Despite the blog tour banner saying otherwise, today it is my turn to host Ann Troup and ‘My Mother, The Liar’, as I close the blog tour organised by HQDigitalUK. Thank you to the team for my ARC of the book, as well as the blog tour invite. Here is my review:
Every family has a secret…
When Rachel Porter’s estranged mother dies, she returns to her family home filled with dread about having to face her past, and the people who populated it.
Little does she know that there are dead bodies waiting to be discovered, and a lifetime of secrets are about to unravel.
Secrets kept by her mother, the liar.
What does TWG think?
I don’t even know where to begin with this review! There is so much of the storyline which I could comment on, but due to the fact I may end dropping a spoiler, I am having to contain myself!
Let me just get this out of the way first – I struggled with the first part of the story. Yes there was a lot of ‘dundundun‘ moments, but it seemed to take a little while for the storyline to actually go anywhere with the information. So, for that reason, I really do think that the pace of the book could have been a lot faster. I wasn’t too keen on the hanging around waiting for things to happen, even though it was quite clear that the characters had already made things happen – I had to stop myself from saying ‘get on with it!’.
However, when the pace finally picked up, I found myself enjoying the nitty-gritty moments A LOT more! The entire storyline was laced with secrets, drama, psychological issues – you name it, it had it. And, weirdly enough, despite the being more jam-packed than a jam and cream scone, I wasn’t at all confused and relished the busy story as there was just so much for me to sink my teeth into.
Of course, like usual, there were a couple of characters who tugged on my heart-strings a little (naming no names!) – I wanted the truth to come out for their piece of mind, even though by the time it came to the book finishing, I was a little bit confused as to what the truth actually was. Part of me thought that the ending was a left a little open, and part of me felt like something was missing. Had something happened in the storyline which I had missed? I had gone back several pages to check, but I did still feel like there was a little gap in the storyline itself.
Personally, ‘My Mother, The Liar’ held a lot of promise. The storyline has everything there to reel its readers in and keep them guessing; I just felt that the delivery could have done with a little more tweaking. I am sitting on the fence where this book is concerned because, whilst I was gripped by all of the eventualities, something for me was still missing.
Overall, I was impressed by the content and how the author had thought about each individual character, crafting them into someone you wouldn’t really want to come across down a dark alley (not all of them, just some). It is such a promising book, and an addictive one at that! I’m looking forward to seeing what the author comes up with next.
The Writing Garnet 