I loved this book! It was one that I couldn’t put down, I had to know what happened. I loved the ending….. I can’t wait to read more by this author! Revenge is Sweet!

Creepy, witty & suspenseful family drama / domestic psychological thriller. Perfect writing style, easy to read in one sitting.

I liked The other couple by the same author a bit better, but I am definitely gonna read all her books eventually!

I enjoyed the eerie, Gothic feel of this book. It kept me guessing throughout, and there were parts when even I was questioning if Annie was being gaslit by her family or if she was truly hallucinating everything she was seeing.

There a number of twists and turns, some predictable and some not, but I would definitely recommend it if you enjoy books about dysfunctional families with lots of drama and secrets.

This book was very slow paced but once it picked up, it was gripping. I liked Annie, though honestly could not understand why she would want to stay with her family and it was infuriating. It wasn't predictable at all, though didn't make sense at times either

I don’t know about Annie deciding to stay with the most dysfunctional family of all time despite her husband trying his best to persuade her to run but I wanted to leave.
Complex in a way it didn’t need to be and unlikely in every way. Not for me.

I loved this.
Annie is a great character to connect with.
And the pace of the story was just right, it definitely kept me reading.
.it was however, a slow burner but once it picked up, the suspense gripped you
This book had it all, suspense, secrets and believable characters
Now I want to go and find more by this author.

The favourite child…… It's that most engaging of treats, a big, fat, intelligent psychological thriller. It is a first-rate crime novelist's ability to lead her readers up the garden path….

Annie's family is entirely unconcerned when her sister Sunday up and vanishes. Her tight knit family swings from treating Sunday as their favorite to acting like she is impulsive and bratty after her disappearance. The community gaslighting in this novel is absolutely infuriating, and frankly unsettling.

This was a quick, fun late summer read. It has good pacing, and wasn't predictable.

I throughly enjoyed Cathryn Grants writing style this is the second book of hers that I have read and I was not disappointed the story kept me engaged from page one and kept me wanting to keep reading to find out what would happen next!!!! Some of the characters were likable some not for obvious reasons but the Author gave them all great depth!!! I also loved that horses were apart of this story too!!!!

Thanks to #netgalley and #bookoture for selecting me to read and review this Arc ...all thoughts and opinions are my own

I will also be posting a review in the Facebook group I created @DOMESTIC THRILLER READERS BOOK CLUB

I received a gifted copy of this book to read in exchange for an honest review via netgalley and the publishers.

The Favorite Child is a slow burn book about a dysfunctional family, non of them likeable. When Annie's sister goes missing, Annie is the only person worried and concerned over her sudden disappearance. As Annie digs deeper into the mystery of Sundays disappearance she unearths secrets and the reason Sunday has disappeared becomes clearer towards the end. This was a book I found very slow in the build up but enjoyed the twists and conclusion at the end of the book. The family are all pretty creepy and if I was Annie I wouldn't have trusted any of them and being pregnant I would have run, but her devotion to her sister kept her plowing through.
A good quick, slow burn psychological thrilleroverall.

I want to thank Netgalley, the author and the publisher for giving me a chance to read this book....


I was excited to read the book, but was disappointed. It was easy to read but highly unbelievable.

I've never read this author before, but the synopsis of the book is what initially got me interested. I got a real Rosemary's Baby vibe in reading the book, as the family is described as being obsessed with moral values, with the patriarch being a wealthy author and motivational speaker. Throughout the book, everyone except for the main character is unconcerned about the disappearance of Sunday, always revered as the favorite child of the family (and snubbed by the jealous siblings). You feel for the main character because not only is she worried what happened to the sister, but she's also pregnant, which adds a whole other layer of paranoia to the story. We do get some great twists in the story, which were a bit predictable, but weren't enough for me to think it was in a bad way. I definitely was on the edge of my seat while reading, and really hoped her sister Sunday reappeared alive and well. I liked that there were some flashbacks to the siblings childhood, which further added to the ominous trajectory of the story. In conclusion, I thought this was a pretty great book, and I would definitely read more from Cathryn Grant.

This book was actually like pulling teeth, I've never felt so bored by a book in my whole life. None of the characters were likeable and I didn't care enough, it was an actual struggle to get through. Absolutely not worth it.

"I think there are too many secrets in this family, don't you?"
Annie is in a good place in her life, married to her husband, Michael, and pregnant with their first child. But when she returns home for her family's yearly summer holiday, her sister, Sunday, goes missing after a scene with their father. Why does no one else seem to care?
Let me summarize this for you:
Annie: Something must've happened to Sunday.
Family: It's only been a few hours.
Annie: Something must've happened to Sunday.
Family: She packed up her things, so she must just need some time.
Annie: Something must've happened to Sunday.
Family: You're being dramatic.
Annie: Something must've happened to Sunday.
Family: Your pregnancy brain is making you paranoid.
Annie: Something must've happened to Sunday.
Family: I guess you were right.
This was so redundant and slow... And I hated how Annie's family treats her, and how she doesn't stand up to them, it doesn't make sense to me. This is a dysfunctional, toxic and twisted family if I've ever read one. All of the characters were so unlikeable... I did, however, make it to the end, because I wanted to know if my predictions were correct (and they were).
I received an advance review copy for free and I am leaving this review voluntarily.

Really good read. You do get an idea of what's going on as Annie thinks her sister Sunday is dead. But is she correct. I wanted to keep reading to see if she was right. Had a good twist at the end.

After having loved several of Cathryn Grant's previous books, I couldn't wait to see if this latest one lived up to the hype.
This one didn't seem to have the same 'wow' factor I've come to expect. The suspense around Sunday's disappearance felt more intrigue to me, and I got frustrated with noone trusting Annie and her concerns. I wish she had an ally to bounce things off. The first half was more slow-burn than I'm used to, but I loved the second half.
The family all had great characters and I didn't trust anyone, which I love. The internal battle of trying to predict the big reveal is part of the thrill for me.
I did love the ending. Whilst I predicted some of it, i enjoyed it playing out and I can't wait to see what Grant comes up with next.

Dark, Menacing Undercurrent…
When Annie’s sister goes missing, she is most definitely concerned. The trouble is that no one else seems to be. Annie’s own life is rattling along just fine, she thinks, but she cannot comprehend her own family’s lack of of concern for her sister. Something is definitely wrong - but what? As Annie digs deeper she begins to realise that things may be darker than she could ever have imagined. Slow burn, tantalising suspense with a dark and menacing undercurrent of dread throughout. Secrets will out.

At A Glance
domestic thriller
mystery
dark, tense
must-read

Rating
⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

About
Annie’s sister has gone missing. Why doesn’t anyone care?

Annie feels like she's at a good place in her life. Happily married, expecting her first child, and enjoying a vacation with her extended family at their beautiful coastal home.

But then her sister, Sunday, suddenly goes missing.

Annie is immediately concerned, but the rest of the family assures her that everything's fine, this is the kind of thing Sunday does, and she'll be back.

But Annie knows in her heart that something is very wrong. And she won't rest until she sees her sister safe and well.

As Annie digs for the truth, she realizes that some of her family are not what they seem. And as she draws closer to uncovering their horrifying secret, Annie finally understands that she and her unborn child are in terrible danger.

Review
Thank you to @netgalley and @inkubatorbooks for allowing me the opportunity to receive this advanced reader copy. This review is voluntary and is my honest opinion about the book.

In a word: chilling. This is a perfect October/spooky-time read! I had shivers and goosebumps through several scenes and I could not wait to get lost in this book every day - I had to drag myself away to resume "real life" several times and very begrudgingly!

The ending was wholly unexpected - which I love in a mystery and thriller novel. I don't want to give anything away, so I am saying very little!

I unquestionably recommend this book. It's an edge-of-your-seat, unprintable and unforgettable novel and I will quickly dash off to pick up Cathryn Grant's other books!

The Favorite Child was published earlier this month and is available on Kindle Unlimited, as well as hardcover, paperback and eBook!

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for the ARC!

While I didn’t feel thrilled per say, this book was an interesting tale of intrigue and complicated relationships.

You get a bit of a taste of unreliable narrator and a fantastic cast of characters throughout the family. The dynamic is twisted and wild which led to an awesommmme ending I didn’t see coming.

Solid mystery!

The holiday from hell and a monstrous family...

I know the name Cathryn Grant and have seen her books on Amazon, and I think I may have even purchased one at some stage, but this is the first time I have actually read one of her books. THE FAVORITE CHILD begins as a slow build not entirely uninteresting and a whole lot of psycho going on. My favourite kind...especially in domestic thrillers. But this family is a whole different kettle of fish...and a rather smelly lot, I might add, with things definitely with an odour of fishiness.

Annie is five months pregnant and has returned to the family home on the Californian coast with her husband Michael for the family's annual summer holiday get-together. Almost from the first moment they arrive things are amiss...and they very quickly go downhill from there. Her younger sister Sunday, the favourite child of her parents, has seemingly packed her bags and disappeared overnight. And no one, but Annie, seems to be overly concerned. As they sit around the breakfast table, Annie tries to raise her concerns but no one takes her seriously, citing Sunday's tantrums for not getting her own way and flouncing off in a huff and her pregnancy hormones. But Annie is worried for her sister. Why, she's not entirely sure. But something doesn't feel right.

The further Annie digs, the more she is convinced that Sunday didn't just up and leave. And the more her family accuse her of being hysterical and that it is not good for "Baby Girl". In an act of desperation, Annie calls Sunday's ex-husband Liam and relays her concerns to him. He has always been wary of the family and their cult-like behaviour and sibling bullying which he found damaging to Sunday. Annie is even more convinced that something is wrong when Liam reveals Sunday had called him just a few days about, upset about something, though he didn't know what. Why would she call her ex-husband when she could confide in her family?

Added to her concerns are the disturbing dreams and visions she only seems to have whenever she returns to her family home. They are both vivid and vague in equal measures and so confusing she struggles to understand what they mean. So what is her subconscious trying to tell her?

Told in the first person through Annie's narrative, peppered with the odd past chapters from each of the siblings', THE FAVORITE CHILD is an intriguing and multilayered family drama of domestic suspense with deep-seated secrets at its very core. From the very beginning it is clear that there is something very wrong in the Ledger household. They appear to be the perfect family with a successful entrepreneurial business based on the "family principles" that has been drummed into the children from an early age. The father sees himself as something of an expert on the matter and how to keep a marriage alive, children from going off the rails and a family together. The whole things screamed "cult" to me...particularly when threatened, the family then gather close and rebuff the adversary. It is creepy. And quite honestly, the family are creepy. They are highly dysfunctional with questioning behaviour and an abnormal belief system that appeared on the surface to be admirable, but below the surface was anything but.

One of the most irritating aspects throughout the story was the fact that the family saw Annie's baby as their's and constantly referred to it as "Baby Girl" in a very proprietorial way. But the even more irritating aspect was their constant touching or rubbing Annie's pregnant belly whilst talking about "Baby Girl" as if the child was theirs and Annie was just the incubator bearing the extension of their family. It made me cringe.

The further the story developed and the more Annie uncovered, I was just screaming at her to pack her bags and leave! Her hubby Michael was more than eager to do just that but Annie refused to do so until she found out what really happened to Sunday. Her family were truly a bunch of fruit loops. Completely bonkers. The lot of them. Added to that is the constant gaslighting, Annie didn't know what or who to believe. But there was something so addictive about the storyline that kept you drawn in and I was just itching to find out what happened.

Despite the sometimes confusing narrative, whether or not Annie was reliable or not, I managed to piece together what I thought happened through the bits that were drip-fed to us between the lines. I guessed a couple of the reveals but wasn't sure how the entire mystery played out. The ending was satisfactory and, quite honestly, something of a relief. There was a nice little twist at the end that gave readers a sense of closure as it does for Annie.

THE FAVORITE CHILD is a dark and sometimes disturbing domestic suspense thriller that was as intriguing as it was addictive. I was impressed with my first read by this author that I will continue to look out for others penned by her in the future...and add those to my ever-growing TBR pile.

Overall, a superbly twisted quick read with a decent plot twist and an even more disturbing family.

I would like to thank #CathrynGrant, #Netgalley, #InkubatorBooks and #ZoolooTours for an ARC of #TheFavoriteChild in exchange for an honest review.

This review appears on my blog at https://stinathebookaholic.blogspot.com/.