The child you never knew knows all your secrets…
The Girl Before Book/TV Review. Believe Me Review. The Perfect Wife Review. Playing Nice Review.
My Darling Daughter follows Susie and Gabe, a free-spirited couple who once worked as famous musicians but now hope to settle down and start a family of their own. Susie had a baby when she was much younger but was forced to give her up for adoption, a decision that has always haunted her. Things take a turn however when said child gets in touch, messaging Susie with the hopes to the meet up and the ominous message that she isn’t happy. Meeting up with Anna AKA Sky, Susie and Gabe learn she was adopted by a strict couple who disapprove of her musical dreams and keep her on a tight leash. Anna appeals to Susie’s caring nature and gets the two couples in touch with each other, causing some issues when Anna’s adoptive parents get the police involved and ban Susie and Gabe from seeing her.
Anna however runs away and is eventually granted permission to stay with Susie, which is then were all the trouble starts. Despite a good start Sky then shows her vicious side, staying out late, physically attacking the pair and even starting several rumours that Gabe was sexually inappropriate. Susie and Gabe then finds themselves in an impossible situation, pursued by the police for sexual misconduct and parental abuse (all of which Sky has fabricated). Can the pair resume their normal lives and save their reputations as well or will Susie’s ever loving love of new daughter Sky end up being the death of her?
I think because I’m not a parent I wasn’t able to sympathise with a lot of the issues in this book and if I’m being honest Susie and Gabe really annoyed me at times with the decisions they made. I get that Sky was her daughter but the lengths Susie would go to protect her/ignore the very obvious issues was just maddening to me. Even after everything she did, including the very illegal stuff, Susie continued to defend her- I just didn’t get it. Again it’s probably because I don’t have children of my own but I do think there’s a limit to so called unconditional love and if somebody was accusing me of sexually assaulting them I’d hardly invite them back into my house. Susie was definitely blind sighted by love and I think if she’d gone about things slightly differently none of this would have ever happened, but then again where’s the fun in that!
Another thing I didn’t quite get was Sky’s motivation, what even was her end goal here? She schemes her way into Susie’s life, and then once she was there it was like she did everything she could to get out of it again. Again I get that Sky had her fair share of mental health issues but the girl just sabotaged every good thing she had going for her and just went from one bad situation to another. Every time she had a somewhat stable existence she acted out and ended up somewhere progressively worse, it might have been Delaney’s attempt for us to sympathise with her but for me I just did not get her character. Why continuously ruin a good thing?
This book gave an interesting insight into the world of adoption as well as child protective services and how the law can really work against you in the right circumstances. Sky really put Susie and Gave in one hell of a situation and it seemed like wherever they turned they had their backs up against the wall. Every move Sky pulled seemed to but the pair (Gabe in particular) in an even worse situation and reading this book as an outsider to everything did really make me question how the law can work. Obviously children are seen as vulnerable as the priority in most cases but it seemed like there was absolutely nothing to be done if it was said child who was the dangerous/abusive one? I definitely understood Gabe and Susie’s frustration throughout.
Overall this was an interesting one and whilst I did enjoy the premise I think the book lost itself in the second half and I did struggle with a lot of the decisions made. I admit that I’m not a parent so I’m probably not the best person to sympathise with these characters, but Susie’s endless love for Sky really baffled me, even after everything she did she continued to defend her and honestly it began to annoy me. Definitely not Delaney’s best work but I did have an interesting time reading and it was thought provoking if nothing else.
Ramblings of a Supposed Writer 