The Stolen Child by Sanjida Kay

Zoe and Ollie Morley tried for years to have a baby and couldn't. They turned to adoption and their dreams came true when they were approved to adopt a little girl from birth. They named her Evie. 

Seven years later, the family has moved to Yorkshire and grown in number: a wonderful surprise in the form of baby Ben. As a working mum it's not easy for Zoe, but life is good. 

But then Evie begins to receive letters and gifts. 
The sender claims to be her birth father. He has been looking for his daughter. 

And now he is coming to take her back...



After reading Sanjida Kay's debut Bone by Bone last year I have been waiting patiently for the release of her second book and having now finished reading The Stolen Child it is safe to say that the curse of book two didn't hit this author as this book was even better than her debut.

After failing to conceive Zoe and Ollie take the next step and decide to adopt a beautiful baby girl who was born with the effects of having a drug addict as a mother.

Seven years later and with the addition of their little boy too their family is complete but not without its struggles of getting the work life balance right. When the family begin to see a change in little Evie they know something isn't right and when they find a card to Evie from her "real daddy" and gifts too they fear that their little girl will be taken.

This was such a cleverly written plot that pulled the wool right over my eyes and led me down so many different paths of suspicion, each one leading me further from the truth. The storyline really was rather disturbing and terrifying as we are well aware of grooming occurring in the real world so you can't help but feel sick in the pit of your stomach whilst watching Evie being sucked in by the gifts and the loving messages and seeing her begin to trust in them and see her begin to cover up to conceal the gifts to protect them from others knowledge.

The ending was a very realistic ending too which rounded this book off perfectly. This is one of those disturbing and thought provoking reads that will leave a mark on me and one I urge you to read if you are looking for a sinister and gripping read.

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Bone by Bone by Sanjida Kay

Laura loves her daughter more than anything in the world.

But nine-year-old daughter Autumn is being bullied. Laura feels helpless. 

When Autumn fails to return home from school one day, Laura goes looking for her. She finds a crowd of older children taunting her little girl. In the heat of the moment, Laura makes a terrible choice. 

A choice that will have devastating consequences for her and her daughter...

Bone by Bone is Sanjida Kay's first thriller and what a gripping and pacy read it is. The storyline follows nine year old Autumn who has not long been at her new school and she is being bullied and finally she confides in her mum Laura. Laura wants to do everything she can to protect her precious little girl and so when she goes looking for Autumn one day when she is late home from school and finds her surrounded by a group of children Laura approaches the group and makes a terrible mistake.

The book gets off to a dramatic start with the prologue which had me on alert already and as each chapter played out I found myself tense and eager to find out what events had occurred to lead up to the situation we read about in the prologue.

At times I felt so desperate for both Laura and Autumn and my heart really went out to them, the author really manages to portray how bullying effects both the victim and the parent and how suffocated and helpless it can make them feel. There were times where I felt frustrated with Laura with the way she dealt with things but this just helped to keep the tension running high.

The chapters alternated between both Laura and Autumns characters which I thought worked really well for this storyline as we get to see from both characters points of view especially seeing what Autumns thoughts were on the way her mum dealt with various parts of the bullying.

The author has such an easy flow to her writing I was surprised how quick I whizzed through this book but it was such a pacey and packed storyline there was no safe place to stop. My one little criticism would have to be I felt the ending was a little rushed and abrupt. This was a compelling read that shows a mothers desperation to protect her daughter and I will definitely be recommending this one to friends and family and I look forward to seeing what the authors delivers next.

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