The Secret Mother by Shalini Boland My rating: 5 of 5 stars I totally devoured this book. Tessa comes home to find a young boy in her kitchen. “Are you my mummy?” he asks. But Tessa doesn’t have any children. After calling the police, she immediately comes under suspicion of snatching the child, especially given…
Author: Christina McDonald
Christina McDonald is the USA Today bestselling author of the Jess Lambert series, Do No Harm, Behind Every Lie and The Night Olivia Fell (Simon & Schuster/Gallery Books), which has been optioned for television by a major Hollywood studio. She’s currently working on her next book.
Behind Her Eyes - Sarah Pinborough
Behind Her Eyes by Sarah Pinborough My rating: 4 of 5 stars This book has been slated a lot because the ending is ‘not believable’. I think that’s ridiculous – it’s a book! Obviously you need to suspend your disbelief! My problem wasn’t the twisted ending on the final few pages (which was a total…
My Sister's Bones - Nuala Ellwood
My Sister’s Bones by Nuala Ellwood My rating: 5 of 5 stars One of the best books I’ve read all year! My Sister’s Bones follows Kate, a journalist who is forced to return home when her mother dies. Staying in her mother’s house, Kate is woken by a terrifying scream. The only problem is, she…
Close to Me - Amanda Reynolds
Close To Me by Amanda Reynolds My rating: 5 of 5 stars A dark, twisty tale about the deception of families and the lies we tell to cover our sins. Close to Me is an addictive novel, which kept me guessing right to the end. The story follows Jo, who fell down the stairs and…
The Woman in Cabin 10 - Ruth Ware
The Woman in Cabin 10 by Ruth Ware My rating: 5 of 5 stars Another solid read from Ruth Ware. The Woman in Cabin 10 was an atmospheric and intriguing suspense novel that I really enjoyed. After suffering an upsetting robbery at her London flat, Lo Blacklock receives a career-boosting opportunity to get out of…
I Am Watching You - Teresa Driscoll
I Am Watching You by Teresa Driscoll My rating: 5 of 5 stars This suspense novel primarily follows Ella, who sees two men who have just been released from prison chatting up two teenage girls on their way up to London for a night out. The next day, she wakes up to the news that…
My tips for querying agents
I’m so grateful to have signed with such an amazing agent, who got me an absolutely brilliant and insightful editor. It was a long, arduous journey, so to hopefully make it a little easier for other authors, here are a few things I’ve learned about querying over the years. 1. Do your research Seriously. I cannot…
Writing The Night Olivia Fell
Back in 2013 I read a story about a teenage girl in California who was declared brain dead after a routine tonsillectomy went wrong. There was a lot of talk at the time about the legal and moral implications. I’m not a lawyer, so I can’t weigh in on this, but I am a mother,…
My journey to publication
Next year my first book will be published. Cue excited clapping, champagne glass-clinking and general happiness. But first let me take a step back and tell you how this journey went, because it wasn’t, by any means, a short one. It was fraught with failure, rejection and, to be perfectly honest, a lot of me…
Book deal announcement
I am absolutely thrilled to announce I’ve signed a two-book deal with Gallery Books, a Simon and Schuster imprint. This is my dream come true; literally something I’ve been dreaming about since I was a child and wrote stories to entertain my sisters. Gallery have published some of my favorite books, including Still Alice by…