37765978You can only hide for so long…
Lizzie Bradshaw. A student from the Lake District, forced to work away from home, who witnesses a terrible crime. But who will ultimately pay the price?
Emma Taylor. A mother, a wife, and a woman with a dangerous secret. Can she keep her beloved family safely together?
Stella Taylor. A disaffected teenager, determined to discover what her mother is hiding. But how far will she go to uncover the truth?
And one man, powerful, manipulative and cunning, who controls all their destinies.

My Review

I read this book through The Pigeonhole, a sort of online book club and read it with other readers on the web. It was split into 10 parts, called staves, emailed to me each day. I was able to leave comments throughout and interact with the others. There were videos and photographs and comments from Sanjida Kay during this time, which really added to my reading experience.

I’ve not read anything by this author before so I wasn’t too sure what to expect. It started off slowly setting the scene as told by the three main characters, Emma and Lizzie two women, and Stella, Emma’s teenage daughter.

I really liked Lizzie and felt so sorry for her feeling that she had to leave her young family behind in the Lake District to get her degree in Leeds. She goes to live in a scummy house share with her old best friend and gets a part-time job in Ikea. She feels guilty and really misses her family and her best friend isn’t exactly welcoming. Talk about an all round guilt trip!

I took longer to warm to Emma and her husband Jack. They seemed quite smug and not particularly likeable people. However Emma suffers with terrible anxiety, worrying constantly about her family’s safety and Jack is quite controlling, making sure he knows exactly where they are all are at any given time.

Stella is your typical teenage girl full of hormones and very unsure of herself. She’s a strong character and so her chapters were very spiky, especially as she tries to find out exactly what her mother is hiding.

I really enjoyed this book as the paced pick up. There were quite a few plot twists and reveals through out making me unsure as to what was going on. I guessed a few things, but not everything, and I felt so tense towards the end that  I actually saved up the last two staves from The Pigeonhole as I needed to read the ending in one big hit.

I recommend this if you enjoy psychological thrillers and will definitely be checking out Sanjida Kay’s other books.

My Mother’s Secret by Sanjida Kay is available now

Book Links: Hive – Wordery  – Waterstones – Amazon