Abi's daughter is in the hospital, on life support, after a tragic fall from the local bridge. The police are treating it like an accident but Abi doesn't believe it. Then she finds out that her daughter is pregnant, but it's not her boyfriend's baby. As Abi struggles to find the truth, secrets long hidden bubble to the surface and a cast of suspects keep you guessing to the end.

I LOVED this book. Will post a review on Amazon & Goodreads when they let me and mention it in my newsletter.
(I'm a mystery author.)

The Night Olivia Fell is a story told from a mother and a daughter's perspective- Olivia, a teenage girl in the Seattle suburbs has fallen off of a bridge, and is severely brain damaged. Though she survives the fall, her mother, Abi, is told that she will never wake up. Abi's difficult decision is prolonged by the fact that Olivia is pregnant.

Readers are left following Abi in her search for the truth... why was Olivia on a bridge when she was supposed to be at home? Did she jump? Did someone push her?

Abi is a single parent who has done her fair share of worrying about her daughter and trying to give her the best possible life. Olivia is a good girl who tries her best to do right by her mother and her rules, but tells an occasional fib from time to time. I felt like the characters were relatable and made for a good mother-daughter dynamic. I enjoyed the intrigue and I think that this title would be a great book club selection.

Overall, I enjoyed the book and am grateful to the publisher for giving me the opportunity to read this title in advance!

I really enjoyed this story I was immediately hooked to the story and the pacing was really fast. Only flaws I did not like was how some things were repetitive other than that I enjoyed McDonald's writing.

I had some mixed feelings on The Night Olivia Fell. I feel like the cover art and description led me to believe this was going to be a typical thriller with lots of twists, but I wasn’t necessarily surprised by the few twists there were. I also felt like there were a lot of similarities between this book and Reconstructing Amelia (which the description compares it to). I did enjoy Olivia more than Amelia though, as the plot lines felt a bit more believable and interesting. Overall, I enjoyed the story and it kept me interested, it just felt like I was reading a slightly better version of something I had already read.

I was drawn to this because of the gorgeous cover and the fact that NetGalley compares it to Reconstructing Amelia, which I enjoyed.

I was drawn into the story really quickly. It's very apparent early on that Abi loves her daughter more than anything. As a lot of you know, strong familial story lines are some of my favorite types of stories.

I liked Olivia. She was a very typical teenager, but you could tell she was a good person. By the end of the story I was completely heartbroken by her situation and wished things could have turned out differently. She wanted to be there for her daughter but wasn't given the chance.

I didn't super love the big reveal of who murdered Olivia, (nor was I very surprised) but I did feel like it was really realistic and I applaud that. Often times thriller novels like this try to make their books shocking, but also tends to make them unbelievable. I'm glad this was different.

I liked Derek a lot. I'm not super into romance, but I did really like his and Olivia's. They were sweet together and I wished they had had more time.

By the end of the book I was SOBBING because of how sad it was to read Abi having to say goodbye to her daughter. I finished this at 2am and had to muffle my sobs to keep from waking people up. I know I enjoyed a book if it can illicit that type of reaction from me.

I definitely recommend this book to people who enjoyed Reconstructing Amelia, and people who like thrillers!

Thx to Gallery Books publisher, NetGallery, and Christina McDonald for this ARC. This book was one that I was highly interested in and anxious to read ever since I first heard about it.
It did not disappoint ! The title was perfect for the story, and it was continued to be mentioned throughout the book, which I thought was quite clever if the author. The mother, sister, and Olivia were well written characters. The storylines both past and present in the book were nicely presented. I loved this book, one of my favorites this year. I have recommended it to so many people ! Thanks again and I’m looking forward to more by this author.

I found another new, great author, Christina McDonald! The Night Olivia Fell by Christina McDonald is a book that will keep you up all night. I always love when I take a break from Historical Fiction and find a great read. Teenagers, mother/daughter relationships, mother/son relationships, politics, mystery, all combined to make a story you will not be able to put down. It comes out February 5th, it is a must for your to be read list. Thank you NetGalley and Gallery Books for the ARC. I highly recommend this book.

This was an enjoyable, quick read. I liked that McDonald wrote from the perspectives of both Abi (the mother) and her daughter, Olivia. The book really had me guessing as to what happened to Olivia. I wouldn't say I was shocked by the ending, but it unexpected from other leads in the story.

I could really relate to this book and can honest say I don't know what I would do if anything like this happened to my daughter. For a debut novel I was surprised that it was so well written and this author is someone that I would definitely read more of.
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Told from both perspectives... we get the events leading up to the tragedy. Christina McDonnell did a fabulous job with getting into the mind of both a 17-year-old and her mother

This was an emotional domestic suspense. What I came away from the book is always try to answer your child honestly when asked a question.

The Night Olivia Fell was absolutely amazing. I could’ve finished it in one sitting. Honestly, it was hard to put the story down and when I went to bed I dreamt of it and woke immediately having to finish it and find out what happened to Olivia. The novel is told between Olivia‘s point of view, in the past, and her mother‘s point of view, in the present. There are many players within the story but you don’t feel overwhelmed. Every character is well thought out and has a background along their own personality.It’s a suspenseful thrill ride that will keep you on the edge of your seat flipping through the pages to get to the end and find out what happened the night Olivia fell?
Thank you Netgalley

This book was definitely a page turner! From the moment I started reading I didn’t want to stop.

Abi is a grief stricken single mom who has just learned that her only daughter has fallen off a bridge and is now brain dead. This is the story of how she unravels what has happened as she leans about who her daughter really was. Told from alternating view points - mom in the present and daughter in the past - this book will keep you guessing until the end.

Thank you to NetGalley and Gallery, Threshold, Pocket Books for the advance copy.

OMG my heart is broken and I cannot stop crying. What a story!
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I have to say that I don’t think I’ve ever cried as much while reading a story as I have in this one. To say this novel is an emotional ride is an understatement. If you have a child, this would have to be a nightmare.

The author did an amazing job building the story. Strong, believable characters, each with amazing personalities, just stepped out of pages. They are the kids next-door. They are your child’s best friends. How could any of them have anything to do with the accident?

But one thing the story brings to the forefront is that while we think we know our child, do we really know what’s going on behind the scenes? And what do we have hidden from them that could back and haunt you?

I cried for the emotional ups and downs this parent had to go through. I cried because the police didn’t do enough. I cried for the lost opportunity of this young child and the life she left behind. I cried for the broken hearts but also for the new life that had begun and the future for all involved.

The ending was amazing, and quite simply, it was a perfect way to end the story. While inside we are gutted, we are left with a bit of hope and happiness for the future, like spring anew.

I was scared to read this book because I have a young adult son. But in the end I’m so glad that I did because The Night Olivia Fell is a remarkable story written in such a way that you will never, ever forget it.

Impactful, engrossing, and written with emotion and deep passion. Definitely make time in your day before reading this one because once you start you simply cannot put it down.

5 flipping stars!

While the story is about Olivia and her falling off a bridge and finding out what happened, to me it was more about the relationship between mother and daughter. It is a love/hate, best friend/worse enemy story that most mothers and their daughters go through. The back and forth chapters between Abi, the mother, and Olivia, the daughter, make for a nice passing and kept my attention. As the story builds, the mistakes of the mother and her trying to (overly) protect the daughter eventually leads the daughter down a similar path with dire consequences. There are just enough twists to lead the reader in different directions without losing the main story.

Thank you NetGalley and Simon and Schuster for an ARC in exchange for honest feedback.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for this ARC for my honest opinion.
This was a very quick and enjoyable read. It will invoke many emotions. It is listed as a mystery/thriller but in my opinion it could be a women's lit or young adult book. There is a mystery but it also deals with a young woman's relationship with her mother. In some ways it did not feel genuine in Olivia's character, she felt younger than 17 and not believable in how she reacts to her overprotective mother.
The mystery is somewhat predictable but again very emotional. There was a satisfying conclusion, all loose ends are wrapped up.
Overall I would recommend this book just do not expect a thriller.

One October night, Abi Knight receives a call every parent dreads. Her daughter, Olivia, has been in an accident. She fell from a bridge and a passerby found her on the shore. Though brain dead, the hospital is forced to keep Olivia alive because she is pregnant, another shock to Abi.

Though Olivia has bruises on her wrists and there is evidence of cyberbullying on her computer, the police decline to investigate. Anthony Bryant, a victim’s advocate from nearby Seattle, joins Abi’s crusade to find the truth about what happened to Olivia the night she fell. But getting to the truth may be difficult when Abi has surrounded Olivia with lies her whole life…

The Night Olivia Fell is told in two timelines, the present, in which Abi is investigating Olivia’s fall, and about six months earlier, in which Olivia is trying to find out the truth about her past after she sees her doppelganger at a school event held at the University of Washington.

Although I found Olivia’s sections juvenile and slightly annoying (as might be expected as they are told from her point of view), they were also incredibly poignant given what we knew about her fate. As she was on her own quest for answers, Olivia pushed against her overprotective mother and started developing a voice of her own.

Abi, backtracking the last months of Olivia’s life, had to face her overprotectiveness of her daughter and her tendency to live vicariously through her.

The Night Olivia Fell questions the validity of lies we tell to protect others, the role of trust in relationships, and the bonds of love even beyond death. Although heartbreaking, the novel is a compelling read with a satisfying conclusion.

received a free ARC from NetGalley in response for my honest review. For those who enjoy books with unexpected twists and turns, this one does not disappoint. Mixed in is the backstory going back several months alternating between the mother and daughter point of view. You begin at the end and as you read, pieces start to fall into places, while some answers just open up more questions. The book is well done, fast paced, and made for a good read.

What a wild ride!
Alternating between mother and child, we unravel what happened after Olivia's accident which resulted in her being brain dead and with child.
Highly recommend!

I absolutely loved this book!
I received this book from NetGalley for an honest review -
If you are a mother you will recognize all the emotions in this book and think - how well do you know your child?
A mother receives a call no mother ever wants to receive - her child has had an accident.
Add that to getting to the hospital and finding out her child is brain dead but must be kept alive as she is carrying a baby.
Who is the father? How could mom not have know her daughter was pregnant?
And as it feels like the police are dragging their feet to find the answer, the mother struggles on her own to find who would want to kill her child.
Follow along as all the lies and mysteries are uncovered.

The Night Olivia Fell is a compelling and emotional story about love, loss and the consequences of our actions and our secrets. Abi Knight is awoken in the middle of the night by a phone call no parent wants to receive - her only child Olivia is brain dead after an "accident". As if that isn't enough, Abi is also informed that Olivia is pregnant. The story is told from the alternating perspectives of Abi in the present and Olivia in the past. As the story unfolds and Abi works to find out the truth about what happened to her daughter, there are numerous unexpected twists and turns. Christina McDonald does a very good job creating primary characters that readers can empathize with and - equally impressive - a wide range of supporting characters that add depth to the story and keep readers engaged until the very last page.