My #Review for My Mother’s Choice by Ali Mercer #FamilyDrama #Mystery #BlogTour

 

 

Title:  My Mother’s Choice

Author:   Ali Mercer

Publisher: Bookouture

Publication Day:  29/07/2020 

Pages: 325

Rating: 4.5/5*

 

 

My Review:

This is an emotive story, packed with drama and so moving!

Dani is fourteen years old and, for the last ten years, has been living with her Aunt Carrie. Her father, Jon, lives nearby and does see her irregularly but no one talks about her mother and the only memento of her that Dani has is a photograph of the two of them. Dani has few memories of her life before and is a somewhat resentful, rebellious teen, though mainly because she is missing having parents around. She does, however, stick up for those she feels are being bullied. That’s how she made a friend who she brought home. It is a conversation between the two friends that results in Dani climbing into the loft to look for anything pertaining to her Mum and that’s when she finds her Mum’s diary . . . . a diary that has revelations in it and gives Dani an insight into her Mum, her childhood, her family. However, this is a family mystery that Dani wants to solve and she sets out to do so without considering the consequences of the revelations for all concerned…..

The story is largely told from the points of view of Dani and her Mum. The diary provides flashbacks to life from her Mum’s perspective. The story is so full of emotional turmoil, lies, secrets, survivor’s guilt and surprises. It is a family drama with an ending that is simply superb, altogether a very powerful, different and heartbreaking read.

I requested and was gifted a copy of this book and this is my honest opinion after choosing to read it.

Description:

 ‘A heart-wrenching drama… an emotional rollercoaster with twists along the way… I read this in four hours and I know you’ll be hooked too.’ NetGalley Reviewer,

Nobody talks about my mother. Absolutely nobody. I have no idea what she was like. I’d always thought they kept quiet about her because they were sad. But what if it was because they were guilty?

I watch them at the school gates, all the mothers with their daughters. I see the hugs and all those thoughtful little adjustments to scarves and ponytails. How their love seems to overflow, they have so much of it to give.

And then I walk home to my aunt’s cold house, where there are a hundred rules for me to follow and only a single photograph of my mother to look at.

She is never spoken about in this house. They tell me that it will be easier if I don’t think about her.

It is strange though, isn’t it? That I know nothing about my own mother?

But they don’t know about the diary I’ve found up in the loft. Maybe they even forgot it was there. It doesn’t matter anymore if they won’t tell me anything. Because within these pages is what I’ve waited fourteen years to find out. And maybe some things I wish I could forget.

All I wanted was to bring our family closer together, but could what I find tear us apart instead?

A heartbreaking and powerful novel about family secrets and how we live with decisions we never thought we would have to make. Perfect for fans of Jodi Picoult, Kate Hewitt and Amanda Prowse.

 

Buy Links:       

Amazon: https://geni.us/B086T61VF1Social

Apple: https://apple.co/2wk3G9Z

Kobo: https://bit.ly/2xdGeMb

Googleplay: https://bit.ly/2UVLTjb

 

Author Bio:

Ali decided she wanted to be a writer early on and wrote her first novel when she was at primary school. She did an English degree and spent her early twenties working in various jobs in journalism, including as a reporter for the show business newspaper The Stage. She started writing fiction in earnest after getting married, moving out of London to the Oxfordshire market town of Abingdon and starting a family. She has two children, a daughter and a son who is autistic and was diagnosed when he was four years old.
Ali is fascinated by families, their myths and secrets, and the forces that hold them together, split them up and (sometimes) bring them back together again. She always travels with tissues and a book and has been known to cry over a good story but is also a big fan of the hopeful ending.

 

Author Social Media Links:

For updates and pictures, follow Ali on Twitter (@AlisonLMercer) or Instagram (@alimercerwriter), or on her Facebook page (AliMercerwriter)

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