Ehh I wasn’t into this. I didn’t like any of it. I don’t know if I wasn’t in the right space or what. I never dnf and I just had to.

This just wasn't my cup of tea. The premise sounds like such a solid read, but I just couldn't connect to the writing or the characters. However, based on reviews that I've read, I'm definitely in the minority.

Thank you NetGalley and Dreamscape Media for the ALC in exchange for my honest review.

I really enjoyed narrators: Mia Hutchinson-Shaw, Lauren Ezzo, and Lindsey Dorcus. I did love the alternating POVs: Essie, Ana, and Isabel. It was helpful for me to have a separate narrator for each POV. It really kept me engaged in the story.This audiobook was definitely a slow burn, but I was glad I stuck around for the ending!

This was a weird read and I am not sure it was my jam. I think that it was a me problem and not an author/book problem. This was my 1st book by Nichelle Giraldes but I will definitely give her another chance.

#NoChildofMine
#NetGalley

Unfortunately I DNFed this one about 25% in. I was expecting much more spookiness, etc and this just didn't do it for me. Seemed like this was more about having an unplanned pregnancy and parenting complications which just wasn't my bag.

Thank you very much for the review copy!

Thank you so much to @poisonedpenpress for sending me this copy!! Published Sept. 12th, 2023!

Quick synopsis:

“There's something in the dark. And it's starting to whisper...
Essie Singh has defined herself by her ambitions, a fiercely independent woman whose only soft spot is her husband, Sanjay. She never imagined herself as a mother. It was never a part of the plan. But then she finds out she's pregnant. As her difficult pregnancy transforms her body and life into something she barely recognizes, her husband spends the nights pacing in the attic, slowly becoming a stranger, and the house begins to whisper.
As Essie's pregnancy progresses, both her and Sanjay's lives are warped by a curse that has haunted her family for generations, leaving a string of fatherless daughters in its wake. When she's put on bedrest, Essie trades the last aspects of her carefully planned life for isolation in what should be a welcoming home, but she isn't alone. There's something here that means to take everything from her…”

Okay so full disclosure, the pregnancy trope is probably my least favorite thriller trope out there😂 If you enjoy thriller novels about motherhood, pregnancy gone rouge then absolutely pick this one up! You’ll love it!!

This book is told in both past and present and there are different storylines occurring that revolve around different characters.

The main characters Essie and Sanjay seem to have it all. Then. when Essie becomes pregnant, she's upset with her mixed emotions. Meanwhile, Sanjay is unaffected and happy about the pregnancy because it won't affect his ability to maintain a career. It would be so easy for Essie to become bitter.

There is a lot to unpack with Essie and Sanjay's relationship. Then when you throw in the other couples that Essie had met in the airport, It's already enough to trigger some tears but yet it's only beginning.

The storyline is creative and creepy.

AUDIOBOOK REVIEW: I also chose to review the audiobook and found the narration to be fine. It wasn't anything spectacular. It wasn't bad but it also wasn't phenomenal. 4 stars

Thank you to NetGalley for both early copies of the audiobook and ebook. I chose to review them both and the opinions contained within are my own.

No Child of Mine by Nichelle Giraldes - Sadly, I didn't love this one. For something listed as 'horror', nothing truly horrific happened. I actually kind of feel like nothing happened in the entire book. I get there was supposed to be this slow building of dread, but I didn't even feel that. It just felt like a book about a pregnant lady who was extremely unhappy about being pregnant and a curse that wasn't very curse-like. I wanted more curse and less angry pregnant lady.

When Essie finds out she is pregnant her whole future seems to be turned upside down. Becoming a mother was never a part of her plan - all of her focus has been on graduating and starting her career as a lawyer. The one thing she does know is that she already loves this child tremendously. But as her pregnancy progresses and gets more and more difficult her relationship with her husband, Sanjay, get more tense. He is slowly starting to become someone she doesn't recognize and she's forced to question if the curse in her family that leaves wives without husbands and daughters without fathers is very real.

I expected for this book to be creepy but it ended up being so much more. The themes of women choosing a family over a career, vice versa, or having both was so fascinating. Reading about the hard parts of pregnancy and the inner turmoil pregnant people may have to go through was extremely well done in my opinion. Families are so nuanced and this book shows a side many families have experienced. Well, into you get into the curse of it.

The way that the curse is introduced and explained was so well done. I was so intrigued about what was going on and needing to know what all of the characters introduced in this book had in common kept me invested. I wish I would have learned more about a certain aspect of how the curse came into this family line but overall I thought it was a great, creepy book to read during fall.

The three narrators did a wonderful job with this. The book is told from three peoples' perspectives that travel across time. The narration was integral to differentiating the perspectives of each narrator as I was having a hard time remembering names.

The idea of generational curses propels some of the scares, but the origin of this curse feels thin compared to the main narrative of the harrowed mother.

Rating: 4/5 Stars ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
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“She was going to be a terrible mother. She was too selfish, too reticular, too cold. Both too much and not enough at the same time.”
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I love how this is told in multiple timelines and POVs but also through letters. Let me explain - This story mainly follows Essie in the present who just bought her fixer upper home with her highschool sweetheart Sanjay; and in the past through Isabella and Anna via correspondents. I was addicted to both of the storylines and wanted to know more and how exactly these timelines and people would be related. The way that Giraldes was able to bring this one full circle was incredible. There is one little tiny minor thing I wish I got some closure on. But the supernatural elements of this one were right on par with what I was looking for in a spooky read.
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Man I think the reason I loved this one so much was how much I resonated with Essie. She hit on every single fear that I had while I was pregnant. She was able to take every single emotion I felt during those months of the unknown and put them onto paper. I wouldn’t have been able to do that even if I tried for YEARS. I had my first child at 32, in September of 2022, and to say my life was thrown upside down is an understatement, though I would never ever every have my life be any other way. I had the easiest pregnancy, but all the thoughts that Essie had, man they reigned so true. I think the rawness of a soon-to-be’s constant feelings of doubt, of unworthiness of self consciousness from body changes was written with such poise and such reverence that half of the time that I was reading I was shaking my head yes in how utterly true all of those emotions and feelings that Essie had were true. It made me feel less alone in how I felt during my pregnancy.
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I loved this story, it was a mystery, a thriller, it had its supernatural elements. It was about motherhood, about family and what one would do for their family. It was about selfishness and sacrifices and love. There was so much depth to this one. It was truly a pleasure to read.
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I listened to this via audiobook and it had a full cast of Mia Hutchinson-Shaw, Lauren Ezzo, and Lindsey Dorcus. All three were absolutely fabulous and really brought this story to life for me.
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No Child Of Mine was released on 9/12 and I am highly suggesting it!! Huge thank you to NetGalley, Dreamscape Media and Nichelle Giraldes for the ALC in exchange for my honest review!

Newlyweds buy a home, a fixer upper and have big plans for their futures. Essie never plans on having a baby, and when she gets pregnant she realizes that she will have to give up a lot and is reminded of the curse her grandfather gave the family. Everyone in the generations have lost their loves. While Essie does not believe in the curse she is going to do anything to make sure her husband has a long life.
This book was a slow burn and I almost DNF it, but I kept going and did like it. For a debut novel, the author did well and I will be waiting for another release.
Thank you PoisonedPen Press for theAdvanced Readers Copy
3 stars

Nichelle Giraldes new book, No Child of Mine, is a paranormal thriller that had all the makings to be great but ended up just ok for me in the end. There are a lot of things I liked about the book and the build up to the climax had me predicting a four to five star read…HOWEVER…the climax itself was disappointing and underwhelming. There is a neat and tidy buttoned-up ending that was just a little too simple for our characters to reach after all the hell leading up to it. I’m always here for a haunted house setting, I enjoy a psychological thriller where characters question their sanity, and I like dual timelines, so there were elements in this one I did enjoy. A lot of the book does center on our main character Essie’s unexpected (and not really wanted) pregnancy, so be warned of any triggers surrounding that as you read. Overall, No Child of Mine is a quick and entertaining thriller that I did enjoy up until the “that’s it!?” ending.

If you have ever been pregnant then you know that it is a time in your life that is full of change and sometimes self-doubt. This is especially the case, for some people, during your first pregnancy. Here we have Essie who recently married her childhood sweetheart, Sanjay. These two bought a fixer-upper home and found out that Essie was pregnant. Which was not the best timing. She is in her last year of law school, just bought a house, and she has distinct plans on how she envisions her life to start. Her whole life her grandmother has whispered about curses. The women of the family always grow up without a father, they die, they leave, or in Essie's case, suffer an accident that leaves him in a vegetative like state. Though Essie never believed in the curse she knows something isn't right. Is it a haunted house, or the curse sneaking up on Essie and Sanjay?

I loved the way this story was told, and the use of the narrators in telling the story. We have 3 POVs (and 3 narrators). The first is Essie. Essie is in the current timeline. She is suffering hyperemesis gravida (though it doesn't get diagnosed since she doesn't communicate it with her doctor) and seeing and hearing things in her house. Essie is also watching her husband wither away during all the crazy that happens. Next are Ana and Isabelle best friends who are split by the forcing of marriage that happened back in the day. We see their POVs primarily in the form of letters that they write to each other. What I loved is how the story was woven together and went from the past to the present. I thought it was done well. You know these three are connected somehow, and we eventually learn how they are connected.

I thought the narrators did a great job. I always love it when there are narrators for each POV. It helps the listener separate who is telling the story. I liked how the stories were tied together. I also really liked that Essie knew Sanjay and was worried about his mental well-being. This story is classified as horror, and I don't feel like it was a horror novel. There are creepy and suspenseful moments, a bit of paranormal, but not a horror story. I think I would put it more under suspense.

Overall, everything was pretty well done. The characters were flushed out and you had a sense of something dark always floating around these characters, whether they could see it or not. Again, I don't think there were any scary aspects in the book, but there were suspense moments. I enjoyed learning about Ana and Isabelle and how they survived in a world that was not friendly to them. How their friendship and love connected them. I feel for Essie and her hyperemesis. She was going through such a hard time that adding the super scary elements could have been so much worse for her. Essie's relationship with her father was sad to me, just having her father present but not there, I can't imagine how difficult that must have been. The ending was a bit questionable and happened really quickly. It felt like we spent 95% of the story building up the back story and the misery of the present that we just needed to have a resolution. It was quick and kind of not a satisfying end. Other than that it was a good read.

No Child of Mine tells the story of Essie and Sanjay, a married couple who are due to have a baby very soon, They move into a new house and Essie hears strange noises, whilst her husband is spending more and more time in the attic. Essie soon learns that they are wrapped up in a family curse that means all children are born fatherless and Sanjay's life is at risk.

This wasn't a bad book, it was just a bit supernatural for my liking. The writing was good but I just couldn't bond with the characters. Essie came across as a bit whingy, constantly moaning about her pregnancy and there were times where it didn't feel like a thriller, more like a pregnancy journal.

The book took place over different timelines and I always like this element, whilst I try to work out how the two different stories combine.

My thanks to NetGalley and the Publishers for sending me this ARC in return for an honest review.

A light and slightly creepy read for this Halloween season

No Child of Mine by Nichelle Giraldes is a dark story about a couple who suddenly discover they're expecting a child after buying an old and creepy house. The plot is structured on multiple points of view from characters in two different time periods.

Readers might find the main character, Essie, a bit hard to like. She's erratic at times and it's hard to understand what she really feels like. Her life is turned upside down when she finds out she's pregnant, but her thoughts and actions are tiring.

The second story interwoven with the first one is highly enjoyable, and the characters are well-defined and with the perfect backdrop for an atmospheric read. Unfortunately, they don't seem to get as much page space. Some readers may find themselves eagerly turning pages to delve deeper into the historical storyline.

For a while, the two perspectives don't seem connected at all, and they start making sense later in the book, however, they provide an excellent commentary on the role of women in both past and present times.

The audiobook version is excellently narrated, and it might be a better choice for those who prefer an extra dose of creepiness.

Overall, this book is recommended for those who prefer a light read that is not too scary, and who are looking for something with a touch of healthy feminism.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for a copy of this audiobook in exchange for an honest review.

This book was the perfect amount of creepy and mysterious. The dual points of view from different times was a great way to tell this story and I loved Isabel’s chapters and the history that was set up through her point of view. This is a perfect spooky season read.

No, just now this is not enjoyable I don’t like it. I don’t wanna talk about it I am uncomfortable don’t make me read it.No, just now this is not enjoyable I don’t like it. I don’t wanna talk about it I am uncomfortable don’t make me read it.No, just now this is not enjoyable I don’t like it. I don’t wanna talk about it I am uncomfortable don’t make me read it.

This was good. It didn’t blow me away but it was worth the read. I liked the dual timelines and how the storylines came together. I liked that there were multiple narrators, which made it easy to listen to and keep track of the timelines. I would recommend this to anyone interested in horror/haunted house, mystery, suspense genres.

This just wasn’t for me I had higher hopes but they just fell short. I would still reccomend this to a few people who I know would enjoy this more than I did!