The Last Thing She Told Me

The Last Thing She Told Me by Linda Green

Even the deepest-buried secrets can find their way to the surface...

Moments before she dies, Nicola's grandmother Betty whispers to her that there are babies at the bottom of the garden.

Nicola's mother claims she was talking nonsense. However, when Nicola's daughter finds a bone while playing in Betty's garden, it's clear that something sinister has taken place.

But will unearthing painful family secrets end up tearing Nicola's family apart?

I was sent an ARC by netgalley in exchange for a honest review.

This starts with Nicolas dying Grandmother asking her to look after the babies at the bottom of her garden. At first she dismisses it as a dying woman's rambling until her daughter finds a small bone. The  secrets that have long stayed buried are now being dragged to the surface as Nicola finds 2 sets of baby bones at the bottom of the garden. 

 The story is told in the present day with intercepts of letters from the past and memories from another childhood.Nicola is warned time and again about trying to uncover what happened to the babies. her mother especially is against her discovering what happened, even though she claims to know nothing about it you get a sense early on that she knows more than she admits. 

 As Nicola discovers more and more about her family and she finds family members she didn't even know existed she discovers that there was more than one persons secrets buried.

 There isn't a twist in this book exactly about halfway through you realise what happened. The tragedies that seemed to go  own with 3 generations of this family are heartbreaking. The topic of sexual abuse is brought up quite heavily and one of the main themes is the old fashioned notion of don't talk about it and its always the females fault. 

 The characters go through quite a bit of self discovery in this book with each of them accepting and talking about the things that happened to them. Realising that they were not at fault for anything that happened in their pasts.

Beautiful Bad

Beautiful Bad by Annie Ward.

Maddie and Ian's romance began when he was serving in the British Army and she was a travel writer visiting her best friend Jo in Europe. Now sixteen years later, married with a beautiful son, Charlie, they are living the perfect suburban life in Middle America.

But when an accident leaves Maddie badly scarred, she begins attending therapy, where she gradually reveals her fears about Ian's PTSD; her concerns for the safety of their young son Charlie; and the couple's tangled and tumultuous past with Jo.

From the Balkans to England, Iraq to Manhattan, and finally to an ordinary family home in Kansas, the years of love and fear, adventure and suspicion culminate in The Day of the Killing, when a frantic 911 call summons the police to the scene of shocking crime.

But what in this beautiful home has gone so terribly bad?

I received a ARC from netgalley in exchange for a honest review.

 This book draws you in straight away with a desperate 911 call and the officers responding  and just finding blood. You are then transported back to 2001 where we met Maddie and Jo in Skopje where Jo helps refugees get supplies for the camps. While there they meet 4 British bodyguards one of whom is Ian. This is where Maddies, Ian and Jos story begins.

 I found this  to be a slow paced book to begin with but as the story started developing I found myself being drawn in more and more. The time line flips from 2001 back to 2017 and starts at 12 weeks before the 911 call. We go on a journey with Maddie as she starts therapy  and makes some realisations about her life and marriage.

 The theme of PTSD is strong throughout this book and its affects on not just the solider but the people around them and how they can affect those closet to them.

 I did work out who was killed before the ending and I kind of guessed who did it but I did not imagine the why and how. The twist in this book is definitely the how rather than the who and the lengths people can go to if they think it's right.