(29)The Night Olivia Fell by Christina McDonald

Saturday, April 13, 2019



Abi Knight thought her daughter was asleep in her bed when she got the phone call that no parent ever wants to get.  Her daughter, Olivia,  fell off of a local bridge and the prognosis is grim. Abi raced to the hospital to find out that Olivia was pregnant. She realized that for all of her rules and regulations, her daughter did follow in her footsteps and she knew nothing about her at all.  But worst of all, those rules couldn't keep her daughter safe.

For her whole life it had just been Olivia and her mother.  She never knew her father, in fact, her mother told her that he had died.  But when Olivia has a chance meeting with a girl who looks exactly like her she starts to wonder if her mother has been lying to her.   But she has been keeping her own lives.  She has a boyfriend who is devoted to her, but it is a boy from her past that truly has her heart.  She has to tell them the truth, but at what cost?

The Night Olivia Fell is told from alternating perspectives.  Abi and Olivia.  Past and present.    Abi was obviously shattered at Olivia's accident but left speechless by the news that there was a baby.   She assumed that Olivia's boyfriend, Tyler, was the baby's father. But he was adamant that the baby was not his.    As the reader, you get the luxury of reading Olivia's side of the story, but Abi does not get that luxury, but she is desperate to know.   Even if it means digging up her own painful past, which was the reason why she was so strict with Olivia.  She didn't want Olivia to go down the same road that she did.  She wanted better for Olivia.  For a good chunk of the book, I almost wondered if we were being "parent trapped" because Olivia had a drastic appearance change in the hours before the accident.  The author keeps you guessing about the culprit.  It could be any number of people, so I wasn't all that surprised when we found out who did it, but I didn't know for sure. -- CLICK HERE FOR SPOILERS --  I really liked the way the book ended.  There was true closure and I finished the book feeling like all of the characters, including the baby, were going to be okay.

Bottom Line -  I really enjoyed The Night Olivia Fell.  I thought I had figured out the big twist and was almost smug about it.  Instead, the author went a different way and kept me guessing until the end.  Because of that, I will be looking forward to more books by Christina McDonald!

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