I read The New Girl a few weeks back as part of my #ArcMarch challenge, but knowing I was going to be part of this blog tour with Boldwood, I figured I would wait to share my thoughts!
The New Girl
The letterbox clatters and sitting on the mat is a piece of paper, in black and white, with everything needed to blow Anna’s perfect life apart.
A baby scan photo.
Anna and Jon have been trying for a baby with no success, so after years of disappointment, this feels like a kick in the teeth.
Who sent it? And why?
Anna’s thoughts fall on Grace – the keen young woman Jon hired at their printing business. Something about Grace isn’t quite right. She asks too many questions and makes Anna nervous but she can’t work out why.
And she can’t deny she sees the way her husband looks at her.
All she knows is this baby scan might tear her marriage apart…
My Thoughts:
This psychological thriller follows Anna as she watches her relationship with her husband Jon begin to change with the addition of a new office assistant, Grace, to their co-owned small business. When Anna receives a strange message in the mail she sees only two potential reasons it was sent; either someone is trying to tell her a secret that could change her life and marriage, or someone is on to the lies she’s been telling and wants her to come forward. Either way she must try to figure out who sent it and why if she wants to keep living the life she has worked so hard to curate.
The premise of the story is interesting, though hard to get into without spoilers (Netgalley did not like my original review so I had to go in and edit it because something I didn't think of as a spoiler was marked as one!). As far as thrillers go, this one is very, very tame. There were definitely some curve balls and fairly unpredictable turns of events, but nothing that is going to cause any fear or anxiety for the reader. The characters and some of the plot involve Christianity and Christian values, and the main characters all attend church, so great for anyone who wants to read something that might align with those values, which may be harder to find in this genre.
My biggest pet peeve with this book was that I didn't love the narration of Anna's thought process. She was really quite annoying and constantly jumping to conclusions, yet she needed to come back to those thoughts again and again and again. She was abrupt and rude to her only friend on multiple occasions and while I understood the tensions with other characters, like when she was accusing someone of something she had some what detailed evidence of, but she was pretty harsh with every character she interacted with. Maybe some more character development around why she made so many assumptions about friends and family would have been helpful.
Thanks to Netgalley and Boldwood for giving me the chance to read and review this book, and to Rachel for organizing another great Blog Tour!
Purchase Link - https://mybook.to/TheNewGirlSocial
Author Bio –
Alison Stockham’s debut novel, The Cuckoo Sister, was a top 10 bestseller and was also longlisted for the Lucy Cavendish Fiction Prize. Her second novel The Silent Friend was published in July 2023 and her third novel, The New Girl, will be published in April 2024. From a background in film and television production, working in film dramas and then TV documentary production for the BBC and Channel 4, Alison is now the events coordinator for Cambridge Literary Festival. She lives in the city with her husband, their children and their cat, who keeps her company while she works on the next book
Social Media Links
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/astockhamauthor/
Newsletter Sign Up: https://bit.ly/AlisonStockhamNews
Bookbub profile: Alison Stockham Books - BookBub
Before you go, headon over to the other blogtour stops so you can see what others thought of the book!
