The Stepmother

CLAIRE SEEBER

Back cover copy: 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 Jeannie's stepdaughter 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?

Stats for my copy: Trade paperback, Bookouture, 2016.

How acquired: Bought.

My thoughts: I went into this book with high hopes because I loved LULLABY, the only other book I've read by Ms. Seeber. Too high. The book never really gripped me until about the last eighth. I never connected with Jeanie, who narrates for us. Jeanie's sister, Marlena, also provides occasional narration, and I actually liked her better, even though we see less of her. The back cover copy says “Jeanie and Matthew are strong”, but I definitely did not get that impression of Matthew and I didn't like him at all. If his mother had been around he would've been a mama's boy, but instead he was still letting his ex call the shots.

I have several more of Ms. Seeber's books, and I will keep reading her, in hopes that LULLABY wasn't a one off. But if I'd read this one first, I wouldn't have rushed out and bought everything else of hers I could find.