Good Bad Mother by Anya Mora was a pretty solid novel, a dark glimpse into the world of the uber rich from the perspective of an outsider--Amelia, the new wife of the family's heir. She's hiding a multitude of secrets from her new family, and that stress combined with the stress of being a new mother only adds to the novel's rapidly building tension.

Amelia is a sympathetic character—I really felt for her and wanted everything to work out in her favor, even as I was a little annoyed with her at times. The themes of motherhood and guilt were explored well, adding a deep and relatable emotional layer to the more thrilling aspects of the plot. There were moments where I wished for a bit more character development outside of Amelia, though. The other characters felt a bit underdeveloped, and I would’ve liked to see a little more nuance in some of the side stories.

But overall, Good Bad Mother is a solid, twisty read with plenty of tension and emotional weight. The narrator was great as well. This was definitely a good one to listen to on audio.

This is right up my street a great domestic thriller, hidden secrets, red flags throughout and good narration. It kept me intrigued and I had to keep listening so it was a great binge listen.

Highly quality audio with engaging narration is a quick engaging listen. Totally engaged by the different pov style as it implied there are secrets from both sides and nothing is as it seems. The heart of this story is we are the product of the sum of our history, it effects the person we are today and we can all have regrets . It did take a while for the action to take off and then i was totally hooked desperate to discover what was really going on and what the secret was .Although it was a quick engaging listen there were parts that seemed added to buff it out. This is perfect for anyone who wants to solve the mystery and is open to some very ott ideas. Thank you netgallery, publisher, author and narrator

Amelia is married with a baby daughter and thinks her life is perfect. As the story continues we learn more about the family she has married into and their dislike for Amelia. Her husband becomes more and more distant and it is clear he may not be in the perfect marriage that Amelia thinks she is in. Whilst this book was ok, I definitely wanted more, especially with the ending happening so abruptly. 3 stars. Thanks to NetGalley and Boukouture for this ARC.

Thank you NetGalley and Publisher for allowing me to read and review this book.

Enjoyable thriller with good narration.

WOW!!!!! Hooked from the first page and read this book in one sitting… Full of tension and suspense. A real page turner, a domestic noir but OMG so much more!!!!!

I was absolutely hooked form the jump, i HAD to know what was going to happen! This is what thrillers should be 😍

The narration is excellent, emotionally rich and well-paced. The protagonist constantly revisits the same thoughts about guilt, the past, and a pivotal letter, making the story feel stagnant at times. While the premise is emotionally compelling, exploring self-punishment, secrets, and fractured relationships, the execution stretches thin. Some twists are predictable, others more effective, but the slow unraveling makes the journey feel longer than it should.

That said, the book does evoke strong emotions, whether that’s sympathy, frustration, or exasperation. If you enjoy introspective, slow-burn domestic dramas, this might resonate with you. However, the audiobook format makes the repetition harder to overlook, and this may be a better fit in print for those who prefer a tighter reading experience.

Everyone has a past, some worse than others. Amelia has dark secrets from her past, and she is working hard to keep them buried. She suddenly starts receiving letters letters that threaten the new life she has built as a wife and mother. How far will a mother go to keep her past hidden? How far will a mother go to protect her child?

Even though this book was a slow burn, it drew me in right from the first page, and I was invested up until the end. I was so curious to know how everything would play out. The author kept me in the dark for a long time, and I kept guessing about what would happen. All of those guesses were wrong! The suspense building by Mora was top notch, and elements of surprise that were intertwined throughout the plot development kept me intrigued. I loved the ending, and I thought the narrators (Lauryn Allman and Penelope Rawlins) did a good job bringing the story to life. I enjoy books that have multiple narrators.

Thank you NetGalley and Bookouture Audio for the ALC in exchange for my honest review.

Good Bad Mother by Anya Mora is a gripping psychological thriller that will keep listeners on the edge of their seats. The audiobook follows a woman who seems to have it all—a beautiful life on exclusive Cutters Island, a picture-perfect family, and a carefully curated image of the ideal wife and mother. But her seemingly perfect world unravels when she wakes up one night to find her baby daughter gone.

As she frantically searches for her daughter, the chilling realization sets in: something is terribly wrong, and she’s at the center of it. What follows is a suspenseful and twist-filled journey where the protagonist must confront the dark secrets she’s been hiding—secrets from her past that may be haunting her present in ways she never expected.

Mora’s writing is tense and immersive, and the narrator’s performance enhances the mood of fear and paranoia that permeates the story. The plot is full of surprises and emotional depth, with the protagonist’s struggle to reclaim her daughter leading to a deep exploration of guilt, deception, and the lengths a mother will go to protect her child.

Good Bad Mother is a fast-paced, emotionally intense audiobook that keeps listeners hooked until the final, jaw-dropping reveal. It’s perfect for fans of dark thrillers with complex characters and unexpected twists.

Perfect for fans of Frieda McFadden!!!

Good Mother, Bad Mother was just okay for me. The story had a lot of build-up, but it felt like not much actually happened. I’m all for suspense, but a big chunk of the book was spent on the main character questioning whether she was just being paranoid. That made the pacing feel slow at times. That said, it was a decent read overall, just not as gripping as I’d hoped.
Thank you to NetGalley and Bookouture for the ARC

Oh dear, I really wanted to love Good Bad Mother. The premise is interesting: a woman marries a rich businessman after getting pregnant and they move to a wealthy island community not far from where she grew up, but after his mother insists on doing an article about the family, including a full-color photo, in a national journal, Amelia begins to fear her past will catch up to her. This becomes even more immediate when she starts receiving letters in unmarked envelopes accusing her of ruining someone's life. Because, in fact, Amelia has, and she knows it, because her name isn't even Amelia.

Told in alternating timelines with the present narrated by Amelia and the past by her sister, a twisted tale of deception and death unfolds. And Amelia's new husband, Timothy, seems to be hiding some things from Amelia as well.

It all makes for a plot like a cross between the TV show Revenge and Kimberly Belle's novel Dear Wife. But the execution has a number of stumbles. Since Amelia wanted to escape her past and never be discovered, why not move to the opposite of the country instead of staying so close to home? Most of the "twists" are fairly easy to predict (yes, I "saw every twist coming"). And the final reveals are unsatisfying--one is so obvious that the reveal is more like a last-minute cover-up to show Amelia isn't dumb (because it sure seemed that way at first). Worse, Amelia doesn't really have any agency in this book. She just sort of goes with the flow, allowing everything to happen to her, without challenging anyone (except for a few brief moments where she snaps back at Timothy and then immediately regrets it and backpedals). Despite the blurb's insistence that "And they shouldn’t underestimate how far I’ll go to get my baby back", she doesn't really go very far at all. It's hard to cheer for a character who doesn't cheer for herself even once.

On a technical note, I liked Lauryn Allman's narration. It felt very natural and it was easy to distinguish characters. But there was something off about Penelope Rawlin's narration. Her voicing of Amelia's sister sounded much too young for an 18-year-old (even for a 14-year-old girl) and almost like a chipmunk impression. It threw me off early on and made it difficult to listen to those chapters. And then when she takes over for narrating another character (who is supposed to be 16 or 17), it has the same effect.

Nevertheless, thank you to the author, Hachette, and NetGalley for the opportunity to read and review this book. My opinions were not influenced in any way.

Good Bad Mother had me on the edge of my seat in the best way! The character building was amazing, and the way Anya Mora weaved the timelines was outstanding. I listened to the audiobook version of this novel, and i really enjoyed the narrator. A must-read or listen!

4⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️



✨ domestic drama
✨ mil problems
✨ secrets and lie


✨ one of the hardest thing happen is when you’re the rebound of the relationship.
This what sums up with the story , a mother in law who doesn’t like you but of course no choice as you have the baby, a snake ex who’s still lingering and trying to get back and a partner who just know you instantly and still loves his ex.

✨ I love the story as this occur on our daily lives, well I’m glad not on mine🤣 but generic speaking it does for someone else.
The story has some secrets to unleash, post partum depression so mindful with the trigger.

Definitely worth to read the book especially if you like this kind of drama .




✨ Thankyou @bookouture for the opportunity to read this book for a honest review.


❤️shaye.reads

Oh wow! That was amazing storytelling...I absolutely loved it! I was hooked immediately and couldn't wait to see how things would unfold.
If you want a gripping domestic thriller that has you wanting to listen every chance you get because you need to know what's going to happen, check this out right away. You won't be sorry!

Good Bad Mother, written by Anya Mora and narrated by Lauryn Allman and Penelope Rawlins, is an interesting and suspensful book that kept me guessing until the very end! This book features Amelia Sterling, a new wife and mother to baby Clover, who seems to be living the perfect life with her husband Timothy. She is trying her best to fit in on Cutter's Island, with Timothy's parents and sister right nearby. But she is struggling with being a mother, and with hiding secrets that she doesn't want to get out. When she begins getting threatening letters after being a part of a magazine photo shoot, Amelia wonders who from her past has found her, and what she might have to do to stop them.

This was a great thriller! I did have a little trouble understanding some of the different characters and points of view, but sometimes a little bit of mystery and secrecy is important to keep the reader guessing! I definitely recommend this to anyone looking for an edge of your seat domestic thriller.

Thank you to NetGalley and to the author, narrators, and publisher of this book for an advanced listener copy in exchange for an honest review.

Thank you to NetGalley and Bookuture for the ARC! I really enjoyed this book. I’m always a sucker for multiple POVs and this book gave me that. This book has everything I like in a thriller. Deception, lies, mystery, dark pasts and unexpected twists. I could vision the scenes in my head as I went thru each and every chapter.

🎧
She married up. Now she has the perfect husband, a beautiful newborn, the house, and she will need for nothing. But she has a dark past.

Amelia deals with anxiety, fear, and torturous thoughts as she navigates motherhood and marriage in the first year of her relationship. She feels the overwhelming pressure to keep up the wealthy family’s public image, but it comes at the cost of her sanity. Is she being watched? Who is leaving her mysterious notes about her past?

I thought this premise was intriguing, and it gives a real and honest look into the mental health side of motherhood. There were so many questions that strung me along until the very end.

Heart-pounding suspense, anxiety, jealousy, paranoia, and trauma are all at play.

On a personal note, the opening chapters convey anxiety, but since that’s something I already deal with, I felt like I was taking on the constant dread the narrator experienced, and I like to read to get away from that. I didn’t resonate much with the motherhood aspect, but I would definitely recommend this to a new mom who loves a thriller.

I listened to this in the audiobook format, and I enjoyed the main character’s narration of her dialogue and her inner thoughts. This copy was a gift in exchange for an honest review. Thank you to NetGalley and Bookouture Audio.

Ohh so much backstory! The present and past narratives worked so well - Mora kept me on my toes!
A quick read, intense plot, family drama and issues with a healthy dose of woman's guilt.

A good domestic thriller. Amelia has a secret from her past and recently had a baby has this made her paranoid? Good chracters and pacing. The two timelines are easy to follow as is the plot. The two narrators do an excellent job of bringing this book to life and you know which characters are speaking. Thanks to Bookoutre Audio and Netgalley for this review ARC.