Nicki`s Life of Crime : BLOG TOUR, BOOK REVIEW - A Mother's Lie by Leah Mercer

BOOK DESCRIPTION

My darling child… all I’ve ever yearned for. But how do I keep you safe?

When Ali retreats to her seaside cottage, all she wants is to be alone. To reconnect with a place that has always felt like home until her baby is born.

But then her life collides with the people living in the house next door, Michael and Meg, and she is immediately welcomed into their perfect life with their beautiful baby Jem. As they help her prepare for her own arrival, Ali knows she has made the right choice for her baby in returning to Seashine Cottage.

When Michael leaves suddenly for a work trip, and Meg impulsively invites Ali to move in, it becomes clear things aren’t as perfect as they first seemed.

Meg is holding on to a dark secret. And as her behaviour becomes ever more erratic – leaning on Ali for increasing amounts of help – while Michael shows no signs of returning, Ali begins to worry.

Does she need to protect herself and her unborn child from the new friend she thought would help keep her safe? And what about her own devastating secret… the one she’s been running from?

From the bestselling author of Who We Were Before comes an unputdownable and heartbreaking read about how far we will go to protect those we love the most. Perfect for fans of The Silent Daughter, Diane Chamberlain and Kerry Lonsdale.

This heart string pulling story is predominantly narrated from the perspective of Abi who is pregnant with her and her husband Jon's first child. Being pregnant is difficult enough at the best of times what it having to cope with the raging hormones, emotional turmoil and aches and pains that you experience in the later stages of the pregnancy without having the added issue of harbouring a life changing secret. After her grandmother Violet dies and bequeaths Ali her tumble down cottage by the coast, Ali grabs the opportunity to escape from London to he place where she has so many happy memories from when she was a child, clear her head and make plans for the future. All she wants is to be alone but after a encounter with the couple who lived next door Meg and Michael and their adorable baby Jem, Ali finds herself drawn into the lives of the seemingly perfect family. Then after Michael mysteriously disappears, Meg asks Ali if she would like to move into their lavish home for the duration of her pregnancy and Ali jumps at the opportunity to spend more time with her new friend, someone she trusts and feels safe with. But,as time passes, Meg's demeanour and behaviour started to change and there is no sign of Michael returning, Ali begins to wonder if she has made a mistake. In placing her trust in someone she hardly knows, has she in reality put the lives of both her and her unborn child in serious danger?

Ali was a emotional mess which was totally understandable when you took her backstory into consideration but despite admiring how much she loves her unborn baby and her determination to help Meg and Jem, I also thought she was a rather irritating individual for various reasons. It's difficult to say too much about her relationship with Jon without giving away spoilers but I will say that I did feel some sympathy for the poor bloke who obviously loved Ali. Yes, he could have explained how he felt a bit better but I thought Ali's reaction and subsequent behaviour was a bit extreme, cruel and a little bit selfish. Why was she so prepared to cut the people who genuinely cared about her out of her life and so quick to place her trust and safety in the hands of complete strangers?

It was obvious from quite soon after they were introduced into the story that Meg and Michael's relationship wasn't as perfect as it appeared to be and the more time that Ali spent in their home, the more dark and sinister truths came to light. Did Michael have genuine concerns about baby Jem's safety when she was alone with her mother? Why had Meg's demeanour and behaviour suddenly become so erratic and seemingly out of control since Michael's disappearance? Were Meg and Michael the loving couple they appeared to be or was one of them hiding a dark side behind a mask of beauty and perfection?

Interspersed throughout Ali's story was chapters that were set in 2018 and written from the perspective of Ali's grandmother Violet who has spent fifty years hiding away in her isolated cottage. To begin with I didn't think that she was a very likeable individual but as her story unfolded, she slowly began to work her way into my heart and I began to have concerns about her well being and safety.

The Mother's Lie which was originally titled Safe From Harm is a emotionally charged, character driven story of families, relationships, forgiveness, the power of grief and a mother's love for her child. I loved this book's isolated setting, the author's descriptions of the thunder and lightening storm battering the isolated cottage, the beauty and danger of the sea and the way that the sea and the horizon appear to blend together. The story didn't have a large cast of characters but the individuals who did appear were vivid and realistic. It's a story that plays with the reader's emotions and caused me to feel quite teary a couple of times. This is the first book that I have read by this Author and it most definitely will not be my last. I thought this was a very enjoyable read and us very highly recommended.

Author Bio

Leah Mercer was born in Halifax, Nova Scotia, on the east coast of Canada. Her first ambition was to be a journalist, but after completing a master's in journalism, she soon realised she preferred anything other than reporting the news. After trying her hand at public relations, teaching and recruitment in various countries around the world, she finally settled in London and returned to writing... fiction, this time. Her first two novels, Who We Were Before and The Man I Thought You Were, were shortlisted at the UK's Romantic Novelists' Association Awards. Leah loves books, running and visiting historic houses with her husband and their son.

Social Media

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Website: www.leahmercer.com

Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/15251225.Leah_Mercer

Pub Day: 24/06

Buy Links

Amazon: https://geni.us/B093QCQ75Gcover

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Kobo: http://ow.ly/LucL50EABJK

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