I really loved this book!! It had so many twists and turns. It kept me on the edge of my seat wondering what was going to happen next!! This was my first book by this Author, and it won’t be the last!! Quick read!! Highly recommended!! You won’t be disappointed!!

A very intriguing read with lots of unexpected twists and turns. While Erin is celebrating her fortieth birthday with her family and friends, she's shocked when she receives a card from a daughter, Jade, she gave up for adoption when she was fourteen. Living an enviable life, she's not prepared for this secret child to enter her life. She's happily married to Tom, they have a teenage son and daughter, she has two friends from childhood that are her best friends and she owns a successful business. Her best friends, her parents and the adoptive parents are among the few people who know the truth about Erin's past life. She has always thought about her daughter, she's just not prepared for Jade to become a part of her life. Even though she has ample opportunities to tell her husband and children the truth, she is unable to broach the subject. When Jade is discovered across the street from Erin's house, the truth is revealed. Erin's life is shattered. As Erin tries make amends to her husband and children, she tries to build a relationship with Jade. As things get more complicated she realizes that she has been deceived by those she trusted the most. As she struggles to make things right she makes decisions that will forever change the lives of each character. This book was thought provoking, intriguing and full of emotion. I understood a lot of the decisions Erin made, but I definitely questioned some of her decisions. I felt like everyone abandoned Erin and left her carrying a lot of guilt. Everyone makes mistakes and deserves forgiveness, I think the treatment Erin received was harsh. I didn't like the ending, I would have preferred more closure. Maybe a sequel???? A very enjoyable, thought provoking book. Thank-you to Netgalley, Bookouture and Jess Ryder for an ARC in exchange for a honest review.

This book is full of suspense and secrets! If that interests you then I would definitely recommend The Girl You Gave Away! It kept me hooked til the very end. I wish it ended differently with more closure. It almost felt like it was missing a chapter or two. Overall good suspense!

I received this ARC from Netgalley and the publisher in exchange for my honest review.

It’s Erin’s fortieth birthday, and life is generally good - she’s happily married, professionally successful, and has two teenage children who are generally doing ok, even if fourteen year old Chloe is rebelling a bit. But Erin has a secret - more than one, in fact - about which she has never told her family, and when Jade, the baby she conceived when she was just fourteen herself, comes back into her life, the consequences are explosive.

Pretty much everybody here behaves diabolically, so it’s hard to engage your sympathies. Erin’s husband Tom, supposedly a good and caring man prior to all this, becomes unbelievably cruel after learning he’s been deceived. Erin herself deals with things in generally the worst way possible. Her children, Oli and Chloe, show zero loyalty to her. And Jade herself, who has a lot of issues, is a bit of an enigma, but you certainly don’t trust her. Everybody makes a series of atrocious decisions.

Jess Ryder doesn’t sugarcoat anything - the situation is pretty dark, but it makes for an interesting and unpredictable read. I really never had a clue what anybody was going to do next. (Usually the most ill-advised thing possible.) I did find myself very confused at certain points in the story, but if generally came together. It ends on a bit of a cliffhanger, which some reviewers disliked, but didn’t bother me unduly in this instance - I don’t necessarily need all the loose ends tied up, and it wasn’t hard to predict the likely outcome anyway.

An interesting read, and darker than one might expect.

The story is a great psychological thriller.

The realistic depiction of mental disorders and the intensity of writing just added to the beautiful dark theme going on.

As said earlier, this story is a dark, extremely dark story. At times the darkness is so dense that I had to put the book down and calm my racing nerves. This just solidifies the fact that this book is no light reading.

If you can’t handle details and the constant feeling of blood rushing through your ears, this is not for you. I recommend this book as an adult read and that too if you can handle thrillers.

The books started great, with our lead characters Erin and her daughter Jade described beautifully. The characters are strong and penned down with great delicacy.

The pacing of the story is great too, and with a different theme of events going around, it’s a different read. It is not your common thriller, but altogether a different concept.

The major downs of the plot are the coincidences. The story has some points where the coincidences and the overlapping of events akin to attempted murder, kidnap, etc. get too much.

The ending is too open and with many questions still unanswered. This book needs at least two more chapters to close all the loose ties as the ending is too abrupt, and gives us a big question mark (not in a good suspense way).

All in all, this book is a good read for adults who seek the thrill, for one time read as more you read, more the question marks you find.

This is my first Jess Ryder book and I quite enjoyed it. A suspenseful read with a few twists in it. I liked the storyline and read the book quickly and although the book was enjoyable the ending wasnt. It felt like there was some chapters missing. I would still recommend the book though despite the ending.

what would you do if you woke up on your 40th birthday and everything what you have worked for loving husband and two children in a few hours everything changes .that is what happens to Erin a birthday party .and one thing changes everything this story very addictive .there are lies deceit and big secrets ,and very sad in parts I so recommend a must read

First I would like to thank Netgalley for an advanced copy of "The girl you have away" this is my first book by Jess Ryder. I look forward to reading more books by this author. I am a huge fan of psychological thrillers. I am also adopted and was given away at birth so I found the book interesting.
t gives readers both sides of the story, revealing both the birth mother and the adopted child's feelings surrounding the adoption and after the secret comes out. But it goes deeper, by considering the effects of secrets on other connected relationships, and damage that goes deeper than keeping secrets. If you like secrets,suspense and scandal this book is for you. I enjoyed reading the book and will look for more titles by Jess Ryder.

I really did try to get through this book. I made myself get to 40% but I still wasn’t feeling it. I just found it quite boring to be honest, and the writing style just wasn’t up my street. I found it to be quite over exaggerated in the most strange places, and a bit unrealistic.

I flew through this book after the first 20%, I was reading at every feasible opportunity. What’s with that ending though??! I need at least another 2 chapters to tie up loose ends!
4 strong stars

The Girl You Gave Away is a suspenseful read by Jess Ryder. Erin is celebrating with friends and family at her 40th birthday party. She has a good life, a husband and children she loves, friends, and a successful business. She has secrets though, one of the biggest ones may explode everything she holds dear.

Erin got pregnant at 14 and the child was adopted. No contact between the two in 25 years and now her "daughter" is dropping off birthday cards at her party. What does this young woman want? A relationship? Or are her motives for getting touch darker?

The book was suspenseful and I really wanted to know who Erin was and how her daughter Jade's appearance would affect her family. I didn't like that Erin's friends and family let her down when she needed them most. They treated her like a pariah, as if she was the worst kind of evil. This treatment made me wonder if Erin was really the person she presented herself to be or did she deserve this abandonment?

For me the ending was too open ended. I wanted more details, more results, I didn't want to decide for myself how the story would turn out. Too many questions were left hanging. That said, I enjoyed the book very much. I just needed more details before "The End."

Going in I thought this book had a great concept. I was excited to know who sent the envelope and how the fallout was going to happen. As a reader I was able to anticipate all of the twists and turns so nothing really shocked me as much as I would have liked. I also felt like the ending left me with a lot more questions that were not answered through out the whole book. What happened to their marriage? What became of Jade? Did she get her money back? What other types of things did Holly do to make Asha say she lived a double life?

Thank you to netgalley and Bookouture for allowing me to read an ARC of this book in exchange for my honest review.

This book was not as interesting as it seems from the blurb. It started off well and seemed interesting but it lost pace at about 25%. There are a few mistakes in the book with regards to the character names and it makes it impacts the plot unfortunately. I don’t think this qualifies as a thriller, the plot isn’t great and the characters are absolutely not relatable. It was hard to care what happened to them. When I was a child we had this game, it had 16 tiles with different pictures on it, you picked them randomly and narrated a story based on the picture you picked first- used to be a lot of fun but needless to say the story didn’t always make sense. Unfortunately this book felt like that. Like the author picked up tiles of attempted murder, blackmail, kidnapping, bad relationships, mental health issues etc. and just put them together to form a plot. The ending too was not satisfying at all.

Thank you to NetGalley and Jess Ryder, for allowing me an ARC of the book for a voluntary review.

There really was a lot going on in this book, and while I didn't enjoy the ending at all, I did enjoy the book itself.

The story is very well written, suspenseful, full of wonder and amazement, and sometimes anger and I enjoyed it! 4 out of 5. Can't wait for the next one by Jess Ryder.

This book is about a child who was given away to adoption finds her mother and the events that follow. The story proceeds in predictable lines and feels sluggish at times. The characters don’t evoke any sympathy. There doesn’t seem to be any bonding in any of the relationships. The conclusion is sudden and doesn’t fit. I didn’t feel it to be a psychological thriller. Sorry.

Erin has been keeping a secret for a long time. When the truth comes out her life blows up. There are a lot of twists in this book that I didn’t see coming. It held my interest til the end. I have to say I didn’t like the way it ended, I wanted more of a resolution to the story than the book gave me. That is my reason for the 3* rating. Thank you to net galley for an advanced readers copy.

Big fan of Jess Ryder and her psychological thrillers and had great expectations of this new one. Started great when a daughter, given up by a child mother, comes back unexpectedly and the havoc is terrible for all concerned. It’s difficult to become really entrenched in a book where you do not like nor care about any of the characters and you keep reading, expecting a change. Perhaps I was expecting too much. Rather disappointed in the outcome.

The Girl You Gave Away is fantastic!

I found the story shocking (in a good way) and I had to put it down at points because I found it so dark, intense and explosive. The storyline stays strong throughout and moves at perfect pace.

Highly recommended.

There was a lot going on in this book. Didn't keep me as interested as I thought it would. Wasn't a fan of the ending. Was a good read over all with twists that I didn't see coming. 3.5 stars rounded up.


Thanks to net galley and the publisher for an early release of this book.

3.8/5

I enjoyed this book i was not a fan of the ending and the gross relationship/scenes in the flashback chapters..
Overall this book had good secrets and really good twists and turns and towards the end of the book one thing which i will not say SHOCKED me and i was not expecting it.
If you like secrets,suspense and scandal this book is for you.
Besides a few weird things this book was very good.