I was hooked on this book from the start. The story of how a family puts itself back together when their daughter, missing for 7 years from the age of 8, suddenly reappears. Who has had her and why does the detective think the family know him? What secrets are they all hiding? Each thinks it is their fault Abigail was taken and the sadness is how this gets in the way of showing their natural joy at her return. Only her cousin Jess, the same age, and always like an extension of each other, can get through to her, I felt for Anne, the mum, who felt it was all her fault and who couldn't allow herself to get close to Abigail. We don't find out the extent of what happened to her during those years, and only at the end does Abigail allow herself to say anything about it being a bad experience and not just her normal life. This was an easy book to read, and while my heart ached, I needed to find out what was behind the abduction. #NetGalley #LittleWhiteLies

So much revealed at the end that you finally, finally understand the trauma a missing girl was put through. The book also shows how a tightly-knit family can strangle itself unless, in this case, catastrophic events contrive to set everyone free. A painful yet surprisingly relateable story.

I got frustrated with this book in places as the author over described things and left other things unsaid. Though I do suggest you try this book for yourself and I know I will be looking for what the author comes up with next.

This was a really emotional story. It was mainly told from two perspectives, that of Abigail’s mum Anne and Abigail’s cousin Jess who is the same age as her. 

I really enjoy books that are structured in this way and you could really feel the emotions that had been felt by the whole family while Abigail was absent for so long and then how everything begins to unravel after she comes back. 

The family is fractured and has been for a while even though they do their best to keep everything together and show a united front. The main focus of the book is on what happens after Abigail’s return and the struggles this brings in reintroducing her to her home and family. 

It’s only when the case goes to court that we hear more details of what Abigail went through and even though it isn’t explained in vast detail it is more than enough to understand just how damaging an ordeal it was, both mentally and physically.

Anne is keeping a secret from some of the most important people in the family and the burden on those that know the truth has a knock on effect to the whole family.

Although I could already sense early on what had happened the day her daughter disappeared there was still a twist that so I didn’t see coming that made this story even more complex.

This is a great insight into a parents worst nightmare. The relationships between siblings and the dynamics of family life and the thin line between love and control. 

We see through this families story how the mistakes we make, the choices we decide and the lies we tell to ourselves as well as to others can change everything.

Little White Lies by Philippa East is a beautifully written and totally captivating story. I was transfixed from the outset, despite the book's unoriginal title.

Whilst at the railway station, Anne White only looks away from her young daughter, Abigail for a second, but that’s all it took for her to vanish into thin air. Seven years later, Abigail is found. As Anne struggles to connect with her teenage daughter, she begins to question how much Abigail remembers about the day she disappeared…

This delightful story alternates between the perspectives of Anne, and Jess who is Abigail’s cousin, with brief extracts from Lillian (Anne’s sister). The reunion of Abigail with her family should have been a joyous occasion, but it wasn't and so the story unrelentingly explores the emotions of that return. Philippa East has written this cleverly constructed tale complete with realistic and believable characters, and a winsome plot.

Little White Lies is a cracking début novel and Philippa East clearly has tremendous talent. I'm tickled pink that I had an opportunity to read this book, and I will certainly be keeping an eye out for future releases from the author.

I recommend this family-drama-style, emotional thriller with confidence.

I received a complimentary copy of this novel from HQ via NetGalley at my request, and this review is my own unbiased opinion.

This book sadly was not for me.
Did not like any of the characters and felt the story was rather laboured and the lies were very little and inconsequential, hardly worth waiting for. Perhaps I have read too many of this type of book lately, as there are a lot of them around, and this one did not have anything to make it stand out.
Thanks to Netgalley and Harlequin for the ARC copy in return for my review.

As we all know I love a good thriller and I particularly enjoyed the pace of this book. It's a great concept to tell the story of the aftermath of a disappearance rather than the search, which is different to any other mystery I've read before.

It's been 7 years since Abigail went missing when one day she just walks into a police station in London. Her mother Anne has been waiting and praying for this day and it should be a happy reunion, but it soon becomes one of suspicion, mystery and lies.
Anne desperately wants to reconnect with her daughter, but she doesn't know how to after all these years. She's torn by what Abigail does or doesn't remember from the day she disappeared and so we follow this emotional, twisted journey until everything overflows and the truth comes out.

This is an emotional thriller and a wonderful debut!

Really enjoyed this book thank you. Vibrant, believable, characters and an absorbing plot. I will ensure I look out for this author in the future!

An intriguing thriller about complex family relationships. The story starts with the return of a child abducted seven years earlier - when eight-year old Abigail disappeared after her mother had looked away for a moment when on a crowded tube train. apparently an exhaustive police search had produced nothing so the family feared the worst - but out of the blue Abigail was found. The novel deals with the situation form the points of view of Abigail's mother, aunt and cousin Jess. It is clear that the whole truth had never come out but the situation becomes clearer as the trial of the abductor approaches.

This is another thriller (can you tell I like them?) but I actually found it really quite unique.
Seven years ago, Anne lost her daughter. She went missing at a train station: caught on CCTV climbing the steps out to the street, and then gone without a trace. But now she's back, and Anne is happy - isn't she? Her family is finally back together, her twins have their big sister back, and they're going to find out who did this.
But Anne isn't happy. Everything isn't right. There are secrets holding her back from being happy.
As is often the case, everything is not as simple as it first seems. Abigail (the daughter)'s case seems to be solved; the abductor has been found, Abigail is home. But there are still so many questions to be answered, so many holes to be filled. Everyone seems to be hiding something - sometimes without even knowing.
I really liked the approach of this book. Ok, it's not the first time that the family has been hiding something. But the 'secrets' that come to life are... different to usual. 
Actually, I kind of thought it was a bit exaggerated, honestly. As in, the secrets weren't that bad. But I won't say too much in case I spoil it for any potential readers.
Overall, I thoroughly enjoyed this book. I was excited to find out more, to discover the truth of what happened. 4 stars.

Little White Lies is a book that will have you guessing the twist but I don’t think your going to get it, I certainly didn’t!
We start this journey with Anne White reviewing the news that her missing daughter, Abigail, has been found after seven long years. Abigail was just eight years old when she went missing on a busy London train station platform. Abigail has come to a police station with another young girl who vanished days earlier, the man who abducted them has not been found yet.
The book follows Anne’s delight of having her daughter back to the realism that she isn’t the same girl that went all those years ago as she has suffered s9me horrendous things. Anne is also hiding something that happened on the day of the disappearance that you don’t get to find out towards the end of the book but I would never have guessed it.
I really enjoyed this book and will look out for more by Philippa East in the future.
I would like to thank Netgalley and HQ for this ARC I received in exchange for an honest review.

I have a daughter called Abigail who is a similar age to the Abigail in this story when she was taken. Was so easy to fall into this book and be there in the situations the family found themselves in. 
I thought the twists were great and couldn't work out 18 minutes from the end, what would happen and then the twist with Abigail and Jess.... An absolutely awesome novel that got me hooked from the beginning!

A sincere thank you to the publisher, author and Netgalley for providing me an ebook copy of this book in exchange for a fair and honest review. I enjoyed this story very much and felt like I knew each character personally due to the description of them. I enjoyed the storyline. This is not my usual genre but in this instance I am extremely pleased and grateful for opening up my mind to something totally different. Thanks again.

Little White Lies by Philippa East
This book opens with the return of Abigail, who has been missing for 7 years, it grips from the opening paragraph and it does not let go until you arrive, breathless at the last page.  
Abigail’s return to the family is unusual; she has walked into a police station clutching the hand of a six year old girl who had also been abducted. The man who abducted the girls has not been located and there are fears he could try to snatch Abigail back.
The girl who returns to the family home is not however the one who left all those years before; she has been altered by the terrible events to which she has been subjected.  For years the family have been dreaming, hoping for her return and yet when it does happen the family is dramatically affected. We know that there is a devastating secret which Anne, Abigail’s mother, has hidden all these years and we read on desperate to discover what it is.  
Told from the perspectives of Anne and Jess (Abigail’s cousin) we witness the impact of Abigail’s return on everyone in the family and the way in which a small mistake can influence your whole life. A fascinating book which I will definitely recommend to all my book groups.  Many thanks to Net Galley and the publishers for the opportunity to read this book in return for an honest review.

This debut novel by Philippa East is most certainly thought provoking. I’ve had to consider my thoughts carefully before posting a review, being in two minds whether I loved or hated it! The fact I was left unsure about the characters behaviours and the light in which they are portrayed means the author has successfully tapped into my own psyche creating many questions about responsibility, trust, protection, guilt and little white lies!!
I’m in agreement that this is a dark, chilling and unnerving storyline. From the very beginning I felt a deep sense of unease and foreboding despite the fact that after having been abducted outside a tube station seven years ago, Abigail is miraculously returned to her childhood home. It isn’t the joyous homecoming you might expect.
Told from a few perspectives, the author has used her own professional expertise to imagine what happens to a family in these rarest of circumstances. With a background in dealing with childhood trauma, Little White Lies is an extremely well written book which engaged me from the start. There is definitely a slow build up of tension with every turn of the page, making me feel quite unsettled about how events will unfold. Of course, whilst overjoyed with such a dramatic turn of events, Abigail’s family are at a loss as how to behave. Much of this storyline focuses on Anne, Abigail’s mother,and it is as though they are all stuck at the time of Abigail’s disappearance, unable to move forward and acting as if she is still that eight year old girl. How on earth would any of us know how to behave when faced with such circumstances?? Unfortunately I immediately found Anne to be a cold, detached mother, despite also having twin boys to parent,who  were only nine months old when their sister was abducted. It’s clear that Anne is hiding some terrible secret but exactly what??
I couldn’t understand why Anne is so beholden to her sister Lillian, a controlling woman who is difficult to like. It’s almost like Anne is a puppet and Lillian holds the strings, expecting everyone to dance to her tune. I appreciate her sister had rescued her and Abigail from a troubled relationship many years ago but why Anne cannot trust her own instincts becomes apparent as the storyline develops.
Jess, Lillian and Fraser’s only daughter is a strange character, again someone I couldn’t particularly warm to. With only two weeks separating her and Abigail in age, they always had an incredibly close connection,which Jess thinks will have survived the past seven years. What no one in this  broken family can comprehend or allow for is that Abigail is a damaged soul, exposed to untruths and unimaginable horrors and of course she is going to be undoubtedly altered from time spent imprisoned by her abductor.
Sadly I didn’t feel much empathy towards Abigail, viewing her as a difficult child prior to her abduction and I felt conflicted in my emotions as to how much she seemed to hate  Anne. I can understand her distrust but equally there are other individuals here who need to shoulder responsibility too. Neither Anne nor Lillian come out of this scenario well since both are guilty of hiding the truth but the flaws in their characters prove they are ordinary human beings.
The build up to the revealing of Anne’s terrible secret is in my opinion too protracted and when it came my first thoughts were ‘oh is that it??’ leaving me feeling rather underwhelmed and disappointed. In retrospect, whilst I still think she’s only human, a stressed out angry woman who has years to regret that moment’s hesitation that leads to Abigail’s abduction, it’s so easy to pass judgement and criticise her behaviour. Later scenes between Abigail and her mother pack a powerful punch so that you totally understand how much Anne has failed to protect her child and let her down.
The ending is dramatic and strange, with the bond between Jess and Abigail tested to the extreme. I can see why the author has included these scenes as a way for Abigail to move on in her life towards a more hopeful future but wonder whether it had to happen in such a frightening way.
Highly recommend and hope this author’s writing career goes from strength to strength after such an impressive debut.
My thanks as always to the author and publisher and Netgalley for allowing me to read in exchange for an honest review.

Definitely an intriguing book that keeps you guessing throughout. Phillipa East the author uses her psychologist talents very well and has produced a book that showcases that. I don’t like to give spoilers of books so won’t outline the story but suffice to say it’s a book worth reading especially if you like psychological thrillers.

My thanks to HQ for an eARC via NetGalley of ‘Little White Lies’ by Philippa East in exchange for an honest review.

Seven years ago Anne White was in London with her nine-month old twins and eight-year old daughter, Abigail. She had only looked away for a second, but that’s all it took to lose sight of her daughter. The family engaged with the police in a wide search for Abigail to no avail. Her bedroom back home in Lincolnshire slowly became a cross between a shrine and an incident room, its walls covered with newspaper cuttings about Abigail and similar abductions. 

Now amazingly Abigail has been found. Anne struggles to connect with Abigail, who is acting rather oddly. PTSD? Stockholm Syndrome? No more details as with thrillers of this type I believe it best to read without too many plot details to allow the suspense to build. 

The narrative moves between various characters’ points of view. Who is telling the little white lies of the title?

I felt that it was an impressive debut with plenty of suspense along with twists that snuck up on me. It also explores various family dynamics. I found myself very caught up in Jess’ experiences being Abigail’s slightly younger cousin, who acutely felt her loss and struggles to understand the changes in someone she considers almost a sister.

Once I began reading, this proved to be almost impossible to put down.

3.5 stars rounded up to 4.

As a Mum this book was a bit hard to read. Reading about a child abduction wasn't an easy topic, but the more I kept turning the pages to see how everything turned out. I truly did enjoy this book, and the characters are real to life and likeable.

Fifteen year old Abigail is returned to her parents after being held captive for seven years. She had been abducted when she was just eight years old.  The fa ily try to bond again. But the secrets behind what happened that day and then there's the guilt of the family members that were involved. Also there is a teenager trying to make sense of what happened that day. At the trial the missing pieces are put together. 

This is a hard  ook to read but once you start reading, youmwill  ot want to put it down. The story is full of secrets, lies and twisted relationships. The story has a dual narrative that told by Abigail's mum and her cousin, Jess. We don't find out what really happened until the abductor is brought to trial near the end of the book. This is one of the best  missing people stories that I have read.

I would like to thank NetGalley, HQ and the author Philippa East for my ARC in exchange for an honest review.

The premise of this book intrigued me. A kidnapped girl returning home to her family after seven years. The lies, the secrets, and the guilt all coming to fruition from when she returns through to the trial of her kidnapper.

It wasn't as gripping as I had hoped, I wouldn't class this as a thriller but more of a family drama. That said, I still enjoyed the book and flew through it quickly.

The alternating narratives between Abigail's mother, Anne, and her cousin, Jess, built the background of both the family and of Abigail herself. The family dynamics were obviously a little faulty, but I think that made it all the more interesting, trying to work out what was wrong. There were definitely some little white lies within the family.

The variety of characters was relatable too; the controlling person, the weaker one, the person who shoulders the guilt, the innocent ones. I can't say I liked them all, but as a reader I don't think you are meant to.

As a debut novel I was impressed. It was well written, flowed easily and I found I was drawn back to it when life got in the way. I will definitely look out for more of this authors work.