I have always enjoyed Alice’s novels. This one via audiobook was my first audiobook by her that I’ve listened to. I prefer to read physical copies but am very happy I got a chance to get his early ARC. The plot was easy to follow in some parts , others not so much. Overall I did enjoy this !

This is the 2nd Alice Feeney book I've read/listened to recently & I truly enjoyed Good Bad Girl.

This book jumps between the present & decades early. The events of the past intertwine with the present crimes that just occurred. The characters each have secrets that lead to an unexpected ending. There's a theme that sometimes bad things happen to good people who sometimes have to then do bad things & also on the flip side is that there are people who are good at being bad.

I listened to this audiobook & think the narrator nailed this one! I'll definitely look into more books that she narrates.

*Thank you to NetGalley for the advanced copy of this book!

This audiobook truly had me hooked from start to finish. I finished it in less than 24 hours! I basically had it playing at all times because I couldn’t wait to see how everything would unravel.

One feature about this book that I have to point out is that there were a lot of POVs. Most of them were third person, so it wasn’t terribly confusing, but it was enough to make me question who was who a few times. This may have been because I listened to it on audio — maybe I would have had an easier time following along if I had read the physical copy.

As expected with Alice Feeney, there were twists and turns up until the last chapter. There were a few times that my jaw dropped while listening!

As for the audiobook, I enjoyed both narrators. Katherine Press and Stephanie Racine did a great job! The accents were immersive yet easy to understand.

In all, this wasn’t my favorite Alice Feeney novel (which would go to Daisy Darker), but it definitely isn’t my least favorite either.

Good Bad Girl is a blend of mystery and family drama, exploring the complexities of relationships and consequences of our actions.

This story spans two decades with a dual timeline and multiple character POVs, making it a little confusing at first. A baby is stolen in a supermarket and a woman is murdered 20 years later in a care home. It would seem these two events couldn’t be connected yet they are interwoven.

Edith emerges as a central character, trapped in a nursing home yearning for her freedom back. She has become close with her caregiver Patience who is hiding their true identity and motives. Edith is estranged from her daughter who she believes tricked her into the nursing home. And Frankie works in a prison library, desperately searching for her estranged daughter. The multiple mother-daughter strained relationships added emotional depth to the story and kept me invested.

I enjoyed how the plot unfolded and felt that the twists and revelations were well timed and created an atmosphere of distrust and secrecy. Good Bad Girl is a testament to Feeney’s ability to keep readers engaged and emotionally invested. I would recommend this for any Alice Feeney fan and anyone who enjoys a family drama with mystery woven in.

This book was a little slow going at first. I stuck with it as I am a HUGE fan of Alice Feeney and I am so glad I stuck with it. The more and more I read the more and more I tried to guess what was going on and I was close but not right! There are always twists that I don't see coming and this one yet again had one! Once the book got going I could not stop listening. I had to keep going and know what was going on. I needed to know. I eventually saw all that little hints that were dropped that lead to the final answers and was like OH!! Yet again, Alice Feeney has written another good one!

Really enjoyed this book! The story had me guessing throughout how the characters were related. Full of suspense!

Feeney is back at it with her twists and turns. What you think you know, think again! This one was not my favorite of hers but a close second. I enjoyed this tale immensely.

I loved Good Bad Girl, I listened to the audio and Katherine Press and Steohanie Racine killed it !
I was expecting something more psychological and I was pleasantly surprised by the mystery/domestic drama/thriller.

Alice is a genius at developing multidimensional characters and twisty plots. I didn't catch this one and was pleasantly surprised

There are a lot of pov and it's a slow burn- so give it patience and let it play out. I found myself rewinding a few times at some of the more nuanced clues and still didn't figure it out.

What a pleasure to read and listen to her writing. There's nothing formulaic here !
I'm going to go back and read a couple of her earlier works, so far all of her books slay

Thank you Netgalley. Thank you Alice!

I received a free ARC from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

This book had a lot of twists and surprises. I did guess part of it, but others I did not. I liked the way the book started at the end and ended with the beginning. That was unique. I also liked how characters were tied together. Overall a pretty interesting read but a bit hard to follow at times.

3.5

In the beginning of the book a baby goes missing but right before we listen to her mother lament about how much she dislikes being a mother and right before the child goes missing she wishes her to disappear. Then we meet Frankie she is a prison librarian and trimmingly has nothing to do with the first woman and until the book gets to a certain point she has nothing to do with any of the other characters we still meet. Like patients she is an orderly type person at an elderly home called the Westminster care home for Rich elderly patients and this is where she meets Edith Kennedy who has been tricked into the care home by her daughter Chloe Chloe also got rid of her beloved dog who patients spent all her savings on getting him out of the shelter and brings the dog to visit Edith while patient works. Then we meet the daughter Chloe who happens to be a counselor who also happens to be Frankies counselor. Edith divulges her plan to patients that she is going to break out of Westminster care home because she has acquired the services of a lawyer who is going to undo all the wrong Clo has done to Edith but on that same day patients who steals from clients at Westminster care home gets caught and fired so patient puts a plan into motion and before the end of the day Edith is staying with her at her crappy bedsit above the museum owned by yet another Kennedy. This is when all the crap hits the fan defined patience is boss who it seems no one liked dead in an elevator they have three suspects but the cop keeps referring to two murders and three suspects we know who the three suspects are but who is the other person who was murdered? I almost didn’t care I felt like the author was coming up with these sayings hoping they would be brilliant and takeoff and do what… I don’t know I also got irritated when none of the characters in this book responded like normal people would respond and I get that a book has to be written in a certain way to skill the mystery in a certain direction whenever I think the dialogue of a book sounds a little walking I always think of people I know having this conversation or being in that situation and none of the conversations in this book would be head by average intelligent adults also no one in this book is likable there’s no one to root for and maybe we were supposed to root for patients but Patience is a thief she is stealing from all people and I don’t care what excuses she had for doing it update is a thief is a thief and a Y is a lie when they say sometimes good people have to do bad things I mean like if someone’s about to kill your child and you shoot them yeah you’re a good person but you had to do that bad thing to save your child no one in this book was in the situation that called for any of the crappy things they did.
As far as the ending goes it would’ve been an awesome one had the book authentically got there but I think the crazy inconsistent responses and conversations head by the characters in the book made the ending to me obviously provoked it set up not to mention everyone knew everyone in this book the whole book just seemed unbelievable I just didn’t like it and that’s sad because I look so forward to listening to Alice Feeney books because I am a big fan of hers and would love to know what Prosecco she was drinking when she wrote this one. Despite my horrible experience I still want to thank Flatiron books McMillan audio and Net Galley for my free arc copy please forgive any mistakes as I am blind and dictate my review.

I was so excited to see that Alice Feeney was publishing another book, because I loved Rock Paper Scissors. I unfortunately found the plot of Good Bad Girl to be quite predictable. I did love the narration, though.

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

Alice Feeney never disappoints. She’s one of my must-read and must-binge authors, but Good Bad Girl is just so good, so twisty, so Feeney-esque! I loved how the lives of Patience, Clio, Edith, and Frankie diverged and intersected, and, when all the loose pieces finally slid into place in a perfect way, my thriller loving heart sang.

Another Alice Feeney masterpiece!

(3.5 stars)
Alice Feeney is the reigning queen of plot twists, and this book proves... slightly different. I wanted something INSANE to happen. I have read most of Feeney's previous works so I was so excited to listen to this one! I have to say, Daisy Darker is still my favorite. This is a slow burn mystery/thriller (that was giving domestic drama vibes at times) full of minor twists and turns, and Feeney's hallmark unreliable narrators.

What I enjoyed:
- THE NARRATOR! Love love love Stephanie Racine, her voice scratches an itch in my brain
- Short chapters, thank you Alice
- The mystery felt like fitting puzzle pieces together
- The way the story wove together at the end

What I liked less:
- Slow burn, it took until about 60% of the way through to pick up for me
- The multiple POVs and minor time jumps were kind of confusing at the beginning (at least for an audiobook format)
- The twist(s) did not have much of the typical WOW factor that this author has provided in the past

Either way, Alice Feeney is an auto-buy author for me and I can't wait to get my physical copy when it's published!

I liked it but didn’t love it. I think with the multiple POV it got to be confusing listening to the audio. I think maybe when reading the book it might have been easier to keep track of who was talking. I enjoyed the plot of the book. I really couldn’t figure out what was going on for a bit. The end was really interesting too.

Another great read from Feeney featuring a cast of complex characters that really make you question the definition of good! The narration cadence is similar to Daisy Darker, so if that was enjoyable for you, this one will be too!

Good Bad Girl by Alice Feeney
Narrated by Katherine Press; Stephanie Racine

This story was very confusing for me, as it was meant to be, but I enjoyed it very much. We have eighty year old Edith, who has been put into a care home, very much against her will. She did have a friend her age here but Edith thinks something very shady happened to her friend. Luckily Edith does have a young friend, Patience, the girl who does the lowest of jobs at the home. Patience gives Edith what little independence she has in this place by doing things for her and spending time with her. She even brings her beloved dog, Dickens, to spend the day with her once a week.

Patience has so many secrets. Patience isn't really her name, she gets paid under the table because she has no identity at all, and she feels bad because she IS Edith's friend but she is keeping big secrets from Edith. Her life is so hard because of all the hours she works for hardly any money, because the attic she lives in comes with a personal price she has to pay weekly, and because someone she trusted didn't keep a promise made to her.

There is also Clio, Edith's traitor of a daughter. At the same time, Edith knows she is a bad mother because she's let Clio down. Good people do bad things when they feel like they have no other choice.

Frankie is a prison librarian and she is missing her daughter so much. Her daughter is all she can think about and she has no idea how to find her. Frankie had a very bad mother and she wanted to give her own daughter a good life but now it seems her daughter hates her and she may never see her again.

Then there is the young DCI Charlotte Chapman who I really like a lot. I would not mind another story with her as the main character. DCI Chapman still has a lot of learning to do and experience to gain. She'll even admit it by the end of the book, she is quite the character and if you pay attention you will see that what she does and doesn't do helps to push this story along. I enjoyed following all these people although I felt anxious during a lot of the story. At the same time, considering what this story is about, it feels so much lighter than I expected it would be and I appreciate that lightness. The audiobook has two lovely narrators and I enjoyed the narrations by both of them.

Thank you to Macmillan Audio and NetGalley for this ARC.

I've read several of Alice Feeney's novels, and while I enjoyed Good Bad Girl, I didn't love it. What I most missed was the feeling of being thrilled and caught up in action as I have felt in her other novels. Good Bad Girl had a well-thought out plot the intertwined all the characters and their circumstances, but it moved slowly and really was focused more on the mystery than containing thrilling situations or scenes that had me gasping. The mystery seemed a bit too simple, young baby taken who did it of these suspects, but there was an element that I was surprised about even when a majority of it I correctly assumed based on plot. While I didn't really like any of the characters, not sure I was supposed to, I enjoyed the multiple narrators POV and the flashbacks once I got in the groove of who was talking and the time period.

Good Bad Girl kept me guessing and my jaw literally dropped at some of the twists. There wasn’t much thrill, but it was very suspenseful and definitely kept me entertained!

There was a lot of characters to keep track of & it is important to pay attention because as things start to unravel, you’ll need to know who is who!

Overall, this is easily one of my favorite Feeney books! My favorite being His & Hers! Definitely recommend if you enjoy complex storylines & getting whiplash from twist after twist!

4.25 ⭐️

"Exploring the Complex Dance of Morality: A Review of 'Good Bad Girl' by Alice Feeney"

As I sit down to pen my thoughts on 'Good Bad Girl', the resonating chords of 'Rock Paper Scissors' serve as a melodic backdrop, a reminder of my unwavering fandom for the literary works of Alice Feeney. But let's not dwell on my bookish proclivities. Instead, allow me to delve into the captivating world of 'Good Bad Girl' and share what truly captivated my literary senses.

In a realm where the lines between virtue and vice blur, where the wicked sometimes masquerade as the righteous, and where circumstances can force the noble to commit dark deeds, the tapestry of 'Good Bad Girl' is meticulously woven. Two decades past, on a Mother's Day marked by a fleeting lapse in attention, the innocence of infancy is snatched away. Fast forward to the present, and yet another Mother's Day dawns. Frankie, burdened by the weight of her vanished child, grapples with a world where trust is a scarce commodity. She stands alone, isolated by necessity and circumstance. Meanwhile, within the confines of Windsor Care Home, Edith, an octogenarian ensnared by a clever ruse, orchestrates a daring escape. Her suspicions are stoked by the alleged murder of her friend May, and her ally in this quest is Patience – a caregiver whose honesty is as enigmatic as the shifting sands of truth. As their stories intertwine, a rich tapestry unfolds, weaving together the threads of four women, two murders, three suspects, and one unfortunate victim.

The narrative's tempo may, at first, seem deliberate – a slow simmer of domestic drama and suspense that takes its time to kindle. It demands patience as the intricate relationships among the four central characters are painstakingly etched onto the canvas. Yet, in this simmer lies the promise of a narrative crescendo that proves to be Alice Feeney's pièce de résistance. While not her most shadow-laden tale, 'Good Bad Girl' shines brilliantly in its exploration of the dichotomy between good and bad. Feeney deftly dissects the intricacies of motherhood, particularly the harrowing struggles endured by those ensnared in the throes of postpartum depression. Her narrative serves as a mirror, reflecting the multifaceted nature of parenthood and the burdens it entails. Thought-provoking and incisively observed, the prose resonates like a haunting melody, compelling multiple re-reads to fully absorb its depth. This is an Alice Feeney creation that beckons to be revisited, each re-reading promising the discovery of subtle nuances previously overlooked. It's an invitation to self-reflection, prompting readers to scrutinize their own maternal journeys.

As the lives of the four protagonists seamlessly interweave, Feeney's mastery of suspense takes center stage. With each twist and turn, the tension mounts like a tightly coiled spring, and the narrative propels forward with electrifying momentum. The Queen of Twists keeps her scepter firmly in hand, delivering revelations that hit like lightning bolts, illuminating the intricate web of secrets and lies that entangle the characters. A symphony of concealment, 'Good Bad Girl' unveils layers upon layers of truth, revealing the delicate dance between revelation and mystery.

Feeney's characters are nothing short of literary alchemy, each imbued with distinctive voices and personalities that span the spectrum of human complexity. They serve as the narrative's pulsating heart, their stories an intimate reflection of our own. As the narrative hurtles towards its zenith, emotions intermingle, culminating in a denouement that is simultaneously poignant and uplifting.

Alice Feeney, a maestro in her genre, has deftly carved her niche yet again. 'Good Bad Girl' stands as testament to her ability to reinvent and captivate with every new tale. Her repertoire is a testament to her versatility, each work adding to an ever-growing list of literary triumphs. A word of advice to fellow readers: in a world of instant gratification, 'Good Bad Girl' beckons for a patient approach – a demand that yields a reward beyond measure.

Gratitude extends to NetGalley and the generous team at Pan Macmillan for granting me the privilege of experiencing 'Good Bad Girl' in exchange for an unreserved appraisal. For those who share my admiration and wish to embark on this literary journey, mark your calendars for the eagerly awaited unveiling on August 29th. This is an odyssey that promises to be a soul-stirring voyage through the realms of morality and human intricacies.

Alice Feeney is consistently entertaining and there are no shortage of twists in this latest offering. A recommended purchase in all formats for collections where suspense and thrillers are popular.