I really really loved this, I wasn’t quite sure what to expect after I’d seen some absolutely raving but also some not so raving reviews but I really liked this one.
It gives such an insight into someone who has a job we all overlook and take for granted as a hotel maid but they must see, hear and experience so much so this was such an interesting and unique concept.
I liked the fact Molly was autistic as well something that I find quite underrepresented in books! Very good!

Molly is an excellent maid. She takes great pride in her work at the Grand Regency hotel, returning each room to a state of perfection. But one day her routine is disrupted when she finds a dead body in one of the rooms allocated to her to clean.

This is a brilliant debut novel and although it is a crime novel, the murder almost seems secondary because this book is all about Molly and she is an amazing character who seems to be somewhere on the autism spectrum. She is so likeable and you can't help rooting for her. The book is told completely from her POV. It is so well written and the dialogue is superb. The world really needs more Molly Maids! Definitely one of my favourite listens so far this year.

I adored the narration by Lauren Ambrose. I felt she captured Molly brilliantly.

The Maid by Nina Prose is a highly rated and reviewed book so I was excited to get a chance to listen to the audiobook in return for an honest review.

The premise is based loosely on an Agatha Christie style 'whodunnit'. Molly, the Maid, finds one of the wealthy hotel customers dead in his room, and she is set up for it. The first part of the book details Molly and how she grew up with her Gran, then the 2nd half builds up tension on who the murderer could be. I did find the beginning very slow to get through, but it improved in pace come the second part.

For me while I enjoyed it, there are a few elements that didn't appeal to me. There is an unspoken undertone that the main character, Molly the Maid, has some kind of Neurodivergence, however it is not implicitly stated and it feels kind of like she has a few quirks, I didn't however think it worked properly unfortunately. Her character doesn't feel consistent, where by she comes across naive and gullible, but then in certain parts of the book she is describing complex behavioural traits of other people.. Other people may like this but it didn't work for me.

What I did like was the setting of the hotel, the description of the surroundings in the luxurious hotel makes you feel like you're in the art deco era, however the book is actually set in the modern day so that was cleverly done.

With regards to the audio, I couldn't work out if the book was set in England or USA, but Molly had an American Accent which I found a bit slo. But that;s probably my own personal preference in listening to books with a British accent.

For me this is a 3.5 star, it was a good book but I didn't feel the way the hype around it suggested I might.

Thank you to Netgalley and Harper Collins UK Audio for a copy of the book in return for an honest review.

Molly is no ordinary maid. She takes extraordinary pride in her work at the Regency Grand hotel, heavily influenced by her now deceased Granmother she charts her own very unique path in life. A life that’s turned upside down when she discovers a dead guest in one of the hotel rooms. Her moral compass manipulated by unscrupulous characters Molly triumphs with the help of her friends.

I just fell in love with her. Seeing the world through her eyes felt like a privilege, which is definitely down to the skilful storytelling of Nita Prose. Although some of the twists were slightly predictable I didn’t see the final one coming which is a rarity for me.

This was a relaxing intriguing story of a life less ordinary and I adored it.

It was also beautifully narrated by Lauren Ambrose.

🎧 Audiobook Review 🎧

The Maid ~ Nita Prose

Ad - Pr ARC ~ Honest review!

🎧So I made it no secret how much I’ve always struggled with audiobooks. The narrative has always been my issue, feeling like it just ruined it for me but after receiving the ARC of The Maid on @netgalley I couldn’t not give it another go! Thank you to @nitaprose too!!

☺️I knew when I picked this up from other reviews that Molly maid had ASD and the narrative really brought to life her innocence in how she saw the world and the people who she crossed paths with. I’d be interested to see how I’d have interpreted this by reading the book!

🧽The slow building of characters really helped to show just how tangled Molly’s world became after losing her beloved Gran and my heart really went out to her!! After finding Mr Black dead, I was hooked to find out how on earth Molly would get to the truth in everything the deeper she became connected to it all!

💚I really enjoyed this audiobook and while it definitely took me longer to get through than a book would have, I would definitely recommend it! Overall a great debut novel from Nita Prose!

Really enjoyed this one. Thought the narrators voice might irritate me at first but it really gave me a feeling about the main character. Loved the precise diction. Quirky story.

The Maid was so fun. I loved the narrators and the story of the very quirky character.

I think that it was a little unrealistic but I did like Molly and her naive ways. I would buy more from this author in the future.

“Everything will be okay in the end. If it’s not okay, then it’s not the end”.

Molly works as a maid at the Regency Grand Hotel. She misses her Gran terribly, now that she’s been taken away by cancer. Molly is different from most people: she perceives reality in a different way, and she uses a language that looks old fashioned to those who listen to her. One day, she goes to work only to find a bad surprise waiting for her: the corpse of a guest, Mr Black, in his hotel room. When the police arrive, Molly tries to help them, but she doesn’t know that somebody else - somebody she likes and trusts - has every intention to frame her not only for murder, but also for the drug dealing business that is secretly going on at the hotel. It will take Molly all of her strength, and of Gran’s teachings, to see her way through the mess someone else has created for her.

I listened to the audiobook and I really appreciated the narrator. The book itself is enjoyable and flows very well. My only doubts concern the plot, which I found slightly too thin for this kind of genre. I would have liked to have more suspense and a stronger plot twist at the end. Overall, it was a nice read which lacked something, but which was nevertheless enjoyable.

•thanks to #netgalley and the publisher for the #ALC in exchange for an honest review•

A Perfect Thriller....................................
If there is something like a perfect thriller, then The Maid by Nita Prose justifies every word. It was terrific with some amazing characters. My favorite is Molly who represents herself as a strong and responsible woman. Tertiary characters are also wonderful. But, the most thrilling is the climax which is simply superb. Just when you think that you have guessed the right culprit, the last few pages flips the whole plot. Indeed one of the best thriller of 2022.

I would, definitely, give the book 5 stars. Thanks to Netgalley and Harper Collins Audio for providing me an opportunity to read and review the book.

Thoroughly enjoyed this read. I really loved Molly as a character. She was quirky and different which made her lovable. I was expecting the read to be a bit darker than it was though, but that didn't deter from a well written thriller mystery!

I fell in love with Molly the Maid right from the start. "The Maid" may be advertised as a murder mystery, but I think it offers so much more. Right from the start, we are introduced to Molly, who has a certain way of doing things. Even though she is not openly presented as neurodivergent, I think she could easily fit into this category. The author does a brilliant job in portraying her daily life, with quirks and everything. I loved how she gradually constructed the mystery, without forgetting to keep Molly in the spotlight. The story is not predictable and quite enjoyable, and along the way, you cannot help but root for Molly to find happiness. An excellent read, one that I would highly recommend to any of my bookworm friends.

'I am your maid.

I know about your secrets. Your dirty laundry.

But what do you know about me?

Molly, a maid at The Regency Hotel is all alone in the world. A nobody. She’s used to being invisible in her job; wiping away the grime, dust and secrets of the guests passing through. She’s just a maid - why should anyone take notice?

But Molly is thrown into the spotlight when she discovers an infamous guest, Mr Black, very dead in his bed. This isn’t a mess that can be easily cleaned up. And as Molly becomes embroiled in the hunt for the truth, following the clues whispering in the hallways of the Regency Grand, she discovers a power she never knew was there. She’s just a maid - but what can she see that others overlook?'

It was with a mixture of excitement and apprehension that I started this book, as I'm sure as with many other readers, whenever a new release arrives to a fanfare, receives great press releases, pops up all over social media, I often discover there is either a good reason for it, or I'm completely non-plussed.
In the case of Nita Prose's debut, I'm happy to say it deserves the hype. This is not just a book review, but an audiobook review, so it's important to say at this point how much I enjoyed Lauren Ambrose's narration.
This was significant as the novel is told from Molly's point of view and she has a unique way of viewing the world. She does not always interpret facial clues, really have any friends and rarely understands the nuances in language. She sees things from a very literal viewpoint, and has rigid routine, so whilst there is no mention of a neuro divergent diagnosis, it seems clear that Molly displays many characteristics of someone with ASD.

Molly the Maid has led a very sheltered but richly emotional life with her Gran, who recently died, and Molly is now alone . As a maid in a fancy hotel, Molly accepts all that she is told and excels in 'restoring rooms to perfection.' This is the extent of her daily life until that is, a guest is found dead in his suite of rooms - the very suite Molly is cleaning. This is when her perfect life is turned upside down when she happens to discover the body of a guest in the hotel room - Mr Black - the famous tycoon of the Black empire. She unknownly becomes one of the prime suspects and has been charged so.
It soon transpires that there was a whole lot of nefarious stuff going on that Molly, with her literal, black and white mind, didn’t know about.

I loved Molly as the lead female protagonist, she's organized, loves Agatha Christie novels and I think it's fantastic to have a neuro divergent main character without implicitly saying so. I did find the opening to be bit slow paced, but it soon picked up with the plot twist. I enjoyed the doubtful suspects, the red herrings, but as is so important with a mystery, all the secrets are revealed in the end.

Overall, I found this to be a charming, 'cosy', and unique crime mystery that I would highly recommend, and I'm looking forward to the 'movie'.

I was so excited to be given the opportunity to listen to The Maid as there has been a lot of hype around this book. It is read beautifully by Lauren Ambrose (for fans of Six Feet Under she was Claire Fisher in the series) and Ambrose's narration saved this novel for me. Molly is a maid at The Regency Grand and on cleaning his room finds a regular guest dead. This is a cosy crime novel featuring a neurodivergent character at it's heart and for me it never really took off. I am not a huge fan of cosy crime and found this to be a particularly slow paced and predictable novel. Obviously lots of readers adored this and the main character, sadly it wasn't for me.
Many thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for the opportunity to listen to and review this audiobook.

With all the hype around this book, I ended up finding it a little flat.

The Maid is a murder mystery which follows Molly, a maid at the Regency Grand, after she discovers the body of a dead guest.

I found the ‘whodunnit’ part very predictable, it was all very easy to piece things together. Molly herself was clearly intended to be the star of the book, she’s written as neurodivergent which could have given this book a unique perspective. However, Molly’s characterisation felt really inconsistent. It’s not explicitly stated that Molly is neurodivergent and I understand that everyone’s experience is individual, but Molly never really felt ‘real’.

I didn’t connect with this book but I know lots of other people did so it may just be that it wasn’t for me. I did really like the narrator and felt they did a really good job.

Thank you to Netgalley and the publishers for this audiobook in exchange for an honest review.

The Maid follows the story of Molly The Maid, a young woman who works in the Grand Regency Hotel. From the very start you can tell that Molly is different from her peers - she is very literal and sees the world in black and white. She has very defined ideas of how people should behave, and as a result has few friends.

Molly's world is turned upside down one day when she finds a VIP guest of the hotel deceased in his room, and is dragged into the murder investigation and a murky underworld. Molly has to learn who she can and can't trust, and navigate this new world while sticking to her moral compass.

I listened to the audio book of this and the narrator was perfect, exactly how I imagined Molly would sound. I felt sorry for her at so many points of the book, which was uncomfortable to listen to - especially the scenes in the police station where I was crying out asking why no one recognised she would need an appropriate adult. I enjoyed the dichotomy of good and bad guys throughout the book, and was egging Molly on to recognise the difference.

The mystery was clever and at about 85% through I was convinced I had got it, only for me to be thrown again in the final scenes.

I really enjoyed this - one of my top books this year - and will be recommending it to others.

I was enthralled by Molly the maid’s story from the prologue and that was a cozy mystery. Molly is a twenty-something woman who works as a maid in a prestigious hotel. She’s incredibly thorough and takes her job incredibly seriously. One day, she encounters the dead body of a millionaire, who was staying at the hotel, and an investigation ensues, during which Molly is the main suspect. The book was great on audio, which is what I listened to!

Molly’s character really made me think whether she was neurodivergent, but this is never explicitly stated in the book. It would have been good to know whether the author has any experience with ND people that would have informed the way she depicted Molly, or if her character is just completely made up to be a quirky person with a unique personality…

Something else that I thought was a bit too stereotypical was the undocumented Mexican immigrant character who is taken advantage of by a drug dealing gang throughout the entire book. This could have truly been any other trope! In the end, I liked how Juan Manuel and Molly’s characters developed and I was quite satisfied with the ending.

Overall, I enjoyed the experience of reading this book and the plot, but there were a few minor things that I found a bit icky (like the ND topic and stereotypes).

Molly is a hotel maid who has an obsessive love of cleaning and her life being orderly. She struggles with social skills, which her Grandmother helped her with. After the recent death of her grandmother, she finds herself struggling to live life on her own and is thrown in the middle of a mystery at her place of work. An enjoyable read, quirky with a twist.

Molly was such an interesting character, thoroughly enjoyed reading The Maid.
Thank you for the opportunity to listen to this ARC.

2 Stars ⭐⭐ almost DNF

At last I'm catching up with sharing some of my book reviews. This one I think may go against popular opinion.

I so nearly stopped listening to this half way through, but half an hour later I thought I'll carry on. With the last 15 minutes of the book remaining, I'd had enough and stopped. I can not recall ever having done that with a book or audiobook. I just didn't care how it ended.

Maybe I started the book disappointed, I heard somewhere it was an historical novel - it's modern. I didn't really like the characters all that much, and didn't care what happened in the storyline.

Not one for me I'm afraid.

I really enjoyed listening to Molly the Maid and her view of the world. Working hard as a mid in a luxury hotel, she is not quite as unseen as she thinks she is. Her backstory is gradually disclosed, and I found myself captured by her and distressed at the situation she finds herself in. Thanks fully she has friends she didn't know she had. A very satisfying story, well narrated.