OH. MY. GOODNESS!!
This is an absolutely cracking read. From the very beginning I was completely invested. I can’t imagine anyone reading the opening chapter and thinking ‘no, this isn’t for me’. It demanded my attention to the very last page!
As a parent, turning up to collect my child from a playdate to find that they had never been there in the first place, well, it doesn’t bare thinking about. Kidnap was always my biggest fear when my children were young. I can’t even imagine how I would cope with what Marissa is faced with. I’d be hysterical! My heart went out to her. I felt her every emotion throughout her ordeal.
I can’t begin to tell you just how cleverly written this book is. The characters, the tension, the emotion, the suspense, the twists (OH MY GOODNESS the twists!). Just brilliant, I LOVED it!
I can’t really say much more without giving anything away but, needless to say, I highly recommend!
**Many thanks to the author and publisher for my review copy via NetGalley**

The first book I have read by this author.

It was gripping from the beginning a real page turner.

I cannot imagine how I would feel if this happened to me.

A rollercoaster ride of a book

This book plays on your worst fears and I couldn’t stop reading,

Fascinating premise that I hadn’t read before and the twisty turns narrative is addictive.

Fast paced and clever.

This book gripped me from the very start. Anyone who has ever lost sight of their child for even a few minutes can understand the awful feeling of fear and dread so you can imagine how the characters in this book feel when their only son goes missing. Given their lifestyle, the obvious motive would be kidnapping but this doesn’t seem to be the case.

As this very well written story with its finely drawn characters unfolds you are taken on an emotional rollercoaster of a journey where nothing is as it seems. I didn’t see the eventual outcome and it blew me away. What a great book - I will definitely look forward to reading more by this author.

I loved this one. I almost felt I was holding my breath as I read some chapters! It really took you on a frantic journey with so many twists at some points I’m sure I had whip lash!
I thought I had it all figured out but no. The characters had so many layers that it was sometimes difficult to keep up. A great domestic #thriller #mystery #scarybooks.

Wow. What a cracking read. It’s every parents worst nightmare. Your son goes on a play date with his school friend. Everything is arranged. But when you go to collect them - the owner of the house has no idea who you are talking about.

What unravels is a complete rollercoaster, addictive reading. Kind of edge of your seat reading!

I felt I was on a roller coaster reading this book. It was brilliantly engaging, scary and believable. A mother who arrives at a house to collect her son from a playdate only to find he was never there and the family have never heard of him. I was gripped from the first chapter and could not put it down. Dealing with the realisation that their son had been kidnapped soon leads to a major manhunt but who can you trust? The story was cleverly written lots of twists, lies and totally unpredictable.
Highly recommended and I look foward to reading more by Andrea Mara.

All Her Fault is every parents worse nightmare and more.
Marissa Irvine when we meet her is on her way to pick up her son who has gone home from school with his friend for a play date. When Marissa arrives at 14 Tudor Grove the door is opened by someone she doesn’t know and they don’t have Milo her son. Marissa gets in touch with Jenny but finds she knows nothing of this arrangement and is away with work at that moment.
This book is really well written and put together. You feel as stressed as Marissa does and you can feel the tension like it’s happening to you. I haven’t read anything by Andrea Mara before but I’ll definitely be on the lookout now if her other work is like this.
4.5⭐️ Read.
I would like to thank Netgalley and Random House UK, Transworld Publishers for this ARC I received in exchange for an honest review.

A solid 4.5 read.
This gripped you right from the start with a very believable scenario that just kept on building.
A nightmare situation for any parent, it was well described and you could feel the tensions and emotions. Characters were well drawn, some were pleasant and others less so - especially the mother in law!
The book was full of twists and reveals and the ending was definitely not predictable.
This is a book worth reading.

📚 BOOK REVIEW 📚
All Her Fault By Andrea Mara - Publication Date 5th August 2021

Marissa goes to collect her 4 year old
Son from a play date. It’s his first time and she double checks the address. When a lady answers the door, she knows absolutely nothing about any play date or the family Marissa is looking for!! Where is her son?!......

This story follows Marissa and her husbands journey, what they go through and how they try to find their son. The story does go back and forward and there are quite a few characters within the story. At times I felt I was having to double check things. I felt it was fast paced at the start.... slower in the middle and definitely WOW at the end. I DID NOT see that coming!!!

#netgalley #penguinbooks #twisty #thriller #bookstagramshaz

In All Her Fault by Irish author Andrea Mara, Marissa Irvine arrives at 14 Tudor Grove to collect her four year old son, Milo, from a play date, only to discover the occupant is a stranger who knows nothing about her son.

It’s a scenario that becomes ever more nightmarish when it’s clear there has been no simple mistake. Jenny, with whom Marissa organised the playdate over text, claims to know nothing about the plan, and when no ransom demand is forthcoming, the police have few leads to follow.

The longer Milo remains missing, the higher the tension rises. Mara develops plenty of plausible red herrings as suspicion falls on strangers and those closest to the Irvine’s alike. Cleverly, though the identity of the abductor is eventually revealed, their motivation remains obscured, until a final shocking reveal that I really didn’t see coming. A couple of the twists are a bit of a stretch but in general I thought All Her Fault was well plotted, pacey and suspenseful.

Mara’s portrayal of Marissa’s journey from confusion through to panic and despair is well portrayed. I empathised with her devastation, and her determination to find her son. Gossip and speculation run rampant as the news of Milo’s kidnapping spreads, there are some particularly passive-aggressive characters - school gate mums (and a Dad)- who are eager to suggest Marissa is somehow to blame for the tragedy. Jenny is the only one who reaches out to Marissa and offers her genuine support, despite her unwitting role in the abduction.

With a compelling premise, well drawn characters and a rather spectacularly satisfying ending, I thought All Her Fault was a gripping read.

Marissa goes to pick up her son, 4 year old Milo, from a play date with Jacob, but he isn’t there. The owner of the house knows nothing and it soon becomes clear that the texts arranging the date are not from Jacob’s mum, but their nanny instead, But why would Carrie want to take Milo, and where have they gone?

Wow, what an ending! I did not see it coming at all, having had suspicions about nearly every character, however unlikely. What starts off as a simple abduction soon becomes a major plot, all stemming from one single event.

All Her Fault starts off quite slowly, with many seemingly inconsequential incidents spelled out in great detail, but as the story progresses, and we learn more about past events, the readability improves tenfold. By the end, I couldn’t put it down.

Brilliant story.

I loved this book.

It was a rollercoaster of twists and turns that truly kept me guessing right until the end. When one twist was revealed you thought that was it and then there was another, then another. I honestly do not know how I kept myself from skim reading to know what happened next.

Great plot which was brilliantly told with likeable and relatable characters.

It was a joy to read.

Highly recommended 5 stars from me

Your worst nightmare for a Parent.
Caught you from the beginning.

Marissa`s 4yr old son is on a playdate and when she arrives to pick him up the old lady at the house had never heard of him.
The police are hoping for a ransom note but none comes then they discover a friends nanny has disappeared and she had taken him.

Loads of great twists and turns to keep you guessing and an unexpected ending, well worth the read.

Totally gripping and unnerving storyline with a host of characters I had under suspicion, so many twists, I didn’t spot the perpetrator. The fear and loss suffered by the mother was transferred to me. I felt very annoyed by the behaviour of mums at the school gate, some of that felt unrealistic to me but then maybe that’s common traits in those circles?

Marissa Irvine is mother to her son Milo and believes that he is playing with Jenny's son, Jacob at Jenny's home - 14 Tudor Grove. However, when Marissa goes to pick up Milo, he is not there; nor is Jenny or Jacob, but another woman, Esther is and she has no idea what Marissa is talking about.

Set in a small Irish town, All Her Fault is chock full of characters who were all viable perpetrators. The story is told from several perspectives including those of Marissa and Jenny. In this gripping tale, the characterisation was excellent even though some of the people weren't particularly pleasant or endearing. The school gate clan and their gossipy dynamic added interest as did the well placed red herrings. With the humongous secrets and mega-sized fibs, I wasn't able to dot all of the i's so the ending was a surprise, especially the motive. I recommend All Her Fault very highly.

A special thank you to Random House/ Bantam, Andrea Mara, NetGalley and Pigeonhole for a complimentary copy of this novel at my request. This review is my unbiased opinion.

Woah!
What a read!
When Marissa goes to pick up her son from his 1st ever play date her world is turned upside down. Milo is not where he is supposed to be, the play date never was.
Who has taken Milo and why?
Every parents nightmare is a missing child. Marissa is in pieces and blames herself for not checking things out better before letting him go.
Jenny the mother of the child Marisa believed her son is with is a strange one, there is something I couldn’t quite trust about her but what I wasn’t sure.
I felt everybody was a suspect at different times and loved the reveal
Highly recommend this book
This is my 1st read by this author and I am keen to read more
Thanks go to Netgalley for the opportunity to read this fab title

Marissa, her husband Peter and son Milo have recently moved into a very exclusive wealthy area in Dublin, where to have a nanny is a natural thing to do. Although they have the largest property in the area, Marissa wants the family to be welcomed into the community, especially at school for Milo, who is four years old. It has been suggested at school that Milo is a gifted child.

After a school social event for parents, Marissa receives a message from one of the mums she met that evening, asking if Milo would like a play date with her son Jacob. It is the nanny’s day off, so Marissa goes to pick him up at the given time, but it isn’t the woman that she knows that answers the door. The woman knows nothing about Milo. Milo is missing, but who would take him? Why did his teacher let him go with a stranger? The nightmare begins for Marissa and Peter to find their son.

It is a very emotional read from every point of view. I liked how the author involved other characters in the story that developed into prime players in finding the person responsible for taking Milo. The question became why more than who as time passed. I jumped to so many conclusions as I got to know the characters more and saw how they reacted to situations. There are some dodgy moments that you can easily miss. Even the smallest detail is important.

Oh my, the red herrings took great leaps in this story which sent me in every direction until there was only one left. It is a gripping story that just gave more and more. I loved every page that left me looking like a fish out of water. Brilliant story!

I wish to thank the publisher and Net Galley for an e-copy of this book which I have reviewed honestly.

All Her Fault is a fun roller coaster of a book. It started strong with a great cast of well developed characters, incredibly smooth and immersive prose and plenty of intrigue. Every time I thought I'd figured out the plot, I was wrong and the ending, with all its awesome twists and turns completely blew me away. This is a wonderful debut thriller, recommended to brand new and seasoned readers alike. Easily a 5* read.

This was soo good! I was giving running commentary on my progress to everyone who wanted to listen (and also those not that keen on listening)!
I can so see this as a movie and I'm already thinking of my dream cast!

Your child goes on his first playdate. It is time for you to collect him. You ring the doorbell........your life falls apart.
The person opening the door does not know who you are or anything about a playdate. Someone took your child.....
This is the nightmare Marissa has to cope with. Why would someone go to these lengths to take Milo? Is it for a ransom or something way more sinister?
This is every parent's nightmare, especially working parents. Who can you trust with your child? Can you trust your nanny? What do you really know about her and more importantly what does she know about you? And in the end......what would you do for the ones you love......

The twists in this book were jaw-droppingly good! I definitely did not see that coming!

Thank you to NetGalley and Random House UK, Transworld for the ARC in exchange for my honest opinion