Good Bad Girl was so good! We've got multiple povs, multiple murders and multiple suspects. A missing baby, a runaway teen, a mother hiding things and a mother who's lost everything. Also, women betrayed on many levels.

This was a solid mystery and my first Alice Feeney. It won't be my last!

Twenty years after a baby is stolen from a stroller, a woman is murdered in a care home. The two crimes are linked, and a good bad girl may be the key to discovering the truth.

Edith is planning her escape from a nursing home. Patience works there, cleaning up messes and bonding with Edith. Clio is Edith’s daughter and refuses to speak to her.

With every reason to distrust each other, the women must solve a mystery with three suspects, two murders, and one victim.

I have been anxiously awaiting this book since I finished Daisy Darker last year. I just love Alice Feeney and everything she writes, and her twists are always top notch.

I absolutely loved this book. I loved it so very much and I didn’t want it to end, but I simultaneously wanted to know the twists. The twists started being revealed about halfway through, and then I was on the edge of my seat waiting for the next – because with any Alice Feeney book you know there will be more. This book was a fantastic thriller that dug into mother daughter relationships. Mother daughter relationships always fascinate me and draw me in – this one was no different. I loved this one on audio. There were two narrators who were both fantastic. They had distinct enough voices that it was easy to tell when the characters switched, and they both did an amazing job of bringing the characters to life.

I can’t recommend this book, or any Alice Feeney @alicewriteland book enough. I hope you check her out and her twists won’t disappoint.

Thank you so much to the publisher Macmillan Audio @MacmillanAudio and Netgalley @netgalley for gifting me an ALC copy in exchange for an honest review.

Feeney is the queen of twists, unreliable characters and great execution. I’m a forever fan. You hit the ground running and if you’re familiar with Feeney, you know never to trust your first impression of someone. Chef’s kiss.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

This is a review of the audio version of Alice Feeney’s latest twisty story “Good Bad Girl” which is narrated by Katherine Press and Stephanie Racine. The narration was seamless and there are four major women characters and a minor one (a detective whose pink hair stripe, pierced ears and different nail polishes get mentioned over and over). I wasn’t really aware of the change of voices — the chapter headings were sufficient to keep track of whose story was being told and the narrators represented their characters extremely well.

All of the protagonists consider themselves basically good people who have done bad things because of family circumstances — a couple are completely sympathetic and one is fairly shrill (and therefore deserving of more suspicion). But nothing is as it seems and it takes a while for the reader to put all the scattered clues together and relationships in order.

At the beginning, a baby is kidnapped from a stroller in a supermarket. It’s initially not revealed who mother is or that this happened 20 years ago, but the story unfolds and connections are very slowly made. There is a present day murder (of a perfectly awful and deserving victim) and that forms part of the mystery connecting the four women. Yet the tale is primarily an emotional tale of multiple mother-daughter relationships and missed connections. It’s not as dark as some of Feeney’s previous books, but at some point everyone could be considered an unreliable narrator. It kept me guessing and wanting to race to the end. 5 stars for both the story and the narration.

Thank you to Macmillan Audio and NetGalley for a free advanced reader copy in exchange for an honest review!

Literary Pet Peeve Checklist:
Green Eyes (only 2% of the real world, yet it seems like 90% of all fictional females): YES Literally, within the first few chapters, EVERYONE has green eyes. Frankie, her missing daughter; another seemingly unrelated character No one with blue or brown eyes is described so you immediately think “it’s a clue! They’re all related somehow.”
Horticultural Faux Pas (plants out of season or growing zones, like daffodils in autumn or bougainvillea in Alaska): NO The hidden gardens of Covent Garden and along the Thames are mentioned, but nothing seems out of place.

I was kept guessing until the end! I would think I had everyone and everything figured out and then another plot twist would have me second guessing myself again.

This story is very complex in both it's characters (both main and supporting) and it's storyline. Everyone is capable of doing bad things but does that make them bad people? Secrets are uncovered but what you do with the truth can change everything or nothing at all.

Thank you NetGalley and Mcmillan Audio for the advanced audiobook.

This audiobook had a lot of POVs, and it was a lot to keep track of at first. Four women: Frankie, Patience, Cleo, and Edith. Even writing my summary I confused myself! Nearly all of the characters were unlikeable (except for Edith) and unreliable, but in such an interesting way. Feeney took the complexity of mother-daughter relationships and crafted a gripping thriller.

Edith stole the show, though. I love a meddling more-clever-than-everyone-assumes older lady. She brings a good laugh to the story, and I loved her relationship with her dog!

At times all of the motivations were confusing, but I enjoyed how all of the stories tied together. I think it's best to go in mostly blind, although if PPD is triggering to you, give this one a pass. Good Bad Girl was an interesting thriller, but it wasn't my favorite from this author.

While the audiobook production was great, I would have preferred to be able to flip back and remind myself who was who. Books with so many POVs are better in a hard copy!

I love Alice Feeney's books. This one made me a bit confused, as the story is told from the viewpoint of 4 different people and a few different timelines. Kept me on my feet! But I loved the story, and the ending

Thank you Netgalley for the prerelease audiobook.

3.5⭐️

Good Bad Girl is the latest twist-filled thriller by Alice Feeney. While it is definitely twisty and twisted, I wouldn’t really call it a thriller, as there’s not a huge amount that happens, mostly just a lot of twisted connections and relationships uncovered, imo in a rather convoluted fashion to an even more convoluted conclusion. At one point a character even makes a comment about coincidences, ironic given the many coincidental crossings and connections found within this story. It was relatively entertaining, but came across as just too unbelievable for my taste.

Katherine Press and Stephanie Racine did a good job narrating the audiobook.

Thank you Alice Feeney, Macmillan Audio, and NetGalley for providing this ALC for review consideration. All opinions expressed are my own.

First, this was an audiobook and the narrator is one of my favorites. I wish she'd read literally everything I listen to.

The actual book:
The reason I fell in love with Feeney was because of the constant suspense, twists, weaving together of stories. This does weave the stories together, keeping me trying to figure out who did what the whole time.

However it wasn't a wild/fun read like normal. It was sort of .... boring? Boring isn't really the right word because I obviously finished it... but... eh.

This isn't a helpful review. Haha SORRY

This was a good listen! I think I would have enjoyed it in book form more though. I did enjoy the narrator.

The story started out a little all over the place and I had trouble keeping the characters straight and following who was doing what. Once there was a little more character development, it got easier to follow and you began to see how the characters stories were connected. The twist at the end was somewhat predictable but just when you thought you figured out what was going on, the story line went off on a tangent about other things and the ending felt a little drawn out in my opinion. Overall I enjoyed this book. My rating is closer to 3.5 stars.

Sometimes bad things happen to good people so good people have to do bad things.
This was great! I really thought I had it figured out but the final twist I did not see coming. I enjoyed this a lot and didn’t want to put it down I will definitely read Alice next books.
Mother knows best but sometimes it’s best mother doesn’t know.
Huge thanks to NetGalley for this ARC in exchange for my honest review!

Holy-moly what a book!

Another banger from Alice, who I always look forward to reading during my summer vacation.

I started off slightly confused about who was who, but when I got to about 20% in the characters all started to click into place for me. The names aren't at all similar so I think that was purely a me problem.
At about 50% in when the twists start to reveal themselves you really start to assume you have it all figured out, but you definitely do not.... THE TWISTS KEEP TWISTING UNTIL THE VERY END!

The narrators Katherine Press and Stephanie Racine are absolutely fantastic! I really appreciated the different accents they did to differentiate the characters.

Thank you, NetGalley and Macmillan Audio for this advance copy in exchange for my honest review.

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.
This is a domestic thriller/mystery with a very slow pace told in multiple POVs (Frankie, Patience, Edith and Clio), and we slowly discover how they connect to each other through the story. It takes a while to pick up, and the last quarter is more fast paced as the story unravels and the twists are revealed. It was predictable and they were not jawdropping, and, sadly, the story took so long to pick up that at that point I just didn't care. It's mostly a "mommy" thriller, a story about dysfunctional relationships between mothers and daughters, with many unlikable characters, and I feel it's been done so many times before. Alice Feeney's twists usually pack a punch (I still wonder WTF did I read?!?! about one of her other books), but this one missed the mark for me. I listened to the audio book, and the narration was really good.
I received an advance review copy of this book for free and I am leaving this review voluntarily.

Thank you NetGalley and Macmillan Audio for sending me this audiobook in advance for my honest review!

This book focuses on the complexities of mother/daughter relationships and what motherhood means. It follows four main characters and from the beginning you wonder not only how they are all connected but what they all have to do with a kidnapping 20 years ago and a present day murder.

I must say Alice Feeney does it again! I first listened to her book Rock Paper Scissors and loved the twists in her story and how she keeps you in the dark and wanting more until the very end. I was disappointed by the ending of RPS but that was not the case for Good Bad Girl! I loved how the characters’ stories are intertwined and layer by layer the truth starts to unfold! The story is told from multiple perspectives, which I’m a big fan of, and it really makes you evaluate if one or all are unreliable narrators or not.

Good luck listening and trying to figure out how everything is connected because Alice Feeney leaves only breadcrumbs and red herrings. Even when I thought I figured it out it ended up only being PART of what was going on.

I will say this is more mystery than thriller. I like to feel a little scared or on edge when I read thrillers and I didn’t have that suspense with this story. Despite this, it was still captivating! If you love mysteries and trying to solve them you will love this book!

Three main characters, two retired store detectives, one pink house, too many coincidences., and many changes in points of view. One of the main characters counts everything much of the time, which I think helps keep the characters straight as the narration/point of view switches from first to third person and back again multiple times. The novel contains almost as many twists and turns as it does changes in point of view. Unfortunately, all of those twists and turns reveal themselves to be real or to be red herrings and the “reveal” becomes evident before it occurs. Good Bad Girl is an apt title for Alice Feeney’s latest novel, for somewhat redeeming the book is the complex central question it poses and with which it struggles: who is good, who is bad, and how does it matter from practical and moral perspectives? And for that it is well worth the read. 3.5 stars rounded to 4.

Alice Feeney is the queen of twists! I can always count on her to shock me and look forward to her books! I had seen some mixed reviews for Good Bad Girl, which I somewhat love when going in for a thriller! I also love going into hers blind. It adds to the whole story for me! This one is a little complex, with multiple storylines, timelines, and took a minute to wrap my head around it all but once I finished, everything made sense why it was the way it was! Which usually seems to be the case with Fenney!

This story starts with a baby being abducted in a supermarket and then quickly goes to 20 years later to a murder at a nursing home. There are four main women who are in the story are Edith, an 80 year old woman who is unhappy her children put her in a nursing home, 18 year old Patience who works at the nursing home, Frankie who works at a prison library and Clio, a therapist, who is the daughter of Edith. These four women are all involved in one or both of these incidents and must figure out how they’re connected to solve the murder!

I highly recommend this one!

I had the pleasure of listening to the Audio book ARC for Good Bad Girl by Alice Feeney.
This was my first Alice Feeney book, and I have to say I was not dissapointed.

"Good Bad Girl" starts off by telling the reader about a child abduction that took place 20 years earlier. The author gives the reader a sense of panic and dread, and from what I could tell of Alice Feeney's writing in its entirety throughout this book, she is great at putting feelings into words, and making the reader empathize with the characters.
20 years after the abduction, an old woman goes missing from an Elder Care Home, another woman's adult daughter runs away from home, and there is a murder victim.
The story is brought to life as the reader follows four women's perspectives, and you learn how the past and present are connected in a creative and intriguing way.

This wasn't the most unpredictable thriller I've ever read, and I was onto some of the twists, but the way the twists all tied together in the end was seamless and enjoyable to listen to.

I recommend this thriller to people who are more seasoned in reading thrillers, as this one can be a bit confusing at times. As someone who reads tons of thrillers, I was able to follow along for the most part, and I think this also helped me in being more aware of the possible twists that could ensue by the end.

Overall a great read and I do recommend!

OK, so I have only heard good things about Alice Feeney, and I love audiobooks. So when I saw this available, I jumped on it. However, this book was not the best thriller I've ever read. I was honestly fairly off put in the beginning with the multiple POVs. Normally I love multiple POV, but for some reason these were very hard to get straight. Maybe that was on purpose? Keep us confused enough to keep reading. I pressed on. The narration was pretty good. But so many times I wanted to DNF. I just did NOT care about these characters. I still persisted. I was going to finish this book. Unfortunately, upon reaching the "reveal" and the ending, I just still didn't care. I had pretty much guessed what kind of things could be happening, and hearing them, I didn't feel anything. I think this would work for those that are new to thrillers. It gets hard to keep things too fresh in the thriller world, but personally this just didn't work for me.

Thank you NetGalley & Macmillan Audio for this arc, and the opportunity to leave an honest review.

Sometimes bad things happen to good people, so good people have to do bad things.

When I started this book I had no idea what to expect this woman is absolutely the queen of twists. Holy forkballs!

Had me out loud yelling WTF!!! lol

Well done Ms. Feeney! You did NOT disappoint! One of my favorite reads this summer..

Can't wait for the next one!

DNFd at 36% - I couldn’t keep any of the characters straight and was feeling both bored and anxious? Maybe it’s just me? The narrator was fine. Kind of reminded me of a school teacher reading to a class of children though…very peppy. Not my favorite but also not my least favorite. Just fine.