{"id":2459,"date":"2025-04-03T11:00:00","date_gmt":"2025-04-03T11:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/bookloves.com\/?p=2459"},"modified":"2025-04-03T11:00:00","modified_gmt":"2025-04-03T11:00:00","slug":"book-review-shaken-by-jill-amber-chafin","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/bookloves.com\/?p=2459","title":{"rendered":"Book Review: Shaken by Jill Amber Chafin"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Shaken<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

by Jill Amber Chafin<\/p>\n

Genre:<\/strong> Mystery, Thriller & Suspense \/ Psychological<\/p>\n

ISBN: <\/strong>9783988321374<\/p>\n

Print Length:<\/strong> 332 pages<\/p>\n

Publisher:<\/strong> Vine Leaves Press<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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Reviewed by Haley Perry | Content warnings: Postpartum depression, child abuse<\/em><\/p>\n

<\/strong><\/strong><\/strong><\/strong><\/strong><\/strong><\/strong><\/strong><\/strong><\/strong><\/strong><\/strong><\/strong><\/strong><\/strong><\/strong><\/strong><\/strong><\/strong><\/strong><\/strong><\/strong><\/strong><\/strong><\/strong><\/strong><\/strong><\/strong><\/strong><\/strong><\/strong><\/strong><\/strong><\/strong><\/strong><\/strong><\/strong><\/strong><\/strong>A twisty psychological thriller exploring the dark depths of new motherhood<\/strong><\/h2>\n

Jill Amber Chafin delivers an evocative thriller about a mother\u2019s frustration and guilt taken to the extreme in Shaken<\/em>.\u00a0<\/p>\n

One day, driven to the brink of exhaustion by yet another one of baby Morgan\u2019s screaming fits, young mother Sally shakes her baby. Consumed by guilt and needing to get away from her crime, she calls the babysitter and heads into an emergency shift at work.\u00a0<\/p>\n

However, over the next few days, Morgan\u2019s condition gets worse, and Sally finds herself lying at every turn about symptoms, doctor\u2019s visits, and the incident itself. But as the lies catch up to her, she begins to worry her partner and the detectives suspect her, and she develops a scheme to save herself and Morgan: blame the babysitter.<\/p>\n

Teenage Alyssa is a star student, future doctor, and babysitter extraordinaire. She has her life planned out, but it\u2019s all threatened when false child abuse accusations are leveled at her. In order to prove her innocence and protect Morgan from future harm, she must work against the detectives to find out what really happened.<\/p>\n

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Chafin\u2019s characters are rich and full of depth. The characters are not always likable but they are understandable, which is a strong choice that helps the reader conceptualize why these bad things happen. The book primarily alternates point-of-view between Sally, Alyssa, Sally\u2019s partner, and Alyssa\u2019s mother. Each character functions as foils for the others, which opens up fascinating ways of viewing the characters. For instance, while Sally and Alyssa share their youth and desire for a career in medicine, they go about it in different ways because of Sally\u2019s unexpected motherhood and Alyssa\u2019s lack thereof.\u00a0<\/p>\n

While this book is full of dramatic irony, Chafin deftly passes along just enough information to make the reader think they clearly know the answer when there are frequent twists lurking around every corner. Since the culprit is revealed on page one, the suspense comes from wondering whether or not the characters will correctly find the guilty party and how.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

Moreover, the guilt and panic induced by this situation creates a strong psychological portrait of the dark side of motherhood, such as the deep depression and isolation as well as the fear that one is not a good mother and everyone will know it.<\/p>\n

The subject matter of the book is heavy, but the language keeps it light enough to breeze through\u2014a quick read that comes with that addictive, whirlwind feeling that is so central to thrillers. Additionally, moments of humor bring levity to a situation that could easily drench the book in sadness.<\/p>\n

Shaken<\/em> deftly grapples with what it means to be a parent by looking at parenthood through a variety of lenses. By focusing on the darker emotions stemming from parenthood, Chafin does the important work of showing mothers that they are not alone or \u201cbad mothers\u201d for feeling overwhelmed and frustrated by their responsibility.<\/p>\n

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Thank you for reading Haley Perry\u2019s book review of Shaken <\/em>by Jill Amber Chafin! If you liked what you read, please spend some more time with us at the links below.<\/p>\n

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The post Book Review: Shaken by Jill Amber Chafin<\/a> appeared first on Independent Book Review<\/a>.<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Shaken by Jill Amber Chafin Genre: Mystery, Thriller & Suspense \/ Psychological ISBN: 9783988321374 Print Length: 332 pages Publisher: Vine Leaves Press Amazon Bookshop Reviewed by Haley Perry | Content warnings: Postpartum depression, child abuse A twisty psychological thriller exploring the dark depths of new motherhood Jill Amber Chafin delivers an evocative thriller about a […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":0,"featured_media":2460,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2459","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-bookreviews"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/bookloves.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2459"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/bookloves.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/bookloves.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bookloves.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=2459"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/bookloves.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2459\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bookloves.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/2460"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/bookloves.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2459"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bookloves.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2459"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bookloves.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2459"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}