The Stepmother: A gripping psychological thriller with a killer twist

Jeanie Randall believed she had finally found her happily-ever-after with Matthew King. Handsome, wealthy, and with a big, albeit creepy fairytale house, he might actually be her white knight.The downside? He had teenage twins, Scarlett and Luke. Jeanie had her own teenager, Frank, but he was already away at school, only occasionally spending time with the newly created family.Hoping to blend the families successfully, Jeanie does everything in her power to make everyone happy, but things start going awry almost immediately. Some secrets from her past, which she had been planning to share with her new husband, are spilled in the worst possible way. Who could have sent the damning e-mails to all the key individuals, from Matthew to her new employers?Now I had my eye on pretty little Scarlett, the daddy’s girl, but Kaye was also an unlikeable ex-wife who could create furor wherever she went. Lots of screaming phone calls from her to Matthew frequently tore him away, leaving Jeanie alone…again. She could have had plenty of motive. And Scarlett spent much of the time scowling and barking at her new stepmother. The Stepmother: A gripping psychological thriller with a killer twist  was not just a remake of the fairytales we all love, since it had lots of additional twists and turns that made me wonder who was behind the evil pranks that seemed geared toward driving Jeanie mad.The novel was also a tale of sisters: Jeanie, the eldest, with little sis Marlena, the one who always leaned on big sister, but who now has her own life mapped out as a journalist. Their stories are alternately narrated, and we learn a lot about their own dysfunctional family. So the two of them are adept at families that are full of scars and old wounds, as well as secrets and lies.I loved how we finally learn what has happened to Jeanie in the big old King house…and how she finally discovers a way to create her own happiness. 5 stars.

This is my first read of Claire Seeber's novels. This was a page-turner for me. I couldn't wait to see who the despicable person was who was tormenting Jeanie. It's a book about becoming a blended family and even though it goes to extremes I found the feelings of insecurity faced by Jeanie’s step children very credible. Who is behind the dark and evil games that are being played at Jeanie? This is a disturbing psychological thriller and it gets a 4.5 star from me. Would recommend to my friends.

MC is completely bland, without personality, and stupid.The story and plot goes like this:- MC marries divorced man and moves in.- Strange things happen to her in the house, e. g. she leaves something in one place and later it os not there; she keeps hearing voices, and other stupid things like that.- MC has no personality whatsoever and is even afraid to ask new husband why he got divorced (an obvious question that is asked BEFORE you marry somebody.- Oh! New husband has two teenagers and the boy is okay with new wife but the girl is not.Basically, the plot revolves around who is moving things around (no brainer, really), and MC’s past which the husband doesn’t know about (another thing that talked about BEFORE marriage, but whatever).

I wanted to give up on this book several times. It was so slow but finally picked up around 50%. Yes, it was that slow. Jeanie (40ish) and her sister Marlena (late30's) grew up with a crappy drug addict mom. Jeanie basically took care of Marlena growing up, Marlena is now a workaholic journalist always in search of a story. Jeanie marries Matthew within 6 months of meeting. He's a recently divorced man with teenage twins and Jeanie has a 19 year old son. Now let me start by saying I strongly dislike weak, fragile women. Jeanie is one of those. She has this "big" secret, yet every time she plans to tell her husband, something comes up and she can't tell him. I'm okay with a little diversion to add to the story but not over and over. So many parts of this book were completely ridiculous. I wanted Jeanie to just punch someone in the face so many times. She was so weak and full of self doubt. I also felt the author could have left out all the nonsense with Marlena speaking directly to us readers every few chapters. It didn't work for me, same as the "story" Marlena was trying to piece together for her job also didn't have any meaning to this book. Yes I would read another book by this author. I just thought this one was a bit bizarre and far fetched. Not the worst book I've read but I wouldn't recommend it.

I liked this book a lot but I also disliked it for a few reasons too, thus the 3 star rating!The Stepmother in this book, Jeanie, really thought she was starting anew in a fairytale marriage to her rich and handsome prince of a husband, Matthew.As life would have it strange goings on start to occur in the house her husband once resided in with his ex wife, Kaye.Jeanie who already has a son of her own is now suddenly step mom to Luke and Scarlett, and neither has taken a liking to her..or so it seemsBring in some dark and shady secrets from both sides of this family and it makes for a thrilling plot twist!It was a little predictable however I did like the anticipation and curiosity of what happened but it took a while to get there and it seemed to go a little off course at times , almost like some ideas were thrown in as an afterthoughtI also did not like the mention of the handling of the family pets nor the nonchalant way it was approachedAll in all this was a pretty decent read for a psychological thriller and the ending just may surprise you!

I’m quite into my psychological thrillers at the moment, so when I saw a lot of folks on THE Book Club on Facebook were raving about this one, of course, I had to download it.The story is told from the POV of two sisters, Jeanie and Marlena with the basic premise being the difficulty in blending two families from completely different backgrounds.But this book is much more than that.I will admit that I found the book difficult to get into at first, but then for me, at around 37%, BAM, the story lifted off and I was hooked through to the end.Jeanie is a difficult character to like at first; she is ditsy to say the least, which leads her to start to question her own sanity. At times, I wanted to scream “focus”, because if she had, things would have been different….but then we wouldn’t have had a book! And she is such a people pleaser. I would have loved to have stepped in and stuck up for her at times, something her incredibly selfish sister, Marlena, had the opportunity to do on so many occasions, but failed to.The story is not told in a traditional way; for example, when you are reading a scene from Marlena’s POV, she is speaking directly to you, the reader, which I found a little difficult to get used to. But once I was hooked by the story, I no longer noticed the unusual way the author has written the book because I was dying to find out the truth.This is the first novel I’ve read from Claire Seeber, but I definitely enjoyed it enough to seek out her other work.In summary, I really liked this book, and would recommend it for people who like a psychological thriller that is also an easy read.

I bought this book on the number of good reviews it had but it was not what I expected. At times it was quite predictable. The main character was weak, her sister had more guts in one chapter than the main character did in 80% of the book and at times I found this frustrating. At times I wanted to scream at her to grow a back bone. One sitting was enough of this book I'm afraid.

I really enjoyed this book. I decided to read it after a review I read.The first thing that drew me in after a few pages, was that the majority of the story is set just five miles away from where I live. No imagination was needed to visualise the town!But of course, there was so much more to the story that kept me hooked.The story is told from the voices of two sisters, Jeanie and Marlena. Mainly Jeanie, she's our leading lady here. Instantly, I found her to be a likable character, many of the other characters, not so likable! But I guess that's the point! From early on, it's clear there are secrets. Lots of secrets. Jeanie has her secrets, Matthew, her new husband, he has his secrets, everyone has their secrets, and you just need to keep reading to find out what they are. During the book, I had pretty much accused everyone, my opinion changing constantly.I do recommend this book if you like a good psychological thriller.

‘The Stepmother’ draws inspiration from the theme of Snow White to craft a contemporary tale that is deliciously dark and imaginative. As I settled myself down to read, it became crystal clear that the smallest events are merely calculated baby steps, contributing to a bigger and much sinister picture.It is not just a case of the characters working through their difficulties when two families and their established dynamics unite. ‘The Stepmother’ provides a playground for extreme character assassination and shifting the finger of blame onto unsuspecting parties, regardless of the consequences – and what an excellent job it makes of it too!The story trips along swiftly, impressively screening any suspects from view, and it knows exactly when to twist the knife to expose parenting fails at the most inopportune moment. In short ‘The Stepmother’ is crawling with paranoia, as a creative campaign of terror dominates from beginning to end.This is now the second book by this author I have read and I've an inkling it won't be my last!

Knowing Claire Seeber's style I'm sure there will be a twist at the end of this book so I'm writing this whilst there are still 27 minutes (according to my Kindle) left - I'd hate to give the ending away unintentionally! Firstly, don't believe the blurb at the beginning that gives the average reading time - it's impossible to put down. Beautifully written, the characters are complex but believable, the story is deep and dark, full of lies, suspicions, manipulation and jealousy, all in short, sharp chapters. Absolutely brilliant book (last 27 minutes here I come!)