What a fantastic book

I was totally hooked thank you for the opportunity to review I couldn't put it down

Michelle Dunne’s “The Hotel Maid” was a captivating psychological thriller that kept me hooked from the first page. The story follows June Calloway, a maid at Cedarwood Manor, who discovers a murdered woman in a guest room. On the same day, a ten-year-old girl goes missing, and June receives a mysterious note hinting that someone knows her secrets.

The author unfolds the narrative so smoothly using multiple perspectives. The story started to get a bit confusing towards the middle when more characters began to get involved, but it added to the depth and complexity of the story. I never knew who to trust!

The book’s setting in the luxurious hotel is vividly described, and June’s character is super compelling.

Overall, “The Hotel Maid” makes you slightly wary about hotels and their staff, but this book is a must-read if you’re a fan of unexpected twists!
Thanks for the advanced copy, NetGalley!

"Each morning, I arrive at the luxury Cedarwood Manor hotel, put on my crisp maid’s uniform and clean the rooms. I take great care in my work as I slip from one floor to the other. Most guests barely know my name. I’m invisible to them. That’s ok. I prefer people didn’t know my secrets."

The first two lines above relay the overall mystery in the plot of 'The Hotel Maid' by new-to-me author Michelle Dunne. Narrated in the third person and told in dual perspectives, we follow young maid June, as she navigates life as a maid in the fancy Cedarwood Manor, a getaway for the rich. As "the help" June is frequently looked over and even ignored. People sometimes even tell her their secrets. While this may bother most people, she prefers this as she has secrets of her own she wishes to keep. Our second narrator comes in the form of young Mia, who is living a sad life of her own. Twists and turns keep readers guessing, as we wait to find out if either of these characters will have a happy ending.

I must admit that this book started a bit slowly for me; I struggled a bit during the first 20% or so and had to keep reminding myself to come back to it. However, once we began getting more of Mia's chapters, it picked up and I was fully on board right up to the end! Something I really liked was Dunne's writing style as it made the plot easy to follow. At times, having more than one narrator can muddle storylines but Dunne was easily able to overcome this with her clear and precise language.

I will admit I figured out the big "twist" pretty easily, which took away a little bit of the enjoyment for me; however, I kept reading and was happy that I did.

In the end, I give 'The Hotel Maid' a 4-star rating as overall I enjoyed it, having one or two minor issues. I recommend the book if you are looking for a quick and easy mystery to sink your teeth into!

*A great many thanks to Storm Publishing, Michelle Dunne, and NetGalley for this ARC. It is important to note that I was not committed to providing a positive review; all opinions are undoubtedly my own.*

The Hotel Maid was fantastic! It was much darker in some parts than I expected but the constant plot twists kept me in my toes throughout the entire book.

The Hotel Maid Michelle Dunne


5 stars
What a story!
I was intrigued by the title of this book and had a feeling that it would be about an unobtrusive maid walking in a posh hotel and being overlooked by everyone. June is such a person, she has been working at The Cedarwood Mara Hotel for 6 years quietly going about her business and making sure that she does a brilliant job. Various guests come and go but there is one in particular, Mrs Erica Kelly who is particularly obnoxious and rude to everyone but especially June.

The story switches to Mrs Kelly’s home life where she lives with her husband and his son and an adopted daughter, Mia who is only 10 years old but is treated as a maid herself, doing all of the cooking and cleaning whilst being told that her mother gave her away and never wanted to see her.

As the book progresses we find out more about both June and Mia’s lives and how slowly they intertwine. I did work out the main twist in this book but I never saw what was coming when the two threads collided and I was completely shocked. I read this book in two days I was so invested in the story and what was going to happen. I loved all the descriptions of the various characters and felt like they were real people. There were some quite upsetting descriptions of the treatment meted out to some of the characters which could disturb some readers but I thought this book was brilliant and will be looking for any further books by this author.


Karen Deborah
Reviewer for Net galley

I found this book to be quite challenging to get through. While it did keep me engaged and guessing, it was predictable and not difficult to guess who Mia/June was. Despite having an interesting premise and a unique plot, I must admit that I wasn't particularly impressed by it. Right from the start, there were a lot of characters introduced, which made it confusing to keep track of who was who just after a few chapters. The writing was well done, and there was great character development, but in my opinion, there wasn't enough suspense to classify it as a thriller.

Thank You NetGalley and Publisher for the eARC.

Thank you to NetGalley and Storm Publishing for my eARC of this book - my review does not contain spoilers.

This story was MUCH darker than I expected and the different perspectives that it is told from were effective and very well written, adding to the dark conclusion that the tale builds to. The child perspective, in particular, is told so well and with such accuracy. I also thought that Dunne's use of imagery and inference were perfect - not telling you but showing you, allowing you to discover as you read and making sense of things for yourself.

What I DID expect in this book was for a maid to discover things about people in a hotel (based on the front cover) and what I DIDN'T expect what the layers that the intertwined stories would take on! Wow! I was impressed. There were twists and turns a plenty!

I have rated this four stars as I did get confused a couple of times and I also thought that this book should come with trigger warnings for some of its content...if they were there, I missed them.

However, overall I recommend it. I enjoyed it and got WAY more than I thought I was getting in reading it. I read this novel quickly because I was invested in knowing what would happen/what had happened (to make things tie together). Plus, this is one of those books that makes you think and will stay with you...

Plot twists that kept me reading. A very interesting book told in different povs that brings the story together in the end.

June is invisible as an hotel maid but has her secrets. She observes, she notes, she keeps tidbits to herself. And then the notes begin. Will her secrets come out???

Great fast read. Try it!

Oh my word what a tangled web we weave. Based around a maids tale of her job in Cedarwood Manor Hotel and the awful woman who comes to stay at a moments notice and thinks she owns the place. In fact she wants to buy it ! But nobody notices the ‘invisible’ maid who quietly goes about her business. But her secrets start to come out and she has to resort to unimaginable things to keep her identity unknown. It’s amazing

This story was so good - so many twists and turns! revenge is sweet and that poor girl certainly got hers - a real page turner! one thing id love to know - who was leaving the notes??

The Hotel Maid is a psychological thriller told from two view points. It tells the story of June, a maid at a luxury hotel. June has secrets of her own, so she enjoys her job because while she is invisible to the guests, she overhears their conversations. It also tells the story of ten year old Mia. Mia is told she is not smart and is not allowed to leave the house but must cook and clean it. There are numerous twists and turns before these characters’ connections are revealed. I enjoyed this book and recommend it to others.

I ended up being more invested in this book than I initially thought it would. The author's writing and vivid descriptions made the scenes come alive in my head. While it did have some twists and turns, it lacked the intense suspense I look for in mystery/thriller books. However, the complex characters and the alternating point of view kept me engaged. Although it started too slow for my liking, I got more invested when it reached the climax. It is lacking in the suspense department. Despite the amount of mystery/thriller books I have read, this book still kept me guessing. Even though I find it a bit predictable, I still enjoyed piecing it all together. There were a few inconsistencies in the story that I noticed, but overall, it was a quick and enjoyable read.

To avoid spoilers, I will keep this review short. I would not say it is a groundbreaking work, but I would still recommend this book to people who would like to read quick mystery/thriller books. I would happily check out other books from Michelle Dunne! Thank you, NetGalley and Storm Publishing for allowing me to read this in advance.

Link to Review: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/6633979259
Also posted on my Instagram story.

The Hotel Maid
by Michelle Dunne
Pub Date: August 23, 2024
Thanks to the author, publisher and NetGalley for the ARC of this novel in exchange for my honest opinion.
A tense ‘just one more page’ emotional rollercoaster of a read that will have you racing to the twisty end. Readers of The Woman in the Window, The Girl on the Train and Gone Girl will be absolutely gripped by The Hotel Maid.
I have read a lot of books this year about maids, and for that reason I really didn't think I would like this one. I was very pleasantly surprised by how much I ended up liking this book. It started out kinda iffy for me, but as the story went on I got more and more interested. I was constantly trying to put the puzzle pieces together and then I thought they came together well. I loved the multiple POVs.

What a surprising read! I got a bit worried a few pages in when the story turned a bit dark but I needn’t have worried! This book was fast paced and extremely hard to put down. The story progressed via a few characters perspective and had a lot more layers than first expected. Warning there are a few potentially triggering topics mentioned but I thought hadn’t extremely well. I will be looking for more books from this author and recommending this book to friends.

Oh, I really loved this book. The twists, the turns, the psychological games. This book reminds me a lot of the very first mystery that I ever read and loved: The Westing Game by Ellen Raskin. I was really young when I first read it and at the time I was completely against all thing's mystery. I was on the romance train, and no one was going to talk me out of it. Then, our teacher had us read it and I was hooked. After that, I started incorporating more mysteries into my life and haven't looked back. I have no idea why that book has stuck with me so many years later, but I am glad that it has.

This book has you riveted on the spot. The different point of views can be misleading if you're not paying attention. But then if you are paying attention, you are rewarded with the brilliant 'aha' moment when everything finally clicks together, and you realize that this story is more than just a story. It's a complex duality of characters who become combined and who have no beginning and no end.

Did I mention I loved this book? Man, oh man, I just enjoy twisty mysteries like this one. When you think it's one thing only to learn that it's actually something else. And I loved Jane. Yes, at first, she kind of comes off as nothing noteworthy. But then you realize that she's got more depth than anyone gives her credit for. And she is also right, as an ex-housekeeper, you are not paid much attention to unless someone needs something cleaned or done.

She's so covert, it's overt. The signs are there but no pays any attention to them at all. Brilliantly written. I enjoyed this so much. I hope there will be a second one. I highly recommend this book.

Thanks to Net Galley, the publishers, and to Michelle Dunne for the ability to read and review this book. All opinions are mine and are completely honest.

I didn't even notice that this book was written in the third person, which is unusual because it usually takes me time to get used to this POV.

The writing and the story were so easy to get into, and the twist was just....mind-blowing!!

Honestly, I've read so many amazing thrillers this year, and this book is definitely one of them.

Thank you, Net Galley and Storm Publishing, for a copy of this arc.

4.5⭐️ I was almost expecting this to be like the Housemaid but it’s was surprisingly, interesting, and twisty. I flew through this is about 3 hours. I kept wondering what was going on. I enjoyed the 3 different point of views.

June is just a quiet Housemaid but she starts receiving notes from someone that they know what she did in her past! Who knows and what did she do!?

This book totally caught me by surprise. I did not see any of the twists coming until they were right there in my face. I thoroughly enjoyed this popcorn thriller. Loved it!

Thank you to NetGalley and Storm Publishing for this advanced e-book in exchange for my honest opinion.

No one knows who they even are in this twisty thriller!

This one started off slow, but did pick up and have some fun twists. Everyone had to learn something about themselves and their pasts, and how these revelations could affect their futures. Working in the hotel business can be so interesting!

Thank you to NetGalley, Michelle Dunne, and Storm Publishing for this ARC!

My first Michelle Dunne book but definitely not my last. I totally enjoyed this domestic thriller. A rich cast of characters that kept me flipping pages nonstop. Some I loved and others I just wanted to smack up the side of their heads. So many secrets and lies, it was impossible to know who to trust.
Thank you NetGalley, Michelle Dunne and Storm Publishing for the opportunity to read and review this book.

What a thrilling and exciting book. I was sucked into the story within 3 pages and absolutely loved the storyline.

With a dead body and a missing child, there are two crimes working simultaneously and I just kept saying one more page!

It was a truly thrilling, engrossing and fantastic book. It really cut me in two and brought me to tears. 100% outstanding.