Our Beautiful Mess
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- Pre-Order
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- Expected Feb 10, 2026
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- $12.99
Publisher Description
"Adele Parks consistently writes banger after banger, and Our Beautiful Mess might just be her best yet. Addictive and brilliant" —Lisa Jewell, #1 New York Times bestselling author
Number One bestseller Adele Parks returns with an explosive and deeply emotional family drama that explores the lengths a mother will go to protect her family, even if it risks exposing her past. Perfect for fans of Lisa Jewell and Lianne Moriarty.
Connie can’t wait to have all her daughters back home for Christmas. It’s not just the excitement of the girls being together under one roof; uni student Fran is bringing a new boyfriend to stay. The empty nest will once again be full of friends, family and young love.
Yet from the moment she sees Zac, Connie feels a deep unease. Zac reminds her of the worst mistake she has ever made: a man whose charm and good looks nearly destroyed her marriage. Then, Fran announces she’s pregnant.
Reeling from Fran’s news and terrified that her past might threaten her family’s future, Connie desperately tries to navigate a path forward. But there’s a much greater menace looming, because she’s not the only one who has something to hide. Someone in the house has another devastating secret. A deception which will put everyone Connie loves in shocking danger, and one of them will pay the ultimate price.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
A London family comes unglued when traces of a decades-old affair resurface in this tedious domestic drama from bestseller Parks (Two Dead Wives). Connie Baker is happily married to Luke, with whom she has three daughters. When Christmas rolls around, she's eager to welcome home from college her oldest girl, 21-year-old Fran, who's bringing along her first serious boyfriend, Zac Knight. On the day of the pair's arrival, the Bakers are shocked to discover that Fran is pregnant and has every intention of keeping her baby. Furthermore, Connie finds out that Zac's father is John Harding, the man she had an affair with at the start of her marriage 25 years ago. Though Luke forgave her, Connie has kept this secret from her daughters, so when Zac announces plans for the two families to meet, she starts to sweat. Meanwhile, chapters from the viewpoints of Fran and Zac reveal that they have secrets of their own, one of which will put the whole family in grave danger. Unfortunately, Parks saps all suspense from the proceedings with tedious internal monologues, and she paints her Gen-Z characters with an exhaustingly broad brush. By the time the melodramatic finale arrives, even Parks's fans will have tuned out.
