Blog Tour: The Stepmother by Claire Seeber

I am very pleased to have been invited to close the blog tour for The Stepmother by Claire Seeber. As you will see with my review I really enjoyed being gripped by this thriller, and playing private detective trying to solve the puzzle before all is revealed. 

The Stepmother is published by Bookouture, and is available in both e-reader format, and paperback. The link to purchase it from Amazon is here. If you have read it I would love to hear what you thought too. If you haven't read it yet? Ooh you are missing out! Here is a brief overview of the book and what I thought of it. 

The Blurb:

The perfect wife. A fairytale family. Don’t believe your eyes…

Jeanie and Matthew are a happily married couple who both have teenage children from previous relationships. 

No one said it would be easy to raise a blended family under one roof but Jeanie and Matthew are strong. They will make it work. 

And whilst Jeanie’s step-daughter Scarlett rejects her, Jeanie will just have to try harder to win her over. 

But Jeanie has a past. A terrible secret she thought she’d buried a long time ago. And now, it’s coming to the surface, threatening to destroy her new marriage. 

Someone is playing a terrifying game on Jeanie and she must put a stop to it once and for all. 

After all, a fairytale needs a happy ending…doesn’t it? 

A compelling, dark and twisty psychological thriller.

My review:

I love a good thriller and as soon as I read the blurb I knew I had to get my hands on a copy and start reading. Massive thanks to Bookouture who kindly sent me a copy in return for an honest review.

Jeanie has just married Matthew, and her and her teenage son are moving into the family home, alongside Matthew’s two teenage children. Jeanie and Matthew are madly in love and looking forward to a future together. But as with all love stories that famous Shakespeare quote goes ‘the course of true love never did run smooth’ is definitely the case here.

Matthew’s children are like chalk and cheese. His son is all sweetness and light, but his daughter Scarlett is a force to be reckoned with. She is not happy about the marriage and set up, and she sure lets everyone know about it. Factor in the ex-wife, and it’s a whole heap of dynamite just waiting to explode!

But then there is Jeanie. She has her own past and her own secrets. No, don’t worry, I’m not going to spoil it all and reveal them. But they definitely emerge as the plot develops, and as many of us know, sometimes the past can come back to haunt us.

Someone is trying to mess with Jeanie’s head, but who is it? It’s all a bit like a game of Cluedo. As a reader I could feel myself trying to piece the clues together and come to the right conclusion before all was revealed. And I’m not one to brag (haha), but I sussed it out just before it all came clear. Smug? Me? Never!!

I loved the speed at which the plot moved. It was full of action and very strongly written characters which really tapped in to my inner detective. I wanted to know who was behind all the meanness, and wanted to stop them. I could tell from the start, as I am sure you are meant to, that there is an edge, and all is not quite as it seems. It quickly intensifies and every one becomes a suspect.

I found myself liking Jeanie more as a character as the book went on. She seemed a bit naïve, and just a woman in love who wants to be accepted and happy. But I did want to shake her for her secrets.

I must admit to one frustration with the book, and that was the sub-plot involving Jeanie’s sister. When it started I felt it could be a great side story, and had great potential, but by the end I felt confused and a bit disappointed by it, as it never really went anywhere. I would love to know from the author where she was trying to go with that, as I may well have missed something.

Overall I really enjoyed this book. It kept me gripped and I kept wanting to abandon real life to read more. With a cast of interesting characters, a strong main plot, and some twists it is a great thriller and I look forward to reading more from Claire in the future.