EXCERPT: As I put the pictures back in the bag, I picked up the shreds of what I'd dismissed as blank scraps of paper that morning. Most of them were plain white, but I now noticed some had bits of printed letters on them, light gray and faded, made by one of those ancient dot-matrix printers I'd once seen in my school's aging computer lab. I laid the pieces out on the desk and set to work, fitting them together like a jigsaw puzzle. Despite missing a few parts, three words became clear enough to decipher.

TELL NO ONE.

ABOUT 'HER SECRET SON': When Josh’s longtime partner, Grace, dies in a tragic accident, he is left with a mess of grief—and full custody of her seven-year-old son, Logan. While not his biological father, Josh has been a dad to Logan in every way that counts, and with Grace gone, Logan needs him more than ever.

Wanting to do right by Logan, Josh begins the process of becoming his legal guardian—something that seems suddenly urgent, though Grace always brushed it off as an unnecessary formality. But now, as Josh struggles to find the paperwork associated with Logan’s birth, he begins to wonder whether there were more troubling reasons for Grace’s reluctance to make their family official.

As he digs deeper into the past of the woman he loved, Josh soon finds that there are many dark secrets to uncover, and that the truth about where Logan came from is much more sinister than he could have imagined…

MY THOUGHTS: 'If it wasn't for bad luck, I wouldn't have no luck at all.' - Ray Charles

Her Secret Son by Hannah Mary McKinnon is certainly an emotional page turner! How much bad luck can one man have? Well, like they say, 'when it rains, it pours.'

Josh has made some bad decisions in his life, but just as he thinks that he's finally got life sorted, found happiness, it's ripped right out of his grasp again. Struggling to cope, he is determined to do his best by Logan, who he loves like his own. And he had promised Grace that if anything ever happened to her, he would look after him. He is determined not to let either Grace or Logan down. But this promise gets harder and harder to keep as Grace and Logan's past is revealed to be layer after layer of lies.

I felt so sorry for Josh, and for Logan. Josh's love for Logan simply radiates from the page as he battles with his own grief to give Logan a stable home. Ultimately he finds himself torn between doing the right thing by Logan, and doing the right thing.

Her Secret Son is a compelling page turner. I was heavily invested in the characters and the outcome. But then it all became overly dramatic, a bit like an episode of a soap opera (Dallas sprung to mind), with blazing guns and all. Although the ending was great entertaining reading, I thought it could have been handled with a bit more finesse, and I felt let down by it. The quality of the rest of the story deserved better. A good candidate for a TV drama.

⭐⭐⭐.5

#HerSecretSon #NetGalley

'Moving never sorted out your issues. They sneaked inside your suitcases when you weren't looking and jumped out when you arrived.'

'I'd rather be a hermit with a stack of good books and a box of chocolates.'

THE AUTHOR: I was born in the UK and grew up in Switzerland. Unsurprisingly I love chocolate, mountains and cheese, and books, of course.

When I moved to Canada with my husband and three sons in 2010 I went through an (early) mid-life crisis. Maybe it was the failed attempt at a start-up company, but one morning I decided to follow my oldest passion; writing - and never wanted to look back.

DISCLOSURE: Thank you to Hodder and Stoughton via Netgalley for providing a digital ARC of Her Secret Son by Hannah Mary McKinnon for review. All opinions expressed in this review are entirely my own personal opinions.

For an explanation of my rating system please refer to my Goodreads.com profile page or the about page on sandysbookaday.wordpress.com

This review and others are also published on Twitter, Amazon, Instagram and my webpage

would like to thank netgalley and the publisher for letting me read this book

a tragic accident
a family split in half
missing babies
families torn apart

wow this story had it all really....didnt see the ending coming quite as it did...but on the whole i have to admit i like how this author writes...i fell into the characters and how they were quickly established some more likeable than others...

this story builds slowly as it goes along, the tension is there, enough that i had to put the book down walk away then go back to it...

will be keeping an eye out for more of this authors works

A good premise and an excellent beginning to the book,I did like the characters especially Josh and the narration was well done, twists and turns but found it a bit long in places,overall though a good read

This book has many twists and turns, it keeps your interest. It proves how simple family life can be changed in an instant. And how the actions of others can have an impact. Fab Book good story.

Unique and realistic read. Great premise Well written but a slow burner. Found a few thrills. I figured out most so not many shocks. I will definitely read more by this author as it was still an intriguing story. Definitely would recommend. Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for the chance to review it.

I really enjoyed this book, it was full of twists and Suspense. I've never read anything by the author before either, but I certainly will be picking up more now!

Grace, partner of five years, to Josh, and mother to seven-year-old Logan, dies in an accident. Sadly Grace was always hesitant to speak of Logan's first two years before she met and partnered with Josh, so when Josh starts digging for documents and information about Logan's past, so that he can become Logan's legal guardian, at first Josh can't find any records. Deeper digging leads to finding paperwork that causes Josh to wonder what Grace was hiding and what lies she may have told. Recovering alcoholic Josh is dealing with grief, a heartbroken and angry little boy, financial strain due to the loss of Grace's paycheck and now the thought that he might lose the little boy that he thought of as his son.

The love between Josh and Logan is heartwarming and real. I also enjoyed getting to know Josh's sister and Josh's best friend, two of the many people who help Josh and Logan through the heartbreak of losing a mother and a partner. Josh embarks on a mission to find out Logan's past, something he feels he must do before he can move on and something he knows may mean losing Logan forever. My heart ached at his situation, a situation where the legal answer could mean a life of abuse and hardship for Logan, depending on what Josh's search revealed.

I was very invested in this mystery and what would happen to Josh and Logan and the secrets Grace was hiding but once we get closer to finding out the secrets, things didn't hold together very well for me. So many people had to make so many weird, strange, dumb decisions to get to the resolution of the book that is just seemed way too far fetched in the end. The book is worth reading and each reader can decide for themselves how they feel about the ending of the book and I know others feel differently than I do because of the rave reviews I've read. This is my first book by Hannah Mary McKinnon and I plan to read more of her books in the future even though I had problems with the way the last part of the book came together.

I read this ARC for an honest review
All thoughts and opinions are mine

I thoroughly enjoyed this
Found it engrossing from the beginning and couldn't put this down


recommend

A good read which I thoroughly enjoyed, all the characters were well developed and the story line held my interest throughout.

For me personally it wasn't an edge of seater but a book I thoroughly enjoyed and can recommend.

Thank you to Netgalley and Hodder & Stoughton Publishers for giving me the opportunity to read this book.

A dark and suspensful thriller looking at family dramas and secrets. This book was thrilling and mysterious. Highly recommended xx

Her Secret Son is the story of Josh, Grace (his partner) and her son, Logan and the secrets that Josh discovers after Grace dies. It is an interesting look at the secrets that we keep from each other and the love that binds people together, whether or not they are related by blood. The story is told from the male protagonist’s point of view which was a nice change from the majority of thrillers I’ve read. A quick, easy, engaging read with a father and son that I was rooting for throughout. 4 stars!

Thanks to Netgalley and Houghton and Stodder for this ARC in exchange for an honest review.

The book started very well, with the sudden death of Grace. The author described Josh’ and Logans’ grief and anger over what happened perfectly. The rest of the story deals with the strange facts surrounding Logans birth and how Grace managed to keep them a secret. Of course it is soon quite obvious she was hiding things from Josh and as we follow him in his search for the truth, we do learn a lot about Josh but unfortunately not very much about Grace. Knowing more about her would have helped to better understand why she did what she did. Josh is a good man, an interesting character and he is well described. The kind of man we all liked to have as a dad, lover, friend… His love for Logan is very real and shows that parenting is more than being a biological parent. Much more. Sadly the end of the book was disappointing because it felt a bit hurried and forced. It was a good read though, especially because the main characters were very real.
Thanks to Netgalley for this digital review copy.

Great premise, but overall a rather ludicrous plot. For a moment I thought would end up like a Hollywood romcom with a mystery-suspense angle, but it didn't, thank goodness. I also did not warm much to the narrator, though he really did love his son and his late partner. That said, I'm always sceptical of instalove, particularly when grown men do it, based completely on what women look like. I also wasn't impressed with Josh not being able to manage the house and his kid, and expecting never-ending slack for it. Had he been a woman, these wouldn't have been issues, and his kid wouldn't have had to wear dirty undies!

(Review copy from Netgalley)

Josh's partner Grace died suddenly, and he became the sole caretaker of her 7 year old son Logan. He needed the child's birth certificate to apply for guardianship. That started the ball rolling as there was no document for Logan other than his vaccination certificate. Josh's needs to get to the answers raised the pitch of the book so much that I was rolling in excitement too.

Hannah's characters touched my heart especially his sister and his best friend. They stood by him through thick and thin. Few scenes were a bit far-fetched, but the entire book gripped me so much that this book became my favorite read.

Twists and turns, actions and reactions, lies and truth were weaved beautifully by author Hannah McKinnon, but this story was actually about love. A father's love for his son. Period. DNA didn't matter, only the generosity of the heart did.

A good read but too long in places and not quite believable. Parts of the story were emotional and well written and I could feel the connection between Josh and Logan.

Thank you to Netgalley fo my copy.

This wasn’t nearly as good as The Neighbours, but will still a pretty good read! Definitely unique and realistic! Well written, but not completely unputdownable. Found a few thrills and chills, but I figured out most so not many shocks! I will definitely read more by this author, as it was still pretty fast paced, well written, intriguing story! Definitely recommend to other thriller lovers, as I doubt many will not enjoy at all!

Will make sure to buzz it up around platforms and use lower amazon reviewer number on release date!

Such a great premise. An accident leaves Josh with his partner Grace's child, happy to be his sole guardian but things become difficult when he cannot find any record of this child exisiting.

This is a difficult book to review as it feels both a slow burn and very intense at the same time. It is a little bit fantastical and hard to believe but it is all in all a nice quick read.

I never repeat the blurb. Enjoyable read although I'd guessed the "reveal" some time before the end. Quite a unique ptemise. Would read more...

Thanks for Netgalley for letting me read this book. Unfortunately it wasn’t for me. I did get to the end but did not find the book very believable and I just didn’t get a likely for the characters.

Josh is devastated when his partner Grace dies suddenly, leaving his in sole charge of her son, Logan...but as Josh looks into adoption things don't seem quite right and it sets Josh on a twisty path to discover the truth.

This took me a while to get into the story and I wasn't sure where it was going. The character I felt most sorry for was Felicia!

Did enjoy this but thought Neighbours was more gripping.

Thanks to Netgalley for the opportunity to review this book, this is my honest opinion.