Mothers and Daughters: From the Sunday Times bestselling author comes the most captivating new family drama of 2022

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Even happy families have their secrets… A sweeping family drama of old secrets and new beginnings from the Sunday Times bestselling author Erica James. Some I felt so much sympathy for and I was so hoping that they wouldn’t sabotage their own chance of happiness. The relationship of three women, a mother and her two grown up daughters and how they have dealt with the death of their father/husband two years previously is explored in the novel. The initial struggles are interesting as both Martha and Naomi are strong and know what they want in life, Martha desperately wants a baby whilst Naomi is concerned how her children will react to meeting her new boyfriend.

I wasn’t too fussed on Martha to start with, but she grew on me – Willow was a delight, although she let herself be walked over. Above all it shows how it is easy to get taken in by appearances which hide the real person behind the shiny surface. He has rented the house next door to Naomi by chance before discovering they were at university together.Willow, the youngest, was always more sunny and easy-going, yet drifted through life, much to her father’s frustration. When Naomi bumped into Ellis, a man she’d known through university, their rekindling of friendship was immediate. This one just kept in delivering, it had everything I enjoy in a book, sadness and happiness and a happy ending. I must say I thoroughly engaged with Willow’s character as I think women too often are negative about themselves and she seemed such a believable character, although I suspect she may annoy other readers!

I received a copy of Mothers and Daughters from NetGalley and Harlequin Australia in exchange for an honest review, this is the first book I have read by Erica James, and it won’t be my last and five stars from me. Emotions boil over with these woman and soon there are secrets being told that Naomi had kept a long time about her husband, their father, add to this the stress with trying to fall pregnant for Martha and what is happening to Willow, this story becomes very emotional but a story that is told beautifully with care and thought, it takes in issues that are very prevalent in today’s world. I was so pleased to be approved to read this book as in the past I used to read every new Erica James book that came out. Erica James is the author of twenty-three internationally bestselling novels, with recent Sunday Times Top Ten bestsellers including Swallowtail Summer, Coming Home to Island House and, most recently the hardback bestseller, Letters from the Past. I also enjoyed the evocative descriptions of the rather genteel seaside village of Tilsham and of the family home.Martha has other ideas and wants her mother to sell her home and move closer to the girls, this causes some major problems with the normal flow of family life with them. Rekindling her friendship with Ellis encourages her to acknowledge that her marriage was not as perfect as everyone would seem.

But Martha, in particular, is suspicious of Ellis, and unhappy that he is taking the place of her beloved dad Colin. But the one thing she has no control over is falling pregnant despite having been married ten months and both her and Tom keen for children. Martha is in a stable satisfying marriage and Willow is finally with a man that is viewed as perfect boyfriend material by the rest of the family. Martha, whom we meet first is the elder of two siblings and is desperately trying for a baby with her husband Tom.Naomi doesn’t know how to tell her daughters about Ellis, especially Martha, she was very close to her father and she won’t be happy. On reflection, I think it is quite interesting that an older character in the story connected with me the most. My twenty-fifth novel - A Secret Garden Affair - was published in the spring of 2023 and is my second book to be published by HQ Stories.