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Shalini Boland is a USA-Today bestselling author of mystery, young adult fantasy and psychological thrillers.

Born in the United Kingdom, she is known for writing books such as The Girl from the Sea (2016), The Best Friend (2016), The Millionaire's Wife (2017), The Child Next Door (2018) and many more.

Her novels have sold more than 2 million copies, earning publications from Amazon Publishing, Audible, Bookouture, and Grand Central Publishing.

At one point signed as a singer/songwriter to Universal Music Publishing, Shalini now spends her days balancing between motherhood and fiction writing.

She currently resides in Dorset, England with her beloved husband, two children, and their mannerless pet dog.

More about Shalini Boland

Genres: Fantasy / SF, Mystery, Psychological Thriller, Young Adult

United Kingdom

Non Series

  • A Shirtful of Frogs (2012)
  • The Girl from the Sea (2016)
  • The Best Friend (2016)
  • The Millionaire's Wife (2017)
  • The Secret Mother (2017)
  • The Child Next Door (2018)
  • The Silent Sister (2018)
  • The Perfect Family (2018)
  • The Marriage Betrayal (2019)
  • The Other Daughter (2019)
  • One of Us Is Lying (2020)
  • The Wife (2020)
  • My Little Girl (2021)
  • The Couple Upstairs (2021)
  • The Family Holiday (2022)
  • A Perfect Stranger (2022)
  • The Daughter-in-Law (2022)
  • The Silent Bride (2023)
  • The School Reunion (2024)

Novellas

  1. The Ghost of Nan Clarks Lane (2013)

Omnibus Books

  1. The Shalini Boland Collection: The Secret Mother, The Child Next Door, The Silent Sister (2020)

Outside

  1. Outside (2011)
  2. The Clearing (2013)
  3. The Perimeter (2013)

Vampires of Marchwood

  1. Hidden (2011)
  2. Taken (2012)
  3. Hunted (2016)
Vampires of Marchwood

Detailed book overview

Non Series

A Shirtful of Frogs

The unforgettable tale of two young boys separated by the decades, but bound together in friendship.

As WWII breaks out, six-year-old Jimmy Sweeney is evacuated from London to the country. He is now an outcast, bullied by the local kids and mistreated by the awful Mrs Cribbins. One night a stranger appears in his room. A tall clean boy who brings him wonderful food and other amazing things. They become friends which is good because pretty soon Jimmy is going to need a friend. His life may depend upon it . . .

Author: Shalini Boland
First Release: 2012
ISBN: 978-0956998545
Publisher: Creative Adrenalin
The Girl from the Sea

‘I can’t remember anything. Not even my own name.’

When Mia James is washed up on a beautiful, sun-drenched beach she has no idea who she is or what happened to her. She doesn’t even recognise her own face – until her boyfriend, Piers, comes forward, providing her with an identity.

Piers is handsome and attentive, Mia’s home is huge and stylish, and her friends are eager to help her fill in the blanks. As Mia steps into the perfect life she was living before her accident, she should feel lucky to be alive. But she struggles to adjust, lost for words around people she is meant to know and love, grasping for clues about who she really is.

And as her memories slowly return, Mia realises something is very wrong. Her neighbours are avoiding her, her emails have all been wiped, and she is haunted by the face of a woman standing by the water. Too many things just don’t seem to add up and she begins to question those closest to her…

What if nearly drowning didn’t happen by accident?

How does she know who to trust, when she’s not even sure she can trust herself?

Author: Shalini Boland
First Release: 2016
ISBN: 978-1786819321
Publisher: Bookouture
The Best Friend

‘I can tell we’re going to be the best of friends…’

When Louisa Sullivan takes her little boy to his first playdate at a new friend’s house she doesn’t realise life is about to change for her family. Because she’s about to meet Darcy Lane.

Darcy is a woman who has everything – a dream house, a powerful husband and enviable wealth.

She’s the perfect wife.

The perfect friend.

The perfect liar.

Author: Shalini Boland
First Release: 2016
ISBN: 978-1786815286
Publisher: Bookouture
The Millionaire's Wife

Everyone has their secrets. But this one could destroy your marriage.

When Anna Blackwell opens an email from an unknown sender, the shocking image attached shatters her perfect world. A woman has been killed. And Anna knows who did it. The past is catching up with her.

Is it her turn next?

To protect herself and her husband Will, she must tell him the terrible truth about her first love. But as the secrets of her life unravel, Anna begins to realise that she is not the only one who has been living a lie.

Anna doesn’t know who to turn to: her best friend, her parents, her husband. But she knows that her ex-lover is dangerous and she must stop him, before it’s too late…

Author: Shalini Boland
First Release: 2017
ISBN: 978-1786815989
Publisher: Bookouture
The Secret Mother

Are you my mommy?

Tessa Markham returns home to find a child in her kitchen. He thinks she is his mother. But Tessa doesn't have any children.

Not anymore.

She doesn't know who the little boy is or how he got there. After contacting the police, Tessa is suspected of kidnapping the mystery child. Her whole life is turned upside down. And then her husband reveals a secret of his own...

Tessa isn't sure what to believe or whom to trust. Because someone is lying. To find out who, she must first confront her painful past. But is the truth more dangerous than Tessa realizes?

Author: Shalini Boland
First Release: 2017
ISBN: 978-1538764367
Publisher: Grand Central Publishing
The Child Next Door

‘Don’t take my baby.’

Kirstie Rawlings is jolted awake by a child crying. Racing upstairs to check on her new-born, she is plunged into every parents’ worst nightmare. She hears an unknown voice in the baby monitor, saying: ‘Let’s take the child – and go.’

Is someone trying to steal her little girl?

In the bedroom, her daughter is safe asleep in her cot. Is the voice coming from a nearby house? But there aren’t any other children living on her quiet country road…

The police don't believe her. And neither does her husband.

Author: Shalini Boland
First Release: 2018
ISBN: 978-1786813824
Publisher: Bookouture
The Silent Sister

‘You don't deserve a sister…’

Lizzy Beresford is at home alone when she finds a chilling letter in her kitchen. Someone has been into her home – someone who wishes Lizzy harm.

In her little country cottage, with her doting boyfriend, not far from the close-knit village, Lizzy can’t imagine who might want to hurt her. But when the threatening letters keep coming, she starts to suspect everyone around her.

Desperate, Lizzy reaches out to her sister, Emma. They haven’t spoken in years, not since the argument that tore them apart.

But what Emma says shocks her to the core:

‘I’ve been receiving letters too...’

Author: Shalini Boland
First Release: 2018
ISBN: 978-1786815569
Publisher: Bookouture
The Perfect Family

‘Mummy, she’s gone…’

Gemma Ballantine is getting ready for work one morning when her eldest child comes running down the stairs, saying the words every mother dreads.

The front door is open. And her six-year-old daughter has disappeared. Frantic with fear, Gemma starts a nail-biting search for her little girl.

After what feels like forever, her mother-in-law Diane finds Katie wandering lost a few streets away. Relieved to have her youngest child back in her arms, breathing in the sweet scent of her hair, Gemma thinks the nightmare is over.

But then her perfect family starts to fall apart.

And she realises it’s only just beginning…

Author: Shalini Boland
First Release: 2018
ISBN: 978-1786815255
Publisher: Bookouture
The Marriage Betrayal

‘Daddy has been lying.’

Faye Townsend has planned the perfect summer trip for her family. But returning to the small seaside town her husband grew up in does not go to plan, the rain pours and the long days become stifling. And then the unthinkable happens…

Her husband Jake and her six-year-old son Dylan go for an early morning walk along the beautiful, windswept clifftops. They don’t come back.

As the hours tick by, Dylan’s red baseball cap is found on the beach and Faye finds herself being questioned by the police. They want to know everything about the man she married - is Faye ready to face her husband’s dark past? Or will she have to confront her own secrets first?

And just how far will a mother go to save her only child?

Author: Shalini Boland
First Release: 2019
ISBN: 978-1786817365
Publisher: Bookouture
The Other Daughter

Nine years ago her daughter was taken. And now she’s back.

Two-and-a-half-year-old Holly is playing happily in a pink plastic playhouse, while her mother Rachel sips coffee and chats with a friend nearby. It should be an ordinary day for all of them. But, in the blink of an eye, it turns into every family’s worst nightmare.

Holly is taken by a stranger and never found.

Nine years later, Rachel is living a quiet life in Dorset. She’s tried to keep things together since the traumatic day when she lost her eldest daughter. She has a new family, a loving partner and her secrets are locked away in her painful past.

Until one afternoon when Rachel meets a new school parent Kate and her teenage daughter Bella. Rachel’s world is instantly turned upside down – she’s seen Bella before. She’d recognise that face anywhere – it’s her missing child.

And she will stop at nothing to get her back…

Author: Shalini Boland
First Release: 2019
ISBN: 978-1786817228
Publisher: Bookouture
One of Us Is Lying

Tia never harmed anyone. So why does someone want to destroy her?

Tia is walking home with her children, along the lakeside of their quiet, safe town, when she realises something is wrong with her five-year-old daughter, Rosie. She seems troubled, not at all her usual happy self.

But when Tia finally coaxes Rosie to open up, she wishes she hadn’t. Because her sweet daughter asks a question Tia never thought she’d hear.

‘Why did you kill someone?’

Tia knows how rumours spread around her small town. She just can’t understand who would have shared such a horrible story. Or why.

It can’t have anything to do with what happened. Only her two best friends really remember that…

Tia thought she could trust Fiona and Kelly with her life. They’ve been through so much together. But when she’s sent photos of herself that could tear her whole life apart, she starts to wonder. Someone is determined to punish her. But who? And will her friends stand by her, or will the past destroy all of their lives?

Author: Shalini Boland
First Release: 2020
ISBN: 978-1786819369
Publisher: Bookouture
The Wife

Zoe fainted on her wedding day, and she never knew why. She’s always felt sure something bad happened. Ten years later, she’s going to find out what…

It was supposed to be the happiest day of her life. Zoe was sitting in her hotel room, in her perfect white dress, looking forward to the moment when she would make kind, handsome Toby her husband.

Then, there was a blank.

They said she must have fainted, overcome with emotion. But nothing felt quite right afterwards. Did something happen in that missing time?

Now, Toby and Zoe have two beautiful children and a perfect life. They’re planning their ten-year anniversary party for their family and friends. The invitations have been sent, the food ordered. They’re going back to the grand hotel where they got married.

But as the anniversary gets closer, it becomes clear not everyone is looking forward to celebrating. Zoe catches Toby lying about where he’s been. One of her best friends seems to be ignoring her. And someone is spreading stories that might stop the party from happening at all.

Zoe is increasingly sure that she doesn’t have the full story. But does she want to know the truth, if it will destroy everything?

Author: Shalini Boland
First Release: 2020
ISBN: 978-1786819345
Publisher: Bookouture
My Little Girl

Your daughter is missing. Did someone close to you take her?

She was meant to be with your husband.

He didn’t tell you about the change of plans.

Your mother-in-law says she never took her eyes off her. But the moment little Bea disappeared, she was on the phone to your husband’s ex-wife.

Things like this happen to other people. Careless people. Not you.

But now you have to ask: your husband, your mother-in-law, the ex-wife – could one of them have taken your little girl?

Author: Shalini Boland
First Release: 2021
ISBN: 978-1838881481
Publisher: Bookouture
The Couple Upstairs

I should never have become friends with the couple upstairs…

The first time I step inside this cosy apartment with its sash windows, just minutes from the sea, I think it would be the perfect place for me and my partner Zac to start again. A chance to leave our troubled past behind.

Chris and Vanessa, the couple upstairs, are so welcoming: smiles, flowers, a home-baked cake. It’s strange how he does all the talking, and she seems so shy, but I’m just thrilled to have new friends nearby.

But everything starts to go wrong… my business begins to crumble, I can’t ignore the whispers at our housewarming party and loud arguments from upstairs keep me awake at night. I can’t sleep, I can’t think straight and I feel like someone is watching me in my own home.

And then Zac comes home one afternoon, his face clenched with fury, and says he knows what’s going on. He knows about my secret…

He won’t listen to me. He storms out and I’m left in tears, completely devastated.

Why has my life fallen apart since we moved here? Am I going mad? Or is someone trying to destroy us?

If only I’d known what I know now.

If only I hadn’t trusted the couple upstairs.

Author: Shalini Boland
First Release: 2021
ISBN: 978-1838881504
Publisher: Bookouture
The Family Holiday

Two families. One house swap. A vacation to die for.

The white-washed Italian villa is perfect. I thought it might feel odd, living in a stranger’s house for the summer, but as my husband and children swim in the infinity pool, I start to relax. And then, in the back of a wardrobe, I find a photograph that shatters everything…

Sparkling green eyes, square jaw, lopsided smile. A young man with his arm around a beautiful woman. The picture is old and faded but I’d recognise him anywhere. The man is my husband.

But we’ve never met the family we’ve swapped homes with and my husband swears it isn’t him in the photo. He’s lying. We argue on the balcony with the sun setting behind us and I storm out.

When I finally calm down enough to go back to the villa to confront him, I find him sprawled across the veranda… dead.

Why would someone kill my husband? Am I in danger? And how well did I really know the man I married?

Author: Shalini Boland
First Release: 2022
ISBN: 978-1838881528
Publisher: Bookouture
A Perfect Stranger

Two marriages. Three little lies. Someone’s going to die…

I hold my breath as my handsome husband walks through the door. I’ve planned the perfect surprise birthday party for him. Our friends are gathered and the champagne is flowing. But when I catch the look in his deep brown eyes, I realise I’ve got this horribly wrong.

All evening my stomach is churning. And I can’t help but notice Danielle Baines speaking with Aiden. With her salon-styled hair, diamonds glittering on her ring finger and married to a rich businessman she has the kind of lifestyle I can only dream of. I’ve never liked her. And I know the feeling is mutual.

So why is she here and what is she saying to my husband?

Now it’s the end of the party and the man I love is confessing a secret that shocks me to the core. But it’s not what I was afraid of. It’s much worse.

He says we have to take our son and leave the place we call home because our lives are in danger.

I thought I knew everything about my husband. But suddenly he feels like a stranger. Should I trust him with my life?

Author: Shalini Boland
First Release: 2022
ISBN: 978-1803143569
Publisher: Bookouture
The Daughter-in-Law

Your new husband has a shocking secret. Would your mother-in-law kill to protect it?

From the moment I meet my new mother-in-law in her beautiful country house, she makes it clear I’m not welcome. Lilian Fletcher hates me for marrying her precious boy on a golden beach far away from her.

Starting our marriage living in the Fletchers’ family home is a nightmare. Then I discover Seb was married before and his first wife is dead. I wonder why the man I love didn’t tell me the truth. And I wonder what happened to her: the woman who came before me. How did she die?

Lilian’s steely blue gaze follows me everywhere. Then the accidents start to happen, and I know she is behind them. It starts with small things, like a dropped birthday cake, a spilt glass of wine. But then my mother-in-law accuses me of something terrible. This woman is determined to get me out of her son’s life.

Now I wish I’d never met my handsome, clever husband. Or come to this luxurious house that feels more like a prison.

But I have secrets too. And no-one knows who I really am…

Author: Shalini Boland
First Release: 2022
ISBN: 978-1838881542
Publisher: Bookouture
The Silent Bride

It’s the wedding day of Alice’s dreams. Until it becomes a nightmare…

Alice and Seth are a perfect love story: the handsome doctor and his beautiful fiancée. They’re wealthy, well liked and made for each other―the envy of all their friends. Alice can’t wait for the day of their dream wedding. But when she arrives at the altar, she doesn’t recognise the man waiting to marry her.

When this stranger insists he’s Seth, her husband-to-be, the entire congregation seems to agree. Even her parents try to persuade Alice to go through with the wedding.

As panic sets in, Alice’s world comes apart. Where is the real Seth, and why have all traces of him disappeared from her life? Fearing she’s losing her mind, she sets out to uncover the truth and escape the nightmare she’s living in. But with everyone around her convinced by the fake Seth, how can she ever hope to find the man she loves?

Author: Shalini Boland
First Release: 2023
ISBN: 978-1662507083
Publisher: Thomas & Mercer
The School Reunion

The invitation to her school reunion couldn’t have come at a better time for Chloe Flynn. Divorced, broke and bored at work, she’s living a life her teenage self would hate. Turning the clock back fifteen years might be just what she needs to wipe the slate clean and start again. And then there’s the chance she’ll bump into Nathan Blake, the one she still regrets letting get away…

Back at her elite private school, Chloe sparkles as she reunites with old friends and long-forgotten love interests. And then, just as she’d hoped, there’s Nathan, more handsome than ever before. Even better, he’s single too, and seems to be just as keen to make up for lost time…

But as the evening progresses, Chloe can’t help feeling that something’s not quite right―that she’s not the only one who’s come here for more than just a party. When the secrets of the past start to emerge and the reunion takes a sinister turn, it’s clear that nothing is what it seems―and nothing will be the same again.

Author: Shalini Boland
First Release: 2024
ISBN: 978-1662507090
Publisher: Thomas & Mercer

Novellas

The Ghost of Nan Clarks Lane

It’s 1940 and twins Jimmy and Patrick are off to catch frogs in the North London countryside. But as the day unfolds, Jimmy realises that the ghost of Nan Clarks Lane may be more than just an old story.

Author: Shalini Boland
First Release: 2013
Ebook: B00DAG61YA
Publisher: Adrenalin Books

Omnibus Books

The Shalini Boland Collection: The Secret Mother, The Child Next Door, The Silent Sister

The Secret Mother: ‘Are you my mummy?’

Tessa Markham returns home to find a child in her kitchen. He thinks she’s his mother. But Tessa doesn’t have any children. Not anymore… Who does the child belong to, and why is he there? And is the truth more dangerous than Tessa realises?

The Child Next Door: ‘Don’t take my baby.’

Kirstie Rawlings is jolted awake by a child crying. Racing upstairs to check on her new-born, she is plunged into every parents’ worst nightmare. She hears an unknown voice on the baby monitor, saying: ‘Let’s take the child – and go.’ Is someone trying to steal her little girl?

The Silent Sister: ‘You don't deserve a sister…’

Lizzy Beresford is at home alone when she finds a chilling letter in her kitchen. Someone has been into her home – someone who wishes Lizzy harm. Desperate, Lizzy reaches out to her sister, Emma. They haven’t spoken in years, not since the argument that tore them apart. But Emma has been receiving letters too…

Author: Shalini Boland
First Release: 2020
Ebook: B0892KTDXB
Publisher: Bookouture

Outside

Outside

A post-apocalyptic romance thriller. The future is divided by Perimeters: high-security gated communities where life goes on as normal. If you're inside you're lucky. If you're outside, life expectancy takes a nose dive.

Riley is fortunate to have been born on the right side of the fence. But her life of privilege comes crashing down when someone breaks through and murders her sister.

She forsakes her own safety to go in search of the killer. Luc decides to go with her otherwise she'll be dead before she's past the security gate. But what awaits her outside is more unbelievable than she ever imagined.

Author: Shalini Boland
First Release: 2011
ISBN: 978-0956998514
Publisher: Creative Adrenalin
The Clearing

The clearing has begun. Children across the country are disappearing. And I’m the only one who can stop it…

There was a time when our world was open and free. Those days seem like something out of a dream. Now, I live in a walled community, protected by guards from the wilderness beyond. Everything felt safe, until the last few years. That’s when the rumours started. And then I saw with my own eyes they were true…

Children are being taken all over the country. Snatched from their homes, never to be seen again. As I look up at the stormy sky beyond the Perimeter wall, I realise I have to do something. I may only be seventeen, but I know where all those children are.

James Grey and his terrifying followers are hiding the missing ones in an old fortress. They’ve been training them to fight, creating an army that’s growing stronger day by day. My best friend Luc is by my side. Everything seems strange between us, since the night we kissed, but he’s pledged to help me in my quest to stop this madness.

Although fighting to end the clearing means returning to the last place on earth I ever want to go. It means allowing the chilling hooded figures to take us too. Luc and I are willing to sacrifice our own freedom in order to save so many others… but will we succeed?

Author: Shalini Boland
First Release: 2013
ISBN: 978-0956998569
Publisher: Creative Adrenalin
The Perimeter

The old world is gone forever. And this is our last chance to create a new one…

Sixteen years ago, the old world collapsed, and I was born into a time of chaos. I’ve been one of the lucky ones, living safely behind the thick walls of the Perimeter. But now an evil force is threatening to tear down everything we’ve built here. Our existence is hanging in the balance.

Cold, calculating James Gray and his army are trying to destroy the peaceful community we’ve worked so hard to create. We can’t run from it. We must confront it. This will be the final battle, the final chance to save our world – and ourselves.

Standing on top of one of the lookout posts, I take a deep breath and brace myself for what is to come. I wish I’d told Luc how much I love him, because now it might be too late.

Will we both make it out of this alive? And will our world be changed for the better, or fractured forever?

Author: Shalini Boland
First Release: 2013
ISBN: 978-1837900169
Publisher: Second Sky

Vampires of Marchwood

Hidden

Falling in love has never been so dangerous…

My name is Madison Greene. On my seventeenth birthday, I inherited an old mansion and wealth beyond my wildest dreams. I thought it was a joke, but as I step through the creaking door of the sprawling building, I realise my life in foster care is in the past. I’ve been chosen and my world has changed forever.

But I wasn’t told that Marchwood House hides a secret.

As I explore every inch of the crumbling property, I stumble upon a set of large, dusty boxes in the basement. When I pull back the lid and look down, I find myself staring at the most handsome face I’ve ever seen. High cheekbones, porcelain skin…

And when he wakes up and locks eyes with me, I realise my heart already belongs to him, even though my head is screaming at me to get as far away from Marchwood as possible. Because I know what he really is.

I never planned to fall in love – but it’s too late now. Alexandre has a dark and dangerous past. He needs me and I have to help him. But can a human really save a vampire?

Author: Shalini Boland
First Release: 2011
ISBN: 978-1837900244
Publisher: Second Sky
Taken

Falling in love has never been so deadly…

My name is Madison Greene and I was an ordinary teenager until I fell in love… with a vampire. Alexandre is tall, with a sexy French accent, and mesmerising eyes. He makes me feel protected, and he’s completely captured my heart.

At Marchwood House, our sprawling mansion nestled in the English countryside, we’re in our own perfect bubble together. But, in the blink of an eye, everything changes when an old enemy of Alexandre’s sets a trap and rips me away from my boyfriend’s arms.

The ancient demon takes me to his underground city, deep beneath the sweltering desert. In the twisting tunnels and enormous vaulted caverns, there’s a bloodthirsty vampire around every corner. I’ve never been so terrified…

It seems like there’s no way out from this underground maze. My life is hanging by a thread, and every second I’m here is a step closer to death. I can’t just sit here and hope that Alexandre will rescue me.

Can I outsmart a city of vampires to escape from this hellish place? And will I ever see Alexandre again?

NB: This book is also known as Thicker Than Blood.

Author: Shalini Boland
First Release: 2012
ISBN: 978-1837900206
Publisher: Second Sky
Hunted

Falling in love has never been so complicated…

My name is Madison Greene and my boyfriend is a vampire. And not just any vampire, one with brooding good looks and a smile that makes my heart skip a beat. As I curl up against Alexandre’s side, our hands entwined, I feel like the luckiest girl in the world.

Although our relationship hasn’t been easy. I’m human, so there were always going to be complications. But I thought we’d banished the demons from his previous life. I couldn’t have been more wrong…

Because there’s a new threat in the form of Nadia – a blue-eyed beauty who seems determined to do everything she can to break us apart. I trust Alexandre but I don’t trust her.

As I start digging into the truth to find out who Nadia really is, centuries-old secrets begin to unravel. And in order to set Alexandre free from the chains of his past, we must return to the ancient underground city of vampires to defeat Alexandre’s archnemesis once and for all.

Can I finally save Alexandre? Or will loving a vampire be the death of me?

Author: Shalini Boland
First Release: 2016
ISBN: 978-1837900220
Publisher: Second Sky