. The book follows a family after a huge  tragic loss and tells about how this tragedy has shaped their lives. The mother is having a difficult time coping which shows hugely in her everyday life; the father is struggling to keep his wife’s spirits up and keep the family together. Alongside this, the father seeks out an ex-girlfriend who reappears unexpectedly which he later regrets and ends the relationship. There is a lot of sadness, grief, and disappointment,  but overall, I felt that author had done her research carefully and engaged the readers throughout the book. I liked the fact the book was written in two parts - the first part took the reader through the lives of the mother, father and their daughter Esme, which led into the tragedy and then the subsequent birth of another daughter and then  in the second part of the book, the author still had the reader engaged in following their lives and and we could see how the tragedy had affected their lives 25 years later.  A well written book with some very sad overtones but with positive vibes in the second part of the book.

I think it would be quite a challenge to read this empathically written book without empathising with the characters.
Dealing with emotions around the theme of loss, grief, and guilt the book is very well written. Heart wrenching at times I read wondering if there are echoes of first hand experience within the pages....
Recommended with a cautionary warning of some may wish to pick when they read this dependent on their own emotional state...but also I think that the book, though seemingly fiction, it does leave the reader with reassurances of "normal" or "expected" responses to loss due to death.... this in mind, the book may well aid readers to share theircown grief and feel a little better in doing so.

Wow. What a book. This is gripping and I couldn’t put the book down. 
A very emotional read and I was in tears at the ending. An amazing book. 

I received this book from netgallety in exchange for a honest review

I loved this book, I read it nearly all in the bath - had to refill the hot water 3 times and came out looking like a prune but I just couldn't put it down! It follows the story of a young family who have experienced the most awful tragedy; losing a much loved child and sister in a tragic accident,  The first half of the book is set in the aftermath of the accident and we follow how the remaining family members are coping or not coping. The second half is set 25 years later and we see how the tragedy is still affecting the family.

This book is so well written, I couldn't find fault with it at all, the characters are well fleshed out and we are given brilliant insight into their lives, thoughts and feelings, it really brought them to life and I felt so much empathy for them all. There are several parts where the characters behave pretty poorly but because of the way they were written I could see exactly why they did what they did. 

I would definitely recommend this book and would be very interested to read more from Laura Pearson, although with more tissues next time!

Ultimately, this is the story of the power and devastation of unrequited guilt.  

The lives of Tom, Linda, Esme, Phoebe and Bea are permanently scarred and shattered by the circumstances of the tragic death of Phoebe at age 3.  Because of circumstances each takes on guilt for the death and each then retreats into his/her own cocoon, not knowing how to reconcile the guilt nor how to bond together to grieve and then live.  And of course, the most tragic of all is poor Bea who was not even born until after Phoebe’s death and never knew her mother.

From time to time while reading, I wanted to shake various characters and say, “Talk to each other!  Express your feelings!  Grieve together – Heal together!  You’ve got a precious new family member who shouldn’t bear the brunt of your guilt – she shouldn’t be dragged into the quagmire of your despair.”

But in all honesty, I truly do understand that that’s very difficult to do when being burdened with such terrible guilt.

This book was very deep and probed the emotions in a family.  It was quite thought provoking.

Many thanks to NetGalley and Ipso Books for an ARC.  All opinions are my own.

Wow! Missing Pieces is gripping, heartbreaking and I did not want to put it down. Laura Pearson's writing is phenominal. Losing a child (of any age) has to be the worst thing parents can go through. Learning to move forward without that child is just so hard. This book grabbed me from page 1. It is gripping throughout and the ending had me crying! I've only cried TWICE reading books! This is one of my favorite books of 2018 so far!! I received this book from the publisher and NetGalley for an honest review. I loved it and highly recommend it to all!!

To have loved so deeply only to have lost while simultaneously feeling the guilt for days to come is just part of this diverse, heartbreaking, yet utterly moving work by Laura Pearson.
The void of losing a child can never be replaced. Not by time. Not by future siblings. Not by anything other than one day hoping to meet again.
Phoebe may have been the favorite child but Esme was the oldest with three years between them.
Beatrice (Bea) was the 3rd child that Linda had given birth too prior to her passing from unexpected circumstances.
While pregnant and tending to the children Linda learned that her spouse Tom was not connected intimately nor emotionally and instead was having an affair with Marianne.
Phoebe was an attention seeking hungry kid while Bea became the first to produce a grandchild.
This amazing story was held together by the fact that we as readers had no idea what ever happened to Phoebe and why she passed at such a young age till near the very end. 
So imagine the anxiety trying to uncover the truths here and having to endure this heartache.
Having endured this pain with the loss of my brother's only daughter (my niece Cassie Ann Gatcha) and having gone from having two kids to his son becoming an only child reiterates this statement that ," Life is short."
Birth order often has it's own set of circumstances yet here we see the change in family dynamic and how it cracks the very foundation upon which it's built.
Yet perhaps this family can be saved, and the emotions and turmoil be processed in a healthy more productive means for all involved.
I absolutely loved this plot and I thank Laura, her publisher, and NetGalley along with Aldiko for providing me this ARC copy in exchange for this honest review

Missing Pieces is one of the most moving books of the year.  Laura Pearson's writing in this debut novel is beautiful and a complex story is well told. 

A family is torn apart by the death of a young child, Phoebe, and the reader is kept guessing as to the manner of her death until the end. Each member of Phoebe's family: her mother, father and older sister all feel responsible for Phoebe's death. When a new baby, Bea, is born the loss of Phoebe is magnified for them all. 

The story is told in timelines twenty five years apart. In 1985 we follow Linda, wife of Tom and mother of 7 year old Esme and 3 year old Phoebe as she tries to come to terms with the loss of her younger daughter.  The birth of Bea only serves to exacerbate Linda's pain. In 2011 Bea is about to become a mother herself and wants to know more about the sister who died before she was born.  Esme finds the only way she can give the  information Bea so desperately craves is to write letters detailingPhoebe's short life. Through this device the family's story is revealed.

I  particularly felt for Linda and the pain she suffered; I liked  Tom in his role as father especially through the stories he told Esme, but not as a husband. However, Laura Pearson excels in illustrating human frailties so Tom was most realistic. What struck me strongly was the lack of support given to postnatal mothers in the 1980s and the lack of communication within families that continues to this day.

I especially liked that the book is written in the third person and manages to remain close to each character's inner feelings. The one irritant for me was the number of days listed at the beginning of each chapter which I  found a distraction. 

I'm sure Missing Pieces will be a great success and I look forward to reading more from Laura Pearson. Many thanks to NetGalley and Ipso Books for the opportunity to read and review Missing Pieces.

Have you ever experienced something and felt such regret? What if that regret was trusting somebody you thought was trustworthy? Missing Pieces is layered with feelings of loss, regret, sadness, hopelessness. It is also layered with hope, happiness and strength. The Sadler family experienced an ultimate tragedy and cannot move past it. Each character has to live with a regret of their own and instead of them growing closer through this hard time, they grow even further apart. My heart broke during Missing Pieces but my heart was also repaired by the hope that Missing Pieces instilled. Once you begin Missing Pieces, you will not be able to put it down until you find the missing pieces in the Sadler family.

Great read. Very emotional. Different to my usual reads. But very enjoyable even in the circumstances of the plot of the book

I would like to thank NetGalley and the publisher for the opportunity to read this advanced Kindle copy of "Missing Pieces" in exchange for an honest review. "Missing Pieces" describes life for a family after the death of a child. Phoebe's mother, father and sister all feel responsible for her death for different reasons. The story covers the events that took place the night Phoebe died and the fallout from that time until almost 30 years later. Laura Pearson's writing is sharp, breathtakingly sad and poignant.  She takes the reader through a journey of one family's pain and heartache and chance for recovery. The story seems so realistic that its difficult to believe that its not based on true events. I highly recommend this debut novel from Ms. Pearson.

Gripping, tragic and thrilling. Three words to describe this book. The book follows a family after a tragic loss and tells about how this tragedy has shaped their lives. The mother is having a difficult time coping and it shows in her daily life, the father is struggling to keep his wife's spirits up and keep the family together. To find out what tragic I am talking about, you'll have to check out the book and find out :)

I was hooked on this book from the very first page. This book had me up reading into the late hours of the night, often until 2am or later to find out what was going to happen next. Be prepared for a lot of "wow" and "oh no" moments and even a tear or two as you read about the family dynamics and tragedy in this book. So much sadness and grief and it pulls on your heart strings.

I liked how this book was written in two parts. In the first part of the book you follow the lives of the mother, father and their daughter Esme leading up to the tragedy and the time that follows. In the second part of the book you follow their lives and how the tragedy has affected their lives 25 years later.

Thank you to Net Galley and Ipso Books for an ARC copy of this book. It was a pleasure to read and give my honest review.

This novel is heartbreaking yet hopeful. It takes the reader on a journey from the depiction of visceral, absolute grief, to the possibility of redemption. It’s a hard read (especially if you’re a parent), but it’s worth the heartache and tears to share the lives of Sadlers as they try to repair their broken lives. This is a beautifully written debut novel, and I look forward to reading more from this author.

Missing Pieces is a beautifully writing but heartbreaking read. It needs to come with a box of tissues. Covering big issues of bereavement, infidelity, motherhood and what it means to be family, Laura Pearson's writing is exquisite and lyrical. From the very start, the images she creates will stay in your mind for days.. I loved how the story was told in two ways with the past and the present and how each family member's truth is revealed.

A beautiful story and I look forward to reading more by this author.. Thank you to ipso and netgalley for this advance reading copy.

Just finished Missing Pieces by @LauraPAuthor What a read! Cried lots but loved it & it's brilliantly written. Highly recommended.

Missing Pieces follows the Sadler family – Mum Linda, Dad Tom, and their daughters – in the immediate aftermath of a terrible tragedy, one that eventually tears the family apart.

I wish I could tell you more about the plot, but I think it’s better to not give anything away. I’ll talk about the general themes, though – chiefly, the theme of grief and loss. The pure pain that Linda feels is almost uncomfortable to read. This is a book that does not shy away from grief; in fact, it stares grief full in the face. Quite a few times, the beautiful writing about loss took my breath away, and made me cry. I do feel that I wouldn’t have been able to read it had I been in a vulnerable place myself – but then again, I think as a society we are uncomfortable with death, and we don’t like to face up to it, but books like this help to shed light on it.

The book is split into two sections – the first few weeks and months after the tragedy, and then 25 years later, where we see one of the daughters, Bea, attempting to uncover what exactly happened all those years ago, and why her family won’t give her the answers to her questions.

The theme of identity shines through Bea’s character, who feels that a large part of her history is missing, and that she cannot move into a new chapter of her life without it being resolved. All the family members struggle with this – reconciling the past with who they have become, and working out how to accept what happened and move into the future, hopefully repairing their relationships in the process.

Missing Pieces is a gripping read, partly because the main details of the incident itself are kept from you, with little hints here and there as to what happened. You feel as though you are going on a journey with Bea as she tries to uncover the truth.

I loved the writing style, too – it was easy to get into, but beautifully descriptive.

Thank you to Ipso Books and NetGalley for the e-ARC!

A really good debut novel, I look forward to her next book!
This book is well written, the characters are relatable and I really enjoyed the unravelling of the story. It’s heartbreakingly sad though.

A story of a hearbreaking loss and the dysfunction that follows. The first half was excellent and I flew through it and the second half fell a bit.  The writing is beautiful and the characters are very easy to connect with. I will be looking for more from this author in the future!

'And Linda felt like getting inside it, curling up with her daughter and going to sleep.

But the coffin was too small.'

This is one of the saddest stories I’ve read this year. A family torn apart by one tragic moment, each person shouldering blame that severs each relationship and demands love and support that is no longer possible to give. It begins with a countdown, 21 days after the nightmare that has Linda longing for nothing more than eternal sleep, but with a baby inside her womb she can’t cave in to darkness. All she wants is make the child go away, there is nothing left inside of her for the newborn on the way, and certainly no comfort to give her eldest daughter, Esme.

Esme’s grief and shame is burying her, she needs her mother now more than ever. But Linda can’t stomach even looking at her little girl without wanting to hurt her. Still, in the beginning she tries, she attempts to rally enough energy, some remnant of ‘life’ to at least be present. She knows it isn’t fair to her husband Tom and daughter, nor to their unborn child but fair is no longer reality, not for any of them. There is no such thing as fair, she knows this now, it is a brutal truth the universe has taught them all. After losing Phoebe, everything isn’t just a challenge, it’s an impossibility. She is sinking in depression that is feeding her rage, and Esme is trapped between her parents, protective of the mother that seems to hate her so much. Her childhood is over, she is only 7 years old when her mother decides to erase all reminders of Phoebe, so that maybe she can go on, so that maybe she can breathe and get through just one day. When Linda isn’t feeling judged by other mothers for collapsing under her grief and being a terrible mother to Esme,  resentful of husband Tom, then she is hearing her dead daughter’s voice. She needs help! When the new baby arrives, it should be a moment of rebirth for the entire family, a chance to heal, but Linda cannot escape her sorrow. Esme becomes Bea’s second mother of sorts, a stand in for the love and care her mother can’t bear to give. That care verges on suffocating, because she will do everything to keep Bea safe.

Fast forward to the future, Part 2 and Bea is about to have a child of her own. There is a strain between she and Esme. This novel beautifully exposes how children, with an age gap, can live a completely different upbringing within the same family. All Esme ever wanted to do is protect Bea from the heavy weight of the grief she has lived and breathed since before Bea was born. To keep Bea safe becomes a second chance for the unforgivable mistake made with Phoebe. Esme hasn’t had much of a life of her own, hasn’t felt she deserved one, not after her mother Linda fell apart, and what about Tom, her father? If there are secrets that have been kept from Bea, there too are things Tom and Linda had kept from Esme, that changes everything she believed about that ill-fated day when she lost her beloved little sister. Just who is to blame?

It is about regret, how making one poor judgement can cost you everything. How many moments have we ourselves dodged, simply through fate? One may never know. It is not having the full story, and how Bea’s relationship with her family is damaged by fear, by the unspeakable truths we keep close thinking it’s the only way to salvage the remains of happiness, the only chance to keep someone safe. It’s how much of our future we give away to guilt, to pain. This is a heavy read, and as a mother one can understand Linda’s struggle with shame, rage, hopelessness and bottomless grief. Tom has his own burden to bear, he too made a mistake, as did Esme (though of all of them, surely Esme is the least to blame)? What a position for so young a child to be in. It seems like an impossible scenario, but such things have happened, and I always wonder ‘my god, how does a child move on from such a terrible accident.’ A heavy read. Maybe there is hope for healing, but tragedy is an unwanted guest that refuses to leave. Will they ever be a family again, will Bea ever have all the Missing Pieces and finally know what happened? What about her pregnancy? What does it mean for her future? This is a weeper.

Publication Date: June 21, 2018

Ipso Books

This novel is an emotionally charged story - a debut from a natural born writer. An ordinary family are thrust into a tragedy when their three-year-old daughter Phoebe dies. There is a snowball effect, and a series of further tragedies as the family fail to cope with the fall-out. Suffering the loss of a child must be a devastating ordeal. To cope with it during pregnancy when the hormones are crazy must be far worse. All the characters seem to close off believing they are responsible for the death and indeed they are a lot of "if only....." situations and serious issues to work through. Each member of the family has their individual way of recovery. None of them wise or workable. Strangely I found myself perpetually changing my opinions of the family members as the story progressed. There is love in the family, but it sours and stagnates as they blame themselves, each other or believe others are blaming them. These secrets emotionally separate the family. Will they find peace and forgiveness? Thank you to NetGalley and Ipso.