I loved this book. Once I started it, I could not put it down till I finished it. It keeps you guessing all the way to the end. Just before the big reveal, I started to figure it out but I truly did not see this twist coming till the very end. Well written. I wold recommend this book to anyone who likes this type of book. A Psychological thriller with surprise endings.

My first read from this author. Why hadn't I discovered her before?!
I loved this book. It gripped me from the start and I couldn't put it down.

2'5*
I usually give 5 stars to everything Shalini Boland, but this time the plot was quite previsible for me. I mean, when we know that a certain someone worked in a certain place it was clear for me what all was about. Before I was thinking that she was making us doubt of the sanity of the main character so as not to be clear if she had really abducted the child or not, and I was expecting some of her usual twists, so I was surprised when all turned to be so... lineal. Maybe it is because I was expecting another kind of resolution, I don't know.
I also have to add that I was amazed by the gripping quality of the text, usual on Shalini's books, which makes you devour the book as it impossible to stop reading; and how round were all the characters.

I'd not read anything by the author before so I wasn't sure what to expect but this was the type of book that sucks you in and before you know it you have lost an afternoon.

Very well written with some great characters that are likeable and some that you would gladly like to punch in the face.

I will definitely read more by the author.

This was a great phycological thriller that made you love Tess one minute and want to slaap some sense in her her the next.
She had lost so much she wasnt always sure what was fact or fiction.
The loss of her two babies had all but destroyed her and then her marriage fell apart. Most thought she was just a nut case but one person wanted to protect her and believed in her as she struggled to find out the truth.
Shalini Boland is a great creator of fiction and phycological thrillers , I look forward to more of her books.

This was a great mystery; I would put it in the realm of Paula Hawkins (and I say this just to give others an idea of the genre type rather than saying it is exactly like the other writer; it is not).

Tessa returns home from the cemetery to find a young boy sitting in her kitchen. The young boy refers to her as his mother. Tessa, is of course, shocked and turns to her (soon to be ex) husband for help. The couple has split as they have lost their own child, and Tessa's husband is less than understanding. The police are brought in as to be expected, but soon things take a dark turn for Tessa. She is soon suspecting of kidnapping the young boy, not only by police but her husband.

What follows is an engrossing tale, tons of mystery, lots of suspense, and great fun for those who love the whodunits with a tinge of ... did this really just happen?

I thought the writing was great, and I enjoyed Tessa, the main characters, and the secondary characters, specifically the people she worked with whose belief in her never wavered.

ARC received for honest review.

I enjoyed this book and it was a great psychological thriller. I really liked Tessa and the twists involved in the book kept me hooked.

A very good thriller indeed. Look forward to reading more by this author.

The Secret Mother by Shalini Boland is a psychological thriller.

First, let me thank NetGalley, the publisher Bookouture, and of course the author, for providing me with a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

Tessa Markham has had it rough.  After delivering twins, her little Lily girl died of complications.  When he was 3, her remaining twin son Sam died of Leukemia.  She went a little crazy for a bit, but who can blame her.  It seemed to be the final straw to her marriage too.  Scott moved out a year and half ago, and now has someone new in his life. Tessa hasn’t quite made it that far yet.

When she arrives home one day to find a small boy sitting in her kitchen, she is confused.  When he asks if she is her new mommy, she is stunned.  She calls Scott and then the police.  From then on, her life again turns chaotic.  For no one believes her.  They assume she went a little crazy again, and kidnapped the child.  With so many against her, she starts to believe it herself.  She will have to confront the past to determine the truth, because someone is lying.

In one way this is a heartbreaking story of lost children.  It is also a fast-paced mystery, and was hard to put down.  It was good.  It’s an easy read, and the plot twists were good enough that they kept me second-guessing myself.  That’s always fun.  The characters and their actions seem very genuine.

No hesitation in picking up another book from this author, and I would definitely recommend this one.

This is the book you should stop what you’re doing and read! It is the book you won’t be able to put down! Shockers and a twist you won’t see coming! This thriller knocked it out of the park!

Absolutely loved this book and I was hooked right from the start , it starts when Tessa gets home to find a little boy in her kitchen with no explanation as to how he got there , she calls the police but suspicion soon falls on her as both the police and the press believe she abducted the boy . It hurtles along at a good pace and I found myself really rooting for Tessa , she has no support from her ex husband who has moved on and doesn't believe her version of events , its only her boss Ben and her colleagues at the garden center who support her , it was a brilliant read and although I pretty much guessed the ending it was no less enjoyable for me .

A brilliant read! Not exactly a thriller, and I have to admit to sussing out the 'twist' quite early on. Nevertheless, the book was well written and very enjoyable.

"In practice, my mind is fragile. Anything out of my carefully constructed routine could tip me over the edge, and I don't quite trust myself with this kind of change. I don't know if I ever will."

I read this book in less than 24 hours because I could not put it down! This is one of those books that will have you reading on your lunch break and during any down time you have. You might just have to take a few extra "bathroom" and "coffee" breaks at work because this book is just that good.

The book starts with a bang. Tessa, the lead character, finds a little boy in her flat after coming home from a long day of work. She has no idea who he is, or who brought him to her place. She calls her husband, Scott, from whom she is separated, looking for support and advice. We learn that Tessa has had a tumultuous past, one that involves the loss of not only one child but two. Tessa lost her job and sanity after their passing, and ended up being found at a local park pushing another woman's infant in a carriage. The boy's appearance opens up old wounds, bringing all the emotions of the past to the surface once again. Is she losing her mind? Did she kidnap the child to replace the two children she has already lost?

Word gets out to the media about the little boy and Tessa's past, and almost immediately the media descends on Tessa's flat, hounding her with camera flashes and questions about the little boy every time she goes outside. The police also suspect Tessa of foul play, making things worse for her. The only thing keeping Tessa from losing her sanity is her boss, Ben, who is handsome, Italian, successful, and single. Ben offers to help Tessa unravel the mystery of who the little boy is, and how he ended up in her house. Tessa reluctantly accepts his offer, hoping that she'll still have a job after the mystery is solved.

Tessa believes that the little boy's appearance is somehow related to the two tragedies (I won't spoil them here) that took her twins' lives. She begs her soon to be ex-husband Scott to help her figure out what is going on, but he pushes her away, chalking up everything to Tessa's past mental instability. Could Scott be hiding something? Is his new love interest, a much younger woman named Carly, responsible for the little boy's kidnapping?

Tessa's neighbor, who was nosy when Tessa and Scott lived together, also gets involved. She's a rogue journalist, and wants a good story to sell in order to pay off debt. She offers to help Tessa solve the mystery of the little boy, but is she really being a good friend, or does she have ulterior motives and plans in mind? Did she, for instance, orchestrate the kidnapping to make money off of Tessa's tragedy?

Have had a few books by this author on my TBR list and kept postponing due to exams but this came to me as an AC and took as an sign to take the time out to read it. By god was i happy loved this book. It read seamlessly and kept me guessing. Without saying too much, the book had me guessing to the end. The main characters history was hinted at regularly and kept me wanting to know more. i was hooked from the first page. I'll be reading the rest of this authors books. keep them coming

Before reading The Secret Mother i felt in a bit of a reading slump.  I just couldn't motivate myself to do much reading.  Whether this was because of moving and a lot of other things happening I could't say but The Secret Mother helped me break this slump as I couldn't stop reading it.  I have to be honest, it wasn't one that grabbed me right from the start but the more I read the more intrigued I became as more and more odd things came to light.  I soon found that I was racing through the pages eager to find out more and discover the secrets behind the little boys sudden appearance in Tessa's kitchen.

The author does a brilliant job in slowly increasing the tension int he book, which was so intense at times I had to skip ahead to find out what was going to happen.  This made it hard to put down and I often found myself trying to sneak a few more pages in.

I felt a lot of empathy towards Tessa and her predicament.  Regular readers of my blog and my blogger friends will know that I also lost a child and therefore understood exactly how Tessa was feeling.  The author does a great job in describing the emotions and behaviour of a recently bereaved mother, so much so that I think I would recommend this book to others just so they could understand more about how it feels to lose a child.  I felt that she was very misunderstood and that no-one in her life, at the start of the book anyway, listened to her and let her get her point of view across.  I did find myself almost screaming at the book because of some of the things she does trying to discover the truth.  She seems quite a together lady sometimes but when it comes to discovering more about the child she doesn't always think straight.  I think this is quite true to life as I remember being quite capable in some areas but going to pieces over very small things.

I'm not sure if it is pregnancy hormones but I seem to be reading about a lot of characters I'd happily hit at the moment.  Ellie and Scott are another two that are so well describe that they made my blood boil.  I hate people who act like that and couldn't believe they weren't more sympathetic towards her.  They were also very real characters as I have, unfortunately, met similar people in real life.

The ending was brilliant and very unexpected.  I had a lot of theories in my head about what would happen and how it would end but none of them proved correct.  I love it when this happens and an author is able to keep me guessing until the end.  I also liked that the author included a chapter on what everyone's life was like a few months down the line as it was very interesting to see how it all turned out for each of the characters.

This is the first book by Shalini Boland that I have read but it definitely won't be my last and I will look forward to reading more from her in the future.  If you like perfectly plotted thrillers that make you think then you will love this book.

Thank you to Kim Nash and Bookouture for giving me a copy of this book and for inviting me on the blog tour.

This is the first book by this author that I have actually read. Going by how much I enjoyed it, I can safely say that it certainly won’t be the last book of hers that I read. I read the synopsis and I was immediately intrigued. I just knew that I had to read this book and I am so glad I did but more about that in a bit.

Tessa Markham is a bit of a funny old fish in that I wasn’t sure how to take her. I really felt for her when it emerges that her children have sadly died. I’m aware that grief can drive you to do some silly things. After all you don’t expect to have to bury your children. The death of her children floors Tessa and her world is shattered even more when her husband ups and leaves. I think that he is a typical male and he doesn’t want to talk about his feelings or deal with what has happened. Tessa really has her world turned upside down. When she finds the little lad in her kitchen, I did wonder if she had actually taken him herself but then a few minutes later I wasn’t so sure. Tessa is one strong woman because she has had to be. When the little boy is picked up by the police, Tessa is besieged by the press who smell blood so to speak. Thankfully she has a very understanding boss, who allows her to work hidden away and not have to appear in public. Is her boss all that he seems? Her ex-husband is about as much use as a chocolate teapot and he doesn’t provide much support but then he has his own little secret. Tessa is determined to get to the bottom of the mystery of how the little lad came to be in her kitchen. Tessa doesn’t know who she can trust and who she should steer clear of. She realises that somebody is lying to her but she doesn’t know who or why. ‘The Secret Mother’ follows her determined attempt to get to the truth and expose the person who has lied.

I have to say that I literally did not put the book down after I had started it. I usually have the attention span of a gnat but this story got its claws into me from the very first word on the very first page and didn’t release me from its grip until the last word on the last page. I just became addicted to reading it and the Kindle went everywhere with me. I just had to read on to see what happened next and to see if I was getting any closer to the truth. The pages were turning that quickly that it was almost as if they were turning themselves and before I knew it I had finished the book, which I was so disappointed about. I was enjoying the story and the writing style so much that I just didn’t want the story to finish. Reading ‘The Secret Mother’ was a bit like riding on a very long and twisty rollercoaster ride with lots of stomach churning moments. I smugly thought that I had worked out who was telling the truth and who was lying but then the book sent me a curveball, which sent me down another path entirely. In the end I trusted nobody and I believed nobody. This is certainly a book that messed with my head and the story will stay fresh in my mind for a long time to come.

In short I absolutely loved this book and it has to be in my top 10 reads of 2017. Shalini Boland is right up there on my list of favourite authors and I can’t wait to read what comes next from her very talented and twisted mind. I would recommend this book to anybody and everybody. I give ‘The Secret Mother’ 5* out of 5* but I would have awarded it more stars if I could have because I enjoyed it that much.

Tessa arrives home after visiting her childrens graves to find a little boy sitting in her kitchen announcing that she is his new mummy. Where has he come from and is Tessa losing her mind- others around her seem to be convinced that she is.

I loved every page of this book following Tessa trying to investigate how Harry came to be sitting in her house and then trying to deal with the backlash from a police investigation and a journalist deluge. Mystery surrounds her. It's a great psychological thriller.

She finds some unexpected support from her boss and work colleagues and that helps her deal with the breakdown of her life.

Oh my god I loved this book it was totally amazing very emotional and very raw story line is will keep you hooked from the first page to the last brilliant.

This book follows Tess a mother who has gone through the unthinkable when she loses both her children and she goes through so much especially when no one believes her.

This book sends you on a emotional roller coaster from start to finish.

There is a happy ending a very amazing twist you would never see coming you have to read this book it won't let you down if I could give it more then 5 stars then I would.

Imagine coming home and finding a young boy in your kitchen who thinks you’re his Mom.

Tess wonders if she’s gone crazy and her ex husband believes she needs help when she tells him what has occurred. Through twists and digging in the past she discovers the truth about this little boy and the connection to a deep loss she experienced when giving birth.

This book is captivating and keeps you wanting to read more.

This book gripped me instantly, if I was able to I could have happily sat and read it in one sitting,

You really felt for Tessa, you were sad on her behalf you were angry on her behalf and in a way I wanted to race towards the end to ensure she got the ending she deserved. I had an inkling as to what would happen in the end however it didn't stop my enjoyment of the book.

I look forward to reading more by Boland and will be recommending this book to friends.

Thanks to NetGalley, Bookouture and Shalini Boland for my free copy in exchange for an honest review.