BOOK SYNOPSIS
In the quiet village of Helesbury, Miranda Wallace prides herself on being the most popular member of her small social circle; the perfect friend, the best mum – the queen bee.
Until one day, Verity arrives. Cool and indifferent, Verity is everything Miranda isn’t, but she threatens to shatter Miranda’s picture-perfect life.
Suddenly plagued with insecurities, Miranda is certain Verity is hiding something. And Miranda knows all about secrets and the damage they can cause, because she’s hiding some of her own.
So when Verity threatens to reveal the truth about Miranda and destroy the perfect life she’s built, Miranda knows she has to act to protect the people she loves – even if the results are deadly.
Before she had managed to ruin everything, Miranda had been one of the shining stars of the internet, a highly popular influencer whose grid on Instagram had thousands of followers whose likes and comments made Miranda feel wanted and worthwhile. But, then something terrible had happened and Miranda's husband David had decided to move his beloved wife and their young daughter Anabel from London to the tiny, picturesque village of Helesbury. Initially, Miranda hadn't been very happy about being uprooted to the middle of nowhere but over the past year, she had put her life back together. She had worked hard to rebuild her reputation and was now viewed by her group of friends Hatty, Olivia, Beth, Natasha and Miranda's best friend Evie as the queen bee of the village. Miranda felt as if her life was back on track, no one knew about her past indiscretions and everything was going well.Or it was until the fateful evening when Miranda walked into a meeting of the book club (something that she had started) and was introduced to a newcomer to the village. Someone called Verity, towards whom Miranda took a instant dislike,a woman who suddenly kept appearing in different locations around the village and seemed hell bent on breaking up the close friendship between Miranda and Evie. Who was this mysterious interloper? Did she know anything about Miranda's past? Miranda was desperate to keep her best friend and wasn't prepared to just sit back and let someone like Verity take Evie away from her. But little did Miranda realise that her obsession could send her back down the road of self destruction and result in her possibly losing everything....including her own life.
Omg,Miranda started to irritate me literally from the minute she was introduced into the story,she had so many annoying character traits and my opinion of her didn't change at any point during the ensuing story. She was lucky enough to have a loyal husband and adorable young daughter and I struggled to understand why she was so obsessed with keeping Evie in her life. Sure, it's nice to have friends and there are people who have been fortunate enough to enter into friendships that last for years but any relationship can be unpredictable and many can drift apart for a variety of reasons. It appeared to me that everything Miranda did was aimed at stoking her own ego and feelings of self importance and she hardly ever stopped to appreciate her loving family,something that a lot of people aren't fortunate enough to have in their lives.
Along with families and friendships, the other prevailing theme to the plot of this story was modern societies addiction to social media and how easy it is to become obsessed with the number of likes and comments your posts have recieved. A addiction which can sneak up on you,catch you unawares and swiftly take control of your life.
Helesbury was a realistic chocolate box village with a small shop, pub, church and the school that was attended by Anabel and Evie's daughter Juno. The residents were a mixed bag of believable characters and scattered throughout the book was police interviews in which some of the secondary characters recounted events that proceeded the culmination of the story.
Scattered throughout the book was chapters that were set in the past, written from the perspective of young girl and recounted her life in the numerous houses that she and her mother were forced to relocate to in their search for somewhere safe to live. But who was the young girl? What or who were she and her mother running from? How did these chapters fit into events that were unfolding in the present day?
This is more of a study of human relationships, interactions and obsession with a added dash of mystery than a thriller. It's a slow burner which contains some plot elements that keep the reader guessing and wanting to know what secrets are hiding within the homes of some of the author's believable characters. It's a enthralling read which contains some pages that are permeated with undercurrents of tension and foreboding and has tiny clues and hints at what is going on cleverly scattered throughout the story.
AUTHOR INFO
Nina Manning studied psychology and was a restaurant-owner and private chef (including to members of the royal family). She is the founder and co-host of Sniffing The Pages, a book review podcast . Her debut psychological thriller, The Daughter in Law, was a bestseller in the UK, US, Australia and Canada. She lives in Dorset.
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PURCHASE LINK...
https://www.amazon.co.uk/Queen-Bee-Nina-Manning-ebook/dp/B09HMGKBJL?dchild=1&keywords=queen+bee+nina+manning&qid=1635844756&qsid=261-0897284-2989744&sprefix=queen+bee+nina+m,aps,67&sr=8-3&sres=B09HMGKBJL,1472223829,B07HQ5S1NW,B08SGKXBNT,B08CZGY2Q5,B07T46L858,B0813QKJSR,B01ANV2RBA,B016YHX7D4,B00H02C26Q,B09762GGF8,B01EX27IM8,B08X3VP3GP,B08PZF2SP5,B0921PXG25,B07FKS9BQB&srpt=ABIS_BOOK&linkCode=sl1&tag=boldwoodblogtour-21&linkId=c292e51305b291fff99163930ed3cdae&language=en_GB&ref_=as_li_ss_tl
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