Oh quite an emotional read. Author Ali Mercer pulled at my heartstrings with the rendering of a tale seen through the eyes of a 14 year old Dani.

Having lost her mother at the age of 4, Dani didnt remember anything about her. She stayed with her author, and a hidden diary on the loft belonging to her mother brought out some truths. All Dani wanted was closure, and she found some chasms.

All of the books by this author had given me hours of reading pleasure, so I was quite thrilled to get to this book. I enjoyed how little Dani pulled me into the story. We all need our mothers, whatever be our age. The story was a family drama filled with emotions of guilt and secret and finally forgiveness. Each page revealed to Dani and me what her mother was like.

The book had feels, but what surprised and delighted me was a hidden mystery in the family along with twists which captured my thriller-y heart completely. I liked that it helped me not get too sobfull about the story. The writing kept its steady pace, but the overall storyline and need to know the truth made me turn the pages faster.

Great writing with lovely characters, deep emotions made this an entertaining read.

My Mother's Choice by Ali Mercer
I really enjoyed this book. Dani is 14 and living with her aunt, no one talks about her mother, and she doesn't know why. Then she finds her mothers diary, and it contains a lot of secrets, and it threatens to blow her world apart.
I enjoyed the way this was written in alternating chapters, Dani's and her mother through her diary pages.
I had pretty much worked our where the story was going, but that did not take away from my enjoyment. You might need to grab some tissues for this book.

# My Mothers Choice # Netgalley
It’s one heartbreaking book, everyone wants to know about their mothers. Even if for whatever reason you have not met them. Also you do become very protective toward them. This as the ability to make you shed a tear of two. It cuts right through you to the core. Lesson should be learned through this book and I definitely recommend you should read it. A beautiful heartfelt novel that’s also discovers the pain of a child wanting so desperately to know her mother. Brilliant written. Definitely recommend

Dani was just four years old when her mother drowned. She's now fourteen and lives with her aunt Carrie. She rarely see her dad. All she has is one photograph of her mother. She doesn't have any memories of her. Dani finds her mother's diary one the attic and she discovers things were not asshe bieved them to be.

This 8s quite an emotional read. It's told from Dani's perspective and her mum's diary entries. Family secrets come to light. The book is beautifully written with lots of twists. This family driven drama is filled with secrets, lies and guilt. This is one of those books that will stay with you long after you've finished it. Ali Mercer had done a great job in hooking you in and not letting you go until you've turned the last page.

I would like to thank NetGalley, Bookouture and the author Ali Mercer for my ARC in exchange for an honest review.

What happened to Dani's mother? She's never known, never really focused on it. All she knows is that she was brought to her aunt Carrie when she was four and told her mother had died. Now she's fourteen and, as teens often do, she's got questions, especially since her mother's name is never spoken and there's only one photo of her mother in the house. So, of course, she goes to the attic where she finds.... her mother's diary, Turns out there was a family secret (no spoilers from me) that everyone, especially her aunt and her father, want to continue to keep. This wasn't especially surprising (the secret that is) but Mercer does a nice job with her storytelling and the characters. I defy you to not feel for poor Dani. Thanks to Netgalley for the ARC. A good read.

I’d like to thank Bookouture and NetGalley for giving me the opportunity to read ‘My Mother’s Choice’ by Ali Mercer in exchange for my honest and unbiased review.

Dani’s fourteen and lives with Aunt Carrie, her mother’s older sister. Her mother, Laura, died when Dani was four but neither her father Jon nor Carrie talk about her and apart from a single photograph she has nothing that once belonged to her mother. Then one day she finds an exercise book hidden in a trunk in the loft, and as she begins to read Dani realises it’s a diary that was written by her mother.

‘My Mother’s Choice’ is the tear-jerking story of a family with secrets told from the perspective of Dani and what’s been written in ‘Laura’s Diary’. The story has a slow beginning but the further I got into the story the more involved I became and by the time I reached the last third I was unable to put it down as I had to know what had happened to Laura. The story flowed beautifully and the final part of the story had me in tears with tissues in abundance. This is a lovely story, well-written and so touching, and I have no hesitation in recommending it.

I really liked this book, it was beautifully written and kept me captivated until the end.

The story alternated between the viewpoints of two main characters, Dani and Laura, which worked well and there were a couple of moments where I felt quite emotional.

I would recommend My Mother’s Choice if you’re looking for an easy, moving read.

This book is truly an emotional and heartbreaking read I have read! This is the first book I have read from the author and I must say, I truly enjoyed this book.

In a nutshell, the story begins with fourteen-year-old Dani, who is rebellious (not in a bad way) and whose mother, Laura is dead. Dani doesn't really remember much about her mother and her father, Jon and her aunt, Aunt Carrie, with whom she is living are not telling a complete story about her mother. The only way Dani remembers her mother is a photo of her mother, wearing a brown dress, taken with Dani as a four year old.. Then one day, Dani discovers her mother's diary hidden in the attic. What are the secrets that both Jon and Carrie had been hiding from Dani about her mother? Curious, Dani starts reading her mother's diary, curious to know about the mother she doesn't remember.

The story is told from the perspective of Dani, who is a fourteen-year old teenager and then perspective of her mother, Laura, when Dani starts reading her diary. You can completely relate Dani and understand all those angry emotions that she is going through--the lies her father and her aunt had told her, the deep family secrets that Dani is interested to know the reason why Laura left London and moved to Cornwall with Dani. When reading Laura's parts, you feel a bit emotional, and understand what she is going through, particularly when the man she is going to get married is having a child from his first marriage and the major responsibilities that she had to share with her husband. In the end, it was sad, heartbreaking, emotional, and the unexpected turn and twist towards the end was so great! I never expected that to happen during the end of the chapter (not going to give much)

Overall, the book is well written, the author has managed to make the readers hook into the story, making them going on a rollercoaster ride with both Dani and Laura, waiting to see what those family secrets are.

Many thanks to Netgalley and Bookouture for the advanced copy of this book!

I absolutely adored the first 2/3 of this book - it was enthralling, captivating and kept the reader guessing. I was incredibly disappointed with the last 1/3 of the book and the ending didn't feel like it fit with the rest of the book.

My Mother’s Choice by Ali Mercer

Hormonal teenager stage is never fun, but it’s even worse when they are rebellious because of parental issues. Dani doesn’t have your normal teenage angst with peers, but she has some fall out with acting out against adult control. However, her mother has passed away and she lives with an Aunt who treats her with disdain and her father lives in the same town, but rarely has time for her. She has an older half sister that she has no close relationship with. It seems this poor girl is in the fringe of everything and the little bit of acting up she does do is her trying to get attention and for someone to acknowledge that she is alive.
She makes friends with another girl, Josie who is picked on by the “mean” girls and Dani helps her to stand up to these bullies. In the course of their friendship, Dani discovers her mother’s diary and she finds out the secret of why her mother and her were down to the coast and where her mother ultimately ended up drowning!!
Dani went on a journey of self discovery and some of the things she finds out about her family members really upset her and she was already upset with her father for his coldness to her, but secrets in the diary open up a can of worms!!
This book is so emotional and I cried and sniffled and I read this book straight through!! I couldn’t put it down and forgot to start supper!!!
I received a advanced copy from NetGalley and willingly give my thoughts and opinions!!

Have your Kleenex ready for this emotional read. Dani, now 14, is living with her Aunt Carrie and seeing her dad very infrequently. She is unhappy and feels unloved. Her only connection to her mom, who drowned when she was 4 is one photo. The story is mostly told through her mom’s secret diary from 14 years ago, and Dani’s point of view. Loved the slow revelations of the tragic event. Just a vivid reminder of how secrets kept can cause so much damage to so many lives. Characters stayed true to themselves but maybe...just maybe a change is on the way for Dani. Many many thanks to Ali Mercer and NetGalley for affording me the opportunity to read an arc of this tear jerker, to be published on July 29th.

Dani is doing her best to be a typical, awkward fourteen-year-old.

But what is normal about your mother’s death shrouded in mystery with no one willing to talk about it? What is regular about being raised by a downcast, single aunt? And what is typical about having next to no relationship with your detached father, who lives nearby?

Life seemed pretty sour for Dani.

Until the attic search unearthed the spiral notebook.

Dani’s discovery of the notebook, written in her mother’s hand, revealed a crucial point in her mother’s life—what caused her to take four-year-old Dani and run from the love of her life.

As Dani escapes into her mother’s past, she arrives closer to learning the truth. What the two adults in her life have worked so hard at keeping hush-hush, is about to be exposed. Will they be able to handle the emotional fall-out from the secret revelation?

Ali has this innate ability to crawl deep into the emotive workings of the reader through her characters and writing—captivating you from her first written page. My Mother’s Choice is a poignant story of life’s losses and share of melancholy, but it’s also a testament to repairing emotionally broken bridges and ultimate acceptance.

Highly recommend My Mother’s Choice.

Thank you to NetGalley and Bookouture for Ali Mercer’s read of, My Mother’s Choice.

Opinions expressed in my reviews are my own.

Many thanks to Bookouture and Netgalley for the opportunity to read and review this book. A totally mesmerising and captivating book about the loss of a mother and a young girls journey to find out the truth about her past. Dani has grown up raised by her aunt when her mother tragically drowned when she was 4 years of age. Her father often distant refused to draw on the facts of his life with her mother. When she finds her mother's diary it opens a can of worms and she finds the people closest to her have been lying to her. I was hooked from the first chapter and found it hard to put down. Brilliant

My Mother’s Choice, by Ali Mercer, is a beautifully written emotional story about the struggles a young girl faces growing up without her mother, the questions she has about her death, and the events that led up to her death. Dani doesn’t have any memories of her mother because she passed away when she was only four. One of her earliest memories was the drive she took with her aunt and her dad after her mother passed. She remembers the drive with them, and that her dad left her with her aunt to raise her. At fourteen years old, Dani’s dad is mostly a stranger with a somewhat shady existence. Even though he lives close by, she rarely sees him and wishes he was more involved in her life because his choice to be uninvolved hurts almost as much as growing up without a mom. Although she always carries the heavy weight of sadness and loneliness, she has also had fourteen years to master her ability at disguising her feelings. Most of the personality Dani shows towards others is introverted, angry, isolated, uncaring, and detached. Everything seems to involve parents in one way or another, like school meetings and drop off and pick up from school, and she always struggles with her emotions during those times because its a reminder to herself and others that she’s the girl without a mom. She closely guards the picture she has of the two of them together in her room, and has so many unanswered questions.
Dani nearly despises her birthday every year because it is another one of those times when others are reminded that she’s the kid without a mom. She lives with her aunt, who seemingly doesn’t want to be raising her in the first place, and even her aunt is mournful on her birthday so its altogether an unhappy day. She always gives her a book, or something else that she doesn’t have any interest in, so its more evidence of the gap between the two of them. They don’t hug, they don’t communicate, and they basically trudge through the days by sidestepping each other and avoiding one another as best they can. When her dad gives her a bike for her 14th birthday Dani feels like it is her ticket to freedom. Her aunt only has one rule about it, and since Dani is defiant to begin with, she just cant help but overstep her bounds. It’s a simple rule, and Dani cant understand why her aunt made such a big deal out of it anyways. Needless to say she gets caught, and her aunt tells her that she tried her best to do right by her, and calls her dad to come pick her up. Dani has no idea what to expect from her dad, but what she learns is a painful reality. Back at her aunt’s again, she invites a friend to come over - the only friend she has- and finds a notebook in her attic that was written by her mother.
I think other readers will enjoy this book because Ali Mercer does a great job developing Dani as a lovable character as the layers of information about her mother are pulled back. The more you read, the more you understand the feelings and reactions each character has, and the more surprises you learn about her mother and her last days. I loved seeing how she was almost able to develop somewhat of a relationship with her mother through her notebook pages. Not only do you get to see the changes, but you also get closer to the truth of understanding what happened leading up the her mother’s final days. With a strong beginning in the book that begins talking about the freedom the mother felt after leaving him and how she had to maintain disguises for her and Dani, you’ll keep guessing about the possibilities of who she ran from and what she ran into after she left that caused her untimely death.
Thank you Netgalley, Ali Mercer, and Bookouture for allowing me the privilege of reading My Mother’s Choice. It took me a little bit of time to get in to it, but once I got further into the story I understood the importance of building up the details and it was well worth it!

This was a wonderfully written book my Ali Mercer!
Now I am going to have to get all her books after reading this.
This one is full of family secret's and lies.
This is a mystery read! And I love me a good mystery.
It had me hooked from the very first page till I read the last chapter.

Thank You NetGalley and Publisher for this great ARC.

Thanks Netgalley and the Publisher. I really really enjoyed this book, the storyline was great and so were the characters and had me hooked from beginning to end. Would recommend.

⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

I'm not sure I even know where to start with this review as I have literally just finished the book and am a bit of an emotional wreck! This is such a beautifully written, emotional book told from two perspectives; Dani and her mother Laura. I absolutely loved both main characters and was just so absorbed in the journey that they both went on that I am actually really sad I have finished the book. You don't normally expect twists and turns in a book like this so they took me by surprise! I will say no more for fear of spoilers but I love love loved this book!

4.5 stars

This was such a great book with a really surprising ending!

The main character, Dani, knows next to nothing about her mother, and those closest to her have kept quiet about the woman she has so few memories of. So it comes as no surprise that Dani is curious to learn more. When she finds her mother’s diary in her aunt’s loft, she discovers her family has been keeping secrets and she must go out on her own to uncover the truth. But what if the truth leads to more heartache?

I really enjoyed reading this story. It was emotional and suspenseful and kept my attention from the first page to the last. There were a few things I questioned throughout the book, though.

First, Dani has lived with her aunt for the last fourteen years. While I understand her father was probably so distraught after losing his wife that he couldn’t cope and properly raise his daughter, why, after all that time, did he never bring Dani home? Was is simply because she reminded him of his wife?

Also, I don’t remember Dani ever mentioning her half-sister, Michelle, except once in chapter 4. Did she not have a relationship with her at all? I was hoping these two topics would have been addressed at some point in the book, but I felt like I was left hanging.

Regardless, I thought the book was very well written and the author did a great job of catching me by surprise at the end. I definitely didn’t see that coming!

Highly recommend!

https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/3417920809

Fourteen year old Dani lives with her Aunt Carrie – her mother died many years ago and her father is an infrequent visitor. Dani has only one photograph of her mother: she is never spoken about, never discussed. Dani is lonely; Dani is confused. She is emotionally neglected and longs for a ‘proper’ family. Secrets!

Prompted by a friend, Dani goes into the loft and discovers some clothes that must have belonged to her mother – and a diary. – Secrets!

In retrospect this is a somewhat predictable story but it is well-written and well-structured. A good holiday read though.

Thank you to the author, publishers and NetGalley for providing an ARC via my Kindle in return for an honest review.

A fantastic family drama that grabs you right from the start! Very well written! Couldn’t put it down! This is definitely a must read!