`A good book can be a light in the darkness` — this is so true —and this was definitely a good book ! I enjoyed all the narrators they did a great job of the POV of the characters. By the time I got about 20% in I was hooked with intrigue and had to know what was going to happen and how all these characters were connected to to each other. I loved the technique of building tension of a character and then switching POV it really keeps you on your toes and makes you want to continue with the story to know what will happen to that character where the tension was built . This is a story about mothers and daughters and their relationships , it really touches on the issues mothers and daughter can have. The author does a great job of threading the characters lives together . Loved this book , hard to stop listening— I love this tag line — Sometimes good people have to do bad things! — Recommended !

I was pretty unengaged with this story and I cannot pinpoint why. It was very confusing and dare I say there were too many twists? I just didn't see the point of the entire book until the end when all the twists were revealed and explained. It was interesting and they all made sense afterwards. But was the bulk of the book worth it?

Again! Another great book by Alice Feeney. I just can’t seem to read them fast enough. I am too impatient to find out what the next great twist is going to be! And there are many in Good Bad Girl.

The main characters begin by eking out cryptic stories of their past and present lives. They, along with some side characters ALL have secrets to hide!!!
And the amazing part is that they all come together in the end. I was fascinated with how Alice Feeney made them all fit like a complete puzzle.

I can’t say too much without giving away spoilers but this is a fun ride of a book. You’ll need to pay attention to the many clues and be on the edge of your seat as each character reveals a shocking new discovery! As you can tell, I really liked this book and want to read all her others.

Many thanks to Macmillan Audio for the ARC via NetGalley!

What an interesting ride! This author always tackles some hard topics, and she’s at it again with motherhood this time. She plays with perspective, and always has those twists coming out of nowhere. It was a little confusing at times, but maybe that’s because I was listening on audio. Overall, captivating and very enjoyable!

Edith is an eighty-year-old ex-store detective who’s been shuffled off to a nursing home against her will. She blames her daughter Clio for putting her there. Clio feels she’s doing the best she can and blames her mother for never truly loving her. Neither prefers to communicate with the other.

Patience is an 18-year-old care home employee who’s befriended Edith and her adorable dog, Dickens, who Patience sneaks in for visits with Edith. She also has a strained relationship with her own mother, Frankie, a prison librarian. Patience left home after a disagreement and hasn’t communicated with Frankie since.

In each woman you see both good and bad. As truths come to light you see they’ve all made very bad choices in their lives, yet are any of them truly bad? For a story involving crimes committed, I don’t think I’ve ever felt more sympathetic towards the characters involved!

It’s rare that I finish a book and have no complaints, but try as I might, I can’t find a single one. Alice Feeney outdid herself with this, and it’s risen to the top as my new favorite book of hers! It's a domestic drama/mystery that twists and turns in ways that Feeney has made an art of. It’s also eminently quotable and so insightful regarding women and mother/daughter relationships, that I guess my only complaint is that I couldn’t highlight the MANY wonderful quotes on my Kindle since I listened to it on audio! Who am I kidding? I really can't complain. The audio was amazing.

Speaking of the audio, it was narrated by Stephanie Racine, who always does a brilliant job with Feeney’s books, and the equally impressive Katherine Press. They brought all these fascinating personalities to life and only added to my enjoyment of the story.

I can only sing this book's praises and tell you to check this out if it sounds like a good match!

The beginning of this book was a little hard for me to follow mainly because there were so many different points of view in the story that it felt kind of jumbled and I spent more time trying to piece together how every character is connected and their role in the story.The story is a bit predictable, but there were some twists that were surprising and kept the story interesting.

Both narrators were enjoyable to listen to and brought a uniqueness to the different POV. They brought the uncertainty and distrust of the story to life while also bringing a warmness to each character. This was my first time hearing a story be narrated by either of these women and I truly enjoyed their voices.

Overall this was a good story, but ultimately one that isn’t memorable.

Thank you to NetGalley and Macmillan Audio for the ALC

My expectations for this book sort of messed with me at first as I didn't find it to be all that twisty or feeling like a thriller. I mean, there are secrets and murders and surprises - don't get me wrong. But it really was more of a book about family and the murder mystery stuff was more the backdrop for that exploration and I really enjoyed the book. Some of the relationships in the book are ones you can kind of figure out and some are surprising. And as in the other book by Feeney I read, Daisy Darker, there are plenty of flawed and dislikable characters and some that you root for. So I wasn't on the edge of my seat, but once I just sat back and enjoyed the book as it was it was excellent!

The very first chapter will have your jaw already on the floor

Multiple POV’s (like 4 different people) - this did get confusing at times just trying to figure out who was who and keep up with the separate intertwining stories. However, the narrators did do a good job of each character having their own voice/tone - it was just hard for me to keep up with that many different POVs.

There are several twists in this book - some that I saw coming and some that I didn’t.

Would recommend for a good thriller, but probably keep notes/tab so you can easily distinguish the different characters in the book.

Good Bad Girl
By Alice Feeney

Genre:
Adult Psychological Thriller/Mystery

Red Flags:
Postpartum Depression, Abduction, Loss, Murder, Family Saga with Severed family relationships

“Sometimes bad things happen to good people, so good people have to do bad things.”

Summary/Review:
A sweet baby girl is abducted from a grocery store, and twenty years later, the woman is murdered in the local nursing home. Somehow…the two incidents are connected, and the reader will wonder how until the last page is read. I will not share too much and ruin this novel for anyone, like some reviews do. This is my first novel by Alice Feeney and I can’t wait to read more from her. I did feel the beginning was a little slow for me, but after about half of the novel, the pace quickened as the story quickened. A psychological thriller, with unexpected twists until the very end!

***I listened to the audio version, and recommend it. The narrators Katherine Press and Stephanie Racine did a wonderful job!


Thank you to Alice Feeney, Macmillan Audio, and Netgalley for the Advanced Readers Copy for free. I am leaving this review voluntarily.

#reluctantreaderreads
#Goodbadgirl
#Alicefeeney
#macmillanaudio
#netgalley
#advancedreadereditions

The plot builds at a slow place, with multiple characters and two different mysteries going on at once. By the time the storyline comes together I was no longer invested in the characters. This one just didn’t work for me. I received a digital audio copy via NetGalley, all thoughts and opinions are my own.

I want to thank Alice Feeney, NetGalley, and Macmillan Audio for an advanced copy of this audiobook in exchange for my honest review.

I have read a bunch of Alice Feeny books. She is known to be the "queen of twists," and I must always agree with that statement...

Good Bad Girl starts with a stolen baby and then moves into the future twenty years, where a woman is murdered in a care home. A "good bad girl" is the key to uncovering the truth.

I knew I would struggle with this book from the beginning when I had to restart the audiobook four times to understand what the heck was going on! There were so many POVs and characters, and the narrator's voice, besides being monotone, was the same for all the different characters! I was so confused the entire time that I found myself rewinding to keep up with what was happening. Maybe if I had a hardcover, it would be easier to turn back pages. Struggling to get to the end, I was disappointed with the "twists" that came. It all just fell short. I did not develop any character attachments and honestly kept reading so It would all end.

I am not writing off Alice Feeny just because this book and her last book were a bust. You can't win them all!

Unfortunately this won’t be a favourite of Feeneys, I’d say 3.5 star rounded up. In saying that, I still really enjoyed the reveals and unveils, but it didn’t get my heart going like her others have. While pieces were easy to put together, others were still shocking as expected from her! The back and forth chapters without revealing who’s POV it was I really enjoyed too, it did make for a good guessing game. It was more of a mystery vibe than a thriller which wasn’t my fave. Still worth the read!

THAT WAS A WILD RIDE!!! Omg what a twisty turny story! 90% of this book was me just screaming “WHAT IS GOING ON!” And trying to pull out my own hair. We have multiple POVs, a slew of unreliable narrators, and a jumping timeline. I was so hooked, I couldn’t stop, not even for a second. There’s so much going on, but the plot didn’t feel messy. We’ve got a baby kidnapping, a murder, and a whole lot of drama, rolled into a roller coaster of a storyline! I was constantly pausing the audiobook to try to piece things together along the way, and in the end, I got it all wrong 😂 Alice Feeney is an absolute legend! This book is going to run through my mind for a long time to come.

The whole way I kept wondering how things were going to come together. Then BAM! You get hit in the face with it. SURPRISE! There it is. Wow, nice job Alice.

Thank you Macmillan audio and Netgalley for my advanced audiobook of Good Bad Girl by Alice Feeney The narrator of this book is fabulous. However, there are a number of characters and each chapter flips back and forth between time and different characters, so you need to pay attention closely or you will get lost. (Disclaimer- I would have rather read than listened)Do not give up, the second half of the book comes together seamlessly and wraps up. Also, this is not like other Alice Feeney books that I have read and other reviewers feel the same way. (another lighthearted warning) Like other Alice Feeney books, there are twists and turns all the way to end – riding the line of good and bad… be prepared for the ending!

Thank you Macmillan audio and Netgalley for my advanced audiobook of Good Bad Girl by Alice Feeney.
This book I would give 3 1/2 stars. I did like it but you should know that it is more of a convoluted family drama vs. a thriller with a huge surprising plot twist you might expect from this author. I loved listening to the narrator of this audiobook - I love her accent. There are a number of characters to keep up with so you really need to pay attention to figure out how the events from the past (a child abduction) and present (a murder at a nursing home) come together and how all of the characters connect. The book also delves into postpartum depression and mother/daughter relationships. It did seem a little slow burn at first to me but I was trying to keep up with who was who - there is Patience, Cleo, Frankie and Edith. Once I finally got them straight the story seemed to flow more for me. I did like how everything wrapped up in the end. It was interesting finding out their connection even if some of it was a bit of a stretch. While this was not my favorite book by this author I think it was well written and liked the audio version.

Omg… this book takes you on a ride the entire time! This is a great mystery/thriller book that keeps you wanting more! I at some points did have a hard time keeping up with all the characters, but I eventually caught up with who is who. Overall, it was a great and fast paced read/audio book! ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

I’m the biggest Alice Feeney fan, finding each book perfect in its own way. This audiobook was tad confusing with all its different POV all sounding the same. There was so many characters the first half of the book is hard to follow. I encourage you not to give up. The confusion turns into a beautiful well written story by the end. Not so much a thriller I would say as a family drama.
Thank you Netgalley and Pan McMillan for this ARC audiobook copy you provided for my honest review.

Good Bad Girl is a departure from Feeney's earlier works. It has more of the tone of Daisy Darker, which was only saved by a very amazing twist that took it from 3 stars to 5 in my eyes. She's one of my top authors so I'm always looking for the best but these last two books have been so different. Still very twisty but I think my biggest problem is it's full of adages and sayings and it comes off as phony and cheesy to me, and somewhat condescending in its attempt at simplicity. Like I'm reading a self-help book or a nursery rhyme.

The structure of the book is unique. Comparable only to Megan Miranda's All The Missing Girls which also boasted the telling of a story in reverse but in reality was also just confusing and cluttered until the end.

I got two of the characters in this one mixed up a lot and would have to refer to my notes to figure out which it was. Part of the fun is wondering but this was different.

Her books are always worth reading but I don't like the newer writing style. I appreciated the attempt at nuance of this situation(I don't want to spoil) and flirting with the concept of narcissistic mothers. I just found it all foul. This is supposed to be about the thin line between good and bad, right and wrong, but it was very clearly just bad.

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for the chance to read and review.

Fun, super twisty, Mystery, suspense, thriller. I was very invested in knowing all the angles. I didn't figure out the very final twist, so as always a minimum of 4 stars if I finish and couldn't guess. Every character has questionable morals, and a glimmer of goodness (Good Bad Girl). I really enjoyed the jumps back and forth in time and different character perspectives, it really allowed the reader to dig in and get to the nitty gritty. Not one character is as good or bad as they seem at first glance.