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A special thank you to the author for an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Talented Linda Huber returns following The Paradise Trees, The Cold Cold Sea, and The Attic Room, with another intriguing mysterious domestic psychological suspense.  

THE CHOSEN CHILD A novel of desire. Obsessions. Dangerous games. Secrets. Lies. Highly charged topics of adoption and motherhood. Do you really know your husband? A family mystery.  An innocent little girl caught in the cross-fires.

Ella and Rick want a baby.  The first time they would come face to face with children who were up for adoption. A dream of a lifetime for Ella. Why couldn’t she have a child of her own? Life was cruel she thought and she was worried there would be no happy ending.

Now they have the opportunity to visit a hotel with children in a relaxed setting. An adoption party. Liz, their adoption society worked had explained it was to be a fun afternoon for the kids and adults. Rick was not so sure. All the kids needed a forever home--all the parents wanted a child.

Rick wanted a boy. Ella meets a six- year- old little girl – and falls in love. Her name was Soraya. Maybe they could adopt a boy next.

A little girl, wants only to belong to a real family, bounced between foster homes.

Next meet, Amanda Waters, mother of Jaden (a year old), married—having an affair—finds herself now pregnant. Now another baby on the way? What was she going to tell her lover and her husband?

The unthinkable happens. An unspeakable crime. How was she going to raise two children on her own? She looks for a smaller flat, near the beach. She has a secret.

Ella – Nothing can stand in the way of the adoption.

Rick is having an affair. He is hiding something. He retreats to the shed. A neighbor. A policeman. Rick wants the old Ella back, before all the parenting stuff. He does not want this adopted daughter. Something is not right. He liked Ella better before the mom thing.

A game of Stranger Danger. Ella is now dealing with Rick’s oddness and Soraya’s neediness. A poor neighbor with problems. A woman’s whose husband fell into the ocean. Two families. Dangerous territory.

Rick has big problems. He can control Ella with Soraya. One problem turns into two, three . . Blackmail? A murderer. Lies. Mr. Disappearing. It is payback time in the worst of ways.

A St. Christopher’s medallion. Soraya makes a discovery. A threat. Rick is turning things around so to sabotage the adoption? He thinks he has control. However, the seams will soon be ripped apart.

Who’s blackmailing whom?

When the two world’s connect ---an explosive discovery. A visit from the parents. (this part was hilarious) .. What in bloody heck will happen next?

A kidnapping. A murderer? Things are closing in. Intense!

The child Rick had was not the chosen child. A poor little girl caught in the middle of a ruthless game. Amanda lives with uncertainty. The fear a permanent weight she carried. Ella would not allow Rick to win.

She had found her child and she would not lose her again. She would adopt as a single parent. She cannot say good-bye to the daughter she loves. The forever butterfly brooch will bond them. Will Rick take the easy way out?

Rick has Soraya. Ella has to find her. Her world is falling apart. What will happen next? All these years she has waited for a child. Rick has snatched her happiness.

Two stories collide with deadly consequences. Dark and disturbing, full of suspense and tension.

The Glasgow author, Huber is in her element as a trained physiotherapist, now in Switzerland, where she now works as teacher on the banks of Lake Constance. She knows how to spin a web of deceit, concentrating on mothers and daughters—faced with tragedies and obstacles—how they protect those they love. Highly recommend the author, and all her page-turning stories.