Alice Feeney is so good at writing twists and turns that always keep me guessing. I really enjoyed this story. My mind wandered a bit at the beginning, but I was hooked once I got a bit into it.

Audio narration was so well done.

3.75 stars

This was my first book by Alice Feeney though there are a couple on my TBR list.

This story was tough and go for my liking. There were aspects of the story I enjoyed, some characters I truly enjoyed and could relate too. Personalities like Edith were priceless. There were also aspects I didn’t care for. The narration while even paced and proper for this story, I just didn’t care for it, though I can’t specifically place a reason for that.

I would say that the first chapter you hear probably should have been placed elsewhere as it did confuse me with regards to where the storyline was going. The beginning eventually caught up with the rest of the story, but it took too long.

Special thank you to NetGalley & Macmillan Audio for providing me with an advanced audio version of this novel.

Alice Feeney is one of my favorite authors. Period. I was so excited to get a copy of this audiobook from NetGalley and Macmillan Audio in exchange for an honest review.

There are two main things I LOVE about Feeney. One is the eloquence of her writing. If I highlighted books, it would be just a page of yellow. She is able to write so many phrases that I just want to tuck away and pull out later and yell "Listen! This is exactly how I am feeling!" And a book about mothers and daughters had allllll the phrases. Her writing, as usual, was enjoyable as ever for me.

And then of course, the second thing that I love so much is her is her ability to build suspense and knock you over with a twist you didn't expect. However (whomp, whomp) this one lacked the suspense, thrills, and twists that I've come to expect. I think I would have enjoyed it more if I went into it with the expectation that this wasn't a thriller (I'd say domestic drama/suspense) or if I didn't have certain expectations from reading all her other books. Don't get me wrong- there was still a surprise element, but it didn't knock me over. Honestly, the biggest surprise for me was how many easy coincidences that were written in the book.

This was my first Feeney on audio, having read all her others in book format. I was worried I wouldn't enjoy it as much since I find her books to be so quotable, but that definitely wasn't the case here! I don't think the narration had any influence on how much I enjoyed the plot of the book! If anything, it may have helped me enjoy it more because the narrators (Katherine Press; Stephanie Racine) did a great job capturing emotion. I wouldn't hesitate to try any future books of hers on audio.

Alice Feeney has done it again! A book with so many twists and turns it kept my attention the entire time.

Good Bad Girl is not as her other works. A thriller with so many twists you’re never going to know what’s coming next. I am really glad to have been able to have a glimpse of how their lives turned out at THE END. A great read.

The narrator did amazing as well!

Thank you NetGalley & Publisher for allowing me an early access copy of the audiobook.

Wow!!!! Another amazing read from Alice Feeney! I previously read Sometimes I Lie and was blown away by it so I had high hopes for this one. It did not disappoint! I don’t want to spoil too much as it’s best to go into this one blind but I loved how this unfolded. I did call a couple of the twists, but there were still several that snuck up on me and some links that I missed. I loved the characters and was satisfied at the way it wrapped up. The audiobook was fantastic and each of the readers helped the characters to come alive for me. I highly recommend this book, and this may be my favorite so far this year!

I received an audio DRC through NetGalley in exchange for a review. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

I will always give Alice Feeney's books a read, as I have enjoyed some many. However, I have not finished her last two, this one included. Too many characters thay I couldn't connect with, and a plot that moves slower than I like my mysteries.

2.5 stars rounded up

The trouble with listening to a novel written by the proverbial “Queen of Twists” is that I started inventing twists that weren’t there and then feeling rather let down. This is a, comparatively, straightforward mystery, all about mothers and daughters, in which four women don’t tell each other (or the reader) what they know and what’s going on until the end.

Twenty years ago, on Mother’s Day, a baby was stolen from a stroller in a supermarket. This section is narrated by a nameless woman, and, it must be said, the audiobook narration fumbles this section in a way that would be a spoiler.

In the present day (or is it? You never know with the QofT!), on Mother’s Day, Frankie, Patience, Clio, and Edith take us through their day. Frankie is a prison librarian who lives on a narrow boat on the Thames and her teen daughter ran away a year ago. Clio is a therapist who lives in a house in Notting Hill that she can’t afford. Her mother, Edith, is in a care home which she hates. Patience, a young carer, is the only thing that makes Edith’s life bearable.

There is a murder at the care home and three of the women are suspects. There is an unusual police detective on the case, unusual to the point of being mysterious and she keeps popping up, saying “Three suspects, two murders, and one victim.” But really the heart of the mystery is what connects the four women. Frankly, it’s a bit of a slog getting there and the narrator’s slightly stressy reading doesn’t help.

The women all think/speak in a continuous rush of cliches and aphorisms of the “there are two types of people in the world…” variety, often to the point of sounding like caricatures rather than real people. There’s also a lot of musing about good/bad to justify the title, along the lines of “good people doing bad things.” Frankie has an obsession with counting and this gets a little wearing as well.

So not my favorite Alice Feeney novel and I didn't feel the audiobook format enhanced it.

Thanks to Macmillan Audio and Netgalley for the digital audiobook review copy..

4/5 stars

Thank you Macmillan Audio for the advanced listening copy!

Three suspects, two murders, one victim, and a 20-year old crime. 80-year old Edith is convinced that something, or someone, at her care home is amiss. Patience, a caretaker at the home and kindred spirit of Edith's, is on her team but not entirely sure how to help. It doesn't help that she's lied about almost everything. Edith's daughter, Clio, will never forgive her mother for what she did all those years ago, and their strained relationship someone becomes the center of it all. With a nosey detective at hand, these three women will have more in common than they could have ever expected.

Though I enjoyed this one overall, it was not my favorite of Alice Fenney's. In some ways, this book was lacking the usual depth and absolute mind-boggling twists that are usually characteristic of the Queen of Twists. Despite that, his was a fast-paced and enjoyable read. Each of the characters brought a level of dimension to the story that was well-done and much-needed. This story centered around the complex relationships between mothers and daughters, and how these can affect us in so many unexpected ways, even years later. I appreciated the twists, though I anticipated a few of them, and always the enjoy the intellect that comes with an Alice Feeney story. While this wasn't my favorite of hers, it was still a solid and excellent thriller, and great on audio!

Thank you to NetGalley and Alice Feeney for this E-ARC in exchange for my honest feedback and review.

Patience has a favorite care home resident, Edith. Edith regrets her daughter. Her daughter Clio lost her daughter years ago in the grocery store. Frankie is a librarian in the local women's prison. All of these women's lives are more entwined than they ever suspected.

I was very confused about how everything was connected for more than halfway thru this story. Alice Feeney is a great twist author and this one did get me. Must read for this year!

A baby is stolen from a stroller and twenty years later a lady is killed in a home. How could these two be linked, and will a good bad girl be able to discover the truth?

This is a story of three women who have reason to not trust one another, but if they work through that, they may be able to uncover the truth. Tje b truth of murders and what happened to the baby. And the truth of the connection they have to one another.

Thank you #Netgalley for the ARC audio version of this thriller!

Okay, I must preface this with the fact that I hold Alice Feeney to a really high standard. She is my favorite thriller author and the queen of twists. With that said, Good Bad Girl is my least favorite of her books...BUT it's still very twisty and convoluted. The difference, I think, is that this one is a very slow burn and much less dark than her others. This is more of a domestic thriller that goes deeper into exploring motherhood and the relationships between mothers and daughters. If you're a Feeney fan, I think you can enjoy this one but you have to go in with an understanding that it will be a different experience than her other fast-paced, WTF moment filled books.

I really enjoyed the narration for this book. With so many POVs it can get tricky to know who is speaking. This is a typical slow burn suspense by Alice Feeney - with whopper twists at the end. It really felt like an Agatha Christie book with a massive whodunnit theme.

I did struggle a bit knowing whose POV I was listening to a few times - it felt like there was a lot to keep track of for the first half of the book. I almost felt like I needed to take notes. Once the storylines started coming together it was much easier to understand what was happening. Some of the twists were casual and made a lot of sense. A few definitely caught me by surprise.

Overall an enjoyable listen- although I think it would have been easier to follow if I read alongside the audio.

There are some triggers for postpartum depression and kidnapping of a child.

Huge thanks to NetGalley and Flatiron Books. Ms. Frenetic never disappoints. So many twists and turns I never saw coming. Highly recommend this book! You will not be disappointed.

Alice Feeney never disappoints! I listened to this book as an audiobook and, although I was hesitant of where the story was going at first, I found myself become engaged with the charters and even rooting for several of them…while there were others that I did not like at all! The story was full of twists and turns, and the ending was very satisfying. Definitely give this one a try!

Thank you NetGalley and Macmillan Audio for the ARC of Alice Feeney’s latest, Good Bad Girl.

•This book was the perfect twisty thriller with unique family dynamics. Alice Feeney did a spectacular job of keeping the twists suspenseful, while telling the overlapping stories of four powerful women.

•I was already a huge fan of Alice Feeney, and this book just solidified it. Good Bad Girl comes out on August 29, 2023. Make sure you read as soon as you can.

Special thanks to Netgalley and McMillan Audio for the ARC, and an even bigger thank you to Alice Feeney for writing another great thriller.
Five Star read. So much happened in this story, and it took me a while to piece everything together. I did figure all of the twists before the end, but it wasn't easy. I loved the challenge this book presented with it's plot.
The characters were so on point, and I loved figuring out each of their secrets. Another well written story. I highly recommend this one if you enjoyed this author's Rock, Paper, Scissors, or enjoy thrillers that don't follow the normal patterns or tropes.
Thank you again for the great read, and I hope this review helps.
Lily Ashtree

Still think I'm trying to decide how I feel about this one! I didn't love it but I didn't hate it either!

I think my problem is that "His & Hers" is one of my favorite books of all time, so I always am comparing her other works to that.

Overall, this was a solid mystery and I liked the way it all wrapped up. Sometimes multiple POVs (especially all female) can be tough on audio, so it took me a bit to get things straight. I had a good time listening and thought all the narrators played their roles well!

3.5 stars rounded up

Thank you to Macmillan Audio for the complimentary e-galley of GOOD BAD GIRL by Alice Feeney!

GOOD BAD GIRL follows a few women, none of whom are being up front with the truth. Twenty years ago a baby was stolen and in the present a woman has been killed in a care home. The question is how these events could be connected?

Edith is an elderly woman who has been pressed into a care home by her family, a move she cannot accept. She’s befriended Patience, a worker in the home who is willing to help her out. Edith’s daughter Clio is not on good terms with her mother (or her brother) though some sense of family obligation does persist. Together these women could piece together what happened in the various mysteries surrounding them, but working together might be asking too much.

This is one of those stories where you don’t know going in who to trust. There is a need to suspend disbelief as these characters wind up entangled, but the book is so quickly bingable that I think it really works not to put too much thought into the details.

This does have some typical domestic thriller elements, though looking more at mother/daughter relationships than the standard married couple you tend to get. I found the relationships to add an interesting element to the story.

This had a few slow moments for me, but overall I had a good time with it. I did at times wish I had a physical copy to flip back and forth with given how quickly some of the twists hit between the different characters, but overall the audiobook was really well done!

GOOD BAD GIRL is out today!

Sometimes bad things happen to good people, so good people have to do bad things.
Edith, Clio, Frankie & Patience are all connected in more ways than one.
Three suspects, two murders, and one victim...

The worst thing that can happen on mothers day is your child disappearing.
You REALLY have to pay attention to detail on this book, the plot twist is CRAZY!!!
Child Abduction, Missing Persons, Murders, Family Secrets, & TEARS!!!

Thank you to Macmillan Audio & NetGalley for the advanced reader copy!

Good Bad Girl
By: Alice Feeney
Release date: 08-29-23
Publisher: Macmillan Audio
Narrated by: Katherine Press, Stephanie Racine

Good Bad Girl is Feeney's sixth novel. My only previous exposure to her was last year's (2022) Daisy Darker.

This story is told from multiple points of view and in multiple timelines. Unfortunately, this made the story hard to follow at times, especially in the beginning. I started taking notes about family trees and major events pretty early in the game. The narrative was repetitive not only because of instances of the same scene being told by multiple characters, but even the same character recalling certain events multiple times. It became tedious. Some chapters make clear which character is speaking; others are labeled by timeline. While this was necessary to string us along, there is a fine line between creating tension and annoying the reader by overestimating their tolerance for stretching misdirection. I believe that telling a story across multiple timelines can be done well—sadly, I neither think it's the rule or that success was achieved in this case, with one notable exception.

There were, of course, red herrings.

Ultimately, the character connections are a bit far-fetched, but I couldn't help but enjoy them.

There is no way to significantly discuss the book without spoilers, so you'll just have to read it yourself. If you are a mystery/thriller fan and you're willing to relax and go with the flow, this is a solidly entertaining story.

The audiobook is quite well–narrated by Katherine Press and Stephanie Racine.

3.5⭐

Thank you, NetGalley and Macmillan Audio, for the audio ARC of the book in exchange for an honest review. Publication is expected August 29.