Member Reviews

So this is one of those books where you simultaneously dislike many of the characters, feel sorry for them and thank your higher power that you are not related to them. Did the characters inherent unlikability prohibit me from enjoying this book? No, in fact the characters were my favorite part of the book. The plot was not as twisty as I would have liked as it was fairly obvious who the villains were. Kudos however to the author for making the murder take a bit more guess work. Overall, Good Bad Girl was a good listen.

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Coming from Alice Feeney it should come as no surprise that her latest, Good Bad Girl, is a thoroughly gripping novel with a twisting storyline. The story focuses around Mother’s day. Two Mother’s days actually. On the first of these two Mother’s days a baby is snatched away in broad daylight. Then on Mother’s day twenty years later a murder is committed. Who did it and why? And is it possible the two crimes are connected? And how are these four women (the chapters feature constantly changing POVs) connected? In typical Feeney fashion, I was sucked in right from the start and entertained until the very end. Katherine Press and Stephanie Racine both do an excellent job with the narration. I’d like to thank Macmillan Audio and NetGalley for the opportunity to listen to an advanced copy of the audio version of Alice Feeney’s Good Bad Girl.

https://www.amazon.com/review/R3MXWPAR6QB4P6/ref=pe_1098610_137716200_cm_rv_eml_rv0_rv

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✨ARC Book Review: Good Bad Girl✨

Pub. Date: 8/29/23
Rating:⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️💫

Twenty years ago, a baby was stolen out of her stroller at the supermarket…

…and now, four women’s lives are about to intertwine. The question is, is this the first time? How are all of these women connected? Each woman has walked through pain at some point in her life. Each woman carries guilt with her to this day.

I loved how this story begins at THE END and ends at THE BEGINNING!

Edith became a new resident of a nursing home by her daughter, Clio. This happens to be where Patience works. Frankie, a prison librarian and the mother of Patience, also has a story to tell. There were so many characters bouncing from one perspective to the next; it’s harder to keep track of as an audiobook. I would recommend this as a physical book over audiobook for this reason. (Although, the narrator was wonderful!)

This plot has twists and turns and an ending you won’t be able to guess no matter how hard you try! Alice Feeney did it again!

I challenge you to read this book and try to figure out the ending! Thank you @netgalley for an advanced copy.

#alicefeeney #goodbadgirl #arc #arcreview #augustreads #bookstgram #books #2023reads #bookrecs #readingchallenge #readinggoals #goodreadschallenge #booksofinstagram #alwaysreading #bookstagramchallenges #bookstagramer #instabooks #netgalley #netgalleyreviews

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Good Bad Girl is an intense, page turner that will keep you on the edge of your seat. What would you do if one day you finally had the family of your dreams and the baby you have always wanted? Just to have it all snatched away from your grasp in the blink of an eye. Would you just move on or would you stop at nothing to find your baby? Twenty years after a baby is stolen from a stroller, a woman is murdered in a care home. The two crimes are somehow linked, and a good bad girl may be the key to discovering the truth. Chloe becomes a therapist after the loss of her baby and her marriage. Patience is a young girl working as a care aid in a nursing home where she meets Edith. Will Patience be able to get one over on the young caregiver or will Patience get one over on the old woman? Just when you think you have the ending of this book figured out in typical Alice Feeney fashion you will be thrown through a loop and taken on a wild ride!!! The ending of this book, I can’t even express how much action, drama and craziness happened. 🤯🤯🤯🤯🤯

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Good Bad Girl is the sort of book that needs a character map. With four distinct female voices, Good Bad Girl follows four women whose lives seem to be entirely unrelated, but Alice Feeney strings them together in a twisty, wild way. Frankie did something bad, Patience is working illegally in a care home, Edith wants out of the care home, and Clio doesn't want her mom to move back in. Mixed in to all that, there's a missing baby...or two.

I enjoyed the kick off, I loved the concept, but boy was there a lot happening. We're in several settings, with four separate seeming stories that are connected in weird ways. This book was absolutely impossible to track on audio, with the narration voices too similar to follow for a story with so many female narrators. I found myself confused several times and ultimately relied on spoilers to figure out what had occurred.

It's a story about mothers and the plight of mothers, about the way women often band together, but also how we fall apart, about the world and how it pits us against each other. It's a great suburban drama, but it was difficult on audio. I'd give it another go as a physical book, but would keep notes next time.

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Rating: 4.5/5 Stars ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️✨

Good Bad Girl takes place twenty years after a baby is taken from a stroller. Enter Edith, Patience, Clio and Frankie, four women whose lives are separate yet intertwined in ways you could never imagine. Told in a multi point of view and between the past and present you’ll never guess the ending!

Alright Alice Feeney fans listen up - this book is amazing! This is not your typical dark Feeney. This is more of a family drama with a twisty mystery. Some how Feeney managed to take such an interesting concept weave in so many twist and turns and so many lies and deceptions your head will be spinning. Yeah, of course I wanted more “Daisy Darker” / “His & Hers” / “Rock Paper Scissors” but this one hit me in the gut with its absolute rawness of motherhood and the “gray” areas of life when right becomes wrong and wrong becomes right.

I am a sucker for quoting books, but I cant do that with this one because honestly then I would be quoting the entire book, there were so many that resonated with me. Feeney absolutely nails all the emotions we as mothers feel on a daily basis; not just mothers though, we as people. “We are not born with mapped-out lives, we are the cartographers of our own destiny.”

This one is a slow burn, and I’ll say it.. a bit confusing with the characters in the beginning and how they could possibly be connected, but I promise you, this one is well worth the ride. Feeney created a masterpiece with this one, one that will surely stick with me for a long while. I love that this wasn’t her typical book, this was something new, it was refreshing, it was addicting and it was such a gem. I literally felt this book in my soul.

This one is narrated by Katherine Press and Stephanie Racine and these two were great. I found them to compliment on another and they carried this story flawlessly. I definitely recommend the Audiobook!

I highly am recommending all my thriller friends and Feeney lovers to give this one a go - it really is great! Good Bad Girl just released yesterday 8/29! Go grab your copy today!

Huge thank you to NetGalley, Alice Feeney and Macmillan Audio for my ALC

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I listened to the audio version of this which was well done. It was a good thriller with a few twists I didn’t see coming. It takes awhile for the story to unfold and for everything to come together, and I liked that about it. I love how most of the characters are not good or bad and the situations they’re in are not black or white. It’s refreshing to read about people that are a little bit of both because isn’t that reality for the most part? I liked the main characters even despite their flaws. The ending wrapped everything up perfectly.

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Good Bad Girl by Alice Feeney is another winner from an incredible author. Just like in her previous novels (yes, I've devoured ALL of them), the twists don't stop coming. And so many of Feeney's sentences quotable catnip for me. I listened to the audio this time (the narrator, Katherine Press, was fantastic!!) but I also love reading her books so I can highlight my favorite snippets. Highly recommend!!!

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🌟🌟🌟🌟.5
Alice Feeney’s books are always an incredibly twisted curveball and GOOD BAD GIRL is no exception!

Being able to alternate between the ebook and the audiobook helped me get to know the characters. They were a little confusing at the beginning and the ebook was a great reference. Thanks to the tremendous narrators, the audiobook was awesome!

Mother’s Day is the center of the story, digging into the intricacies of mother/daughter relationships. Some characters are unlikable and others grow on you as you get to know them. Several seemingly unrelated stories are told. As we approach the end, the author reveals the intricate thread that ties them all together!

Edith (my favorite character) is a cantankerous old woman who is cranky with everyone, but most of all her daughter Clio. She was moved into a care home against her will and her beloved dog was taken to a shelter. Her best friend, another resident, recently died. She’s sure it was murder but no one will listen to her. She has an unusual bond with another employee of the care home, Patience, and Edith lights up every time she sees her.

I loved Edith’s rebelliousness! She and Patience were both interesting and complex characters. Clio was one of the characters that grew on me. By the end of the story, I understood her actions and regarded her as impressive. The rest of the main characters have their own intriguing stories.

Sincere thanks to Macmillan Audio and Flatiron Books for the complimentary ARCs provided through NetGalley and Edelweiss. As always, all opinions are my own and left voluntarily.

#GoodBadGirl #alicefeeney #netgalley #edelweiss #macmillanaudion #flatironbooks #audiobookreview #justfinished #newrelease #giftedARC #igbookreels #thriller #honestreview #thrillerfriendsunite #mysteryandthrills #thrillerobsessedbookishclub #suspense #mystery #lovetoread #bookworms #lovebooks #lovetoreadbooks #fortheloveofbooks #booknerd #bookreviewer #booksbooksandmorebooks #instabook #readaholic

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Holy cow, holy cow! I was hooked from the beginning.

The story unravels to take you to a place you will never see coming. A typical Feeney in that everyone appears very guilty.

This book was wild. It gave me so many feels. The intense focus on the relationship between a mother and daughter pulled at my heart strings many times. The acknowledgement that every child deserves to be loved by their parents but not everyone has the same opportunities is heartbreaking. The way it can be seen from both perspectives - mother and daughter - is well done.

There were times where I felt like I knew what was going on, but Feeneylike the plot twist queen she is would get me yet again. Also, if Alice Feeney isn't the queen of one hitter lines, idk who is.

100% would absolutely recommend this one!

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This is one of those books where we start at the end and slowly work our way to the beginning while still going through whatever it happening in the present time. Really enjoyed the twists. I did figure one part out early, but it ended up being a tad different than I guessed.

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Finally....my first Alice Feeney! I was under the impression that this author is known for big twists. I can't say that this story was overly twisty. I found the story somewhat predictable and not as thrilling as I wanted. This wasn't a total love for me but I would definitely love to read something else by this author.

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This book was like putting together a puzzle 🧩 such intricate details that come together perfectly in the end. Feeney packed this one with not only twist and turns but food for thought about mother-daughter relationships. Although a slow burn setup it gave ample time to learn about the main characters Edith, Clio, Frankie, and Patience from multiple POVs.
Character development was top tier by the end of the novel we understand their importance, connections, and best of all their involvement in the kidnapping and murders.

Overall, I really enjoyed this novel and found myself connecting with it on so many levels ( I work with older adults in care homes).

Thank you @netgalley for an ARC of this book.

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Alice Feeny is back again with another new book, I was gifted an early audio copy for reviewing purposes, thank you to Netgalley & the publisher for making that happen.

I was excited to read this book as I am with all of the authors, new releases. However, when I started the book, I found that I just wasn’t as interested as I have been in her previous books. This follows two different timelines and we’re not really sure how they’re connected in the beginning. This has a lot to say about motherhood, and while I usually have been enjoying that something about the story just didn’t hit in some of the ways that I expected it to. I still think it is a well written book. I just think it’s not the best of the authors work, and if you enjoy stories about motherhood, I would recommend it to you.

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I love Alice Feeney and this book is no exception. I like that her books go out of the typical mystery narrative and each story is a winding road. Sometimes I guess the twist and sometimes I don't. Usually there is at least one element I didn't see coming. I know guessing the twist ruins it for some but for me as long as I have a good time reading and feel connected to the characters it's a super enjoyable time. I Feeney is one of my auto buy authors and I have not been disappointed yet.

Thank you to NetGalley for this ARC!

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Good Bad Girl by Alice Feeney

I’ve really enjoyed this authors other books and was excited to get approved for this one on @netgalley by @macmillan.audio.

Unfortunately it was way too long and sprawling and if not for the overall mystery of how these families are connected I probably would have given up. I also found it quite repetitive, with the characters stuck on the same thoughts and questions.

This would fall under the category of domestic drama, not the thriller I was expecting from this author. It did have some twists but none that were shocking or even all that interesting. Curious if anyone else has read this one and what you thought!

Also the cover for this one bugs me for some reason - I feel like they could have done something way more unique than this stock photo of umbrellas.

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I'm always tempted to grab the new Feeney. Three suspects, two murders, one victim. A baby stolen from the stroller 20 years ago. An elderly woman in a care home planning to escape. The caretaker that's lying about almost everything. I was definitely expecting interesting twists with this one.

I'll be honest, it took me a while to get into this especially when I was reading the physical ARC. I was super happy to get access to the audiobook via Macmillan Audio because I love Stephanie Racine reading Feeney's novels. This was definitely no exception once I got the audio! This one also had an additional narrator (Katherine Press) which worked great with the alternating POVs. While the way everything connected was fun, I found one of the twists way too impossible to believe.

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A domestic thriller following mothers and daughters with alternating POVs. The beginning was confusing for me with how much was going on but at the same time moving very slow somehow. I struggled to really get invested in the story because of this. The end had some fantastic twists so I’m happy I kept reading.

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Fast and furious twists! Characters with enormous damage and flaws, but a writer that handles them so well that you find enough redemption to yearn for a satisfying ending. Skilled execution by the writer.

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Thank you to NetGalley and Macmillian Audio for my ALC! Two separate crimes with a 20 year difference between them- an infant abducted from a supermarket and then a woman murdered in a nursing home- both of which occurred on Mother’s Day. Patience, Clio, Edith, and Frankie are our main characters and interchange as different point of views throughout the book. At times, it’s not fully clear whose POV you’re reading, and that left me questioning until I got to the twists. This book begins at ‘the end’ and ends at ‘the beginning,’ which is an interesting concept, but it lead to me being more confused. I really enjoyed the snarky detective in this book, I think she was my favorite character.


I wanted so badly to love this book. So badly that I listened to the audiobook twice. I did enjoy the book more and it made more sense the second time around. But overall, for me, this books lacked the twists I’ve come to expect from Feeney’s novels. I loved the way everything (very conveniently) came together at the end. Feeney is still one of my favorite authors, and her writing is beautiful. I had to stop and write down so many amazing quotes while reading. This book definitely explores the intricacies of mother/daughter relationships.


The narrators in this audiobook did an amazing job, but being that this book seemed to aim to intentionally confuse the reader, I think I might have enjoyed it more if I had been able to physically read it.


“Doing something wrong is sometimes the right thing to do. Everyone knows that.”

“Sometimes, we all have to become smaller versions of ourselves to fit the story life writes for us.”

Good Bad Girl publishes TODAY 8/29/23!

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