Jane Preston has a good friend, Sophie, then Lexie Lane rocks up. Jane's great life includes a great job, a loving husband, and a close group of friends, besides Sophie. Sophie falls pregnant and Jane is thrilled for her close pal but is sad, too, as she and her husband Frankie have been desperate for a child for a long while. When Sophie invites enigmatic and materialistic Lexie into their friendship circle, Jane's world is upended...

As a habitual reader of novels by Susie Lynes, I couldn't wait to get started on this novel set in south London. It was equally as good as the others I've read, and I found it captivating. The heart-thumping tale is artfully narrated through multiple viewpoints in the present day and via flashbacks to previous weeks. The clarity of Susie Lynes's writing made it an easy storyline to follow, and the evenly paced and tense plot went down a treat. The author's writing is of a variety that any thriller fan can appreciate -first class - and she was able to create a tone of intensity that continued until the very last page. There are some very good twists and a few will make your jaw drop. A mesmerising and riveting deliciously dark story. 😊

I received a complimentary copy of this novel at my request from Bookouture via NetGalley. This review is my own unbiased opinion.

I'm a huge fan of S.E. Lynes especially after reading Open House and now she has The Baby Shower with additional twists & turns. Cheers to Bookouture authors & books!

SE Lynes is one of my go to authors and this latest book didn’t disappoint. If you are after a great twisty psychological thriller then pick up and read this book !!

It all starts with an expensive watch and then spirals from there.

Jane and her husband, Frankie, are happy but there is some heartache, as they are unable to have a baby. Jane, however, has a successful coffee shop and a great group of friends. That is until good friend Sophie introduces Lexie to the group.

Lexie is not like Jane, but Jane is more than willing to give her a chance. Until Lexie seems to take a disliking to Jane. There are snide remarks etc but only when no one else is around. Suddenly Jane feels alienated from her friends, especially Sophie, as she seems to believe everything Lexie says.

Sophie soon announces she is pregnant and a baby shower is looming. Jane is feeling her world fall apart as her friends and her husband seem to be becoming in more and more distant from her. Is it all in her head ? Or is something going on with newcomer Lexie ?

This is a great twisty psychological thriller. I absolutely loved it. Plenty of gossip, drama, twists and turns, to keep you hooked from start to finish.

Thank you to Bookouture and NetGalley for a digital copy of this book.

I love Susie Lynes, I adore her books. I'm always so excited when I get to read a new one and OMG, The Baby Shower is just sooooo good!
This book debates a lot of interesting topics: infertility, difficult upbringing, adult bullying, friendship, and in particular the heartbreak consequent to losing a friend which I found very interesting since it really resonated with me.
The mystery/thriller format is an added bonus: it is fast paced, there are secrets to be revealed, there are twists that will keep you on the edge of your seat and the result is a real page turner. Absolutely recommended!!

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

The Baby Shower was such an intense read, I was thoroughly gripped from start to finish. It gave me all the emotions going, from happy to sad to anger to irate in places.
I really felt for Jane, not only because of her fertility problems but Wow! She went through a lot in this book. I did guess what had happened with her husband as soon as it happened, and I praise the author for this because we all need to be aware that this happens and is happening a lot more at the moment.
I felt that I was living Jane’s life and I had to release after reading for the evening by telling my husband what had happened.
The twists later on…OMG, I didn’t see them coming at all!
This was an awesome book, if you like psychological thrillers you will absolutely love The Baby Shower.

S.E. Lynes has gone straight to the top of my must-read author list. “The Baby Shower” is one of the best psychological thrillers I have read in a while and I am an avid reader of psychological thrillers. It is told in three alternating parts. The hospital, where three people have been taken after a horrific hit and run. We know Jane is one of them but can only guess, as the book progresses, who the other two are and don’t even know if they are still alive. Then there is Jane’s story and her husband Frankie’s story. This is clever because it allows us to get to know two of the protagonists and their thought processes. I liked Jane and Frankie and I was desperate to know what happens to them. I had to fight not to read the end first to find out if there was a happy ending.

When Lexie joins Jane’s tight little group of friends, everything starts to fall apart for Jane. This happens so subtly and in such a totally believable fashion I could not stop reading to find out how much worse things were going to get for Jane and Frankie. I did guess who was to blame for Frankie’s downfall, but, this enhanced the menace and did not spoil the story at all. This book also touches on the emotional topic of infertility and the affect that can have on a couple, although Jane and Frankie appear to have come out the other side even stronger, but, have they? There is of course a twist at the end which I did not see coming, but, to be honest, no twist was needed to improve this thrilling, dark story.

Unsettling, creepy, scary and very real. When an outsider infiltrates Jane's friendship group, bullies her, alienates her from her best mate, and twists everything so she is the victim. It's all about Lexie, rich, bitchy and dangerous. But who is going to believe Jane? A five star unputdownable read.

To me, this kind of book is like a car crash. You don't want to look, you shouldn't look, but you really can't help looking, even though you know where that leads and it's all a bit uncomfortable viewing.
It's oh so easy to look beyond the usual and see the shiny and that's what happens here when Sophie's head is turned by Lexie and she starts to pull away from her best friend Jane. Lexie has her claws right into Sophie and starts to chip away at her relationship with her other friends, manipulating her to the extreme. There is so much I can say about what she does and how clever she appears to be but that really would be spoiling things so I won't! Suffice to say I was shocked and appalled at some of the shenanigans that occurred. Especially when the whole truth was finally revealed.
I do have to say that I was a bit unsure about how stupid some of the people in the book could be. How they could drop everything they once knew about a person on the say so of a new person they hardly knew... but... it was written so well that I got over that niggle very swiftly and just accepted it and got on with the rest of the book.
Characterisation is brilliant and they all (previous comments aside) felt real and acted their parts well. Especially Frank, Jane's other half. Pacing was good and matched the narrative all the way through. Ramping up to what turned out to be a shocking but wholly satisfying ending.
All in all, another winner from one of my favourite authors. Roll on next time.
My thanks go to the Publisher and Netgalley for the chance to read this book.

ARC provided in exchange for an honest review.

Wow! This book had some twists I didn’t see coming! It was a smooth read with very few grammatical errors and at some points I literally couldn’t put it down. I really liked the main character Jane and found her relatable and someone I could easily be friends with, which I love in a main character! I kept trying to figure out the ending as each chapter passed (no spoilers here) but I could not have predicted what ended up happening. Overall it was really enjoyable and I would definitely recommend it to friends and family.

Loved this!

This is a dual perspective, Jane (wife) and Frankie (husband) sharing both sides of there unraveling life. "It all started with the watch"

I kind of figured out the big twist but it didn't stop me from enjoying every second! Highly recommend.

I have read one Lynes book before, and I loved it, so this was an easy pick. What a fantastic read, so much so I instantly messaged Lynes when I finished to thank her!

The Baby Shower made me super tired and lazy for a whole day while I sat and read it from start to finish. I just couldn’t put it down. I held my breath for too long (not good when you have a poorly heart anyway!), I cried, and I really couldn’t have loved it more!

The plot centres around a group of female friends but primarily focuses on Jane. She runs a coffee shop and is married to Frankie. Alongside this plot, we have Frankie, who has bought himself a secret but expensive new watch that changes his life in ways he could have never imagined. We begin at the end with people in the hospital after a seemingly hit and run accident. These stories intertwine throughout The Baby Shower and come to a dramatic and terrific ending.

I enjoyed the plot immensely and didn’t guess the ending reasons. However, I had imagined how the plotlines would link together, though not the very dark nature. This is very shady, dealing (very sensitively) with issues that are never usually discussed and often denied totally. Alongside this, there is also the fact that Jane and Frankie tried for a very much wanted baby for years, including IVF, but ultimately can still not have children of their own. The Baby Shower covers so much more than just a baby shower!

This chilling read looks at so many different issues and covers so much in so few pages. The problems are dealt with succinctly and with great sensitivity, but trigger warnings are coming out of its ears!

I felt that I knew the characters well, even those who made a very brief appearance. However, I didn’t think I liked Jane very much; I knew she was feeling that she was going mental. Still, she should have shared more with the husband she claims to love so much and is so wrapped up in her own life she doesn’t even realise his obvious distress.
Sophie is a people collector rather than a true friend, and I found this evident and annoying. Lexie is exceptionally well developed and multi-faceted; despite her actions, she is obviously a wasted talent.

I loved the ending more than any other book for quite some time. This is an excellent five-star book for me and is my favourite read so far this year, and I suspect it will be among my favourites of the year!

Oh my goodness what a brilliant book! I couldn’t put it down! It had me hooked from the first page! Five stars from me!

Many thanks to netgalley and S.E. Lynes for the advanced copy of this book. I agreed to give my unbiased opinion voluntarily.

This was a great story from S. E. Lynes! The main character, Jane, was so down-to-earth and relatable. I loved the writer’s style and the twist at the end was shocking! I literally read half of the book in one day because I could not put it down. I ultimately gave it 4.5 stars because I didn’t feel that deep emotional connection at the end, but overall, the story was excellent, and the ending put a smile on my face (after making my heart race around 90%!).

A great big thank you to NetGalley, Bookouture, and S.E. Lynes for providing me with this ARC in exchange for my honest review.

The new girl in the group bursts into their lives like a storm. She is beautiful and seemingly perfect. Everyone loves her, but Jane is suspicious. Something isn't right and new girl is trying to take her place as best friend to Sophie. She's even hosting a baby shower for Sophie's new bundle of joy (a best friend duty) and how cute—they're both pregnant! Fast forward to the actual baby shower and Jane learns the unbelievable truth: the bump is fake; there is no baby.

This is my first book read by author S.E. Lynes. Color me interested in reading another. If you read enough domestic thrillers or psychodramas, then this plot is run of the mill. Lynes' writing kept me turning the ePages though. If you are new to this genre, you may be wowed by the twists and ending.

For an avid thriller reader, The Baby Shower was good but oh-so-predictable. Every so-called twist could be seen from a mile away. But the story flowed and the characters were detailed. The friendships are toxic and the characters are deeply flawed. For this, I rate it 4 out of 5. It would make an excellent Lifetime movie.

Happy Early Pub Day, S.E. Lynes! The Baby Shower will be available Tuesday, March 1.

Disclaimer: An advance copy was received directly from the publisher in exchange for an honest review. Opinions are my own and would be the same if I spent my hard-earned coins.

~LiteraryMarie

Loved it! This is the chilling story of what happens when there is a newcomer to a group of friends. What follows is loss of trust, bullying, and competition for friendship - things we tend to think we’ve left behind in our childhood. The tension in this tale is palpable, and I felt for Jane and her husband….. I like to read about characters I can emotionally invest in, and these main characters fit the bill perfectly. S E Lynes sensitively tackles some difficult subjects in this book and weaves them into a compelling story that you literally do not want to put down!

Oh WOW ! This was a book that I wanted to finish to get all the ends tied up, but I didnt want it to end. Lots of twists and although I did guess part of the storyline, I had no idea who or how it would come together. I thought this was a fab book that I would definitely recommend and I cant wait for the next one from this talented author.
Many thanks to Netgalley for the opportunity to read an ARC

The Baby Shower is another fantastic story by S. E. Lynes. The description had me hooked before I even started the first page and the story did not disappoint. It had twists and turns galore with plenty of secrets and lies to add to the tension and keep me hooked. I highly recommend The Baby Shower.

Thank you to NetGalley and Bookouture for my ARC.

I can not say much about the plot without adding spoilers. This is a good book overall. It took me time to get into it though as the multiple narratives left me a little confused, but I soon started to enjoy it. It is a little predictable and you do not immediately take to some characters.

(Thank you Netgalley and the publisher for the eARC in exchange for a honest review)

Publication date: 01 March 2022
Publisher: Bookouture

『• • • PLOT• • •』

Jane Preston has all that she wanted: a nice little cafe, her perfect husband and her best friends with whom she has a running club. Her life was going well until Lexie Lane, a newcomer shows up in her small neighbourhood.

Lexie has been attempting to cause rifts between Jane and her best friend Sophie with any possible reason. Sophie and Lexie's friendship instantly grows but they become especially close after learning that they are both having children at the same time. Jane is ecstatic for her friend, but she can't help but be envious due to her inability to bear children.

By coincidence at the joint baby shower of Lexie and Sophie, Jane found out that Lexie isn't pregnant after all. At the same time, Jane's husband Frankie also got himself into ludicrous problems.

Jane has her suspicions and she starts investigating despite her falling out with her best friends. Will it be too late to know uncover Lexie's secrets?

『• • • THOUGHTS• • •』

I was pleasantly surprised by this book. Usually my firsts from the author is not good but this I would say was good. Initially, getting into the 3rd person POV was difficult and I couldn't find myself understanding her world. There were also additional POVs in the beginning that popped out of nowhere, with the time lapses it was also hard to understand the whole picture. It was a little draggy up till about half of the book. After which the pace quickened, it got better and I read it finish.

It did keep up to the thriller aspect because the second half had me wanting to read more. I was curious as to how it unfolds, even though it is quite predictable at times I found myself thinking otherwise. It also had a very important message in the book that I liked because of the relevance and it not being spoken much.

The dynamics of the small town was also nice to read. The friendships with one another, Jane and Frankie's marriage, it felt like a closely knitted community. A problem with those however is the inability to prevent gossip.

Overall, a good read that suited the genre well. Quite forgettable but it was nice reading it.

This book is as irresistible as the "glasses of fizz" the characters guzzle at the Baby Shower! Can't say much about the plot without giving away its twists, but it covers the other relationships that break our hearts; girlfriends. Do not start reading this without a couple of hours to finish, you will not want to put it down. Thanks to the author, the publisher and NetGalley for an early release of this book. #NetGalley #TheBabyShower