Liar by K L Slater

I haven't listened to an audiobook as fast as this one! I was just bugged to get to the bottom of it. Just when I was sure who the bad person was, the story had turned to something else. I quite enjoyed the Brit accent and narrator Lucy Price-Lewis.

Judy and Henry - an elderly couple. Judy worked at a clinic. She was a loving mother, doting grandmother. Henry, retired and indulged in many things apart from just fishing.

Ben had lost his wife Louise 2 years ago. He has two little boys to look after. The help from his mother to bring them up well and have a running home, while he was a full time teacher, was much needed and appreciated. The kids love their Nanny and of course, Judy loved her boys very much. All was well. Until...

Ben soon, under too-good-to-be-true situations, meets very bold, good looking, Amber. Amber snakes her way into Ben's life and under the guise of love and being dutiful, changes the whole system of how Ben and the kiddos lived their life. This of course, does not go down well with Judy. When(ever) Ben brings Amber over to meet his parents, there is an odd tension in the air and Amber somehow always manages to get on every single nerve of Judy.

Judy is rubbished by her husband that she had been acting strange because of her menopausal state and that she had become hostile towards anyone new. Judy was even accused of being jealous and possessive, not allowing Ben to move on in life. Amber is sometimes sinister and sometimes just plain annoying. This is something only Judy seems to notice and hate.

Ben suddenly announces that he and Amber were engaged and were planning on getting married soon. This turn of events has pushed the family out of control. Ben's older boy, Noah is suddenly taken ill and had to be hospitalized. With a child's life on the line, will Ben choose Amber to be the mother of his kids or rely on his mother's help, experience and upbringing, which had worked very well all this while? Had Judy been hyperventilating over nothing every time she thought of Amber? Why had Amber lied about her life to Ben and her future in-laws? Why was Amber always trying to be one-up with Judy? Was it necessary to prove parenthood and love by putting everything else on the line? And in danger? Were people so twisted and was there just no way to believe that life could be easy?

To figure out answers to these questions, read or listen to this book. It may not be the typical "best seller", but worth a marathon reading/listening session.