The Bibliophile Doctor's Reviews > Dearest

Dearest by Jacquie Walters
Narrated by author herself
Audiobook rating : 4.5 stars
Book rating : 2.5 stars
Overall rating :3.5 stars


The narration was definitely good. The voice of author and her narration was perfect for the setting. She was able to give a spooky and claustrophobic feeling throughout the book. I think that's why it is almost always a hit when an author decides to narrate their own book as they know what they are aiming at.

This book started out great and I was enjoying it quite well or to say I was trying not to be too frightened until towards the end. The ending was too simplistic and dull for the whole book which was full of scary energy.

I was quite sure that I was going to enjoy it but it went totally South towards the end and it left me feeling disappointed because it had so much potential and then it just went in exactly different direction and it lost my interest.

In Dearest, we follow Flora and her story, she has just delivered baby girl, Iris, 6 weeks ago and struggling to keep her sleepless tired mind sane. Being alone, as her husband is still deployed, she is trying to manage her motherhood single handedly. I liked how the book did not glorify motherhood and was kind of point blank and clear about horrors of postpartum.

Some gory details I just couldn't deal with being a mom myself and it was hard for me to continue reading it after a particularly disturbing scene that takes place in the book. I feel it was overdone as it just made me feel cringe. After that particular incident, I just couldn't enjoy the book. So it was my personal experience with the book and others might not feel same as I did but it was definitely off-putting for me.

If ending had been different I might have given it more stars but I was hugely disappointed with it.

Thank you Netgalley and Hachette audio and author Jacquie Walters for the audiobook ARC in exchange of an honest review.