3.5 stars

Of her published books, this is probably the least "thrillery" of the bunch. Instead, it is more of a familial drama with suspenseful components. While it had twists, there weren't too many that were surprising. Still, the story was captivating and engaging--I was invested in figuring out how the story would conclude. Unfortunately, this was not my favorite by Feeney, but it was still a solid story overall. One nit picky critique re: the audiobook-- at times the narrator shifted her accent, usually when speaking as Edith; however, sometimes her accent would shift seemingly unintentionally (i.e., when someone other than Edith spoke). This caused some confusion at times.

I’ve enjoyed all of Alice Feeney’s previous thrillers, and this one didn’t disappoint. The story is told from the perspectives of four different women, whose lives are all intertwined in ways that are revealed through various twists in the story. Only one twist truly surprised me, but the rest of the story was well worth the read. The narrator of the audiobook was excellent.

Thank you to Net Galley and the publisher for an advance copy of this audiobook in exchange for an honest review.

Alice Feeney is an automatic read for me, and this book did not disappoint.

20 years ago (on Mother’s Day) a baby is stolen from a supermarket. Present day (also on Mother’s Day), a woman is murdered in a care home. Somehow these two crimes are connected. But how? Who?

Edith is an 80-something woman who resides in the care home (and is not happy to be there). Patience is a 19 year old girl that works in the care home. Patience and Edith become quite close…except one of them isn’t telling the whole truth. Edith blames her daughter, Clio, for being thrown into the care home. Edith is trying to plan her escape when someone at the care home is Murdered. We also meet Frankie, a prison librarian.

The book is told from the POV of all four of the women. Who is bad? Who is good? Are are they all a mix of the two?

I would consider this a domestic suspense, as opposed to a thriller like Rock, Paper, Scissors. I very much enjoyed it. It was a slow burn, and it took a little bit to get to know the characters but I don’t mind that. It was a super fun read.

Thank you to NetGalley and Macmillan Audio for the advanced listener copy and exchange for an honest review.

Thank you to the publisher for providing and ARC audiobook for review. I have enjoyed Alice Feeney's books since I read Sometimes I Lie. I was very much looking forward to reading this story and I have to tell you it did not disappoint. The first few pages hooks you and you need to know more. I don't want to spoil any of the story, and truthfully I didn't even know what this was about. I just knew it was Alice Feeney and I wanted to read whatever she wrote. I'm glad I went into this blind and didn't know too much when I started. Sometimes the descriptions give too much of the plot away.
This is a roller coaster of a book. It's going to take you to all kinds of different places and make you question everyone and everything. I truly had no idea how the story was going to turn out until the very end and I loved it. there were quite a few characters that at times could be a little bit confusing but stick with it because the outcome is worth it.

Thank you NetGalley and Dreamscape Media for an advanced copy of this audiobook in exchange for my honest review.

Oh where to start with Good Bad Girl. This book started out strong for me but didn’t take all that long to fizzle out. It seems that Feeney wanted us to be kept in the dark so that we kept turning pages (or listening in my case) but I wasn’t just in the dark, I was in the back of a pitch black cave. I was just confused with what was going on and didn’t really want to keep going. The relationships made no sense, interactions between characters who don’t know each other didn’t make sense for how people act in the real world.

As the secrets were revealed and we found out how all the women were connected it was just ridiculous. It seems Feeney just was trying to go for the wow factor but it’s just absurd. I take unrealistic plots with a grain of salt because that’s the fun of reading - it’s a story, we want it to be exciting but to me this was all just silly. I am not sure what pieces failed to connect for me to feel something with this book but sadly it was just a miss.

I did however enjoy the narrator. Her pace and cadence were great and helped me get through the story and it was easy to differentiate between all the characters.

Alice Feeney lives on as the queen of twists! She has surprised me in each of her novels including her latest, Good Bad Girl. The novel itself was good, but it was a bit more of a slow burn in my opinion. Even the twist itself was nothing I was overly excited about. Overall, I would recommend this book, but not in a drop everything you are reading and grab it now...

Good Bad Girl by Alice Feeney

⭐️⭐️⭐️

Alice Feeney is one of my favorite authors. Don’t get me wrong with the 3 star review, this book was great, but it just wasn’t as great as some of her other books that I love so much.

This book follows the lies and lives of 4 women. Edith, an 80 year old woman in assisted living, her daughter Clio who she has a rocky relationship with, the woman who cares of Edith at the assisted living home who’s name is Patience, and patience’s mother Frankie who hasn’t seen Patience since she left home a year prior at 18 years old. You see early on that all of their lives are connected, but none are willing to give away their secrets that will ultimately bring the women together for better or for worse. Mix in a stolen baby from nearly 2 decades prior, a murder, and lots of shady business and lies, and you’ve got yourself a very suspenseful story.

Let me start by giving some advice for anyone wanting to read this book…don’t attempt to try and figure out the plot twists, or the motives/secrets of any of the characters. You will be racking your brain by the end if you try. There are too many characters with too many secrets for you to try and piece it together early on. Alice Feeney also does a great job at concealing facts, and only letting the reader find out what she wants them to. The major plot twist at the end did have my jaw on the floor. That being said, the story started off on a slower note compared to what I’m used to with Alice Feeney’s writing, and that made it a bit harder for me to get invested in it. Overall, a great plot, I just wished it started up a bit faster.

I listened to this one in a day! I had thought I figured out the big twist early on, but there were MANY more twists coming. The narrator did a fabulous job and I really enjoyed listening to it.

I have been looking forward to this one for awhile! First off, I LOVE the cover. Love, love, love. As always, the narration is phenomenal. Alice Feeney has a unique style of writing that I really enjoy, but her books are hit or miss with me a lot due to the endings. Good Bad Girl was a good book. Not my favorite of hers, but def solid. I feel somewhat disappointed only because I looked forward to it SO much, but if I take away my personal expectations, the book is worth a read/listen. 3.5 stars rounded up.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the ARC.
Great audiobook. Multiple POV and storylines that eventually merge together. I kept trying to figure out the ending and I was totally off with it.
Narrators did a great job.
Enjoyable listen.

Good Bad Girl is not my new favorite from Alice Feeney. I did enjoy the book but I guess it just wasn’t as suspenseful as I was hoping. The book is family drama + crime solving/murder mystery. Out of her 6 books this is probably 5/6 in my personal ranking.

When the manager of a care home is murdered and one of the elderly residents goes missing, the police have three suspects. Patience was fired from the staff at the care home and was friends with Edith, the woman who is missing. Cleo is Edith’s daughter, who recently had an argument over payment for her mother. Frankie is more of a mystery. She was seen at the care home near the time of the murder, but no one seems to know who she is. Add to the mix the story of a stolen baby years ago and we’ve got a thrilling round and round mystery to solve.

Read this book if you like: Multiple POV, past and present timelines, slow burn, missing child

I listened to this one. The audiobook was done so well. You do have to really pay attention as there are multiple POVs and timelines. This is so intricate and well written. Alice's books are slow but thoughtful. It's tough to talk about without spoiling. I highly recommend this!

This is a hard review for me, because I absolutely love Alice Feeney as an author. As soon as I see that she has a new book, I have to get it. I do want to thank NetGalley and the publisher for this audio book, which is Alice’s latest one. This was a DNF at 35% for me at 35%, I think you either love the book or you don’t so I feel like I gave it a pretty good chance. I was not impressed with the narrators, the many point of views had me so confused, I just couldn’t grasp what was happening in the book, so for that reason I’m giving it a three star rating. I do know that I’m in the minority with this 3 star rating so maybe it’s just me. I do look forward to many books by her in the future. To be published August 2023.

Good Bad Girl
Alice Feeney
#macmillianaudio
Narrated by Katherine Press Stephanie Racine
Publication date August 29th
4 ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ rating

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

I'm a huge Alice Feeny fan, but this book was less of her usual thriller than I expected. It's a slow burn, domestic drama.

It begins with a baby being abducted on Mothers Day, and twenty years later, a woman is murdered in a nursing home on Mothers Day. Eventually, these stories will connect

In true Feeney fashion, you will find yourself a tad confused, not knowing where the story is going,
but it all comes together with some great twists along the way.

This will be an awesome bookclub read with topics of postpartum depression, parenthood, and what it takes to be a good mother.

Thank you to #netgally #macmillianaudio for an advanced copy.

Two tragedies 20 years apart set the stage for Feeny’s newest mystery. The POV shifts between four women and slowly their stories intertwine.

The first third of the novel was a little slow as the author laid the background for each character but it is well worth sticking with the novel. This is less of a thriller than an intricate story about how the characters’ lives are connected by past secrets and misdeeds.

A warm thank you to Macmillan Audio for the Advance Release Copy.

Alice Feeney is one of those authors I have kept meaning to get into and yet I just kept choosing other books. When I saw this one available as an ARC through NetGalley I took this as my chance and I am so glad I did. I am so happy to see how prolific Alice Feeney is and will definitely be reading more of her books.

This story follows a group of 4 women who have all had hard family lives. We start with one of them having her baby abducted 20 years ago and through a series of events they are all brought together when someone in a nursing home, where the oldest of them lives, is murdered. The strength and bravery in each of these characters is amazing.

I was on the edge of my seat the entirety of this book and just when I thought I had it all figured it out, I was shocked to discover I didn't know at all. So many good twists and turns and then bringing it all together at the end. This book was everything we want in a good mystery.

Thank you the author, publisher and NetGalley for an advanced reader copy of the audiobook.

Alice Feeney is one of my go to authors and unfortunately I was disappointed with this book. There were to many POV's. Almost the first half of the story I was confused with who was who. By the time I grasped who everyone was, I had lost all interest.

Thanks NetGalley for the ARC of this audiobook. Alice Fenneys books have a reputation for being amazing with unique twists. This book felt a bit different. Maybe a lack of suspense or a more mild storyline made this book feel different but it was good. I really enjoyed the multiple story’s that came together at the end that really helped tie it all together. For twists.. there is a twist. I wouldn’t say it was mind boggling with was a little disappointing.

A very lowkey mystery/thriller. Not a pulse-pounding type of book. Good for one read.

We start with a baby-napping that happened twenty years ago. Flash to the present, and we follow 4 different women of different ages who are troubled by their lives. I've seen others critique the book for not being able to follow who was who and what was going on. I, too, was a little lost at the beginning of the book. But I continued listening, I became acclimated with the different perspectives, became able to distinguish them, and slowly started putting the pieces of the plot together.

Alice Feeney crafted this slowburn novel so that you intentionally do not understand how all these ladies' stories are connected until near the end. These seemingly disjointed stories and how the come together is the mystery that keeps a reader going. I found the story mediocre and the ultimate plot reveals less-than-thrilling but did enjoy the listening experience well enough. Katherine Press & Stephanie Racine deliver competent performances with clear deliveries.

To be released: August 29, 2023

Thank you to Macmillan Audio, the author, and Netgalley for access to this Advanced Listening Copy in exchange for my honest review!