The Hotel Maid had me hooked from the beginning. Dunne has readers captivated in a story of secrets, hidden agendas, aliases, and revenge.

June Calloway is the best hotel maid the resort has ever seen. Her attention to detail comes only second to her ability to remain invisible to the VIP guests that frequent the place. But when someone starts leaving June notes hinting to her secret past everything changes.

Although the twist in this story didn’t come out of the blue, the way Dunne wraps everything up in a bow at the end for readers has me wanting more.

This was creepy and twisted, it went through a lot of different triggering type issues through out the story. I was really into the story at first though it just kind of dropped off midway for me. I feel it’s still a good read though if you are triggered it may not be for you.

I would like to thank Net Galley and Storm publishing for allowing me the opportunity to read an advanced copy of The Hotel Maid by Michelle Dunne.

June Calloway is a maid at the prestigious Cedarwood Manor Hotel, one who takes pride in her work, keeps her head down, and shows her love for the hotel in the way that she cares for and cleans it’s possessions. June’s coworkers find her to be a bit odd, but some depend on her trustworthiness and work ethic. One morning June enters room 208 to give it a good cleaning, but she is halted by the discovery of a woman’s body. The story then rewinds back six weeks in time to everything that leads up to finding one of Cedarwood Manor Hotel’s most frequent guests, Mrs. Kelly, murdered on the floor of her suite.

During the novel, readers will meet Mia and Tess, through different timelines. Mia is a young girl who is mentally abused by the woman who takes care of her. Her story is troubling and heartbreaking. Michelle Dunne really made Mia’s life come alive through my reading and tugged at my heart strings. Tess is an older woman who shares a small apartment with June. Tess’s own story is a bit mysterious to June. June does some digging to attempt to find Tess’s truth.

Michelle Dunne does a great job of making the reader “feel” the characters through her use of imagery. At certain points of the book, I was feeling a bit uncomfortable, reading what the characters were going through in their lives, but this is a sign of the author doing his/her job through his/her storytelling. Although there are some tough topics the book covers, such as self-harm, mental abuse, child neglect, and murder; I did find that Dunne’s new novel was one worth reading. I am a reader that enjoys reading different types of stories and understand how some happenings add to the story’s plot; however I want to be fair and mention the topics that come up in the book in case that is not something readable for the person reading my review. This book was out for publication on August 23rd. 4 stars.

These books just continue to get more and more exciting! You would think this genre and type of book would get old but authors like this continue to hit the mark.

Trying to get back to reality after reading this book. Several stories at different times run seamlessly together, winding tendrils of confusion - just as the reader gets to grips with one scenario, the stage changes and new actors appear. Only, they're not new actors, are they? Very well done, and lovely to have a story based in Cork.

I'll be honest in saying that I put this book down several times not wanting to finish.
I couldn't connect with the character, the different POVs and the time lapse. It eventually came together towards the end.
It seemed slow paced with not much happening. It was more about the hotel guests and the staff and I kept waiting for all the pieces to connect.
The maid sure had a lot of secrets that made the story turn quite dark.

Many thanks to Net Galley and Storm Publishing for an ARC of this book in exchange for a review.
The hotel maid is June, she keeps herself to herself, she moves around the hotel almost as if she is invisible, she watches everyone, staff and residents included. June is a self harmer, she lives with Tess who is 80, they are not related, they know very little about each other, both of them keep secrets.
The story turns darker as Mia who is 10 years old narrates her story, she is physically and mentally abused, treated like a maid by those who are suppose to care for her.
I was constantly trying to work out how everything would come together, I didn’t particularly like any of the characters, but the plot held my attention and it comes together very cleverly at the end.
Well deserving of 4 stars

This was a definite page turner. So binge worthy! It's dark and twisty. The characters are great. Told by different POVS on different timelines so you are sure not to get bored. Thank you for the opportunity to read this!

The story line was a bit slow at the beginning but towards the middle of the book it really picked up and became interesting. The “plot twist” was very easy to figure out early on, but the storyline itself was very interesting and the book overall was well-written. There are a lot of triggers in this book. Mental and emotional abuse, physical abuse, sexual abuse, self-harm, and murder. So that’s important to mention.

June appears like a normal, quiet, reserved young woman to most. But on the inside, she’s anything but. As a hotel maid at one of the most luxurious manors in Ireland, she takes pride in her job everyday. But she sees and hears things, that she often turns a blind eye to. The Cedarwood Manor staff is full of drama, scandal, betrayal and secrets. But the one dark, deep seeded secret of them all falls within June. What is her secret? And what lengths is she willing to go to keep it hidden?

Overall, it was a good read. The plot twist was predictable, but otherwise a good read that kept my interest!

Genre: Suspense/Thriller
Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️

Release Date: August 23, 2024
TW: Suicide, self-harm, child abuse

This story flips back and forth between two POVs:
June Calloway- a maid at the Cedarwood Manor hotel. She prefers to stay invisible as she appears to be hiding secrets of her past.
Mia Kelly- a 10 year old girl who is verbally abused and has been made into the “Cinderella” of the family.

Many thanks to NetGalley, Storm Publishing, and Michelle Dunne for an ARC copy of this book!

I’m honestly not to sure how I felt about this one. It didn’t blow me away, but I was also intrigued enough to see how everything turned out. I didn’t really like most of the characters-sometimes even June, but my heart did ache for little Mia. This book is definitely on the dark side and some of the trigger warning themes were definitely hard to read.

👍🏻:
-Pacing was good enough to keep me intrigued
-The suspense of how everything turned out/intertwined

👎🏻:
-dark themes that were hard to read
-unlikeable characters
-reveal wasn’t mind blowing

The Hotel Maid by Michelle Dunne

The Hoel Maid is my first read by this author. This is a fast paced psychological thriller told from different points of views. From the very beginning of the book, the author grabs your attention and doesn’t let go. While the plot twists were definitely see able, some still caught me off guard, The book goes between points of view which is irritating at times.

The book should definitely contain trigger warnings as the book goes into darker territory. The characters were well developed. This was a very fast read. The events moved quickly keeping you drawn in waiting to see what would happen next. I really enjoyed the book finding it hard to put it down until the very end. Fans of Freida McFadden or Nicole Trope will love this fast paced dark. Thriller mystery.

I must admit I did have to skip over a number of pages and I did wonder if I would be able to finish it. However, I was interested to see how it all panned out and I was glad that continued reading until the end. There are a number of twists and turns and some surprises. I wouldn’t say that any of the characters are particularly likeable but they all have interesting backgrounds. I can say that it all comes together neatly and left me feeling satisfied with the conclusion. I received a copy and have voluntarily reviewed it. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

The Hotel Maid
by Michelle Dunne
Pub Date: Aug 23 2024

The Hotel Maid by: Michelle Dunne is about a maid named June who works under the radar at a seasoned hotel. June is a very good worker, she likes to be seen and not heard, but when she is she's very rude to her co-workers and the hotel guests.

This is a dark thriller with some upsetting scenes such as suicide, self harm and child abuse. I feel this should be said up front as trigger warnings for some that may want to read this book.

It's a fast read with lots of twists and turns, told in a few different time lines. The story comes together quite nicely in the end.

Many thanks to #TheHotelMaid #NetGalley and #StormPublishing for providing me with an E-ARC of this book.

This book was more intriguing after every page I turned, and I was shocked at all the multiple twists in this book. The Hotel Maid is a very dark and puzzling psychological thriller with POV’s from three different characters, which I found a nice number as it wasn’t too much to keep up with. It was a very quick and easy read that kept my attention throughout the book, it was very hard to out down and not just keep reading to find out more! Michelle Dunne wrote this book incredibly well and I would definitely pick up another book from her again.

Cancel your weekend plans now, and prepare to hunker down for an unforgettable book!

This was an enjoyable read, and one that I truly enjoyed. This kept me turning the pages as fast as I could from start to finish!

This was an okay read. I enjoyed the main character, I enjoyed her development. I would recommend reading this.

The Hotel Maid by Michelle Dunne is a gripping and twisty thriller.
I thoroughly enjoyed and was hooked for the entirety of this story and can only commend the author on writing a very intriguing book.

A luxurious hotel has some dark undercurrents. Everything appears fine on the surface for the Cedarwood Manor hotel with high paying guests who are very demanding. The main character is June. She is a maid. She is invisible to these guests as long as she does her job which makes it easy to know their secrets.

I was not really certain where this book was headed. I was quite surprised by the dark turn it took. There are a lot of triggers that might be a problem for some readers. However, you had to see the darkness to understand the behavior of June. June is the only likeable character in the entire cast. Some were tolerable, but you will find that some are beyond scummy. It is a dual time/dual point of view story which provides the needed background to complete the tale.

If you can get through some of the ugliness on the pages, you will find an incredibly good mystery. I had a feeling I knew some of ending, but I was a little blown away with at least one revelation.

Thank you to Storm Publishing and NetGalley for this ARC. I am leaving this review voluntarily.

June is a hotel maid, quiet, efficient, and dutiful. When she finds a regular guest at the hotel dead in her room, shocking truths come to light.

I didn’t catch on to the timelines, but when it finally clicked, my mind was blown. The big reveal left my jaw on the floor. It was a good read, although the beginning was slow.

This was dark, and Mia’s POV was hard to read. Then there’s the self-harm and grooming, plus a few other things.

Thanks to NetGalley and Storm Publishing for the free copy of the book.

"She'd never been the type of girl that people noticed. This, she realized, was a valuable trait to have."

Where to start? The end might be the best place. The last few chapters of the upside down rollercoaster The Hotel Maid, by intricate twisty turns murder mystery thriller author Michelle Dunne, left me gasping and my brain hurting from all the WTF reveals.

We meet hotel maid June looking at the dead body of Erica, in the room she's assigned to clean, and soon discover that 10 year old Mae, who is Erica's charge, is missing. Then in alternate chapters we learn about the past of June, Erica and Mae and how they found their way to this hotel.

Make no mistake this is not a cozy mystery. It is a dark thriller with some heavy themes and serious trigger warnings from self child abuse, grooming, and neglect to self harm including cutting.

There are a slew of characters, of which many are extremely unlikeable and some horrible behavior by supposedly religious people. Yet I kept turning the page because I had no idea where it would all lead.

I fell in love with the Irish lilt from voice actress Jacqueline Milne. Every time she said, "feck" I had to smile. The first part of this story was a bit confusing but having both the book and the audiobook really helped me decipher characters and their relationships. I had some theories but when it was over I was half right and half in shock.

The Hotel Maid cleans up in the twist department. But pay attention or you might miss spotting a clue.

I received a free copy of this book/audiobook from the publishers via #NetGalley for a fair and honest review. All opinions are my own.