The Girl She Wanted by K.L. Slater

Published October 22nd 2020 by Bookouture

Description: What if my sister is unstable and everyone can see it but me? What was she really doing standing over Florence’s cot in the middle of the night?

Alexa has always looked up to her older sister Carrie. Carrie lives in Alexa’s family home, and adores her one-year-old niece Florence. Alexa doesn’t know how they would cope without her. So when Carrie is suspended from her job as a senior nurse, accused of the most terrible crime, Alexa reels in disbelief. Alexa knows how caring Carrie is, and as she watches Florence gurgling and cooing whenever Carrie is around, she knows her little girl is in safe hands.

Alexa’s husband doesn’t trust Carrie. He wants her out of the house, unable to ignore what people are saying about her. But when he suggests that Carrie could be a danger to their daughter, Alexa shuts him out. Nobody will ever come between her and her sister.

Then Florence is hurt while in Carrie’s care and Alexa at last starts to wonder. Alexa has always wanted to protect Carrie from the past they have hidden. But does Alexa know what Carrie wants? And will the secret that has kept the sisters together now destroy her little girl?

A completely gripping rollercoaster of a read about the darkness families hide behind closed doors. Fans of Gone Girl and The Girl on the Train will be hooked on The Girl She Wanted.

5 Stars: ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

Alexa and Perry have a one year old daughter. Perry works on an oil rig near Aberdeen so is away from home for long periods of time, a minimum of two weeks at a time. When Carrie, Alexa’s sister gets divorced and loses her house, she moves in with Alexa and Perry. There are some secrets here, Alexa is dealing with some issues of anxiety and a bit of agoraphobia, but the reader is not sure why. Having Carrie there is very helpful to Alexa. Perry does not want her there, he doesn’t trust her but can’t convince Carrie to ask her to leave. Everything falls apart when Carrie is accused of killing two patients over the last four months, at the hospital where she works.

This psychological thriller has secrets, lies, cover-ups and suspicions from the first page of the story. There are several twists along the way that keep the reader guessing. I know Carrie is the character we are supposed to love to hate, but for some reason, I liked her right from the start and kept hoping that the truth would out and that it wouldn’t be Carrie. I thought I had it all figured out, but then something else was revealed and I was sent back to the drawing board. Part of what I suspected from the start was correct, but not all of it and the final twist had me chortling with glee. The characters in this book were well-developed and we got to know them better as the story went on. I loved how they changed with the situations, it made them more realistic. The story is told for a few points of view, so you could see things happening from one character that you wouldn’t have known otherwise. I know someone was lying, someone was keeping secrets and someone had actually killed these two patients, but K.L. Slater does a wonderful job of dishing out just enough information along the way to keep me on the edge of my seat. This is my first book by this author, but I can guarantee, it won’t be my last. The publisher provided a copy of this book upon request. The rating, ideas and opinions shared are my own.

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About the Author: For many years, Kim sent her work out to literary agents but never made it off the slush pile. At the age of 40 she went back to Nottingham Trent University and now has an MA in Creative Writing.

Before graduating in 2012, she received five offers of representation from London literary agents which was, as Kim says, ‘a fairytale … at the end of a very long road!’

Kim is a full-time writer and lives in Nottingham with her husband, Mac.

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