Pretty Bird- Blog Tour

 

Author: Hilary Faktor 

Publisher: Rowan Prose Publishing 

Publishing Date: 20th October 2026 

Many thanks to the publishing team ad ZooLoos BT for my digital copy of the book and a spot on the tour 

Blurb 

Maeve Whitman has come a long way. As a teenage mom who’d escaped an artists’ cult by sacrificing her best friend, she’s created a safe and perfect suburban life.

But when the former cult leader, who is now a renowned photographer and father of her daughter, tracks her down and threatens to force her child back to the farm she escaped from, Maeve is faced with a choice: take her children and flee or stay and fight for the life she’s built for her family.

With her daughter facing the chaotic and slippery monsters who almost destroyed Maeve, she’s pulled back into a web of destruction she thought she’d escaped for good. By confronting her past, she’ll need to find the strength to take back her future and change the path her mother once set for them.

Just how far will the colony go to get her back in their clutches?

My Thoughts 

This was a debut entry by the author and really good. 

In Pretty Bird, Hilary Faktor explores the devastating consequences of a past that refuses to stay buried. Maeve has fought to build a different future for herself and her family after growing up within a disturbing world. But when the people and experiences she left behind begin to threaten the safety she has created, she is forced to face a frightening possibility: her daughter could end up living through the very same horrors.

One of the most compelling aspects of this story is the emotional complexity of its characters. Nobody feels entirely untouched by what has happened to them, and the decisions they make carry consequences that reach far beyond themselves. At its heart, this is a story about motherhood, survival and the difficult reality of trying to break free from patterns that have shaped generations.

The tension builds alongside the emotional weight of the narrative, with revelations that challenge what the reader might expect. There is also a heartbreaking element to watching a mother confront the possibility of her child experiencing the pain she has spent years trying to overcome.

What makes this premise particularly unsettling is the question of whether escaping a harmful environment is enough when its influence can still follow you into the life you've built afterwards.

For readers who enjoy suspenseful fiction with darker family dynamics, difficult moral choices and an emotional storyline, this sounds like a debut worth adding to the reading list.

Hilary Faktor is certainly an author I'll be keeping an eye on as she continues her writing journey.