A “twisty psychological thriller,” to be sure! Single Mother is one of those books where you are screaming at single parent Mel that she’s making a huge mistake! Escaping her abusive ex-boyfriend fresh out of prison, she accepts a sketchy inheritance and moves herself and her daughter to an old, seaside hotel. The hotel is the inheritance, and many odd things come with it, including less than trust-worthy employees and a strange old woman who lives there rent-free and never speaks. During her renovation of the hotel, secrets reveal themselves, and Mel’s problems continue to intensify.

The twists and turns in this story just kept coming, and the last threw me for a loop! This author has quite an imagination. Many thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for the opportunity to read this story in exchange for my honest review. I gave it four stars! #netgalley #SingleMother

The moment Mel and her daughter Kate step inside the small seaside hotel left to her in a stranger’s will, Mel allows herself a rare moment of hope. Could this be the new start away from the school bullies that her little girl so desperately needs? Could they finally be out of reach of Mel’s dangerous ex?
I loved this book. A lot twists and amazing characters.
Thanks netgalley

Nice and creepy, lots of twists and turns, this hits all the right places. Not necessarily Hayes’ strongest novel, but a page turner nonetheless. Highly recommended.

The plot line grabbed my attention. The book, however, did not.

The beginning was solid, but it started to break down as it went on. I'm used to twists and turns that keep me guessing with books in this genre, but that really wasn't the case. Too much overdetailing slowed things down. Too much telling vs. showing, as well. The dialogue was a bit stilted, and there was too much predictability. It could've benefited from a tighter edit.

This was not quite my cup of tea. I think that there are some redeemable characters, but overall I was not particularly excited by this book. I went into the novel unfamiliar with the author’s writing style, so this was a new experience.

I was not a fan of Mel because I thought she was a passive character who missed some glaring clues and never took action when I thought she should. The character that really stood out to me was Sarah and her story. It is tragic but was by far the most interesting character out of all of them. Her history was complex, and I think the novel could have been helped if it was everything from her point of view. I would have loved to read the entire novel, just from Sarah’s point of view.

I thought that the plot was often slow-moving and injecting unnecessary drama that led down a bizarre path. One of my joys of reading mysteries is watching the story unfold with bated breath as the discoveries come through natural consequences. I felt like I was being told the answer without any guidance, which removes all the fun.

One last thing that I was not too fond of was the redeeming character towards the end. There was a reason for all of Melanie’s choices for her to retreat so willingly. It left a bad taste in my mouth, and while I understand that this is a situation that happens all too often, it just made Mel an unlikeable protagonist.

4.5 stars. I really enjoyed this book. It had a unique storyline that kept me gripped. It was full of twists and turns with a great ending that I didn’t expect. I honestly didn’t know who to trust or believe and would definitely recommend this book

I really enjoyed this. I was in a bit of a book funk but I got hooked and flew through this. Good climax and twist! Thank you for the opportunity!

I had very high hopes for this book; the plot line sounded right up my alley. I was hooked for about the first 15 percent, but the move to the inherited hotel is where the story lost me. A good thriller needs lots of twists and turns, and this one got weighed down by setting the scene at the hotel. I don’t plan to share these thoughts on Instagram or Goodreads but wanted to send feedback here. Thank you for the ARC and I’d love to work with you in the future.

Thank you so much to NetGalley, publisher and author, for letting me read this wonderful story. Ms. Hayes is one of my absolute favorite authors. I was so excited to be able to read this book and review it. Mel was abandoned when she was a baby, now struggling financially and emotionally as an adult. Mel's daughter, Kate, is being bullied at school and Mel is at a breaking point. Thankfully, Mel has Michael, her dear friend who is always there for her. Mel loves her job but a terrible event causes her to lose her job and all hope to make it in life and be happy. When she receives a mysterious letter, little does she know how much her life is going to change. Excellent thriller, kept me intrigued from beginning to end.

Trust is a valuable thing. Once it’s broken it never really goes back together perfectly.

Mel’s life is isn’t amazing. Her daughter is her life, her ex husbands in jail, she has no family after bouncing from place to place as a foster child and she’s just lost her job!

Bills, bills and more bills coming in but one that almost goes in the bin is from a solicitors office claiming she’s inherited a hotel and a large sum one money. The catch is she cannot sell the hotel and the donor wishes to remain anonymous. With her ex husband out out jail she jumps at the chance to leave.

Kate and Mel pack the bags and move to the coast. They settle in and begin getting the place in order. Sarah is a live in resident whom doesn’t speak. Until one day she’s does and everything starts to fall into place. The lies, abuse, secrets and pain all come out in the end! And who ends up with blood on their hands?

Loved this story. Had me gripped right until the last sentence. What a turn of events! A mix of emotions from start to finish. Such refreshing characters and heartbreaking story of love, hate, family, and betrayal. So good.

The story has a strong plot but inadequate execution. The storyline becomes so predictable that I started flipping the pages. I quite enjoyed the previous book The Happy Couple, but this one missed the mark for me.

Did not finish.

I normally love Samantha Hayes but this novel was so predictable.

I’m so sorry. I hate to say that I didn’t enjoy an author whose works I have previously. New readers to the genre and the author will enjoy this one

Special thanks to Netgalley and Bookoutre. .

I always enjoy reading Samantha Hayes books and was delighted to receive a copy of her new book Single Mother.
Mel is a single mother with a twelve year old daughter Kate. She has very little money and has just lost her job. When a letter arrives from a lawyer telling her that she has inherited a hotel and a large sum of money she sees this as a way of making a new start. Mel was abandoned as a baby and would like to find out who has left her this inheritance and maybe find out who her family are.
I really enjoyed this book and it’s characters. It has twist and turns and some surprises.
Thank you to NetGalley and Bookouture for my e-copy in exchange for an honest review.

I’ve always loved Samantha Hayes, I was super excited when I saw the front cover release of this one. Sam really didn’t disappoint, I was gripped from the start and actually felt extremely relatable to Mel, being a carer previously myself, I could really grip her character. Mel inherited a hotel from an unknown person, there’s a couple of “rules” of the inherence, she has to run the hotel and make it profitable again, there’s a live in within the hotel that must stay, only miss Sarah doesn’t speak.. can Mel and Katie make it work? Strange things happen, making this book truly chilling and totally page turning worthy.

When I read the synopsis for 'Single Mother', I was immediately excited to read it! The book had a strong, intriguing idea but it was not executed properly. There was too much explaining and not enough showing. The ending was predictable from start. The conversations didn't feel real between characters, it felt very fake. Single Mother had a lot of promise but, there were many flaws within it.

Thank you to Netgalley for an eARC copy of the Single Mother

Doesn’t the cover just scream at you that this novel will be crazy?! Oh my goodness the characters were so interesting and definitely a thrill of a book! Go read!

Single Mother by Samantha Hayes
Story of women from three generations facing abuse, pain and bullying and coming out to live as family - to their happiness finally!
This is a story of Malaine- abandoned as a child, abused by her husband, working for a narcissistic boss and struggling to help her daughter, Kate's happiness. When she gets a anonymous inheritance, She holds onto her stroke of luck to finally get a better life
However fate suddenly had more to offer! Even though she finally meets an attractive Tom at her new inherited hotel, everything around her becomes more mysterious. The hotel gets vandalised, a selectively mute old woman, about whom no one knows seems to be under her care, a guy claims to be her brother and her daughter suddenly is having secrets from her. Everything becomes too much to handle when her daughter disappears in the chaos!
As the plot thickens, more skeletons are revealed! This is an intense book, filled with twists and turns, making us question everything about every character! You might figure out the culprit soon but the story and reasoning was gripping till the end. The book made me sad in so many places though.
I recommend this book to all who like reading  psychological thriller books and suspense books!. Thank you Netgalley and publishers for my copy

1.5/5 This book wasn't for me.

Based on the premise, I thought I would love this book. But I didn't. At all. The story idea is great, I can't fault that, and the execution was alright. Nothing blew me away. There was no *gasp* moment because I saw everything coming from the first chapter. There was nothing to be excited about and this was a massive disappointment. I didn't really care about any of the characters and the only one that felt like they had any depth was Sarah. There were too many plot points, too many things to be crammed into the conclusion - some of them could've been left out and it would have been a bit more believable. But the thing that irked me most was the dialogue. I've never heard a single person talk like any of the characters (except Nige) and it really got on my nerves. The redemption arc at the end was the icing on the cake.

My second time reading one of Samantha Hayes’s books and I found it difficult to leave down, I started reading it yesterday before going to work and while there managed a sneaky 40 minutes.. it got my attention from the first page and the storyline kept me guessing right to the end and there were a few people who aren’t as they seem to be, I hate leaving spoilers but the ending wasn’t what I expected. I really liked this book and need to read more by the author. I got this from Netgalley and I would like to thank them and the publisher for letting me have the book to read and the opinions expressed are entirely my own views and are completely unbiased.