This author is completely new to me but Bookouture has hit it out of the park with this new author! The story was fantastic and so chilling! You won't know what to believe! All situations are worse when they include children and this one pulls on you as well. Prepare yourself for this ride!

A page turner that is slightly creepy. Well worth the five stars I have given it

Well! This was a one-sitting book that left me surprised. I thought the book was going in one direction. Convinced. Then Bam! I was wrong. Great writing & characters, I'm excited to see what's next from this author.

Thank you to NetGalley for my copy of this novel.

This wasn’t a typical psychological thriller (I mean that as a compliment) it went much deeper and darker than most psychological thrillers that I’ve read before. It had a calmer sense of intensity that may have even unsettled me more than a super fast paced read.

This is a book that I would describe as slow burning, the first half is setting the stage for what’s ahead and Vick spends a lot of time developing the characters of Lorna and Claire. Lorna is just five years old when it begins and Claire is a teacher at her school. Lorna seems to be neglected and possibly abused, and Claire is the kind of woman and teacher that just can’t stand for that. Over the years, they develop a bond, maybe even the type that’s inappropriate, but Claire’s intentions are good. I’m not really going to be discussing the plot much further, but I found their relationship to be both fascinating and disturbing.

Doubt was the overwhelming feeling I had while reading this, I doubted Lorna and questioned her intentions, I questioned Claire and her motivations, it was a highly unsettling read and one that left me feeling unsure, but that sort of feeling is exactly one of the reasons I love psychological thrillers so much. This read like a deep character study, it had intellectual depth and both Claire and Lorna were so well developed and multilayered. There was the always one big question in the back of my mind, are people born bad or good? Or does how we are raised a factor? I’m not sure I can answer that, but this book will definitely give you loads to ponder.

This was an excellent book... a real twist on the usual psychological thrillers and very real characters.

I have had to take time to consider my review for this book as it didn't go quite the way I expected it to. The blurb suggests something more than it actually gives.

The story itself didn't quite sit right with me for a few reasons. The main one is that I work in childcare, and what the main character in the story does is something I would never dream of doing myself. Yes I have had concerns for children in the past, but I would never go to the lengths that the character goes to. The author obviously wanted to shock the reader, and she has definitely done that, but it was just a bit too far for me.

The story itself was quite predictable in parts, I did guess a lot of what was coming unfortunately. However I didn't realise quite how far the characters would go to achieve their goals. The ending was, I feel, really well done but it left me wanting more. I wanted closure for all of the characters and I was left feeling like that didn't happen. It left me having to make my own mind up about what may happen next.

The writing was very good, the author captures the traits of the various characters extremely well. The characterisation is good also. Just for me I felt the story didn't quite live up to the blurb. But this is only my opinion and I'm sure others will have totally different ideas if they read the story. Thanks to Netgalley and Bookouture for providing a copy.

I disagree with a lot of reviews who say the middle was pointless I think it was the basis that helped you understand Lorna and why she did what she did. Troubled souls both of them

Thanks once again netgalley for allowing me to read this book. I have to be brutally honest and say I just didn't enjoy it at all! I found it long winded and very boring with a story that never actually went anywhere.

This book scared the hell out of me. Claire is one of those teachers with a heart of gold, who thinks kids should be kids. She takes a shine to little Lorna Bell and decides to take her under her wing. Claire thinks Lorna is just misunderstood. From a working class family who live on a deprived housing estate, Lorna has not had the best start at life, and Claire is determined to turn things around for her. No one listens to Claire’s genuine concerns for Lorna’s safety. All the signs point to Lorna being abused so when she goes to Claire for help Claire takes matters into her own hands and makes a few decisions she will live to regret.

There is a dark, creepy undercurrent that runs through this whole book. It’s a bit of a slow burner rather than a psychological thriller, but the more you read the greater that feeling of unease grows inside you. The first half of the book slowly builds a picture around Claire and her life. This gives the reader a deeper understanding of why Claire makes the questionable decisions later in the book. You can’t agree with what she does, but you can empathise and understand why. The second half of the book sees Claire’s life spin out of control. Watching her decline is like putting a fork in a microwave and being unable to stop watching as the sparks fly before completely exploding. You know it’s coming, you know it’s going to be bad, but you just can’t take your eyes off it.

The characterisation is superb. I took an instant dislike to Lorna’s Mum and Step-Dad, I judged them on their outward appearances which is something I normally never do. I couldn’t help but warm to Claire, and when a third main character, Marianne, came on the scene halfway through the book I was instantly suspicious. She reminded me too much of someone I once knew!

This twisted tale is a masterclass in manipulation, and you do wonder at times who the more superior manipulator really is. The events in this book seem so far-fetched yet at the same time so believable, which is what really chilled me to the bone. I’ve been waiting a while for an author with a book as brave as this one. Some people are just born bad, and these monsters are all around us, hidden in plain sight.

My overall is rating for this book is 4.5 stars. Thanks to Frances Vick, Bookouture and NetGalley.

An interesting book I was eager to read once I saw the lovely cover. Sometimes exhausting to read, a little disappointing in the end, but overall it had some good thrills.

To be honest I wanna say right away, most of the characters and their choices were quite annoying to me. It seemed so obvious to make the right choices, but the characters were so busy with themselves and their desires that it was hard for them to react to the situations. That made it exhausting to read, because the reader knew what was going to happen, at least to some extent.

Although Claire as one of the main characters went through an extreme development character-wise, it didn't change much at all, but it did make her character be the hero in this book (for around 40 pages, until she was being annoying again). In a way I would say that the character's personalities were created very well by the author in order to fit the narrative.

Overall, I enjoyed the little indecencies, the mystery and the thrill (or what was there of it). However, I would have loved a clearer ending, a bigger punishment, a better solution. Except for that, it is a solid 3 out of 5 stars and I am actually interested in other works by this author.

An absolute corker of a psychological thriller, with a deprived and abused little girl at the heart of it – prepare to be moved – prepare to be terrified.
Take an inner city school. Meet Claire, a harassed, very compassionate and caring, middle aged teacher who sometimes feels like a bit of dinosaur as she juggles the responsibilities of her dull private life, her irascible Mother, her non-existent social life, with her beloved career.
Her path meets that of neglected 5 year old Lorna from a feckless family with a bad reputation on a run-down housing estate and both their lives are about to be affected by the meeting. Warning bells ring when Claire uncovers a heinous crime – Lorna, with the stick like limbs, the dirty clothes and the badly worn shoes, in a bid to be accepted by her peers, has stolen some collectable kids erasers and thus Rubbergate is unleashed! Far from bringing her friendship and admiration it makes her despised and scorned.
It seems such a small event to trigger so many repercussions, but what it does is bring Lorna to Claires attention and Claire isn’t about to let a child in need of care and protection down so decides she will keep an eye on this little girl, whose family don’t seem to care about her, who appears with bruises all too often. It’s clear she needs protection and Claire would never forgive herself if she did nothing, as memories of an earlier abused child who wasn’t helped, haunt her.
But her pleas to the ineffective head and young flighty teachers, fall on deaf ears, they feel she is overreacting. Years pass, Lorna continues to decline and Claires attempts to intervene on Lornas behalf fail. Poor Claire, she’s a successful teacher but makes some poor decisions and fails to find support for her actions when she needs it. Her suspicions about what has been happening to Lorna at home escalate and although reluctant to explain fully, it seems she is being badly abused.
Cliare feels a deep affinity with this bright yet neglected youngster and steps in to try and provide some stability and encouragement to this young and promising child.
Events are finally brought to a head when Lorna turns up on Claires doorstep, shaken and distressed apparently having been subjected to a violent outburst by her step father. Pressurised to make a quick decision Claire makes a rash and inadvisable move and from this day forth, nothing will ever be the same again ….. and that, dear reader is just the beginning!
We are taken on a journey of deceit and manipulation which will twist your mind.
One minute I was thinking poor Lorna, she so needs Claires help and though it’s obvious she has huge problems which have impacted on her, making her behaviour erratic, she can be so loving no wonder Claire is prepared to take huge risks for her. Then things she does and says begin to niggle t me, she is very mercurial and I think maybe she exaggerates to get things to go her own way, maybe she tells lies to turn things in her favour? Maybe she really is a bad little girl after all.
At times I felt very supportive of Claire, she seems so well meaning, but I began to wonder does she have an ulterior motive, is she reliable, what motivates her, for her knee jerk reactions can be so drastic?
Then a third person appears on the scene, Marianne, loner, misfit, usurper, dragging her dog Benji along. She is an undoubted fly in the domestic ointment, she is about to upset the apple cart.
Oh this is one twisted tale, a real nail biter and an OMG I don’t believe that just happened, curved ball thrown in now and again. You do need to bite your metaphorical tongue and go with the flow as some of the events seem very unlikely, but the most horrifying things in life and fiction are far fetched. If everyone was sensible and reliable and did what you’d expect to be done, there would be no thrillers! And thriller this certainly is, I give it a big thumbs up for boldness and shock factor and to know any more about it you’ll just have to read it. My lips are sealed.

This was a seriously creepy book. The book starts with Claire, a school teacher who becomes concerned about a child Lorna. It seems that Lorna has gotten under Claire’s skin. Perhaps it is the fact that everyone else is so certain she is a thief and a troublemaker. Whatever it is, Lorna becomes Claire’s obsession, her blindspot. She is so determined to help her, and she is convinced that Lorna is, in fact, the victim of her situation.

This book was interesting to read because it had you questioning all the way through exactly what was happening. Frances Vick plays with the ambiguity of bias. By that I mean we see the same things that Claire does, but we see these events through a biased narrator, so what actually might have been happening is hidden by Claire’s desire to protect Lorna. However, what I thought was even more clever, was that Frances Vick wrote this book in a way that lets us know that she is unreliable and that there might be more to the story.

Throughout the book, we are given hints that Claire’s past, where she wasn’t protected by her Mother enough, might be influencing her interpretation of events and the terrifyingly rash actions that she takes when the danger Lorna is supposedly experiencing comes to a head. This book was extremely well written because even though I thought I knew what was happening and I believed that Claire was not seeing what I was seeing, certain events had me doubting myself.

A lot of what occurs in the book is extremely drastic, but it doesn’t seem far-fetched at all. It makes you consider the reality of our time. Children are being forced to grow up so much faster than they used to be. It is harder for parents to keep children innocent and stop them from being exposed to information and experiences that only adults should have to deal with. Their innocence can be ripped from them, especially if they have parent’s that aren’t that bothered about protecting them from the very scary world in which we now live in. This book was a brilliant addition to this debate, and it explores the darker side of children and how they can become evil in some situations.

The end of this book left me absolutely terrified, and it made me very glad I didn’t have a child or had to spend time with any as I would have been scared. It was a creepy and terrifying ending to a book, and it will stay with me for a very long time. For me, the character of Marianne didn’t work until I realised what was happening. Up until that point, I was confused as to what she was doing in the book.

In summary, this book is very well written and utterly terrifying. If you are currently debating whether to have children do not read this book. But otherwise, I would highly recommend it.

I know that 2017 is still new but I have to say this, Bad Little Girl by Frances Vick is my biggest surprise so far this year. I really didn’t know what to expect when I picked this book. The first chapters were so slow that I started doubting whether I had made the right decision requesting for the ARC. However, a few chapters in and things suddenly changed. OMG, things really started happening and I found myself totally hooked to the story. I was reading it at every chance I got. At home, during my coffee break, lunch hour at work. I was so hooked. I knew something bad was going to happen and I kinda had a feeling what it was but I couldn’t look away. Seriously though, I wish I could write this review in my first language, Swahili, and then maybe I can do justice to this review and accurately explain just how much I loved it. Anyway, let me try calm down and explain why I liked it so much.

Okay, so let me start by briefly explaining what the book is about. Claire is Lorna’s teacher. She notices that the student has a few issues especially with fitting in with other students. Soon, she notices that Lorna’s issues go beyond what was happening at school. Claire becomes more invested in the student and starts following up on her. What happens next is just crazy and it gets crazier with each chapter as the truth emerges. I remember feeling unsettled as I read this book. The creepiness wouldn’t go away. I just sat there in disbelief but unable to look away. It was addictive. The villain was unexpected. It wasn’t the usual kind of villain which made them even scarier. Seriously, I can’t even explain just how chilling they were.

I’d like to tell you more about the characters but I don’t want to ruin the book for you. I was so surprised by the events that took place because I went in with little knowledge about the book and I think that this is the best way to read it. Let me mention though that I really liked Claire. I am not a mother yet but I like the little humans. I just like everything about them. Have you ever had a child hug and it just totally melts your heart? So I was drawn to Claire because she cared about the kid and I supported the actions that she took because I think I would have done the same thing. I sympathized with Lorna from the first page. I thought that she was quite endearing with all the little things that she used to do for Claire. There are scenes that made me teary like Lorna hugging Claire when she found her looking sad. I was so invested in the two characters so when the mayhem started, it caught me unaware. I actually felt betrayed. Damn. I thought I knew these people.

The ending of the book is just as creepy as the rest of it. It’s the kind of ending that makes you feel like someone is watching you. Like you need to lock the doors, close the curtains and then you start looking at certain ‘humans’ with a new perspective. Seriously though, this book had one of the creepiest, most disturbing villains.

You need to read this. If you are looking for a suspenseful, creepy read then yeah, you should get it. Definitely recommended to all fans of psychological thrillers.

BAD LITTLE GIRL by Frances Vick is a twisty suspense of lies and manipulation, with a cast of unreliable characters.

Loran Bell was such a happy little girl with a wide smile. She was just a normal, sweet little girl- friendly, open confident.

Claire Penny is a teacher. She cared about her students. She noticed things. She was loved. When she sees the way Lorna is treated, she wants to come to her rescue. She could see Loran was shorter and thinner than most of her friends, and at first, she had not gotten into trouble.

She evidently comes from a bad and troubled family. The poor little thing thought Claire. She would be extra nice to her. The girl just does not fit in.

Claire seems to care too much, she has been told. Shouldn’t mothers and teachers protect the kids from the darkness? There has to be that person, that one woman who makes all the difference.

Lorna is complex.

Claire wonders if this is a potential child protection issue? Was there something bad going on at home? If she goes to the authorities or social services will this make it worse for Claire? Can she take her away from the abuse?

Is everything is as it appears?

Is Lorna really bad? Then Marianne Cairns, forty-eight, a teaching assistant in secondary schools in the Bristol area. Things become wacky, wicked . . . and the story becomes crazy.

Not a fan of this one and never really hooked me- very long and drawn out. Would not classify as a page-turner, unless you are rushing for it to end, as I was.

I also listened to the audiobook and the narrator, Katherine Manners had the most annoying voice (worst ever). While some may find BAD LITTLE GIRL, entertaining— it was not for me. No likable characters here and unsure why all the hype. Unfortunately, unable to recommend.

Thank you to Bookouture and NetGalley for an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Within the first few pages, I was immediately intrigued with this story! I wanted to know where the story was going and I wanted to read constantly (of course I couldn’t thought).

It also didn’t take me long to grow completely enraged with the story as well. I was completely invested within the first couple of chapters. I was completely in awe that Frances Vick was able to pull that much emotion from me within the first 2 chapters. So when I say enraged, it was definitely in a good way.

I was mad with some of what I was reading that I was literally yelling at the book! I was angry that the school system had given up on little Lorna before they ever gave her a real chance just because of the family that she was from. It was quite sad, but I was extremely thankful for Claire, the teacher, who refused to give up on her. Claire literally tried to stand up for Lorna and was told to pick her battles because this one wasn’t worth fighting. I was completely blown away by this. Unfortunately, it’s something that really does happen.

Another thing that really spoke to me was something that Claire was talking about.

“No money in motherhood, is there?

Maybe there should be, Claire smiled, if there was money in it, perhaps people would be better at it

There is so much truth in this statement!

For about half the book, I felt completely sorry for Lorna. I was so enraged by the things Lorna was going through and I was so convinced that some terrible things were happening to her in her home life.

Then about halfway through the book, I started to get super suspicious of Lorna. I began to doubt some of the things she was saying. She seemed to be very good at manipulating Claire without her even realizing it. Especially with the crying. I wasn’t quite sure what to think about Lorna.

Throughout the last half of the book, so many crazy things happen that it just had my head spinning! I could not even believe some of the things this little girl was capable of. It was completely mind blowing.

At the end of Bad Little Girl Frances Vick poses a very thought provoking question about whether or not her readers think Lorna was BORN bad. I’d like you to read this just for the simple fact that I would LOVE to know what you think about Lorna. Was Lorna born bad or was she made this way?

In my opinion, Lorna wasn’t born bad. SHE WAS BORN EVIL. There’s just no other explanation for the things she did. Absolutely none.

If you follow my blog, you know anything involving a dog is a very sensitive point for me. So when Marianne decided to leave behind her dog Benji to just die, I WAS COMPLETELY LIVID. Again, yelling at the book because I couldn’t believe it. Nothing gets to me like doing a dog wrong in any way. But as it turns out, it was for the best. And I won’t say exactly why. You’ll have to read the book to find out!

I enjoyed this book so so much and I cannot wait to see what Frances Vick comes up with next!

Oh, my; I wish I knew how to begin! 'Bad Little Girl' had me changing my opinion on the book, multiple times throughout. One minute I was showing empathy and the next moment I was reading the book through my fingers. I found the storyline a little slow to begin with, as the first few chapters seemed to be centred around Claire and her instincts.

As Claire Penny is a teacher, she takes her job rather seriously and holds herself personally responsible when it comes to the pupils. Well, one pupil more than the others, Lorna Bell. Claire's concerns over Lorna's wellbeing, ends up taking over her mind and leaves her on tenterhooks every day. Can you really care TOO much?

Claire came across as an incredibly naïve and weak character as she always seemed frightened to say what she thought, and many times I shouted 'get a backbone!'. Once the storyline got going, I'm surprised I didn't break my kindle from the furious tapping to change the pages. There was  A LOT of information and wild characters to sink my teeth into (not the actual characters, just to clarify); it was really hard to step away from the book.

Lorna, Lorna, Lorna; I don't think I can say too much about her as like Claire, she is one of the main characters, yet Lorna has a lot of layers to her. Frances Vick has written such a marmite character where Lorna is concerned as she is just a child, however, her antics made me go from empathetic to angry to concerned to shocked. The whole shebang to be honest. I think Lorna is going to get a lot of readers talking that's for sure!

All of a sudden, the intensity of the storyline completely changed from an 'on edge, looking over shoulder' type feeling, to a 'what the actual f.....' kind of feeling. I will admit that the pre-bedtime-for-three-year-old wording was fudge and not the naughty word (that was used when she was in bed)! From that moment on, for me, the storyline became exceedingly uncomfortable to read. Not due to how the author had written it, no, it was because every situation and outcome was SO vivid in my mind, it was as though it was happening right in front of me there and then. All of the noises surrounding the characters grew louder in my head, as though a recording was getting played. It was a really surreal feeling but yes, I found those circumstances to be an uncomfortable read.

However!! The fact I felt uncomfortable didn't deter me from finishing the book, at all. The author has quite clearly done what she set out to do where her genre is concerned, with a reader like me! I didn't even guess the outcome of the book either!

Overall, despite having many, many goosebumps all over my body, Bad Little Girl is an intense rollercoaster ride of uncertainty. Full of a fair few 'what the f.....' moments, Frances Vick has written a novel which most certainly packs a punch....or two. Gritty, dark and intense, Bad Little Girl is a book you need to read, even if you're a wuss, as you'll be missing out!

Thank you Bookouture!

This is such an intriguing storyline, a bit different to the usual psychological thrillers in that one of the main characters is a child. Lorna is vulnerable and seems to Claire Penny, a teacher at her school but never actually her teacher, to need help, love and attention. Claire is an old-school teacher, somebody who actually wants to get involved with the children she deals with and gets far too close. I thought the author's depiction of the different kinds of teachers and methods was excellent. She portrayed the older ones, stuck in their ways, and the younger ones, full of buzz words and more aware of a need to keep their distance, so well. Claire sort of falls in the middle but leans much more towards the older ones with their sensible shoes and old-fashioned values.

Somehow I never really felt any sympathy for Lorna, who seemed very aware of herself and her behaviour right from the beginning. I felt more for Claire, who had never married and spent a lot of time with her mother, Norma, who I thought was a fantastic character.

I must admit that I was waiting for the brilliant twist that was mentioned on the cover and right up to the end I thought something else was going to happen. I didn't feel particularly surprised by the way things turned out but that doesn't mean I didn't think it was an excellent read. I found it a real page turner and quite tense at times as I waited to see what would happen.

The addition of the very irritating Marianne changed the direction of the story and this was one of those books where I wanted to reach in and shake the characters for being so daft and easily manipulated. Like many of this genre, it all felt a little far-fetched and unlikely but that doesn't matter if the quality of the writing is good, which it is here. It's quite a dark book, full of underlying menace and ominous circumstances and I enjoyed reading it very much.

This review is written with thanks to Bookouture and Netgalley for my copy of Bad Little Girl.
Lorna Bell is one of teacher Claire Penny's Christmas Crackers, part of a group of school pupils who need a little extra support outside of lessons. Lorna is notoriously badly behaved, but Claire thinks there must be something more behind Lorna's actions and tries to protect her. However, when Claire and Lorna meet Marianne, Lorna becomes more distant. Is Lorna troubled or just a bad little girl?
Through Bad Little Girl, Vick raises the important issue of nature vs nurture, and the premise from which she begins has a lot of potential. However, I was mostly disappointed with this novel. It starts rather slowly, which means that several of the events that are recounted seem mundane, and Lorna's character, particularly in the first half of the novel, is not explored as well as it might be in order that the reader can really consider the issues raised in detail.
I am a youth worker by trade, so I am reasonably familiar with safeguarding protocols that are used in situations similar to that of Lorna in Bad Little Girl. An experienced teacher such as Claire would not act in the way that she does, and this made me (literally) shout at the pages in frustration. It stopped me from connecting with Claire and sympathising with her.
As you can see from the cover, the tagline for Bad Little Girl boasts a "brilliant" twist. I love a twist, and thought that this might be the novel's redeeming feature. Unfortunately, however, I saw the ending coming from quite early on, and this diminished its effect for me.
Overall, I finished Bad Little Girl feeling disappointed that it didn't live up to the potential promised by the synopsis.

What a crazy book this is! I read it in a single day and lamented when I had to put it down. I probably would have read it in one sitting if I could have. It really sucks you in and doesn't let go, especially the second half. It's a little slow at first but that definitely doesn't last.

Lorna Bell sticks out, at least to the adults. At first the other children at school are too young to notice what makes her different. The bad family reputation, matted hair, stained clothes, too small shoes. When kids are very young, those things don't matter. At first, she's a happy child who seems to get along well with everyone. That all changes when she's caught stealing something from another student. The kids don't trust her now. Teacher Claire takes pity on her. She doesn't want one little mistake to destroy the child's happiness. Lorna is so young... she couldn't have thought things through. She really feels for her and wants to help.

Claire begins to care for Lorna more than most teachers do their students. After meeting her mother and witnessing the young woman be cruel to her child, she is determined to help the little girl. Lorna begins to confide in her and hint at terrible things happening at home but clams up around other adults. What kind of chance does this kid have with such a terrible home life?

The second half of this book spins out of control. Claire and Lorna become very attached to each other and an unusual woman named Marianne inserts herself into their lives like she belongs there. Lorna's behavior begins to change for the worse without explanation. Their lives will never be the same.

I received an ARC of this book from Net Galley and Bookouture, thank you! My review is honest and unbiased.

Sometimes people are born with a missing gene to be able to determine right from wrong....Lorna is unfortunately one of these people. Her only thoughts were how and whom would she be able to manipulate to bring into her control next. The interesting thing is she is just a little girl of ten years old. Lorna manages to bring Clair, one of the teachers at her school, into her mixed up/horrid little world to use her to be her champion. Clair had issues of her own with abuse when she was a child and only wants to save Lorna from experiencing the same.

This book kept me reading into the night and reminded me of a story that was a book and a movie many years ago with the title "The Bad Seed". Lorna seemed innocent and sweet, only when she was acquiring what she wanted from her victims. What she does after is the surprising part. I would recommend this book for those that love to dig through the mind of a psychopath. In a word....eery. Enjoy!!! I was provided an advanced reader copy of this book through Netgalley and the publisher/author for an honest review. I totally thank them for this opportunity.