Dear Darling

by Ella King, Unknown Author

He is going to prove he loved me. I am going to prove he ruined me. For those who loved My Dark Vanessa and Three Women, DEAR DARLING is a bold, beautiful and unflinching story about the crossed borders of desire – and one woman’s path to retribution.

Lauren Tan has waited for this day for twenty years.

The day she’d receive the letter saying he was out of prison.

The day she’d abandon her husband and three-year-old daughter, leaving her pretend life behind.

The day she’d look into the eyes of Daniel Prior – her first love, mentor and stepfather, the man she had sex with when she was fourteen years old.

The day she’d make him atone for everything.

Explosive and uncomfortable, beautiful and provocative, DEAR DARLING cuts to the heart of some of the most complex issues of our age.

Hardcover

Reviews

[Jodie · Rating 4 out of 5]

Dear Darling is contemporary literary fiction for fans of Half His age and My Dark Vanessa, and it's, as you can imagine, quite emotionally devastating.

It's set in London and written with a sharp voice that works well for a story that's difficult to tell (due to the heavy topics), yet compelling to read. There's themes of grooming, exploitation, power, and the murky definition of consent, especially when it's being viewed through memory. this isn't a story that offers comfort but one that feels relevant and both needs and deserves to be told

Ella's writing kept me glued to the pages despite the heavy subject matter. Her prose is thoughtful and never sensationalises or romanticises what happened to Lauren but instead lets the weight of everything that's happened in the past slowly settle.

Overall, this was emotional and poignant, definitely a book that sits with you, asking uncomfortable questions about love and harm and who gets to define these terms.

[Rahdika K · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a heartbreaking and emotional read. Themes of grooming and childhood abuse. So be sure to read trigger warnings before picking this up. The alternating timelines made the story intriguing. The first half of the book was gripping but towards the end felt a little rushed. Overall, this was a moving read that’s fuelled with anger.

[Karen Barber · Rating 4 out of 5]

When Lauren finally receives the letter to say Daniel has been released from prison, she knows it’s time to put her plan into place. She has prepared for this for months, but she knows it’s going to cost her so much to follow through. It will mean leaving her husband and daughter. But it will also give her the chance to confront her past.
Following Lauren as she heads across London to meet Daniel we know so little about her situation. It’s clear that this meeting is significant, but the details take a while to come.
What we learn is unsettling. Daniel is her stepfather. Daniel is also the man she first had sex with at fourteen. Now is her time to confront him.
The alternating timelines were disturbing, which I’m sure was intentional. We see the process of Lauren’s grooming, and the trauma it has caused her over time. Her recollection of events offers a more innocent view of things, but her adult perception of these events recognises the wrongness of it.
Dear Darling was an absorbing read, and thanks to NetGalley for giving me the opportunity to read and review it before publication.

[Elvina Zafril · Rating 4 out of 5]

"He is going to prove he loved me. I am going to prove he ruined me."

This chilling premise sets the stage for Dear Darling, a bold and unflinching piece of contemporary literature that I ended up liking significantly more than I expected. It carries the same haunting, heavy atmosphere as My Dark Vanessa or Half His Age, diving deep into the messy, devastating aftermath of a relationship that crossed every possible border of trust and safety.

The story follows Lauren Tan, who has spent twenty years building a "pretend" life as a wife and mother, only to abandon it the moment her first love, mentor, and stepfather is released from prison. The tension in the narrative is incredible as she prepares to look Daniel Prior in the eyes and force an atonement for what happened when she was only fourteen. It is a story about the weight of memory and the desperate, often destructive path toward retribution.

I have to admit that I struggled at times with the heavy topics, particularly the grooming elements. Perhaps because I wasn’t in the best headspace or mood while reading, those parts felt especially difficult to process. It is a deeply "soulful" book that demands a lot of emotional energy from the reader, and the raw honesty of Lauren’s trauma made it hard to look away, even when it was painful.

Ultimately, this was a heartbreaking and deeply emotional journey. The writing is beautiful and manages to capture the complexity of a ruined life with such grace that it’s impossible not to feel for Lauren. If you are a fan of dark, character-driven literary fiction that explores the grey areas of desire and trauma, this is an essential read. Just be sure you’re prepared for how much it will pull at your heart.

[Read, Read, No Sleep, Repeat · Rating 5 out of 5]

After absolutely loving Ella King’s previous novel, Bad Fruit — a story that has stayed with me long after turning the final page — my expectations for Dear Darling were sky-high. Somehow, it still managed to exceed them.

The only way I can truly summarise this book is: wow. Explosive, timely, haunting, and deeply provocative, Dear Darling completely consumed me. I read it in a single sitting, utterly unable to look away.

The story follows Lauren, who leaves behind her husband and daughter to travel to meet Daniel, her stepfather and the man she first had sex with aged 14 following his release from prison. Told across dual timelines, the novel slowly unravels both the present day confrontation and the devastating history that binds them. Through Lauren’s perspective, we see this relationship first through the eyes of an innocent child, and later through the lens of an adult forced to confront the truth of what happened to her.

My heart absolutely broke for Lauren. She has spent years living beneath the weight of a secret that has shaped every part of her life. In the wake of the #MeToo movement, she begins to reframe her understanding of her relationship with Daniel, finally recognising the abuse and manipulation that began when she was only 14 and he was 30.

Through Lauren’s voice, King explores the grief, shame, confusion, and rage that come with this awakening. We see how deeply this trauma has influenced her choices, her relationships, and even her sense of self, including the isolation she feels from other women because of the burden of a secret she has never been able to share.

Lauren is also dealing with a devastating personal loss in the present timeline, which makes her journey toward confrontation all the more painful and emotionally charged. King’s writing gets under Lauren’s skin, delivering something devastatingly raw, intimate, and unforgettable.

I also loved the way we come to know Lauren’s husband, Kit, through the series of text messages he sends after she leaves him and their daughter behind. I loved this element of the novel and found it so moving to see that, amid so much darkness, Lauren has someone so loving and supportive in her corner.

Ella’s writing is stunningly immersive. She creates a stifling, claustrophobic atmosphere that intensifies as Lauren’s path toward revenge unfolds. It’s unsettling and deeply disturbing, and I found myself desperate for Lauren to protect herself.

Dear Darling is an addictive, gripping, and deeply emotive read that I know will stay with me for years to come. If you loved My Dark Vanessa or Half His Age, this absolutely needs to be on your radar.

[Kirsten · Rating 5 out of 5]

Dear Darling by Ella King is raw, unfiltered, and confrontational—a darkly unsettling yet deeply emotive read. King deftly explores interwoven themes of obsession, idealisation, and retribution, creating a narrative that feels both intimate and unnerving.

The subject matter can be challenging, but Lauren’s story is profoundly affecting—made all the more powerful by King’s light, almost airy prose. The recurring motif of butterflies beautifully underscores the fragility of human nature, adding a delicate layer to an otherwise intense narrative. It’s the kind of book that draws you in completely, despite its weight.

The shifts between Lauren’s “now” and “then” perspectives are poignant, highlighting the contrast between innocence and experience while tracing a journey shaped by trauma and exploitation.

Ultimately, King centres the lasting impact of trauma with clarity and control. Vivid depictions of the natural world sit in stark contrast to the distressing core of Lauren’s experience, reinforcing the novel’s emotional weight and its unflinching perspective.

[Louise (Louus_library) · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.5 ⭐️

[Cat Plummer · Rating 5 out of 5]

Wow! What a read. Deep, dark and disturbing. So well written. Deeply emotional and character driven. **Read the blurb and any trigger warnings before reading **

[Mansi · Rating 4 out of 5]

this was a dark, raw look into the aftermath of grooming - i like the way it handled the complex subject matter whilst keeping lauren a flawed, interesting and compelling character to follow.

[Jayne Burnett · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a dark story, Lauren is groomed by her stepfather Daniel, she believed he loved her and that she was special,
Eighteen years later, newly released from prison, Daniel writes to her, wanting to meet.
Will this be the closure she didn’t know she needed,
Lauren is married to Kit, has one daughter and her second daughter was stillborn a few weeks ago.
The story is told through alternating time lines, teenage Lauren and adult Lauren.
I thought the pace of the story was slow but It’s a compelling, emotional and disturbing story.

Many thanks to Net Galley and Harper Collins UK for an ARC of this book in exchange for a review.
3.5 stars

[Mairead Hearne (swirlandthread.com) · Rating 4 out of 5]

Dear Darling by Ella King published April 9th with Harper Collins and is described as a ‘psychological thriller…a twisted tale of revenge, desire and trauma'.

Lauren Tan is a lawyer. Married with a young daughter, she is just about managing to stay afloat. On the good days, she can pretend. On the not so good days she locks herself in her greenhouse and works with her plants. Her husband has accepted her quirks and wants, mindful of her desires and need for timeout. But Lauren has kept a secret. She has buried a truth deep within, struggling to keep a lid on the horrors of her past. When she receives a letter, everything changes and one morning Lauren walks out the door of her house with a plan. She doesn’t let her husband know where she is or what has happened. He understandably panics, sending her emails, searching through her stuff. He searches for clues, anything that would lead him to her. But he can’t find her…and she won’t let him…not until Lauren is ready to be found.

In her early years it was just Lauren and her mother, but one day everything changed when Lauren came under the supervision of Daniel Prior. He was a lepidopterist, a keen student of butterflies and moths. Lauren was fascinated by his gentleness when handling the insects. With a passion for botany, Lauren had always felt different to her peers but with Daniel, she felt seen. He understood her. He listened to her. He gave her his time. Lauren became quite obsessed with Daniel. With no male role model in her life, she studied Daniel and yearned for him to touch her, to place a hand on her shoulder, to lean over her when speaking. She began to crave his attention and he subtly encouraged it, making her feel wanted, making her feel special.

But Lauren was fourteen and Daniel was thirty.

As their relationship deepened Lauren cherished her time with Daniel. He included her on his expeditions searching for rare butterflies. He kept his passion for her in check when in public but privately he taught her how to love and be a lover. He told her she was beautiful and rare like the insects he collected. Following an incident, Daniel spent eighteen years in prison and during that time Lauren moved forward with her life. leaving behind her botany as a hobby and focusing on her career in law and her family. As the #MeToo movement slowly emerged Lauren began to seriously ask questions about her relationship with Daniel. She read up on similar cases. She studied other victims and began to see her personal history in a very different light.

Now Daniel Prior wants to meet her and Lauren has a plan. Does she look for forgiveness or vengeance?

There is no denying the comparison between Dear Darling and My Dark Vanessa by Kate Elizabeth Russell, which published in 2020. At the time I distinctly remember being so uncomfortable reading it, yet also driven to keep turning the pages. Dear Darling had the same impact. This is not a book to be picked up lightly. It is intense, very dark, shocking but also very powerful. Ella King has worked alongside victims of abuse which adds a very frightening level of authenticity to her writing. Dear Darling will certainly be a triggering read for some, with themes of child abuse, manipulation, grooming, mental trauma, control and more. Skillfully written Dear Darling is a challenging yet compelling read, a gut-wrenching and stirring novel, and one that I recommend…but with a caveat.

[Cleopatra Pullen · Rating 4 out of 5]

Ella King’s Dear Darling is a bold, unsettling excavation of memory, power, and the long aftershocks of a relationship that was never truly a relationship at all. It opens with a letter; “Dear Darling, So begins the letter from Daniel Prior” and with it, the return of a man Lauren has spent nearly two decades trying not to remember.

When Lauren was fourteen, Daniel was the adult man she believed she loved. The world she grew up in didn’t yet have the language of grooming, coercion, or #MeToo; it didn’t have the frameworks that might have helped her understand what was happening to her. Now, eighteen years later, Lauren is a wife, a mother, and a woman who has built a life on top of a locked box of memories. Daniel, newly released from prison, wants to meet. His reappearance forces Lauren to confront not only the man who shaped her adolescence, but the version of herself she had to become to survive him.

Ella King handles this with a kind of expressive precision and the resulting emotional charge is disturbing, but never gratuitous. She writes with a clarity that makes the psychological terrain feel both intimate and disquieting, and the novel’s structure mirrors the way trauma resurfaces: in fragments, in jolts, in moments of startling lucidity.

The prose is vivid and atmospheric, and the author has a particular gift for description. The scenes set in the Natural History Museum are especially striking: the quiet grandeur of the space, the suspended creatures, the sense of time held still. It’s a setting that becomes metaphor , a place where the past is preserved, displayed, and unavoidably confronted. Those passages feel almost sculpted, and they deepen the novel’s emotional resonance.

Ella King’s Dear Darling is a bold, unsettling excavation of memory, power, and the long aftershocks of a relationship that was never truly a relationship at all. It opens with a letter — “Dear Darling, So begins the letter from Daniel Prior” — and with it, the return of a man Lauren has spent nearly two decades trying not to remember.

When Lauren was fourteen, Daniel was the adult man she believed she loved. The world she grew up in didn’t yet have the language of grooming, coercion, or #MeToo; it didn’t have the frameworks that might have helped her understand what was happening to her. Now, eighteen years later, Lauren is a wife, a mother, and a woman who has built a life on top of a locked box of memories. Daniel, newly released from prison, wants to meet. His reappearance forces Lauren to confront not only the man who shaped her adolescence, but the version of herself she had to become to survive him.

King handles this with a kind of expressive precision — the emotional charge is disturbing, but never gratuitous. She writes with a clarity that makes the psychological terrain feel both intimate and disquieting, and the novel’s structure mirrors the way trauma resurfaces: in fragments, in jolts, in moments of startling lucidity.

A brave, beautifully executed story that refuses to be forgotten.

[Galina Yatsura · Rating 5 out of 5]

I finished Dear Darling by Ella King in three days, and it stayed with me in a way I didn’t expect.

The story begins at a distance: a fourteen-year-old girl, a grown man. And yet, as you move through it, something shifts. Not because the circumstances are familiar, but because the feelings are. The way attention can feel like light. The way care can feel like safety. The way both can slowly become something else, without announcing the moment of change.

The man is written with a kind of dangerous warmth — attentive, curious, generous with his time and means, almost reverent towards the girl’s inner world. He sees her, or at least makes her feel seen. That recognition is powerful. It reaches deep, before she has the language or the boundaries to question it.

And language is central here. The ability to name things becomes a form of resistance. To say what happened, plainly, without softening it — that is where power begins. Unlike Lolita, where the beauty of the language wraps itself around the horror and makes it harder to grasp, Dear Darling does the opposite. It brings clarity. It calls things what they are. It gives the victim something back — the authority to define her own story, to bring truth into existence through words.

What unsettled me most was not the relationship itself, but what it does to the mind over time.

The life of secrecy. The quiet, constant weight of it. The need to split yourself into versions — one that can exist in the open, and one that must remain hidden. You learn to move between them so carefully that, eventually, you stop noticing the fracture.

And then memory begins to behave strangely. Some moments remain sharp, almost painfully so. Others dissolve completely, as if they never belonged to you. The book gave shape to something difficult to articulate — how the mind protects itself not by confronting, but by softening, blurring, erasing. Not out of choice. Out of necessity (“memory must have a will of its own, speeding up time, making it run slow, blotting out sections of reel”).

Shame runs through the story like a low current. It doesn’t explode; it settles. It isolates. It makes silence feel safer than being understood. It reshapes relationships, distances you from people who might have held you steady (“the tyranny of my shame, all the things it's shut out.”)

There is also this quiet, persistent longing for something ordinary and age-appropriate. The kind of life where nothing needs to be hidden, where affection doesn’t come with conditions, where you can exist without calculating every word, every movement. The protagonist reaches for those moments — small, almost insignificant on the surface — as if they might anchor her somewhere real.

And throughout it all, there is confusion that doesn’t resolve neatly. Feelings that don’t align into clear categories. Attachment that coexists with discomfort. Moments that carry both warmth and something harder to name. The book allows all of that to exist without forcing a verdict.

It lingers because of that honesty.

Because it understands that some experiences don’t end cleanly. They stay in the body, in memory, in the spaces where memory refuses to hold.

A quiet, unsettling book. One that can bring back things you didn’t realise were there in the first place.

[Ceecee · Rating 5 out of 5]

“Dear Darlin’, please excuse my writing’ Olly Murs, 2012

Why has Lauren left her much loved husband Kit and little daughter Millie, leaving behind just a brief note of apology? It’s hard to say when the whole thing starts, perhaps it’s when Daniel invites her to the Natural History Museum to see the Lepidoptery collection as a teenager. Perhaps it’s the letter starting “Dear Darling” he writes to her shortly afterwards. Whatever and wherever it starts Lauren knows it’s all her fault, she starts it 18 years ago and now 18 years on will she finish it?

This is far from an easy read, but oh boy, is it a compelling page turner and I find it hard to put down. There is such obsessive intensity between Lauren and Daniel. It’s perhaps as destructive as a hurricane in several different ways. There’s a lot of pain here, there’s the pain of loss, the pain of Lauren leaving Millie and Kit whose heartbreaking notes to Lauren both show his love for her and how tortured he feels. There’s the pain of the realisation about Daniel via #MeToo and that hits her like a ton of bricks. There’s the pain of the whole thing and the impact it has on Lauren’s life since it all begins and we witness that by her dark, heart aching but honest recollections. Some scenes between Daniel and Lauren are so intense, so gripping, so emotional and almost overwhelming at times that I can scarcely breathe.

Their story is told in some terrific settings such as Cornwall and the Natural History Museum and the Lepidoptery/Botany elements are truly fascinating. They provide a stark contrast to what unfolds between Daniel and teenage and adult Lauren. From this emerges several mysteries, such as what has Lauren planned on leaving Kit? That is so tantalising.

Overall, yes, this is difficult at times but these stories are important and this one is told so powerfully well and there’s very clever play on Lauren‘s name too.

With thanks to NetGalley and especially to HarperCollins, HarperFiction for the much appreciated early copy in return for an honest review.

[Holly · Rating 5 out of 5]

Dear Darling follows Lauren, who’s confronting the man who’s loved and harmed her more deeply than anyone in her life. Because the man she had sex with when she was fourteen years old, long before conversations about power, consent and #MeToo, is fresh out of prison - and he wants to meet.

Despite it not being my usual genre, I went into Dear Darling with high expectations, and it still exceeded them. It’s raw, unfiltered, uncompromising, at times agonising to sit with, yet impossible to look away from. I’m not sure I can fully articulate just how much I loved it.

The dual timeline works masterfully, slowly layering the story into something complex, emotional, and unforgettable. It’s so easy to get entirely immersed in Lauren and Daniel’s world, but the clever inclusion of Kit’s texts grounded the narrative, acting as a painful reminder of who Lauren is now, and everything she has walked away from.

The writing is immersive, almost ethereal at times, and I loved the named chapters. It creates a strange, delicate beauty that makes the story cut deeper, because beneath it all is something profoundly uncomfortable and wrong.

The botanical elements were another standout, especially through Lauren’s perspective. The butterfly imagery felt both fascinating and heartbreaking - fragile, beautiful, free… until they’re caught, trapped, admired, and displayed. The contrast felt intentional, but devastating nonetheless.

Dear Darling is a powerful, poignant, and provocative novel - obsessive, destructive, and completely compelling. It’s a thoughtful read that never sensationalises or romanticises its subject matter, instead offering a brave, intimate, and unflinching look at abuse disguised as affection.

My Dark Vanessa is a book that has always stayed with me, and Dear Darling will be no different. It’s already one of my favourite reads of 2026.

Thank you so much to Harper Fiction and Ella King for sending me this copy. My opinions are my own.

[Ink · Rating 5 out of 5]

Dear Darling by Ella King left me emotionally exhausted due to the sheer power of the writing and the subject matter. Please ensure that you review TW's if you are a survivor. While this is a book that is written with care and consideration, it does not sugar-coat or shy away from the truths of grooming. Raw, powerful, gritty and yet gentle, it is a true masterpiece which will resonate with survivors and even with those who have not endured the criminal actions of another person upon them

Fourteen year old Lauren lives with her mother. Life is pretty normal and routinel until Lauren's mother introduces her to Daniel Prior, who works at the Natural History Museum and, as a girl with a powerful interest in Botany, Lauren is easy prey for Daniel to target. Lauren believes Daniel is her first love, she is shy and insecure and he uses every last one of her vulnerabilities to achieve his truly evil machinations.

The story is interspersed with modern day Lauren, now married with a small daughter, that is until Daniel reappears on the scene, after being released from prison, where he was serving a sentence for murder. Lauren is conflicted, and so goes to see Daniel in her mind she is battling with herself, was he truly her first love?

The story travels upon alternate timelines, observing the changes in social attitudes to the manipulation and grooming of minors over time, the lifelong effects it has on survivors and the permissions past attitudes gave to the abusers, which is even more pertinent in today's climate as despite the attitudes changing, this feral criminality remains as does the life sentences survivors have to live.

A very powerful book and one that will remain with me

Thank you to Netgalley, the author and HarperCollins UK, HarperFiction | HarperCollins for this incredible ARC. My review is left voluntarily and all opinions are my own

[Tracy Fenton · Rating 5 out of 5]

I was a huge fan of Ella King's debut novel Bad Fruit and was so excited to see Dear Darling is being published next year and thrilled to be approved to read an ARC.

Firstly, this is NOT an easy read, it's not fluffy, cuddly or particularly happy, but if you've read Bad Fruit you will know that the author has the ability to take the most triggering and distressing subjects and with her incredible talent, weave a story that is written so beautifully that despite the subject matter the reader becomes utterly immersed.

Dear Darling is NOT for the feint hearted, the easily triggered or those who like a happy-ever-after. It's about Lauren Tan, a young married mother, who having just experienced the traumatic still birth of her second child, ups and leaves her husband and toddler daughter without warning to meet a man she has dreamt about for the past 20 years.

Daniel Prior has just been released from prison having served time for murder. He was Lauren's first love, mentor and stepfather and the man she had sex with when she was 14 years old.

Just reviewing the book again is giving me goosebumps and shivers because this topic is VILE, the behaviour and actions of some of the characters are absolutely horrific and left me reeling emotionally.

Ella King is a very brave and bold author and has written this book with sensitivity. It's an important story that unfortunately needs to be told and highlights the vulnerability of young women, the predatory measures some men take, highlighting physical, mental and sexual abuse.

To me this book is beautifully written, brave but brutally told and another 5 star for me.

[Sammie Teresa · Rating 5 out of 5]

I feel absolutely ruined by this book, the emotional journey this has taken me on straight from the opening pages. This is a story that will most definitely stay with me for a long time to come.

Lauren Tan our beautiful FMC has lived with a harrowing secret for the past twenty years, one she cannot confide in anyone and one she can not escape, more so when the #metoo movement takes hold across the world.

I was absolutely glued to this story, the way it was written, the story and where it had taken me whilst Lauren one day just upped and left her Husband and little daughter weeks after suffering a still birth of her second daughter, we come to learn that Lauren’s step father Daniel has been released from prison where he was for 18 years for a hit and run.
We then learn whilst he didn’t go down for what he did to her he actually indeed had groomed Lauren, used his power over her, exploited her, and messed with her head enough for her to then think it was always love.

I absolutely loved the timelines of now and then as it really helped build the story up to what it was, and why Lauren found it hard to make connections, and trust people with her truth.

I’m definitely going to bed thinking about this story, the importance behind the message it’s extremely thought provoking and I will be telling all my friends to pick this one up.

10/10 for the quick chapters, page turning thrills, hard hitting storyline, multiple timelines and a book that got me talking about the me too movement in the real world.


What a read!

[Lynda · Rating 5 out of 5]

The book opens with Lauren McDermott nee Tan walking away from her home, her husband Kit and her daughter Millie. She has something she needs to do but she can’t tell her husband about the secret she has hidden for 18 years, so she leaves when no one is there. Told in dual timelines, then and now, and from Lauren perspective, alongside messages sent from Kit getting more and more frantic as the days pass. Very unsettling, very well written and a totally compelling read.

Briefly, 13 year old Lauren lives a frugal life with her beautiful mother, a concert violinist. She loves nature and at a trip to the Natural History Museum meets lepidopterist Daniel Prior and has a teenage crush on him as he really seems to understand her. However, in a strange twist of fate, Daniel met her mother and they start dating, eventually getting married. But on their honeymoon, her mother is killed in a road traffic accident and Daniel steps up, taking Lauren to live with him. Back in the present, Lauren finds out that Daniel has recently been released from prison and she arranges to meet him.

This is quite a slow burn book, but that really suits the storyline. It’s a novel of obsession, attraction and love but also a dark story about abuse, exploitation and revenge. It’s so easy to see how this young insular girl could be so attracted to anyone who encouraged her hobbies and dreams. When her eyes are finally opened to the truth, in all its shameful reality, my heart broke for her. An emotional and at times painful read, but oh so good.

[Leanne · Rating 4 out of 5]

Ella King’s Dear Darling is a bold, unsettling, and beautifully written exploration of desire, betrayal, and retribution.

At its core is Lauren Tan, a woman who has carried the weight of her past for twenty years. The day she learns that Daniel Prior—her former mentor, first love, and stepfather—is released from prison, she abandons the life she has carefully constructed: her husband, her young daughter, her veneer of normalcy. What follows is a confrontation not only with Daniel, but with the trauma and tangled emotions that have shaped her since she was fourteen.

King’s prose is elegant yet unflinching, capturing the contradictions of love and ruin, intimacy and exploitation. The novel doesn’t shy away from discomfort; instead, it leans into it, forcing readers to grapple with the blurred borders of desire and the devastating consequences of abuse cloaked in affection. Lauren’s determination to make Daniel atone is both harrowing and cathartic, a journey that feels as much about reclaiming her voice as it does about vengeance.

What makes Dear Darling so powerful is its refusal to simplify. It’s provocative, layered, and deeply human, a story that resonates with the complexity of memory, trauma, and the longing for justice. For readers of My Dark Vanessa and Three Women, this novel offers a similarly fearless examination of power, desire, and survival—one that lingers long after the final page.

With thanks to Ella King, the publisher and netgalley for the ARC

[Hannah · Rating 4 out of 5]

Lauren has left her husband and daughter to meet Daniel when he is realised from prison. He is the man she slept and fell
In love with when she was fourteen, long before conversations about consent. Now Daniel wants to meet and Lauren must finally confront them a who has loved and harmed her more than anyone has in her life.

This book wasn’t in my usual reading genre of crime thrillers and the occasional rom com, instead it was more literary fiction, however I felt the synopsis drew me in and I was compelled to read the story. After finishing I am glad I have this a chance as this was such a powerful, well written book. The author did a great job at exploring sensitive subjects such as grooming, power and #MeToo in an authentic, yet sensitive way. I really felt the depth of the words and the character’s journeys exploring their memories and feelings.

An element I really enjoyed was the inclusion of the butterflies and botany, as this added a layer of originality and I was fascinated to learn facts within this area. The story wasn’t the fastest paced, however it worked well at slowly creating an unsettling atmosphere, which had me invested to keep on reading. Overall this was an emotional, clever and multi layered story. This is definitely an author I will continue to seek books by. Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for this copy in return for an honest review.

[Rebecca Jamison · Rating 5 out of 5]

When I read Bad Fruit by this author four years ago, I said that it was one of the toughest books I'd read. As soon as I heard about Dear Darling and the topic, I knew I had to read it.

Dear Darling follows Lauren who has forever been struggling with a relationship from her past. She is now thirty-two, married to Kit who knows nothing of this, and mother to Millie. She has also just recently given birth to Faye who was stillborn. One day, she leaves without a word. Kit is understandably confused and angry with her for walking out on them, and we learn that she has gone to meet Daniel who has just been released from prison after eighteen years for a hit and run.

Daniel is Lauren's stepfather with whom she had an intimate relationship when he was thirty and she was just fourteen. King has an absolutely beautiful way of writing, the prose is stunning and it tackles such a complex subject - power imbalance, grooming, the hazy definition of consent when told from Lauren's memories of that time in her life. From the points of view of 'then' and 'now', we, as the reader, get into the mind of Lauren. She always believed that it wasn't grooming because hadn't she instigated it? Only discovering the relationship for what it really was in the height of the Me Too movement.

This is a book that will stay with me for a while. This is definitely a book for those fans of My Dark Vanessa.

[Sarah (Books_with_a_cuppa) · Rating 4 out of 5]

Rating: 4.5*

Thank you very much for the opportunity to read and review this gifted e-arc early.

This book had me gripped from the first chapter. It is dark and disturbing, but such an addictive read. It tells a story of desire, love and retribution.

I won’t give away much more than the blurb already does, because as long as you’re comfortable reading the themes contained in this one, it’s better to just go on the journey in the pages.

My heart broke for Lauren. The portrayal of her physical and mental health was raw and powerful. She has spent a long time trying to rationalise her memories, thoughts and emotions. And as a reader, you were in her thoughts, aware of her feelings and questioning yourself on your own. Ella forces us to navigate the blurred lines between desire and affection with abuse and manipulation.

I found the butterflies and botanical parts of the story fascinating, especially towards the end of the book. I loved the use of the Now and Then, of the messages. It all came together so so well. But it did leave me sitting in my thoughts for a while. The impact this storyline had on me ran deeper than the words the page.

I will definitely be reading more from Ella King in the future.

[Rachel Quinlan · Rating 4 out of 5]

Lauren Tan isn’t like other girls, she’s into nature, biology, plants. She gets laughed at when she takes a fungus in to a ‘show and tell’ lesson.
She meets Daniel at a museum in London, he’s a lepidopterist and starts talking to her about butterflies. Daniel becomes her step-father and mentor, she also has a teenage crush on him.
After her mum dies, she is 14 years old and he takes her away to help her get over the trauma. They go to Cornwall, where he is collecting Cornish Blue butterflies. Then things all go wrong, she runs away and he knocks down a boy in his car and ends up in prison.
We move between then and now, 18 years later, when Lauren is married to Kit and they have a little girl, Millie. Daniel has just come out of prison. He wants to show Lauren how much he loves her and wants to make her whole again, she wants to show him how much he hurt her.
I felt the book started a bit slowly but once I was half way through, I was hooked. I was surprised by some of Lauren’s choices and found scoring the book hard as it was compelling and easy to read, yet unsettling and disturbing in places as difficult issues were addressed.

[Carly Hardwell · Rating 5 out of 5]

My immediate thoughts are that Dear Darling floored me - intense, extremely evocative and quietly powerful. It reminded me of my experience reading My Dark Vanessa years ago.

Lauren, now a 32-year-old mother and wife, embarks on a devastating journey to unravel her life and everything she endured at the age of 14. This must have been a challenging story to write yet Ella has penned it gracefully and thoughtfully; Lauren’s voice was strong and compelling and I didn’t want to stop reading at any point.

The narrative shifts between Lauren’s ‘Then’ and ‘Now’ and both are equally impactful and work together to detail for the reader how she has come to be the woman she is today. My heart hurt for her and the lasting impact of trauma she is buried underneath, years after escaping her suffocating situation.

I can’t deny that this novel is really affecting, there are some deeply distressing events but I found Ella’s way of writing tender and thought-provoking rather than sensationalising difficult themes. It was no doubt for me that this would be a strong five star read and one that will linger in my mind.

Thank you so much to Harper Fiction for my advanced copy of this book.

[Michelle · Rating 5 out of 5]

My first Ella King and this won't be my last, this book is a trip.

We follow our protagonist Lauren in two timelines. Few dual timelines work for me, but King knows how to draw you in and keep the momentum going. I was equally invested in both.

In the first timeline, we meet Lauren in her mid thirties, her second daughter Faye was born still a few weeks prior. We meet her on the morning she receives a letter starting Dear Darling.

In the second timeline Lauren is fourteen. She's into butterfly's, plants, she awkward and doesn’t quite fit in amongst her peers. When her mother meets Daniel, a thirty year old Lepidopterist, Lauren feels seen, understood and is excited to learn.

This is tackling some heavy topics - grooming, power dynamics, consent, grief and loss which typically aren't handled well in fast paced novels, and this is where King really stands out for me. I thought she balanced the seriousness, the character depth, the plot and the short pacey chapters perfectly.

Five stars. Excited to check out her back list.

[Sharon Valler: Live Love Read Review · Rating 5 out of 5]

Wow. This book is incredible! The writing is stunning; emotive, haunting and poignant, with the butterfly theme adding such an intensity to the story.

A 14 year old girl truly believes she knows her own mind - I know when I was 14, I felt like I knew better than anyone! But the age of consent exists for a reason, because a 14 year old is a child.

Lauren was a fascinating character. She oozed vulnerability yet seemed to possess an incredible strength, possibly born from the anguish she carried with her.

I was curious as to how her 14 year old certainty morphed into her adult understanding of right and wrong and as the two timelines began to come together, with the layers peeled away one by one, I just couldn’t stop turning the pages. Absolutely shocking. And it got me thinking about days gone by when a girl would be married as young as 12 years old - horrific!

I don’t want to say too much, but this is such a brilliant read in so many ways and really got me thinking too.

5 ⭐️ Thanks to Netgalley, Ella King and Harper Collins for an ARC of this book.

[Dawn · Rating 4 out of 5]

Lauren lived with her mother in a small flat above a supermarket.. Lauren loved plants - she was fascinated by botany and had a collection of things she treasured.

Daniel Prior worked in a museum and specialised in butterflies . He came to their flat to value a collection of rare butterflies that had belonged to Lauren’s grandfather. Daniel and Lauren’s mother became a couple.

Fast forward eighteen years and Lauren was getting many letters from Daniel while he was in prison. When he wrote to say he had been released, she walked out on her husband and daughter and went to stay in a hotel. Lauren wanted Daniel to pay for what he had done to her eighteen years before - she was only fourteen years old and knew what he had done to her was wrong.

This book was emotional and intense in parts. I liked the way it was split into ‘then’ and ‘now’.
There were stark differences between Laurens understanding of her relationship with Daniel when she was fourteen and now in her present life in her thirties.

It was a hard read in parts due to the subject matter but written in a way that you needed to keep reading to find out what happened next.

[PJ · Rating 4 out of 5]

Wow, this was an incredible story. Full of intrigue, hard hitting revelations and such a shrewd way of giving an insight into the mind of a young victim of inappropriate desire.

The story focuses on Lauren Tan as a teenager, and as a grown woman. Young Lauren’s world revolved her Mum who largely brought her up, and who she dotes on, and adult Lauren as a wife and mother.

But adult Lauren is broken. It’s taken until her adulthood to realise that what had occurred in the days of childhood innocence has formed the person she is now. A woman who has been so desperate to escape her past that she has learnt to hide her true self from those around her, including her husband and child, and as a result, sees herself living a pretend life.

But 20 years have passed since she lost her innocence and she now has the opportunity to right what her adult self knows was a grave wrong.

Highly recommend

[Mitsy_Reads · Rating 5 out of 5]

I devoured this book alongside the audiobook. I loved the structure. It’s mystery-driven and very compelling. If you loved My Dark Vanessa, you’ll probably enjoy this too, as the themes explored are very similar.

The chapters are short, and the writing is poignant yet accessible. It’s one of the best depictions I’ve read of how trauma from many, many years ago can continue to affect the victim. I also found the reference to the Me Too movement particularly interesting, especially how it reshaped a character’s understanding of what had happened to her. It made me think about an impact it had on each individual I hadn’t considered much before.

I just wished I’d seen more POV from a character who I think deserved better. Still, my enjoyment level was very high like 4.5–5/5 🌟

Audiobook: Great narration, with the calm but somewhat detached and melancholy voice, perfect for the tone of this book. I highly recommend the format!