The Perfect Daughter centers around deception and manipulation. Jess lives for the approval of her overbearing mother. This toxic relationship drives the story and kept me engaged. There is a fine line between protecting someone, and wanting to control them. Is Abigail, Jess’s mother, a caring protector or a controlling manipulator? Who is fooling who in this twisty tale? Very entertaining from start to finish! Thank you NetGalley and Boldwood Books for my copy.

Blurb: Jess Harper has spent her whole life trying to make her mum, Abigail happy and proud. And everything Jess does, from the clothes she wears, the job she has, the men she dates, are all approved by Abigail first.

Having read the blurb, I was intrigued to read more. And, I wasn’t disappointed. Jess’ story had many twists and turns causing me to panic at certain points as I feared the outcome. A story of lies and deceit highlighting the difficulties of family dynamics. A brilliant book which I’d recommend to others. ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Thank you for the ARC of this book

However I really struggle to engage with the characters and though I had several goes to read this I gave up in the end.
Sorry it really wasnt for me

Wow wow wow. A complex, creepy and jaw-dropping psychological crime thriller packed with chills and twists that will leave readers reeling, The Perfect Daughter is an exquisitely plotted and deftly written tale that is dark, disturbing and terrifying. Alex Stone cracks the enviable façade of the perfect family and analyses the shameful sins and dangerous secrets hidden behind closed doors in a gripping chiller that will keep readers riveted all through the night.

An excellent psychological thriller centred around a heroine dominated by her mother, lacking in self-esteem but attempting to forge her own way in life through embarking on an “unsuitable” relationship. A well-crafted study into how we perceive ourselves and the types of relationships we might have. The characters are flawed, manipulative and unreliable and the storyline sometimes stretches credulity just a bit too far, but all-in-all, a satisfying and compelling read.

With thanks to the author, publisher and NetGalley for an advance copy to read.

The Perfect Daughter is a gripping thriller that follows the relationship between Jess and her mother. Jess tries to live up to her mother's expectations and is always in touch with her or around her. When she starts a relationship with Adam, a plumber, she also has to deal with her mother's disregard for him. As she tries to maintain and nurture the new relationship and keep her mother happy, she finds herself sandwiched in between, trying to reconcile who she is and who she wants to be.

I found Jess's character to be quite interesting. The author has done a good job in trying to portray her thoughts and feelings. The first half of the story goes back and forth between the past and present day where Adam is missing and presumed dead. As the police investigate, we follow Jess as she deals with the on-going police investigation and tries to come to terms with everything. In parallel, we also get to know how she met Adam, the nature of their relationship and the role her mother has always played in her life under the pretext of protecting her.

I found the first half of the story to be a little repetitive in the thoughts and feelings that were portrayed. However, as you progress to the second part of the story, the plot intensifies and takes a huge turn. The author has done a wonderful job with the story here, bringing to us many twists and key characters who change the course of the story. Though the story focuses mainly on Jess, her mother and Adam, there are some characters who feature in the story to shape it's course. I appreciate how the author brought them in and handled their roles in the story very well.

What intrigued me was Jess's mother's nature and her thought process. I found her actions and thoughts to be interesting and I think the author handled the mother-daughter dynamics very well. As you read, the questions of what it means to be perfect and what can a person believe are raised in the minds of the reader. When secrets are revealed and lies are caught, the plot takes a big turn. This is indeed a roller-coaster of a read taking us through some pretty twisted minds and toxic relationships, but coming together very neatly in the end with a well thought out conclusion.

This book is definitely worth the read for all fans of a good thriller or mystery with a psychological angle filled with a few unexpected twists!

Anyone with an over-controlling parent will probably empathise with Jessica, whose mother takes the cake in the domination department. The result is that Jess tries to please Abigail – the mother from hell - with every choice she makes, lacking any belief in her own judgement.

But there’s one decision Jess makes regardless of Abigail’s disapproval. She begins to date Adam, a plumber who seems to care about her and who encourages her to break the chains of her devotion to her mother. But Jess is conditioned to believe that her mother is only trying to protect her and that when her father left never to return, it was because of something Jess did.

Still, she wants to believe that Adam’s feelings for her are real and that she can make a life with him. But then Adam disappears. Did something bad happen to him? Is Jess somehow responsible, as the police seem to think? Or was Adam too keeping secrets from her?

A damaged woman of course makes for a truly unreliable narrator. This one has a lot of problems and I found it created a challenge for me. The story is told only from Jess’s point of view. Her weakness and inability to take control of her life made it difficult for me to want to take the entire journey with her, even though I knew events were likely to change her. I also thought there was a bit too much of her internal monologue and not enough action.

The positive side is that this is a compelling account of the damage caused in childhood by a mother who deprives her daughter of any initiative and constantly makes her feel unworthy. It’s little wonder that it takes a crisis to break that toxic bond.

Thank you to NetGalley and Boldwood Books for providing a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

I could not finish this one. I found the mother to be manipulative and the protagonist to be weak. This one was not my cup of tea right now.

This author is really great. I really loved this book. This tale was highly engrossing and highly recommendable!!

This was a very well written book with an interesting storyline and well-developed characters that kept me involved all the way. I did feel though that it seemed to be a bit repetitive and I lost a bit of interest, skipping through some of Jessica's emotions. However by the last quarter it did get going again and the ending was unexpected.
Thank you to Netgalley and Boldwood Books for giving me the opportunity to read this book.

Omggggg another intensely creepy book!! I think I read this in about two days... it was that fantastic! The author is an amazing storyteller and you really dive deep into this book. The plot was amazing, y'all need to read this book!

A good read
Characters to keep you hooked
It will keep you wanting to read to get to the end
Thanks NetGalley

ess Harper and her mother have an incredibly close relationship. Too close, too insular, too unhealthy. Jess has finally found romance and freedom in the form of plumber Adam but her mother doesn't approve. Then Adam goes missing, presumed dead...
The Perfect Daughter is an intense psychological thriller and is the first book that I have read by this author. It won't be the last!
Ooh this book had my hackles up from the first pages! Poor Jess is belittled and controlled by her mother but is helpless to stand up for herself. She has been continually undermined and feels unlovable and unworthy. However, she sees her mother's words and actions as evidence of love especially as her mum has protected her on numerous occasions.
The character of Jess' mother Abigail is so well developed and is almost villainous from the start. Her insidiously controlling behaviour is deeply disturbing and I was desperate to yell at Jess to escape. Jess is likable but has no self confidence or friends, having internalised her mother's negativity.
The book is written using alternating chapters of the past and present until the final quarter which stays in the present day. Jess is devastated when Adam's van is discovered at the bottom of a cliff but there is no sign of a body yet. It soon becomes clear that their relationship had struggled and she finds herself a suspect as the police investigate. There are plenty of twists and, although I did guess most of them, I could not predict the ending!
The Perfect Daughter was a real page turner as truth and lies spiral together for a fascinating plot.

Since her father's death Jess has had a very close relationship with her mother. Some people say that her mother is controlling, but Jess knows that she needs her mum because every other element of her life is a mess. Her relationships break down, she can't keep a friend, and her job is mundane and uninteresting. Then she meets Adam, who helps to bring her out of herself - but her mother doesn't like him at all. But is that because Adam is controlling, or because Jess's mother is?

I liked the plot of this book better than the execution of it. Jess's constant mental turmoil was very repetitive, she worried about the same things over and over again, which became quite dull. There were a few surprises in the plot but I thought some of the twists didn't really hold up that well and got a little silly.

With thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for a copy of this book in return for an honest review.

An interesting and thought provoking book for sure. The mother was horribly controlling and then I moved between feeling sorry for Jess and feeling angry with her. It felt claustrophobic in parts. If you like psychological thrillers I am sure this will appeal!

The Perfect Daughter was a book I found a bit slow off the starting blocks but quickly made up for that and becoming unputdownable.
Jess as far as I could see was the perfect daughter, after her mother’s parents died in a car crash they moved to her grandparents large home when Jess was young, soon after jess’s father left and never contacted Jess again even though she was a daddies girl. Growing up jess’s mother looked out for her so no mistakes were made and Jess complied. The book bounces between then and now with then being when she met her plumber boyfriend, Adam, and now when he is missing and presumed dead. No man has ever been good enough in her mother’s eyes but weirdly she is always right. Jess has very little social life as she has to be at her mother’s for tea most nights and in fact although Jess lives on her own her whole life is consumed by her mother.
This was a good read with some decent plot twists and I would recommend sticking through the slow start.
I would like to thank Netgalley and Boldwood Books for this ARC I received in exchange for an honest review.

The Perfect Daughter is about Jess who has been nothing but perfect to her mother. Her mother, Abigail, only wants what's best for her daughter, even if that means pushing aside her "perfect" boyfriend, Adam the plumber.

Jess can't tell a lie no matter how hard she tries, but as this book goes back and forth between the past when her and Adam met, to the present where Adam's body is missing and presumed dead, you start to see a new side to the characters. Abigail, who is conniving, Jess, who is fearful of everything, and Adam, who is hiding something. As you learn more about Jess's past and Adam's secret, you wonder who can be trusted. And why does everyone close to Jess always leave?

This book started off a bit slow but was intriguing enough to keep my interested peaked. Although I had a guess to what might happen at the end, I had to see I'd I was right.

I rate this book as 2.5 🌟!

I'd like to say a huge thanks to the author, publisher, and NetGalley for an ARC of this novel in exchange for an honest review.

#reading2021 #fallreading2021 #booklover #booksofinstagram #netgalley

The Perfect Daughter

This book was a slow burn that ramps up at the very end! There was some redundancy in it that could have been avoided but overall it was a solid physcological thriller.

Synopsis:

Jessica has always tried to be the perfect daughter for her mum. She was the only person her mother had after losing her parents in a car accident and her husband, Jess’s father, had left them. Jess was close with her father and his leaving was devastating to her. Her mum made her feel responsible.

Unfortunately no matter what Jess does her mother only has a negative response. She constantly makes Jess feel like she isn’t good enough to have a love interest or to go out and have her own life. Even though Jess has her own flat her mum expects her to stay with her an cook her meals.

Jess attended University while living at home. She got a legal degree and is working for a law firm that doesn’t totally fulfill her. She has very little friends or social life outside of her mum. That is until she hires a plumber named Adam. They become romantically involved and Jess’s mum is not keen on her having any other relationships besides theirs. Adam is also aware of the unhealthy relationship Jess has with her mum and the hold over her she has. He tries to help her see how toxic it is but is he also trying to control Jess? Is he the man she though he was?

I could see her mum was to blame for many of her failed relationships early on but I wasn’t expecting the plot twist at the end.

What I didn’t like about the book was Jess letting people walk all over her all the time! She had very little self-esteem but that would be the result of her upbringing.

Jess’ life is pretty routine – she goes to work, then visits her Mother for dinner and then goes home, and does it all again the next day. Until she meets Adam……Her Mother is less than impressed that she’s dating a ‘plumber’ and. doesn’t like the changes she sees in Jess. And then Adam goes missing…..and Jess ends up as the prime suspect. But is she responsible? She doesn’t know who to trust or believe anymore….not even herself…..

This definitely bought our a range of emotions in me! Most of the time throughout the book I was feeling pretty angry at a certain character…..I absolutely loved Jess and hated the way she felt about herself. Like her friend Karen, I just wanted her to see the best in herself but it’s just not ingrained in her. She’s had a lot of things happen in her life, but she still tries to be upbeat and see the best in others (just not in herself!). Some of the characters you will love, one most certainly you will hate, and others will confuse you……

The story definitely kept me turning the pages. Although I was feeling pretty angry, I wanted to continue and see what happened…..There were a few mysteries that needed to be solved and a certain someone who I really wanted to see get their comeuppance……And the twists in this were brilliant. Some I had expected but there were also one or two that completely caught me off guard…..

So if you’re looking for a new psychological thriller that will get your emotions going and bring you some fab twists, then check this out!

Alex Stone explores family strife, the ties that bind, distinctions of class and twisted relationships in her addictive new thriller, The Perfect Daughter.

Jess Harper has spent her entire life trying – and failing – to make her mother Abigail happy. Jess cannot remember a time when she wasn’t trying to make her mum proud, but despite all of her best efforts, Abigail always found something to criticise. Every single decision Jess makes has to first be vetted by her mother. Whether it’s the clothes she wears or the men she dates, Abigail’s word is law and Jess has never once tried to unshackle herself from her mother’s autocratic rule – until now. Jess has fallen in love with a man who is as far removed from Abigail’s idea of a suitable match as it is possible to get…

Adam is a humble plumber and Abigail is not best pleased about her daughter’s choice of suitor. How could her daughter possibly contemplate the thought of dating a plumber? Abigail is not going to let her daughter waste the best years of her life on a man like Adam who lacks finesse and ambition and will do whatever it takes to destroy their relationship. But Adam will not budge so easily. He simply cannot believe that his clever and intelligent girlfriend will let herself be so easily manipulated by her mother. Breaking Abigail’s hold over Jess becomes his number one priority – until a shocking event turns their whole world upside down.

Adam has vanished without a trace and Jess is the police’s number one suspect. Caught in the middle between the man she loves and the parent she has spent a lifetime trying to impress, what lengths did Jess go to to make the people in her life happy? Is she as harmless as she seems? Or is there more to the perfect daughter than meets the eye?

A complex, creepy and jaw-dropping psychological crime thriller packed with chills and twists that will leave readers reeling, The Perfect Daughter is an exquisitely plotted and deftly written tale that is dark, disturbing and terrifying. Alex Stone cracks the enviable façade of the perfect family and analyses the shameful sins and dangerous secrets hidden behind closed doors in a gripping chiller that will keep readers riveted all through the night.