You don’t know what you’ve got till it’s gone

Birdie McBride seems to have it all: a fulfilling and lucrative job, five healthy daughters and a doting husband, Ned, at home keeping the family machine running smoothly.

But then Ned dies. He leaves behind a document for Birdie—‘Things I Need You to Know’—full of guidance on everything from household maintenance to the intimate details of each daughter’s emotional landscape. Composed in his dying days, it’s his last act of fatherly devotion. Reading Ned’s manual, Birdie falls for her husband in a way she never did when he was alive. Yet the presence of his best friend, Marcello, complicates things. As well as having been Ned’s doctor, Marcello is Birdie’s ex-lover—though not as ‘ex’ as most people would think. And his feelings for Birdie are as strong as ever.

When more calamities rock her family, Birdie starts to wonder: how much trust can you put in feelings? And in old friends? Can the legacy of ‘Things I Need You to Know’ save her family from the catastrophic end barrelling towards them?

Ooh baby! This was the book to chase away those post summer blues. I will recommend this book to others. Cannot wait to read more from the author.

This one kept me on the edge of the seat and turning the pages. I recommend for a good autumn vibes read!

Things I Need You To Know by Mark Lamprell is an unusual story that I felt moved quite slowly until about over half way and then it sort of took off. I’m still unsure of how I felt about the story as many of the characters were unlikeable (well I didn’t like them) and the story was quite complicated. However, in the end, it was very emotional and interesting but also, almost tragic!

As an introduction to the novel, the publisher’s blurb is excellent:

“You don’t know what you’ve got till it’s gone...
Birdie McBride seems to have it all: a fulfilling and lucrative job, five healthy daughters and a doting husband, Ned, at home keeping the family machine running smoothly.
But then Ned dies. He leaves behind a document for Birdie—‘Things I Need You to Know’—full of guidance on everything from household maintenance to the intimate details of each daughter’s emotional landscape. Composed in his dying days, it’s his last act of fatherly devotion. Reading Ned’s manual, Birdie falls for her husband in a way she never did when he was alive. Yet the presence of his best friend, Marcello, complicates things. As well as having been Ned’s doctor, Marcello is Birdie’s ex-lover—though not as ‘ex’ as most people would think. And his feelings for Birdie are as strong as ever.
When more calamities rock her family, Birdie starts to wonder: how much trust can you put in feelings? And in old friends? Can the legacy of ‘Things I Need You to Know’ save her family from the catastrophic end barrelling towards them.”

It is a complex story that is very intriguing and well written.

This review is based on a complimentary copy from Text Publishing via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. Opinions expressed in this review are completely my own.

#ThingsINeedYouToKnow #NetGalley

I love the way this novel is written, the turns it takes, the emotions I felt, and the growth we see in the characters development. Things I need you to know was the document Ned, Birdies husband left behind for her to understand how to care for their family after his passing. As birdie uncovers the document we learn very quickly why she’s going to need all the help she can get. Birdie isn’t a loving parent in the same way Ned was to their children, nor was she the loving wife Ned deserved, but she was brought up differently, and maybe the document Ned left behind can help her change. I was rooting for Birdie from the first chapter, I cried when she cried, and I was picking my jaw off the floor by the end of this amazing story. Thank you so much to NetGalley and Mark Lamprell for the opportunity to read this beautiful story.

THINGS I NEED YOU TO KNOW by Mark Lamprell is one crazy roller coaster of emotions.

Birdie McBride is a practicing lawyer at a big firm who is left a single mother of five, yes, five daughters when her husband, Ned passes away after an illness. While Birdie was out defending justice and freedom, Ned has been acting as Mr. Mom in raising Charlotte (16), Nell (12), Heidi (11), and eight year old twins Madeline and Marina. Following a bout of grief and depression, Birdie begins to put her life back together. While cleaning out Ned’s office, she comes across what can only be considered ‘A Bible of Fatherood’ which reintroduces Birdie to each of her daughters, their dreams, their desires, their fears and their personalities. She also finds a note from Ned which encourages her to move on with her life, including a relationship with his best friend, Marcello with whom Birdie has had an on-again, off-again affair for many years.

Marcello is a shoulder to lean on when Birdie’s mother also passes away and Macello finds himself alone when his own wife dies. What else can the two do but cling together in their time of need? But the girls are dead set against any type of relationship between the two. After all, he was Dad’s best friend! As Marcello tries to ingratiate himself with the girls, Birdie finds some disturbing coincidences in his past. As Birdie races to find the answers to protect herself and her daughters, the girls begin to come around to the idea of the two of them dating.

As noted, this was a roller coaster. One minute I was flushed with anger at her affair and the next I was rooting for her as she started to get a grip on her life. I had very strong emotions about her parenting skills and the unmistakable maturity of her oldest daughters. The writing was clear and concise and it was a very enjoyable read. I have already bought one of the author’s other novels and I’m glad that he has taken a step toward domestic suspense. I’ll be interested to see where he goes next.

Thank you to NetGalley and The Text Publishing for this ARC opportunity. All opinions are my own and given voluntarily.

Thanks to NetGalley, Mark Lamprell and Text Publishing for the ARC.
I love unlikable characters and I love an author that can shift the reader's perspective on those unlikable characters, adding the nuanced details that make them more fully developed and realistic.

Most of the book presents as a family drama and a treatise on grief. The other themes of mental health, abuse, eating disorders, generational trauma, toxic parenting...those seem like daunting, negative themes, right? But, you also witness transformation and growth, which is no easy feat to accurately portray in a way that still feels realistic.

The ending had my mouth on the floor, as it challenged what I thought I knew but also gave me the closure that I always crave.

I will definitely be recommending. This review has been published on Goodreads.

Not Sure why but i love this cover!

This was a great story with unlikeable characters until you get further into the book. Birdie was just so annoying and almost wanted to DNF until you get to know the daughters that are taking care of her. I really started to like her daughters and just wanted good things for them while reading the book.

I would recommend the book.

Thanks NetGalley for letting me read and review.

This was a great read! It took turns I didn’t expect and I ended up liking people I didn’t like at first.

I got a little irritated with Birdie because she wallowed in grief and her feelings for so long, leaving her daughters to take care of her when they were grieving the loss of their father. But it did help me get to know her daughters and I was cheering them on to the end.

Birdie’s mother Dawn was a piece of work—entertaining and awful at the same time.

Advance reader copy courtesy of the publishers at NetGalley for review.

📚: Things I Need You to Know by Mark Lamprell
⭐️: 4/5

The gist: Devoted father of 5, Ned, passes away within weeks from an aggressive form of cancer. After his passing, widow Birdie, overwhelmed with her new reality, finds “Things I Need You to Know,” a final gift from Ned to her. As Birdie navigates grief, family, and motherhood solo using Ned’s words, old friends (and flames) emerge as occurrences hit their family that defines the thought, “it’s just one thing after another.”

The good: What I thought was wholly a family drama plot took a seriously hard left turn in the last 15%. The end of this left me absolutely breathless and circles back to where we started at the prologue with all the answers needed. I almost want to read this again to find hints that I missed since I wasn’t expecting something that ends this twisty.

The eh: It was hard - really hard - to connect with Birdie for a good portion of this book. Her grief is overwhelming to where she’s isn’t her best - or even a good - version of herself.

Big thanks to @text_publishing via @netgalley for the digital ARC in exchange for an honest review. Things I Need You to Know is out this upcoming Tuesday, June 4th!

This novel was a really slow build up to the ultimate crisis that puts Birdie in the hospital scene in the prologue. It’s very readable as the cast of characters (Birdie’s flamboyant and difficult, famous mother; her five daughters and their distinct personalities; and friend of family, Doctor Marcello who Birdie had an affair with.) It takes a long time to get there and I had quite a few suspicions but I didn’t guess any of it really. It finishes in a rush but it’s a satisfying conclusion.

Things I Need You To Know - by Mark Lamprell

4.5 stars ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️💫
Spice level: 🌶️

I absolutely LOVED this book! It is such a beautiful literary fiction story about family, loss, grief and trying to become whole when half of you is gone. It’s a story of growing, learning and accepting the fact that sometimes you don’t appreciate what you’ve got until it’s gone.

This book had me hooked from the start and I fell in love with each and every member of the McBride/Featherstone family, especially the five daughters, their individual personalities shone through the pages. The author’s character development was exceptional.

The plot was a slow burn until 44% and then it turned from literary fiction to a fast paced, plot twisting thriller and I stayed up way past my bedroom to devour the rest of the book!

The plot twist at the end… NO.ONE.SAW.THAT.COMING!!!

This book was a perfect blend of literary fiction, romance and thriller so if you loved the drama and scandal of ‘The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo’, the sentimental messages in ‘P.S I Love You’ and the creepy stalker vibes from the tv show ‘YOU’ then you need to read this book, you will love it!!

Trigger warnings: death, grief, mental health, child abuse, bulimia/anorexia, violence

Thank you to NetGalley, Text Publishing and the author Mark Lamprell for this free ARC in return for an honest review. I am leaving this review voluntarily.

I will also be posting my review on Instagram, Goodreads and Amazon on publication day.

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

When I started the book, I didn't think I would be able to finish it. It started off slow.

However, after getting about a fifth of the way in, I could not put it down.

The family dynamic, the loss, the grief, the way the family all played their own parts was written very well. I could picture the characters and locations and.felt I was there in the story.

As I read through, the revelations kept coming and I was gripped. The story kept you guessing right until the end and it really was not what I expected.

A very well planned and written book. I look forward to reading more from this author.

The first half of the book is a slow burn and then as it builds it speeds up. I learned some new vocab which there is plentiful of in this book, but with the Kindle it is so easy to look up.
The hardest part to read for me was Heidi’s birth because it was relatable about how she was “brought back” and that happened to my child. It’s been some time now and she is thriving, but when I read about it, it takes me back, especially when it is unexpected, and it’s a punch in the gut. However, it is cathartic for me in a way that I can’t explain.
The book takes you on an emotional rollercoaster because at the start, I was pretty upset with Birdie and in no way understanding of how she married her husband without loving him, and had hoped someday she would fall for him? That broke me, even more so knowing Ned’s future. I almost wanted to stop reading considering she was the main character the book is based around. He just deserved way more. But I knew there was more coming. Her relationship with her mother was not the best, so then I felt bad for her because I felt like she didn’t have a good example of love to learn from, among other things which led to her poor choices. Then as the story goes on (trying not to give anything away) by the end of the book, my feelings change and I feel proud of her for everything she had done for her girls and the role change and adaptations she had made in such a small time frame, as well as helping them through all the life challenges they had been presented with. Never mind what she went through herself!? And the end of the book is the best part.
I looked up other books that this author has written, and it seems like there isn’t anything like this so I’d be looking forward to more!
Thank you to NetGalley, the author, and Text Publishing for the DRC in exchange for my honest review.

Things I Need You To Know is the fourth novel by Australian director and author, Mark Lamprell. After the funeral, Birdie McBride thinks she might not have married Ned if she’d known he was going to exit life only seventeen years after the wedding. At the time, though, she knew he was a good, solid, trustworthy man; she also knew he loved her with a passion she was unable to reciprocate.

Ned had seen the toxic effect of the poor parenting a pair of narcissistic show-business parents had inflicted on Birdie and her brother, Mitchell, and was determined to make Birdie and their children feel unconditionally loved, the way his mother had single-handedly done for him.

The passion Birdie had hoped she might develop for him over their years together had never materialised, but she recognised just how lucky she had been: a decent man who willingly became the primary carer for their five daughters and ran their home with tireless competency, allowing Birdie to pursue her legal career.

It’s when she discovers a thick, printed and bound document titled “Things I Need You To Know” in Ned’s studio, and opens it to find what is virtually an instruction manual for their home and family, “meticulous and thoughtful— a bible of fatherhood, aching with care”, that she falls in love with him.

Birdie freely admits she’s a hopelessly inadequate mother and housewife, but “if she remained at home flagellating herself over her failure to cherish a man who had been a fine husband and an extraordinary father, she would at some point implode.” She goes back to work, but has difficulty remaining focussed: “It was as if someone had stolen her magic armour.”

As her daughters begin to act out, and Birdie is hit harder by grief than she ever expected, she understandably falls apart for a bit, bringing down the attentions of her less-than-helpful mother, and Marcello Architto, Ned’s best friend since high school, the attractive doctor who oversaw his palliative care, who is inconveniently persistent with his visits.

Their selfish affair is long over, and she’s not tempted (is she?) but he is now unattached and seems intent on charming Birdie’s daughters and her mother, the eternally-attention-seeking Dawn; Birdie, though, recalls how manipulative he was when they first dated at Uni, so she’s a little wary. Too wary?

Lamprell delivers a credible plot, a dramatic climax, and a cast of characters that mostly endear themselves to the reader, for all their virtues and their quirky flaws: Birdie and her girls, Mitchell, even Dawn, but especially Ned. The exception to this is the one whose actions will leave the reader gasping. Some may find the use of expletives around children is a bit excessive. This topical, captivating and moving novel, which explores grief and trust and mothering, is Lamprell’s best yet.
This unbiased review is from a copy provided by Text Publishing.

Things I Need You to Know by Mark Lamprell is a highly recommended novel dealing with a dysfunctional family as they grieve that turns into a psychological thriller. This is a novel that you must read to the end in order to fully appreciate the writing.

Birdie McBride and her five daughters are mourning the loss of her husband and their father. Ned was a devoted husband and wonderful stay-at-home father, allowing Birdie to pursue her legal career. Then Ned dies and leaves them all grieving and their lives upended. Birdie struggles with being a mother, working, and grieving, which leaves her relying on her oldest daughter, Charlotte, 16. Ned left behind a document for Birdie titled "Things I Need You To Know." It is a guide to everything from household maintenance to each daughter’s emotional landscape.

Complicating the grieving process is Birdie's diva mother, singer Dawn Featherstone who must always be the center of attention. Ned's best friend, physician Marcello Architto, who is also trying to help Birdie, presents another complication as there is a long history between them.

Things I Need You to Know is a novel of a family in crisis. The narrative deals with grief and asks how a working mother can keep her family together after her stay-at-home husband dies and leaves them all floundering. Beyond that it also deals with love and trust. Birdie knew Ned loved her but she wasn't sure she totally loved him until he was gone.

Birdie is a fully realized character and all her flaws are on full display as she works through her grief and the narrative shows flashbacks from her life. She didn't always make smart decisions. She is in crisis now and looking back at poor choices she has made while realizing her flaws. In the end she uses her strengths to save her family.

There is a huge, shocking twist/revelation toward the end of the plot that changes everything, even the tone of the novel. Well played, Mark Lamprell. Your excellent writing pulled this up from an average novel to something much better. Thanks to Text Publishing for providing me with an advance reader's copy via NetGalley. My review is voluntary and expresses my honest opinion.

The review will be published on Barnes & Noble and Amazon.

Things I Need You to Know
by Mark Lamprell
This book was an awakening to a Mom who works and is a stay-at-home dad caring for his children. It was touching in so many ways. The Dad who was dying taught his wife about the children and beyond.

Birdie should have grown-up gifted in her famous family but seems one tragedy after another follow her. Blessed to have family friend and occasionally coworker Bryce there to help out when needed to pickup the pieces. ….WOW! Surprise ending. Got my heart racing.

Fascinating book. Initially I was convinced I was reading a romance, then I thought it might have been about grief. I was wrong and I didn’t see the twist coming until Birdie did. So I’m sure that is good writing. Full of surprises. I wasn’t as enthusiastic in the earlier stages our protagonist was difficult to follow but I put it down to grief and mothering five girls. Thanks to @netgalley and text publishing for the chance to read an advance copy.

4.5 stars.

Things I Need You to Know by Mark Lamprell is a poignant novel with a brilliant psychological thriller element.

Birdie McBride and her five daughters are mourning the loss of husband and father Ned. His recent illness progressed quickly and they are reeling in the aftermath of his death. Birdie is having difficulty balancing home and career since Ned was a stay-at-home dad. She also grapples with her conflicted emotions about her larger-than-life husband and his best friend, physician Marcello Architto. Falling completely apart, Birdie relies heavily on her oldest daughter, Charlotte, until she is dragged out of grief by her children’s needs. In the course of sorting through her tangled feelings, Birdie falls in love with Ned and cherishes her memories of him and their life together.

As Birdie processes her grief, she also comes face to face with the mistakes of her past. And Marcello being in and out of their lives brings up unresolved issues from long ago. As he becomes more entangled with her and her daughters, will Birdie regret allowing him in their lives?

Things I Need You to Know is a riveting novel with a realistic portrayal of grief and loss. Birdie is not always a likable character as she navigates her new “normal”. Her daughters are typical children whose behavior and missteps ring true. Ned’s presence looms large throughout the novel. Flashbacks are cleverly interwoven with the events unfolding in the present. With a diabolical plot twist, Mark Lamprell brings this captivating novel to an unexpected yet exceptionally satisfying conclusion.

Thank you to NetGalley, Text Publishing, and Mark Lamprell for providing me the opportunity to read and review the Things I Need You To Know, out for publication on June 4, 2024.

“...she hadn’t fallen madly in love and thrown herself to the fates on the basis of chemical euphoria, she had constructed a life with a man who had proven himself worthy of great love.”

A book filled with powerful emotions, unexpected happenings, and strong characters, Mark Lamprell’s book Things I Need You To Know was truly a great read! This was a first for me by this author, but certainly will not be my last.

The story centers around Birdie, wife of Ned, who did not realize what true love was until it was taken from her life. The love, loyalty and respect Ned has for her is nothing she has ever experienced, but she realizes this incredible gift much too late.

Ned leaves his last expression of love and support for his dear wife, a document titled Things I Need You To Know. Birdie learns just how much Ned had sacrificed for his family. Birdie is now solely responsible for their five daughters, the home they share, while maintaining her career as a lawyer. Throughout the book, she discovers important understandings about her late husband, herself, their children, and past relationships. Birdie deals with grief, loss and love on different levels, peeling away the layers until she arrives at the core. Birdie also becomes aware of shocking revelations proving how things presented are not at all what they seemed to be. I loved how Ned’s love and loyalty to those who were closest to his heart reverberated throughout the novel. Birdie’s character went through many changes as the story developed. As Lamprell paints great descriptions about the characters and their actions, I was incredibly frustrated with some of the characters, including Birdie, proving that Lamprell did his job to have the fictional lives in his book impact me as a reader.

I was lured into it right from the beginning and found it hard to put down. I was surprised at many of the occurrences throughout various parts of the story. I did not see the final plot twist coming at all. Definitely add this book to your summer reading list. Out for publication on June 4th!