I really enjoyed ‘The Maid’ because the central character, Molly, is so endearing and unique. I think the last time I was so surprised in this way was when I encountered Eleanor Oliphant who also intrigued me from the very first page.
Prose’s novel has elements of a cosy, murder mystery but also a fresh spin on the traditional whodunnit. Very early on in the story Molly finds the wealthy, businessman Mr. Black dead in his hotel room and despite an array of suspects, Molly is the police’s main focus. Molly’s inability to grasp people’s underlying intentions and social cues, makes her an easy scapegoat for the crime and I actually felt emotional when I could see all the things she was being manipulated into. However Molly gains friends she never knew she had as they begin their own investigation into Mr. Black’s death.
I loved the little twists and turns and found the book overall a very comforting read although the pacing towards the second half of the book tapered off a little for me, rather than picking up pace, as we learn the truth. The slow down was a personal downside for me but what I really loved about Prose’s novel was the vivid cast of characters who were so well rounded and each had their own specific role to play, as in true mystery tradition.

A murder mystery whodunit style novel with an endearing main character. Twists and turns keep the plot moving along and kept me rooting for Molly as she fights for the truth.

Monday, floors and chores. Tuesday, deep cleaning to give meaning. Wednesday, bath and kitchen. Thursday, dust we must. Friday, wash-and-dry day. Saturday, wild card. Sunday, shop and chop.

I enjoyed this novel to all its honesty. The maid is Author Nita Prose's debut novel and being an editor herself, her choice of words are excellent and spot on. The book is a mystery thriller but has a comedy ring to it as well.

The Maid is the story of Molly Gray, also told to us by Molly herself. Molly is a Maid at the Grand Regency hotel, who's obsessive love for cleaning, orderly life and proper etiquettes, makes her an ideal fit for the job. But her orderly life is upended one day, when she finds Mr. Black, an wealthy businessman dead in his suite. Soon Molly find herself caught in a web of deception, when she is targeted to be one of the lead suspects. Will Molly be able to untangle herself from this mess and will she find who really killed Mr. Black before its too later...

The character of Molly the Maid is quite quirky and a bit of a weirdo, her colleagues call her all sorts names. Molly is a sort of character that struggles with social skill, sometimes she also comes across as childish. She sometimes doesn't understand the meaning of things too. But behind all this uniqueness, I bet Molly the Maid is one such character you can't fail to love and admire to its fullest. Throughout the book you will across other beautiful and interesting characters like Mr. Preston, Juan Manuel and Charlotte.

I also loved how the story is told to us over a period of a weeks time starting from Monday to Friday, narrating all the events happening on that day. Initially, I did feel that the book was a bit slow paced but mid ways I was totally hooked on because of the twist and the turns the book took.

A highly recommended heartwarming thriller with lot of twist and turns mixed with a bit of comedy.

Thanks to Netgalley, the publisher Happercollins and Author Nita Prose for this ARC.

I read this ARC for an honest review
All thoughts and opinions are mine

Loved this

Loved the characters
Couldn't put this down

I loved this book - A very endearing, cosy mystery whodunit with a lovable main character. The writing is very engaging , simple and page- turning. I liked how it dealt with grief and the challenges the main character faced with understanding social cues. The ending was quite 'tidy'. but overall it was a charming read which I would highly recommend especially for some escapism. I would love to read more from this author!
*Thank you Netgalley for the arc in exchange for an honest review*

Thank you to the publisher and Netgalley for providing me with a copy of the book in exchange for an honest review. My thoughts will be shared on Goodreads and Amazon UK.
Molly Grey, AKA Molly Maid, is a maid at the Regency Grand, an upscale hotel. Her attention to detail and love of cleanliness and order makes this a perfect job for her. In the text, it is clear that Molly is written as being neuro-divergent, but this is never explicitly stated.

During the course of her duties, she finds Mr. Black, a long-term resident of the hotel, dead in his room and becomes the prime suspect. The story begins to reveal some dark secrets hidden by various characters at the hotel, and things seem bleak for Molly.
Overall, I enjoyed The Maid. The range of characters was wide and mostly all served a purpose and moved the action along. I found myself rooting for Molly and really hoping things would work out for her. There were plenty of twists and plot points to keep my interest throughout.
My one criticism would be that, at times, the portrayal of Molly feels robotic and cold, falling back on some of the stereotypical tropes commonly used to describe neuro-divergent characters.

Thanks to a review copy from NetGalley I read the story of Molly the maid. This is a very entertaining crime story, told from the viewpoint of the maid in a hotel. She is somewhat inept socially and for her cleaning is a passion, a thread that runs throughout the book. Molly had been brought up by her now deceased gran and this is reflected in her style of speech and values. At first, I found her infuriatingly naive but after the scene having been set, she grew on me and the story took off with twists and turns. In addition to the electronic book, I was given the opportunity to listen to the audio book. This was excellent, well narrated, and gave me the opportunity to pick up some bits and pieces I hadn’t really appreciated when reading the original written version. Very entertaining both to read and to listen to.

Ah now this book was so well done. It follows Molly the maid. Molly is different, raised by her grandmother, she doesn't understand social queues or facial expressions. Her grasp of sarcasm is minimal and her trust in others is innocent and pure. She doesn't want much from life, to clean and do a really good job and to have someone to love. She's lonely and vulnerable so her job as the maid at a bustling hotel is the centre of her world. Soon she unwittingly becomes wrapped up in a scandal when she finds a body in the room she's cleaning, before long being mixed up in a web or lies and deceit. All Molly wants is a friend and someone who's true.

I liked how the author approached the character of Molly. She displays many traits of someone on the spectrum, though this is never mentioned or confirmed. Her naivety means that so many people take her for granted. With the help of some "good eggs" Molly fights to show the truth amongst the lies and she whittles out the good from the bad.

A good read with some wonderful characters, I was rooting for Molly all the way.

The wee book lady xx

Molly is a Maid at the Regency Grand Hotel. To say that she takes pride in her work is an understatement. She is meticulous and goes above and beyond to make sure every room is returned to a state of perfection each time she enters it. Her love and flare for cleaning comes from her Gran who raised Molly but has now sadly died. Molly is a sweet natured and kind young woman who takes things at face value and tries to live her life thinking the best of others and treating them as she would wish to be treated. Sadly not everyone she works with has such a pure heart, indeed her supervisor takes advantage of her trusting nature, allowing Molly to do extra work for less tips! When a guest is found dead in the hotel, Molly finds herself involved in the investigation and things start to go awry!

I truly loved The Maid. I wasn't expecting the story to be as charming and heartwarming as it was but it absolutely stole my heart and ran away! Molly is such a wonderful person that at times it was upsetting to see how she was underestimated and not valued by her colleagues. Her relationship with her Gran was absolutely beautiful and it made me so happy to read their exchanges together. We most definitely need more Mollys in the world! Perhaps I am a little jaded with life and people so this was just the tonic I needed!

I think The Maid cannot fail to cheer you up, perhaps a little bit of an odd thing to say given that it is a story about a murder, and give you a slightly different perspective on life. I am so pleased that I was given the opportunity to read and review and I can't wait to read Nita's next story!

My truth is not the same as yours because we don’t experience life in the same way’

Oh how I could do with a Molly Maid of my own to return my house to a state of perfection!

Read if you want:
- A cosy mystery
- Quirky characters
- Pages full of idioms

Things I loved:
- The characters. I found all of them endearing & Molly as the mc was really quite interesting. She’s not your unusual character but that’s what really sells this book
- Short chapters - perfect for a buddy read
- The friends Molly made. I hated the people that took advantage of molly’s kind nature so it was lovely to see her naming some true friends too
- I loved how I didn’t trust anyone at all!
- This book made me want to clean so would be a good audiobook whilst doing housework 😂

Things I struggled with:
- The ending. Whilst it wasn’t meant to be a shocker of an ending I found it fell flat
- I’m struggling to find points I liked or disliked about this book, so clearly it was just a very average read. Not too taxing & easy to follow.

If you like this book I’d recommend:
- The Thursday Murder Club
- Eleanor Oliphant is completely fine
- The Cactus

Thank you NetGalley for providing me with an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

My review will be shared to goodreads, Amazon & my book blog on Instagram.

This book is all about Molly, a maid working in a hotel. Having recently lost her grandmother who raised her, Molly is lonely with no friends and very awkward. When she is wrong accused of the murder of one of the hotel guests, Molly must prove her innocence.

I really enjoyed this book. The story itself is gripping and had such a lovely ending that I felt incredibly satisfied. It isn't the best book I've read and I did find it difficult to like Molly the leading character. A lot of effort was made by the author to make he awkward and odd, this is OK, except it also made this reader dislike her too. What I could do though was empathise with her and how heartbroken and lost she felt, as such I was able to enjoy the book as a whole.

My thanks to NetGalley for a copy of this in exchange for an honest review. Books usually languish on my TBR for ages when I have acquired them from NetGalley. I was looking through them on my Kindle when I had recently finished one and this one jumped out at me.

This is a debut novel by the Author and it's one that will grab you in many ways. The reader gets drawn in to the life of Molly the Maid, she comes across as socially and developmentally (in some ways) lacking. She is trustworthy and takes everyone on at face value, never doubting or so it seems their intentions. She reminds me in some ways of Eleanor Oliphant another character from another book.

Well this book was unusual in some ways, at first you think it's going to be a cosy quirky character driven story about Molly, her life working as a maid in a hotel and how she copes with day to day life away from the hotel. Then it takes you in a completely different direction turning into a cosy murder mystery when she finds one of the residents of the hotel a Mr Black dead in his bed one morning. Molly finds herself in the thick of it as she soon becomes the accused and suspected of his murder. As the layers of the story reveal themselves to us, we find out how things are linked and who is at the heart of all that has gone on. Molly finds herself an integral piece of things and could be the instrument that is needed to help solve the crime and bring things to a head in her own inimitable way.

I enjoyed the journey that the Author took us on with Molly and the other characters. Molly did remind me in some ways of other characters that I have read about in other books, but at the heart of it despite all her quirky traits she is more switched on that you at first think. I look forward to seeing what this Author writes next as if this debut is anything to go by, we readers are in for a treat.

This is one of THOSE books. You know the one. The one with all the hype and buzz for months before it’s publication. I remember the news breaking that this book had its movie rights snapped up (Universal) and Florence Pugh has announced that she would star and produce the movie.

So, of course, like most book that has this level of buzz, you can either be very excited for it or very wary. I think we’ve all been stung by the hype train once or twice the past few months. I know I have (I mean, have you not seen my DNFs or my 1 or 2 stars reviews of late?). But there was something about The Maid that made me very intrigued about it.

So yes, I managed to get my hands on an eProof (via NetGalley. Thank you UK publisher), but I was so intrigued, I actually bought the audiobook as well. It’s very rare I do this.

Molly is a maid at the Regency Grand Hotel In New York. She’s invisible to the world. I mean, who pays attention to a maid?

But when Molly finds the body of Mr Black, an infamous guest at the hotel, very dead in his bed, Molly finds her quiet life thrown under a spotlight and she sees that life isn’t as easy mess to clean as she begins to look for the truth. Who would look twice at a maid, after all?

I’m going to admit that, going into this, I wasn’t exactly sure what I was getting myself into. I didn’t know if it was going to be more of the cosy or more dark and edgy. But, once I found my footing (will explain why in a moment), this sits more on the cosy side. It’s a fun and easy read. A whodunnit which, on the surface, looks quite simple to us readers but not to Molly.

Why not to Molly, I hear you ask. Well, this comes back to my footing, and that takes a little while – a few chapters. Molly sees the world in a different way to everyone else. To me (any many other readers), Molly comes across as someone who is on the autistic spectrum and, because of this, we see how she treats people and how they treat her in return. To most readers, we see quickly how some characters treat Molly and how some see Molly as dumb, stupid or naïve and I found this quite upsetting as I grew to like Molly hugely and felt very protective of her within the first few chapters.

The main chunk of the story takes place over the working week (Monday to Friday), but we see tiny memories of Molly with her beloved grandmother (and there are times Molly would say “That’s what Gran would say” that might irritate readers), which gives us more insight to Molly as a whole.

I keep saying this is more on the cosy murder mystery side of crime, but this book has have a dark edge to it as it does touch on some heavy subjects, but due to Molly, these are touched upon quote lightly.

I do have one big issue, which I think most readers will be annoyed over: the epilogue. Now, I’m not going to touch on why this will annoy some readers (spoilers), but some people might feel a tad cheated about what happens/is revealed.

Not sure how to finish this review, but I devoured this book very quickly and I think Molly will linger in my brain for a little while…

Thank you to Netgalley for my copy.
From the start I was drawn into this book. Told from Molly the Maid's point of view and her way of looking at the world, I really felt for her and how other people thought she was.
It was a bit heart breaking seeing how people were using her or thought she was stupid, I was reading it like oh no Molly please don't do that!!
Some parts you could see coming and some were a surprise, I felt the first half was really good and then the 2nd half was a bit slow. However liked the little twist at the end!
Did not like Rodney one bit, he made me angry every time she spoke to him!!
A fab read, would definitely recommend!

4.5*

25 year old Molly Gray is a delightfully quirky and extraordinary character. Being a maid at the 5* Regency Grand Hotel is her dream job. She loves cleaning, feels like a completely different person in her smart uniform and her maid’s trolley is stocked with everything she needs from scented wrapped soaps to every cleaning product required to return rooms to a state of perfection. The problem is that Molly can be rather naive and despite her gran’s best efforts at life lessons, she isn’t the best at understanding social interaction and body language. It’s as if everybody else knows the rules except for her.

Molly’s trusting nature has devastated her life in the past. Now that her beloved gran has gone, she lives alone in a small apartment with only her cleaning routines for company and a landlord hustling her for the rent that she can’t afford. When a good looking bartender at the Hotel pays her attention, Molly gets rather carried away and this is where her problems begin.

Her discovery of a dead guest in one of her rooms and the problems that follow catapults Molly into a mystery worthy of her TV hero Columbo. There were times when I winced at Molly’s responses and actions, knowing that she wouldn’t necessarily realise the bigger hole she was digging for herself. Thankfully there were some people on her side, and oh man did she need friends.

The Maid is a wonderfully crafted light hearted mystery with the most unusual heroine at its heart. There is poignancy, humour and warmth in the writing. I may have found Molly a little exasperating initially but there was something about her that wormed its way into my affections – Molly and all her foibles soon dug her way into my heart and after overcoming my initial reservations, I was rooting for her, every step of the way.

I loved the mystery aspect of the story but also the way that kindness and vulnerability were represented. Those who mocked her and wrote Molly off as being weird and a robot were doing her a great disservice. She had hidden depths and it wasn’t until she was truly tested did her intelligence and fortitude show.

If you enjoyed Eleanor Oliphant is Completely Fine by Gail Honeyman then do give Molly a chance. This debut by Nita Prose is a thoroughly enjoyable read and I’m not at all surprised that Universal are adapting this for film.


My thanks to Anne Cater of Random Things Tours for the blog tour invitation and the publisher for the copy via Netgalley.

Molly is just a heart-warming story with a wonderfully likable character, she is so sincere in her efforts to do the her job to her very best. I wasn't 100 percent keen on the ending, nevertheless, this is a very impressive debut. A cosy of the very best kind: humour and suspense this is a murder mystery that will leave you with a wide smiling.

The Maid is a book that took me by surprise, I started off reading it and thinking this was going to be not quite up my street but turned into being a great cosy thriller.
Molly the maid is twenty five years old, she is socially awkward and unable to read people and situations well. She was abandoned by her mother so her grandmother brought her up. It is nine months after her grandmother’s death as Molly is struggling financially but still loving her job as a maid at a large hotel. One morning she discovers one of her guests dead in their bedroom and unknowingly puts herself in the spot of being the top suspect. Will others help her through this or will they continue to laugh at her as they always have done?
I enjoyed this book it’s a little like “Eleanor Oliphant is completely fine” but this book is a bit subtler with the main character making this an enjoyable read.
I would like to thank Netgalley and HarperCollins Uk, HarperFiction for this ARC I received in exchange for an honest review.

Good solid thriller. There were moments, however, when I couldn't bear the main character, and moments when I thought she was being overly patronised by the author. Something about her didn't quite work. But overall - fun, pacey thriller.

“Gran used to say, Never mind what others think; it’s what you think that matters. And I agree. One must live by their own moral code, not follow like a sheep blindly.”

Full disclosure: I was seeing lots of recommendations for The Maid on my online Facebook Book Club (TBC) and having quickly read the first few lines of the blurb “I am your maid. I know about your secrets. Your dirty laundry. But what do you know about me?” I downloaded it thinking “oooh this sounds dark and creepy” and we all know how much I LOVE a psychological thriller!! However within the first few pages it because glaringly obvious this was NOT a dark thriller, it’s what we love to call a “quirky, cosy, murder-mystery” and thankfully my second favourite genre is anything that contains a quirky protagonist. PHEW!

Meet Molly, a 25 year old woman abandoned by her mother as a baby and raised by her loving and wonderful grandmother until her recent death. Molly is socially awkward and unable to read social situations, naive and often the victim of ridicule and bullying, she works at The Regency Grand Hotel as a maid and it meticulous, dedicated and takes her job very seriously.

“There’s nothing quite like a perfectly stocked maid’s trolley early in the morning. It is, in my humble opinion, a cornucopia of bounty and beauty.”

When Molly discovers the body of an important guest in one of the suites, her world is turned upside down, especially as Molly’s inability to process or understand the gravity of the situation makes her appear guilty when the police begin their investigation in to the suspected murder.

“Today at work, I found a guest very dead in his bed. Mr. Black. The Mr. Black. Other than that, my work day was as normal as ever.”

If you enjoyed Ove, Eleanor Oliphant, Elvira Carr then you will adore Molly. Her innocence and observational comments are endearing, heartwarming and occasionally heartbreaking. There are moments when you want to grab her and tell her that not everyone is good and kind, that there are bad people out there who will use her and abuse her kindness and naivety.

Although I did find the story predictable and knew pretty much what was going to happen, I absolutely adored the characters, the plot and more importantly all the incredible little “Mollyisms” – her observational comments were BRILLIANT. The moments when Molly recalls all her grandmother’s advice, support and unconditional love was so moving and there were many moments that I wish I had a “Gran” in my life to give me such incredible guidance.

I thoroughly enjoyed this debut novel and can’t wait to read more from this author.

“The best way to feel better is by tidying up! If you feel sad, just grab a duster, Buster!“

Quirky and heart-warming, this is a perfect mystery to read on a cold winter weekend. I loved the main character, with her genuine personality and hilarious one-liners..