First off, I have to thank St. Martin's Press for sending me this Advanced Reader's Copy!

This book is pretty fast-paced. Meghan is the daughter of Carl and Becky Gerard. Meghan has had unexplained illnesses for almost her entire life, without getting any diagnoses for these illnesses. Becky is a devoted mother and staunch advocate for Meghan. After one dramatic incident, doctors intervene (these are doctors that are not treating Meghan) and suspect Munchhausen syndrome by proxy, which Becky adamantly denies.

I did not see the ending coming with this book. It was a twist that I hadn't anticipated. Great book, even though there were a few typographical errors throughout the book. ( )

Enjoyed my time reading this book. Throughout the book you are trying to figure out if Meghan is truly sick with a debilitating disease or if it is imaginary put into her head by her mother. I truly didn’t know how this story was going to end. ( )

This book was a cool beach read! It’s going to be really hard to talk specifics without giving away spoilers, and that would ruin the book, so I’m going to put the review in spoiler tags.

This is a great examination of Munchausen’s by proxy, where a parent medically abuses their child. One of the things that made this so compelling was the perspective… it’s told mainly from the pov of Becky, Meghan’s mom, and slowly draws you into her mindset so that at first you’re really not sure… is Meghan sick? Is Becky faking it like her own mother did? Who’s right? Who’s lying?

I was so drawn into the book I couldn’t put it down. The book explores heavily the complex issues faced by those with orphan and invisible illnesses… the difficulty getting a correct diagnosis, the stigma faced by doctors, loved ones, and the public when their pain is not believed… because the book hammers home again and again the point of how Becky’s mother faked her own symptoms to get disability checks, it could potentially be a triggering read for those who really do suffer from things like fibromyalgia, migraine disease, mental illness, depression, Lyme disease, lupus… many of which have no conclusive diagnostic test and where patients are often accused of faking, unjustly.

When Becky takes Meghan to the hospital one too many times, she finds her parental rights stripped away, Meghan locked in the psychiatric unit, and a legal fight ahead. This was a fascinating character study, and I found myself drawn in. Some interesting twists! Overall, a great escape read!

Trigger Warnings: mental illness, medical child abuse, loss of a child (SIDS), discrimination towards invisible/chronic illness

Please excuse typos/name misspellings. Entered on screen reader.
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One of my favorite things is reading books like this one. I love the in-depth look at a mental health disorder by way of a psychological thriller. It's a topic that interests me and it definitely makes for a great thriller!

"Saving Megan" is one of DJ's older books, but the summary really drew me in. Munchausen Syndrome by Proxy. If you aren't familiar with this disease, it generally involves a mother (or other caregiver) creating illness in another person for the sake of attention.

In the book, you quickly learn that Meghan is sick and no one is able to explain why. The mother, Becky, is franticly attentive to Meghan and has dedicated her entire life to caring for Meghan. It seems, however, that for the most part Meghan seems pretty "healthy" with all things considered - she's still running and playing. Becky ends up connecting with a doctor who diagnoses Meghan with mitochondrial disease but even that is in question and has issues.

The book takes a turn when Meghan begins having insane cramps and is taken to the hospital, but her symptoms don't match mitochondrial disease. When Meghan's doctor reaches out to a gastrointestinal specialist for help, things pick up.

The GI specialist accuses Becky of Munchausen Syndrome by Proxy and everyone has to decide who and what they believe while Meghan is admitted to the psychiatric ward.

I listened to the audiobook of this. It had 2 narrators - one for Becky and one for Meghan. Both narrators did a fabulous job bringing the story to life.

I appreciated the two different points of view. Doing so brings a mystery to the book that I don't think would have been there before. While I had my personal beliefs about the truth, I was eager to find out what was really going on.

There was a small bit of a plot hole that I noticed once I was sitting here evaluating the book as a whole, but it wasn't glaring or obvious to me at the time. In fact, I couldn't stop listening to this book. I just had to know the truth: was Meghan really sick or did Becky have Munchausen by Proxy?

Of course, I can't tell you the final outcome, but what I can tell you is that you will love that you didn't see it coming... Anyone who enjoys thrillers will most likely enjoy this!



See the review here: https://thisreadingnurse.blogspot.com/2022/02/book-review-saving-meghan-by-dj-pa... ( )

Saving Megan was personal because I have many things wrong with me, and no one knows why. When her tests came back with no results after having a bout of pain, I understood her frustration. I began to wonder if it was all in my head as well. This book had my attention the whole time, wondering if it was her mother's fault after all. The ending was fantastic. This book was an excellent read. ( )