Rigby and Ashby are my favourite female writing duo. Both brilliant authors in their own right, but unstoppable when together.

It's a slow starter, but that doesn't bother me, it allows me to savour the story more and you know good things are on their way.

The plot is brilliant, the characters are credible and it certainly makes you question just how far you'd go for your family - I'd do anything I possibly could, wouldn't you?

It's suspenseful, the tension is palpable and the plot is so absorbing. I couldn't get the pages turned fast enough - on a kindle like mine that's pretty slow.

Highly entertaining, enjoyable and definitely a writing duo to recommend.

BLOG TOUR REVIEW

Review for 'The Stepmother' by Sally Rigby and Amanda Ashby

Read and reviewed via NetGalley for Sally Rigby, Amanda Ashby, Boldwood Books and Rachel's Random resources Tours.

Publication date 30th October 2023

This is the second book I have read by either of these authors. I have previously read 'The Ex Wife' which I would also highly recommend.

This novel consists of a prologue, 36 chapters and an epilogue. The chapters are short to medium in length so easy to read 'just one more chapter' before bed...OK, I know yeah right, but still just in case!

WHAT did I just read!!!! WOW!!! I mean seriously Wow!! I was NOT expecting that lot fair play!!! This has GOT to start with a MASSIVE WELL DONE SALLY AND AMANDA!!!! Ooopps sorry, yes, needed a minute to get over that but I've just left you hanging there... Sorry.... Let me tell you more...

Firstly let's start off with the writing style, etc!! This book is an extremely well written book by these amazing authors which had me hook line and sinker!!! It is so smoothly and fantastically written with vivid and evocative descriptions I completely forgot I was even reading a book a few times. The blurb, title and cover really fit the storyline. Sally and Amanda work perfectly together to create an absolutely explosive and addictive storyline that had me hooked from the gripping first chapter to the absolutely shocking ending!!!

As you can tell I LOVED the storyline. I found it to be realistic, very fast paced and I read it in just several hours!!! I loved the setting, characters, atmosphere and just well... Everything!!! Twists after shocks after turns!!! Arggghhh... Its so hard to NOT say anything about them as it will give too much away and spoil it for future readers but it definitely left me speechless over and over!!! I have read hundreds of psychological books and it gets harder and harder to keep my interest and to shock me but these fantastic authors managed it hook, line and sinker Just brilliant fair play and all links in and wraps up perfectly!!! During the book Sally and Amanda build the tension and suspense perfectly and leading the readers up to some extremely explosive twists that I would never have seen coming. I cannot remember the last time I flew through a book so quickly. Each and every time I went to put it down to do something my fingers were itching to pick it back up as I just HAD to know what happened next!! Amanda and Sally's evocative writing skills ensure you are sucked deep into the storyline seeing everything that is happening and feeling the tension, stress and suspense that each of the main characters are going through. My heart was in my throat throughout reading this fast paced, gripping and gritty psychological thriller! I just cannot wait to get stuck into more books by these absolutely epic authors and I have added all their previous books to my wish list already and look forward to what they come out with next!! It is ram packed with family, lies, twists, drama ,heartbreak, twists, tension, stress, suspense and everything you could ask for in a psychological thriller. I can't say more than that as I don't want to spoil it for future readers so if you want to know you'll have to grab yourself a copy!! You won't regret it!!

Just like with the storyline the characters come to life with Sally and Amanda's fantastic writing skills. They are well rounded, realistic and strong making them all the more believable. They were also all complex and the further I got into the book and the more I got to know them it felt like I was discovering more layers the more I read. I have twins myself so any books that inckjde twin characters always intrigue me that but more and Sam and Sienna are definitely intriguing!! I was completely invested in Libby and her family and just had to know who was hiding what. I won't go into more details as I don't want to risk giving anything away but Amanda and Sally really have done an amazing job constructing an addictive and explosive psychological thriller with fantastic and varied characters that you just won't be able to put down!!

Congratulations Sally and Amanda on an yet another explosive success!!! This is the exact reason that you are both in my favourite author club!! Here's to many more successes 🥂!!!

Clear your schedules before picking this up as you will not be able to put it down!!! "

Make sure you read to the very end of the book to read the first chapter of Sally and Amanda's 'The Ex Wife' which I have actually read already and I would highly recommend it!!!

Overall an absolutely page turning, addictive, gripping and explosive must read that will keep you addicted from the very start to the fantastic ending!!!

306 pages.

This book is just 99p to purchase on kindle via Amazon, free with kindle unlimited and £9.99 in paperback at time of review which I think is an absolute bargain for this book!!!

Rated 5/5 (I LOVED it ) on Goodreads, Instagram, Amazon UK and Amazon US and on over 30 Facebook pages plus my blog on Facebook.

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A definite must read for fans of psychological thrillers with unforeseeable twists!
As far as Libby Curtis knows she is living her dream, even though the children are now the typical teenage grumps, but when a girl from their school is found after being abducted, drugged and held in an old lockup unit overnight, the whole family’s lives change.
Libby is a paramedic and is the attending ambulance crew called out for the girl, instantly recognising her and identifying her to the police, so she see first hand what state the girl has been left it. It is one of her daughter’s ex friends.
As Libby begins to question her children’s involvement with the situation she is approached by a stranger, a woman asking questions about her husband, calming her husband might not be the man she thought he is, with a dark past of his own.
The past starts to come to the surface and becomes entwined with the abduction of the teenage girl and Libby’s life begins to unravel leading her down paths that no one will see coming.
There are definitely twists and turns aplenty that will keep you reading late into the night!

Thank you to Netgalley for an ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review.

I really enjoyed this book, although I did find it a little slow and predictable in places. Still, an entertaining read with plenty of twists.

This duo can definitely write a page turning thriller. I was enthralled from the first chapter until the very last. It's one of those books where you say " I'll just read one more chapter" and before you know it you're on the last page. It's chock block full of twists and the tension is so tight that it's ready to snap. The characters are hard to read making it hard to know who to trust. I did enjoy that Libby was so protective of the kids and I really liked that she wasn't there biological mother as it shows that family isn't always blood. There are many secrets and lies to try to unravel and I am not ashamed to say I had no idea who the culprit was. When all is revealed I got a surprise but thinking back it made sense and I can't believe I didn't pick it earlier.

Libby married Nathan when he was a widower with twins, Sam and Sienna, age 7. Before, she had never had any desire to have children but for the last ten years, her love for her stepchildren, now 17, has been as though they are her own children. However, Sam has been going through a secretive stage and she learns by her digital detective skills that he has been doing bad things. In addition, Sienna is going through a Goth stage where she dresses in black and is sarcastic to Libby.

Libby works as a Paramedic and on a call one evening, she attends a young girl, Hayley, who is a friend of Sienna. The girl has drugs in her systems and has been injured by someone. Finding some evidence in Sam’s car, she thinks he may have had something to do with Haylee’s injuries. She knows she has to keep this a secret right now to see what more she can learn because protecting her children is everything.

When Libby was young she had been attacked by her mother’s boyfriend and it has left her with frightening flashbacks. This makes Hayley’s injuries even more scary for her.

As the tension builds in this book many questions are answered and truths come spilling out. This perfectly woven plot will keep the reader turning pages to find answers to intricate questions. Very well written and compelling. Enjoy!

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

This is the first time I have read a book by this writing duo but it won't be the last. I have been a huge fan and Sally Rigby’s ‘Cavendish & Walker’ series and I was intrigued as to how I would like this one. It didn't disappoint at all! I always wonder with writing duos, how it all works and whether it comes across as one cohesive voice and in this case it does. If I picked this book up blind I would never have guessed it was written by two people. I will definitely be looking out for more books by these two!

Libby Curtis never wanted children until she met a gorgeous widower, Nathan, who had young twins. Now ten years later she can't imagine life without Sam and Sienna and she would do anything to protect them. And she means anything. When a teenager is found on the side of the road, Libby is one of the first responders in her role as a paramedic. Her first thoughts are that thankfully it's not Sienna. But she doesn't realise that her whole family is involved somehow in this incident. When she finds a piece of evidence in her stepson’s car she can't believe that he would have been able to do this! Where has her sweet young boy gone? Libby must find out the truth to stop her family from being torn apart but there is someone out there who wants to expose the family for what they have done.

I was enthralled by this book from the very start and I flew through it in one day. It kept my attention with all its twists and turns and there was plenty of action and it was chock full of tension! Did I guess who the ‘bad guy’ was, yes I did but I definitely did not get the background and the reasons for their motivation! You were kept guessing by the authors for quite a long time and there are so many secrets and lies that is it hard to unravel them.

Let me know if you pick this one up!

The Stepmother is written by a fantastic duo. I haven't read any of their books together, or separate, but I am now definitely a fan.

This was a great thriller, with so many twists and turns which had me flying through the pages.

If you are a dan of thrillers, you definitely have to check this one out!

I was so excited to be offered a place on this blog tour as The Stepmother was right up my street in terms of thrillers. I have been in a bit of a reading rut this last month so this was a surefire way for me to pick back up with my reading.

Libby never wanted children, then she met Nathan - a widower but he had two young children. That was the package, and now ten years later she couldn't imagine her life without them. They were her family and she would do anything to protect them. So when she is called to a job at work and a missing teenager is found, her thoughts turn to her own children - but when it becomes apparent that her children might be involved in this. Her mothering instinct takes over. She must protect them, but in the meantime someone wants to expose old secrets with the family.

This was a brilliant read, it was full of twists, turns and truths to be discovered. I really enjoyed the flow of the writing and getting to discover the characters. Libby just wanted to protect her family and at the cost it takes - she will. It went darker than i expected but also absolutely hooked me in.

A fantastic thriller that has so many narratives threaded through that you really need to loose yourself in. Not all is as it seems - even to that very last page.

Thank you for letting me read this arc copy. The storyline was fantastic and genuinely kept me hooked! Characters were well developed and the storyline was interesting. Perfect for fans of psychological thrillers

Libby is a very loving stepmom to Sam and Serena twin teenagers who are suffering all the angs of being 15 she’s married to Nathan who runs a construction company passed down to him after losing his father-in-law and then his first wife certain events happened that caused Libby to not know who she can trust in her family after another 15 year old girl Haley gets kidnapped but let’s go the next day. Haley doesn’t remember anything from the incident but Libby finds certain clues that lead her to believe one of the men in her life had something to do with it. Thankfully she has their handyman and her good friend Jonathan who is like another family member to talk to when she meets blogger Gemma however even her frail elderly mother-in-law will be suspect.. this is not a fast paced book but it is a total twisty satisfying read. It is methodically paste in the story quickly builds up but slowly comes undone it is so good! I want to thank the author and publisher and Net Galley for my free arc copy please forgive any mistakes as I am blind and dictate my review.

Sure thought I figured it out but I was way off. Kept me guessing for sure. Quite the interesting story.

Yet again this author duo have written another book that has left me speechless at times. Chock full of twists and turns this is a book that will have you enthralled from the very start. Filled with characters that you really won’t know whether to trust them or not . One chapter I was totally trusting a certain character and then a few chapters on I was beginning to doubt myself. Each chapter was a page turner and because of this I read this book in two sittings. Of course I knew who the culprit was as I had that worked out in my head quite early on but of course I was completely off the track and when it was revealed I was absolutely lost for words. I love an epilogue in a book as to me it ties up everything nicely and this one was simply the icing on the cake, Simply marvellous. ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

I liked the twists at the end of this book. I love when a book has me guessing and still surprises me. I didn’t understand how Gemma was so certain Haley’s random being drugged and left in an open storage unit connected with her brother’s killer. The only similarity was that a storage unit was involved. The girl wasn’t locked up for days, no one else had gone missing, and the original killer only took boys. I also didn’t understand how the family was rumored to be in hiding yet all the bones were hidden in the family house. Did they flee with a massive amount of human bones or did they never go into hiding, just changed their names and everyone forgot who they were? I feel it didn’t make a lot of sense.

Brilliant book! Firstly, the plot was amazing and super twisty.

But also, both authors live in New Zealand and the book is set in Bournemouth. The victim lives in Dingle Road…. I grew up in Dingle Road in Bournemouth 🤣

So I’m super fascinated as to how they found the locations in the book, from all the way over in NZ!

Coincidences aside, the characters were all so well written and I was totally team Libby, having raised three children, including twins, and really had my patience tested throughout those teenage years. I admired Gemma’s determination and was intrigued to see the two women’s stories connect.

I love a book where the twists keep coming, even when you’re not expecting anymore, and this book absolutely delivered on that front with a big twist in the epilogue.

5 ⭐️ Thanks to Netgalley, Sally Rigby, Amanda Ashby and Boldwood for an ARC in return for an honest review.

I love the different perspectives in this one. Libby is a devoted stepmother for twins, who are now teenagers. The boy, Sam, is going through something and Libby wants to protect him because she lost her brother when was a teen.
ibby needs to get on lexapro to control her emotions but good stories don't have medicated and functional moms.
She is a first responder and responds to an emergency involving a classmate of her kids called Hayley. Hayley was in a storage shed.

Gemma is the second perspective. She is a writer and she's writing about crimes where people were kidnapped and locked in storage sheds. In fact, that is al she writes about. Before she was born her parents had a son who was kidnapped and locked in a shed. He died. So she's been carrying that burden her entire life. The man accused is dead. He had a son and Gemma thinks the son is libby's husband Nathan.
Also his company owns the storage shed Hayley was apparently locked in.
So these two troubled and ridiculous women are pursuing this case.
This is fun and crazy.

I adore the books these ladies write and once again they have produced a cracker. Libby Curtis is a paramedic married to widower Nathan, with teenage twins Sam and Sienna from his previous marriage. Unfortunately she is having a tough time with the twin who are acting like ‘typical’ teenagers.

Briefly, on her shift Libby is called out when a missing girl is found injured but alive on the roadside. However, there is evidence in Sams car which seems to link him to the girl and Libby is determined to find the truth. Meanwhile, a journalist seeking answers to an old serial killing case starts investigating and seems to discover links between the old case and the missing girl. Things get even darker. What secrets are Libby’s family keeping and what can she do to safeguard them?

A brilliant psychological thriller with so many twists and turns I had a sore neck! It’s a bit of a slow burn but that works well and I read this in one sitting, I was so engrossed. A well written and brilliantly plotted story with an altogether shocking climax which I just did not see coming. Loved it.

This book didn’t immerse me in the story line- I felt like I was reading it from the sidelines. It started off slow and was hard to stick with but it picked up pace half way through. The twist was good but by this time I had completely lost interest. I can see that others have enjoyed it but it wasn’t right for me at all.

Thanks to Netgalley and Boldwood books for access to this arc in exchange for my honest review.

Well, this book was quite slow paced and I thought it was quite predictable until I was proved wrong. I was so sure I had it figured out since the beginning. But the twists at the end blown me away. I'm happy to have read this book.

I found parts of the storyline quite predictable. However there were some aspects that were not foreseeable and made the Bookman enjoyable read.