I needed a book that I could easily dip in and out of during my newborn cluster feeding and The Wrong Mother definitely fit the bill! It was such an easy read and I flew through it within a couple of days. I’ve read two of the author’s other books so was already acquainted with and knew I enjoyed her writing style and this one was similar for me. Although the story and the plot didn’t massively blow me away or shock me, it was exactly what I needed at the time - a short and easy to follow psychological binge read!

Thanks to Netgalley and Quercus for an advanced copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

The Wrong Mother loves throwing you into a spin!

Twists and turns sneak up on you and catch you by surprise. At the end of this book I was just reeling! Amazing!

This book had me hanging on by a thread and finished the book in one night. It is a gripping and intriguing story and the lengths that people will go to achieve their goals. Definitely a worthwhile read.

I really enjoyed this book, it was very cleverly written. Your perceptions about the characters change as the story unfolds. It is also quite sad when you find out their backstories. I would certainly recommend as a family drama/domestic noir.

After reading The Perfect Father I went back and read all the author’s others and everything since and have to say this is her best yet.
The whole way through I was trying to piece together the puzzle of both the main protagonists but didn’t guess Rachel’s secret at all.
Very clever and addictive. I highly recommend this.

Faye makes the ill-fated decision to have a baby through a co-parenting app and a year later is on the run from Louis with baby Jake. Rachel is a mysterious landlady who suddenly has a vacancy to rent.... The story alternates between now and then and between the viewpoints of both women, and went in directions I definitely was not anticipating. A suspenseful, twisty read!

I absolutely raced through this heart pounding read! Wow! If I could give it more than five stars I definitely would, such a gripping plot and wonderful characters.

I really enjoyed this - not what I expected at all! Faye was a complex character and definitely an unreliable narrator. It was an interesting exploration of motherhood, relationships and loneliness and everyone seemed to have a huge amount of baggage!

I would have liked a little more exploration of Faye’s back story and perhaps Rachel’s too- but I loved the way our view of Rachel changes and develops throughout the story. She is by turns sinister, motherly and mysterious and it was interesting to watch her story intersect with Faye’s.

Overall a solid 4.stars!

Thanks to the publisher and netgalley for the ARC

Faye is 39 and single. She's terrified she may never have the one thing she always wanted: a child of her own.
Then she discovers a co-parenting app: Acorns. For men and women who want to have a baby, but don't want to do it alone. When she meets Louis through it, it feels as though the fates have aligned.
But just one year later, Faye is on the run from Louis, with baby Jake in tow. In desperate need of a new place to live, she contacts Rachel, who's renting out a room in her remote Norfolk cottage. It's all Faye can afford and surely she'll be safe from Louis there?
But is Rachel the benevolent landlady she pretends to be? Or does she have a secret of her own?
Really enjoyable read totally recommend
Thank you NetGalley and Quercus Books
I just reviewed The Wrong Mother by Charlotte Duckworth. #TheWrongMother #NetGalley

I was so excited to read The Wrong Mother, I've never read any books by this author before so I was so looking forward to reading this book, straight away from the first Chapter I was so drawn in by the story, it had such a spooky dark feel I just needed to keep reading, I absolutely loved every single minute, I highly recommend this book.

The Wrong Mother is a compelling and original read that I raced through.
Faye meets Louis through a co-parenting app and a year later she is on the run from him. With baby Jake, she rents a room from Rachel in the Norfolk countryside and the reader is immediately drawn into the intensity of their lives. The novel moves back and forwards from the present to when Faye first met Louis. I loved the dual narration and found myself questioning the honesty of both narrators. It's a very tightly plotted. twisty novel, full of tension and atmosphere that I loved.
Highly recommended.
Many thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for the opportunity to read and review this digital ARC.

A superb thriller with characters you can really root for and an excellent premise – what happens after two strangers sign up for a coparenting website to have a baby together. The prose is tidy and stylish – no wasted words – and I felt pulled in different directions, thoroughly convinced by one character’s motives only to end up completely suspicious of them. The world building was fabulous; I could so picture that house and the weeds clogging up the garden. And the tension builds and builds until the explosive, emotional ending. I’m often asked by work colleagues what they should read on their holidays, so I can’t wait to recommend this one.

Faye is 39 and desperate to have a baby, but without a partner she doesn’t quite know how to go about it. Then she finds an online site for men and women who want to have a baby. So she signs up and is matched with Louis. She meets him and thinks he’s her perfect partner and falls in love. She thinks he feels the same about her. Fast forward one year and she’s on the run from Louis with the baby. She finds a room to rent in a house owned by Rachel, and older lonely woman with secrets of her own. Neither of them are what they appear to be. This was very good and I liked it a lot.

This was a gripping read that kept me hooked until the final page, and changing my mind several times about what was going on, who was 'good' and who was 'bad'. Both Faye and Rachel were well-drawn characters, and Faye's backstory cleverly built tension to the present day, where nothing was quite as it seemed. The scenes with baby Jake were well done, adding to the sense of unease, and the final twist was satisfying. Another great book from this author!

A co-parenting app for people that want a baby but, don't want to face bringing up a child alone.
Faye meets Louis through the app. She feels it's fate and that he loves her. To him it's just a contract. When baby Jake is born to Louis, Faye takes desperate measures.

On the run in a remote Norfolk village she rents a room from Rachel. Is Rachel who she appears to be or is she hiding something from her own past?

Red Flags Flying High…
Acorns - the co-parenting app, for those not wanting to raise a child alone, is taking off. For Faye it seems heaven sent. At least, for a while. Things soon take a sour turn. On the run with her baby, Faye discovers a remote cottage in Norfolk with a landlady who just couldn’t be more helpful. Fast paced, edgy suspense where red flags are flying high from the off and with a plot peppered with twists and turns aplenty, a cast of well drawn and wholly credible characters and a, perhaps, unexpected denouement. Secrets will out.

Interesting theme for the book - I am assuming this is a thing I just haven't heard of it. From the start you can see where the flaws would lie and these happen aplenty in the chapters. I enjoyed the dual themes of mystery that were unfolding as the book is told from the perspective of two main characters each trying to hide something. I think I guessed early on one of the twists so nothing particularly shocking happened but overall it was a quick easy read.

A woman with a bruise on the run with her baby from a man. Sounds like something you’ve read a million times. The same old story. But try again. Cause The Wrong Mother is not what you would expect. It shocks you and stuns you. Twist and turns you won’t see coming. The less you know the better. Meet Faye and Rachel. To know how their stories intervene, read this book.

A stellar suspense read from an author is an auto-buy for me. This doesn’t disappoint.
The less you know the better, but in short this follows two women:
- Now Faye is 40-year old and on the run with her baby Jake from the father of her baby, Louis. Rewind a year ago, desperate to have a baby she finds an app for parents looking to find a person to co-parents with and have a baby. What happened to change things so drastically? Now in her desperation to hide, she escape to Norfolk and finds refuge renting a room from Rachel.
- Rachel is in her late 50s. Her tenants often leave suddenly, and Rachel who lives alone, has secrets of her own…
No-one is quite who they seem and there were plenty of twists and turns here. I raced through this in two sittings. A knockout suspense read from a consistently brilliant author 👌

Brilliant, brilliant, brilliant! I wouldn't have thought it possible for this authors' books to get any better, but she keeps on amazing me! Such a great story!

A pianist making a living from tuition, Faye, 39, decides to explore her yearnings to be a mother by exploring a match-making app for potential co-parents in one timeline, and finds herself running from the man she meets there a year or so later in another. She finds herself seeking refuge with a more mature lady, Rachel, who has a great story all of her own!

So much happens in this book, all of which is utterly worthy of an indulgent binge read - I just couldn't put this book down!! the writing is superb, written from the perspectives of both Faye and Rachel. This is a book I would not hesitate to recommend to fellow fans of psychological fiction.

My thanks to NetGalley, author and publisher for the opportunity to review this book in exchange for an advance copy.