Christina  McDonald

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Christina McDonald

Goodreads Author


Born
in Seattle, The United States
Website

Twitter

Genre

Influences

Member Since
June 2010


About this author
Christina McDonald is the award-winning, USA Today and Amazon charts bestselling author of What Lies In Darkness, The Stranger At Black Lake, These Still Black Waters, Do No Harm, Behind Every Lie and The Night Olivia Fell, which has been optioned for television by a major Hollywood studio. Originally from Seattle, Washington, she now lives in London, England, with her husband, two sons, and their dog, Tango.

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Popular Answered Questions

Christina McDonald Hi Belinda, thank you so much! I'm so excited for All That Is Broken to be released next year! :) I'm just finishing up edits in the next few weeks, s…moreHi Belinda, thank you so much! I'm so excited for All That Is Broken to be released next year! :) I'm just finishing up edits in the next few weeks, so hopefully in a few months we'll have a cover to put on Goodreads. I'll definitely announce it on my Facebook page, if you're following me there - @christinamcdonaldauthor. Thank you!(less)
Christina McDonald The idea for Night Olivia Fell came when I read a story about a teenage girl in California who was declared brain dead after a routine tonsillectomy w…moreThe idea for Night Olivia Fell came when I read a story about a teenage girl in California who was declared brain dead after a routine tonsillectomy went wrong. There was a lot of talk at the time about the legal and moral implications. I’m not a lawyer, so I can’t weigh in on this, but I am a mother, and my first thought when I read this story was for the girl’s mother and the heartbreak she must’ve been feeling.

Losing your child is every parent’s worst nightmare, and I imagined myself in her circumstances. Being the person I am, I started asking myself what if? What if the teenage girl had been pregnant? Would that be a comfort or a curse to her mother? What if the mother had suffered her own tragedies? What if she was a single parent? What if she thought something more sinister had happened? What if she’d been murdered, but nobody would listen to her?

I had a very specific scene flash through my mind and I wrote a rough draft of it right then. The entire book then developed around that.(less)
Average rating: 3.88 · 57,083 ratings · 7,834 reviews · 11 distinct worksSimilar authors
The Night Olivia Fell

3.89 avg rating — 31,076 ratings — published 2019 — 21 editions
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These Still Black Waters (J...

3.89 avg rating — 9,281 ratings — published 2023 — 10 editions
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Behind Every Lie

3.84 avg rating — 7,669 ratings — published 2020 — 9 editions
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Do No Harm

3.64 avg rating — 5,630 ratings — published 2021 — 8 editions
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What Lies in Darkness (Jess...

4.30 avg rating — 2,430 ratings — published 2024
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The Stranger At Black Lake ...

3.98 avg rating — 866 ratings2 editions
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No One Quite Like Me: A chi...

4.24 avg rating — 46 ratings3 editions
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Zoe Zebra Loses Her Z

4.25 avg rating — 44 ratings2 editions
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Living Abroad in Ireland

3.92 avg rating — 25 ratings — published 2012 — 4 editions
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Betsy Bird Learns To Fly: A...

4.42 avg rating — 12 ratings2 editions
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More books by Christina McDonald…

The Younger Woman by Cate Ray

The Younger WomanThe Younger Woman by Cate Ray
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Absolutely loved this book! A fascinating insight into the deterioration of a marriage and what happens when love turns to hate. Vivid, with exquisite prose and wonderfully drawn characters, The Younger Woman is breathtaking and wildly original. An eerie, elegant thriller.

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Published on June 13, 2025 06:36
These Still Black Waters What Lies in Darkness
(2 books)
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3.97 avg rating — 12,573 ratings

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Christina’s Recent Updates

Christina McDonald answered Lily (Night Owl Book Cafe)'s question: Christina  McDonald
Hi Lily, you are not the first person to ask this! My publisher for the Jess Lambert series decided there weren't enough sales and declined to publish any more in the series. That being said, I'm about halfway through writing a third book in the seri See Full Answer
Christina McDonald rated a book really liked it
When I Kill You by B.A. Paris
When I Kill You
by B.A. Paris (Goodreads Author)
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Compelling and intriguing with dual timelines and alternating perspectives, When I Kill You is a vividly written psychological thriller with a dark atmosphere that seeps through the pages. We switch between Nell being stalked by someone in the curren ...more
Christina McDonald rated a book it was amazing
Mad Mabel by Sally Hepworth
Mad Mabel
by Sally Hepworth (Goodreads Author)
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I absolutely adored this book! Sally Hepworth has crafted a beautifully brilliant, character-driven novel that seamlessly blends mystery and emotion. Elsie 'Mad Mabel' Fitzpatrick is a complex and wonderfully built protagonist. She's sharp-tongued ye ...more
Christina McDonald rated a book it was amazing
Fifty-Fifty by Steve Cavanagh
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A tense, clever blend of courtroom drama and psychological suspense! Cavanagh expertly weaves a taut, past-paced narrative where two sisters accuse each other of their father's brutal murder. The alternating perspectives, of each sister, plus the hid ...more
Beautiful Ugly by Alice Feeney
Beautiful Ugly
by Alice Feeney (Goodreads Author)
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Not my favorite book, I'll be honest. It doesn't feel like a twist if you've straight up lied to the reader. Not a case of an unreliable narrator or misunderstood information, but straight up lies. And then there's the repetition, not just from withi ...more
Beautiful Ugly by Alice Feeney
Beautiful Ugly
by Alice Feeney (Goodreads Author)
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Not my favorite book, I'll be honest. It doesn't feel like a twist if you've straight up lied to the reader. Not a case of an unreliable narrator or misunderstood information, but straight up lies. And then there's the repetition, not just from withi ...more
Christina McDonald rated a book liked it
The Wilds by Sarah  Pearse
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The Ghostwriter by Julie   Clark
The Ghostwriter
by Julie Clark (Goodreads Author)
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A vastly entertaining read that kept me hooked from the beginning. Clark’s newest thriller is twisty, dark and perfectly plotted, with long-buried secrets about a deeply dysfunctional family. With flawed characters, intense and layered suspense, and ...more
Christina McDonald rated a book it was amazing
Kiss Her Goodbye by Lisa Gardner
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Lisa Gardner hits it out of the park again! Kiss Her Goodbye is raw, riveting, and impossible to put down. The fourth in the Frankie Elkin series, these books just get better and better. Frankie is the kind of flawed, fearless and slightly quirky her ...more
Christina McDonald rated a book it was amazing
The Younger Woman by Cate Ray
The Younger Woman
by Cate Ray (Goodreads Author)
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Absolutely loved this book! A fascinating insight into the deterioration of a marriage and what happens when love turns to hate. Vivid, with exquisite prose and wonderfully drawn characters, The Younger Woman is breathtaking and wildly original. An e ...more
More of Christina's books…
Quotes by Christina McDonald  (?)
Quotes are added by the Goodreads community and are not verified by Goodreads. (Learn more)

“He had the air of someone who imagines he can negotiate with gravity.”
Christina McDonald, The Night Olivia Fell

“But there are no redos in life. You can’t go back and make things better. All you can do is live with it and move forward.”
Christina McDonald, The Night Olivia Fell

“You don’t have to be right one hundred percent of the time to show you love someone.”
Christina McDonald, The Night Olivia Fell

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Topics Mentioning This Author

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Crazy Challenge C...: This topic has been closed to new comments. Pssst .... whatcha reading? 2018 313 75 Dec 30, 2018 11:57AM  
WACKY READING CHA...: This topic has been closed to new comments. What Are You Reading? 6326 446 Dec 31, 2018 10:27PM  
Goodreads Librari...: Wrong Author? 2 227 Mar 12, 2019 07:01PM  
Aussie Lovers of...: Autumn Reading Challenge 1st March - 31st May 2019 170 71 Jun 09, 2019 08:05PM  
A Million More Pages: June Word Hunt - announcement msg 37 46 68 Jul 04, 2019 04:24PM  
“How far should a person go in the name of true love?”
Nicholas Sparks, The Choice

“I'm in love with you," he said quietly.

"Augustus," I said.

"I am," he said. He was staring at me, and I could see the corners of his eyes crinkling. "I'm in love with you, and I'm not in the business of denying myself the simple pleasure of saying true things. I'm in love with you, and I know that love is just a shout into the void, and that oblivion is inevitable, and that we're all doomed and that there will come a day when all our labor has been returned to dust, and I know the sun will swallow the only earth we'll ever have, and I am in love with you.”
John Green, The Fault in Our Stars

“Parents can be narrow-minded when it comes to the dreams they have for their kids.”
Barbara Delinsky, Before and Again

“So many books, so little time.”
Frank Zappa

1003230 Behind the Pages with The Traveling Sisters — 219 members — last activity Sep 01, 2021 02:53AM
Brenda and Lindsay from The Traveling Sisters Book Reviews host the Q & A with authors Our Blog https://travelingsistersbookreviews.com We invited e ...more
891757 Traveling Friends special group read for The Night Olivia Fell — 17 members — last activity Apr 01, 2019 09:02AM
Discussion for The Night Olivia Fell
220 Goodreads Librarians Group — 306731 members — last activity 0 minutes ago
Goodreads Librarians are volunteers who help ensure the accuracy of information about books and authors in the Goodreads' catalog. The Goodreads Libra ...more
85538 Oprah's Book Club (Official) — 85090 members — last activity 5 hours, 6 min ago
Welcome to the official Oprah's Book Club group. OBC is the interactive, multi-platform reading club bringing passionate readers together to discuss i ...more
345436 Reese's Book Club x Hello Sunshine — 170994 members — last activity 3 hours, 38 min ago
Hey Y’all, We’ve been reading together for awhile and we don’t know about you, but we’re ready to hear your thoughts and opinions. This group is a pl ...more
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