This story is an emotionally powerful and gripping read. Mora’s writing beautifully explores the complexities of motherhood, guilt, and redemption. The characters are well-developed and feel real especially Amelia with a perfect balance of heartache and hope. Amelia explores the difficulties of motherhood, guilt, and redemption with sensitivity, making it thought-provoking and relatable.
What sets this book apart is how it manages to be heart-wrenching. The pacing is perfect, with enough tension to keep you turning pages but also moments of reflection that add depth to the narrative
The story kept me hooked from start to finish, offering both tension and moments of reflection. If you’re looking for a thought-provoking, character-driven novel, this one is a must-read!

3 stars. Good Bad Mother was a middle of the road thriller for me. Amelia is married to Timothy and they have a newborn daughter named Clover. Timothy is from a very wealthy family with a mother who despises Amlia. Amelia is trying to start a new life after being in hiding due to a childhood secret that she doesn't want revealed. That's not going to be an easy task though being married into such a prominent family. This was a quick read but I found it flat with very unlikable characters and a very predictable ending. I felt there was a lot of repetition and it really got on my nerves. May be a good thriller for the beginner thriller reader.

Thank you to Nergalley and Bookouture for the ARC. I greatly appreciate it I do recommend this book as many will enjoy it.

Good Bad Mother kicks off with a chilling scene: "The crib is empty" this psychological thriller grips you from the first page!

Amelia appears to have a perfect life: a wealthy husband, a beautiful baby, and an enviable home. Of course, she hides a dark past. Anonymous letters begin to threaten the carefully constructed façade, sending Amelia spiraling. The arrival of her husband's ex-girlfriend and mounting family tensions only add to the suspense...

Is Amelia ready to face her past?

I always enjoy Anya Mora’s thrillers and appreciate her skill at writing about family relationships, especially the bond between mother and child. This is a fast-paced page turner with some great twists!

After a whirlwind romance and an unexpected pregnancy, Amelia finds herself married to the very rich Timothy and part of a whole new world of wealth as a resident of the exclusive Cutters Island.

When Timothy’s mother arranges for the family to have a photoshoot for a magazine, Amelia is terrified of someone recognising her and identifying her true identity. Anonymous letters soon start arriving and then, Amelia goes to the nursery to check on her baby and finds her gone, before realising that her house is on fire!

Tense and twisty, this is a great read!

4 ⭐️ Thanks to Netgalley, Anya Mora and Bookouture, for an ARC in return for an honest review.

Good Bad Mother held my attention throughout. I enjoyed how the story was told by alternating POVs and timelines. The plot was suspenseful with an underlying feeling of unease. The story is emotional and unpredictable. There were plenty of unexpected twists that added intrigue. The conclusion had my heart racing. Thank you NetGalley and Bookouture for my ARC.

"The crib is empty.
For a second my body goes completely numb, the air sucked from my lungs. No."

Talk about a way to kick off a story! I thoroughly enjoyed this read from the first page. It was fairly fast-paced, and I found I didn't want to put it down. When the cracks start to show in the FMC's perfectly constructed life, I started to feel her anxiety right along with her. I didn't guess the twist, and the ending tied everything up nicely with no loose ends. I'd highly recommend this to anyone looking to get into thrillers, fans of Shari Lapena or suburban thrillers.

**Thank you to Netgalley for the ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Readers looking for a fast-paced mystery with a satisfying resolution should read Good Bad Mother. Amelia has a perfect life with a rich husband and baby Clover living on beautiful Cutter’s Island. But the disturbing notes she’s receiving in her mailbox hint at a past where she has some explaining to do. The flashbacks of Amelia’s past keep you intrigued and thinking you have it all figured out! This is a page turning thriller I recommend!

She has become one of my favorite authors!! I love how she keeps you guessing and wanting to read more. I finished this book in one day!!!

"I'm doing the one thing I vowed I would never do. Have my photo taken by a stranger"

It's very rare for me to not predict very early on in the book where the story's going .. This read was PACKED! The FMC is flawed to the T yet she's one of those characters I'd defend like my life depends on it😂🙆🏼‍♀️

Amelia is doing everything she can to be the perfect wife to her husband, Timothy, and a good mother to Clover. On the surface, their life looks like a dream—  money, connections and safety. Amelia finally feels like she’s building a stable future. However Amelia’s hiding a dark past, and she’ll do whatever it takes to make sure it stays buried. Things start to spiral when a family photoshoot takes place and you could say the "cherry on top" in midst of this is the reappearance of Celeste who doesn't shy away when it comes to making Amelia uncomfortable but that's the least of her problems (literally) when Amelia receives an anonymous letter from someone who knows her biggest secrets and dark past. How long will it take before her picture perfect life falls apart...

I thoroughly enjoyed this read! I need more people to read this to see if anyone can actually figure out the ending cause I'm lowkey annoyed with myself that I didn't figure it out faster 🤣

Good bad mother by Anya mora
4 out of 5 stars

Advanced reading copy review - Amelia has just married into the famous Sterling family, a new wife and mother with dark past. She keeps the truth about her history hidden from everyone while doing her best to be a good wife and mother, with little help from her husband. A family photo shoot completely upends her world. Even without considering the fact that her husband's ex-girlfriend is back on the scene, her life will never be the same as she begins to receive anonymous messages from someone who knows who she truly is and what she has done. This book had me hooked from page one, it was high steaks all throughout this novel. And as a lover of horror and mystery/ thiller novels, I really enjoyed this novel to the end.
Thank you to Anya mora, Bookouture and NetGalley for giving me the opportunity to read and review this book.

This is my first book i have read from this author before, and i loved it. There was some parts where she was doing one thing then the next minute its hours later, but it didn’t stop me from reading and i just went along with it all still.
I felt something off about her husband from the beginning, i knew what he was up to, the rest of it took me by surprise, i kept thinking the twist was someone else.
Also it makes me mad that he had a baby, and never helped at all, didn’t question on anything when you could tell she was going through motherhood by herself.


I need a short story update, where are they now, does her ex come back? Does she get a new boyfriend, what about her family. I need to know these things lol.

Thank you to NetGalley, Anya Mora and the publisher for this e-arc! A quick read for me, loved this suspense novel.

This book was truly unputdownable! I finished it in one day and each page kept me eagerly turning the page for more.

Cutters Island is perfect. Perfectly manicured lawns. Perfectly crafted mansions. Perfect families. Perfect reputations. But things aren’t what they seem on Cutters Island.

Amelia finds herself living a dream. Her perfect home. The perfect clothes. The perfect husband. The perfect baby. But, things aren’t always what they seem.

Amelia has a past. A dark, deep past that if it came to light, the people of Cutters Island, especially her in-laws, would never look at her the same. But, what’s done in the dark is always brought to the light. As Amelia’s perfect walls come tumbling down, how much of her secrets will be spilled across the beautiful Cutters Island?

The perfect twist of drama, thriller, suspense, and twists. This is a must read for psychological thriller lovers.

Talk about a book that will have you hooked from start to finish! I seriously could NOT put this down. I was on the edge of my seat so eager to know where the story would lead. Quick chapters, duel timelines, and a plot twist that will have your jaw on the floor!

3.5 stars (rounded up)

What an interesting, twisty domestic thriller, filled with deceit and long-held secrets. Each chapter moves between past and present, as we unravel the secret past of our protagonist.

The prologue absolutely hooked me in - where we meet a mother during her worst nightmare. She wakes in the night with her home on fire and her baby is missing! “My last thought is this fire is no accident. It is revenge. My past has finally caught up to me. Someone wants me to pay for what I did.”

Amelia has recently relocated to the wealthy neighborhood on Cutter’s Island in the Pacific Northwest, following a whirlwind romance with Timothy, the son of well-known, wealthy Sterling family. Amelia is adjusting to a life filled with privilege, as well as navigating her new role as a ‘perfect’ wife and new mother, when her past secrets come back to haunt her…

I certainly enjoyed the premise of this twisty thriller, told from multiple perspectives. I appreciate the realistic portrayal of early parenthood, as well as the various nuanced depiction of mothers, both ‘good’ and ‘bad’.

With thanks to Bookouture and NetGalley for the digital review copy, for review consideration with an honest review.

This would be a great read for anyone who enjoys books written by Freida McFadden, Lucy Foley or Mary Kubica.

Release date: February 17 2025

This book promises a nail-biting psychological thriller packed with twists and it delivers!! This was my first read by the author and I'll be seeking out some of her other work for my TBR list.

There's lots of suspense leading to the major twists, delivered through dual timelines. I definitely had knots in my stomach at times trying to figure out what was coming next.

The main character is deep in the newborn bubble and knowing how maddening sleep deprivation can be, I empathised a lot with what she was experiencing in that regard.

Thanks @netgalley and @bookouture for the e-ARC!

“Good Bad Mother” is a mystery/thriller by Anya Mora. This book follows Amelia, who is married to Timothy and mother to newborn Clover. Timothy’s family has wealth and is seemingly ruled with an iron fist by Timothy’s mother. Timothy’s family has never warmed up to Amelia, which Amelia understands although she wishes things were different. Part of Amelia’s understanding is that she has secrets to hide in her past and if Timothy - or his family - discover her secret/secrets Amelia’s whole world will come crashing down. I have to be honest - this was not my most favorite thriller as so many of the characters were unlikable and I found the ending a bit rushed. I think if you’re a newbie to the world of thriller mysteries, this might be a good one to pick up to get a feel for the genre.

How I’ve never come across any books by Anya Mora before is beyond me because I devoured Good Bad Mother and loved her writing style! It was the perfect psychological thriller full of lies, deception, and family drama. It was the definition of a page-turner and just when I thought I had the plot figured out, there was another twist to leave me guessing!

I had so much empathy for Amelia. As a new mother who wasn’t welcomed into her husband’s elite family, she struggled with her own family trauma and was forced to leave her past and recreate a new life that she wasn’t sure she could live up. Her insecurities unraveled as letters arrived with a threat of her past being exposed. At times, I thought it sounded redundant with “she/he knows” for any character who Amelia thought could be behind the letters, but after finishing the book, I now see how it flowed together.

Overall, this was an easy 5 star read. I loved the themes of motherhood, sisterhood, and generational trauma. I was surprised at the ending and how things concluded, but I don’t think I would have enjoyed it as much if it ended how I thought it would go.

Thank you NetGalley and Bookouture for the opportunity to read a digital ARC in exchange for an honest review!

*Book publication date: February 17, 2025*
*Reviewed January 19, 2025*

This was just a Ok read. It has short chapters so quick to read bur the book in general is very slow. May suit readers who are starting out in Thriller genre.
Ameila is married to Timothy who comes from a wealthy family and they have a beautiful baby. When Amelia starts to receive notes she worries that her secret past will come out and destroy her family. But who is sending the notes?

GOOD BAD MOTHER BY ANYA MORA.
Release date set for the 17th of February 2025.
This is my 5th book by Anya Mora.
I felt so bad for the main female character in this book.
This one is a fast paced psychological thriller which has so many twists that i loved.
This was a quick read for me.
I'm looking forward to reading more of her work.