I really tried with this one, but I think it just wasn’t for me. The main character, whose background explained a lot of their behavior, was just too much to read a whole book about.

I'm not exactly sure what I expected, but I don't think it was this. I was pleasantly surprised and enjoyed the book, despite not exactly connecting with any of the characters. It had a promising start with a baby girl found in a dumpster, aptly named Jane Doe, and adopted out. Jane's adoptive mother dies and that's when the story really starts to pick up. Jane, who goes by Baby, is now older and working at a resort. The resort gets sold and Baby and the whole crew are not happy with all the new changes the new owner, Amelia, has plans for. Now they're on the hunt for a sunken treasure in hopes to buy Amelia out. They end up getting more than they bargained for. Told by Baby in the 3rd person, which I didn't care for because I couldn't stand hearing the name BABY a gazillion times.
I wouldn't categorize this as a thriller because there were absolutely no real thrills at all. I did like that she was very feisty and always stood up for herself and her friends though. The booze definitely gives her quite the personality. I enjoyed the narrator and felt they did a good job at their vocal influxes and made the story more engaging.

this was good! I felt like I was in on the gossip I couldn't wait to find out the ending. super different and interesting.

I love a good anti-hero story, and this book did not let me down. The story was wonderful, and I loved the protagonist...except that her name was Baby, haha. She reminded me a little of Ruth from Ozark, and I routed for her the whole time!

This book was a crazy ride with Baby and her crazy misfit friends. Baby, also known as "Dumpster Baby" has had a rough life but the one thing that has always been a constant is the lakeside resort that she has worked at for years. When word comes in that the resort is going to be sold to the twin sister of the owner Baby and her friends decide this can't happen - so they do what any group of rational? group of people would do (they aren't rational at all by the way) they start a search for sunken treasure! This is just one example of the crazy ideas that are concocted in this off the wall book from Meredith Hambrock!
I truly enjoyed this book and its over the top escalation of what happens in a small town when drugs take over - I did feel like the backstory of the main character Baby and the lead up to the information about the town and her misfit friends could have been done in a speedier way.
I hope that there will be a sequel to this book and look forward to reading it.
Thank you to #NETGALLEY and #DreamscapeMedia for this advance reading copy - I was provided this complimentary copy for my unbiased opinion of this novel.

I'm somewhere in the middle with this one, after struggling a bit with the characters and plot. I just didn't connect well with either unfortunately.''

I was gifted the audiobook copy for review, narrated by Frankie Corzo.

*many thanks to Dreamscape Media for the gifted copy for review

I struggles a bit to get into this storyline and characters. It kept me engaged enough to finish the story, but I didn't find the twist to be too.....twisty.

I really wanted to love this audiobook but I just didn’t. It took way too long to get interesting (like halfway through) then the twist was ehh. The ending just irked me. Like I made it all the way through and that’s it? Also the characters were just kind of ok.

This isn’t anything against the narrator but I wonder if this book would be better read instead of listened to?

Interesting premise just kind of fell flat for me.

This book didn’t turn out the way I expected and that’s usually a good sign of a talented mystery author. At first I was disappointed at the unanswered questions that the author left us with, but the more I thought about it the more I realized that if they had answered all my questions it would become blasé and expected. So while I am left wondering about Baby and the rest of the gang from Oakwood Hills, I appreciate the missing pieces that make this story unique.

Thank you to NetGalley and Dreamscape Media for an audio copy in exchange for an honest review.

Baby had quite the start to this world; she was discovered in a dumpster and adopted by an alcoholic who recently passed away. Baby has spent every summer working at a crumpling lakeside resort with her two best friends and cast of troublemaking coworkers, making enough money to live on the rest of the year. When the dilapidated resort is sold to a new investor, Baby amps up her shenanigan's to try and make the new owner leave. When that doesn't work, she enlists the help of her wealthy summer fling, and sets out on a (literal) treasure hunt to find money to buy the resort herself.

I liked the story more than I thought I would considering I had a lot of issues with it. I did not like Baby, the anti-hero main character/narrator, who was disrespectful to everyone, a drunk and completely selfish. The story was cliched when it came to financial and social classes living and working at the resort and the plotlines can be seen coming a mile down the road. It is an easy read and I liked Hambrock's writing style. I had the audio version read by Frankie Corzo.

This one was tough to get into and stay engaged with. The idea of the plot was solid but execution wasn’t great. I did like the narrator.

This was an excellent story about self-sabotage and life giving you what you think you deserve, filled with quirky, authentic characters who drink too much and make a mess of their lives but still have one another's backs.

The main character, Baby, continues to think of herself as a dumpster baby, because she was, in fact, found in a dumpster before being adopted by a rough alcoholic. (She reclaims the dumpster baby title as a way of keeping others from using it against her.) The story opens when Baby's adopted mother drinks herself to death, leaving Baby at loose ends, and then Baby finds out that the bar she has worked at for years is being bought out. Baby has a summer lover, a wealthy heir who comes to visit the bar on his boat every summer and hooks up with Baby through the seasons when he's not away at school. Baby loves him but knows he isn't serious about her. She uses her body to gain whatever affection she needs and doesn't allow herself to anticipate a deeper relationship developing between them. The folks who work at the bar with her are lifelong friends who are constantly warning her to protect her heart; they have all saved one another's skins at one point or another. I loved all the class clashes and comparisons, kind of like a modern-day Downton Abbey set in the American South.

Suddenly, Baby and the rest of the crew discover the bar is being bought out by the summer lover's sister, who is in her early 20s with an MBA and plenty of attitude. She wants to shut the bar down to renovate it and make it a resort, which will put Baby and all her friends out of a job. Meanwhile, a violent drug dealer who beat one of the waitresses nearly to death before going to jail, has been released and is back on the scene making everyone jumpy. These two stories manage to converge in a way that will have you rooting for Baby even as you yell at her for her stupid choices.

The end goes a bit off the rails (did not see that psychopathology coming!) but overall this is a great read and I highly recommend it. Thanks to Netgalley and Dreamscape Media for providing me with an advanced-copy audiobook with excellent narration provided by Frankie Corzo.

Special thanks to Dreamscape Media and NetGalley for the ARC in audio.

Oh gosh. I really wanted to like this book and I did. However, the narrator annoyed me a bit. The story was okay and some parts were predictable.

Baby and her friends live at a lake side resort and they love it, until a wealthy lady comes to town and buys it and also wants to revamp it. Baby and her friends don't want this to change, so they try to find a way to buy it back. I kept stopping and reading/listening to other books, but I did want to know how it ended.

If it had a better narrator, I might have given it a 3.5, but I settled at a 3 star review. Another thing, I should've read the blurb. I feel like an idiot because I thought it was short stories so maybe my rating was skewed by higher expectations.

It wasn't bad, just not for me and I listened to a really great book before this, so my rating, again, may be unfair.

This was…. Interesting. I think the plot had great potential but the execution was a little flat for me at times. Also the narrator of the audiobook was annoying. But, I did find that I kept wanting to know more and see what happened next. It was a little predictable also. Overall I say 3/5 stars because I never felt like I couldn’t finish it and I wanted to see how it ended.

Dang! I did NOT see the end coming, I love that! This was a good ride - from the beginning to the end - would recommend it!! I will definitely be looking for more books by this author!

#OtherPeoplesSecrets
#NetGalley

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️💫

I thoroughly enjoyed every minute of this one and was sad when it was over.

Baby and her friends work at a failing lakeside resort.
The resort is bought by a rich lady with plans to completely revamp it. Baby and her friends are not happy. They want things to stay just as they are. So, they devise a plan to buy the resort themselves.

The story is full of shady characters and Baby herself might be in danger…. 👀
_____________________________

I definitely recommend this one! It kept me both guessing and snickering throughout.

ARC audiobook provided in exchange for an honest review.

I’ll start by mentioning that the narrator of this book, Frankie Corzo, does a fantastic job. There are many different characters but I could always tell who was talking. The story itself was not what I thought it would be but I was pleasantly surprised. I couldn’t tell where the plot was going but love not being able to easily predict the ending. I would definitely recommend for anyone who’s into mystery with well constructed characters and turns you don’t see coming!

First I love this narrator. She is becoming one of my favorites since narrating a couple of Tor titled and now this one.

The book itself did not grab me at all. Trash Baby? No. And the town's whole vibe around her might have thrown me off from the beginning but i just never sunk into it

Overall this was an enjoyable listen. I enjoyed the seasonal vacation location aspect. I also enjoyed how it was written from the employee view. I felt like the love story was lacking emotion and believability however.

I want to first thank the publishers and Netgalley for giving me the opportunity to listen to the audiobook early in return for a honest review.

I want to give this book a 4/5 stars. I will admit at the beginning I was leaning more towards a 2 but it really picked up and redeemed itself.

In this book we follow Baby who from the start had a rough go at it in life. She was left in a dumpster, adopted by an alcoholic, has a boyfriend that really only cares about her in the summer, and her job that she loves at a resort is at stake. After the owner sells the resort to her "boyfriends" rich twin sister Baby tries everything she can think of to get her home back. There is treasure hunting, sabotages, and a lot of shady business.

I don't typically like books with such morally gray characters such as Baby, but this book has great character development, and the plot was very entertaining for me. I will admit there were times where I wanted to yell at Baby to stop but at the end of the day, I felt I would do some of the same things if I felt desperate enough.

I'm not sure if we are supposed to like her boyfriend Peter or not but I did. He is described as a summer fling that never really cares about Baby. I don't really get that. I think that there is a lot of miscommunication when it comes to both of there feels, and self-consciousness.

The end of the book was great. There was a twist that I should have seen coming but didn't so that was an absolute win for me.

Overall I would recommend this book to anyone that likes a morally gray character or characters that have a lot of development throughout a story. If you like treasure hunting, and high stakes deals I think you would also like this book.