I loved this book
A great, well written plot. Plenty of twists and turns to keep you guessing throughout. A good, strong plot with a lot packed between the pages.
The characters were well thought out and the interactions between them were natural and realistic. There were a few things which were a little far fetched, however I wouldn't expect a fictional novel to be entirely true to life, so this in no way detracted from what was a very good story.
I would definitely add it to my bookshelf

A good book. I found it a little slow at the start and hard to relate to/feel for the characters. But it did become gripping after a while and proceeded to be a pacy thriller with a good twist. Thank you for the chance to read

4.5 stars.
Well this book kept me on my toes throughout! We start in the past when Melissa Slade was put to trial accused of the death of her twin girl babies, both in separate incidents. Fast forward to the present and new evidence has come to light, triggering an appeal, leading journalist Jon Hunt to re-open his own investigation into what really happened to Ellie & Amber. And so begins a tale of secrets and lies, manipulation or truth? Is Melissa really a baby killer or merely a victim of fate delivering her a nasty blow; twice!? Can Jon cut through the noise, go back to the past, and figure things out once and for all...?
This is very much a did she? / didn't she? kind of book; twice! As per the author's intention, I flitted between Melissa's guilt and innocence all the way through. Was her first baby a victim of cot-death? Possibly? But then mere weeks later for her second baby to die too... coincidence or sinister? But why? OK so new mothers struggle sometimes... but to kill? Throw into the mix Jon's reluctance to get involved again, and his reasons for his discomfort and the sparks start to fly, especially when Kelly, Jon's junior, gets the bit between her teeth.
As well as all this, there are several other characters who all play their parts in the shenanigans going on. Too many to mention here but all play their parts, big or small, very well. As the layers slowly peel back to discover truth after truth, well, I'll just say that I didn't see the half of that coming; shocking!
All in all, a cracking read that I have no hesitation recommending to readers of the genre. My thanks go to the Publisher and Netgalley for the chance to read this book.

I would not call this book a “keeps-you-on-the-edge-of-your-seat’ thriller. For me it was more of a slow burner. The tension rises slowly and keeps you guessing. It is a well-written crime story about a woman who was convicted for murdering one of her twin baby daughters. Melissa is an enigma. It is hard to connect with her. The story is told from multiple POVs but mostly from Melisa and Jonathan, a journalist, who covers Melissa’s appeal together with his colleague Kelly.

Melissa got her twins with her second husband. Her pregnancy was unexpected. She has a son with her first husband and she was a devoted mother to him. But she feels unable to connect to her baby girls. When she finds one of them dead in her cot it seems clear that it was sudden infant death. Melissa is devastated and watches the other baby almost every minute. But when her second daughter dies the same way the police is getting suspicious. Is there really such bad luck then to lose two babies to Cot death?

The book keeps you guessing if Melissa tells us the truth. Is she or is she not guilty? What happened to the poor twins? There is also a lot about Jonathan’s private life and his own tragedy. The book is well written and I enjoyed reading it. It is a story about loss, grieve and secrets. The real mystery in this book was the relationship between Melissa and her second husband. What did she see in this twat?

If you like character driven stories with a lot of unexpected developments then this will be the right book for you.

Melissa Slade seemed to have it all: looks, money, success, and a beautiful family. However, all of that changed when she was put on trial for murdering her twin baby girls. Jonathan Hunt was put on the Slade babies case while working as a journalist. New evidence appeared and his boss expects him to dig and uncover the truth about what happened. As the appeal date quickly approaches Jon finds himself questioning is Melissa is guilty at all. Is she manipulating him or is she in jail for a crime she didn't commit?

This book was sent to me for review through NetGalley and I am very happy to have been selected to get an advanced copy. After reading the synopsis I knew that this book was right up my alley. The story takes place in England and follows three main characters; Melissa, Jon, and Kelly. Jon gets assigned to learn more, and report, about Melissa's murder case. New evidence has surfaced and word on the street is that she might have a chance at getting out of prison. Jon was also directed to help his co-worker, Kelly, become a better journalist and learn the ways of investigative journalism. Together they begin an adventure on finding out what really happened when Melissa was first arrested and tried.

On Goodreads I rated this book a 4/5 because of how detailed this story is. There is the main story but there are also other side stories that are happening with other characters throughout the book; and, you develop relationships with almost every character you meet along the way. Each chapter is from a different character (Kelly, Melissa, or Jon) and you get to see their thought processes as well as their experiences throughout the book. There are not a lot of twists and turns during this story but the ones that are in there are incredible! Just when you think you know who the killer is you realize that you're not quite correct in your conclusion. I definitely recommend this book to my thriller lovers out there; especially if you want to get sucked up into a book.

It's out August 2, 2019 so keep your eye out for this gem!

The Guilty Mother by Diane Jeffery is the first book by this author that I have read, although I have others on my to be read shelf. The story covers some tough subjects although you do not get exact details.. Even still I struggled to get into this book in the beginning. Thankfully though it picked up and I was hooked. Every time you think you have figured this one out it turns another way which I loved.

in 2013 Melissa Slade was sent to prison for killing her own daughter. Only weeks before her twin baby girl was found dead in her cot - coat death. And then the same happens to the second twin - the police are not convinced and Melissa is arrested. Years later she is appealing her case and reporters Jonathon and Kelly are assigned the story. The more they dig the more confused they become... did Ellie die from cot death or did somebody in her family kill her - and why?

Thanks to HQ Digital and Netgalley for my advanced copy of this book to read. All opinions are my own and are in no way biased.

What a rollercoaster of a read. Once started you won’t put it down.
Melissa and Michael have friends over for dinner. The first time since the birth of their twins. Amber is the restless one whilst Ellie is the perfect baby. During the evening lissa goes to check on Amber as she’s not woken for a feed. That’s when her world crashes. Ambers dead. Life will never be the same. Then weeks later Ellie dies. Melissa then finds herself in court charged with two counts of murder.
Years later the local rag is following up on news that new evidence has come to light in The Melissa Slade case. Jon and Kelly two local reporters use all their skills to get to the truth.
Is Melissa guilty or has there been a gross miscarriage of justice. Totally worth the 5 stars

What a fab book.
Melissa is in her second marriage to Michel, having a son Callum from her first marriage. She is currently imprisoned following the murder of one of her twin baby girls, whilst her twin died as a result of got death.
Jon and Kelly, 2 investigative journalists are delegated the task of looking into this case as the case is reopened, the thought being Melissa is not guilty of the murder.
This story is told from 2 angles that of Melissa and that of job and Kelly, as th2ey try to piece together the events leading to the girls deaths.
This book is full of twists right up to the very last sentence and totally gripped me. I highly recommend this read, Thank u net galley for an early copy.

Thanks Netgalley and HQ Digital for my ARC. The concept was interesting but things fell flat quite early on in the story. I'm a big fan of thrillers and their exciting pace but this one failed to keep me hooked.

Melissa is found guilty of the murder of her infant and imprisoned. Some evidence that was previously concealed has emerged years later and there's an appeal. Jonathan and Kelly are the investigative reporters looking into this case. They unearth quite a bit of information through their conversations with the people in Melissa's life. It's strange that the police or lawyers didn't get to some of this during their investigation, especially considering that Melissa is a former Police Superintendent and her er ex husband Simon is a Superintendent and has been steadfastly supporting her claim of innocence over the years. They also experience a number of coincidences over the course of their investigation, which I found quite unrealistic. Having read a lot of thrillers, some parts of the story were predictable.

Thoroughly enjoyed this. Gripped from beginning to end and with a few plot twists to keep me guessing. I was confused at certain points when one character got reintroduced and not enough thought went into explaining their role. I am a huge fan of courtroom dramas and felt this could have been explored in more detail.
Highly recommended!

I read this in one go and it's a compelling read. My only criticism was that in the second chapter was that Jon's wife was Mel and just for a minute, I thought it was Melissa, he was talking about. I liked the introduction of Kelly's missing sister and maybe in time, the author might get back to that storyline. Diane Jeffery is a new author for me and I would check out her other books. I would like to thank the publishers and netgalley for letting me have the book to review. The opinions expressed are entirely my own views and are completely unbiased.

I was hooked from page one.
I really enjoyed this read from the start I was questioning everything who was who, did she do it, who is telling the truth
The twists are fantastic and the characters are so well written you feel your walking alongside them
Highly recommend this novel and can't wait for a sequel

This is a clever truly "edge of your seat" psychological mystery thriller that had me in a roller coaster.

Melissa has lost a baby, tragic but hardly suspicious.
Now she lost another baby, hardly a coincidence.

It is this format of is she? or is she not?
Is she a psychopath who kills babies? or is she the victim of something far more sinister?

Twists and turns mount, nothing is cut clean, and we can't make up our minds on who and what to believe.
I found my self literally racing through the pages, because I was more than eager to know how this puzzle will be solved in the end. Highly recommended.

Thanks Netgalley, HQ Digital, and author Diane Jeffrey for a chance to read this amazing book.

Thriller that will keep you hooked from the very first page! Chilling dark and twisty, I couldn't put this book down until the very last page. My first book by Diane Jeffrey, but won't be my last.

Thank you to NetGalley for the arc in exchange for an honest review.

What would you do if a mother was accused of killing her two infant daughters? Would you believe her?

Melissa Slade was sent to prison for the murder of one of her daughters. As she’s waiting her appeal date readers are taken in to the world of investigative journalism as Jonathan and Kelly try to uncover the truth of what really happened to the Slade babies.

While the beginning of this book had me intrigued, the farther the story went along I kept debating if I could finish the book. I felt like it dragged on in certain parts where it didn’t need to. Jeffrey kept dropping hints in a ‘who done it” sort of way but never fully executing it in time for me to not lose interested. If the there were 100 pages less, I feel like the book would of had a better flow.

The Guilty Mother follows the story of Melissa Slade, imprisoned for killing the second of her twin baby daughters, after the first twin passed away of SIDS (cot death).

Five years on and new evidence has come to light that may just prove that Melissa may have been innocent all along. And if it wasn’t her, then who did it? The story is not predictable at all (even though I kept thinking I’d solved it!) and there are plenty of twists and turns to keep you guessing, right up until the last few pages.

I really enjoyed this book and highly recommend it to anyone looking for a gripping solid who dunnit.

The Guilty Mother by Diane Jeffrey was just gripping!.
Loved it from the first few pages, it had me sucked in and wanting to know more.
Being set in Bristol, (and being from Bristol myself) i could easily picture the areas and places within the story. I loved all the characters, without giving anything away, I found the colleague relationship between Kelly & Jon endearing and the only person I hated was Michael Slade!
Lots of tales, twists and shockers within the storyline, I loved how all the "coincidences" actually linked up and came full circle.
Was fast paced and easy to follow. I really enjoyed this book and read within 24hrs.
Would recommend!

What a great book, never saw the ending coming. Great continuous read, couldn't put this one down.



Thanks to net galley and the publisher for an early release of this book.

Rating- 2.5

This book had potential but the pace was too slow. Even the twists didn't feel very thrilling in the end because the author took too long to reveal some things. It could've been a much better book if it was fast pacing. I feel like the main issue was put aside throughout most of the book and we are just given insight into the lives of journalists and their personal lives. This book being a thriller should have had more focus on the murder mystery.

I want to thank the publisher for sending me a copy of this book.

"The Guilty Mother" is an engrossing thriller told from three points of view - Journalist Jonathan Hunt, Journalist Kelly Fox, and Melissa Slade, the mother in question. When a second tragedy occurs in the home of former police inspector Melissa Slade, she is sentenced to life in prison for murdering her daughter. After five years in prison, she has the chance of a new appeal. Jonathan Hart is assigned to look into the case and to have new reporter Kelly Fox work with him on the story. Jonathan is dealing with personal issues and at first is uninterested, but Kelly's enthusiasm as well as developments in the case, get his attention and soon he is invested in figuring out the real truth in this case.

This story moves back and forth between the past and present, but the timelines are clearly labeled and easy to follow. I connected with Jonathan immediately and liked him more and more as events from his past are revealed. I wasn't sure what to think about Kelly at first, but grew to like and respect her as the story progressed. My theories about the case and Melissa's innocence or guilt changed throughout the book as more information is given and plot twists occurred. At one point, I followed the clues and thought I had everything figured out, but there was so much more to the story than I thought. The juicy twists keep going in this thriller. It's clear Melissa is holding things back but not what those secrets are or what her motive is. Jonathan and Kelly make a great team in the way they research and report on the facts surrounding the investigation.

I didn't want to put the book down until I got to the end to find out what had happened and when everything is disclosed, it's a shock. Kelly Fox has a mystery of her own in her personal life. An expected person offers to help her at the end, but it's left open-ended. I would love to see a follow-up to this book featuring Kelly. I would give this book 4.5 stars and had no problems rounding that to 5 stars. Fans for Fiona Barton will enjoy this suspenseful book.

I received this book from NetGalley through the courtesy of HQ Digital. The book was provided to me in exchange for an honest review.