On the day of Erin’s 40th birthday, she is shocked to receive a birthday card from the daughter she gave up for adoption.
As she tries to come to terms with how to tell her family, she is forced to keep her secrets hidden or risk losing her husband. As things spiral out of control, Erin discovers there is more at risk than just her marriage.
Overall good read. I felt indifferently about the new ending, but still enjoyed the book overall.

*I received an advanced reader’s copy of this book from NetGalley in exchange for my honest review

As a young teenager, Erin felt stifled by her strict parents. Looking for adventure, the inexperienced Erin rebelled hard and fast. Falling into a bad crowd and making some terrible decisions, Erin is desolate when she finds out she is pregnant. Her bad-news boyfriend disappears, and she is alone. Regarded by her prim and proper parents with contempt, Erin is forced to give the baby up for adoption.

Erin eventually turns her life around and…flash forward to her 40th birthday party, she feels sublimely at peace with her life. Everything is rosy. Until it turns Jade.

Her past comes back around like a fast-flying boomerang. Jade, the baby girl Erin gave away, suddenly wants to have a relationship with her birth mother.

Erin has never told her husband about the baby she gave up and she knows his reaction will be far from accepting. And how will her children accept the shocking revelation? Erin gets caught up in lie after lie, until circumstances turn ugly.

The Girl You Gave Away is an exciting read. The storyline is full of plot twists and turns, to the thrilling end. I read both endings and admit to preferring the one without the epilogue. The original ending left the reader suspended mid-thought, imagining the many different ways it could have gone.

I highly recommend The Girl You Gave Away.

Thank you to NetGalley and Bookouture for Jess Ryder’s read of, The Girl You Gave Away.

Opinions expressed in my reviews are my own.

Thank you netgalley and publisher for this ARC.

I have never read anything by this author and I enjoyed reading it.
I have a hard time saying it was a thriller tho. I was very Into the book at first and than felt like it dulled out as the book went on.

This was a suspenseful story where I thought I had part of it figured out, only to find out I was wrong at the end. Author Jess Ryder does a great job fleshing out the characters, and is very descriptive. I would recommend this book.

NOTE: If you read this book from NetGalley, the new epilogue is better than the first. I would recommend downloading the new version before the book is archived.

Thank you to Jess Ryder, Bookouture, and NetGalley for an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Ryder's novel of a woman giving away her infant started out so breathtaking and suspenseful, but i think it justpetered out and I put the book down.

I'm sure others will find it entertaining,.

This book kept me entertained as there is a lot going on, sub plots that were also interesting; but at its core it is about Erin and the daughter she gave up for adoption at a very young. Told from 2 points of view Erin the main character and her biological daughter who was adopted. I also liked the flashback chapters that are told by a younger Erin as she fell in with a bad crowd and her subsequent pregnancy, alcohol addiction and her very strict “what would the neighbours think” Irish Catholic parents.

In the present day we first meet Erin on the day of her 40th birthday put on by loving “don’t ever lie to me” husband Tom and her children. With friends gathered as well as her long lasting childhood best friends, Asha and Hilary, the day is a perfect one. Until Erin is given a card that was left on her doorstep. It’s from her long lost daughter, Jade. But signed from “the one you gave away.” And we’re off. How did Jade fine her? What does Jade really want? How will she explain the fact that she had a child at age 15 to her present family? Can she even tell them?

That’s when the email to meet up comes in. After tremendous feelings of guilt Erin does meet with Jade but things aren’t going so great. And Jade is still a secret. Incensed that she is indeed a secret we introduce the dubious subject of blackmail which only leads to more problems for Erin.

Jade is a troubled young woman no doubt. Her decision making skills are poor as are her curtains of rage when she becomes angry which is quite often. Jade doesn’t make friends easily and you soon see why. But had Jade’s life truly been as horrible as she portrays.

Eventually the cat is out of the bag and the news not taken well by Erin’s family at all. Husband “don’t lie to me” storms out with their son for awhile and it’s intuited that he’s lied as well but this aspect of the book is rushed. We come to a satisfying conclusion and I did receive the copy with what will be the new ending and epilogue.

Like I said at the start I was too busy following all the storylines to be bored but I think that the busyness of the novel caused a lack of flow at times. None of the characters were particularly like-able, so I had a hard time being empathetic at times.

Sadly it’s a familiar tale in some adoptions but the ending was rushed and I’m not really sure if the conclusion lived up to a satisfying resolution. Having enjoyed Ms. Ryders previous novels this one did fall a little short for me. Publication isn’t until July 2020 so perhaps there is still time to clean it up a bit before publication.

All in all a solid 3+ stars from me. Special thanks to the Publisher and Netgalley for another wonderful opportunity to have this ARC

This was a super intense book at times but unfortunately it just didn't do much for me. I think the issue for me was I couldn't find a connection with any of the characters. It's hard to read through long bouts of subplot when you don't really care about any of the characters.

I did appreciate the new ending Ryder wrote and that alone makes this one worth a read. Just don't go into it expecting the next best mystery.

Thanks so much to NetGalley and the publisher for my ARC. All opinions are my own.

I’m such a big fan of Jess Ryder books. I like that they keep me guessing and twist the story round perfectly until it all comes together in a nice neat knot by the end.

The Girl You Gave Away was no different, a fantastic piece of writing that made me panic for the main character the whole way through the story.

The only problem I have was the ending. I read an ARC of this and received an email from the publisher saying the ending had been changed. I honestly am not sure which was the original and which was the new one... so what I’ll say is that the ending with an epilogue from Jade... while the ending I wanted... didn’t sit right with me. In fact, it felt forced and too tidy and neat. Just wasn’t keen.

I wouldn’t really classify this as a thriller. It was a suspense, but it felt disjointed. I hated the fact that literally every character in the story blamed a 14 year old girl for all the mistakes. What a group of self righteous pigs. I read it in one sitting, because I wanted to see how it ended. I believe I read the new “revised” ending. I was given an advanced e copy in exchange for an honest review by NetGalley and Bookouture.

I think we all know the feeling of hiding things were are ashamed of or fear the reactions of loved ones. You can keep secrets for a number of years, but not forever. 

In this story we see that it would have been better to fess up and face the music straight away, because when you have to come clean later on the music only got louder and louder with time going by.

I do understand Erin and where she is coming from. She did not get a lot of understanding before, so she thinks she won't get any later on either. 

On the other hand, I understand her family's point of view too.

I was disappointed when the book ended. I was not ready to say goodbye yet. The author created some intriguing characters and I would not mind a sequel to find out where she would take us next.

I was captured by the writing style and the heartbreaking story that kept me up till 2 am. 5 stars

Thank you, Jess Ryder and Bookouture

I confess this Jess Ryder novel disappointed me. It’s about compulsive lying, duplicity and secrets - Erin is ridiculously gullible, and she and Jade have the compulsive lying gene. After a disgracefully disastrous sluttish youth, Erin finally finds respectability until there’s a blast from her past and a well-kept secret is exposed. The scenario when the secret is revealed sat badly with me. Wrongly or rightly, I believe Tom would have frozen into dumb silence, then hustled the children brusquely to their rooms and demanded an explanation from Erin. I didn’t think he would have a low mentality to hurl expletives at her in front of their children and crash out to the pub. That’s not who he was. The first Epilogue was fine but needed feedback on Jade. The second Epilogue would not have passed scrutiny during its journey to its destination as it exposed the real truth, which would have had severe repercussions for the writer and the recipient. Thank you to NetGalley and Bookouture.

So I didn’t really like this one found it a bit hard to get along with and ended up did not finishing it in the end sadly !!

My thanks to Netgalley and the publishers for my copy of The Girl You Gave Away. The premise for the plot is a really good one and the author has a really good writing style; this is a dual narration but not at all confusing.

However, I just didn't like a single character in the book, not one, and having no empathy meant for a very tedious read.

I received a copy of this book from Netgalley. I wanted to like the book. Parts of the story were choppy and a little busy with subplots . The ending seemed rushed. The plot of the story at times was confusing with the different characters views and perhaps it might have been better including additional character narrations that might have made it more suspenseful and Interesting book was drawn out

Thank you @netgalley and @bookouture for the gifted copy. This book was an easy read, however it gave me mixed feelings. I enjoyed the concept-hidden past, deceit, suspenseful characters. It is certainly very intriguing but there were a lot of gaps in each characters stories and backgrounds. It was a great suspense-filled read but there was never a “height” of the book for me and I was left with more questions than answers!

Thank you @Netgalley for my ARC.

Erin was a wild teenager and ended up having a baby at the age of 15 and forced to give her up for adoption. Years later, on her 40th birthday, her daughter (Jade) sends her a birthday card, setting off a series of events one would find in a Lifetime movie.

We learn the story in alternating viewpoints between Erin and Jade in both the present and Erin's past. It's a bit predictable at times with one twist I did not see coming.

The story moves along at a good pace but I found myself frustrated or annoyed with most of the characters.

Thank you @ NetGalley for my ARC.

It took me over a week to finish this book. Which is completely unheard of. However, it took that long because I did not like this novel. I was looking for a thriller and The Girl You Gave Away fell flat. So. Dang. Flat.

What made it hard to read was 1) I didn't like a single character in this novel 2) there were so many mistakes - either names being misused, details that didn't add up, that I can't believe the book made it to print/ebook with such obvious errors and 3) the ending was thrown out there, with little to no real finesse, causing it to be a bit abrupt.

It is impossible to suffer without making someone pay for it; every complaint already contains revenge.

Fourteen-year-old Erin found herself in a very peculiar situation. Typical teen looking for parents attention gets involved with a sketchy crowd. As a result, Erin develops a drinking habit, and the biggest surprise of all - falls pregnant. Underaged teen is unable to keep the child, and without her parents' moral and financial support is forced to place her daughter for adoption.

Twenty-six years later, Erin receives a birthday card, signed "the girl you gave away". From that moment forward - her life is flipped upside down and very quickly fills with lies, betrayals, blackmail, and revenge.

"The Girl You Gave Away" is full of twists that make the reader glued to the pages, absorbing narrators, and entertaining and mysterious characters. Thank you to NetGalley and Bookouture for an advanced and free copy of the novel, and Jess Ryder for another phenomenal thriller.

3.5 stars (rounded up to 4)
This was a story of Erin and her daughter, Jade, who have reunited 25 years after Jade was put up for adoption. There are many twists that kept the story interesting, and it’s hard to look at any one character and say, “This is a good guy. 100% innocent. There is the bad guy. So guilty.” Makes you reflect on what you would do in similar situations and putting yourself in the characters’ positions.
I thoroughly enjoyed the storyline but had a serious issue with the main character. Tell the truth. Why bother lying about it? Have you ever watched tv/movies?? Don’t you know you’re just going to regret it and they’ll find out anyway?? Would recommend to anyone looking for an easy mystery read.

This book had all the subplots of a thriller with attempted murder, kidnapping, revenge, false identity, secrets, lies, infidelity, teenage pregnancy, blackmail. I was quite taken aback at the roller coaster that these subplots converted the book into. I had fun with it.