I enjoyed Sue's other books, Our Little Lies & The Woman Next Door ... unfortunately The Empty Nest just wasn't for me. I didn't get "psychological thriller" from this book at all. I found the commentary to be quite overdone and didn't feel as though anything really happened until the last few chapters of the book. Sad to say this wasn't a win for me. 

Thanks to the publisher and Netgalley for my review copy.

The Empty Nest by Sue Watson
Kat’s over protective love for her only daughter Amy probably borders on insanity but what the hell my mother had the same feeling for me and I have the same for my son so I am willing to give her the benefit of doubt. The empty nest syndrome is a common enough “ailment” experienced by parents the world over when their children leave home for college or work.
Kat and Amy are very close to each other and share all their secrets. One weekend when Amy does not show up at home as promised and does not even answer calls, Kat knows something is amiss. It is not like Amy to do that. What follows is an unbelievable trail of lies, secrets and betrayals where Kat faces the most torturous trial ever.
The pain of losing a loved one, the uncertainty of what would have transpired and the tiny hope that Amy will turn up unharmed is captured with perfection in Kat’s actions and expressions.
As usual Sue makes the readers believe what is the inevitable and just when we are ready to draw a conclusion – Bam- we are hit with something totally out of the blue. The unexpected twist is something readers would die for and does not disappoint.
My score 4 * / 5 for this intense, incredible read.

This author wrote feel good books before and her thrillers make me feel pretty good as well. The way she manages to tell a story and to capture the reader's attention is really fabulous. 

The empty nest syndrome : something I will be able to relate to in a few years as well. I am also very close to my son, but I don't think (hope ;) ) that I am obsessed. Of course I cannot compare the rest of my life to Kat's. I am sure that if I went through the same things, I would react differently too.

Little by little the secrets are revealed. I had an inkling about one of them but apart from that I went round in circles. I was constantly changing my mind about who was responsible for what had happened.

Did I pick the right one in the end? Of course not :) And that is what I love about books that are so well concocted : you have to wait until the last chapter to be able to satisfy your curiosity.

I cannot give this story any less than 5 stars.

Thank you, Sue Watson and Bookouture (via Netgalley)

Well, this is really good book! I loved it! This is my favourite book cover of course...Excellent writing so far!,

Looking forward to read more book from this author soon....

Thanks to Netgalley and bookouture for the advanced copy...

Quite a twisted mind was shown when the author Sue Watson plotted this book. It took an ink so dark to draft a tale where everything was warped to fit the needs of a damaged psyche.

Kat was the helicopter worried mom whose daughter Amy had left for uni. But she didn’t come home when she promised, and the mother’s instincts went overdrive with worry. But were all of them just worries or did a mother’s love know something? Was Amy alive and well?

Woah!! This book took me by surprise. The writing showed me the author’s mad skills in thinking out the subplots of a dark thriller. I liked how things were hinted at to lead me down roads unexpected. Characters were not many, but they were linked with suspicion. And that helped raise the tension in the story.

The build up of a mother’s worry was brilliant. I would be honest. It was both true to its emotions at the same time, left me with a vague niggle that all might not be honky dory with the characters. Kate’s fear for her daughter’s safety leaped off the pages, and I knew that whatever I told her via my kindle, it wouldn’t calm her down. I just had to walk with her as she tried to make sense of everything.

I suspected everyone in this book. So I was glad to see that my suspicions came to fruition. Yes, I did know that was cheating, but I so wanted to be right. But the epilogue was quite a shocker!! This was a fun read, helped me get over my ill health to some extent. Now I want more such books. Keep ’em coming!! Off to read my next.

Kat has always lived her life for her daughter Amy. When Amy leaves home for college, Kat is lost without her; since they talk every day, however, Kat is managing to cope. When Amy is due home for the weekend but doesn’t turn up, Kat is convinced something has happened to her. Amy wouldn’t just go off the radar without letting her mum know, but everyone thinks that she is just being an overprotective mother.

The story follows Kat as she tries to handle Amy’s disappearance and as questions are asked and revelations come to light, she is left asking herself just how well does she really know her daughter.

Although slow to start, the plot quickly picks up and as the tension begins to build Kat is left wondering who she can trust.  A good book with several twists to keep you interested and an ending I wasn’t expecting.

A really good twisty thriller. I did not like many of the characters but I think that is deliberate. Their personalities help to make this story. I found myself reading through the book not trusting anyone. I would definitely recommend this book.

Thank you to Netgalley for my copy.

On the fence a bit with this really. There were some really good bits, which kept me on the edge of my seat and there were other bits that were a bit slow and I felt myself skimming.
I kind of figured out what was going on towards the end but it didn’t stop my enjoyment.
A solid 3.5 but have marked it up for the amount of crazy in it!

Not for me I m afraid. The characters were simply horrible and I felt no sympathy or interest in any of them. Ive read some of the five star reviews so I think the book will be a success but just one that seemed a real effort to read to me.

Thank you to Bookouture and Net Galley for the chance to read this book in exchange for an honest review.
Kat, a helicopter mom, is very wrapped up in her daughter Amy. When Amy goes away to University, Kat cannot seem to let go. When Kat doesn't hear from Amy over the weekend, she knows something is wrong. Even though her husband and her friend tell her to relax, Kat just can't let it go. So begins the mystery of "Where is Amy?" I liked this book, but Kat was a little annoying-all she could think about was her daughter. This book kept me hooked because I wanted to find out what happened to Amy. A good suspenseful mystery!

Did not finish- just can’t get into it. May try again later. Got up to 7 percent and couldn’t take it anymore. Just very meandering and all over the place

Overall: 2/5 Stars
Characters: 2.5/5 Stars
Believability: 2/5 Stars
Personal Opinion: 2/5 Stars

I really wasn’t a fan of this one. You spend the bulk of the book inside Kat’s head with very little actually going on. The emotions she expresses go from one extreme to another, from one sentence to the next, enough to give the reader whiplash. This is basically a story about extremely unhealthy relationships, relationships between mother and daughter, between friends, and even between husband and wife.

I couldn’t find anything in any of the characters that made me feel much sympathy towards what they were going though because they all had some pretty horrible traits. I did feel something towards Amy, but that kind of gets killed when you get a good glimpse into her personality as well.

The specifics of the plot just felt really overblown and extreme from all aspects. The struggle with believability along with the lack of connection to  the characters made this not a good book for me.

*I received a copy of this book from NetGalley. Opinions stated are honest and my own.

***Thanks to NetGalley for providing me a complimentary copy of THE EMPTY NEST by Sue Watson in exchange for my honest review.***

Kat helicopter momming caused her daughter Amy to attend university two hours away. When Amy doesn’t come home for a weekend, Kat is certain foul play is the reason. Through a series of revelations secrets will be revealed and everybody is suspect.

I hated every single character in THE EMPTY NEST, most of all narrator Kat whose over-enmeshment with her daughter made me cringe. I waffles between hoping Amy ran away to spite her mum and hoping Kat had murdered her daughter. I didn’t guess the outcome, though I did figure out many of the revelations.

Sue Watson’s pleasant writing style kept me engaged, though the pace dragged with repetitive examples of Kat’s terrible parenting and unreasonable expectations. THE EMPTY NEST lacked tension, though will still appeal to mystery lovers.

🐣 BOOK REVIEW 🐣
Thank you to @netgalley @suewatsonbooks @bookouture for my advanced ecopy of The Empty Nest.

So firstly I love Sue’s books. Her romantic comedies literally make my stomach ache with laughter, she’s brilliant. I hadn’t read any of her thrillers, until now, good grief it was blooming marvellous! 

I was really apprehensive in case I just couldn’t get on board with the change in style & genre but by the end of the first chapter I knew it was going to be brilliant. I devoured it in 24 hours. It is unputdownable (is this a word?? It’s definitely a thing!). The chapters are short and tense. The writing completely conveys Kat’s (MC) sheer terror and desperation. As a mum myself my heart was pounding throughout the entire book. I had every single character in the frame at one point or another. Even Kat!! The relationships are so well conveyed, they are tight and complex. So many lies, so many secrets, oh man it’s truly fantastic!! 

It’s definitely going to be one of my top reads of the year 🙌🏼

You might know a mother like Kat. Warm, loving but very controlling. Would you call her behavior obsessive? Maybe. Richard, her supportive second husband, tries to tell her. Her daughter Amy jokes about it. Her best friend Flo tries to help her relax. But when new college student Amy neither returns a daily call and nor comes home for a planned weekend visit, Kat’s world is turned upside down.  She desperately tries to convince Richard, Flo and the police that Amy is missing and in danger. She is frantic, wildly blaming others for Amy’s disappearance. The roller coaster ride that The Empty Nest takes you on continues through dips, drops and thrills until a conclusion that leaves you both shocked and satisfied. This is a stay up all night and read thriller!

Many thanks to NetGalley, Bookouture and Su Watson for this ARC.

It is hard to know who to believe in this latest from Sue Watson.  From a smother-mother to her bratty teenaged daughter to the best friends - another mother-daughter duo and close neighbors, to the biological abusive father or could it possibly be the step-father, possibly "Professor Perv"?  What happens when your child is two hours away for the first time and cracks are appearing in your relationship.  When Amy goes missing, Kat just "knows" something's wrong - but is he just being her ever overprotective self or....  Another really great read from Sue Watson!

4 stars

Holy buckets, this is an intense book! I absolutely could not put it down. Sue Watson has written an incredible book with real characters, whom you cannot help but love, root for and hate all at the same time.  I was continually shocked by the actions and inner demons of some of the characters.
I have never read a book by Watson before but I surely will again. I highly recommend this book to anyone who enjoys psychological suspense books.
I received a complimentary copy of this book from NetGalley and the publisher in exchange for a honest review.

So many feels! 5 ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐! I was literally tearing up towards the end, on the verge of calling my own mom. I did not see that ending coming! What a twist, and trust me, this story was full of them!

As a mother, this book spoke to me on so many levels! Sue Watson, the author of The Empty Nest, put it best quite nicely in her ending letter to the reader, "Just like that first day at school, the sense of loss and the shock at how quickly our children grow and leave us hit me hard." Luckily my children are still young, but I can only imagine how I'll feel when it's my turn to experience an empty nest.

Kat's daughter is missing, but no one is taking her concerns seriously. Everyone has her pegged as the obsessive, overly protective mother who just won't stop. She'll turn up, she's probably just hungover or got caught up in university life and forgot to mention her change of plans. Maybe. Kat knows better though, she's Amy's mother. A mother knows. Besides, Amy would never go this long without some type of communication because Kat and Amy are more than a typical mother and daughter, they are best friends. Right?

Everyone has a secret in The Empty Nest. What worked quite well was how these secrets and lies were revealed throughout the story, little by little. That gradual release of information makes the final twist that much more enjoyable. Character-wise, while some would find Kat's mothering a little too much, a little extra.. I found it to be just right. Maybe because I'm a little overprotective myself. I wasn't too fond of the husband or the best friend though, their characters were written well enough for this story, I just felt for Kat.. she craved so much for that support system, but it never really felt like she had it. No matter how much she wanted to believe otherwise.

If you're sitting there trying to figure out if The Empty Nest should be your next read, stop. No need to look any further because Sue Watson is giving you everything you need right here. The feels are real, the feels are raw and on point. This five-star rating of a story was delivered, just as advertised... "an unputdownably gripping psychological thriller."

Thank you to NetGalley, the publisher Bookouture, and the author Sue Watson for providing me with an advanced reader copy of this title in exchange for an honest review.

You won’t put it down! 

I’m glad I read this book whilst I was on holiday because I literally couldn’t put it down until I found out what had happened to Kat’s daughter Amy! 

This novel taps into some of our darkest fears as parents, there were times when my stomach twisted in fear, others when I cried in recognition of the feelings of loss Kat experienced at letting go of her daughter as she left for university. 

Sue Watson cleverly weaves a cast of potential suspects into this story which ensures you never know how it will end. 

Absolutely loved it.

This book started a bit a bit slow for me but it definitely picked up as the story went on. It was a twisty thrillers in all the best ways! Would definitely recommend to a friend.