"The sleep deprivation of motherhood is a silent destroyer of any new mum’s sanity and emotions."

Or so it would seem in the twisty First Time Mother, by the reliable, always gives us the shocking ending you won't see coming, author A.J. Campbell.

Annie is a new mother. Lola won't sleep, won't stop crying. Her husband Max is trying to be sympathetic, but he already raised his spoiled 17 year old twins with his first wife; and he's trying to sell his business and can't take off work to help her.

However, when there's a kitchen fire, when Annie has no memory of conversations, and then there's a startling death in the room next to where Annie fell asleep, and she hears nothing, well maybe something else, besides a tired first time mother, is going on with Annie...maybe something sinister!

Listening to voice actress Tamsin Kennard heightened panic, confusion and fear as Annie was a visceral experience deserving of a standing ovation. There were some reveals I knew right away but that ending was nowhere in my mind for this family drama thriller.

Did I mention that there is also reconstruction going on at the house? Constant hammering, drilling, people coming in and out of the house? Yeah it's a lot for a first time mother...and then Lola is missing!

If this is your first time reading or listening to this writer, after this shocking, what just happened ending, it won't be your last time seeking out her psychological thrillers.

I received a free copy of this book/audiobook from Bookouture and Bookouture Audio for a fair and honest review. All opinions are my own.

AJ Campbell delivers a masterclass in psychological suspense with First-Time Mother, a gripping and unpredictable story that keeps listeners on edge from start to finish. This audiobook is a whirlwind of twists, deception, and emotional complexity—everything a thriller enthusiast could ask for and more.

One of the standout elements is the masterful way Campbell keeps the truth just out of reach. You’re constantly second-guessing the characters, never quite sure who to trust until the final, heart-pounding revelations. Just when you think you’ve figured it out, the story pivots again, pulling you deeper into its web.

The pacing is excellent, especially in the final chapters, where the suspense escalates to the point that you simply have to finish. It’s a rare kind of audiobook that demands to be binged. A highly recommended listen for fans of psychological thrillers that toy with perception and play on your deepest doubts.

Happy Pub Date to this fun little psychological thriller!

One of my favorite genres, this book does a great job of drawing you in and keeping you engaged throughout the entire book. The audiobook was fantastic - narration was great, well-paced, and easy to follow.

Several twists that kept me on the edge of my seat throughout.

I really felt for this protagonist. I know all about sleep deprivation as a twin mom. But I felt like she could have asked for more help or handed that baby to one of the twins and napped.
It was a hard read.

I love this narrator though!

First Time Mother introduces us to Annie, a new mother to a four month old daughter. She is also dealing with a new marriage as well as teenage twin stepchildren. Things do not seem to be the way she had pictured they would be after her baby was born. The cover says 'my baby is missing; everyone thinks it's my fault.'. I was expecting certain things to happen based on this however many other mishaps occur that I will not mention to avoid spoilers. There are multiple plot twists to keep the reader/listener guessing.

Thank you NetGalley and Bookoutoure for this ALC!

Oh my goodness! I feel like the “newly postpartum mom, loopy with sleep deprivation, is feeling paranoid! But is she justified in feeling that way? Or is she actually just clinically insane?!” trope can be a really touchy one – readers love it or hate it, and readers either knock it out of the park or completely flounder. High risk, high rewards however. I very much enjoyed the fact that this one knocks it out of the park. Without giving anything away, I just want to say that I really do love it when authors throw you a “too simple to be true” hint but you can’t actually tell if you’ve figured out the twist or if the author is just trying to throw you off their scent. I always try to give books the benefit of the doubt, reassuring myself that it was just a distraction and the author definitely has something much more earth shattering up their sleeve than that. It’s so deeply satisfied when that actually happens.

This book did not let me down. I love good twists and this one really delivered. A very entertaining ride.

ARC Review

First off, huge thanks to the publisher and author for the opportunity to read this before its release. I’ll admit—I only skimmed the blurb, but the line “A baby is missing, everyone thinks it’s my fault” had me expecting that to be the central focus of the plot. I was wrong—but in the best way.

The story took off in a completely unexpected direction, and it absolutely did not disappoint. This was a total binge-read for me! It gave major Freida McFadden vibes, so if you’re a fan of her work, you’ll definitely want to check out First Time Mother by AJ Campbell. It kept me guessing right up until the very end.

I only was able to get through half of the book before it left my app…for some reason the archive date was before the pub date ( I’ve never seen this before ). But it was just heating up! I’m sure it has a great finale, and I will read the rest once it comes out and I will update this review then.

I really enjoyed First-Time Mother, lots of twists and turns. I could relate to Annie and her sleep deprivation as a new mother as I have been through it as well. The plot kept me hooked and I definitely did not expect the ending!!

Great narration, very engaging. The story is packed with twists and turns. The plot grabs you right from the start and doesn’t let you go. The characters are amazingly well written. Such a fun story.

This audio was fantastic! I really enjoyed this book. I was hooked from the start and couldn’t put it down. Thank you.

This novel introduces us to a new mother grappling with significant memory issues, possibly due to the demands of caring for her infant daughter. Living with her husband and twin stepchildren, she feels constantly under pressure. The story opens with a gripping prologue: the protagonist awakens from a nap to the shocking discovery of a dead body. The narrative then circles back to the beginning, gradually building the events that lead to this pivotal moment. While the initial pace felt somewhat deliberate, the book became intensely captivating once the murder was revealed. As a fan of this author, I thoroughly enjoyed this story, though the cover and initial description initially led me to expect something different.

WOW!! AJ Campbell does it again! There is not a book by her that I have not enjoyed. This might be my favorite by her yet! Campbell's style of writing pulls you in and keeps you in a chokehold as the story develops.

Annie is a new mom that is experiencing blackouts and not feeling well. Those around her think she is incapable of caring for her new baby, and her husband Max says she's sleep-deprived and needs help. Strange things keep happening around the house, and her family looks upon her with pity thinking she's struggling with being a new mother. Yet Annie can't shake the feeling that something more is going on.

I think I have whiplash from all of the twists and turns in this book! I highly recommend First-Time Mother. As a mom of 5, I could definitely relate to Annie. My heart was racing while listening to this audiobook, and I couldn't wait to see what was going to happen at the end. The buildup to the ending that Campbell created throughout the book was genius, and I was SO invested! I was guessing the entire book. I didn't know if I had an unreliable narrator on my hands or if something else more sinister was going on.


CAN WE TALK ABOUT THAT ENDING??!!! I NEVER would've been able to predict it! I'm still shocked at how things developed in this book, and I'm anxiously awaiting Campbell's next book. As usual, Tamsin Kennard NAILED the narration. She is definitely one of the best narrators hands down!

Thank you Bookouture Audio and NetGalley for the ALC in exchange for my honest review.

I truly enjoyed all the twists! It was a slow start but once things started unfolding I listened to hours of it non-stop until I finished it. I kept guessing on “who done it” and was completely wrong! Great suspense and mystery.

Annie is a first time Mom to her baby, Lola, and it’s way harder than she thought it would be. Between her baby’s colic, and the bad attitudes of her teenage twin stepchildren, Annie can’t catch a break. Then accidents keep happening around the house. Annie’s husband, Max, is worried that the stressors of motherhood are getting to her. When Annie’s sister offers to help, and ends up dead, Annie has no idea who is to blame- and if it could be herself.

I enjoyed the plot of the book. As a Mom of three myself, I could deeply understand the exhaustion that comes with newborns, and how sleep deprivation can make you feel crazy. Advancing the plot with that idea- that Annie doesn't know if she can trust anyone, including herself was a great idea. However, the marketing of this book was a bit off because the actual book had very little to do with Lola missing. I think a more accurate blurb on the cover is needed, although this book was enjoyable enough.

3.5 stars
This domestic thriller had several unexpected turns.
Quick plot: New blended family struggle with loss and the stress of a new baby with a lot of unexplainable events.
The FMC is so tired and confused for the whole book. Felt sorry for her but felt a bit repetitive after several chapters. Slow start and middle. The last third picked up fast and was engaging. Lots of red herrings. Overall I was intrigued to find out all the answers. Gave off possible unreliable narrator vibes. The narrator was great. Loved her voices.
Thanks NetGalley for this arc.

I really enjoyed this one! The story follows Annie, who is four months postpartum and struggling with the demands of new motherhood. She’s exhausted, overwhelmed, and trying to adjust to life with her colicky baby, Lola. Sleep is scarce, emotions are frayed, and her grip on reality is starting to slip.

Annie lives with her husband, Max, in the house he once shared with his late wife, along with his teenage twins. It’s a constant reminder that this space doesn’t fully belong to her. When Max hires a nanny, Zoe, they both hope the added support will bring some relief. But things only get more unsettling when Annie misplaces items, forgets conversations and starts to wonder whether what she’s experiencing is just exhaustion, or something far more sinister.

What really stood out to me was how authentic Annie’s experience felt. AJ Campbell captures the mental toll of early motherhood with striking accuracy. The brain fog, the guilt, the disconnection from yourself—it’s all portrayed in a way that feels deeply relatable and, at times, uncomfortably real. Campbell explores this fragile state of mind with empathy and precision, weaving it into a gripping psychological mystery.

There were plenty of twists, and most of them genuinely caught me off guard. I was constantly questioning what was real, who could be trusted, and where the story was heading. The author did a fantastic job using red herrings throughout the story and I think I ended up suspecting every single character at some point. I really enjoyed that the story was fast paced and that the suspense remained consistent throughout.

The audiobook narrator was excellent. Her performance added depth and emotion to the story, and she gave each character a distinct and believable voice.

Overall, this is a cleverly written and emotionally resonant thriller that had me hooked from start to finish. The story is packed with tension and full of unexpected turns, and I genuinely did not want to put it down. If it weren’t for adult responsibilities, I could have easily listened to the whole thing in one sitting!

Thank you to AJ Campbell, Bookouture, and NetGalley for the early access.

4.5 stars rounded up to 5!

This is my 1st Thriller by A.J. Campbell This was a fast pasted thriller that keep you guessing and the revel of what's going on caught me off guard which I really enjoy.

Annie cant remember to much is it new mom fog is it something else? everything is going wrong and more and more things keep piling up with no one knowing why.

Bingeable and entertaining

Thank you NetGalley for this Audio Are in exchange for my honest thoughts.
Release April 14th 2025

I absolutely loved this book! However, the line on the cover of the book is not what the book is about. "My baby is missing, everyone thinks it's my fault!" This line makes you think the book is going to be about a missing baby when it isn't.
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Annie is a first time mom who is having a difficult time with "postpartum depression" and a colicky baby. She is always forgetting and misplacing things and most of all exhausted. She can't get any sleep. She is just not herself since the baby was born. If things aren't hard enough, she has to deal with twin teenage step children who do not like her and make her life even more difficult. A tragedy occurs in her house and she doesn't know how and why it happened. As she tries to discover who could have done such a horrible thing she begins to have suspicions about her husband, her step children, and other people in her life. Who did it and why? The ending had a great twist that I did not see coming.

Thank you NetGalley for giving me the opportunity to listen to the book before it was released. The narration was great and made me want to keep listening to the end.

First-Time Mother is a gripping thriller that steals your heart and runs away with it!

Annie is a first time mother who is severely struggling following the birth of her daughter, Lola, and through her haze of confusion and delirium things begin to fall apart around her. Annie knows something is wrong but is too tired from being a new mom to put it all together until she loses someone dear to her and her fears are realized. Events snowball into losing her daughter as well, and Annie is on the hunt to get her back.

Annie is a very sympathetic character whose suffering and heartbreak can be felt through this novel. She's very human in her struggles and insecurities and concerns which makes it very easy to become attached to her and her plight. Even as an unreliable narrator it's near impossible not to root for her. While I did not fall into the same suspicions that she has about other characters, her suspicions are reasonable even if unbelievable. I could feel my chest contract every time Annie suffered another heartbreak, big or small, I just wanted her to win.

I listened in audiobook format and must commend the actress that did the audio for this book. It really added to just how intense the emotion was through the novel and perfectly suited the voice of Annie. Absolutely wonderful performance that I would highly recommend if you enjoy listening.

The plot was gripping! Even as a reader with an amount of omniscience about the situation, it doesn't deter from the excitement of seeing how things play out. Annie's actions are never unreasonable or dumb, even if they are slightly off from what the reader knows would be a better course. Knowing what she's working with, she operates as a very intelligent and reasonable woman who is simply in a bad situation. I greatly appreciate that the main character is not helpless or making decisions that are bad simply to further the plot, great writing all around in how the build up plays out.

However, I do wish that perhaps there had been a little more insight or clue to the twist earlier in the novel. While I did find that the twist made total sense the way it was presented, I wish there had been some breadcrumbs along the way. I had correctly deduced who the culprit of the bad happenings was early on, but it took the very climax for it to be explained to me exactly <i>why</i> there was motive. I do believe the book would have benefitted from just a single crumb in the corner to this motive to the twist, but otherwise I believe the mystery actually benefitted from the surprise. I do believe some readers will be bothered by how sudden the villain is revealed, but that will be a personal reader opinion. As it stands, I personally feel satisfied with a villain that makes sense and a mystery that cleans up nicely!

The writing was quick and the story moved along at a good pace. The secrets everyone held were very human and believable. Secrets that feel so small as a reader but realistically some of these secrets are life ending for people. The pace at which the secrets and then reveals for secrets come along feels natural. This book does not linger long on scenes that don't need it. We are given all the information we need without any doddering around the page. The author is very concise in a way that significantly aids the pace of this thriller!

As I've seen others say, my honest biggest gripe is the tagline for this novel. While it actually does fit in tone and uncertainty, the message paint a different light of what this story ends up being. It's still a gripping thriller about a first time mother, yes, but the wording is very deceiving. This book is about a first time mother, as the title suggests, not a missing baby, as the tagline does. I think workshopping this to be more in line with the actual story would have been advisable.

First-Time Mother is very quick and gripping, and Annie is one of the best thriller protagonists I've read in a bit! I highly recommend this book if you're looking for a fast-paced, engaging thriller!