No Child of Mine (The No Child of Mine Trilogy Book 1)

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Erica has paranoid schizophrenia and the heroine, a social worker, fails to get her any medical help although she is quite clearly ill. In this case you don't have to wait months to see a psychiatrist in the ordinary way in this instance, but simply ring the consultant's secretary or the doctor him/herself and explain the position. An awful curse born of both love and selfishness has taken fathers from their daughters for generations in Essie's family. I had hoped there would be some spookiness in Essie's new house but other than some whispering and an object occasionally being displaced nothing much happened. I thought that when the curse began to take hold of the family, this is when the Horror/Creepy part of the story would reveal itself. Sadly, there wasn't any suspense. The ending seemed too easily wrapped up since so many generations had suffered this curse. It just felt rushed to me.

Alex was adopted when she was three years old, she grew up feeling rejected by her birth mother, which seemed to eager to let her go and doesn’t want to have nothing to do with her. The only "good" characters encountered so far are white, middle class and live in big houses.....yawn!When I started the book, I thought it would be nothing more than a good horror book with few ghosts or demons, a few scary moments, and a sinister setting. This book is so much more than that and at the same time nothing like it. This is Nichelle Giraldes debut novel, and is told in dual timelines. In the current day, we have Essie and her husband Sanjay, and several generations earlier we have Ana and Isabelle, two women who were deeply in love when it was impossible for women to have a romantic relationship. No Child of Mine" follows law student Essie Kaur. Essie has followed her husband Sanjay so that he could fulfill his dreams of being an architect. Now it's her turn. When they buy the house of their dreams though, things start to go wrong. Smells that only Essie can smell. Sounds and voices of people that can't be there. And when Essie finds herself pregnant, she realizes a family curse she has always made fun of, may not be fake after all. The book shifts from the present with Essie and then to the past following a young woman named Isabel who is devastated after her best friend marries and moves away. In fact, privately, she's pretty upset about it. Essie is currently in law school, almost through, ready to take the bar exam early the following year, how is she going to make that work now? The baby will be three months old when she is supposed to sit for the bar?

All while this struggle is happening, another narrative keeps popping in. It’s from centuries ago, and tells of the strife of women and family before our liberation. I had a hard time figuring out where this played into the main story, until they merged in a very creepy supernatural way. From that point the book goes in another direction and becomes a ghost story mashup. I was totally all in at this point. It's best not to watch this piece of trash, but for masochists and fans of misinformation one can do much worse. No, actually not... Worse? Not really. I loved the letters between Isabel and Ana, as much as the shifting relationship between Essie and Sanjay. Essie made a huge impression on me and my opinion of her managed to change as the book progressed. To many people, Essie would seem selfish and even self-absorbed, perhaps not a complete woman because of her reluctance to have a child and be a mother. But I don't think that's the real case with her. Essie is afraid of losing herself when she becomes a mother. She’s afraid she would stay only that and stop being everything else – a woman, a wife, a friend, a lawyer, a professional. She wants to be so much more and wants everyone around her to see her as something more, too, and the anxiety, fear and doubts she goes through while she is pregnant can not help but touch and influence every woman. Including the fear of losing her partner, who is the love of her life, the author gets so deeply into the emotions of the readers, that this story can not help but get under their skin and be remembered.I watched this movie long ago in France and rewatched it very recently and it moved me to tears and i wanted to cry and help Kerry to leave this hell.Poor Kerry is supposed to be 12 or 13 and is constantly abused by her mother,dad and stepdad Graham in the movie..That's awful..This movie is very emotional and has good points like the fight of Kerry to survive and her determination when she deserts home and calls the hotline for abused children. Alex trusts her instincts, and she follows up a phone call about Ottilie Wade and senses that all is not well with the child. The mother is very strange and the father is domineering and seemingly holding down a very respectable job as a deputy head at a local school. The more Alex knows of him the more she suspects. She soon is keeping a close eye on Ottilie, but things move slowly and social workers have to play by the book. I can see in the story the attempts to bring about supernatural tension. Creaks in the house, doors creaking open. That sort of element was used in the book, and used often. But the thing that was missing is the heightened psychological tension because of those things. Creaks and the like need strong reaction to be creepy and foreboding. Sadly that was missing in this book. Told in alternating timelines and points of view, this is just as much the story of Ana and Isabel as it is of Essie and Sanjay. The letters that Ana and Isabel share are poignant, lyrical, and a stark reminder that they must keep their feelings hidden. When something terrible threatens their relationship, a pact is made with something that whispers in the dark, and the repercussions will threaten generations to come. This book just reminded me, how much I love Susan Lewis's works. It's been a while since I read her books. I think it's high time I get started on it, isn't it? By the way, there is a sequel to this book:

This story really laid out the emotional turmoil of Alex/Charlotte's life. The ending surprised me.No Child Of Mine is more about choosing to become a mother, and the battle between choosing a career or family. In this book, the protagonist doesn’t want to be a mother. She’s not happy about getting pregnant. She makes a choice for her family, more then herself. Most of the book is her struggle to figure out how to put herself first, to achieve her personal goals, while carrying the child. It’s a struggle, and it seems like nature and her husband are trying to stop her. Initially, I was wondering if there was any connection between Isabel, Anna and Essie. Later on, it is revealed that the three women are connected by a generational curse that sees their husbands stolen from them.