I have just finished listening to the audiobook of The New Mother (previously known as Mother's Helper) and have really enjoyed it.
This book follows the story of a pregnant Rachel Rodriguez, a social media influencer, and her search for a 'mother's helper'. Abbie replies to the ad and is successful in getting the job and moves in to help Rachel to prepare for the new baby.
As the story progresses, we learn more about both Abbie and Rachel's past and it is revealed that neither is quite as they seem. However, it makes the reader flit back and forth about which one can be trusted and which is a danger.
The book is interspersed with Instagram posts from Rachel's account, reminding the reader of her fame and dropping little nuggets of information to add to the story.

Overall, the story was well written and I got through it incredibly quickly in order to find out what happened. I noticed that the title of the book has now changed to 'The New Mother' which is a shame as I did prefer the original title and feel that it fits the book better.

My thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for sending me this ARC in return for an honest review.

Such a rollercoaster of a book! I felt as though I was getting whiplash for the amount of times I went between who I didn’t trust. When I finally figured it out it was the downhill whoosh of the rollercoaster. Everything happened so fast! Slow build for an exciting finish.

This was a good thriller. The push and pull between figuring out which person you are rooting for was a nice touch for this book. While it moves at a slower pace than I normally like, I did enjoy the overall story. I think it got a bit slow in the middle but the ending made up for it. The characters were intriguing and the backstory for the characters was an interesting addition.
A special thank you to NetGalley, the author and the publisher for my ARC!

I really enjoyed this! I love thrillers with a social media element and this book in particular does it really well.

There's so much going on in this book and you never really know who's to be trusted.

The characters were so well written, they were well defined and all added to the story.

Listening to the audiobook, I felt sometimes the accents were a little inconsistent but it didn't stop me enjoying it. If you're going to pick up this book, I highly suggest the audiobook.

This book is definitely going to have a lot of hype around it when it comes out on the 12th of October.

I gave it 4 stars⭐

The blurb for this book seems to miss any mention of the most original aspect of the story, which isn't the rather commonplace plot of a pregnant woman taking on a mother's helper, but that the pregnant woman in question, Rachel, is a social influencer who wants to feature the mother's helper in all of her Instagram and YouTube stories, and that when she chooses Abbie for the role, Abbie is delighted because she is Rachel's biggest fan. But as Rachel comes to rely more and more on Abbie, Abbie begins to see beyond Rachel's social media perfection to the truths that she has kept secret from her devoted Instagram followers.

I thought this was a really good book which kept me absorbed from start to finish. There were plenty of strands to the plot and secrets to unravel, and the listener at several points is left wondering who to trust and reassessing everything. There are some quite nasty elements to the plot, so perhaps one to avoid for those who find such things in fiction upsetting.

I liked the narrator, I thought she did a pretty good job of distinguishing between the character voices and keeping the story well paced.

With thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for a copy of this audiobook in return for an honest review.
(The title of this book changed while I was listening to it: I preferred the original title "Mother's Helper" - honestly I don't think I would have requested it under the title "The New Mother".))

Thanks to Netgalley for giving me a preview copy of this book, which now seems to have changed its name to The New Mother (rather than Mother's Helper). The story follows an Instagram star, Rachel, who appears to have the perfect life, all of it photographed and earning her endorsements and an annual income that has allowed her to buy and upgrade her family's farm. Rachel decides to become a single mom, for which she hires a live-in nanny. After interviewing several young women, she chooses dumpy looking Abby because she thinks she'll make the best before and after candidate if she follows Rachel's diet and exercise program. Going in, Abby is Rachel's greatest fan. She eagerly follows all of Rachel's guidance and does start to lose weight; she even allows her hair to be cut exactly like Rachel's. Still, Abby is not happy; she is disillusioned to discover how much of Rachel's online life is a lie. People she thought were Rachel's friends are really just her staff members. The characters have secrets (don't they always)? Stop reading if you don't want any spoilers.

Abby believes she and Rachel are sisters, which, since Rachel doesn't know who her dad is, they may very well be. And Rachel has something in her background that she only refers to as "the event," an experience she endured with her lifelong best friend Franny, who now seems to feel responsible for helping Rachel stay on course. All of the characters' secrets begin to come together (don't they always) until drama ensues. Bigger spoiler coming; stop reading if you don't want to know the ending!

I found it a bit unbelievable that Abby could have functioned as well as she did as a helper to Rachel only to disintegrate into a sociopath. The book was engaging enough to keep me listening but devolved as it went along. I didn't understand why Abby not only lost all sympathy for Rachel once she found out her secret but actually wanted to kill her. Her blaming Rachel for all her misfortunes seemed crazy. (I know she was supposed to be crazy, but again, her ability to function at a high level for months as an assistant belied this ending.)

Very good domestic thriller! For me, this came close to a 5-star read, though it bogged down a bit in the middle with some repetitive IG posts and related, somewhat unnecessary plot points, so I had to take off just one little star. But four stars for me is an excellent read.

The novel does a fantastic job setting you up to wonder which of the two women is a bigger threat: the sweet but dull mother’s helper Abbie, or the mommy-to-be control freak Instagram influencer #blessed #organic #toomanyhashtags Rachel. I enjoyed the ripped from the headlines social media tie in theme — much of it was subtly humorous. If you liked “White Woman’s Instagram” by Bo Burnham (and if you haven’t checked that out, please stop reading, check it out on YouTube, and come back here! Hilarious, isn’t it?)

I loved all the character development — to include the well-done characters of the farm dog, Sam and Abbie’s pet budgie! It was fun to try to guess what would happen — suffice it to say, both of the leading ladies are not quite right, but one of them is full-on cray-cray down to the bone. I was captivated throughout but particularly surprised and thrilled by the absolutely crazy train wreck of an ending. Wow! I will definitely read more by Julia Crouch.

I listened to the audio edition and the narrator knocked it out of the park. Her primary voice seemed to be what I would associate with a sort of posh South of London sound, but she also does a very good job tackling a West Country accent. (Full disclosure: I’m from the West Coast of the U.S., and am hardly an expert. But it sounded great to me.)

I will gladly recommend this to all my fellow thriller junkies as a must-read!

Thank you to #NetGalley #juliacrouch and #BookoutureAudio for the #ARC (or maybe it should be #ALC since I listened?). I really liked it… thank you!

Thank you to NetGalley, Bookouture and Julia Crouch for an audio ARC in return for an honest review.

Goodness me, where do I even start?!
My first impressions were that this would be a ‘tame’ thriller - oh how wrong I was!

The story follows a pregnant influencer and her ‘mothers helper’ Abby who will be helping Rachel and the baby once they are born. However. Abby has something else planned.

This audiobook had me GRIPPED and a little scared. I loved the fact that it was focused around influencers and Instagram - I found it quite interesting. The book sets the scene very quickly and then really ramps up. It is not for the faint hearted! It has to be one of my favourite thrillers this year. It’s fast-paced, gripping and a little scary.

The narrator was brilliant and it was obvious when different characters were speaking. It added a little more fear and made it extremely intense. I thoroughly enjoyed it and can’t wait to read more by Julia. I recommend it to everyone.

Sadly, I found this to be a very slow book. It didn't have any moments that shocked or surprised me. I suppose it probably wasn't helped by the fact that I have zero interest in social media influencers and didn't realise that when I requested the book.

What a roller-coaster! Especially those last two chapters. Franny is so awesome and underrated. I love that my empathy changes back and forth between Rachel and Abbie. Anything I thought was a plothole was filled by the end. I only have two tiny nitpicks, Sam and the hashtags. Since I listen to this as an audiobook, the hashtags were super annoying and repetitive. I could tell the narrator tried her best to speed past them but, it was still way too long. Speaking of the narrator, she is perfect. The dog(Sam) was still with Rachel after her trauma but, that didn't make sense to me. I love animals and, all but Sam had attacked multiple people, killed a bird, almost killed the baby. He would have been put down or given away in real life. All of the side characters are wonderful. I love happy open marriage representation and single motherhood.

Had the publisher's description included the fact that Rachel is a social media influencer, I likely would not have requested this book for early reading and review. I don't follow unboxing videos and paid endorsements. So, I didn't enjoy the frequent social media posts, including "like" counts and excessive hashtags. If you *do* enjoy social media influencers, you might have a completely different—and better—reading experience.

Both Rachel and Abbie are horrid characters, and they're not the only ones. I don't typically enjoy books that have no appealing characters. I need at least one person about whom to care/for whom to root.

This book was unrelentingly vicious, chock-full of trolling/online bullying, brutal torture, rape, domestic abuse, murder, child abuse and neglect, and emotional cruelty.

The author did a fine job, I suppose, of stringing the reader along, slowly revealing tiny bits of information. There were several connecting storylines. My rating in this case is based solely on my connection to the book, regardless of the writer's technical skill level. That is, I'm not awarding brownie points for her deftness in being consistently brutal, nor for tying all the ugliness together.

[1.5 stars]

Thank you, NetGalley and Bookouture Audio, for the audio ARC of the book in exchange for an honest review.

This was a good read, I listened to the audio version and enjoyed the narrator with her different voices for different characters. The story was easy to get wrapped up in even though the thriller portion wasn’t evident for quite a few chapters.

I enjoyed the audio version of this book. The narration wasn’t my favorite, but wasn’t terrible so I kept going. I really enjoyed what a rollercoaster of a ride this book was. I also really loved the whole Instagram theme. This one will definitely have you feeling the ups and downs along with it.

I've just finished listening to the audiobook version of Mothers Helper and wow what a rollercoaster of emotions! I loved the narrator and how she portrayed each character so differently. A Mothers Helper centres on social media influenced Rachel and her search for a Mother's Helper when she becomes pregnant as a way of diversifying her social media posts. Abby is her biggest fan. The plot twists and turns as you delve into the characters pasts and you find ways they are connected that one of them may not even know about. Abby is determined to show Rachel her 'true self'. I really enjoyed listening to this book and would reach for more by the same author.

This book was a roller coaster ride!It is a story with the Instagram post between every Chapter.
At first this bothered me but later I saw how it added to the story by adding more depth to the characters.
Rachel is a late 30s Instagram influencer who is pregnant. She hires Abby, a younger lady with an unknown checkered past , as her Mother’s Helper to work for her before the baby arrives.
Rachel is deeply involved with Instagram as a way of life and business making sure the internet world sees a “perfect “ image of herself and her employee. But things are not as they seem and slowly Abby takes over her house and
life.
I enjoyed the book ! It was full of action and unexpected twists. My criticism is that there is never a need for animal violence. That disturbs me.
Thanks for opportunity to listen. NetGalley and book outre. The narrator was excellent!

Mother's Helper by Julia Crouch was a fun listen. The narrator did an excellent job using various voices to tell the story. Each character was given a distinct voice which increased the listening pleasure for the reader. Rachel is an Instagram influencer who is about to have a baby. She adds Abbie to her crew to help with the demands of getting ready for the baby. Abbie soon begins to take over for Rachel in all aspects of her life. As the story goes on many secrets are revealed. A fast-paced psychological thriller. Read and enjoy!

This book centers on an Instagram influencer, Rachel, who is pregnant and searching for the perfect mother’s helper. Her biggest fan, Abby, is dying for the job. This mystery unravels with many layers including the previous connections between Abby and Rachel and furthered with the use of Instagram posts on Rachel’s account and switching narrators throughout. I gave it three stars because it was a slower story and didn’t include any unexpected twists or parts that fully surprised me. Overall, it was a good read but not one that I felt like I couldn’t put down.

Mother's Helper - Julia Crouch
Narrated by Kirsty Dillon

I received an advance review copy for free thanks to NetGalley and Bookouture and I am leaving this review voluntarily

You live with her. You trust her. But you don’t know her…

Wanted: full-time, live-in help for expectant mother. Must be organised, friendly and willing to do anything.

Rachel is determined to be the perfect mother. She has a birth plan, with a playlist and a bag ready by the door. She’s chosen a lovely light cream paint for the nursery, and in wide-eyed, innocent Abbie she’s found the perfect person to help her with her baby.

When I started listening to this audiobook I really wasn't sure what I expected - I had read the blurb but still the book came as a pleasant surprise. This is a well-written book with a very intriguing plot - a solid psychological thriller that will keep you on your toes.

I am not entirely sure how the Instagram posts work in the book, but I didn't think that they worked all that well in the audiobook. Nevertheless with an action packed ending, this book will have you gripped.

Rating: 4/5

I wasn’t very keen on the narration of this book, however I did get used to it, The Instagram storyline I thought was very current and had a good plot with some surprises along the way, I ended up enjoying this more then I though I would after the first few hours

I really enjoyed getting to know the characters in this book. The interspersed posts on Instagram really lent themselves to today’s propensity for influencers to show followers what they think they want to see.
I don’t want to add spoilers as I think that the wrong tidbit of information could spoil the entire book. Just glad that “RR “ finally came into her own and showed herself for the strong woman she was!