NetGalley Review: The Night Olivia Fell by Christina McDonald

Title: The Night Olivia Fell

Author: Christina McDonald

Published: 2/5/2019

Publisher: Gallery, Threshold, Pocket books 

Pages: 368

Genre: Mystery/Thriller

Review: ebook provided by NetGalley and Publisher

Buy Links: Amazon, Amazon.uk 

In the vein of Big Little Lies and Reconstructing Amelia comes an emotionally charged domestic suspense novel about a mother unraveling the truth behind how her daughter became brain dead. And pregnant.
A search for the truth. A lifetime of lies.
In the small hours of the morning, Abi Knight is startled awake by the phone call no mother ever wants to get: her teenage daughter Olivia has fallen off a bridge. Not only is Olivia brain dead, she’s pregnant and must remain on life support to keep her baby alive. And then Abi sees the angry bruises circling Olivia’s wrists.
When the police unexpectedly rule Olivia’s fall an accident, Abi decides to find out what really happened that night. Heartbroken and grieving, she unravels the threads of her daughter’s life. Was Olivia’s fall an accident? Or something far more sinister?
Christina McDonald weaves a suspenseful and heartwrenching tale of hidden relationships, devastating lies, and the power of a mother’s love. With flashbacks of Olivia’s own resolve to uncover family secrets, this taut and emotional novel asks: how well do you know your children? And how well do they know you?

I received this book via NetGalley to give an honest review.

Wowzers on this book. For me, it was so hard to put this book down and when I got to the end I got the damn feels. I literally was crying with tears pouring down my face. Thank goodness I was at home and out in public, I can just imagine what I looked like crying over a book.

Now I am going to go with a five-star review but I just hope that the author uses capitalization at the beginning of each chapter before the book is published. 

Olivia is a good teenager yet we can see how she feels that she is being suffocated by her mom who just wants what is best for her. Olivia learns why her mom is the way she is towards her yet, it may be too late. She is dealing with all this plus trying to keep her secrets under wrap especially from her best friend. 

I could relate to Olivia's mom and see how she wanted the best for her daughter and pushed her to strive for better. My heart went out to Abi as she learned how to be a mom when her own mom wasn't there for her. Secrets will come out and though they may not be for the best, lying will not make it better. 

 We go back and forth between the past and present to find out what really happened to Olivia and what is going on in her life building it all up. The author did a great job with this. I was not confused at all with the timeline. 

 I honestly wish I could write more but I feel like I would be giving away the storyline. I thought about 15% in I had it all figured out but when I started getting deeper into the book I was proven wrong. I love when books do that to you, this is an author I will be looking to read more from. 

Christina McDonald is the author of domestic suspense novel The Night Olivia Fell, to be published by Simon & Schuster in February 2019.
An author, journalist and copywriter, Christina has worked for companies such as The Sunday Times, Dublin, The Connacht Tribune, Galway, Expedia, USAToday.com, Travelex, and Pearson Publishing. Originally from Seattle, WA, she holds an MA in Journalism from the National University of Ireland Galway, and now lives in London, England.