This was my first book by Tracy Buchanan. I loved the cover, so pretty! I enjoyed it, but the constant banter and fighting over Facebook with the moms just got on my nerves. The ending was a nice twist. This was a good thriller, but I think I will easily forget it. It would be a good quick read if you wanted something to read by the pool or over the weekend.

Is this original? No
Can you read better? Probably

But this was a perfect book to curl up to and just be thrilled for a few hours

Emma and Dele have adopted a pretty girl, and everything is going well in their lives. No worries, no concerns. Until a new family moves to the neighborhood, and the wife of the family reminds Emma of someone. It soon becomes clear that she thinks the other mother is their adopted daughter's real birth mother, and her intentions are not pure. The book pulls you in, up to the end, and keeps you entertained throughout.

A truly gripping read and I couldn't put it down. Great twists - just when you think you have a handle on what's going on, a curveball comes rearing up. Can't wait to read more from the author!

Unfortunately I don’t think this was one for me, I found it to be lacking a bit in drama and intensity and found myself being bored in some places. I think it was just a little slow for me

Unfortunately, I didn’t find this book particularly exciting. There was enough to keep me going to the end, but there just wasn’t enough drama or tension to make it exciting for me. I’ll continue to read these books, as they’re part of series called Forest Grove, but I don’t rate them very highly. It’s a shame for me because I’ve read all Tracy’s books and her earlier ones are so much better!

All is well in Forest Grove, Emma and Dele have everything they want, a daughter, Isla, they adopted 9 years ago, successful careers, and a wonderful home. All seems perfect until a new family moves to Forest Grove. The young mother, Tatjana, reminds her of someone she knows from Isla's adoption. It becomes quite apparent to Emma, that Tatjana has a special interest in Isla. Emma begins to question her parenting abilities when things start to happen and she feels like the only person she can turn to for support, is her sister Harriet. Is Tatjana Isla's birth mother? Is Emma the right person to raise Isla?

Told in dual narratives, I enjoyed parts of this book, the storyline definitely pulled me in. One thing I didn't care for was the gossipy women in the story, they definitely got on my nerves. I would definitely read more of Tracy Buchanan's books.

Thank you to NetGalley & Amazon Publishing UK for an ecopy in exchange for an honest review.

As mysteries go, this one is pretty solid with an intriguing plot and several unexpected twists and turns. However, for me, this novel lacked emotional connections. There are several "pull-at-your-heartstring" moments, but the way they were told fell flat for me. Not sure if it was the narration style, or the way new information/ facts were offloaded in rather large chunks, or something I can't identify that didn't result in a connection, but I feel this could have been so much better if I didn't feel so removed when reading. Thank you NetGalley and publishers for providing a digital ARC for review.

Great book. Highly recommend and will most defiantly read more by this author and suggest to others!

Emma Okoro and her husband Dele, a biracial couple, move to the fictional village of Forest Grove with their 10-year-old adopted daughter, Isla. But Emma still doesn’t fit in, and feels judged and rejected by the trendy, stay-at-home mums that live there.

When Tatjana Belafonte, a glamorous fashion designer-turned-stay-at-home mum, befriends the shy Emma, she is pleased to have made at least one friend. But Tatjana has a hidden agenda. Emma too can’t shake off the fear that Tatjana bears an uncanny resemblance to Jade Dixon, Isla’s birth mother.

Emma loves Isla and can’t bear the thought of losing her, especially because of a secret in her past that might deem her unfit to be a mother. She keeps second guessing herself under the warfare unleashed by Tatjana, who begins an insidious game of manipulation, even seemingly turning Isla against her mother. Dele thinks Emma is overreacting and refuses to heed her fears.

Tatjana seems determined to take Isla away from Emma. But Emma isn’t going to give up her daughter. With Isla’s future hanging in the balance, which woman will succeed?



The book is written in dual PoVs, the first person PoV of an unnamed narrator who addresses Isla, and the third person PoV of Emma. The first person account is short, while the 3rd person account is longer. The narrative also includes posts from the Mums of Forest Grove FaceBook group. These posts are not relevant to the main plot but are just a side act.

The book calls attention on shy children and the difficulties they face, and at how some mothers shamelessly guilt-trip others. The chapters are short and make for easy reading.

I liked Emma and could identify with her, having been a shy kid myself. She knows her own inadequacies, and that makes her real. On the rare occasions, when Emma got confrontational, I rooted for her. I liked the fact that she listened to her instincts.

What was annoying was Dele not believing her.

The village is idyllic and beautiful, and yet just as probable a setting for deviousness, because human nature is the same everywhere. It serves as the perfect foil for the less than perfect residents, all seemingly comfortable in themselves.

Tatjana’s plans aren’t hidden from us, but the suspense comes from how she will attack Emma in the one area that she is most vulnerable in, her precious motherhood.

There was a twist at the 65 percent mark, after which I lost interest a little bit. Things just weren’t as heated as they were in the first half of the book. The back story of the antagonist wasn’t as compelling as I’d hoped. Even the menace seemed very muted.

One minor character only in her late forties is described as having ‘old cranky bones.’ I found the description unnecessarily ageist.

I generally enjoy domestic thrillers, but the intensity behind this one petered out quickly.

This was a very solid read. I've loved Tracy's books for years - and I love that she's gone more into the psychological thriller genre than when she first started out. I saw this at my local library a few weeks back and just had to borrow it. It's been a while since my last read by Tracy but I slipped into this novel the same way I do a comfy, worn pair of socks.

I was immediately intrigued by the story - married couple, Emma and Dele adopt a little girl Isla, they move to Forest Grove (the setting of Buchanan's other novel Wall of Silence, as well as her new novel Trail of Destruction) however one day, a new family move in, the Belafontes, and Emma swears that Tatiana looks like Jade, Isla's drug-addled foster mother. And, as is the way in these novels, Emma's life slowly starts to disintegrate in small but fundamental ways and Emma assumes it's Tatiana who has come back to reclaim her daughter.

This novel was a super easy, read in two sittings kind of read. I read a massive chunk while out with my boyfriend and then finished it while work was quiet. The story just skipped along at a really nice pace, and I was intrigued to find out who the narrator was who was writing to Isla during a chapter here and there throughout the novel. I wasn't particularly surprised by the reveal, but it was very well done and very well written by Tracy.

I really liked Emma; I can't imagine adopting a child, having that child for eight years and then fearing the biological Mam might come back one day and just take the child back. I also assume that you can't actually do that, because y'know THE LAW, but still. Especially since Emma was hiding a quite massive secret - that of which I didn't guess and which DID leave my jaw on the floor. It was the kind of chapter where I had to re-read the last sentence two or three times to actually wrap my head around it because I was like '....sorry, WHAT?'. There wasn't even a hint of it in my opinion so bravo indeed to Tracy for fooling me.

I really liked Circle of Doubt - it was a solid, quick read with enjoyable prose and Emma was a really good narrator. I felt claustrophobic at times reading the novel as I imagined the forest in the aptly-named Forest Grove, and it's the second novel in a row (the first being When She Disappeared - I also recommend this novel) with a house IN THE ACTUAL FOREST. Like, that's my DREAM. A house just away from society. My boyfriend and I discuss it all the time, in fact, like 'Shall we just move to a cabin in the woods?' and the answer, invariably, is yes. We just haven't sorted the logistics of how we'll keep all of the animals we intend to have as cabins in the woods don't come with fields and our horses are going to have to go somewhere.

I am now going to order myself the other two Forest Grove books, because quick and easy reads really are my favourite thing and Tracy Buchanan is absolutely one of my favourite authors. Circle of Doubt was an incredible read.

Circle of Doubt by Tracy Buchanan was a great read and I really enjoyed this latest book by Tracy. However, It was very slow to start and then Bang........The further you got into it it got better and then ended up with a great twist at the end of the book

Thanks to NetGalley and Amazon Publishing UK for this ARC in exchange for my honest review. Circle of Doubt

An ok read for me. It wasn’t brilliant but the pace just plodded along nicely and I would read more from this author

This was a gripping novel, with a clever premise and brought to life well the suffocating experience of living in a small town, where everyone knows everyone and the politics of the school gates - and how new people can change everything.

So I needed an early night last night - a little to help me sleep turned into a very late night reading this book to the end!

The twists and turns - caught me in its spell and I was hooked. I’m not going to drop any hints other than it’s a perfect reading escape.

Today I am exhausted but I am so pleased I was able to read this book and can’t wait to read another of Tracy’s books.

Every so often you read a book and think this is completely implausible. Is that a description of this book? Possibly. Did I care? Not really, I was caught up in enjoying it. I loved the writing style and I loved the setting. The characters were hit and miss for me and that was okay. There were a couple of good twists, not wows, just twists and they just pushed me to read faster.

This is the second book by Tracy Buchanan that is set in the glamorous wooded village of Forest Grove. Emma and Dele adopted Isla nine years ago and are living their dream in Forest Grove. But things start to change when a new family moves in. Tatjiana, the mum of the new family, reminds Emma of Isla’s birth mother and when she appears to be taking too much of an interest in Isla, Emma becomes even more suspicious. As her suspicions start to grow she finds that Dele doubts her concerns so she turns to her elder sister Harriet for support. But when lies and secrets from her past emerge, especially ones that Dele is unaware of, she doubts her own ability as a mother and even thinks that Isla may be taken away from her. Like the first book in the series, some of the chapters are told from the Forest Grove Facebook users also chapters from a person who speaks about Isla’s past before her adoption. This book is all about hidden secrets and the shock and enjoyment when they are revealed. A brilliant read
Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for giving me the opportunity to read and review.

A story very well told with richly drawn characters that will keep you riveted to the page.
Many thanks to Amazon Publishing UK and to NetGalley for providing me with a galley in exchange for my honest opinion.

I recently finished “Wall of Silence” by this same author so I was excited to read this one. From start to finish I had trouble relating to the characters or even caring about them or the storyline. I never felt hooked and was quite bored with the whole story and struggled to finish. To be honest, the storyline was far fetched and Emma became annoying paranoid. I hope her next book is better.

Summary: Circle of Doubt is a mystery thriller surrounding Emma, a white working mom who has a biracial adopted daughter. When glamorous Tatjiana, moves next door and has more than a passing resemblance to her daughter, Emma will have to determine if this is a product of her insecurities or if there’s something more sinister at play.

When I was reading Circle of Doubt I thought it was going to be quite predictable because it seemed like the author revealed so much just in the synopsis. But I soon realized there were actually multiple plot twists that for the most part elevated the story. It definitely is not predictable in the slightest.

I wish it was a little less heavy handed on the main mystery surrounding the identity of Tatjiana, because until the plot twists started occurring, the book was quite repetitive. Emma spends so much of the book trying to figure out if Tatjiana is nice or not, who Tatjiana really is, and being obsessed about what the other moms think of her, which seemed a little needlessly boring. There’s a pretty interesting mystery that was shrouded by the smaller more unimportant details.

Circle of Doubt is also super engrossing. I read it in one sitting when I had meant to only read a chapter. The writing really wraps you in with just a few sentences which is pretty impressive.

I didn’t love any of the characters as they just weren’t that well developed. In the novel it alludes to Emma, the main character, being a bit of an unreliable narrator with references to her mysterious past but I wish the author had committed more to this and made her more unreliable.

Also I found that there were some weird racial undertones with some of the statements made in the book. The main character, a white woman, spends most of the book being jealous of Tatjiana, a black woman and accusing her of lying. At times, I felt a little uncomfortable with the narrative.

I found the ending to be a little rushed, I think there needed to be more exposition after the ‘big reveal’.

Final Thoughts: An interesting premise but the execution had a few flaws. 3.5 stars.