Only my second book by Sam Vickery and she certainly does not disappoint. It had me totally engrossed from the beginning and although an emotional read I found it very difficult to put it down.

A brilliant book, highly recommended and definitely worthy of ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐.

Many thanks to Sam Vickery, NetGalley and Bookouture for the opportunity to read this ARC for an honest review.

A heartbreaking yet endearing story of friendship and families. The more I read the more the story opened up to reveal a beautifully written book that covered many difficult subjects. The author manage to capture the pure emotion of every single character. I'm already recommending to fany and friends

The cover of this book drew me in straight away. I thought this book was going to be about a child being abducted and I thought I knew what sort of path the story would take. But I was wrong. It starts with 2 best friends who have grown apart recently and ends up with one taking the others baby daughter. Admittedly she doesn't take her for long before deciding to take her back where she belongs but during that time we learn so much more about what else is going on in the friends lives which goes some way to explaining actions that take place.
The story is fast paced and each little twist kept my interest until the very end of the book, It is a story of friendship, secrets, family. Yes it is sad but it is also quite uplifting.

Lily and Hannah are best friends - friends who have always told each other everything. That all changes when Hannah takes Lily's baby Ella. Why did Hannah kidnap Ella? What secrets have the two women been keeping from one another that would drive Hannah to such a desperate act?

When Hannah looks at her friend, she sees someone living an idyllic life - a woman with a husband, two school-age children and now a new baby. Hannah doesn't have any of those things. In fact, there are things that she wants in life that seem incredibly out of reach. In most kidnapping cases, the parents and the police are rather frenzied trying to locate the kidnapper in order to rescue the child. However, in this case, it is perfectly clear that Hannah took Ella. In fact, she tells Lily in a note that she does not even deserve baby Ella.

Meanwhile, the story shifts to what is going on behind closed doors in Lily and husband's Jon's life. Difficult, life-changing things are happening, things that Lily kept from her best friend. While coping with their current situation, now they are desperately hoping to get Ella back safe and sound.

While the story is about locating baby Ella, it reaches far deeper. In fact, it touches on some significant issues that each woman faces. What is more is that the secrets they are each harboring just might prove to result in the collapse of the precious friendship that they had for years. This proved to be quite thought-provoking, leading me to wonder how things could have been so very different if trust and communication were stronger between Lily and Hannah.

This tender story delivers in two effective ways. One is the first person perspective from both Hannah and Lily. Also, there is the past and then way the story is told. This all plays together to create a compelling read that culminated in an evocative conclusion. Save My Daughter is an incredibly sensitive story that was so captivating, so touching and so emotional that I truly connected with Hannah and Lily.

Many thanks to Bookouture and to NetGalley for this ARC for review. This is my honest opinion.

Save My Daughter turned out completely different from what I expected. I was all set up for a dramatic story of one women’s fight to get her daughter back. Instead, this book is more about friendship; what it means, how it can suffer, and what you can do to make it last. It was really interesting unravelling how Lily and Hannah’s friendship came to a point where one would steal the other’s daughter. It made me reflect on what a good friendship is and how opening up to one another is vital if you want the friendship to be long-lasting.

However, Save My Daughter was even more than a story about friendship and a stolen baby. It also touched on how the grass is always greener on the other side: Hannah is jealous of Lily’s family while Lily would love a career of her own. It is about the burdens we have to carry through life, both the joy and the struggles of parenthood, and what it feels like to lose the one we love.

To wrap up my review, Save My Daughter turned out to be a beautiful, emotional, and heart-warming book, instead of the drama I expected. While I may have been disappointed at first, this was a good book in its own right and I’m glad to have had the chance to experience it.

This read really touches on so many topics and just had my emotions all over the place. I was hooked from the beginning. Told from the point of view of Lilly and Hannah in the past and present which I loved as you learned so much about each character and there relationship. The author really portrays how miscommunication and what your seeing isn’t necessarily what’s happening can cause upset and ruin relationships. I really enjoyed this book but beware it really pulls at the heart strings.

Thanks to Netgalley and Bookouture for the opportunity to read and review this ARC that was published on the 1st of April.

I’ve read and enjoyed other books by the author and was really looking forward to Save My Daughter. I knew I was in for a treat within a couple of pages when you’re thrust into a shocking incident – a woman’s infant daughter has been snatched – by her best friend. Why? Will the police find her and get her daughter back? The book gripped me and refused to let go until I’d finished reading. I had so many questions as I read and most of them weren’t answered until the last few chapters. This is the kind of book where there’s a lot more going on than appears on the surface and Hannah taking the baby is least of everyone’s problems. This is a real tear-jerker.

I was not sure how, or if, Sam could equal or top her previous release, My Only Child, but she absolutely has.

There are so many things I love about her writing. Firstly, I’m not left waiting for something to happen. The action happens almost immediately, after allowing for just a little character development and scene setting to begin.

This puts the reader off kilter. We don’t know enough about anything to know who to trust, who is right etc. It really helps to build an immensely exciting, dramatic and tense atmosphere.

As the story progresses, we hear from both Lily and Hannah and the book is written in such a way that we are able to feel sympathy for both characters. Like Lily, I know I am one to moan about the every day monotony of bringing up young children. I could totally see where she was coming from because yes, I love them with all my heart, but I don’t like picking up after them, or slaving for ages over a hot stove for them to throw the food on the floor. This is the reality of motherhood. It is the most thankless yet precious and rewarding job in the world, and I think Sam’s exploration of this is really important and realistic.

It is clear that for a number of reasons, Lily and Hannah’s relationship is frayed and I thought that was a really important storyline, showing how family life can consume us and we become disconnected as a result, but when the going gets tough, we truly need our friends.

The book continued to surprise and shock me with twists and turns, and then the ending really took it out of me! It was unexpected and heart-breaking, yet at the same time heart-warming and perfect.

Overall, this book has truly given me all the feels and is a stunning piece of domestic drama that explores many important issues, including motherhood and friendship. I would definitely recommend this book to fans of Jodi Picoult, Amanda Prowse and Nicole Trope.

With her two beautiful children and newborn baby Ella, Lily’s life is full of love and laughter. She gave up her job to be a stay-at-home mother, and though she sometimes envies the freedom of best friend Hannah, Lily wouldn’t trade it for anything.

But Lily’s world implodes when Hannah disappears with Ella one day, and Lily fears from the text message she receives that Hannah doesn’t intend to come back.

It’s true that Lily has been keeping secrets about her marriage from Hannah, ones she thought only she and her husband knew. Suddenly Lily realizes that there are things she doesn’t know about Hannah too – and that by keeping her husband’s secrets, she might pay the ultimate sacrifice.

An amazing book with some important life lessons.

What I loved most about this book was that along with dealing with issue of Ella's abduction, it highlights how miscommunication and misconceptions tend to destroy relationships. Through the various characters and their relationships with each other, the author has done an amazing job of explaining how important it is to be true and keeping secrets from those whom you consider to be your closest friends, can end being very painful and heartbreaking.

Overall, an excellent read!

Thank You NetGalley and Bookouture for this ARC!

This book was different than I expected but in a good way. It not only focused on the missing child, but the relationships surrounding everything.

I enjoyed this book. I felt for Hannah and her struggles. This book shows you there is more to a relationship than you see from the outside.

Sam Vickery tore at my heartstrings yet again with Save My Daughter. I was first introduced to this author with My Only Child and I became an instant fan. She has a talent at creating characters that are so compelling, so REAL. I felt Lily’s emotions as much as I felt my own in this book. I can’t imagine what I would do if my child went missing and was taken by someone. I am fierce loving mom just like Lily, and my inner Mama Bear would be on the hunt trying to find my baby. Don’t mess with my kids!

The book was following a pretty predictable (yet completely riveting) path only to be unexpectedly detoured to a completely different direction. The whole tone of the book changed and I commend the author for pulling this off so seamlessly and perfectly. My emotions were in such a whirlwind! I can’t imagine any of this happening to me, and I couldn’t believe the decision that was made, or the ending! WOW!

I loved this book and I bet you will, too.

The author’s note really spoke to me:
“But those little misunderstandings and miscommunications can happen to all of us, causing us to assume the worst and jump to conclusions about the motives and intentions of our friends, our partners, our families.”

This applies not only to this book, but to life in general. I wish everyone would read this note and remember it. Life is too short, please be kind.

Publication Date: April 1, 2021

I’d like to thank Bookouture and NetGalley for giving me the opportunity to read ‘Save My Daughter’ by Sam Vickery in exchange for my honest and unbiased review.

Lily and her husband Jon take their children William, Maisy and three-month-old Ella to the theme park and while Lily’s best friend Hannah holds baby Ella they take the older children on a roller coaster. Lily senses something’s wrong and when the ride ends Hannah and Ella can’t be found but it’s only when a text is received telling Lily ‘she doesn’t deserve her’ that she realises Hannah’s abducted their baby. Hannah thinks Lily’s keeping secrets from Jon but she too is keeping a secret of her own.

‘Save My Daughter’ is the emotional story of the strength of a mother’s love for her husband and children that will break your heart and make you thankful for the health and safety of your own family. The story moves between the past when Lily and Hannah first meet and instantly form a long-lasting friendship to the present time with the chapters alternately told by both women. The story is situated in Bournemouth and mentions my home town and areas close-by which I find of particular interest, and I was so involved in the story that I read it in five hours, unable to stop until I’d reached the last page. This novel is well-written with believable characters and a touching storyline and I recommend it without reservation, but may I suggest you keep the box of tissues close by!

As soon as you read the description for this book you just know it is going to be one of those incredibly powerful stories that nestles itself in your heart, and it certainly did that.

Lily and Hannah have been best friends many years, with a strong sense of trust and loyalty between them, Lily would trust Hannah with anything. When Lily and her husband Jon decide to take their children on a trip to an amusement park, they invite Hannah along.

Hannah loves baby Ella, and she is one of the few people Lily would trust with her daughter, so inviting her along seems like the most logical choice, that way both Lily and Jon can spend some quality time with their two older children in the knowledge that Ella is safe.

However, when the rollercoaster reaches the top, Lily can’t shake the feeling that something is wrong. When the ride is over and Lily returns to the place where Hannah and Ella were waiting for them, she is distraught to find that they are both gone.

The story is told from the perspective of both Lily and Hannah, giving us an insight as to what is going on inside both characters head as this complex story begins to unfold. The alternating chapters added an extra dose of suspense to the story, which was already bound to be a page turner.

The characters are intricate and so wonderfully brought to life by the author. I found myself feeling for both Lily and Hannah for many different reasons. As a mother, what happens in this story is every parents worst nightmare, and your heart really goes out to Lily and want Ella to be reunited with her much loved parents. And then of course we see the world through the eyes of Hannah, and your heart breaks for this woman and the events that have lead up to this event. Despite what these women seem to believe, even the closest of friends don’t truly know everything about one another, and when the secrets finally come bubbling to the surface, you are on the edge of your seat as you watch them unfold.

This is undoubtedly one of the most captivating stories I have read this year. With the perfect level of suspense building up throughout, and with many twists and turns to the story thrown in along the way, I found it impossible to put this book down and finished within a day. An absolute page turner, and a book that everyone should read this year.

Wow. What a wonderful, yet heart-breaking story of a mother's love and the love for a best friend! I was so gripped by the book, I couldn't stop reading until I actually fell asleep holding my iPad (I read on Kindle app). Tissues will be needed.

Lily and Hannah have been best friends since they first met at 18. But lately their friendship is strained, they're keeping secrets from each other and one day Hannah abducts Lily's newborn baby from the theme park they all have gone to in order to spend a day together.
The title "Save my daughter" is somewhat deceitful in my opinion, because this is not only the story of baby Emma abduction, but of so much more.
The book, beautifully written, deals with themes like friendship, loyalty, love, motherhood, loss and grieve, evolving through a highly engaging plot full of twists and turns.
It is also deeply emotional and I'm not afraid to admit that it had me on the verge of tears a few times.
Definitely recommend!

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for providing me with an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Beautiful. Poignant. A heart wrenching read. Loved it. Very emotional and absolutely wonderful. Do read this one.

Lily and Hannah have been best friends for a very long time, she thought she could trust her, when Lily and her husband Jon decided to treat the older two children to some family time at a theme park, they asked Hannah to join them. She loved baby Ella so it made sense her coming so she could watch her while Lily and Jon both went on the rides with the children. Hannah was like one of the family too.
They all get on the rollercoaster and Lily has a niggling feeling something’s not quite right. As soon as the ride ends she looks in the direction that Hannah was and she has gone, along with baby Ella!
Told in Lily and Hannah’s points of view we learn more about both characters, and why Hannah decides to take baby Ella. It is full of emotion and a lot of worry and sadness, secrets are kept and eventually they come out. Even best friends don’t know everything about each other it seems.

This was a thoroughly gripping book with not only one story but several intertwined. It was fantastic.

I received this novel as an ARC from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

This book contains the POV of two childhood best friends and how their relationship develops into adulthood. Things takes a turn for the worst when Hannah is watching Lily's newborn daughter one minute and then she's gone. This novel showcases a parent's worst nightmare and the turmoil it takes. Save My Daughter is a quick read and shows many different topics of everyday life. Save my Daughter gets an 3.5 out of 5 stars for me.

Save My Daughter by Sam Vickery. Pub Date 01 Apr 21
With her two beautiful children and newborn baby Ella, Lily's life is full of love and laughter. She gave up her job to be a stay-at-home mother, and though she sometimes envies the freedom of best friend Hannah, Lily wouldn't trade it for anything.
But Lily's world implodes when Hannah disappears with Ella one day, and Lily fears from the text message she receives that Hannah doesn't intend to come back:
'You don't deserve her' rang in Lily's ears again and again.
I have read three previous books by Sam Vickery. The titles are 'One Last Second' and 'My Only Child'; I enjoyed and highly recommended them, so I hoped that this would be as good. I should never have doubted!
'Save My Daughter' is a passionately satisfying read that expresses the strength and intensity of a mother's love for her child—the complexities of trust and the remarkable power of forgiveness.
A rollercoaster of emotions fills the pages with love, deceit, secrets and tension. It absorbed me into its pages right until the tear-jerking end.
Another great read from this very talented author, happy to recommend.
I want to thank NetGalley, Bookouture and author Sm Vickery for a pre-publication copy to review.

I can’t deny that I was a blubbering mess during the last few chapters of this story. OMG those scenes were brutal but closed the story perfectly although it goes without saying that I would have preferred a different outcome.

This story had me feeling many different emotions. It is written using the POVs of both Lily and Hannah, taking us from past to present times. Whilst I appreciated learning the history of these two ladies, enabling me, as a reader, to gain a greater understanding of how and why they ended up where they did, I did find myself distracted due to needing to know what happens with Ella, and I felt I wanted to skim through parts of the book.

I thought the author showed us Lily in mother role perfectly. I could certainly identify myself in her at times. Some scenes were torture to read and I loved that I was able to connect with the characters during those times and feel what they were experiencing. I can’t stop thinking about the messages that I will take away with me from this story, especially around friendships. I’d like to think I’m a good friend but Lily and Hannah’s relationship did stop and make me think. I have a feeling we will all consider that part of the story.

This is so much more of a story than a book about ‘saving my daughter’. It addresses friendships, relationships, trust, honesty, love, loss, forgiveness, understanding and so much more.

This is a book that I recommend to you to read. It is a story that I’ll be thinking about for quite some time and I’m certain you will too.