I’m not a fan of @nything about the paranormal so this was. Leary not one I should have requested. It didn’t hold my interest and I also wasn’t keen on the writing style which seemed to jump about too much.

The night side by M.M. DeLuca.
Ruby thought she had escaped her mother who was a
self-styled medium and psychic scammer. But after 20 years she is to go back after her is said to be missing presumed dead. But is she. Ruby thought she knew all her mothers secrets. But the worst is yet to come.
I really enjoyed this book. Couldn't put it down. I loved the cover. It goes from past to present. I did like Ruby and Aiden. I never expected that to happen. Grippingandtwistyandtense. 5*.

I want to thank Severn House and Net Galley for my free art copy please forgive any mistakes as I am blind and dictate my review. Ruby fled her home town years ago despite leaving behind the love of her life Aiden ever since she can remember her mom either was abusive except for those times she needed ruby to be in on a scam she also had Ruby pretending to be clairvoyant in charging people money to get rid of the ghost that haunts in their homes but when she wanted to offer up Ruby to an old man just to get to his money this is when Ruby knew she had to save herself and leave town. It’s now years later she is an archaeologist and living in England when she gets the call that Ida is dead although Ruby is dreading going back because she knows this could very well be another one of Ida scams she goes back anyway before it’s over Ruby will have answers to questions she didn’t even know she needed to ask her family tree will look much different and she will see Ida in a whole new light and not a better one. This was a really good book and even though there were a few things I questioned throughout the book I still enjoyed it very much. The surprises start early on and do not let up until the book is over and despite the dysfunction I thought it ended with a happy ending and I’m not giving any key plot points away by saying that but for those who love a good thriller with a great happy ending you definitely enjoyed the book. Ida is a mess and ruby is definitely someone the reader will want to root for.

I enjoyed this title by M.M Deluca.. It was an easy read but I did feel from time to time because it want past to present chapter by chapter sometimes i did get a bit confused.. But that could just be me..

Thankyou to NetGalley and Severn House for sending me this to read and review.

Ruby Carlson lives in the Durham area of England. She works on archeologist digs around the country. She has a good reputation for locating buried treasure. She is nearly forty years of age. Twenty years ago she fled her homeland, Stoneybrook in Montana, America.
Her mother Ida had made her an accomplice in her clairvoyant scams The problem for Ruby is she could often get flashes of knowledge from the people, as though she could really see into their lives. Ida would persuade neighbours to part with their hard earned cash. Eventually Ruby takes her chance in dramatic fashion and leaves Ida and her old life behind, including her lover Aiden.
Now she has been contacted by the Montana authorities. Ida had been arrested but she then vanished and is believed dead! They need Ruby to return to help them locate her mother and sell the house that was their home.
Ruby mainly wants to see Aiden again now a local detective, to try and explain her disappearance. However she is wary that Ida's suicide is another scam. When she is home she feels the locals animosity towards both her and Ida.
Ruby realises that a young girl Marion, who was deformed at birth, has been groomed by Ida to take over Ruby's role.
Ruby wonders if coming back has been a good idea. Aiden has been taken off Ida's case. and the police seem to be suspiious of Ruby. Also Ida's presence seems to be all around her.
The story is told both in the present day and goes back twenty years when the eighteen year old Ruby was planning to escape.
The author maintains the suspense and keeps you reading to find out what happens. Recommended.

The Night Side by M.M. DeLuca was one intriguing mystery I couldn’t put down.
This is my first time reading this authors work and now it’s on my list to read her backlist.
The storyline was brilliantly written and kept me hooked the whole way through.
With her excellent writing and the well-drawn characters, and all the details that come with a cleverly thought out plot made this story so entertaining.
The descriptive language was captivating and intriguing, meaning I couldn't put the book down.
The author builds tension that grows throughout the book and you find yourself unable to stop reading.

I would like to thank NetGalley and Severn House for the opportunity to read this ahead of its publication date in return for my honest review.

This one would get a 5 star, if it didn't take me forever to get into it. I would read a chapter at a time and I would feel like it was never going to get to the good part. All of a sudden, one night I was lying in bed reading and bam, there it was. It has mystery, romance and thrills. Ruby leaving the small town she was from and then having to come back to face the past was part of what kept me reading. Besides the slow start, I would read more from this author.

20 years ago, Ruby Carlson ran away from home to escape her abusive mother who roped her into scamming people out of their livelihoods. Now the notice of her mother‘s presumed suicide draws Ruby back to Montana, to the town she vowed never to set foot in again. But once there, Ruby is quickly reminded that you can never truly leave your past behind.

This was a solid, twisted thriller with a touch of the supernatural (but nothing crazy, like I was afraid it might be after the first chapter). There are some minor inconsistencies - the past storyline skips from the 1990s to the 2000s and back again even though the story is told chronologically; certainly, online shopping wasn‘t much of a thing yet at the beginning of the 21st century; and while Ruby doesn‘t drive her boyfriend to the hospital because she doesn‘t have a license, she has no qualms about driving her passed-out mother home in the next flashback, which takes place one day later - but overall, the story weaves seamlessly between Ruby‘s childhood until she finally left Montana behind and the present day.

My main criticism stems from the stereotypical descriptions of rather useless and annoying law enforcement (for whom DNA results nevertheless take no time at all and who are willing to believe that someone who was shot point-blank in the face not only bleeds out slowly, but also fired off a shot of their own after being mortally wounded), and completely unethical psychiatrists (who let their patient‘s daughter sit in on a hypnosis session, and are also in a relationship with a member of law enforcement). Even more annoying is present-day Ruby, who cannot make up her mind about whether to stay in Montana or leave, going back and forth so much it had me dizzy, and who, despite presumable being an accomplished, successful woman, lets her childhood crush treat her like crap for most of the book. Finally, the showdown at the end was ridiculously over the top (which probably bugged me the most - not sure what that says about my priorities).

Despite these flaws, this was an enjoyable read that kept me hooked.

Thank you to NetGalley and Severn House for the ARC in exchange for my honest review.

M.M. DeLuca throws the reader into a twisted story of abuse, scams, and a young girls fight to escape the insanity that her mother inflicts upon her. Alternating timelines between present day and Ruby’s childhood, we are shown the horrors she was subjected to alongside trying to understand the mystery of her mother’s disappearance.
This book did a great job of maintaining my interest, with short chapters, frequent twists, and great descriptive writing.
This story did require me to suspend my disbelief a few times but overall was an enjoyable experience and I will be picking up more from this author in the future.

Thankyou to Severn House and Netgalley for the ARC copy in exchange for an honest review!

Told from the perspective of Ruby in dual timelines this book really gripped me. I read this in one evening. A fantastic book with great characters, not all of them likeable but that’s what makes this book so good.

Thanks to NetGalley and the publishers for the ARC in return for my honest and unbiased opinion.

What happens when you are forced to clean up. But is ida really dead? Ida manipulated others for profit and she roped her young daughter Ruby into helping her. But Ruby left- moved to the UK- and established herself in her career. Now. 20 years after she left, Ruby must untangle the mess her mother left behind, all the secrets all the lies. This moves back and forth in time to tell the story of this pair. No spoilers from me. Ruby is lucky to have Aidan, the only light her childhood, by her side in the present. Thanks to netgalley for the ARC. Well done.

Ruby had returned home after 20+ years to try and find if her mother is actually missing/ dead whatever has happened to her. She was a scammer and pseudo psychic who conned people out of money and their lives. And along the way Ruby discovers secrets from her own life

Ida, scammer extraordinaire, is missing. Ruby, her daughter, and one-time coerced associate, returns to her hometown to lay the ghosts of their past. I use the word ‘ghosts’ advisedly because some of the characters might not be as corporeal as the rest. Ida has always been a grifter, running small cons and scamming strangers, neighbours, friends, and family. From an early age Ruby has been a tool in some of these deceptions but, from the age of about ten she is used as a sort of medium, sort of fortune teller, apparently going into a trance and reporting messages from beyond. She is considered weird by her peers so has only one real friend, Aidan, who becomes her anchor to reality and proper boyfriend as they become teenagers. Ida’s scam meanwhile has matured into a form of emotional blackmail; clients who have lost children, especially babies, are persuaded that Ruby can channel their lost child for a fee, a large fee, a recurrent fee. Once she reaches eighteen, an adult and so free from her mother, Ruby escapes to England, cutting all ties, where she becomes a well-respected archaeologist with an amazing ability to find important relics. After twenty years her cosy world is disrupted by a message from Aidan telling her that her mother is believed to have drowned herself, and that she need to come back to sort out her affairs. It will be a chance for her to reconnect with her first, and enduring, love, but also a return to the small Montana town where everyone know everybody, and all of them hated Ida and haven’t forgotten Ruby’s role.
The story is told entirely from Ruby’s point of view, in alternating chapters; present day in the present tense and events from the past in the past tense. This works extremely well, as the reader learns the background which explains each new incident as it occurs. The possibility that Ruby is really psychic is dangled at intervals, never stated as such but rather presented as “through a glass, darkly”. The plot is well formed and rolls along at a fair pace until the dénouement. The latter is a set piece which unfurls at almost break-neck speed, the speed helping, I think, to disguise the fact that the logistics are a bit off. Overall it’s a very good read.
I would like to thank NetGalley, the publishers and the author for providing me with a draft proof copy for the purpose of this review.

"Twenty years of secrets. One deadly truth.

When Ruby Carlson was eighteen, she ran away from her home in Stoneybrook, Montana, and vowed she'd never return. Never return to life under the control of her manipulative mother, Ida, a self-styled medium and psychic scammer who made a career out of ruining people's lives. Never return to the small town where enemies lurk at every turn.

But now, twenty years later, Ruby is back. Her mother is missing, presumed dead, and Ruby reluctantly returns to a home filled with chilling memories to settle Ida's affairs. Did she really commit suicide by drowning, or is this another dark scheme? Ruby thought she knew everything about her mother, but finds herself unraveling a web of lies and secrets to reveal a story more twisted than anyone could have imagined..."

I mean, I need to read this just to find out how someone who committed suicide by drowning is missing, presumed dead!

When Ruby Carlson leaves her hometown of Stoneybrook, in Montana - and her con artist mother Ida - in the rear view mirror, she promises herself she will never return. Leaving her boyfriend Aidan behind is just part of the price Ruby pays for her decision. But things don't work out quite as she planned.

Although she ran as far as the UK to escape her past, Ruby eventually finds herself back in Stoneybrook, after her mother apparently disappears. As a scammer pretending to be a psychic, Ida has probably made her fair share of enemies. But is she actually missing - or is this just another scam she is pulling?

Since Ida has always been abusive, and an unrepentant manipulator where Ruby is concerned, her daughter can't take anything at face value. But the investigation into the truth is anything but simple.

The writer does a good job of weaving a unique story, with plenty of twists and turns, even including a dip into the paranormal. Most of the characters were not likeable though, and the writing style was a little hard to get into. Nevertheless, the book has some suspenseful elements that keep it interesting. So it gets 3 stars from me.

At the age of eighteen, Ruby Carlson fled her hometown desperate to leave her former life and Mother, a manipulative con-artist, behind. Twenty years later, Ruby reluctantly returns home after receiving news her Mother, Ida, is missing and presumed dead, to settle her affairs. However, Ruby is suspicious about whether Ida is really dead or if this is just another scheme. As she works to help solve the mystery behind Ida’s disappearance, she uncovers truths more sinister than she’d ever imagined.


The Night Side was a fantastic read. It was fast-paced, captivating and kept me guessing all the way through. Just when I thought I’d figured things out, another twist came out of left field and absolutely floored me. The book was told from the perspective of Ruby, whom I couldn’t help but love and cheer for. I also really liked the usage of a dual past and present timeline. It provided great insight into Ruby’s upbringing and her mother’s evolution into a con artist that bankrupted countless families. My only complaint was that the beginning was slightly confusing as the author hinted at things without providing context or explanation. Overall, I highly recommend picking up this book once it’s released!

I thoroughly enjoyed this dark, slow burning novel that brims with atmosphere. The issue of psychic scamming is an interesting one to tackle in a suspense novel and I loved the twists and turns in the plot. Great character development and a detailed setting making this an incredible page turner.

I struggled to keep with the writing style and found myself drifting off quite often. I did not like any of the characters much either. I get that other people liked it but it wasn’t for me.

Recently, I learned I love the trope of protagonists returning to their hometowns to solve years-old mysteries. To that end, The Night Side felt like a perfect fit. However, I didn't connect with the writing style. I can't articulate why — maybe the third-person written in present tense? In any case, I struggled to keep reading this one.

Many thanks to NetGalley and Severn House for the e-ARC in exchange for my honest review.

I found myself looking for my Kindle to read this any spare moment I had. It pulled me in and had so much going on! I really enjoyed this psychological, suspenseful, mystery!

Ruby Carlson got out and fled to England 20 years ago. Now she is back. She left behind her teenage boyfriend, Aiden, which was the hardest thing to do but necessary to escape Ruby's evil and dysfunctional "mom", Ida. Now Ruby is back in Stoneybrook, Montana. She was called home to uncover what happened to Ida who has been missing under suspicious circumstance. Ruby had every right to leave as Ida was a manipulative grifter living off the pain and mystery of other town folk using her "psychic" abilities. Is Ida really dead? Will Ruby get sucked back into StoneyBrook and the path of destruction left by Ida? Will Ruby leave?

Great characters, well developed plot and such a good story! I was hooked in the first chapter.

Highly recommend!!