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Erased Daughter
They gave her back—but not her memories of me.
Six years after her daughter vanished, Julia Westbrook gets the call every parent both craves and they’ve found Emily alive. Same birthmark. DNA match.
But the girl who comes home remembers a different house with endless stairs, a “Daddy in the walls”…and another mom with Julia’s face.
Desperate to prove she’s not imagining it, Julia wires her quiet home with cameras and digs into Emily’s missing years.
Therapists blame trauma, detectives call it paranoia, and child services are watching.
Then Julia uncovers a hidden adoption and the twin her parents erased, both tied to a shadowy memory lab. If someone has been rewriting children’s minds, how much of Emily’s love—or Julia’s life—is real?
When the “other mother” finally steps out of the dark to claim the daughter she was promised, Julia must face one terrifying Can you fight for a child who no longer trusts what she remembers?
A dark psychological thriller about motherhood and control.
Six years after her daughter vanished, Julia Westbrook gets the call every parent both craves and they’ve found Emily alive. Same birthmark. DNA match.
But the girl who comes home remembers a different house with endless stairs, a “Daddy in the walls”…and another mom with Julia’s face.
Desperate to prove she’s not imagining it, Julia wires her quiet home with cameras and digs into Emily’s missing years.
Therapists blame trauma, detectives call it paranoia, and child services are watching.
Then Julia uncovers a hidden adoption and the twin her parents erased, both tied to a shadowy memory lab. If someone has been rewriting children’s minds, how much of Emily’s love—or Julia’s life—is real?
When the “other mother” finally steps out of the dark to claim the daughter she was promised, Julia must face one terrifying Can you fight for a child who no longer trusts what she remembers?
A dark psychological thriller about motherhood and control.
99 pages, Kindle Edition
Published December 1, 2025
1 person is currently reading
13 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews
December 20, 2025
(Stolen review)
Amy lives a glamourous lifestyle with her seemingly charming husband, Jason. However, all is not as it seems on the surface, because Jason is actually a controlling domestic abuser. Isolated and alone, Amy spirals further into despair, longing for a way to escape her situation.
When an opportunity arises for her to escape on a short cruise without Jason, Amy jumps at the chance. There she meets an unassuming fellow passenger, Liz, who bears a striking physical resemblance to her. When a devastating accident occurs, Amy happens to be wearing Liz’s jacket; and the two women’s identities are mixed up, giving Amy a chance to escape her controlling husband, but at what cost?
The characters who emerge once Amy has adopted Liz’s identity contribute towards creating the tense, strained atmosphere which pervades Amy’s new, fake existence as Liz. Amy had no choice but to sustain a complicated series of lies. Liz had never met her bio mother so when Ruth shows up at the hospital she believes that Amy is Liz. Debbie, her half sister has an attitude toward s Liz because she thinks Liz showed up for her mother’s inheritance. Debbie’s husband is a pervy creep who tries to get with Amy then later tries to blackmail her. Barbara, her friend from the cruise shows up to visit “Liz” but discovers that Liz died in the accident and that Amy took on her identity. Amy discovers that Barbara is engaged to Jason as they believed that Amy died several months ago. Barbara was a PI hire by Jason to keep tabs on Amy on the cruise. Once Jason finds out that Amy is alive he comes to find her and confronts her new boyfriend fabrizio. She finds them in fabrizios house and she shoots jason, claiming it was self defense. Jason attacked Barbara before he came after Amy so Barbara was on her side. Ruth and Deborah find out Amy isn’t Liz and they’re heartbroken but more so after finding out that Deborah’s husband illegally took out a loan against Ruth’s inheritance money and blew it all. The women later come to accept Amy for who she is and Amy continues to date fabrizio.
Amy lives a glamourous lifestyle with her seemingly charming husband, Jason. However, all is not as it seems on the surface, because Jason is actually a controlling domestic abuser. Isolated and alone, Amy spirals further into despair, longing for a way to escape her situation.
When an opportunity arises for her to escape on a short cruise without Jason, Amy jumps at the chance. There she meets an unassuming fellow passenger, Liz, who bears a striking physical resemblance to her. When a devastating accident occurs, Amy happens to be wearing Liz’s jacket; and the two women’s identities are mixed up, giving Amy a chance to escape her controlling husband, but at what cost?
The characters who emerge once Amy has adopted Liz’s identity contribute towards creating the tense, strained atmosphere which pervades Amy’s new, fake existence as Liz. Amy had no choice but to sustain a complicated series of lies. Liz had never met her bio mother so when Ruth shows up at the hospital she believes that Amy is Liz. Debbie, her half sister has an attitude toward s Liz because she thinks Liz showed up for her mother’s inheritance. Debbie’s husband is a pervy creep who tries to get with Amy then later tries to blackmail her. Barbara, her friend from the cruise shows up to visit “Liz” but discovers that Liz died in the accident and that Amy took on her identity. Amy discovers that Barbara is engaged to Jason as they believed that Amy died several months ago. Barbara was a PI hire by Jason to keep tabs on Amy on the cruise. Once Jason finds out that Amy is alive he comes to find her and confronts her new boyfriend fabrizio. She finds them in fabrizios house and she shoots jason, claiming it was self defense. Jason attacked Barbara before he came after Amy so Barbara was on her side. Ruth and Deborah find out Amy isn’t Liz and they’re heartbroken but more so after finding out that Deborah’s husband illegally took out a loan against Ruth’s inheritance money and blew it all. The women later come to accept Amy for who she is and Amy continues to date fabrizio.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
December 8, 2025
Erased Daughter hooked me from the very first line and did not let go. This isn’t just a missing-child thriller—it’s about what happens when the child comes back wrong, and the mother is the only one who feels the gap. Julia’s desperation to reach Emily, to somehow make her remember, absolutely broke my heart. At the same time, the slow reveal of what really happened to Emily is so tense and claustrophobic that I genuinely had to remind myself to breathe.
I loved how the book balances raw emotion with twisty, cinematic suspense. Every time I thought I knew who to trust or what Halcyon really was, the story shifted under my feet in the best way. The memory experiments, the fractured timelines, the eerie details about Emily’s “imaginary” friend—all of it built toward a payoff that felt both shocking and tragically inevitable.
If you enjoy dark psychological thrillers about motherhood, control, and the terrifying edges of memory, this one is a must-read. I’ll be thinking about Julia and Emily for a long time.
I loved how the book balances raw emotion with twisty, cinematic suspense. Every time I thought I knew who to trust or what Halcyon really was, the story shifted under my feet in the best way. The memory experiments, the fractured timelines, the eerie details about Emily’s “imaginary” friend—all of it built toward a payoff that felt both shocking and tragically inevitable.
If you enjoy dark psychological thrillers about motherhood, control, and the terrifying edges of memory, this one is a must-read. I’ll be thinking about Julia and Emily for a long time.
December 19, 2025
WOW! A page turning, edge of your seat psychological thriller that grabs you from the start. When after 6 years Emily is found alive, mom, Julia Westbrook is beside herself. But things get very strange. Who is this Emily who seems to remember things differently than what is. Has she been manipulated, has she been under some type of memory control? What is going on? Can Julia get through to Emily? Can Emily trust Julia? What is going on? What a fantastic ending. Once I finished the book, it still stuck with me for quite a while. I highly recommend this book if you like a thrilling psychological mind-bending thriller you just can't put down. I received an ARC of this book but the opinions expressed here are strictly my own.
December 17, 2025
“Erased Daughter” is chilling, unsettling, and deeply emotional. Skye Arden delivers a haunting psychological thriller that twists motherhood, memory, and identity into something truly disturbing. The tension builds steadily as doubt seeps into every interaction, blurring the line between truth and manipulation. Smart, eerie, and impossible to shake.
December 9, 2025
Interesting
I enjoyed this book. It was a thriller and spooky. For a short story I finished it quickly. It seemed something even younger person might like.. Not good scary to disturb their sleeping.
I enjoyed this book. It was a thriller and spooky. For a short story I finished it quickly. It seemed something even younger person might like.. Not good scary to disturb their sleeping.
December 31, 2025
When Julia’s daughter is finally found after being missing for 6 years, she is overjoyed. But it is not quite the homecoming she imagined.
This is a mind twisting tale that keeps you guessing till the surprising end.
This is a mind twisting tale that keeps you guessing till the surprising end.
January 3, 2026
Emily is abducted and missing for years. Now she is found. That where the twists and turns begin. Her now divorced parents are trying to help but they are baffled by her actions. This is an interesting, short read that kept my attention beginning to end.
January 6, 2026
I received this as a ARC and wasn't sure what to expect but after reading it I wanted more of it.
Not what u think going to happen
Not what u think going to happen
Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews