The rustle of wind through the willow is a lullaby in itself. Not the saccharine sweetness of the mother's song, "Hush little baby, don't say a word," but a more primal, grounded comfort. Baker, in his meticulous observation of the natural world, teaches us to find solace not in manufactured dreams, but in the harsh beauty of reality. The peregrine's cry, the stoop of the hawk – these are not gentle verses, yet they possess a rhythm and a necessity that soothe a deeper anxiety than the lullaby addresses. "Hush little baby," the song continues, promising a mockingbird, a diamond ring. But Baker's prose offers no such tangible rewards. He provides instead the stark, unflinching portrait of a landscape, a visceral connection to something ancient and indifferent. The comfort he offers is not in ownership or acquisition, but in acceptance. Acceptance of the changing seasons, the predator-prey dance, the relentless cycle of life and death. Perhaps, then, the true comfort lies in recognizing that the anxieties "Hush little baby" attempts to quell are ultimately unavoidable. The promises of material comfort are fleeting, and the world outside the nursery window is far more complex and challenging than the song suggests. Baker, in his unflinching gaze, offers a different kind of solace: the strength to face the reality of existence, finding beauty and meaning not in escape, but in profound engagement with the natural world. The willow whispers, the hawk circles, and the rain falls – a more honest, and ultimately more comforting, lullaby.

This novel jumps between 2 timelines, 1970 and the present day, following a woman planning to flee an abusive marriage vs her daughter Melissa, now “rescuing” a baby - her grandson - from an abusive home. The 1970s chapters had me constantly on edge, the balance of fear and hope bringing a palpable tension to the story. The present day chapters on the other hand featured a lot of a crying baby and I felt I didn’t get to know Melissa beyond the one-dimensional character.

This was a thrill to read and I enjoyed it thoroughly. I thought it was a great read and I didn’t know what was going to happen.

This was one of my last reads of 2024, and what a way to end a year! This book was so riveting, entertaining and kept me gripped until the end. Recommended for anyone who loves a good read.
TB

Oh, i loved this book. It was sad, suspenseful and thrilling.

At times I couldn't turn the pages quick enough.

I recommend this book for people who like psychological thrillers.

Oh my goodness I was on the edge of my seat wondering what was going to happen the whole time. What a wild ride from beginning to end.

With this one I'll get straight to the point - it was awful. It is a good contender of a worst book I read in a while.
From the first pages I was destracted by unnecessery flowery writing style. It felt like author just opend a dictionary and decided to use most fancy/random seldom used words, just to be different from everybody else. It distracted from the plot, although there wasn't that much of a plot.
Also this book was beyond slow. Half of the book was copy - paste from the previous chapter. I event noted some sentences that were use word for word in few chapters in the row.
None of the characters had any redeaming qualities, most of the time I just was annoyed by them.
Some of the plot twists in this book were completely random and gave nothing to the story, it's like author felt herself, that writing same lines over and over again is a little bit excesive, so just put first thing that came to her mind just out of the blue.
From the middle of the book I started skipping paragraphs, sometimes even pages, because I just couldn't be bothered to read the same thing and doing that I haven't loosed much. I still could follow the story, I think that shows, that this bookd could have been much shorter - chunks of this story could have been edited out.
I don't think I will read other books by this author. Her writing style is definitely not my style.

This book was a rollercoaster of suspense, with twists that kept coming when I least expected them. The tension never let up.

Thank you Netgalley, Boldwood Books and J A Baker for the eArc of Hush Little Baby.

Hush Little Baby is a psychological slow burn thriller which builds up in medium paced with a fast paced ending. I really enjoy J A Baker's character building which we get a sense that there are 2 POVs from 2 separate women. It's held on 2 slightly different timelines which keeps you guessing throughout how they are interconnected. The book is full of intrigue, tension and both women's character voices are very different. The last 1/3 of the book when these narratives thread together, things connect and the pay off was clever.

4 stars.

This was not what I expected. It was a very slow read at first but everything totally makes sense once you get to the twist and really gets into some action that will make this book unputdownable!

I got half way through this book before giving up - I liked the backwards and forwards of the past and the present but it just went on without really going anywhere. Some of it was a bit unbelievable so sadly it ended up in my did not finish pile.

Despite a slow beginning this story turned into quite an intense and captivating story. The twists really shocked me and the way it was written really had me feeling for the main character. Cannot wait to read more by this author.

I never saw the end of this book coming and whilst I found the middle was a little bit hard to get through I found the outcome was worth it

I very much enjoyed this in the beginning, it gripped my attention, it reads fast-paced. As the story progressed it kind of lost that pace and was hard to slug through at times. There was a twist at the end that I wasn’t expecting, resulting in my 3 star rating. Not sure I would consider this a thriller, but I found it enjoyable.

I have read many books by this author & have enjoyed every one of them. This book was no exception, a must read!!!

I have read many J A Baker and they are always a rollercoaster that I can’t put down and this was no different. The story was heartwarming and heartbreaking in equal measure, the book was beautifully written from the two viewpoints Mother and Daughter and I loved the emotional depth in the story. I loved that nothing was as it seemed and that this book kept me guessing, the more I read the faster I turned pages I was totally hooked and that ending was so unexpected I still haven’t got my breath back.

3.5 stars rounded to 4

The story was heartbreaking and heartwarming, and I've felt heavily for the MC. The writing is a bit repetitive and at times I wanted to give up, but I also wanted to find out how it all wraps up. The whole annoyance of a baby crying 24/7 must've been done on purpose, to rile up the reader and make us feel what the MC feels. The dual timeline was a subtle way to introduce MCs history, her home struggles with her abusive husband and her survival through it. Overall, it was a neat story that I am glad I had the opportunity to read as an ARC—many thanks to the author, Boldwood Books and NetGalley.

"Hush Little Baby" was an engrossing read. The numerous twists and turns captivated me from the start, and it concluded with an ending that was completely unforeseen.

Thank you to NetGalley and Boldwood Books for my ARC.

Melissa Crawford thinks her son and daughter-in-law are neglecting her only grandchild. She feels like she must do something, so she sets a plan in motion to take him for herself. The plan should have been simple to execute., as they leave him outside alone quite a bit. Grab him and go is all it should take. Then a nosey neighbor gets involved and her well devised plans go down the drain. In her haste, she runs over the elderly neighbor, not knowing the outcome to much later. She then begins her life on the run, and each step makes it worse and worse. She didn't think of everything she would need for a baby less than a year old. She is older herself and lacks the energy and patience she once had when she raised her son. To top it off, the baby gets sick and armed intruders force their way into her hideout. She can't call for help or take her grandson to the hospital for fear of being found out. All she can do is run....

I was tempted to give this book three stars until I got to the end. I was shocked by the ending of the book, and it was. GOOD ending, so I had to bump it up to a four. I understand that repetitiveness is often used as critical tool in writing to signify a mental breakdown. There was just a bit too much of that in here, in my honest opinion. However, I think it was interesting that as she went deeper into her spiral, the more kept happening to her. It worked well as a "personification" to her state of sanity. I did like the multi-POV from Melissa's childhood (not instantly known but easy to guess). It showed a lot as to why she is the way she is. Overall, this was a good book!

The first book I’ve read by this author

Written over 2 points of view
Twists and turns with an ending I did not expect

A good read