ive read a lot of this author’s books and have always enjoyed them. i love this series and it feels like reading about old friends. i hope to read more.

many thanks to netgalley and the publishers for the advanced copy in exchange for an honest review.

970s London has stopped swinging, but it's not staying still.

Babs thought she had all the world ahead of her. Then she got pregnant and the father did a runner.

Salvation comes in the form of a man who'll look after her. Or so she thinks.

But Stan Miller is the devil in disguise...and over the next twenty years, Babs will have reason to regret she ever met him. Can she protect her family - or will he get the better of her?

This is the second book in the series and lived up to my expectations-as good as if not better than Lynda la Plante!!!!

Dreda Say Mitchell delivers a real tough gritty story with Blood Mother.
London in the 1970's is the scene and really trusting the wrong person, manipulation, lies, betrayal and corruption is the theme.
The characterisation was brilliant & frustrating as I willed Babs to see things, open her eyes and not make the wrong decisions. The pace of the story was brilliant and the descriptive writing really made me imagine the setting. The twists and turns kept me hooked and the grit just made it!.

This book is the second in a set of three, I bought number 1 so I could read them as they were meant to be. I loved the story of the Millers and the people surrounding them.

This book goes back into the 70's to delve into the past of Babs, the mother and throws light on lots of questions that arise in the first book. You understand where the feuds have started and how this shaped everyone.

Dreda has wrote a smasher of a book...again! I cannot recommend this book, in fact the full trilogy.They are worth every penny so absorbing and readable, I loved it!!!

This is the second in a trilogy and I’m really looking forward to the last instalment. It won’t be long now, I hope anyway.

This book has answered some questions and filled in a couple of gaps from the first book. Its some start to a book when the main character turns up to her 50th party covered in blood, is it her blood or someone else’s? Has she been hurt or hurt someone? Then bang we are back in London during the 60s Babs is pregnant and the father has done a bunk. She gets a job and meets Stanley Miller who she looks at through rose tinted glasses and when he offers to marry her to legitimise her child and give her marital status within the community she can’t believe her luck. She never knew till too late that it was bad luck.
Babs grows into the what we would expect, the hardened mob wife, but, we see her realising its all a lie, that Stan is the exact opposite to what she thought he was, devious and treacherous putting himself first at all times. She soon becomes a force to be reckoned with in her own right.
This is an East End family saga, the language is harsh, the violence is grim and the people are colourful and in some ways absolutely charming, even the ones I wanted to throttle.

Read for an honest review. Thank you Netgalley and Hodder and Stoughton

This was a fantastic book from start to finish!!

Within the first couple of pages I was hooked into the storyline, what would Bab's do being pregnant in the 1960's in the East End of London and her boyfriend has done a runner!! And with even more information that will upset her parents what is she going to do??

This has a gritty storyline with a varied mix of characters that makes the story an unstoppable read!!!

Would highly recommend the story and I will look forward to reading other books from this author.

This is book 2 in the trilogy and again s massive 5 star read from me. I devoured this book in a matter of days. In this book we are brought back in time to Babs earlier life. How she met Stan Miller and what happened between them. I am now eagerly awaiting the final book in the trilogy.

Wow this is book two in a trilogy and I couldn't put it down. Book one was more about the lives of Babs Miller's daughter's but this book takes you back to the beginning so you find out how Babs got a secret half caste daughter and how she got involved and married to Stan Miller. After no sight of Stan for most of her daughters lives and all of her grandchildren's lives Babs gets on with family life without a second thought to him but the bad penny turns up and turns Babs life and that of her family upside down all over again. Is he a changed man worth a second chance or is he still up to no good. A gripping read and can't wait for book three.

Having loved the first book in this trilogy, I couldn't wait to get started on the next installment and I wasn't disappointed.

What a fantastic and gripping story Dreda Say Mitchell has written. This is riveting, unputdownable reading, I was torn between not wanting it to end, and bursting to find out what happened next.

This book can be read as a standalone as there is enough backstory but to really understand the characters and their motivations, I'd strongly recommend reading Blood Sister first. `
I can't wait to read Blood Daughter the final part of this trilogy.

Thank you

Another fantastic book from dreda say mitchelle. Really enjoyed this next instalment loved the way the book linked to the first. Can't wait for the third!

This is the second in the Flesh and Blood trilogy but the first one for me. It works very well as a standalone. This is an East End saga about one family with strong women who have suffered, wide boys, thugs, female friendships, betrayal, and murder. It begins with Babs Miller arriving at her fiftieth birthday celebrations covered in blood. The book then goes back to 1972 where a naive and pregnant Babs learns the hard way that men are not to be trusted as Neville, her black boyfriend, turns out to be a man who is involved with multiple women and no longer wants to know her. She then meets Stanley Miller, who in her eyes is the dream man. Oh dear.

Stanley is a man going places, confident in his abilities, and with what appears to be a soft spot for Babs and seems to solve her woes when he marries her and they settle into a council flat. He has some dubious and sleazy business enterprises and is in partnership with Mickey who has a devious and street smart wife, Melanie. There is significant conflict between the three of them as they endeavour to bring each other down. Babs has little idea of what exactly Stan does or the nature of his business practices. She just does exactly what she is told, including signing anything he puts in front of her. She is griefstricken when she loses her new born baby, and her parents disown her. Over the years she has two daughters, Jen and Tiffany, and a marriage that has deeply disappointed her but she is a woman who stands by her man. That is until her bubble starts to burst, as the truth slowly begins to emerge, leaving her shell shocked. She learns to become a strong woman, with close friends, who will do anything to protect her family. We come full circle as we learn the circumstances in which Babs comes to be covered in blood at her party.

This is a fast paced character driven read. In some senses it does have elements which feel a little like a soap opera, it has so much happening and is just full of drama. It does draw you in and you can't help yourself but want to know where it is all going to end. It charts the racism of the early 1970s and just how much things have changed. If you like the thought of reading about the lives and tribulations of a family of Eastenders, this is the book for you. Thanks to Hodder and Stoughton for an ARC.

DSM well well well... Another blinder of book here, and it so deserves every single one of the 5*s I'm giving it.
Book 2 in the trilogy following one family over 40 years. Having recently read the first book - Blood Sister, I couldn't wait to get stuck into this one.
​I was a little unsure on what to expect as in this book we go back in time, 40 years, and I wasn't sure how I would cope with it, But My My My.... I had nothing to fear at all. I loved every bit of this book, and found it interesting finding out a little more about Babs and her up bringing. Her leap into adulthood and how her life completely changed.
​Bab's is facing life as a single mother, "Oh the Shame" It was amazing reading the views of people and realising just how much times have changed.  Babs has been left high and dry when she finds herself pregnant and the father is now nowhere to be seen.

Babs then meets the man of her dreams, he's going to make everything ok for her. He is everything she has ever wanted. Or is he?
​Stanley Miller, Business man extraordinaire, is pretty much just a criminal ar*e hole. But he's certainly turned Babs into a wreak when she's around him.
He seems to be her knight in shining armour.
Life certainly becomes a roller coaster for Babs and life with Stanley Miller is going to change her forever.
​Babs really is a fantastic character and I have loved reading about her and what life has thrown at her. She really is on a journey of survival of the fittest. Can she make it? You will only find out by reading the books.

​But OH MY GOD  that ending has left me needing and wanting the next book NOW.  
​This book is another fantastic read, and I'm so glad I have read it, I thoroughly enjoyed every bit of it, and could not turn the pages quick enough.  

I am so ready for the next one Blood Daughter is out 24th August 2017.
​It's funny how you seem to wish your life away when waiting for the next book.

Second book in a trilogy and after that ending....I can't wait for book 3! Set in east London in the 70's and up to 2000, this book has lies, betrayal, greed and a whole load of manipulation at the core. Babs is a complex character and at times I felt sorry for her but other times I wanted to slap her! Full of great characters, this book is a real gritty tale. Many thanks to Net Galley for my copy. I reviewed on Goodreads and Amazon.

I was beyond thrilled when DSM announced she was releasing a trilogy and when I got my mitts on the first book (Blood Daughter) I was thrilled as it was an absolutely cracking read. Book one featured Jen and Tiff Miller the two daughters of Babs Miller. For the second in the trilogy we go back over the last 40 years and Babs Miller becomes the main character. I have to hold my hands up and say the first few chapters were slow going and I was surprised as I thought I would get straight into it. However once I got to about chapter 10, all of that was gone and the book picked up the pace.

We go back to the very beginning and see Babs during her younger years. It the 70's in London and when she gets pregnant and the father does a runner she has no idea what to do. She then runs into Stanley Miller, a man who she sees as her saviour. At first glance it seems that way even to the reader, apart from that underlying fear that nothing is that good. In turn we see Stan's brother Pete make a feature, as well as his so-called Business Partner Mickey Ingram and his wife Mel. The story unfolds and the events become just a little bit clearer as each layer becomes exposed.

The book comes in 3 parts and is set so that the reader catches up in time to where the first book ended, and OH MY GOD...what an ending! The story builds up and by the time I got to the last quarter of the book I kept turning too many pages in my haste to get reading. The grand finale features Babs and Stan, alongside her daughters and granddaughters and I TRULY did actually shout NO WAY when I reached the end! It was a belter of a book that had me up late one night to squeeze in 'just a few more chapters'. DSM has also managed to do one of those endings which you just cannot believe she has done, because it just leaves you wanting the conclusion. So to sum up, roll on book 3 in this trilogy and make it fast as I cannot wait to see what happens. These first 2 books have been absolutely brilliant and I am literally on tenterhooks for the third and final instalment Blood Daughter due out in August 2017.