The Stepchild by Nicole Trope – Book Review

*AD-gifted: I received a copy of The Stepchild in exchange for this post. Affiliate links are marked with a*

Today it’s my turn to share my review of The Stepchild by Nicole Trope. A pulse-pounding psychological thriller about family secrets, shocking pasts and the lies we tell ourselves in order to survive!

Book Description

Three-year-old Millie Everleigh disappears on a crisp winter’s day, and nothing is as it seems…

It’s the phone call every mother dreads.

I’m climbing into the car after a trip to the grocery store. As the engine starts, my phone rings. It’s my stepdaughter, Shelby, who is babysitting my three-year-old little girl Millie.

‘I only went upstairs for a second,’ she says through her sobs. ‘She’s gone.’

I race home to find my blue-eyed baby girl missing, and my heart ripped out of my chest.

When the police turn up, Shelby’s story starts to unravel. What is she hiding?

Then I get a message saying, ‘Your husband is not who you think he is.’ Could he be lying?

Suddenly, my family feel like strangers. Everyone has a secret – even me.

No one knows why I was late coming back from the store, and the guilt I’ve been feeling ever since…

Once the truth comes out, all of our lies exposed, will it be too late to save my precious child?

What I Thought

I love this sassy psychological thriller! It’s a good un’ and one you won’t stop thinking about long after you’ve finished!

The book is told from the points of view of Leslie, Shelby and Ruth. Shelby is the 12 year old stepchild who is tasked with looking after 3 year old Millie. Leslie, Millie’s mum is out shopping while her husband Randall, Shelby’s dad is playing golf. Leslie gets a phone call from a panicking Shelby that Millie has disappeared while she was upstairs in the bathroom.

Now you get lots of questions, is Shelby telling the truth? Who keeps sending threatening text messages to Shelby? Why does Leslie leave a 3 year old with a 12 year old? How does Ruth fit in? So many questions to answer and you will be on the edge of your seat finding out the truth! Absolutely nail biting grit in this book! Love it!

Thanks to Bookouture and Netgalley for my copy.

About The Author

Nicole Trope went to university to study Law but realised the error of her ways when she did very badly on her first law essay because-as her professor pointed out- ‘It’s not meant to be a story.’ She studied teaching instead and used her holidays to work on her writing career and complete a Masters’ degree in Children’s Literature.

The idea for her first published novel, The Boy under the Table, was so scary that it took a year for her to find the courage to write the emotional story. She went on to publish a further five novels in Australia before joining Bookouture in 2019. She is a USA Today and Amazon bestseller in the USA, UK, AUS and CAN.

She lives in Sydney with her husband and three children.

Author social media

Facebook: @NicoleTrope

Twitter: @nicoletrope

Where Can I Buy?

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Book Tour

Here are the other bloggers on The Stepchild book tour. Why not head over and check out their reviews!

Thanks for stopping by today, I hope you’ve enjoyed this review. You can check out my bookcase of past reviews here.