This has been the most difficult book for me to review. I was intrigued at the start, bored at one point, annoyed at Molly’s naivety (even though I understood why); enchanted by her speech and mannerisms; wept for her near the end at the death of her grandmother; cheered her on; got angry at her detractors; and applauded her bravery. The way the author, Nita Prose, clarified details as the story progressed was so well crafted that you didn’t feel cheated that you hadn’t been told at the start. I listened to this as an audio book and I have nothing but praise for the narration of Lauren Ambrose - she certainly brought the characters to life, especially that of Molly. I originally dithered over whether I wanted this book but I am so very glad I decided I did. It’s not often you find a book which leaves such a strong impression on you. Wonderful.

Thank you to Netgalley, HarperCollins UK Audio and Nita Prose for an audio-ARC in return for an honest review,

The Maid by Nita Prose is a brilliant book. Molly the Maid is just the most delightful character. I was rooting for her the whole way through. This is very much a 'who dunnit' thriller. The Maid is narrated by Lauren Ambrose who fits the character of Molly perfectly. I loved this book and can't wait to read more by Nita Prose.

This is such a fun, twisty, dark, humorous, cozy mystery that I read in one sitting!! I adored Molly Gray more and more with each passing chapter, she was genuinely delightful and charming, and was probably the reason I fell for so many of the other characters!
Simply put this novel is a quirky mystery following a happily 'invisible' maid at a fancy hotel who finds a dead body, but there are layers of complexity that made this so thrilling and compelling.
I can't wait to pass around my copy of The Maid to my mum and friends, I know they'll love this story and Molly as much as I do!

Well done Nita Prose on this debut thriller that is so unputdownable, easy to read and recommend!

Thank you so much to NetGalley and Harper Collins for an advance audio copy of The Maid!!

This gave me Eleanor Oliphant vibes, the MC’s were very similar. The story was interesting enough. Not the most memorable. I liked the found family element to it.

Molly is one of the most sincere and vulnerable characters I can remember.  Raised by her dear Gran, she is ripe for others to take advantage of her.  One cannot help but root for this young woman as this mystery unfolds.

The author does a great job in the character development of Molly.  Her life is orderly, regimented and full of wise words that her Gran left her with. It was painful at times to see what others were capable of doing to such a lovely young woman and the choices she makes. As the story progresses, you might be surprised to see who turns out to be her friends.

Molly’s character is what makes this book as entertaining as it is.  While the mystery is central to the plot, it isn’t what kept me reading.  It is this endearing young woman who counts her blessings every day that captured my heart.

I listened to the audiobook version of The Maid which was performed by Lauren Ambrose.  She does a fantastic job of capturing Molly’s spirit and brought another level of enjoyment to this book.

4.5 stars

Very intriguing novel! It gets you in from moment 1 and loved the setting in the hotel and the character of Molly the Maid. Really good audiobook narrator too!

The Maid by Nita Prose is such a cracking whodunit and I loved the main character/narrator, Molly. An unlikely heroine who really captured my interest and heart to be fair! Half the time I was shouting whilst reading “Molly, what are you doing? How are you getting yourself in such a mess?” 😅😂 Molly is slightly awkward, quirky, sweet and inquisitive. Due to her nice nature, she ends up in a mess and I was intrigued to find out what was going to happen. Molly definitely gave me Eleanor Oliphant vibes (which I loved). I enjoyed the plot, characters and heartwarming vibes. Definitely recommend this one for crime mystery fans so I give it a thumbs up 👍🏻

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for approving me for this arc

I feel like everyone has loved this book and I just couldn’t get into it as much as I wanted to, I thought the concept of the novel was really good but I found it hard to fully immerse myself into the story

AUDIOBOOK
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I very recently read the book version of this but was given the opportunity to access the audiobook via @netgalley and I have to say I much preferred it as an audiobook. Narrated by Lauren Ambrose, who did a fantastic job with the different characters, I found myself drawn into the story even though I knew the outcome.
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Molly Maid came to life in a completely different way and I found myself better able to visualise the Regency Grand and its occupants through the narration. @nitaprose has created a wonderfully vibrant cast and engaging protagonist in Molly, I loved seeing her make sense of the world and navigating her life through a turbulent time. Perfect for mystery fans who like a light touch and some humour.
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Have you listened to an audiobook that you preferred over a print version?
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Thanks @penguinrandomhouse fir the access to this audiobook.
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Loved the way it was narrated. Absolutely innovative, absolutely fantastic. Molly, the main character was easily one of the most interesting protagonist I came across in a very long time.
Loved the little post twists, loved that some things were very clear to the reader while others not so much.
And the narrator of the audiobook was just great!
Okay, simply put: I recommend it. A lot. It was a very great idea very well done.

Where should I start?!
Molly is a maid at a luxury hotel, She has a very unique character, different and special. Nine months pass from her grandmother's death, when she finds a body in one of the hotel rooms, and at this time find a few friends for the first time in her life. A suspenseful death, new unusual friends, cops and interrogation at the police station change her life.

I read many lovely and detailed reviews, all of my friends mention this as a great book. So I'm not going to write more about this book, just a few of my personal opinion.
First of all, this is 4 stars, so it is a good book. My rating is normally high, I rarely use 2 or one star, most of my reads have 4 and 5 stars which are good, I liked these books.
The thing is, I'm just not sure about so many positive views for the first book of the author. I hate to be fussy I'm really not, maybe when we hear about a book that is so great, we expect more, can't find it and will be disappointed.

The Maid is a good book, has very unique characters, especially Molly (my hometown's friends, we may remember Alico). This is a funny and even heartbreaking story, especially I felt so sad about the relationship between Molly and her grandmother. I do recommend this as an amuse simple mystery. I hope you find it better!

This is what I felt when I was listening to this audiobook, which I should mention was a great performance. You may not want to read this, may contain spoil.
10 % what an amazing character, very easy to love!
40 % this is exactly what I anticipated, what will happen next?!
80 % sounds nothing happened!!
95 % ok, what is this, a cheap Roger Ackroyd?! She even did not continue keeping her character.

Thanks to HarperCollins UK Audio via NetGalley for the ARC, I have given my honest review.
The Maid by Nita Prose, Narrated by Lauren Ambrose, 9 hours 37 minutes.

Molly the Maid works as a maid at a high end hotel. She experiences the world very literally and is very innocent and trusting, which sometimes means she’s misinterpreted and used by others around her.

When Molly finds a VIP dead in his bed, she doesn’t know the correct etiquette, who she can trust and who her real friends are.

I really enjoyed this one. I was hooked until the end, and my mind changed a few times about who was really responsible - in the end I got it completely wrong! The audiobook is excellent, and the reader is perfect for Molly’s voice. I’m really looking forward to reading Nita Prose’s next book.

With thanks to NetGalley and HarperCollins UK Audio for a copy of the audiobook in exchange for an honest review.

A great murder-mystery, told from Molly's perspective, giving an interesting view of someone who is kind, conscientious and principled, but who sees the world differently.

Molly loves her job as a maid working at the Regency Grand Hotel in New York, following in the footsteps of her gran and relishing the routine and attention to detail.

These traits carry into her personal life and she likes everything to be done properly and with the correct etiquette. However, she struggles to read expressions and pick up on social clues, leading a solitary life with no real friends beyond her work acquaintances and her gran.

The situation becomes even harder for Molly when she discovers a dead body in the hotel, and judged for being different, finds herself the prime suspect.

Molly is a very interesting and strong character. She goes through a lot and is underestimated but copes with everything that is thrown her way, and stays true to herself.

I will admit I wasn’t sure how I felt half the time while reading this, but I guess that is the beauty in this book. I saw our lovely maid, Molly as a character that was being taken advantage of not just by the characters but by the author. And that is where I went wrong. Molly isn’t “Simple” as she would have been described as a long time ago, she is possibly a fellow neurodivergent. I was giving her the same choices and taking everything at her face value as everyone else without even knowing. She is in fact extremely intelligent and is under estimated at every turn whether this is voluntary or not.

I loved the twist but it also didn’t surprise me. None of this books was really a surprise which was a little disappointing.

The narrator came across very well and she had a brilliant voice for it. There wasn’t much in the form of changing voices for other characters.

This book was so, SO good. Molly was such a lovely main character and I loved her so much. It was horrible seeing her being taken advantage of but I loved the family she created for herself!

Thank you so much to the publisher and author for the opportunity to listen to this book. the narration I found was spot on. Perfectly chosen. I couldn’t wait to listen to the story and was sad when it ended.

Molly the maid! I loved her from the beginning!!!!! Molly is definitely special and unique from the start and her relationship with her grandmother is absolutely beautiful. The story is well written, the characters have some depth and there were so many times throughout the book that I really felt Molly. We aren’t told exactly whether Molly is autistic but she certainly has a number of traits. I think this is what made the story even more enticing to me, her vulnerability and the need for her to win against all the people who don’t understand her and try to use her. There’s some fantastic mystery and plot twists throughout and the ending was perfect to me.

"Maid Molly" works at the Regency Grand Hotel - invisible, behind the scenes, meticulous. She takes huge pride in her work, especially so since her beloved Grandmother passed away. For all her pride in her work, work does not give her the same love back - her colleages make fun of her, they don't understand her and she doesn't really have any proper friends on staff. She sees the world differently to everyone else, and though her Grandmother had helped her to identify what some facial expressions and conversational quirks meant, Molly still finds herself the outsider in most situations.
Until she is thrust into the spotlight when she finds well known guest Mr. Black dead in his hotel room, and she's immediately suspected of having been involved in his death. The novel follows the mystery of what did happen him, and whether Molly was involved or an unlucky bystander in a cruel plot.
Molly is a character who will stay with me for a while. Her view on the world, and how she was treated because of it hurt my heart to read - her confusion in situations that you as the reader (likely) understood and were willing her not to be hurt in was hard to take in parts, but then her blind optimism that everything would work out because that was the right thing to happen was also wonderful. The relationships she did develop as the story went on were lovely and I would happily read more stories about her.
Some of the twists/revelations felt pssibly less dramatic/impactful to me personally as I was more interested in Molly herself than the mystery plot for a lot of the novel - not a sign that the plot was bad in any way but she was such an all-encompassing character it was hard not to focus on her.
The audio version was really well done, I did feel it did her character justice especially so, and the scenes that were more emotive/tense played out really well on audio.
I would definitely be interested to read more by Prose.

I don't usually listen to audio books, except for short stories on podcasts. But The Maid has changed that. Coming back to this beautiful story at the end of the day was like being wrapped in a reassuring blanket. It's a fantastic story that really suits being read aloud, partly because the narrator's voice is so strong and also because of the linear progress of the story. Each clue is offered then explored and Molly's backstory is also gently revealed. If you love audio books or are a recent convert, like me, I'd definitely recommend The Maid.

Thank you to Netgalley and the publishers for providing me with a copy of this audiobook in exchange for my honest opinion.

Molly Gray has her dream job. She is a maid at a fancy hotel, where she gets to be invisible and pursue her favorite activity: cleaning. But when her grandmother dies, Molly starts feeling very lonely and looks forward to spending time with her only friend, Mrs. Black. But when one day, Molly finds Mr. Black, a millionaire and overall bad person, dead in the hotel bed, she gets pulled into the murder case and has to quickly find a way out of the mess.

This murder mystery was refreshing to read. With the protagonist being so unaware of what was happening around her, the reader could grasp the mystery quicker, but still get to see Molly's perspective on her surroundings. I loved the fact that Molly was happy having a job most people would frown upon and that the book was fast-paced.
All in all, I liked that it wasn't your typical murder-mystery and would recommend it to anyone who wants to delve into the genre.

This audio version was fabulous. I’ve read the book and the audio voice was just perfect for Molly. I found myself stopping what I was doing on so many occasions just to listen! Perfect