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Becoming Molly
Olivia Hobbs lives a life of clockwork routine—caring for her aging father, working at the elementary school, asking nothing from the world. Until she sees Holly Reese.
Ten years old. Walking alone. Unloved.
Olivia believes she knows what Holly needs. What any child deserves. A stable home. Structure. Unconditional love. The kind of family values Olivia inherited from her own devoted parents—values too precious to let die with her.
So one autumn afternoon, Olivia makes a choice that will bind them together forever.
Locked away in the attic, Holly learns a devastating her parents don't want her back. Now Olivia will raise her as her own daughter. No one will ever know what happened. The transformation from Holly to Molly begins.
But can love born from captivity ever be real?
Or will the truth hiding in this ordinary house destroy them both?
Ten years old. Walking alone. Unloved.
Olivia believes she knows what Holly needs. What any child deserves. A stable home. Structure. Unconditional love. The kind of family values Olivia inherited from her own devoted parents—values too precious to let die with her.
So one autumn afternoon, Olivia makes a choice that will bind them together forever.
Locked away in the attic, Holly learns a devastating her parents don't want her back. Now Olivia will raise her as her own daughter. No one will ever know what happened. The transformation from Holly to Molly begins.
But can love born from captivity ever be real?
Or will the truth hiding in this ordinary house destroy them both?
241 pages, Kindle Edition
Published December 30, 2025
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Displaying 1 - 9 of 9 reviews
February 24, 2026
Thank you to the author for a copy in exchange for a review
Loved the writing style. It's stilted and blunt with barely any emotion. Just straight facts. It almost feels clinical, which works perfectly because Olivia is a no-frills character. She’s not waxing poetic, she’s just… stating things. And that almost makes it all worse. The lack of emotional language doesn’t soften anything. It just sharpens it. And it hits hard.
The dual POV is so good.
Holly’s a young girl growing up in a horrible environment, and she narrates it with this eerie, cool detachment, like she emotionally clocked out years ago. She's numb and accepting of her life.
Then we get Olivia.
Olivia, who truly believes she’s doing a good thing. She silently removes Holly from her home, family, and friends. Swoops in off the street and steals her away in the dead of night. She feeds Holly. Gives her medicine. Keeps her clean. Gives her a bed. In Olivia’s mind, she’s rescuing her.
But from Holly’s side? The medicine makes her lethargic and easier to manage. She's not saved, she's displaced. She doesn’t belong there but everyone else is pretending she does.
I need to point out here that Olivia doesn't know anything about Holly’s home life. She just hangs around outside the school and sees a moderately sad looking girl walking alone and goes, "ah yes, no one will miss her. I shall raise her as my own." 🤯
And sometimes Olivia’s mask slips. Especially when she’s questioned. Her sweetness curdles fast. Her voice hardens and the politeness becomes sharp. You can feel the authority underneath all the honeys and sweethearts.
Oh. This. Bitch.
The gaslighting is so calm and controlled. Olivia reframes reality while scolding Holly for being "rude." It’s control wrapped in politeness.
And she locks her in the attic?? THE ATTIC??
But she lets her out for good behaviour? Like a prisoner getting extra rec time.
And this woman seriously thinks she's NOT keeping a 10 year old girl prisoner. She believes this is love.
I was so tense reading this. It feels claustrophobic and wrong and suffocating.
Then we've got this: "Your parents called me last night and told me they can't keep you… they don't want you anymore." Who says that to a child???
Meanwhile, there's an APB and searches and vigils and detectives all over the place searching for this little girl.
Whether Olivia believes it or not, that’s psychological warfare. She isolates Holly emotionally and physically, even cancelling the paper subscription and getting rid of the TV so Holly can’t see what’s happening in the outside world, can’t realise she’s been abducted. She gaslights the few people who suspect something's wrong and convinces them and the police that they're mentally unwell.
It’s all so calculated and deliberate.
And yet, we get these tiny, telling glimpses of Olivia through other people. Her dad treats her like she’s his wife, even calling her by her dead mother’s name. A neighbour calls her barren. Her colleagues look down on her for being unmarried and childless. You start to see the pressure. The grief. The warped need to be needed. It doesn’t excuse anything. But it explains the cracks.
It's so unsettling because no one's twirling a villain moustache. Olivia truly believes she’s justified. She thinks she’s chosen. She thinks this is her calling as a mother. She knows she’s saving a child.
This is a quiet type of horror that I just couldn't look away from.
Loved the writing style. It's stilted and blunt with barely any emotion. Just straight facts. It almost feels clinical, which works perfectly because Olivia is a no-frills character. She’s not waxing poetic, she’s just… stating things. And that almost makes it all worse. The lack of emotional language doesn’t soften anything. It just sharpens it. And it hits hard.
The dual POV is so good.
Holly’s a young girl growing up in a horrible environment, and she narrates it with this eerie, cool detachment, like she emotionally clocked out years ago. She's numb and accepting of her life.
Then we get Olivia.
Olivia, who truly believes she’s doing a good thing. She silently removes Holly from her home, family, and friends. Swoops in off the street and steals her away in the dead of night. She feeds Holly. Gives her medicine. Keeps her clean. Gives her a bed. In Olivia’s mind, she’s rescuing her.
But from Holly’s side? The medicine makes her lethargic and easier to manage. She's not saved, she's displaced. She doesn’t belong there but everyone else is pretending she does.
I need to point out here that Olivia doesn't know anything about Holly’s home life. She just hangs around outside the school and sees a moderately sad looking girl walking alone and goes, "ah yes, no one will miss her. I shall raise her as my own." 🤯
And sometimes Olivia’s mask slips. Especially when she’s questioned. Her sweetness curdles fast. Her voice hardens and the politeness becomes sharp. You can feel the authority underneath all the honeys and sweethearts.
“Can I go home now? Please? I want to go home.”
“No, honey, you can't go home.”
“Why can't I go home?”
“Well, you don't have a home to go to anymore.”
“Yes I do. I know where my home is.”
“I know you think you do, sweetie—”
“It's 432 North Monroe Street.”
“Sweetheart, please do not interrupt me while I'm speaking. It's rude, especially when I'm trying to help you.”
Oh. This. Bitch.
The gaslighting is so calm and controlled. Olivia reframes reality while scolding Holly for being "rude." It’s control wrapped in politeness.
And she locks her in the attic?? THE ATTIC??
But she lets her out for good behaviour? Like a prisoner getting extra rec time.
And this woman seriously thinks she's NOT keeping a 10 year old girl prisoner. She believes this is love.
I was so tense reading this. It feels claustrophobic and wrong and suffocating.
Then we've got this: "Your parents called me last night and told me they can't keep you… they don't want you anymore." Who says that to a child???
Meanwhile, there's an APB and searches and vigils and detectives all over the place searching for this little girl.
Whether Olivia believes it or not, that’s psychological warfare. She isolates Holly emotionally and physically, even cancelling the paper subscription and getting rid of the TV so Holly can’t see what’s happening in the outside world, can’t realise she’s been abducted. She gaslights the few people who suspect something's wrong and convinces them and the police that they're mentally unwell.
It’s all so calculated and deliberate.
And yet, we get these tiny, telling glimpses of Olivia through other people. Her dad treats her like she’s his wife, even calling her by her dead mother’s name. A neighbour calls her barren. Her colleagues look down on her for being unmarried and childless. You start to see the pressure. The grief. The warped need to be needed. It doesn’t excuse anything. But it explains the cracks.
It's so unsettling because no one's twirling a villain moustache. Olivia truly believes she’s justified. She thinks she’s chosen. She thinks this is her calling as a mother. She knows she’s saving a child.
This is a quiet type of horror that I just couldn't look away from.
March 5, 2026
Becoming Molly is a slow, unsettling unravelling of two lonely lives that collide at exactly the wrong moment. Olivia Hobbs moves through the world with a kind of muted devotion, caring for her father, tending to her schoolchildren, holding tight to the values she was raised with. When she sees ten‑year‑old Holly walking alone, something in her shifts — a longing, a fear, a memory she can’t quite name — and from that moment the story begins to darken in the most intimate way.
What follows is a portrait of love warped by desperation. Olivia’s intentions are painted with such quiet sincerity that you almost understand her, even as the walls close in. And Holly, locked away in the attic, slowly realising she is being remade into someone else, gives the novel its most heartbreaking pulse. The transformation from Holly to Molly is written with a delicate, creeping dread that lingers long after you put the book down.
This is a story about the stories we inherit, the ones we cling to, and the ones we force onto others when we’re terrified of being left behind. It’s haunting, tender in places, and deeply human in its examination of how love can turn possessive when fear takes the wheel. A beautifully unsettling read that stays with you.
With thanks to Cody Tucker, the publisher and netgalley for the ARC
What follows is a portrait of love warped by desperation. Olivia’s intentions are painted with such quiet sincerity that you almost understand her, even as the walls close in. And Holly, locked away in the attic, slowly realising she is being remade into someone else, gives the novel its most heartbreaking pulse. The transformation from Holly to Molly is written with a delicate, creeping dread that lingers long after you put the book down.
This is a story about the stories we inherit, the ones we cling to, and the ones we force onto others when we’re terrified of being left behind. It’s haunting, tender in places, and deeply human in its examination of how love can turn possessive when fear takes the wheel. A beautifully unsettling read that stays with you.
With thanks to Cody Tucker, the publisher and netgalley for the ARC
February 27, 2026
This book completely pulled me in. Becoming Molly follows Olivia, a woman living a small, orderly life, who becomes fixated on a lonely little girl named Holly and convinces herself she can give her a better future. What unfolds is both disturbing and strangely emotional as Holly is locked away and renamed Molly, forced into a new identity. I couldn’t stop thinking about how the story explores love in such a twisted way, and I honestly read huge chunks in one sitting because I needed to know how it would end. It’s dark, intense, and surprisingly layered in its look at loneliness and control.
February 22, 2026
I thought I knew where this book was going. I was wrong.
Listen, this one got under my skin in the best way. Becoming Molly is creepy without being flashy, emotional without being soft, and bold enough to ask if love can turn into something dangerous. Olivia is not some cartoon villain. She truly believes she is saving this child, and that makes it ten times more chilling. I kept flipping pages thinking, “No, no, no,” but I couldn’t look away. If you like stories that mess with your head and make you question motives, this is it. Read it. Then try not to think about it at night. 🔐
Listen, this one got under my skin in the best way. Becoming Molly is creepy without being flashy, emotional without being soft, and bold enough to ask if love can turn into something dangerous. Olivia is not some cartoon villain. She truly believes she is saving this child, and that makes it ten times more chilling. I kept flipping pages thinking, “No, no, no,” but I couldn’t look away. If you like stories that mess with your head and make you question motives, this is it. Read it. Then try not to think about it at night. 🔐
August 16, 2026
I rated this book 3.5★s out of 5.
The cadence of the book is very factual without any unnecessary descriptions, except for some reason the often repeated phrase of staring at the wall where the TV used to be. The main character, Olivia, appears to be psychopathic without the brutality in most thrillers. Olivia kidnaps a 10-year old girl, Holly, believing she is giving her a better life. Is this love? Is this Stockholm syndrome?
The cadence of the book is very factual without any unnecessary descriptions, except for some reason the often repeated phrase of staring at the wall where the TV used to be. The main character, Olivia, appears to be psychopathic without the brutality in most thrillers. Olivia kidnaps a 10-year old girl, Holly, believing she is giving her a better life. Is this love? Is this Stockholm syndrome?
March 6, 2026
Kind of Good
Thanks NetGalley for the free ARC!
I thought this book was good, but not great. It was a little mundane, but got more entertaining when Paul was introduced to the storyline. I did find a discrepancy in the novel when the attic was locked with Holly in it, but later she was at Olivia’s bedside.
Thanks NetGalley for the free ARC!
I thought this book was good, but not great. It was a little mundane, but got more entertaining when Paul was introduced to the storyline. I did find a discrepancy in the novel when the attic was locked with Holly in it, but later she was at Olivia’s bedside.
February 25, 2026
Locked Doors & Twisted Love
Becoming Molly is a chilling reminder that love without limits can become something far more dangerous than hate.
Becoming Molly is a chilling reminder that love without limits can become something far more dangerous than hate.
September 12, 2026
This book was a wonderful and captivating read! I thought I knew where the story was going but dang! Was I wrong! Definitely recommend if you want a fast paced thriller that will surprise you!
September 4, 2026
3.5 rounded to 4 stars
I enjoyed the overall premise of this a lot. The characters were all very interesting and suspicious, with an elementary school worker making for an unsuspecting villain I sympathized with. I felt like the whole book was building up to some action that never really happened so I was quite surprised when I saw THE END. At the same time.. I wasn’t anywhere near bored while reading- just felt the potential for more.
I enjoyed the overall premise of this a lot. The characters were all very interesting and suspicious, with an elementary school worker making for an unsuspecting villain I sympathized with. I felt like the whole book was building up to some action that never really happened so I was quite surprised when I saw THE END. At the same time.. I wasn’t anywhere near bored while reading- just felt the potential for more.
Displaying 1 - 9 of 9 reviews