Mother's Day by Abigail Burdess BLOG TOUR #MothersDay @AbigailBurdess @headlinepg @RandomTTours @Wildfirebks #BookReview

 

The last thing Anna needs is a baby. Abandoned, adopted and living hand to mouth, she never dreamt of having a real family.

But when she meets her birth mother, everything changes - because the same day, she learns she's going to be a mother too.

Marlene is eccentric, generous with her considerable fortune and overjoyed to become a grandmother. Anna's living the dream. But is it her dream, or someone else's?

Now she will have to decide what she's willing to sacrifice for a real family - her future, her freedom, even her unborn child.

Mother's Day by Abigail Burdess was published on 2 March 2023 by Wildfire. My thanks to the publisher who sent my copy as part of this #RandomThingsTours Blog Tour.

Mother's Day by Abigail Burdess is far more than just a psychological thriller. It's like a mash-up of a horror story, crime fiction, with some very dark humour thrown in for good measure. 

The premise of a woman who was abandoned as a baby, and is now pregnant and is just about to meet her birth mother for the first time is certainly intriguing, but the story is far far more than that. The characters are colourful and well drawn, and to be quite frank, most of them would be sectioned under the Mental Health Act in an instant. Only Anna, the newly pregnant mother seems normal, at first, but when she meets her mother and her half siblings, she seems to take on a new persona, added to the hormonal changes due to her pregnancy and it all goes a little bit crazy. 

However, crazy or not, it's a compelling story that I read in a couple of days (often with my jaw hanging in shock, to be honest!). There's something about the whole thing that makes the reader need to carry on, to find out just what's next in store for Anna and her baby. 

Oh, it's dark. Very very dark in places, and especially toward the end. Anna's birth mother Marlene is stark staring crazy, there's no doubt of that and her power and control over her children is astounding. She was never cut out for motherhood, but she does love a baby ... although she has no idea what to do with one. Marlene is the ultimate in narcissism, everything that anyone does or says, she turns around to make it about her. People seem to allow it, so she gets away with it ... well, for most of the book anyway. 

So, it you like a crazy ride of a book, that will make you wince in places, laugh out loud in others and then make you think a lot, this may be for you. 

I think Abigail Burdess writes really well, the descriptive prose is excellent and the characters are so well created. 

A difficult book to review, but one that I enjoyed reading. 

Abigail Burdess has written for and acted in various comedy shows for the television, radio and
stage. 

She also sometimes writes TV for kids, as well as plays and musicals. 

She lives in London with her husband, Robert Webb and their two children. 

Mother's Day is her first novel. 

For book updates, follow Abigail online: @AbigailBurdess