Nicki`s Life of Crime : BLOG TOUR, BOOK REVIEW - Mother Loves Me by Abby Davies

BOOK DESCRIPTION

One little girl.

Mirabelle’s mother loves her. She’s her ‘little doll’. Mother dresses her, paints her face and plaits her hair. But as Mirabelle grows, the dresses no longer fit quite as well, the face paint no longer looks quite so pretty. And Mother isn’t happy.

Two little girls.

On Mirabelle’s 13th birthday, Mother arrives home with a present - a new sister, five-year-old Clarabelle, who Mother has rescued from the outside world.

But Mother only needs one.

As it dawns on Mirabelle that there is a new ‘little doll’ in her house, she also realises that her life isn’t what she thought it was. And that dolls often end up on the scrap heap....

This creepy thriller is voiced entirely from the perspective of our damaged heroine Mirabelle, a intelligent young girl who had been conditioned into believing that being treated like a living doll by her mother was normal. The conditions that she was living with were anything but normal, what with all the windows being boarded up, Mirabelle having to get permission to do ordinary every day things like reading a book and living in fear of ever leaving the house because she had been told that she had a allergy and she would die if she ever went outside. Mirabelle was a really lovely, likeable young girl and I felt so much empathy for her as she struggled to do something that would please her mother and get her to pay attention to Mirabelle instead of spending all her time with Clarabelle. I know what it's like to constantly feel like no matter how hard you try, everything you do is wrong.Then I was routing for her as the tension increased once Mirabelle began to question things after she began to suspect that her mother wasn't being honest with her and was harbouring dark secrets. Mirabelle's mother was a very disturbed woman and it was far too easy to label her as unlikable but as the story unfolded, the reader began to have a bit more of a understanding into her actions and behaviour once the details of her horrific upbringing were revealed. The brain is a complex organ and we will never fully understand the effect that abuse must have on a person's thought processes. I'm not saying that the mother character's actions could be excused because of her past but you would have to have a heart of stone if you didn't feel a tiny bit of sympathy for her especially after you learned the reason behind her actions.

This is a extremely well written, gripping thriller that has a intense sense of foreboding permeating the pages. The enthralling story had me hooked in from the first page, mesmerized by the chilling story that was unfolding before my eyes. This is this obviously very talented author's debut psychological thriller and I look forward to reading many more of her books in the future.

Many thanks to Abby Davis, Jennifer Harlow and Harper Collins Uk, Harper Fiction for sending me a copy of this brilliant debut thriller.

AUTHOR BIO

After acquiring a degree in English Literature, Abby taught English in state and private schools, and earned a Creative Writing MA in 2013. She wrote a great deal throughout her twenties and early thirties. To stay motivated, she told herself that even if it took her until 80 to get her work out to readers, she'd do it.

Abby lives in Wiltshire with her husband and daughter. MOTHER LOVES ME is her debut novel.

PUBLICATION DATE: 17th September 2020

PURCHASE LINK....

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Mother-Loves-Me-Abby-Davies/dp/0008389519/ref=sr_1_1?crid=9SSM2FDWGFQC&dchild=1&keywords=mother+loves+me&qid=1601161181&s=books&sprefix=Mother+%2Cstripbooks%2C446&sr=1-1