The Hotel Maid was the latest thriller I listened to. It was a good read that kept me listening until the very end.

On starting this I felt I was listening to Nina Prose ‘The Maid’ as there was huge similarities until there wasn’t. I found I just couldn’t connect with the characters or the storyline. I considered DNFing several times but I just can’t have unfinished business. The storyline has a past and present timeline and it switches easily. For me the storyline was predictable from the off and I knew more or less where it was going. The narrator did a great job at keeping me engaged but the storyline just fell short for me. I found it underwhelming and it just wasn’t for me.

I would consider this book OK. I found it confusing through most of it. I kept getting all of the people and names mixed up. It did come together in the end, but I had pretty much figured it out by that point so it was kind of predictable. I did enjoy the audiobook.

*received for free from netgalley for honest review* This was a great read! i really love the maid centric thrillers not gonna lie and this was no disappointment! not sure i could reread but would recommend for sure!

4.5 ⭐️

Beautifully dark and perfectly twisted.

This story definitely needs a trigger warning, but if you can brave the topics depicted, you’ll be rewarded with a captivating character driven plot that slowly unfolds to show the dark sides of human nature.

Jacqueline Milne did a wonderful job bringing the story to life and adding to the atmosphere.

This is a well paced thriller about Jane, who works as a maid at a hotel called Cedarwood Manor. She does her work efficiently and keeps her head down - because Jane has secrets she isn't interested in sharing and she has little in common with the other cleaning staff, whose low standards she despises. Mind you, her high standards also often land Jane with the most demanding guests. Like Mrs Kelly.

But then, the despised guest is found dead in the hotel and Mia Kelly, her daughter, is missing, Jane unexpectedly finds herself in a difficult situation too.

Because someone sends her a note indicating that they know about her past. But how is that possible? And what is Jane going to do about it now?

The story is told in alternating viewpoints between Jane and Mia. The connections between the various characters are not immediately evident, but connections there certainly are...

This book is best read by those who have not read some of the similar titles that have cropped up in recent years. But it is an entertaining and clever read, and will appeal to many thriller lovers, so it gets 3.5 stars.

Aaah type of book I love :) Perfect pace, constant guessing what the heck is going to happen next. A hotel maid clearly hiding her identity, living in poverty. A hotel guest who’s very rich and very mean. A few other characters. How are they all connected? Who killed whom? ;)
If you like books by Sally Hepworth, Ruth Ware, Alafair Burke then you will like this one.
Audio was great! Thanks to Dreamscape Media for the ARC.

A suspenseful and riveting read that will appeal to fans of psychological thrillers and mystery novels. With its atmospheric setting, compelling characters, and pulse-pounding plot twists, this novel is a must-read for anyone looking for a gripping and immersive tale of secrets, suspense, and betrayal.

The Hotel Maid by Michelle Dunne was an excellent listen. The narrator, Jacqueline Milne, kept me, along with the writing, completely engaged. I stayed up way later than I should have a couple nights because I was so into this book! The twists and turns kept me guessing. I didn’t put everything together until towards the very end. This author gives me Freida McFadden vibes. I highly recommend and this author is now on my list of must read authors. Thank you to Netgalley and Dreamscape Select for the ARC. All opinions expressed are my own.

Thank you, Dreamscape Select | Storm Publishing for this copy in exchange for my review.

I have mixed feelings on this one so I will start with the pros: I really enjoyed the atmosphere of the Cedarwood Manor. I thought Michelle Dunne did a wonderful job with descriptions without being overly descriptive.
I enjoyed the dynamic between June and the other Maids.

Now for the cons: the main one for me was that there was an extremely harsh slur used multiple times. (The R word) I felt it was very unnecessary and a plethora of other words could have been used in its place.
I also found the story did drag a bit around the middle and I found I really had to push through to the ending.


🎧📖 note: Jacqueline Milne did a good job with the material she was given.

As I settled into "The Hotel Maid," I was immediately drawn into the world of Cedarwood Manor, where the plush carpets and lavish rooms belied, the darkness simmering beneath the surface. Michelle Dunne's gripping story opens with a chilling scene: June, a humble hotel maid, is confronted with the lifeless body of a guest sprawled on the floor. The moment was shocking, setting the stage for a narrative that would twist and turn in unexpected ways.
From the outset, June is the invisible cog in the luxurious gears of the hotel machinery, someone whose existence goes unnoticed by most guests. It’s a role I could relate to; the quiet observer in a busy world. As I slipped into her shoes, I felt the weight of her secrets and the burden of her hidden past. The sudden discovery of a dead body was a jarring interruption in her meticulously crafted routine. Little did I know how deeply this event would unravel not only her life but the lives of those around her.
What I initially perceived as a straightforward murder mystery quickly morphed into a multi-layered drama. Adding Mia’s POV, a ten-year-old girl caught in a bleak situation, added a poignant layer of complexity to the story. I found myself traversing dark themes of abuse, identity, and betrayal, all of which Dunne handled with a delicate yet unflinching touch. The intertwining lives of the characters were rich with tension, and I was kept on the edge of my seat as I tried to piece together the clues—a mix of scandalous affairs and startling truths.
Listening to Jacqueline Milne’s narration made the experience even more immersive. Her soothing accented voice brought June's character to life, and I appreciated how distinctively she portrayed each character. I never once felt lost or confused about who was speaking, which can sometimes be a pitfall in audiobooks. The way she captured the emotional weight of Mia’s perspective was particularly haunting, enhancing the gravity of the story’s darker themes.
The pacing did start a bit slow for me, as I struggled initially with the timelines and the web of relationships that Dunne wove. I found myself needing to restart a few times before fully engaging with the narrative. But once I grasped the story, everything fell into place, culminating in a revelation that I predicted.
Reflecting on the characters, I found them thoroughly unlikable. Yet, it was their flaws and untrustworthiness that made the story so compelling. The unreliable narration kept me guessing and questioning my interpretations of events. The dark undertones surrounding Mia's story, coupled with themes of self-harm and grooming, presented a challenging read, but it was executed with sensitivity and care.
"The Hotel Maid" took me on a wild emotional rollercoaster, leaving me thoroughly entertained.

This worked really well, it is not what I was expecting - it was very dark and lots of trigger warnings abound but I loved it - just disappeared into it. Before I started I initially thought it was going to follow the same tone as the other books set in hotels but not at all - it is very dark and covers self and child abuse - touches on the old way unmarried mothers were treated. No hold bars.

The story was great - I could have just done with some more differentiation on the young Mia's voice

The Hotel Maid is told from the pov of 2 characters. June is the hotel maid and Mia a young girl who is the daughter of a cook. The book opens up with June finding a dead body in one of the rooms she is cleaning. Throughout the book the mystery of this dead woman hovers with little details thrown in to keep it interesting. Honestly, this reads like an unfolding drama. Who slept with who, hidden identities, and wanting justice for a young girl that is being abused. I had trouble with the ending and it took me a few days to put my finger on it. I think it ended in a flourish that seemed drawn out because I had it figured out. So there wasn't that aha moment at the end.

I listened to the audio and Jacqueline Milne did a great job narrating. I didn't get confused between the characters and her voice is pleasant.

A great audio with a trigger warning for child abuse. If that's not a concern, I recommend picking this up. Thanks to NetGalley and Storm Publishing for early access.

I listened in one sitting and really enjoyed the narrator! 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 listen to this!

Before you read this review, please be warned that this book (and as such this review) will cover the following sensitive topics: spoilers of the book, self-harm, slurs, sexual assault, murder, drugging, discrimination against the disabled community. Proceed with caution.

"The Hotel Maid” is a new book set to release August 23, 2024, by relatively unknown thriller and crime writer Michelle Dunne. As stated in her Goodreads bio, it is part of a two book contract with digital publisher “Storm Publishing”.

Normally, I'm not one to write reviews of… 'Quality'. You can expect quick jabs at a book's writing, usually regarding its shallow depth of characters, but my reviews are written with the same 'deepness'.

So I am clearly making an exception with writing this bottom-of-the-iceberg level of review, because if I do not share my thoughts I might burst like a balloon with a needle sticking into it.

I'm going to make bullet points of infuriation, to give a sense of structure to my hateful rant.

The childish writing

“The Hotel Maid” is written like a high school essay by the mean girl putting in the bare effort into her assignment to write a thriller. If I were not to paint such pictures as I did in the last sentence, I'd just go with “is this not just a screen write?” because it is very much derivative of one. All tell no show, which, if I am to believe every writer that has ever grazed this earth, that's not how you're supposed to go about it.

You'll notice the evidence of the similarities-to-the-mean-girl I've put forward quickly into the book, with the attitude that the prose holds. It's exasperating how characters are simply just labelled as 'the skinny one' and 'the tall one', which is not done as a reflection of the world view of our main character (especially since the story is told from third-person-perspective), it's just a reflection of the author's unwillingness to write fleshed out characters and her blatant laziness in making the story entertaining to read. This drives me to my next point: the characters.

The characters

The characters (AND lack thereof) are ruffling my feathers and chilling my spine, and will get on the nerves of the most mild-mannered person out there. Even guide dogs would lose their temper with them. This is not because they are annoying in any way, but because they are BLEAK, and the written equivalent of the see-through toilet paper in public bathrooms. Take June, our main character, for example: I'm currently trying to muster up a character description for her, but I am struggling because in the 200 something pages, we didn't discover horse shite. A workaholic with a dark past, who wears only black sweatshirts and leggings, is unfazed by anything, and who committed murder. These are traits we are told, but are not reflected in literally anything. They're like randomized Sims traits Dunne just kind of stuck to her. The worst part of this is that Dunne decided that, in an attempt to spice her up a little bit, she had to have an addiction to self harm. I feel it is not controversial to say that: that's a sensitive subject that must be handled very carefully, preferably by those or with the assistance of those who have knowledge/experience with the subject. Dunne, however, would disagree with that, because OH MY FLIPPING GOSH, IT WAS HANDLED BADLY. There is 0 emotional depth or explanation to June's problem, it is JUST “oh yeah she cuts herself open everywhere because she's addicted to it”, cool, but WHY? I'll tell you why, shock value.

Shock value and sensationalism

I would go as far as to say that 60% of things that happened in this book were just to shock you more, in the hopes of making you have a more positive outlook on this book because “the thriller thrilled me! It did its job!”. So many of the 'shocking' scenes serve absolutely nothing to the plot, narrative, or characters. It makes it even worse that half of those unnecessary scenes used very sensitive subjects in an offensive manner. The drugging described in the book served nothing, it just triggered the reliving of those events to people who actually have experienced it.

Slurs

This point is very similar to the one made in the paragraph above, but I felt it was important enough to get its own section. In one chapter, the R-word, r*tard, a derogatory term used for those in the disabled community, must've been used at least 4 times, only the first of those four being relevant (though it still could have been switched out for a word that carries less historical weight). I do not know if Dunne is allowed to reclaim this slur, but even if she was, she should know better that in our year of 2024 (if you follow the Gregorian calendar), putting unnecessary words like this one in your book serves for shock value only once. Even if it was a non-offensive word, using it ~4 times in such a short chapter is just bad writing, get a thesaurus for god's and my sake.

To conclude

A waste of any paper it is to be printed on. Just keep this stuff on Wattpad, or in your diary buried in a time capsule of the 19th century. You might want to hate-read this, but it's just not even worth your time. Yes, it's 200 something pages, but that's at least 199 too many.

I will thank Netgalley for giving me access to the Audiobook, which has a great narrator, in exchange for an honest review (which this very obviously is).

As any Thrillers I read don't want to give anything away.

This story follows June the hotel maid who keeps to herself but is good at being invisible to hear everything.

It also tells the story from a 10 yr old girl Mia and her family and how she grew up

With both timelines I could see where it was going. and Figured out the twists. Now this is a fast read but also has some tough subjects in the story.

Thank you NetGalley for this audio-arc in exchange for my honest opinions.

I love me a maid's story :) I went into the book blindly and enjoyed it. The different POVs keep the story moving, giving each perspective more insight into the plot. The narrator did a great job.

Many thanks to the author and Netgalley for providing me with a copy for an honest review.

Thank you to the author, narrator, publisher and Net Galley for providing a free e-audio version of this title in exchange for my review.

And I'm really sorry to say - I can't finish this book. I got a bit past the 25% mark, and it was just far too upsetting to continue. I don't want to give spoilers, so I'm not sure how to give more detail, but referring to a child as retarded, child abuse - I wasn't expecting that from the summary of the book. I didn't see trigger warnings listed in the summary or in the reviews I read before requesting this book, or I would have skipped it. Usually I can read through that sort of thing - not enjoy it, but get through it - but that's not working for me this time.

Narration was very good. Changing times/ POV's was ok (not always a fan of that), and the writing seemed well done, from what I listened to. But the child abuse was just too much for me.

2 stars for 'it was ok'

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.

tricotillomania, self-harm, cutting, mental-health-issues, triggers, emotional-pain, coping-mechanisms, audiobook, investigation, mysteries, lies, secrets, suspense, false-identities, false-information, pedo, PTSD, retribution, murders, twisted****

I have to admit that I couldn't finish the book because Mia's story was so close to the life stories of people we tried to help in hospitals and jails. People who have been subjected to those kinds of abuse had those very coping mechanisms and wished every minute for someone to rescue them. I think it is a good story for people who think it is all fiction but has too many painful triggers for those who recognize it as reality.
I requested and received a free temporary uncorrected e-book proof from Storm Publishing via NetGalley.
I was later allowed to receive a free temporary audio ARC from Dreamscape Select | Storm Publishing via NetGalley, and this has made a big difference for me because voice actor Jacqueline Milne is excellent and also because her lilt sounds nothing like the people I used to try to help.
June is more than neurodivergent, but has so many psychological problems stemming from the kinds of abuse she has endured all her life hence the cutting and tricotillomania. The OCD and paranoia could arise from anything.
Mia is a child who has been physically and emotionally abused all of her life and has found few coping mechanisms to keep on keeping on.
The threads of the mystery were all present but still things didn't add up for a while and the grand double twist at the end was astounding! dated Aug 23,2024