A mix bag of emotions, suspense, twists and trigger warnings. I enjoyed the book but it felt a bit too dragged specially in tbe last chapters. I get the importance of those chapters but it diluted the joy of this book. I will definitely be reading more from the author.

This is the first book I’ve read by Samantha Hayes, I would read others.

Mel is struggling as a single mother when she inherits a rundown hotel.
Will this help her turn her life around and move on.
Nothing is as it seems and and she learns more and more about her past.
A good read

Samantha Hayes is one of my go to authors so I was delighted to receive an early copy of this book to review.
Of course I enjoyed it as the author knows how to write a great thriller. However, I am sorry to say this wasn't one of my favourites of hers. It was a good read, could be described as a family drama if you wanted to put a label on it. Quite a few twists and surprises and red herrings along the way. I would always recommend Samantha Hayes and all her books are great but I will just point out a couple of things that detracted from the book for me. I wasn't keen on the romance angle. Without going into too much detail, I felt it was very cliched. Also I felt the main character Mel just didn't quite gel for me, there was something a bit 'off' with her relationship with her daughter Kate. I did (kind of)! guess the major twist or storyline, but it was very well done. Some of the storyline just made me feel really sad. I will always enjoy books by this author and can't wait to read her next one.

Mel is a down on her luck single mother who suddenly inherits a run down, in need of a revamp hotel. But all is not as it seems and Kate struggles to know who to trust. Throw in a convict ex husband and an intriguing love interest and you have what seems like the recipe for a good thriller. I enjoyed parts of this story, but struggled with a lot too. Mel’s relationship with her daughter is infuriating- who lets their adolescent daughter use a phone that she didn’t give her and has no idea where it came from? Mel is too afraid to upset her to ask! The story was also a bit too convoluted to keep me fully interested. An ok read.

Melanie Douglas is a single mum to 12 year old Kate, she works in a care home and hasn't had the best life, abandoned at birth and not long out of an abusive relationship with Kate's dad, she wants a better life for them both. When she receives a letter stating that she's inherited a hotel and a large sum of money from an anonymous benefactor, she believes this is the escape they both need and after some thought she accepts it. Starting a new life at the Moreton Inn in Dorset begins well, Kate settles in at her new school and Mel begins restoring the run down hotel, whilst the new extension is being built Kate and her friend Chloe decide to do a mini excavation to find fossils, but get more than they bargained for when they unearth human remains and a police investigation begins, Kate is shocked at the discovery and hasn't spoken since, other strange things have been happening at the hotel and then Kate goes missing, Mel knows she needs to act fast before any harm comes to her little girl.

Single Mother is a tense thriller, intriguing due to the unknown identity of the benefactor and the silent 'Miss Sarah' the long term resident in room 12, and I was really rooting for both Mel and Kate, they really deserved some good luck for a change. It's a slow burner, which adds to the intrigue, but ramps up in the second half of the book, when secrets from the past are revealed and everything starts to come together, and what an unexpected ending! This isn't the first I've read by Hayes and I look forward to reading more of her work in the future.

I'd like to thank Netgalley and Bookouture for the auto approval, I will post my review on Goodreads now and Amazon on publication day.

I really enjoy Samantha Hayes books so I started The Single Mother with extremely high expectations for a riveting read. I soon realised that I couldn't put it down!
I fell in love with the characters immediately. Financially stricken single mother Mel, struggling to make ends meet having extricated herself from an abusive relationship which sees her ex end up in prison, working for a dragon of a boss, Josette, in the five star nursing home The Cedars, and worried about her daughter, 12 year old Kate, being bullied at school.
Set in Birmingham to begin with and then moving to Dorset this is wonderful psychological thriller with a great basis for a story, an inherited hotel with a very strange permanent resident.
There is mystery, suspicion, fear and a lot of hidden secrets whose origins have a dangerously dark theme. This is what keeps the reader hooked and devouring page after page after page. I had to read to the end before I could finally go to sleep, which is often a tell-tale sign of a gripping story.
I love the Lyme Regis area, so living by the sea, the fossil hunting and the sheer determination of this feisty central character, made for a very readable book which appealed to me not only for the menacing intrigue but also for the romantic hints of a troubled life about to have a new and brighter future.
Some of what was 'hidden' was reasonably easy to pick up on and guess at, but the finer details really were buried deep. This means that the plot has some genuine twists and shocks and never let up in its fast pace, even at the very end. I also enjoyed the way in which impressions of certain characters were fluid, slipping from one idea to the next and sometimes back again so that by the close of the book there was a completely different sense of some of the characters' motivations and behaviours. Even though there were some terrible goings-on, I found myself actually hoping there was a real Moreton Inn and I could visit the hilly lanes of Halebury and talk to the lady on the wonky stool outside her front door!
Thank you very much to the author, publisher and Netgalley for giving me the opportunity to read this book in advance of publication. I really appreciate it, but just have one criticism, I finish Hayes' books way too quickly and now have to wait forever knows how long before I can get my next fix!
A brilliant read!

The premise of an inheritance and mystery hotel definitely piqued my interest and was excited to dive into it. The problem wasn't with the plot, it ended up being the dialogue. I just couldn't stand Mel and the way she talked to Kate. It seemed like she called her love every other sentence and it just kind of grated on me. It also felt like the characters were one-dimensional and didn't have much depth. Again, goes back to the dialogue just seemed forced and wasn't "real" conversations. The chapters themselves also didn't seem very fluid. For example, one would end on a sort of cliffhanger and then the next picked up with Mel picking Kate up from school and then backtracked to where we left off on the previous chapter. It would take me a minute to try and figure out what I missed, when in actuality I didn't.

I really struggled to finish. I can normally read a book in a day or two, this one took two weeks!

Overall, the plot itself interested me, but just couldn't get immersed into it due to the issues above. Perhaps this author's writing style just isn't for me but encourage others to give it a try.

Thank you to Netgalley and Bookouture for my advanced copy

No matter how hard you try it never seems to be enough. Mel just needs to catch a break she works really hard but she feels like she is failing as a mother. Her daughter Kate is missing out on so much and she doesn’t know how much longer she can cope. She can’t believe that her boss thinks that she would steal from one of their residents. She loves her job but it does get to her at times. Now she thinks that her ex is stalking her and she knows that Kate blames her for everything. So when she finds out that she has been left a hotel by a mystery benefactor she doesn’t believe it but this could be what they both need. But everything isn’t as it seems she is about to find out about her mother & why she was abandoned all those years ago. Will Mel be able to move forward & put all the bad past behind her family? A good intense read. I was lucky enough to receive a copy from Netgalley and the publisher in exchange for my honest review.

Another great read from Samantha Hayes.
Mel is struggling to make ends meet as a single mother but when she gets sacked from her job as a carer, it gives her the push she needs.
Mel had received a letter about an inheritance so goes to see the solicitor to find out if it’s real or a scam. It turns out to be real and a new life awaits Mel and her daughter.
They move down South and take over a hotel that needs a lot of work but life is good for them both. Until Kate makes a gruesome discovery outside the hotel.
There’s also a woman there who doesn’t speak and Mel can’t work her out.
I won’t say any more as it would spoil it but the story just gets better and better.
I loved the way that Mel’s past is slowly revealed through the story and that she turned her life around.
This is a great read.
Thanks to Bookouture and NetGalley for the opportunity to read this book.

It is Christmas Eve and I have just finished this book. Really brilliant psychological thriller. It has everything you would want in a book of this genre. Melanie has had a good many trials and tribulations in her life and when she receives a letter about an inheritance there is a lot more to come. Didn't expect the ending.

Mel, a single mother, is struggling to make ends meet. But then she comes into an inheritance that means that means that Mel and her daughter Kate won't struggle again. But Mel's ex-partner is out of prison and she's been trying to hide from him.

This is a bit of a slow burner. The first half is mostly setting the scene. The second half is much better. I loved the characters in this book. They were believable and relatable. There were some really good twists. Once you get into the second half of the book, you won't want to put the book down. With unexpected occurrences, a permanent resident, chilling discoveries and an ending that might shock you.

I would like to thank #NetGalley #Bookouture and the author #SamanthaHayes for my ARC in exchange for an honest review.

This was the perfect read one night when I could't sleep. It is interesting and not scary.

The plot, of a broke young single mother who inherits a run-down hotel and some money was good and the characters well-written. There are a few parts (spoiler alert: why didn't the person who knew of someone being fraudulent tell anyone and do you really think the person who took the money would have it available to be returned?) that weren't very believable, but all in all it was a good book and was a great way to spend a long night.

Single Mother by Samantha Hayes
I give this book 3.75 stars
I will do anything to protect my daughter. She’s all I’ve ever wanted and all I really have, but the moment I opened that letter and accepted the inheritance, I walked us right into a dangerous trap.
And now she’s missing…....

A story about a mother’s love,protecting her daughter while trying to escape her past.,......but nothing is quite what it seems in this book.Mystery,family, money and secrets, lots of them! An enjoyable psychological thriller with plenty of characters and a good plot that keeps you turning the pages,a recommended read.
With thanks to Netgalley,Samantha Hayes and Bookouture for my chance to read and review this book

I enjoyed this one. It was a good, easy read. I would also read more by this author in the future. Overall, I'd give 3/5 stars.

I've read a few Samantha Hayes novels (from the DCI Lorraine Fisher series) and Single Mother is my favorite so far. This book was so hard to put down, and I didn't see the twists at the end coming at all. I really liked the characters and found it easy to emphasize with them, and the idea of someone inheriting a hotel and having no idea who left it to them made for a great story. Thanks to NetGalley and Bookouture for giving me the opportunity to read an advanced copy of Single Mother...and for reminding me that I need to read more novels by Samantha Hayes. : )

My thanks to Bookoutre, Samantha Hayes and Netgalley.
Well, I know this had some stellar review's, but I'm here to call bullshit!
I loved the concept of this story. But, as for the way the author went about it? No. Hell.no! The whole thing was flawed from the start. Everything was so obvious. I kept wanting to knock them upside the head and say "get a clue."
Sadly, I don't think.the author was clever. It's supposed to be a mystery. Hard to be mysterious when you're leaking clues all over the place!
If I ever decide to read anything from this author again, then be assured that I've finally got dementia, and now home health sides are picking my books for me!
Not recommended.

I loved that this one had twists and turn coming from every angel. I love to be kept on my toes. This author has quite the imagination and boy do I love it!

I liked this book but it had a very slow start.I would have given it a lower score but it had a twist at the end that really wowed me. Not my favorite Samantha Hayes book but definitely not my least favorite. Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for a free copy in exchange for review.


3.5/5

Thanks to Netgalley and Bookouture for providing this ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Mel is a single mother that is struggling. Her abusive ex has just gotten out of jail and has contacted her daughter. She has just been fired from her job in a nursing home and money was tight enough with the job. Then she finds out that she is inheriting a hotel and a big chunk of money from an anonymous benefector, but she was abandoned as a baby and has no known family. There are a lot of conditions: she has to keep the hotel, fix it up, and allow a lady that lives there to stay on rent free. When she gets to the hotel, she is confronted with a lot of weirdoes to say the least.

4.5 stars.

I enjoyed this book. There were a lot of creepy people in the mix once we got to the hotel and I was always trying to figure out how all this went together and who left the hotel to Mel. When we thought we had gotten to the bottom of what was going on, there was still one more twist. I have really enjoyed some of this author's books and been luke warm on others. I thought this one was a winner.

ingle Mother by Samantha Hayes was a mother-daughter story that captivated me right from the opening pages. Mel gets an unexpected inheritance- a hotel. This might be just Mel needs, a fresh start in a new place far away from the kids who have bullied her daughter.

A strange, unspeaking woman lives there full time. She doesn’t speak and floats around, always lurking Why is she there? Who is she? And Mel’s daughter says she talks to her, why won’t she talk to anyone else? And when some bones are discovered in the backyard, Mel knows there is definitely something wrong with this bizarre hotel she inherited from a stranger.

Synopsis:

The moment Mel and her daughter Kate step inside the small seaside hotel left to her in a stranger’s will, Mel allows herself a rare moment of hope. Could this be the new start away from the school bullies that her little girl so desperately needs? Could they finally be out of reach of Mel’s dangerous ex?

As Mel starts restoring the building to its former glory – ripping up carpets, giving the rooms a fresh lick of paint – it’s hard work, but the place feels a little more like home each day; she’s even made a few friends. If only she could ignore the locals whispering behind her back and the uneasy feeling that her daughter is hiding something from her. Is she reading too much into the threatening messages left around the hotel? Are the glimpses of her ex’s battered red truck real, or imagined?

When the police are called to a disturbing discovery buried under the foundations, Mel knows for certain that accepting the inheritance was a trap, and her daughter’s life is in danger. As the walls of the hotel close in around her, she has no idea who to trust or where to turn. And, from that moment on, Kate refuses to speak a single word. Only days later, she goes missing…

I was totally curious how the book was going to play out, and the story kept me fully intrigued. I’ve read other books from Samantha Hayes and they are all good. I recommend everything she writes!

This one comes out on January 5.