realize you’re l i t t e r a l l y a criminal, right…? Like… kidnapping a little girl is a crime and you will go to jail for it, regardless of your good intentions… also that person could be sentenced as well if they knew you had the girl and they didn’t tell anyone soooooo yeah, you really shouldn’t be surprised

It’s like no one wants to be accountable for their own mistakes. Come on, people, you’re adults. Act like it!! Also, how is the concept of kids annoying adults so alien to this woman? What the hell?

Anyway, that was my only complaint about the book: I felt like the characters were dumb and had completely unrealistic ways of thinking. However, this is kind of a story of love, which I appreciate, and I did enjoy the read after all – I just rolled my eyes a lot 😅

Not Her Daughter did not disappoint.

Right from the start, you know that this story is going to be full of suspense. The main character, Sarah Walker, has committed what many would consider an unforgivable crime: she’s kidnapped a child. Why? Because Sarah thinks that she would be a better mother to Emma Townsend. Is she? Well, that’s up to the reader to decide.

Not Her Daughter is told from multiple perspectives, and goes back and forth from past to present. The reader finds out who Sarah is, how her upbringing shaped her into the adult she is today, and exactly why she wants to be a mother to little Emma.

On the flip side, readers also get a glimpse into the world of Emma’s mother, Amy Townsend. Some might feel empathy for Amy, while others may feel rage.

The story reads incredibly fast. You’re either getting background knowledge that helps explain the current situation, or you’re racing through pages, eager to find out what will happen to Sarah and Emma and they travel across the country, trying to keep a low profile.

This book is packed full of emotions (more so, I would assume, if the reader is a parent), and raises many questions about motherhood.

What makes a good mother? What lengths would you go to to protect a child? If a crime is committed because of a good, moral intent, does it make it any less of a crime?

I think Not Her Daughter would make an excellent selection for a book club. It’s fast-paced, suspenseful, and will leave readers thinking. When I finished it I immediately wished I had a friend to discuss it with (if anyone wants to, let me know!). The ending doesn’t exactly provide concrete closure, either, which left me shook up.

If you’re looking for an entertaining book to curl up with this fall, I highly recommend getting your hands on a copy of Not Her Daughter. I promise you won’t be disappointed!

I'm not a domestic thriller reader usually but this one's premise was too interesting to pass up and I'm glad I didn't! The POV switches between Sarah and Amy were very well-done. I honestly didn't think having Amy's point-of-view would add to the story but Frey masterfully paints a completely fresh mother character in Amy's thoughts.

Despite the two POVs and weaving the story between before, during, and after, it's not at all confusing to know where you are in the story. The parallels between Sarah and Emma are a great echo across time of sisterhood beneath unfit mothers and the scars which linger over time.

The best part of this book for me though was the pacing! It was insanely hard to put down, which is odd for me with fiction. I was reading it everywhere: the grocery line, brushing my teeth, waiting for food to cook. Pretty much if I could tear my eyes away from the thing in front of me, I did.

From the criticism I've seen of this book, I really don't understand the implausibility critique considering it's fiction but maybe domestic thriller readers have a higher demand for that sort of thing. I don't. It's a good story and that's good enough for me. Second, the critique of Amy as a character, saying a mother would never act/think in such a way or be so terrible, is understandable if you have not met mothers like Amy. Mothers who were not meant, and didn't want to be, mothers. They're out there. Thanks to the first person POV from Amy, you see true thoughts, no matter how revolting or unimaginable they may seem. I appreciated that from Frey and thought the story was enhanced by it.

Note: I received a free Kindle edition of this book via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. I would like to thank NetGalley, the publisher St. Martin's Press, and the author Rea Frey for the opportunity to do so.

A thought provoking story of two people who make choices. Some bad, some not good but maybe not bad, and some good. If you believe a child is in danger, what should you do? Sarah Walker has to ask herself this question after she sees Amy Townsend treat her daughter, 5yr old Emma, in a manner that is definitely not motherly. On first impression, Sarah feels it is her duty to make sure Emma is safe. After visiting the town where the Townsends live, Sarah witnesses what she believes is child abuse. So, she takes the child and flees. The story moves from Amy to Sarah, building the story line until you have to wonder if there was a crime committed. This was an intriguing read, making you wonder how the news can twist a story to fit their point of view, but is it the truth. Well worth reading.

Not Her Daughter by Rea Frey is being described by some as a thriller – it’s not! It’s a gripping story no doubt, but I’d call it women’s fiction before I’d call it a thriller. It follows two women who are strangers to each other: Sarah, a successful young woman reeling from a recent breakup; and Amy, a downtrodden, unhappy mother who could certainly treat her young daughter (Emma) better. Seeing this, Sarah essentially decides to kidnap Emma in an effort to give her a better life. Completely unrealistic and super weird! Even though I was constantly left shaking (and scratching!) my head, I FLEW through this book. If you’re into character-driven page turners, it’s worth a try.

When Sarah first sees Emma there is an unexplainable connection. How far will Sarah go to save Emma from a bad mother, especially when it's a little girl that she doesn't know. How far will a mother go to get her child back? This emotional story will keep you questioning until the end. A great read!

I was excited to read this after reading the description, and it started out good but quickly lost steam. I did finish it but was rolling my eyes at different parts. It was just so implausible, and I didn't like any of the characters much, including the child! The whole story was just unrealistic.

This book was amazing , and I couldn't put it down, Sarah a successful woman who would be the last person anyone would have thought could kidnap a child takes Emma, a sad lonely girl who's mother seems to care less about her. Emma's mother locks her outside as a puniishment and Sarah takes this opportunity to kidnap her. She feels as if she's doing Emma a favor . Sarah treats Emma like her own child and Emma loves Sarah maybe more than her own mother. This book makes you really question is it ok to do the wrong thing for the right reason? In the end Emma gets to choose what she wants when Sarah brings her back to her mother. Her choice is astonishing.

Not Her Daughter was the first book in a long time that made me really angry. Sarah sees Enma being mistreated and outright abused by her mother Amy. Amy has serious anger issues, has major insecurities about herself, and basically hates her life, husband, and her daughter--because she's beautiful and headstrong. Sarah runs into the family again, sees that Emma is still being abused, and decides to get Enma to leave with her. Amy is a truly horrible, despicable person...and really for no reason other than her own issues. In the end, Sarah calls Amy to tell her she tried to bring her daughter back, but Emma doesn't want to go back to her family. Amy allows Sarah to keep her daughter!! Who DOES that?? This book was so good, but it made me question people who have children and how much they actually care about those children.

Is committing a crime ever justifiable? Five year old Emma is living a precarious life with a volatile mother, apathetic father and a sweet baby brother. Money is tight and tempers are short. Sarah sees Emma mistreated by her harried mother at the airport and again later at Emma’s school, she is obsessed with this beautiful abused child. She spies on the family and witnesses Emma’s mother slap her and berate her and leave the 5 year old outside alone. She takes matters into her own hands and kidnaps the girl. A well written story with a satisfying, yet hard to believe ending.

Thanks to NetGalley for the ecopy for my Kindle.
Sarah's worked hard to be a very successful business woman but is struggling to cope with the break up with her long time boyfriend. Feeling depressed because of this breakdown, she sees a family at the airport and the scene reminds her of her unpleasant childhood and abandonment by her mother. Deciding to get past the breakup and do something that will make her feel not only better, but also help a child suffering from unpleasant life.
Whether the reader agrees with Sarah's choice, this book still made an interesting story.