Absolutely loved this book. So tense and gripping. Highly recommended! Can't wait to read more from the author.

Unfortunately, I have not been able to read and review this book.

After losing and replacing my broken Kindle and getting a new phone I was unable to download the title again for review as it was no longer available on Netgalley.

I’m really sorry about this and hope that it won’t affect you allowing me to read and review your titles in the future.

Thank you so much for giving me this opportunity.
Natalie.

A huge Thank You to The author, The publisher and Netgalley for providing the e-arc in exchange for a unbiased review of these works.

A gripping read! fantasic thriller

A great story with betrayals and an amazing twist of family secrets I did have to put it down a few times not because it's written poorly but because I got engrossed if you've been in a relationship that was hard in anyway you will enjoy this book and understand it well done to the author

Bad Seed by Jessica Eames is an intriguing psychological thriller that kept me interested throughout. A promising debut novel that I thoroughly enjoyed, it’s an intense read that keeps you guessing, never quite knowing what is going to happen next.

Nicola’s husband died a year ago. From the outset the reader is made aware that something about her husband’s death isn’t all that it seems. But then, just as she’s finally getting her life back on track, she receives a note. Someone knows what she did. Someone knows the secret she’s been trying her hardest to forget.

Add to that a new boyfriend, a recent illness that the doctor has told her could be the menopause, the strained relationship with her brother-in-law and his wife and the delicate nature of her relationship with her daughter, is it any wonder that Nicola is buckling under the pressure?

Bad Seed is a promising debut novel that kept me guessing throughout. Nicola was a character I found quite difficult to warm to, but that didn’t detract from my enjoyment of the story at all. There were plenty of twists and turns to keep me entertained and the tension was palpable at times, slowly building as we moved towards the thrilling conclusion.

A good read that I would recommend. I look forward to reading more by this author in the future.

Chilling Premise...
Psychological suspense with a chilling premise that delivers. Revenge bites when least expected - protagonist Nicola feels that she's finally moving on in life following the death of her husband, someone, however, has other ideas. Swiftly moving and a definite page turner, cleverly done. A winner.

Nicola lost her husband almost a year ago, and whilst she is grieving, her daughter Sarah is grieving a lot more. Nicola is living in the annexe next to her brother in law's house after not being able to keep her marital house after her husband passed away.
Her brother in law, her husband's brother Ben appears to have a keen interest in Nicola and she doesn't appear to be too happy about it.
Nicola hasn't been feeling well and no-one seems to be taking her seriously. She sadly passes away and then the book begins. Sarah her daughter believes her Mum was murdered and insists the police look into her death.
It turns out Nicola was poisoned, but why who? And why? The likely suspects are Ben, Fiona who is Ben's wife and Phil, Nicola's recent boyfriend.
There was quite a lot going on in the book, with plenty of little diversions. I'll admit I didn't guess who did it which was a good twist, however I struggled to really connect with the book.

Oh wow, I LOVED this book! It definitely has the wow factor as Part One ended and I was absolutely stunned, but that didn't even come close to how gobsmacked I was at the end. Family secrets are always a good hook to have in a book and the secrets in the Gregory family are about to tear them apart. Not content with just the damage caused by secrets, someone wants to speed things up a bit with the use of belladonna, also known as deadly nightshade. Secrets and poison! Awesome!

The story is told in three parts: Part One is Nicola's story having just lost her husband, Part Two is Nicola's daughter, Sarah's story and Part Three is Nicola's sister-in-law Fiona's story. The whole Gregory family is grieving the loss of Charlie Gregory but none more so than Sarah who was devoted to her father. Nicola didn't appear to have the perfect marriage and even Charlie's death doesn't manage to put a rose coloured tint on it as she moves on with her life. Fiona is married to Charlie's step-brother, Ben, and although she invited Nicola to live in an annex in her garden after Charlie's death, she only just manages to tolerate her...for reasons that will become clear when you read the book.

Jessica Eames weaves a cunning tale as the reader is cleverly misdirected through the murderous plot. It's often said that poison is the preferred method of murder used by women, so I must have pointed my virtual finger and shouted 'J'accuse!' to almost all of the female characters in Bad Seed. With so many opportunities and motives, my head was in a spin as I tried to work out who was the real 'Bad Seed'.

I loved every single thing about this book: the fast pace, the cunning plot, the police interview transcripts, the clever misdirection and the multiple possible culprits. It certainly burrowed its roots under my skin and was kept fed and watered by Jessica Eames' stunning imagination and compelling plot. Bad Seed is as chilling as it is gripping; a highly recommended read.

I chose to read an ARC and this is my honest and unbiased opinion.

Told from three different perspectives this book took a little bit of getting used to - but a good enjoyable thriller with a surprising twist.

Thank you to Tracy Fenton at Complusive Readers for my invitation to the tour and to Trapeze books for my copy of the book in return for a fair and honest review.



Nicola has a secret, her perfect life with her husband Charlie and daughter Sarah was not all it appeared to be. Charlie is now dead and Nicola and Sarah are rebuilding their lives.



Nicola is not feeling herself and she thinks it's her age and it is put down to the menopause.

She starts to receive notes that indicate that someone else may know her secret and then it appears that someone has been in her house.

Her symptoms are getting worse is it the menopause or something more sinister ?



This is a great read if you like a domestic noir thriller, it is fast paced and there are many people who Nicola suspects.



Her sister in law, brother in law even her new partner Phil who she has just let have a key.



The book takes a real twist which I did not see coming and I will not reveal anything else due to my fear of revealing spoilers.



A gripping easy read about family, deception and retribution.

If you’re in the mood for a thriller with domestic noir elements but one that isn’t too heavy then this is for you.

Recently widowed Nicole has a secret! And it seems her secret is out. Struggling financially she has moved into her brother-in-law’s annex and is beginning to feel less well each day. Now she has received sinister notes and her possessions seem to be moved about. Unable to tell anyone without revealing her secret, tensions really kick in. Who knows Nicole’s secret?

Told from the perspectives of Nicole, her sister in law and her daughter and with scattered chapters given over to the police investigation the narrative style was perfect to build suspense and tension. I love a book when a tiny snippet of tasty information is given in each chapter and then it moves onto a different perspective and you’re left wondering and contemplating until it returns to that character. This is one of the reasons this book was difficult to put down – I had to keep reading to get back to each character to get more clues.

Clever writing has created a suspenseful plot where it’s anybody’s guess what is going on and each chapter had me second guessing my gut instinct and constantly weighing up evidence.

A twisty, suspenseful novel that will keep you guessing until the very end.

This book is narrated by the three women of an extended family. Nicola Charlie’s wife, Sarah their daughter and Fiona Nicola’s sister in-law. All have unlikeable qualities, secrets and are unreliable. So who can you trust?

Part one was slow, filling you in on the family dynamics and Nicola becoming ill and paranoid. The doctor brushing it off as menopause. This unfortunately being a harsh reality to many women. Part one finishes with such a revelation you then realise you are going to have to keep reading until you get to the end. This is definitely a book to be enjoyed in one sitting.

I’m not going to say much more as I really want to avoid spoilers. I did guess but in no way did it spoil my enjoyment. I just think I’m finally getting the hang of being an armchair detective.

I would really recommend this to readers who enjoy domestic thrillers. The author has obviously done her research and this book is a very accomplished debut. I personally can’t wait to read her next book.

Nicola, a widow, has a secret….but someone else knows.

Her husband Charlie died and left her with money issues, so she moves into brother-in-law, Ben’s annex.

Feeling unwell, her boyfriend insists she visit a GP, but due to her being a woman in her 50’s, she is told it’s probably the menopause…..but is it?

She’s convinced something else is happening as she receives a menacing note and her possessions are being moved. Is it all in her mind?

I can’t say too much for fear of spoiling the story, but this is one of the twistiest domestic noir thrillers I’ve read in a long time.

Told from the perspectives of Nicola, her daughter Sarah and Fion her sister-in-law, this brooding thriller tells of family secrets, lies and ultimately revenge. Brilliant.

Thank you to The author, the author and NetGalley for a free copy of the ebook. This is my honest, unbiased review.

Thanks to Tracey at Compulsive Readers and the publisher for my spot on the blog tour and a copy of the book. My review is unbiased and honest. Today I bring to you my review of Bad Seed by Jessica Eames. When I received the invitation from Tracey, I just couldn’t say no. The plotline of family betrayal is one I love, and this twisty and complex story compelled me from page one and endlessly turning each page until the wee hours. This is Jessica Eames debut novel and let me tell you…she has a new fan in me. I will from this moment on read anything this woman pens.

At first glance the synopsis promises a lot…a death, a tragic past and a family secret. Does she deliver? Too bloody right she does. We all know that we can’t chose our families, unfortunately for some of us, right? I have a difficult relationship with some members of my family, but I can’t imagine having the problems that some of the characters in this book experience. Its far-fetched, except, it’s not. Nicola is a widow, she’s struggling. She’s trying to piece her life back together after the most traumatic experience of her life. She’s finding it damn hard. What could make this situation ten times harder? Her deceased husband leaving her in financial difficulties. The situation has forced her to make a difficult decision. She now has to live in the annex in the garden of her brother-in-law’s home. She is very slowly moving forward, getting some normalcy back in her life and she has started dating once again. They say that you also marry the family – well how true this is for Nicola.

Things take a turn for the worse when Nicola begins to feel unwell. A visit to the GP deems fruitless when they put it down to symptoms of the menopause. Is she unwell or is there something darker at play here? Nicola is sure things in her home have been moved or tampered with. At every turn we have the feeling of creeping ominous shadows. It made me want to be constantly checking over my shoulder. Has events just caught up with Nicola and the craziness is creeping in or is someone out to get her? Things build up to a crescendo.

I constantly had an odd feeling. The characters around Nicola were false and seemed difficult to read. I wanted to strip back the layers that were between their falseness and the real them. There was more to this, you just had to delve between the lines. The story is told from three alternating viewpoints – Nicola, her daughter Sarah and Fiona, the Brother-in-law’s wife. Its clever and mysterious and although I had worked out relatively quickly who committed the crime, the narrative did have me question my thoughts too often. Secrets are exposed, family ties are broken, the twists feels relative to falling from a cliff, you the grounds going to meet you-you just don’t know how quickly. The family was creepy, there was always something off about them. The paranoia and fear of Nicola was frightening, and I could all too easily imagine myself in her shoes.

I inhaled this book in one sitting. The creeping uneasiness, the anger that you should be able to trust your family and the multiple threads happening to bring the story to life was fantastic. The writing was addictive and suffocating all at once. Family can mean love, but the wrong family can be toxic.

This story is told between 3 females voices; Nicola, Sarah and Fiona. Nicola’s husband passed away a few months ago, now she is living at the attached apartment of his brother-in-law and her wife, Fiona. And Sarah, Fiona’s daughter is trying to cope with the sadness in her own way, but now she is ready to socialize again.
Everything will start when Nicola will start feeling ill, she goes to the doctor for a treatment but she is only treated like a crazy menopause woman that is exaggerating her symptoms. But, everyone will be a suspect when she will pass away a few days after. Who did it? And why?
Don’t worry there will be plenty of possible suspects; the new possessive boyfriend, the jealous Fiona, the daughter or the brother-in-law… The detectives will have to discover the motive and the weapon if they want to catch the killer!
I’ll have to say that I discovered the motive at the beginning of the book, but it was really interesting reading all the investigation from the detectives perspective, the interviews and all the characters thoughts. It was like being inside the story not only as a spectator, you felt like one more in the story.
This had been a quick read, easy to read and with a twisted ending that maybe it will not be perfect for everyone, but I think it was the best for the story. It’s perfect in its own way…
The Bad Seed will show you how deep and dangerous can vengeance be, ready?

From the prologue, it is clear that there are lots of secrets in Bad Seed and my interest was immediately piqued. I really enjoyed learning more about the characters and what made them tick, trying to work out what they are all hiding from each other. The novel is structured so that each section has a different narrator and this gives us insight into the characters' lives. 

It is hard to believe that Bad Seed is a debut novel. Eames' writing is so slick and engaging. I loved the way she combined psychological thriller with police procedural to allow the reader to see what was happening from all sides of the story so that we were able to make our own guesses as to the outcome. The novel is fast paced and Eames builds tension brilliantly with heart stopping moments at the end of each chapter. 

As the novel progresses, there are lots of twists and turns and I loved reading from the edge of my seat as the secrets unravelled.

Oh dear, someone’s in trouble!!! Dont you just hate it when something from your past comes back to bite you on the behind?! Well, if you were innocent and hadn’t done anything wrong, you would have no need to worry when a little note drops through your letter box….right?

Nicola’s past has found her, JUST when she finally feels comfortable in her life, and just when relationships with loved ones are heading in the right direction. Bit of a kick in the teeth, eh!

For me, ‘Bad Seed’ was a very intriguing debut read which oozed a lot of promise. On the other hand, I found the execution of the storyline to be a little bit stilted and seemed to contain more padding than I felt was necessary.

The storyline does contain intensity, and it does deliver on ensuring the reader constantly thinks ‘what happens now?’ – a definite plus point, thats for sure!

As for the characters, I am on the fence when it comes to Nicola as, on one hand I found her personality to be unique and well crafted, yet on the other hand I found that her actions and voice, so to speak, didn’t work with the overall vibe of the book and the whole revenge path.

However, I did enjoy ‘Bad Seed’, and I am looking forward to seeing how this author develops in further books.

This was a sweet domestic suspense which took me on a winding road of suspects and motives and strange family dynamics.

Nicola after the death of Charlie was living in the annex cottage of Charlie's stepbrother Ben and wife Fiona and their kids. Daughter Sarah would visit her mum twice a week or so. Nicola started feeling ill, collapsed and died!! The mystery started when Sarah was convinced that the death was not natural.

My first book by author Jessica Eames, I loved the way the author had created pockets of shadows in the chapters. Every scene had me doubting the characters. I started reading in between the lines to get to the real story. And you bet, I was successful. The story was a mirage.

I didn't like the characters, they were all weird. But the mystery lay in that weirdness, and the author brilliantly took advantage of that to build up the suspense. Having a thriller-y heart, I wanted more suspense and a cohesive story. I didn't want to guess the story so easily.

Overall, a sweet domestic noir, to be read in between intense thrillers.

My thanks to Orion Publishing Group/Trapeze for an eARC via NetGalley of Jessica Eames’ ‘Bad Seed’ in exchange for an honest review.

Nicola is recently widowed and trying to pick up the pieces of her life when she is left in financial difficulties. She now lives in a small annex in the garden of her brother-in-law’s family home. She has even started a new relationship.

However, she is not feeling well lately though her GP suggests it’s menopause and she has the unsettling feeling that her possessions are being moved when she’s out. Then she receives a menacing note that reads: ‘Blood for blood. You will pay for what you did’. Of course, she keeps it to herself because she does indeed have a secret and now has anxiety that someone out there knows it!

I am reluctant to say more as it’s too easy to reveal more than intended and stray into spoiler territory. The story is told from multiple viewpoints that include Nicola, her daughter, Sarah, and sister-in-law, Fiona. In addition, some chapters focus on a police investigation.

This was a very clever domestic noir that kept me guessing and took a surprising path. Certainly a promising debut.

WOW, what a debut! It was a great suspense read, really enjoyed it.
Will definitely read more by this author.
Recommended read.