This is an intriguing domestic thriller that has your spidey senses going many different ways. It’s a fast paced read that holds your attention. There are many twists and turns with some I could see coming and but some that were a complete surprise which is always a plus. I honestly couldn’t stand Miles from the get go and wasn’t sure initially if I liked Lucy but that was short lived. This is a rollercoaster read that doesn’t let up with some really good surprises along the way. The narrator did a great job of building the storyline and keeping the listener engaged. A good read for sure.

Thanks to Netgalley and Bookouture for the opportunity to read and review #TheBaby

Thank you, NetGalley for the opportunity to read this book. It was insanely good.

Twists kept me interested in this book and made it hard to put down.

I will definitely be reading more of this author's books in the future 🩵

Absolutely devoured this book! Page turning, could not put this one down, I loved how it went from past to present and always making you guess where the baby could have come from, my mind was changed so much throughout the book and never would have guessed what happened, mouth fell wide open at the end

Absolutely loved this book!!! It had my heart pounding.. I love it when it's one of those books that grabs you and doesn't let go.. So be prepared for that.. Has some great twist you won't see coming.. I plan to start reading more form this awesome writer. Definitely give AJ McDine a chance.. I want to thank the author and publisher for giving me the honor to review a early copy of this awesome book.

A gripping and quick read! I read it in one day!
Unique storyline that keeps you intrigued and guessing!
I felt so much for our main character as we learned more about her losses and rough times, both past and present. I was invested in her story! (trying not to give too much away!)
Turns and mysteries and action...this book kept me interested and hooked until the end!

*** THIS REVIEW CONTAINS SPOILERS IF YOU HAVE NOT YET READ OR FINISHED THIS BOOK!***

What is was about: A woman wakes up to a baby being in her home but the baby isn’t hers and she has no idea who the baby belongs to or how it got there. Last night is blurry she fears maybe she stole this child since she lost her own. Turns out it wasn’t her at all. It is really her husband’s baby that he made raping another girl then killing her.

What I liked:
- Easy to read
- I wanted/needed to know what really happened
- I love the happyish ending. The baby gets a mom who loves him and she gets the baby she has always wanted.
- I am glad that she was able to get away with his death. Although killing shouldn’t be okay I feel in this situation it was best for everyone.
- I am glad that she didn’t get the police involved right away
- I love the little twist in the end that the baby is actually his child and that he is the one that drugged and raped her

What I didn’t like:
- Although I did like it in the end and I understand why it still bothers me that she never went to the police about the baby.
- Why didn’t she get suspicious of the husband sooner? He even kept pushing her away from the police and then telling her the mom didn’t care about the baby. That wasn’t weird to her at all?
- I hated that the poor girl had to be raped by someone she thought she trusted and then later killed by him
- I hated finding out that he drugged her and pushed her down the stairs killing her baby and made her believe that she had done something wrong. All that guilt she must have felt and she didn’t even do anything wrong!

Overall Thoughts:
I enjoyed this read! I absolutely hated the husband character for everything he did and think he got what he deserved in the end.

Lucy awakens with no memory of most of the previous day and there is a baby in her house. The problem is Lucy doesn’t have a baby.

This is a top-notch psychological thriller that kept me guessing all the way through. I was engrossed from the very first chapter. The short chapters along with the author’s wonderful writing style kept the book moving quickly. I plan to read other books by this author, as well as recommend this book closer to publication day.

Thanks so much for the opportunity to read!

Just wow! I went into this story completely blind and I am certainly glad I chose this one. This book gripped me from the very first page. A page turner for sure! I read this in two sittings. I could not put it down, I had to know what happened. This twist story had me guessing the entire time and I still wasn't right in the end! What a wild rude!! What would you do in this situation?? The ending was very satisfying 😌 I will be looking for more books by this author for sure! I highly recommend this one if you love heart pounding edge of your seat kind of stories! I would actually like to maybe see a sequel to this and see where baby Wren and Lucy end up in the future. The characters will stick with me for a while I'm sure.

Thank you to Netgalley and A.J. McDine and Bookcouture for the ARC!

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for allowing me to read this arc. The plot is about a couple that can't have kids, but one morning Lucy wakes up to a baby in her house!! Extremely well written book, was hooked from the get go!

3.75 stars
Lucy wakes up one morning after a previous long day of drinking. She's trying to remember her day and how she ended up back home. When she suddenly discovers a baby in her living room. Who's baby is in her living room? and did she steal him while she was drunk? The book got my attention right away and kind of lost me a little in the middle. I was struggling to finish, but then it got good again towards the end. I'm glad I kept reading because the end had twists and so many lies that made up for it. The book pretty much goes back and forth between past and present, and Lucy trying to figure out who's baby she has and how it ended up with her. She has struggled with infertility and ends up falling in love with this small, cute baby. Does she keep the baby or find his parents?

What grabbed my attention about this book and submitted a request for an ARC was the blurb alone. There have been plenty of books published with the theme of kidnapping but never like this. A women waking up one morning and hearing the cries of a baby... a baby she did not birth nor have any idea of its existence prior to that morning? Genius.

It was easy to get through this book because the chapters were short enough to make you want to keep going without feeling fatigue from long pages. The entire time I kept thinking, "where the hell did this baby come from?" This story is told by our unreliable narrator, Lucy, who's married to Miles and lives in her grandfathers cottage with their cat Percy. From the moment Lucy finds the baby in her house, the story picks up and is told in both present tense and past (through memories). I'm not one to be a fan of past and present story telling but in this case it was both necessary and interesting. They were missing pieces to the mystery that also gave us an insight of who Lucy was in her alcohol induced haze.

Of all the characters, I loved Lucy (I Love Lucy like the show!) As unreliable as she is, you have to feel for her. She's dealing with an addiction that has led her to possibly committing a crime that she didn't mean to do. She's in a relationship that is little by little hinted as toxic and abusive, and she's isolated. She's also dealing from a miscarriage while being reminded of motherhood in all her interactions. She's also brave and smarter than I would've been at some of the reveals because I would've lost it. I also loved Shona and their newfound friendship. They stuck together and worked out the mystery while having to make tough decisions in the process.

I did not think the plot twists were gonna get me but they sure did. When I though I figured out the plot, the twist would be revealed and I would be left staring at the wall. And the final twist being the absolute final thing we are left with from this book? Amazing. Truly left me reeling from it all and I'm still thinking about this book and probably will until I get my hands on a physical copy when it gets published. The plot of this book overall is a unique concept because what do you mean she woke up to a baby crying while having no baby???

The thing I hated about this book? MILES. For me to have this irrational anger towards a fictional book means the author did such a well job at developing him and that's exactly what McDine did. As the story progressed, he just got worse and worse and in ways that aren't in your face until shit hits the fan. From the moment chapter one begins and she talks to him on the phone, I knew this man was gonna be the worst person ever. He's an absolute narcissistic, psychopathic loser!

Also, what happened to Percy? Maybe I missed it but after a certain point he never showed up. Justice for Percy. Anyways, this was my first A J McDine book and if this book had me hooked right away, I will be checking out the other books!

Update: I have to give this 5 stars I’m still thinking about these characters and just piecing every little action of each of them

Thank you NetGalley, A J McDine, and Bookouture. Book is to be published on April 23, 2024

⭐️4.25
Lucy is a drunk and she’s unraveling. But first, she needs to sober up and find out exactly what she did.

There’s a baby in her house and she has no idea how it got there.

I loved the short chapters and the author grabbed my attention from the very first paragraphs.

Thank you so much NetGalley & Bookouture for the ARC, I just loved it!
Publication date: April 23, 2024

AJ Mcdine is one of my favorite authors. "The Baby" is a riveting and exhilarating thriller. I literally was glued to the pages and couldn't put the book down. I was totally immersed into the story. The author is incredibly talented, and her books are the epitome of thrillers. The unexpected twist, anticipation, palable tension, and her skill at plotting. The story is relentless to the last page. The characters are detailed and relatable. The ending was magnificent. The author always exceeds my expectations.

This is a new author for me and I really enjoyed this book. A fast paced story that kept my interest and kept me reading even though some of the twists I think I saw coming before the characters! That said the writing was so good that it didn’t bother me and I couldn’t read it quick enough. I will definitely look to read more by this author.

This is a solid 4 star read. I didn't have any jaw dropping moments and had the twist figured out pretty early on. With that being said, it was still a great, quick read. I loved the Michigan reference! It won't be my last AJ McDine book that's for sure!

Excellent read - kept reading all day until I finished it, absolutely heart stopping with twists and turns. One of my most fave books I have read.
Loved the style of writing and the different characters. Highly recommended.

I read this book in one sitting. I just couldn’t put it down. I was so intrigued by this plot line. I enjoyed the up and down of what in the world was going on…
How does a baby just show up inside your house?! That poor woman though, I really felt for her character.
The twist was actually twisted. I was surprised and I think that person got just what they deserved in the end. Underlying themes of verbal, and emotional abuse were present which made the story that much more page turning!
This is not my first book by this author but surely not my last! It was an easy read that held my attention during a long car ride.

I had never heard of this book or its author prior to seeing it on #netgalley, but the cover, title, and synopsis were enough for me to request permission to read it before it is published. I found it to be a fast paced and moderately twisty mystery story. It drops you right into the story with little preamble and off you go from there. While I do admit that some of the plot twists are things you see coming before the characters do, but the writing is strong enough that you aren’t too bothered by it. I devoured this story within 2 days, and almost immediately after I reached the end I looked this author up and am currently listening to one of their other stories on audiobook. If you are a fan of mysteries, especially of the “who the bleep did I marry?” type, this is a story for you! This is my first book I’ve read from NetGalley, and it has definitely made me a fan and I can’t wait to see what other books may come my way!

This book can be summed up in one sentence: a woman wakes up with a hangover and a baby, then craziness ensues.

It’s more than that of course, but that’s about all that can be said without spoilers. Lucy wakes up one morning with a massive hangover, which isn’t unusual for her. She remembers going to the dentist the day before, then grabbing a drink (or four) with an old friend, but she has no idea how she got home. As she stumbles through the house to get to some water and paracetamol, she is stopped short. There’s a baby, asleep right there in her living room.

Lucy’s husband, Miles, works on an oil rig, so is gone for long periods of time. Lucy’s drinking can get a bit out of control when he isn’t there to monitor her, and this time she knows she’s really screwed up. She blacked out, and must have stolen someone’s baby. That’s the only reasonable explanation. Her first thought is to take him to the police station, but obviously this will not make her look like a saint, so she waits and tries to figure out what to do.

As the day goes on, she watches the news and Googles missing children, but there are no reports of a baby being taken. Is it possible Lucy saw a mother who wasn’t taking care of the child, so she stole it? Is it possible that the mother even GAVE her the child? And what is she going to tell her husband when he gets home? He is constantly on her about her drinking, and he has never wanted children. This is going to be the ending of her marriage - but she will be damned if she loses both her husband AND the baby. How can she make this work?

This story was super fast-paced and quite entertaining. The suspense of wondering who this baby is and where he came from makes for quite a compelling plot, and the ending gives the reader several revelations and twists that I didn’t see coming. This one should please most thriller readers - 4.5 stars!

(Thank you to Bookouture, A.J. McDine and NetGalley for the ARC in exchange for my review. This book is slated to be released on April 23, 2024.)

Get ready to lose time when you pick up The Baby! A fast and addicting read that you will just need to keep going with. Lots of wild twists and turns in this thriller that will surprise you until the very end.

Lucy wakes up one morning after a big day previously of drinking. She has no idea how she got home and now she has found a baby in her living room!! She tries to put the pieces together to work out who the baby is and how she has him. Instead of turning herself in, she thinks the baby might be better off with her….

That is just the start of this roller coaster ride. You have to read it to learn more but you will not be sorry.

Thanks to the author and Bookouture for my advanced copy of this book to read. Published on April 23rd.