You need to sign in or sign up before continuing.
Take a photo of a barcode or cover
Graphic: Kidnapping
Moderate: Animal cruelty, Emotional abuse, Sexual assault, Suicide
Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Child abuse, Child death, Confinement, Death, Drug abuse, Gun violence, Infertility, Mental illness, Miscarriage, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexual assault, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Torture, Violence, Blood, Kidnapping, Grief, Stalking, Car accident, Death of parent, Murder, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Pregnancy, Abandonment, Alcohol
Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Child abuse, Child death, Confinement, Death, Infertility, Miscarriage, Suicide, Toxic relationship, Violence, Kidnapping, Stalking, Murder, Pregnancy, Abandonment
Moderate: Adult/minor relationship, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Death of parent
Minor: Terminal illness
Graphic: Child abuse, Child death, Confinement, Death, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Torture, Kidnapping, Grief, Stalking, Murder
Moderate: Adult/minor relationship, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Mental illness, Miscarriage, Toxic relationship, Medical trauma, Pregnancy
Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Child abuse, Child death, Confinement, Cursing, Death, Drug abuse, Emotional abuse, Gore, Infertility, Mental illness, Miscarriage, Physical abuse, Sexual content, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Terminal illness, Torture, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Medical content, Kidnapping, Grief, Medical trauma, Murder, Pregnancy, Injury/Injury detail, Classism
Graphic: Kidnapping, Stalking
Moderate: Animal death, Suicide, Murder
Minor: Animal cruelty
Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Child abuse, Child death, Confinement, Death, Eating disorder, Emotional abuse, Infertility, Mental illness, Miscarriage, Physical abuse, Rape, Self harm, Sexual assault, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Violence, Kidnapping, Grief, Stalking, Death of parent, Murder, Pregnancy, Abandonment
Ellie Mack seemed to have the perfect life. She was the apple of her mom Laurie’s eye. Smart and beautiful, Ellie had the entire world ahead of her. Then one day, shortly before her school exams, she disappeared. The police chalked Ellie’s disappearance up as a runaway teenager, but Laurie knew her daughter and she knew that Ellie wouldn’t have just ran away without a word to anyone.
Years later, a chance encounter at a coffee shop causes Laurie to meet Floyd, a single father of two daughters. After years of heartache, Laurie is finally open to the idea of love and embraces the idea of being a mother figure to Floyd’s younger daughter, Poppy, a precocious preteen girl whose own mother abandoned her years before. Laurie’s vision of a perfect blended family is shattered when she meets Poppy, who looks just like Ellie. This meeting causes Laurie to wonder if meeting Floyd and Poppy was a coincidence or is there a sinister connection to Ellie’s disappearance
Graphic: Confinement, Death, Kidnapping, Grief
Moderate: Animal cruelty, Animal death
Minor: Miscarriage, Suicide, Murder, Pregnancy
This is another book club book that didn't look like what I normally read (contemporary mystery vs fantasy, sci fi, and historic fiction) but decided to read anyways. My specific thoughts when reading the synopsis was "this looks so messed up, I want to read it." It did not disappoint on that front.
The story is told in short chapters in a mix of third person limited and first person PoV, following Laurel in the story's present, Ellie around the time of her disappearance,
Characters are OK. Most of Laurel's family are likable enough and don't overstay their welcome, but I'm not sure if I would have been as attached to Ellie if she wasn't so similar to me at that age. For better or worse, Lisa Jewell does not shy away from the more unpleasant side of someone coping with a parent's worst nightmare, and at times Laurel's PoV can be frustrating to read about. The worst though, is probably Floyd. Maybe it's the fact that the synopsis hints at a connection with Ellie's disappearance, but it was obvious that something was off with him. However, my big issue is that while Laurel finds him charming, I never did. He comes off as a clingy sex pest with a weirdly clingy relationship with his younger daughter, and the climax revelations make him even worse in retrospect.
Graphic: Child abuse, Child death, Death, Kidnapping
Moderate: Physical abuse, Sexual content, Violence, Dementia, Stalking, Murder, Pregnancy, Classism
Minor: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Body horror, Car accident, Death of parent
Graphic: Child abuse, Child death, Death, Emotional abuse, Mental illness, Physical abuse, Torture, Kidnapping
Moderate: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Rape, Sexual assault