This story is dark and twisted and not what you would expect. The twists and turns were great and so was the ending.
The narrator wad the author herself which was great too

Mother's Day by Abigail Burdess Narrated by Abigail Burdess was a crazy psychological thriller. I didn't love it and I didn't dislike it.......However, there was so much going on just for one audiobook!!!
It ended up a big confusing ride for me! especially as it was a very slow start to the audiobook..........My mind just switched off and I became not interested in Mother's Day. Sorry.

General Thoughts 🤔

This book was up and down for me. when I picked it up, I was expecting something dark and sinister that would have the hairs on the back of my neck raised and shivers running down my spine. Instead, I was finding sections quite funny and I was becoming endeared with some of the characters.

The latter part of the book was when the darkness started to kick in, but because I had been thrown off track already, it felt a bit jarring and out of place. On reflection, this wasn’t such a big deal as it felt at the time and I actually think it was quite an interesting way to develop and move along the story and the characters.

Characters 👫👭👬

There were some big characters in this book and I had feelings about a lot of them. I won’t go into too much detail, because I don’t want to give spoilers. Anna was so sweet and so likeable but she was horribly naieve. I instantly felt like I was her friend and I wanted the very best for her. Considering all that she had been through in her life and what she went through once meeting her birth mother, I don’t know how the woman was still standing.

Marlene was out there but I feel like we all know or have met someone just like her. She was very opinionated and very outgoing to the point where her company would be aggravating but the way in which she kept people around her was with her generosity. She was the type of person to grind someone down so much that they have no option but to remain in her life whilst all the time, wearing a smile.

Writing Style ✍️

The style and tone of this book was what surprised me the most. As I mentioned, I was expecting chilling but I actually got dark humour with some tense drama to round it all off. I actually really liked this and thought that it made the plot more interesting as well as more believable. Not all bad people are wholly bad and not all good people are wholly good and I think that the author captured that through these characters really well.

I listened to the audiobook of Mother’s Day and the narration was great. I was kept engaged and the characters were definitely brought to life as opposed to just being read to me.

Conclusion & Scoring 🎖

Although this book ended up being something a bit different from what I was expecting, I still enjoyed it. The plot was interesting although it was also a bit wild to the point where I questioned if it was believable. Even so, I was entertained and I became invested in what was to become of these characters. If you’re looking for an audiobook to keep you occupied and you don’t mind some dark humour with a touch of thriller, then I would recommend that you give this a go.

I was really intrigued by the synopsis and had heard great things from early readers, so I was really keen to get started. The book was written from the point of view of Anna, a young woman living with her musician boyfriend Dermot, and at the beginning of the book she’s thinking of leaving Dermot and London. The story describes Anna’s somewhat humdrum life with Dermot; her work and her family – which is fascinating! I don’t want to give too much detail or give anything away as it’s something you need to immerse yourself in, but Anna decides to find her birth mother and succeeds after first finding her half sister Hebe. Their mother, Marlene, or Ma, is a real character.
I loved the way Abigail voiced Ma in the audiobook, it was perfect. In fact, all of the voices were perfect and I really enjoyed listening. The characters are incredibly well developed, even the minor ones. The book is fairly moderately paced but rich with detail and we learn the facts of Anna’s early life and the sadness she endured, with an exploration of her adoption and the love she felt for her adoptive mother. It’s heartbreaking and Anna has a difficult time unpicking her feelings as an adult.

There are pricklings of unease as Anna and Ma’s lives become more deeply entwined Anna’s other relationships begin to unravel. The tension really builds towards the end and there’s some incredibly raw emotion. Interspersed with the narrative are descriptions of foetal development during different stages of pregnancy which correspond to Anna’s, initially unnoticed, pregnancy. Anna’s journey into motherhood is certainly fraught…

Mother’s day explores many themes – adoption, infidelity, family secrets, emotional manipulation and control, physical and emotional abuse, delusional thinking, coercive control, poverty, religion alcoholism, death of a parent, motherhood and so much more. Anna goes on a journey of discovery about herself, not just about her family but her identity as a Jew and sense of being held back in her professional life and underplaying her skills and potential.

I loved this book and will read it again. I loved the audiobook but must get my hands on a physical copy. I think it’s one of those novels that will stay with me and that will be calling out to be re-read. It’s very dark but has warmth and humour, great dialogue, wonderful characters (oh, Ma!!) and insight. It’s clearly well researched and intelligent and I urge you all to read it now. An undisputed 5 stars from me.

I really thought I was going to like this book, but the subject matter was too dark. I thought I was going to like Anna's story, and I did somewhat, but Ma was something else completely.

The writing style was a good pace, and I felt it would be a good story especially as the audiobook was narrated by the author. I didn't find the author was easy to listen to and I was put off by the subject matter.

This was hard going for me and I didn't get very far.
Thanks to Abigail Burdess, and Wildfire for my eARC in exchange for an homest and voluntary review.

This is a very strange book which builds bit by bit into quite a satisfying psychological thriller. Author narration, which I often find is author vanity, in this case is excellent and Abigail’s delivery is measured and I enjoyed her reading.

The story centres on discoveries; birth mother, pregnancy, secrets and covers a number if very difficult themes include ding addiction and abuse. The mother is off the wall and you have to go along with her in order to make sense of her quirks and oddity. Equally the daughter is a damaged character, struggling to make sense of life. It’s multilayered and there are twists that keep the pace and interest going. It’s not always entirely plausible, but neither is real life, so I found the way it raised and dealt with issues kept my attention. Some uncomfortable reading, but overall this is a different thriller.

My thanks to the publisher for a review copy via Netgalley.

Thank you to Netgalley for allowing me to listen to this audiobook. I was pleasantly surprised by this psychological thriller as it was very different from what I was expecting. It was definitely not your average thriller and I was completely enthralled by it. The book has many twists which I didn’t see coming and I absolutely loved the ending, it was perfect. Definitely recommend this book. 5 stars from me.

Suspenseful and tragic tale following Anna. Adopted as a child and then deprived of her beloved adoptive mother by a tragic road accident, Anna has always felt disconnected and scared to form attachments. Finding herself pregnant and also in contact with her natural mother...Mother's Day follows the twists and turns of Anna's life as she embarks on her journey of both becoming a mother and reconnecting with the mother she never knew.

Touching upon mental health, rape, obsession, alcoholism and hidden sexual orientation, Mother's Day is far from a sedate story of Mother's love with it's many clever twists.

This audiobook was difficult to review as I’m not sure I was enjoying it but I couldn’t wait to see what happened. The story is twisty and at some points chaotic. The mother well, she is on another level and once I gave into the madness I found it very good. The narration was excellent and pace of it great.

I like the fact Abigail Burdess narrated her own book
I do love a good twisty psychological thriller - which this defiantly is
I did find some of the book a bit odd at times
The story was well written with a nice pace
Just need to get my breath now

Thank you netgalley and Abigail Burdess

I enjoyed this book although I did find the story far fetched and quite unbelievable! But if you can suspend your idea of reality not a bad entertaining read

This is a bizarre and crazy psychological thriller, which is about a woman called Anna, who gets pregnant and then sets out to find her birth Mum. Once she does so, things get very weird. The book is mainly focused on the characters and their mindsets.

The book was enjoyable, but I found it a bit confusing, and maybe it was a bit too crazy, even for me.

The narrator of the book is the author, and she done a fantastic job at narrating her own book.

If you love crazy, twisty, quirky, dark tales, then you will love this book!

Many thanks to the author, publisher and NetGalley for a copy of this book.

This book is crazy. In a good way.
I may have gasped once or twice at the sheer audacity of certain characters, and almost screamed at others when I just knew they were making foolish decisions.
Full of larger than life characters,this is a roller-coaster of a ride, that let's up the tension long enough for you to catch your breath and wonder what the hell could happen next.
Exhausted after racing through it.

I had the audio version of this to review and it was amazing! It had the vibes of Misery but then some.

I found the story compelling and well paced. While I understood why the character of Anna was a certain way, I was wishing for her to develop a bit more backbone….and then she did!!!

The narration was excellent and it was a pleasure to listen to. I was looking forward to every opportunity to listen!

I highly recommend for anyone who enjoys a psychological thriller.

This book is absolutely stunning. I'm a relatively new mother, and tend to avoid books about pregnancy and motherhood, especially thrillers, but I'd heard such good things about this I couldn't resist, and I'm so glad I gave it a chance. Yes, there is a lot of dark stuff here, and some scenes may be difficult if you have experienced any maternal trauma, but I would also add that the author deals with the subjects with huge sensitivity. This is a book about the extreme emotions of motherhood, in many ways, and how close it can push people to the edge.

The author is also an actress and narrates the book and her reading is incredible!

I really enjoyed this book. It was quite a wild ride! I liked how it was quite clear from the beginning what was happening and I know that's not the usual requirement of psychological thrillers, but I think it added to the suspense. It was also full of good humour which was a refreshing combination. Would recommend.

Anna lives with her nice but useless boyfriend Dermot, who is in a band. They're popular locally but not very successful, and Anna and Dermot drink too much and are generally not in a position to be parents. Then Anna gets pregnant. At the same time, the mother who abandoned Anna on a traffic island in an orange handbag thirty-odd years ago turns up after Anna makes some enquiries about her. She's delighted to discover she is going to be a grandmother, and is determined to make up for all of the years she and Anna have been separated. Except wouldn't it be nicer if Anna was called Beth, since that was the name she was called as a baby...?

This entire book is nuts - it's a very simple plot without any big plot twists that is wholly driven instead by the characters. They are all entirely bonkers, but they feel very real nonetheless, and they are certainly memorable. It's a strange sort of thriller - throughout there's an edge of very dark comedy that makes it feel quite different to your standard domestic thriller that floods the market at the moment. I really enjoyed it. I listened to the audiobook version and thought it was particularly good that Abigail Burdess read it herself, since obviously as it is her book, she knows best how to read each of the characters. Marlene's slightly shrill voice was grating but very apt for the character.

With thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for a copy of this audiobook in return for an honest review.

Definitely a book of two halves with the second part the best bit. Quite an entertaining read but not overwhelmingly. Main characters interesting and I enjoyed the narration of it and now I see it was the author. That doesn’t always work as well as you expect but this time it did.

I enjoyed this but it was a bit strange and found it hard to follow at some points specially towards the end. Worth a listen & would read more by the author in the future.

The first half of this book was really hard to read. I couldn’t get into it and really didn’t have any draw to any of the characters. The second half was much better. The last 20% was the best part, when there was much more focus on summing everything up, but I just found it dragged a little too much with the build up.

I wanted more about how and why Anna’s mother had done what she had at the start of the book, I didn’t feel that was fully explained and would have liked more.

I also thought Anna settled far too much throughout the whole book and there wasn’t much fight in her at all for anything she wanted.

The stats at the start of the chapters were a bit uncomfortable and I’m not really sure why they were there.

I really enjoyed the dynamic ending and wished it had been that pacy throughout.

3.5 stars