Thank you, Storm Publishing, for the advance reader copy.

Trigger warnings for Ped, child abuse, SA, infidelity.

I struggled to read because of these TW.

The writing is gripping and the main lead is quite interesting.

This thriller will not be for everyone.

June is a hotel maid at cedarwood manor who tries to remain as invisible as possible to guests and staff. She lives a sheltered life with only one friend, old lady Tess who she shares a home with. Being this way June learns secrets about those around her, secrets she keeps to herself.

Mia is a 10 year old being treated as a house slave for her adopted family, desperate to find out her biological roots and escape her current life.

So what do Mia and June have in common?

The plot requires you to keep an open mind as it relies mainly on coincidences for the story to work, I did however enjoy the read and felt the little reveals throughout made it come together.

Many thanks to NetGalley, publisher and author for my eARC in exchange for my honest opinion.

Does a hotel maid keep our secrets or is she busy hiding her own?
June takes pride in her job, maintaining the luxurious feel guests of Cedarwood Manor have come to expect. She keeps herself to herself preferring to be invisible to others and guests barely know her name.
The book opens with June discovering a body in room 208 and Mia a ten year old girl is missing. It then goes back in time following June and Mia’s story leading up to this discovery. I won’t give any spoilers but I did not guess the ending.
This thriller was fast paced and I felt the author really covered some sensitive topics well. Please be aware of triggers - child neglect & abuse, self harm and suicide.
Thank you NetGalley, Michelle Dunne and Storm Publishing for this ARC, all opinions expressed are my own.

Hmmmm. Not so sure what to think of this one. It was a bit confusing. I didn’t like most of the characters. The plot twists were pretty crazy though. The ending was definitely a surprise. It was hard to kind of put it all together as to who kind of went with who. A few too many different characters for me. The book was rather complicated.

The Hotel Maid by Michelle Dunne is a dark and compelling psychological thriller that pulls readers into the hidden lives of its characters. The story follows June, a maid at the Cedarwood Hotel, who prides herself on being invisible. However, her carefully maintained anonymity is shattered when she finds a note in her locker that reads, "I know what you did."

The novel's structure, shifting between past and present, allows readers to piece together the events leading up to the ominous note, providing a deep dive into the characters' troubled psyches. Dunne tackles heavy themes such as self-harm, child neglect, and abuse, exploring the lingering effects of trauma with sensitivity. While the characters are not particularly likeable, they are complex and damaged, making it easy to understand their actions and motivations.

The pacing is deliberate, building tension as the narrative unfolds. The backward glance at events leading up to the present creates a sense of inevitability and deepens the reader's understanding of the story's dark undercurrents. The ending, while satisfying, leaves some questions unanswered, adding to the novel's haunting atmosphere.

Overall, The Hotel Maid is a gripping read that will resonate with fans of psychological thrillers. Michelle Dunne has crafted a story that lingers, with its complex characters and unsettling themes making a lasting impression.

Michelle’s new psychological thriller is a fast-paced, multiple POV story set across a number of timelines. There are some big subjects included and I want to give a trigger warning for some of these because they feature quite a bit – child abuse, suicide and self-harm. Set in Cork in an exclusive five-star hotel, I couldn’t help but draw comparisons to Nita Prose’s The Maid and I know that recently there’s been a number of mystery/thrillers that focus on the hotel maid as the main character.

This is a dark read; far darker than some of the other books featuring the maid character. Parts of the story are hard to stomach and it will leave the reader feeling unsettled throughout. The inclusion of the chapters from Mia’s perspective are the most unnerving, especially her grooming by her father and the abusive relationship with her brother. Michelle isn’t afraid to delve into these aspects and as you move through the story, be prepared to feel more and more uncomfortable and disturbed by the revelations uncovered by June.

With a plethora of unlikeable characters, Michelle has put together a solid thriller that readers will not want to put down. At 266 pages, Michelle has managed to pack a lot into this story. I figured out the major plot twist quite early on but it didn’t take away from my enjoyment of the story and some of the smaller twists that popped up.

Thanks to NetGalley and Storm Publishing for the arc. The Hotel Maid is out on August 23rd. 3 ⭐️⭐️⭐️

This book could definitely be triggering to some people. I thought the whole book was pretty bananas. It started out a lot like The Maid (which I loved) but then took a very weird and sinister turn. I felt like I couldn't look away and kept reading, although honestly I wasn't sure I wanted to know what happened next. It left me feeling odd and uncomfortable when I finished it. Excellent suspense but a bit too much for me.

Thank you to Storm Publishing and Netgalley for this ARC in exchange for an honest review. My opinions are my own.

I really liked the concept of this book however I found the writing style to be a bit chopping and it didn't flow as well as I would have expected it to. It felt like I was throw right into things from the get go and expected to know what was happening. This book is all about our main character June who is the newest maid at the hotel. June tries her best but struggles a lot which is why it is a surprise to everyone when an elite guest, actress Ms Kelly and her daughter Mia specifically asked for June to be their personal maid for their stay at the hotel. June tries her best but she is still dealing with a lot of issues such as self half low self worth and being used by people she should be able to trust. The story then switchs to Mia point of view. While Mia should have the perfect life hers is anything but as you really see the sadness and struggles that she is facing. She is consistently abused both physically and verbally by her family even though she tries her best to please them. The book intertwines both girls experiences into one story as you get to watch them play out parallel to each other. I did find it hard to sympathise with our main character but I really felt for Mia. Overall I likes most of this book however the slow start really had me struggling to continue this one. Once the plot is all set up however I really started to get into this book. I couldn't get enough of Mia's character and I felt so bad for her every time she started to get happy something crushed it. While some parts were a little confusing I couldn't get enough and the ending left me completely shell shocked. really good read and I'm very glad I got the chance to check it out.

Slow burn thriller. An under-the-radar maid who knows a lot...a dead body...a missing girl. Lots of twists in this quick mystery/thriller.
Thank you NetGalley and the publisher for access to this eARC.

“The hotel maid” starts off very much giving “The Maid” vibes - a seasoned hotel maid who flies under the radar and leans towards being on the spectrum, rude and quirky guests and a suspicious dead body.

After the opening chapters the book diverts into much darker territories. We have different timelines and POV and a lot of trigger worthy material (child neglect, child abuse, child bullying, self harm, SA, peadophilia etc).

Because of the subject matter i struggled to connect with the characters and found myself just feeling bad for the FMC. I was hoping for a fun murder mystery and found myself just feeling uncomfortable.

Unfortunately this one just didn’t vibe for me. I will say that the audiobook narrator did a great job on her part, everything was clear and concise and it was easy to differentiate between characters.

Thank you to Michelle Dunne, Dreamscape select and storm publishing for the ALC.

Publish date: August 23rd

This book had a great plot with intriguing characters. I’ll definitely be looking out for more from this author.

This was a dark, quick read, the writing style was good and there were many plot twists that I didn’t saw coming.

Thank you Netgalley and Storm Publishing for this arc

The hotel maid

June is a maid that comes in, does her job, and falls into the shadows. This is why she is requested as the only maid to serve Ms Kelly, a famous actress and elite guest. Her daughter, Mia, is also a frequent guest.

When June finds Ms Kelly dead and Mia goes missing, a mystery unfolds as June shares her past and present.

The book has multiple POVs and plenty of twists and turns. I did both ebook and audio for this. Both were fast paced, the audiobook narrator was expressive and did great. Mia’s perspective from my favorite and I enjoyed this a lot more than I thought I would !

Thank you to NetGalley and Storm Publishing for the ARC in exchange for an honest review. Release date August 23.

What a strange physiological thriller. Can’t really say I enjoyed it as I really didn’t like any of the characters- they all seemed to have dark secrets. Suicide, self harming and murder were included and made the storyline quite a sad one- but possibly not all readers would feel the same.

Familiar Themes..
Familiar themes abound in this slow burn suspense with a character driven bent. The sad tale of the hotel maid, she remains largely invisible to those around her on a daily basis - that is, until a dead body is discovered in one of the rooms. But, who is the maid? Secrets may well out and a web of lies may be untangled. A tension fuelled, slow burn plot is populated with a credible and well drawn cast of characters and a well imagined backdrop.

I was intrigued by the premise of The Hotel Maid and the plot is of the slow burn variety. The storyline has much more depth and weight than other similarly-named mysteries told from a maid’s point of view. It was sufficiently suspenseful to warrant a 4-star rating from me. But the story had many aspects that were very depressing and desperately sad, and left me feeling that way long after I finished it. I agree with other reviewers that this (and so many other books) should have included trigger warnings. However, The Hotel Maid could be adapted into an excellent limited series on Netflix or another streaming platform.

Thank you NetGalley and Storm Publishing for providing me with an ARC of this book for review consideration. All opinions are my own.

When a hotel maid finds a dead body in one of the rooms in a grand hotel, everyone is under the impression she deserved it. Jane works in the hotel and enjoys her job, she is also the only one the victim will tolerate so her job is made more difficult.
This book has lots of twists and turns but I could not get into it. I could not make a connection with any of the characters and disliked them all. That is my opinion only and others may love this book but sadly I'm not one of them. I appreciate the opportunity to read the book and will try other books by this author.

This is a really sad tale, one that definitely should have trigger warnings. The author writes the story and characters really well,, but my does it leave you low. Think I was expecting it to be more twisty then it was, but it was a very different read for me. Not sure if I would recommend unless you enjoy dark, sad tales. Thank you to NetGalley and the publishers for giving me access to an early copy of this book.

This was a really quick, bingeable thriller read. The story was interesting albeit a little predictable, but I still found it entertaining.

The FMC from the beginning comes off as unhinged and I love an unhinged narrator. You can tell there's something not quite right with June. That pulled me in from the beginning. The book also opens up with a murder and for me that really sets things in motion.

The pacing was good and the book was written well. I think the story also flows really easily and the twists that came with it were also okay. I wasn't blown away by them but, I am an avid thriller reader so I'm not easily surprised anymore.

I did love the ending also. Really well executed and I liked how everything was wrapped up.
Overall, a good thriller/mystery read that you can easily binge in one sitting.
I enjoyed it and would see myself picking up another book by this author as well as recommending this one to others.
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Thank you to Storm Publishing, Michelle Dunne and Netgalley for my eARC. All opinions are my own and I am leaving my review voluntarily.

4⭐️

I was keen to read this as I loved The Good Girl. It’s another dark thriller. Don’t go into this thinking it’s just another Housemaid variation, it’s very different, and personally I think it would have done better steering away from that title. The plot has complexity, depth and secrets galore.

The story is mainly told by two characters Mia and June. Mia is a child with a desperately sad life,my heart ached for her. June is an adult working in a top end hotel, she comes over as likeable and caring.

It has a slightly disconcerting weird vibe through the early stages of the book, but things become clearer. It also has a slow start. It grew on me more and more as it progressed, although it took some time for me to become invested in the characters. There’s nothing that comes out of left field all the groundwork is there.

Unless I missed something I still don’t know who sent the notes which feels a bit odd, were they even needed?