Blood Ties: #LikeMotherLikeDaughter by Elle Croft @elle_croft @orionbooks @AlainnaGeorgiou #BlogTour

I am over the moon to be kicking off the blog tour for Like Mother Like Daughter. Elle Croft is a genius when it comes to breathing life into nightmares!

Title: Like Mother Like Daughter
Author: Elle Croft
Publisher: Orion
Genre: mystery, thriller
Date of publication: July 9th 2020
Format reviewed: ebook
Source: NetGalley

If what they said was true, then the grotesque and the monstrous ran in her blood. It was imprinted within her very core, her DNA, a part of every cell in her body.

Kat’s children are both smart and well-adjusted. On the outside.

Kat has always tried to treat Imogen and Jemima equally, but she struggles with one of her daughters more than the other.

Because Imogen’s birth mother is a serial killer. And Imogen doesn’t know.

They say you can’t choose your family, but what if your family chooses you?

What’s in our blood? What makes us who we are? The eternal nature VERSUS nurture concept. I am fascinated by the subject. The not-knowing is chilling, and when efficiently used, makes for absolute belter reads. Well, Elle Croft did her homework, worked hard, and delivers one of the strongest punches I’ve ever felt!

Kat and Dylan Braidwood have two daughters; a teenager, and a pre-teen. My idea of hell, but many people’s idea of the perfect family. Except the reality is far from it. Kat and Imogen have their issues, mother and daughter don’t seem to be able to reach each other. Jumping from one point of view to the other through each chapter, the author gives us perfect windows to experience first-hand what each woman is going through. Jittery, on edge Kat might appear over-protective and surrounded by walls of fear, but I couldn’t help empathize with her real quick. Tiny details here and there hinted that her behavior stemmed from the right place… As for Imogen, we have all been teenagers. I couldn’t figure her out at first, but instead of getting on my nerves like most humans her age, she intrigued me. I was enthralled by the dance Kat and Imogen were performing. There is a lot to say about mother and daughter relationships, and here, Elle Croft efficiently creates a double conversation. Their inability to connect, if seemingly normal at the beginning, shows signs of a deeper problem. Mother and daughter are shouting at each other in silence, each unable to understand what the other needs, as if they were speaking a different language. I knew I was in capable hands when all of this dawned on me and I was left heart-broken for both side!

And then… It only takes one night to send a family to hell. Or had they always been standing at its threshold?

When Imogen disappears, everything turns dark. Despite not being her daughter’s best friend, Kat knows something is wrong. The police might believe Imogen ran away, but they don’t know half of the story. And WHAT A STORY.

Apart from Kat and Imogen, a third voice, cold and devoid of feelings, can be heard. Sally Sanders. I had no idea what her link to the story would be but her interventions unnerved me. From the jail she is rotting in, Sally tell the tale of her life, while Kat’s is unravelling behind her eyes. If Sally’s narration goes straight from the past to the present, we get to know Kat and Dylan through the hardships their couple went through before they became parents. The pieces are cut sharply, and the reader might cut themselves putting them together. I know my heart grew heavy as the chapters kept on rolling!! Horror and pain blended together as I was left open-mouthed and catching my breath!

Like Mother Like Daughter is an intensely emotive and disturbing read. It explores the heart of families; love, memories, adoption, the need to belong. Elle Croft left me reeling and bruised, wondering if poison ran in someone’s blood and could be passed on the next generation, or if a body could, by a weird mix of chemicals or chromosomes, create its own venom. Are blood ties stronger than anything? I don’t believe it and Elle Croft… Oh, that twisted mind!!! Elle poured her heart and her darkness in equal measures in Like Mother Like Daughter. You can feel it in the density of the chapters, in the pure love oozing from the pages. Kat loves both her daughters; her biological one, and her adopted one. One might assume that Kat and Imogen’s struggles come down to that distinction, but it would be simplifying something so much stronger, and so much more terrible. If there is a gap between them, a dark mouth widening as it feeds from painful, frightening external factors, we are far from any regular fractured relationship.

I know, what you are reading might not make much sense, but every word is what I felt at some point during my reading! The problem is I can’t share the details! What I can tell you is that you might know what you’re getting into, but you don’t. And the feeling is exquisite.

Elle Croft polished and cared for her idea with such expertise that her story gave me the chills. The genius twists kept me on edge and won’t be forgotten anytime soon!

Like Mother Like Daughter had me reeled in and begging for more, scarifying sleeping hours to share two families’ darkest hours. Elle Croft’s skillful pen and mind have wrought a devilish plot that is scariest than the worst serial killer. The monster hidden in the pages of the novel is the silence.

Verdict

I loved it!

You can pre-order your copy here!

I would like to thank Orion and Alainna for inviting me to be part of this blog tour!