Jess’ life is pretty routine – she goes to work, then visits her Mother for dinner and then goes home, and does it all again the next day. Until she meets Adam……Her Mother is less than impressed that she’s dating a ‘plumber’ and. doesn’t like the changes she sees in Jess. And then Adam goes missing…..and Jess ends up as the prime suspect. But is she responsible? She doesn’t know who to trust or believe anymore….not even herself…..

This definitely bought our a range of emotions in me! Most of the time throughout the book I was feeling pretty angry at a certain character…..I absolutely loved Jess and hated the way she felt about herself. Like her friend Karen, I just wanted her to see the best in herself but it’s just not ingrained in her. She’s had a lot of things happen in her life, but she still tries to be upbeat and see the best in others (just not in herself!). Some of the characters you will love, one most certainly you will hate, and others will confuse you……

The story definitely kept me turning the pages. Although I was feeling pretty angry, I wanted to continue and see what happened…..There were a few mysteries that needed to be solved and a certain someone who I really wanted to see get their comeuppance……And the twists in this were brilliant. Some I had expected but there were also one or two that completely caught me off guard…..

So if you’re looking for a new psychological thriller that will get your emotions going and bring you some fab twists, then check this out!

Alex Stone explores family strife, the ties that bind, distinctions of class and twisted relationships in her addictive new thriller, The Perfect Daughter.

Jess Harper has spent her entire life trying – and failing – to make her mother Abigail happy. Jess cannot remember a time when she wasn’t trying to make her mum proud, but despite all of her best efforts, Abigail always found something to criticise. Every single decision Jess makes has to first be vetted by her mother. Whether it’s the clothes she wears or the men she dates, Abigail’s word is law and Jess has never once tried to unshackle herself from her mother’s autocratic rule – until now. Jess has fallen in love with a man who is as far removed from Abigail’s idea of a suitable match as it is possible to get…

Adam is a humble plumber and Abigail is not best pleased about her daughter’s choice of suitor. How could her daughter possibly contemplate the thought of dating a plumber? Abigail is not going to let her daughter waste the best years of her life on a man like Adam who lacks finesse and ambition and will do whatever it takes to destroy their relationship. But Adam will not budge so easily. He simply cannot believe that his clever and intelligent girlfriend will let herself be so easily manipulated by her mother. Breaking Abigail’s hold over Jess becomes his number one priority – until a shocking event turns their whole world upside down.

Adam has vanished without a trace and Jess is the police’s number one suspect. Caught in the middle between the man she loves and the parent she has spent a lifetime trying to impress, what lengths did Jess go to to make the people in her life happy? Is she as harmless as she seems? Or is there more to the perfect daughter than meets the eye?

A complex, creepy and jaw-dropping psychological crime thriller packed with chills and twists that will leave readers reeling, The Perfect Daughter is an exquisitely plotted and deftly written tale that is dark, disturbing and terrifying. Alex Stone cracks the enviable façade of the perfect family and analyses the shameful sins and dangerous secrets hidden behind closed doors in a gripping chiller that will keep readers riveted all through the night.

I really enjoyed the writing in this book. I was hooked from the beginning, like boom the book just completely started on a bang!

I loved the way the book worked through present and past tense and how we got to figure things out and see how the story progressed.

I did at times feel it was a little repetitive but it was okay. I also guessed pretty early on how I thought the book would go (I was right 😉), but this didn't mean I didn't enjoy it.

This is a story about Jess that goes back and forward between the then and now. I thought it started off quite slowly and I wanted to give Jess a good shake. The story did speed up in the second half of the book and developed into a good read

I'll be honest. This was a bit frustrating to read as Jess seems woefully naïve. I had to keep telling myself, though, that she only knows what she only knows. Overall, it was a pretty good mystery.

What a great read! I loved this dual timeline story about the unhealthy relationship between a controlling mother and her daughter. Jess's low self-esteem and insecurity stem from the day her father walked out on them, never to return. Her every action is influenced by her mother's derisive voice insinuating her thoughts, moulding her into the meek, perfect daughter.

The story kept me gripped all the way through, and the ending didn't disappoint! Highly recommend.

I loved this book and just couldn't put it down. It was the emotion of being pulled 2 ways and not knowing who to trust. It's easy to imagine being in this position from how well it was written.

4 Stars from me

This was such a gripping book! I was eerily fascinated by the relationship between Jess and her mum and how Jess seemed completely indoctrinated - so that rather than rebelling or pulling away she continually justified her mother's behaviour.

The Perfect Daughter is one of those 'like watching a car crash in slow motion' type reads, you kinda know where it is heading but having to keep reading to find out for sure and to see how bad it gets. Not to mention whether Jess will finally grow a pair!

Things start looking up for Jess as she gets a new friend and a new boyfriend and they are both interested in her and her opinions and thoughts, rather than those of her mother.

But at the same time, things start to get a bit muddled for Jess and it isn't clear whether there is a darker past that her mum is protecting her from.

Overall this is a great psychological thriller with lots of twists and plenty to hold the readers interest. I will definitely look out for more by Alex Stone.

Book Review “The Perfect Daughter” by Alex Stone
OCTOBER 30, 2021 ~ NIKIPRESTON ~

Or the perfect liar?

The Perfect Daughter

The perfect daughter…

Jess Harper has spent her whole life trying to make her mum, Abigail happy and proud. And everything Jess does, from the clothes she wears, the job she has, the men she dates, are all approved by Abigail first.

The perfect boyfriend…

So when Jess announces that she has a new man in her life – plumber Adam – Abigail is less than impressed. ‘A plumber? Really, Jessica….’ Adam encourages Jess to break free from her mum’s manipulation, can’t she see what’s happening?

The perfect mother….

But Abigail is only doing these things to keep Jess safe, to protect her from getting hurt again…isn’t she?

Jess, caught in the middle, doesn’t know who to believe or trust. And then Adam vanishes without trace.

Now Jess is the police’s prime suspect and they want to know if Jess really is as perfect as she seems….

A gripping new psychological thriller for fans of Sue Watson, Shalini Boland and S.E.Lynes

Purchase Link – https://amzn.to/2WhQ8bE

REVIEW ~ NIKI PRESTON ~ 5 STARS

A nail-biting psychological thriller with a underlying level of tension running right through every word. A slow build

of uneasiness that creates an excellent pace to the story telling.

The relationship between Jess and her mother appears on the surface to be seriously controlling and quite unhealthy. There is a secret that Jess’s mum constantly uses against her. Jess does not know what the secret but the way she is undermined in her every decision is utterly unnerving.

After finding, who Jess hopes is the love of her life things begin to change rapidly. Her relationship with her Mother becomes strained to almost breaking point but is Jess changing for the better? Is she jus allowing someone to control her every waking moment?

The characterisations in The Perfect Daughter are strong and written in such a away that you begin to distrust them all. I flipped from idea to the next trying to second guess what was going on, I was wrong on every thought. A brilliantly written book should keep you guessing and constantly re-evaluating who can be trusted, this book certainly achieves it. Alex stone is a superb writer and I for one would highly recommend The Perfect Daughter to all thriller lovers. This book keeps you guessing right to the end and leaves you with a feeling of intense disbelief . I was left thinking “wow, this is true drama and I really didn’t see that coming”


Author Bio –

Alex Stone, originally an accountant from the West Midlands, is now a psychological suspense writer based in Dorset. This beautiful and dramatic coastline is the inspiration and setting for her novels. She was awarded the Katie Fforde Bursary in 2019 and her debut thriller The Perfect Daughter will be published by Boldwood in October 2021.

Social Media Links – .

Facebook https://www.facebook.com/AlexStoneWriter

Twitter https://twitter.com/AlexStoneAuthor

Instagram https://www.instagram.com/AlexStoneA

I finished reading The Perfect Daughter a couple days ago and cannot stop thinking about it! If you’re looking for an amazing domestic thriller, buy this book immediately! I loved the characters, the twists & turns throughout the book, & the ending I didn’t see coming. I highly recommend The Perfect Daughter and cannot wait to read more by the talented Alex Stone.

Told through dual timelines in the present and the past, this is the story of Jessica, her controlling mother and her new boyfriend. When he goes missing, the police suspect Jessica.

It was sad and even frustrating watching Jessica’s relationship with her mother. I really just wanted to scream at her to stick up for herself. And on the other side is Adam who really isn’t all that nice of a guy. It almost made me wonder what Jessica had done to deserve this lot in life.

But as I always say, you don’t need to like the characters as long as you find them intriguing or compelling. While the characters are well developed, it was the storyline that drew me in. I wanted to know more about the mysterious Adam, until I didn’t, and what happened to him. Did he ghost her or is he dead?  And if he's dead, who murdered him.

The book starts out at a slow, even pace, introducing you to the characters and then really builds the tension and pace until the end.

While the mother’s manipulation might be a trigger for some, if you like a good family psychological thriller, you should check out The Perfect Daughter.

#blogtour

3.5 ⭐️

The Perfect Daughter is a great psychological thriller that really gets your mind going. You will be thinking about this book non stop from starting to read it!

Written from the perspective of Jess, the timeline flips between ‘then’ and ‘now’ and creates a very misleading image.

I really enjoyed this story and the topic of manipulation. I found the build up over the last few chapters to be exciting, but thought the ending was disappointing (in my opinion).

I would definitely recommend this book if you like a good psychological thriller. This would also make a great choice for a book club as I think there is a lot of discussion to be had around it.

I really enjoyed The Perfect Daughter. When I normally read a psychological thriller, I look for a storyline that keeps me guessing and plenty of twists and turns. This book certainly has all that. Down to the very last chapter, I questioned everything that happened, wondering who the actual villain and culprit was. And guess what? I wasn’t able to guess the ending!

But The Perfect Daughter was more than a good plot line. The themes in this book really run deep. Even just from the blurb we can gather the unhealthy relationship between mother and daughter. And, as the story unravels, we end up really thinking about mental health, toxic relationships and dependency on others. This would have been a great book even if it didn’t have the nail-biting thriller aspect.

This is the first book by Alex Stone – and I hope it won’t be the last!

Jess is always trying to be the dutiful daughter. She runs everything by her mother, Abigail first. That’s normal right?

Her mother knows best after all and Jess isn’t always trusting of her own judgement. Not if past experiences are anything to go by.

Plus, all Abigail wants to do is to protect her daughter.

So, when Jess meets Adam, Abigail is less than impressed.

Determined to prove her mother wrong about Adam, he practically moves in to her flat. They have a future.

However, when Adam disappears without a trace, Jess is the prime suspect.

From page one, this novel had me hooked. Told from Jess’s point of view, we enter the mind of someone who really doesn’t know who she is nor does she trust herself.

She’s had relationships in the past that have not ended well and as far as she concerned, the end results were her fault.

Adam and Abigail were harder to read. Are they the hero/heroine or villains? Is Abigail just trying to protect her daughter? Is she right about Adam? Is Adam all he seems? All these questions arose for me very quickly.

As we go further into the novel, Jess becomes more of an unreliable narrator as we find out there are bits of her life that she can’t remember correctly.

It’s well written. The plot and pace of the novel were developed well and I devoured this novel in a couple of sittings. It’s the perfect kind of psychological thriller where you don’t quite know who to trust and many twists and turns throw you off. Before you know it, it’s the middle of the night and one more chapter has turned into most of the book.

I loved the fact that it was set in Bournemouth. Being from there, I could really place myself in the book. Not that it needed it. The atmosphere and setting is conveyed so well although I couldn’t figure out where Abigail’s house was supposed to be and I’d love to know and then I’d like to go live there please. Haha.

It has mystery but also covers the themes of family dynamics (especially that of mother and daughter) and gaslighting as well as having covert control over others.

I’m not saying any more than that and I’m hoping I’ve not given too much away.

The Perfect Daughter is a compelling, enthralling novel that had me guessing until the last page.

A great debut and I look forward to seeing what Alex does next.

(Thanks to Boldwood Books and Rachel's Random Resources.)

The Perfect Daughter is a very well written psychological thriller by Alex Stone. This is a new author to me and I look forward to reading more by this author. I was glued to the pages to follow the twists and turns.

Thank you to Net Galley and Boldwood Books for the advance readers copy.

If there’s one thing that I like doing, it’s discovering new authors. Alex Stone is certainly a new author for me. I read the synopsis of ‘The Perfect Daughter’ and it certainly sounded like one heck of an interesting read and then some. Overall, I did enjoy reading ‘The Perfect Daughter’ but more about that in a bit.
I have to be honest and say that I found it hard to get into this story and at one point I wasn’t sure whether or not I was going to be able to finish reading it. I know that sounds harsh but I don’t mean it to be. The problem I had was the fact that one of the characters brought back unpleasant memories for me as she engages in the same sort of emotionally abusive behaviour that I have been subjected to in the past. I then reminded myself that that was in the past and I am not going backwards and I only go forwards. I pulled up my ‘big girl’ pants and carried on reading. I am so glad that I did continue reading too because I ended up really enjoying the story. The more of the book I read, the more I wanted to read and the quicker the pages seemed to turn. I seemed to charge through the latter half of the story. I found ‘The Perfect Daughter’ to be a bit eerie, a bit creepy in parts but overall a gripping, tense and dramatic read, which kept me guessing and which kept me on the edge of my seat.
‘The Perfect Daughter’ is well written. Alex certainly has the knack of grabbing the reader’s attention from the start and drawing them into a compelling story. The story is written using two timelines- one timeline focuses on what happened in the past and the second timeline focuses on what is happening in the present day. I did wonder if the two timelines might be a bit confusing but I needn’t have worried because the timelines interlink really well and the story flows seamlessly as a result. The characters are well described and a bit too close to home in a particular case. I felt as though I was part of the story which is thanks to Alex’s very vivid and realistic storytelling.
In short and overall I did enjoy reading ‘The Perfect Daughter’ and I would recommend it to fans of psychological thrillers. I will certainly be reading more of Alex’s work in the future. The score on the Ginger Book Geek board is a very well deserved 4* out of 5*.

The Perfect Daughter by Alex Stone is a novel that will have you tearing through the pages, and keep you guessing until the very end.

Jess has ann odd relationship with her mother Abigail, and it is a dynamic that has shaped her entire life. Losing her father at a young age, it is Jess and Abigail against the world, and Jess has never rocked the boat, even though she is becoming increasingly aware of her mother's controlling behaviour. But when she starts to date plumber Adam, Jess realizes that her mother will do whatever it takes to remain at the centre of her world, regardless of the consequences.

This is a relatively quick read that builds on a tension between mother and daughter that is established from the very beginning. I was completely drawn into the mother/daughter dynamic, and desperate to know how it would all play out. I look forward to reading more from this author.

Many thanks to NetGalley and Boldwood Books for an ARC.

This psychological thriller was exciting but also hard to read. There were so many times where I wanted to scream at Jess, the main character, to just stand up to her mother and have some faith in herself, but she didn’t. I am aware that it is not possible to know what it’s like unless you have been there yourself and that every person reacts differently to how they are treated, but it still bothered me. At one point Jess did stand up to her mother, but by then it was too little, too late and I found it hard to match with her character. How that came about and what happened before that and after that… well you will just have to read it for yourself.

The story moves back and forth in time. Back is 9 months ago when Jess first met her seemingly perfect boyfriend Adam and forth is after Adam has disappeared.

What to expect:

✅ manipulative mother

✅ uncertainty, who should you trust and believe?

✅ a lonely main character, that is so sweet and kind, but with so little faith in herself that she has hardly ever had any kind of friendships or relationships

✅ one or more mysteries that needs solving

✅ unexpected twists

✅ characters you will hate and characters that will confuse you

As you can see from my rating I didn’t think this was the best psychological thriller I have ever read, but the writing style was good and I would be more than happy to read more books by this author, just not with the same main character. So for me the main issue was the main character, which means this book could be great for other readers who would not be as sensitive as me in this regards and judging by other reviews I have read that is definitely the case, so if the synopsis has you intrigued, by all means give it a shot!

Jess Harper and her mother Abigale are close, so close in fact that Jess can't seem to function with her life without first seeking her mothers constant approval for everything she does. We can see how controlling and manipulative her mother Abigale is, her current boyfriend Adam can even see it but to Jess nothing is wrong, they have a close mother daughter bond is all, and ever since her dad left with she was a child it has only been the two of the.

We learn that Jess has had several relationships, but they all turned sour after a while, leaving Jess to believe that she was unlovable until that is when she meets Adam. Adam in his own way is controlling over Jess, getting her to change the way she dresses and small things like that. He tries to get Jess to see how her mother is controlling every little detail in her life and you can see Jess begin to crack and wonder if he is right.

The story is told in a 'then' and 'now' timeline, with that last quarter I would say being in the 'now'. We see how Jess and Adam are going a couple and when he disappears, presumed dead after his van was found over a cliff, we see how Abigail swoops in and tries to make out that Jess has moments of forgetfulness and could she have done something to Adam?

We see what Abigail is like and I had her pegged from the start that she was behind all if Jess's failed relationships, but I have to say that final scene had me questioning it all over!

4 stars

Jess spends quite a lot of her time with her mother. Her father just left one day and never returned. Jess has never been good at making and keeping friends and that includes boyfriends because her mother never really approved of them. The woman has told Jess that she doesn’t make good choices and that she has done some bad things in the past. Therefore, she needs her mother’s constant guidance. So making and keeping her mother happy is a difficult job for Jess.

Jess has a good position in a law firm and has insisted on having her own flat. She has just met a new man named Adam. He is a plumber she called one day to fix something in her flat. They get along well and Jess hopes that this relationship will be a lasting one - that is if she can get her mother to approve of him. She has fallen in love with him and wants them to be together. Now, Adam has gone missing and it appears he may have fallen off a cliff into the sea. Everyone waits to see if his body surfaces.

This is a book that is written in such a way that made me feel like a tree in the wind being whipped back and forth. So many tales and whom do you believe? The psychological mess that is Jess (who’s a poet?) had me wondering who was telling the truth of her life - Jess or her mother. My fingers itched to open and read that journal her mother kept. This is a good book that will keep the reader guessing right up to the end as it did me. Whew. What a ride!

Copy provided by the NetGalley in exchange for a fair and honest review.