I really wanted to like this, and rarely give up on a book, but I am afraid to say I struggled with this and just couldn’t get into it. The idea was good, suicide and mental illness is a topic that needs to be discussed.

Although I couldn’t get on with this book, it doesn’t mean I wouldn’t try another book by the same author in the future.
2 stars because although I couldn’t get into it, I believe the topic is important.

The discovery that her twenty-year-old daughter Julia was dead shattered Claire, her husband Adrian and the two boys. But the knowledge that she had committed suicide when the girl they had known had seemingly been happy was bewildering. Claire, riven with grief, knew she needed to find out the answers as to why her beloved Julia had resorted to suicide.

This novel revolved around grief, heartache, secrets and lies. The characters were not likeable; it was hard to even get to know them. As the marriage fractured, still Claire continued to fight for answers, especially when she discovered the letters under Julia’s bed. I was looking forward to this author’s latest release but found myself disappointed. Hush, Little Bird has been my all time favourite and although I haven’t particularly enjoyed My Daughter’s Secret, I will read more by Aussie author Nicole Trope.

With thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for my digital ARC to read in exchange for an honest review.

The author really knows how to catch your attention with the first chapter. It left me with goosebumps all over.

A lot of people do not believe in (female) intuition. I wonder why because it has already saved a lot of lives and maybe animals are more clever than humans. They do trust it for 100%. But there is something that is even stronger than that : a mother's intuition. Why is it that everybody finds it hard to believe when she is convinced that there is more to it than the eye can see?

It should be clear by now that mum's don't give up so easily and they will move heaven and earth to make sure justice conquers all.

I guessed rather early on who played the main part in the letters, but that did disturb me at all. The story was too good to let that spoil the pleasure. I wanted to know how the author would reveal everything and what would come to the surface. 

The book is a bucket filled to the brim with emotions.

And then there is the last chapter where ... No, no no, I am not going to say more. That's for me to know and for you to find out. 5 stars.

Thank you, Nicole Trope, Bookouture and Netgalley.

Book received courtesy of publisher/author.

3.5 stars
In "My Daughter's Secret," Trope begins with a college-age daughter's (Julia) suicide and her mother's (Claire) quest to find out why she chose to do so. While I can certainly empathize and appreciate a mother's deep anguish, sadness, sense of loss over a child's suicide, the first half of the book seemed to dwell, at undue length, on her mother's extreme difficulty in the aftermath. The book tends to slow down as a result, with the first half to third ceaselessly driving this home and at some point, I began to lose interest (and hope) that there would ever be an end to her self-deprecating inner dialogue about why Julia committed suicide and her faults as a mother. Claire runs down a few leads, which end up being dead ends, and then as she returns home to Sydney (the book is set in New South Wales, and the daughter, Julia, attends university in Melbourne), she begins to piece together the puzzle left behind in the form of letters from Julia's love interest. From there, the novel picks up and in the final quarter of the book, Trope delivers a whopper (i.e., the catalyst for Julia's suicide) and then quickly ends the book.
Like other reviewers, I felt there was a lot to digest here in terms of a dysfunctional family history. While the ending was worthwhile, I'm not 100% certain I'd recommend this unless the reader is up for a book heavy on family drama, domestic abuse, and not prone to triggers of predatory men, "reformed" abusers and/or a mother's grief of her child. The writing was solid, but some additional editing would have been beneficial in terms of repetitiveness.

Thanks to NetGalley for an advanced copy of this novel in exchange for an honest review.

Why did Julia commit suicide- hanging herself on the front porch of her home? Or did she? Her mother Clare is devastated but then things really go south when she finds a trove of Julia's writings. There's a secret lover. Unfortunately, I figured out who that was right away, which made the rest of this less than suspenseful. Adrian and Joel, her stepfather and father respectively, loom large here but neither one felt real to me. I wish there had been more a sense of Julia as we only see her through Clare's eyes. Thanks to Netgalley for the ARC.

On Halloween night two girls find Julia hanging on her family home's porch while everyone thought she was a 5 hour drive away at school. Torn up by Julia's suicide we follow Claire's story as she tries to understand why her seemingly happy daughter would commit suicide. Along with Claire's point of view we also get letters throughout the book from someone Julia was seeing, getting insight into a relationship that no one else knew about any may hold many clues.

I initially was disappointed in the story when I was pretty sure that I had figured the mystery to the story. However as I read more of the story and got to know the characters more I think that perhaps Nicole Trope meant for the reader to understand and know the solution all along and it was really seeing the struggles of the characters that was the real thriller of the story.

The only character I got fully attached to was Claire as hers was the only point of view we really follow. That being said I didn't always agree with her and I had times when I really wished she would open up her eyes and see the damage she was doing while on her quest for the truth. While I enjoyed the book a lot, I can honestly say it was also painful to read. There was so much harm being done to various characters that there was times I did need to put the book down and just take a breather. I always came back to it though knowing I wanted to know the ending and the resolution. My one complaint might be that things were left a bit ambiguous at the end and I would have preferred a bit more closure.


This novel was heart breaking in so many ways. The trials and struggles these characters go through are not for the faint of heart. Strong trigger warnings for anyone who have a hard time reading about physical, emotional, psychological or verbal abuse, as all are very apparent in this novel. That being said they aren't present in a gratuitous way. Nicole Trope writes about abuse in a very deliberate and meaningful way to paint a picture that needed to be painted for her story and to bring light to such an important issue.

I would recommend this book to anyone who enjoys domestic thrillers.

Claire is dealing with the death by suicide of her 20 year old daughter. She is, of course totally devastated and heartbroken and is finding it difficult to function. But even more, she cannot believe her daughter, Julia, would take her own life. Claire is carrying around the pain and guilt of a mother who thinks she should have done more, or less, or done things in a different way.
Claire decides to go to her University to sort through her room. While packing up her things she finds letters which point to a secret affair. Is this why Julia took her life? Why didn’t her friends know about this relationship? Claire is determined to find the truth for her daughter.
This was quite a gripping and compelling read - and an emotionally charged one too. I had to put it down a couple of times. I cannot imagine the pain of losing one’s daughter or indeed one’s child under any circumstances. The only nagging little question I have is can an abuser really change like that?

While fairly predictable (I guessed the big plot twists about 20% in), this book is very well written and broaches some pretty difficult topics. Overall, I did enjoy this book and look forward to future books written by this author

Thank you, Netgalley for this ARC.

This one started off in a big way...two young women stumble upon a body hanging from a porch. And even though Julia’s death is immediately ruled a suicide, her mother Claire just can’t let it go. So she begins to dig into Julia’s life, looking for answers. Why would her daughter kill herself? Eventually this question changes to, DID Julia actually kill herself? Although the story lost a bit of momentum about halfway through, it's still a gripping, twisty story up until the very end.

This book had me crying from the beginning. An extremely sad story of a mother who lost her daughter to suicide. This book felt so real and painful very well written by the author. Finding her daughter's letters was very emotional. Definitely well written and made you feel part of the story. Too sad in my opinion but gives truth to pain in every way. My honest review in exchange for an ARC from Net Galley. Thank you.

On Halloween night Claire finds her 20-year-old daughter, Julia hanging from the front porch. While she is trying to come to terms with her daughter’s suicide she makes some discoveries. Julia was in a secret relationship. Claire digs further into truth to find out who the person was and if he was responsible for Julia’s death.

The novel opened up with Julia’s friends discovering Julia’s body on Halloween night. That opening chapter was the best one in the book. After that, I was greatly disappointed. I could guess who the secret lover X was when I was 30% into the book. It was that obvious. I can’t say any more without spoilers. Claire was also unlikable which made it even worse for me. If she were a likable character it would have made reading the book more tolerable. The ending made me pretty upset as well. I kept shaking my head bewildered and frustrated at this mom’s choices.

This is the story of the mother of a young girl who is found hanging on her front porch on Halloween. In her grief, she goes looking for a reason behind why her daughter could possibly want to do such a tragic thing when she seemingly had it all.

While visiting her daughters dorm room, she located a box of letters that brings the reader into guessing what the secret was who might have been behind it.

The story was well thought out, though I did guess all of the surprises before I read about them. This can be a difficult read for some people, if you’ve dealt with losing a child or loved one. An enjoyable read, 3.5⭐️ from me.

Thanks the Netgalley and Bookouture for the opportunity to read and review this book.

I guess you can say that the author has done her job when you come out at the other end of her book feeling emotionally abused yourself. In the course of less than 300 pages I have witnessed suicide, murder, domestic violence, one particularly unpleasant relationship and a complete set of adults seriously in need of psychoanalysis.

There is a good story in the middle of all that which kept me reading, despite the fact that all of the characters, except the two poor sons, were unpleasant. There is a mystery revolving around why the victim committed suicide or even whether it was suicide at all. And there is a shock answer and a dramatic conclusion. All good but I still closed the book feeling depressed.

Claire is heartbroken when her beloved daughter Julia dies in what is an apparent suicide. Claire, feeling that her daughter was happy and full of life, vows to uncover the truth as she finds a box of letters that Julia wrote. The letters seem to describe a happy, in love girl - but she then uncovers the darkness that will finally give her the truth she has been seeking.
This book was emotional and dark - and while it was well-written and I had immense sympathy for Claire - it was almost too sad for me to continue reading and finish. I felt like it left me an emotional wreck at times. I appreciate the author for evoking these feelings, but it was definitely a hard read.
Thank you to Nicole Trope, Bookouture and NetGalley for the ARC of this book in exchange for my honest review.

I generally liked the characters, the plot was well-paced, and I wanted to reach through the computer and hug both Julia and Claire. That said, I was beyond disturbed by the twist at the end (no spoilers, but it definitely threw me for a loop). Looking forward to reading more of this author in the future, though!

My Daughters Secret is the story of the aftermath of a Daughters Suicide! But when things don’t add up, a mothers instinct is to find out the truth. And that is exactly what Claire does when her daughter Julia passes away and the police decided it was a suicide. But things are not sitting well with Claire, Julia has secrets and Claire is determined to get to the bottom of them, but when she does know, nothing will ever be the same.

There are many characters in this book but the main 4 are Julia (of course) but her character is revealed only through memories of Claire. Then there is Adrian, Claire's present husband, and Julia's step-father, I started out feeling bad for him, but that changed as the story goes along. and then finally there is Joel, Claire's ex-husband, and Julia's father and while in the present I really like his character, but the Joel of the past makes me mad!

Nicole Trope is a new to me author, but I adored the way she wrote, and really brought Sydney and Melbourne alive to me, and while the story is quite frankly disturbing, once you start the book, you cannot put it down.

My Daughters Secret is a dark tale, that leaves you guessing, but I will admit halfway through the book I had my suspicions about why Julia’s life was cut short, but the magnitude of what was behind it blew my mind! Now My Daughter's Secret tackles many taboo tropes, if taboo subjects are not your thing, don't read this book.

WTH did I just read. This book seriously smacked me upside the head with the twists ad turns. This story took me to a place of intrigue and so many unanswered questions up until they weren't. The author did such an amazing job with the story. Once I started this book I could not stop reading. Thank you NetGalley.

Such a sad story. So many emotions come through when reading it. I did guess who it was, but that didn’t distract from my enjoyment of the story asnit was so well written and played out.

What a fabulous book. I was hooked from page one and could not put this book down. So many emotions in the plot. I highly recommend this book. I received an arc from Netgalley and this is my unbiased review.

Claire Brusso’s daughter Julia is found dead after committing suicide. Distraught, Claire searches through Julia belongings to see what would have made her seemingly happy daughter so desperate. She finds a shoebox full of letters from someone who Julia was in love with, but Claire has no idea who this person is. Wanting to find out who it is, she looks more closely into Julia’s life and finds that she was a hiding a terrible secret….

What a heart-breaking story! I knew from reading the blurb that this was not going to be an easy read, but it had me gripped from the first chapter. Based in Australia, two teenage girls on the way home from a Halloween party find what they initially think is a Halloween dummy on the front porch of their friend, Julia’s house. Upon a closer look, they realise that it’s Julia who has shockingly hung herself. From that discovery, the book became more heart-breaking as it takes us on what could only be described as a ‘fly on the wall’ view on Julia’s family and particularly her mother Claire’s grief.

Claire Russo is married to Adrian but her previous marriage was an abusive one and whilst her ex-husband Joel is now a changed man, she has obviously had a very difficult time married to him and has done her utmost to protect her children. I felt for Claire so much, not just for what she was going through now but what she has already been through. It was also awful to read how she blamed herself for not picking up on the signs that her daughter was so unhappy, but it was a guilt which I’m sure any mother would take on. Claire does though comes across as such a strong and brave woman and this does show as the story moves on.

The story is told mainly from the point of view of Claire. It does have the anonymous love letters in between the chapters, and I have to admit I did think at first that they were letters written by Claire in her grief, until as I read more of them I realised they were from Julia’s lover. I didn’t initially work out who it could be but, for me, it became obvious as the story moved on and I loved the reveal at the end. I thought this was going to be just an overwhelmingly sad book about a mother’s loss, but it was more than that! It felt like I was on a rollercoaster of emotions, dipping and rising. The tissues came out, then they were put back away only for them to be taken back out again further into the book! With a thriller essence into the story, this book had me on edge wondering what on earth was going on as the truth was slowly uncovered.

The subject matter may not be for everyone as suicide is never an easy subject to read about, but the book was written sensitively to deal with this. There were lots of different characters, all with some connection to Julia, which made trying to work out who the mysterious lover was all the more fun. It is a shocking read but there’s so much passion put into the writing that compels you to keep your eyes fixed firmly onto the page for fear of missing something. A heart-wrenchingly sad story of lies, deceit and secrets. Definitely a book that will make you want to hug your children and never let them go. Would definitely recommend, but make sure you have tissues to hand!