#Review: The Girlfriend by Michelle Frances @panmacmillan

The Girlfriend by Michelle Frances

My rating: 5 of 5 stars

This review is from: The Girlfriend (Paperback)

Customer review from the Amazon Vine Programme.

I am reviewing the book, The Girlfriend by Michelle Frances. Here are my thoughts:

^^ What if your life is not so great and the closest thing you treasure is your son, but there’s something about his new girlfriend that doesn’t quite sit well with you? Would you get territorial?

^^ You’re also quite a wealthy family. You’ve worked hard to get where you are, so you can’t help being a bit picky, right? You’ve got a lot to lose.

^^ If there came a moment where one little lie could completely drive the awful girlfriend away, along with all your concerns, would you take it? Perhaps if you knew you could get away with it? After all, no one is getting hurt. After a quick decision, this is just what the mother does. She tells a little white lie. Or so she thinks. What might be a little white lie to her, might not be to someone else, and as in any good psychological thriller you just know there’s going to be repercussions for what she’s done. Has she just tackled the wrong girl?

^^ This was yet another super, fast, crazy-girl read for me. And I mean that in a good, cannot-put-down-until-I’ve-finished it way. Seriously. I feel like I’ve been really lucky with so many good books lately. This is up there with the best of them. To be honest, there was a moment where I couldn’t decide which woman, the mother or the girlfriend, was going to turn out the craziest. Yes, the mother had a “wave of terror” doing what she felt she must, but I also think it was quite spiteful. Had it been real life, and I was the girlfriend, (a nice one though lol) I’d be pretty peeved, too.

^^ I found the writing style of Michelle Frances to be very good. Driven by their own needs, the characters were compelling, complicated and crafty.

^^ The plot was kind of so simple, yet realistic, it worked. It was like I’d run out of time if I didn’t finish it in one sitting. I still find it hard to believe The Girlfriend is her first novel.

Overall: May this be a warning to all mums out there who are overly protective of their sons, don’t overstep the boundaries, or do anything silly, because you might not get away with it… (laughs). Fantastic, fast read, that brings to light – what could be – a very realistic situation gone terribly wrong. Just one mistake is all it takes. Oh, I know, I’m starting to sound quite mad myself, but it’s the book, honestly, it’s really got to me. As a mum of a boy, I can relate to a lot of this, in a “what if” kind of way. Brilliant!

View all my reviews Buy the book at Amazon UK | Amazon USA

By the way, what did make me cry is that my ARC copy (from Amazon) had a sticker on right across the top over the swimmer’s hands. When I tried to carefully remove the label a large part of the top layer also came with it –  ruining the book’s loveliness!  Don’t you just hate it when that happens?

I’m adding this to the 2017 British Books Challenge!

Click here to find out more about the challenge.