The Stepdaughter’s Lie is the latest psychological thriller by Teri Terry that had me on the edge wondering how everything was going to get resolved. 

 Rowan who is married to Theo finds out she is pregnant. Her stepdaughter Ellie is less than thrilled, so much so that she decides she will mess with Rowan in hopes of ruining Rowan and Theo’s relationship and their baby. 

Rowan has a past that she wants to keep secret, but with this pregnancy she is finding herself having nightmares of her past. Will her past and her current situation be too much for her?

The three of them live in a high tech smart house where everything inside is controlled by voice command or app. This gives Ellie an edge over Rowan because she has access to the control panel along with Theo. She can have the house deny her entrance or be locked in a room. These things only last momentarily and appear to be system failures that resolve but it starts affecting her mentally. She is also always finding herself extremely sleep deprived because of these “tricks”, and she starts to question her own sanity but never admitting anything is wrong besides being sleep deprived. This and her past start to haunt her questioning if she will even be able to care for a baby when she can’t care for herself. 

I really liked Rowan and felt for her with everything going on and when she would try to be involved with her stepdaughter. It really felt like she was alone in everything.  I found myself frustrated with Ellie. She just was not even giving her stepmom a chance. It was hard to like someone who continues to do mean things. She came across as a bratty entitled teenager.  As we learn more of her past I found my opinion of her change.  Theo is a workaholic and always away on business trips or working late. He came across as unlikeable. His concerns seemed fake since he seemed to never be there for Rowan. 

Although there weren’t many surprises for me, I did predict how this book would end. That being said, I did really enjoy reading it. It was very easy to read in the POV of two characters….Rowan and Ellie. This book does touch on the subject of abandonment, religious extremism and abuse (Rowan’s past), and lies.  This is an easy book to read as it just flows and makes you want to keep reading to see what will happen next. I also liked that the chapters are short, so if you’re someone who has limited time to read here and there throughout the day, you can easily pick up, pause, and start back again. 

Thank you NetGalley and Bookouture for sending this book for review consideration.

All opinions are my own.