Good, kept my interests. Not great. Some moved so slow and some was just plain predictable but the last few chapters were full of surprise. Not really sure how a woman can work for someone and rent a flat under contract using a fake name in todays day & age but whatever. If you overlook that and the side plot implausibility, you're good.
I kinda played the whole thing in my head like a Lifetime movie.
Three and a half stars, rounded up to four

The Midwife is a twisty psychological thriller that will keep you guessing all the way through. Told
from the point of view of the mother, Lauren and the midwife, Jackie the story moves between the characters and different timelines.
Lauren is pregnant and after successful IVF is doing it alone. She is thankful to have the support of Jackie but does she have an ulterior motive when providing additional help?
It is clear that both women are keeping secrets from each other but I could not work out what links them or Amber who is also present at the anti natal classes.
I enjoyed this novel and will look out for other books by the author. I listened to the audiobook and thought the narrator was fine apart from when she was voicing Jackie and Kareem. This was a little over the top for my liking.

Reading Between the Wines book review #95/135 for 2022:
Rating: 3 🍷 🍷 🍷
Book 🎧: The Midwife
Author: Victoria Jenkins
Genre: General Fiction (Adult) | Mystery & Thrillers
RELEASED on November 15, 2022!!!

Sipping thoughts: I liked the synopsis of this book but it was a slow burn which is not always a bad thing. If you decide to read this book go ahead and suspend what you think is going to happen or what you think it is about because I would guess you would be wrong. The end of the book picked up and I couldn’t read fast enough to see what was happening. All in all a pretty decent book.

Cheers and thank you to @NetGalley and @BookoutureAudio for an advanced copy of @TheMidwife.

#TheMidwife #VictoriaJenkins #BookoutureAudio #NetGalley #advancedreadercopy #ARC #Kindle #Booksofinstagram #readersofinstagram #bookstagram #nicoles_bookcellar #bookworm #bookdragon #booknerd #booklover #bookstagrammer #bookaholic #bookreview #bookreviewer #IHaveNoShelfControl #ReadingBetweenTheWines #fiction #thriller #suspense #mystery #MysteryAndThrillers #GeneralFictionAdult

'The Midwife' as an audiobook is a very decent listen in the psychological fiction genre. It was my first experience of Victoria Jenkins work, but on this basis of this book I would seek this author out again. The plot is twist-filled and smoke and mirrors are used to great effect, all is most definitely not what it first appears!

Lauren is an expectant single mother, who finds that her midwife really does go the extra mile. Lauren feels comfortable with midwife, Jackie, who offers a maternal and reassuring presence to Lauren, for whom life so far has been far from a bed of roses. Lauren experiences a slight niggle as to whether Midwife, Jackie's, treatment of her is 'normal', but with a lack of others in her corner, Jackie is the one she turns to when the going gets tough. The book is narrated from the perspective of Lauren 'The Mother', and also from Jackie, 'The Midwife'. From Jackie's narrative it is clear she is in cahoots with a mysterious male character, and sinister intent is implied, but as to why, and what unfolds, I would highly recommend reading this book to find out! So much happens, I don't think I could summarise it even if I wanted to!!

Narrative is superb, I see nothing to criticise in this narrator, who does an excellent job of differentiating between characters.

This is an audiobook I wouldn't hesitate to recommend to readers/ listeners of the psychological fiction genre.

My thanks to NetGalley, author and publisher for the opportunity to review this book in exchange for an advance copy.

I quite enjoyed this thriller which follows a woman in the late stages of her pregnancy, as she starts to experience threatening things happening to her. Fortunately for her, she has a very attentive midwife, but is the midwife really everything that she seems? This book is deliberately confusing, which keeps the reader guessing about what is going on, but there are so many people using false names that I started to struggle to follow who was who. I did get it in the end, but a lot of small things in the story don't seem to make much sense - starting with why a single woman who is clearly struggling for cash and doesn't even have a two bedroomed flat is having a baby through IVF! Where did she find the money for that?! It was a reasonably good story, overall, and fairly entertaining.

The narration was okay, although I found the soft slow tone used for conversation (be it Jackie or one of the male characters) quite irritating. I also had to listen to it on 1.25% playback speed because the pace was a bit slow for me.

I quite liked this story, the narrator was good although not much difference between the characters - however when she used two voices as part of the conversation the second character was spoken in a low drone which I found incredibly annoying! I liked the characters and the storyline was good, it takes me a while to get into but I do like the flipping back and forward in time. It was an ok audiobook.

A wonderful piece of literature, thoroughly enjoyed every page and completely absorbing! Tine well spent - Read it

The Midwife by Victoria Jenkins starts off as quite a slow burn of a read and I will admit to feeling a tad disappointed. I like my reads to start off fast paced from the very start. However the pace at the start really does suit this story and it slowly builds up to a incredible and brilliant second half . I honestly was so engrossed in this book that I forgot everything else only what I was reading . A super story with a few OMG moments that rendered me speechless at times .

Featuring ~ dual 3rd person POV, dual timeline, slow start, pregnancy, IVF, secrets, these triggers kind of make for a (view spoiler on my GR), so view at your own risk.

Jackie is the midwife and Lauren is the mother. Secrets from the past intertwine in the present.

Unfortunately, this was super slow going for me and I didn't really care for either main character, or the side characters for that matter. The flashbacks back to 1995 kept me listening so I could how it would all play out.

I didn't write down specifically what was written, but this had me like what?? ~ she smelled smoke, so she grabbed a knife. Do ya plan on stabbing the flames?? Perhaps she should concentrate on getting her preggers self out of the house before the smoke inhalation kicks in.

Narrated by Anne-Marie Piazza for 7 hours and 16 minutes, easy~ish to follow at 2x. So when she was speaking in whichever POV character we were on she did a fine job, but when she had to do other voices she totally slowed down her speaking like she had to concentrate on it. I could've went for a second narrator for some distinction.

I want to thank the publishers, and Netegally for giving me the opportunity to listen to this audiobook arc in return for an honest review.

This was overall a 2.5 out a 5 stars. It wasn't a bad book, but it felt really slow to me, when its really not that long.

This this book we follow bother a pregnant mother Lauren, and a Midwife Jackie. At first Lauren is excited to work with Jackie, as she seems trusting and kind, but soon becomes somewhat hesitant to trust her. Turns out they both have secrets they are trying to keep hidden.

Anything more then that and I feel like it would give to much away. I do think by the end of the book, there are a nice resolve, and there were some connections that I didn't see coming and were still a surprise. Unfortunately I just felt like it was to predictable. It felt like a bad Hallmark Thriller, that you keep watching even though you know what's going to happen because you want to make sure you were right.

If you are looking for a very specific type of domestic thriller, this might be for you but there are a couple content warnings that you should be prepared for.

Content Warnings
Abuse
Rape
Stillbirth
Miscarriage
Suicide

Single woman in her 40s, pregnant and seeks the help of a midwife she believes is acting in her best interests. Is she or isnt she? You might think you figured it out, but on the hand, maybe you didn't. This book moves at a slow steady pace through the first half of the book, bringing you belief, there really isn't any mystery, because you figured out what was happening and how it would end. And then it surprises you. There is so much to unfold and twists and turns, that you really don't know the full truth until the very last chapter! I reviewed the audible version of this book, the narration was very good, and I enjoyed her performance very much. It is definitely worth the read.

The premise of this book is good and has so much potential. However, I found it hard to follow at times. I was listening to the audio version and could not easily flip back to see who was who, why and when. It is told from the perspective of the mother and the midwife, which switches regularly. I think because at least three of the characters have changed their names (to conceal their identity) it is hard to keep up. It wasn't helped by the fact that I did not enjoy the narrator. She has a monotone voice with only a few different intonations for various characters.
Overall a good idea, with suitable twists and revelations but it needs editing to be a better read and a different narrator.

Thank you to Netgalley, Bookouture Audio and Victoria Jenkins for an audio ARC in return for an honest review.

'The Midwife' by Victoria Jenkins.

"She's there to keep your baby safe.. Or is she?".

Lauren is pregnant with her precious baby and she is going at parenthood alone. She has a good bond with her Midwife, Jackie, but Jackie has other ideas.

This was a great little read. The plot ramps up quite quickly from the start and continues at full-throttle.
There are plenty of twists and turns which keeps you hooked.
I thoroughly enjoyed it.

Narrated by Anne-Marie Piazza which I thought suited the characters well, there was little difference between the voices of Jackie and Lauren but it didn't bother me.

I listened to the audio version and the narrator wasn’t for me. She seemed monotone and had very little difference in character voices. I think this took a lot away from the storyline itself. The book itself was ok, there were some twists that I didn’t see coming.

Listening to this book was an enjoyable way to pass the time as I painted my son's bedroom last weekend! I listened to it almost straight through once I began.
It did take me awhile to acclimate myself to the switch back and forth between Jackie and Lauren's perspectives. This is likely due to the format as an audiobook--I didn't have the visual formatting prompts would have made it clearer of the switches in narration as in a print or electronic version of the book.
The narrator's voice was smooth and appealing, though she didn't display a huge range of tones to distinguish between character voices. However, she did emote the intensity of emotion when characters were speaking in a highly charged way.
I did find that the action of the book did somewhat feel as though it was more heavily loaded on the back-end of the novel. The pacing sped up quite a bit and it felt a bit frenetic. However, the wrap-up/climax of the book made sense and I felt that the author tied up all the loose ends tidily.
I hadn't read anything by Victoria Jenkins previously, but I would be inclined to read / listen to another book by her and/or this narrator again.
Thank-you to NetGalley and Bookouture for providing access to an ARC of this title in exchange for my honest review.!

Holy cow! This book was amazing. Jackie is a midwife who is trying to get close to a pregnant Lauren. You can tell Lauren has secrets in her past, but what does that have to do with Jackie? Meanwhile, Jackie and Pete have a plan to get back at Lauren for something. Great suspense. great twists. just a great book!

Wow. I would have to say this is her best book by far. Lauren gets pregnant via IVF and Jackie, the midwife is paying her too much attention. What is she hiding? Why is she trying to engage herself in Lauren's life? Meanwhile, Jackie and Pete have their own plans of revenge against Lauren. But wait....is revenge what they want? Who is this mysterious girl that appears with Jackie at times? What does she want? Lots of suspense and shocking sectors in this book. Wonderful!

The blurb really really attracted me and I thought this was right up my street. But it started off so slow and I did struggle with it but the narration made it more appealing for me.

I was given an advance copy by netgalley and the publishers but the review is entirely my own.

I really enjoyed this book, more than I anticipated I would.
I haven’t read or heard this author prior
I really liked the narrators voice, minus the mens voice let it down and this how it flicks back to mother and midwife each chapter.
Without giving too much away the twist was OK but wasn’t the wow and the crescendo you would be waiting for as the climax of how it unravels.
Okay so the the car and midwives parts turn out to be nicer characters than you are led to believe but just didn’t live up to the 8 hours listen time for me.

Visceral, provocative, and compulsive!

Victoria Jenkins' latest novel —THE MIDWIFE, is full of secrets, unreliable characters, and a strong sense of darkness coming. When you trust someone with your baby, you give up a lot of control, creating suspenseful and intense psychological drama.

I listened to the audiobook narrated by Anne-Marie Piazza for an engaging and highly entertaining chilling performance/listening experience.

We meet Lauren, a single pregnant via IVF, soon to be a mom. She has chosen this route and looks forward to being a mom. We will learn more about her tough traumatic past toward the end of the book, and you will have sympathy for her.

She is highly protective of this baby, as she should be, and meets her midwife, Jackie. She is there to support her.

However, Jackie is acting mysterious, and Lauren does not know if she can trust her. Mid-wives should be there to help you in every way.

Told from POVs Jackie and Lauren, we know that something is off. There are dark secrets on both sides and a mysterious man named Peter.

Lauren gets upset when a brick is thrown through her window with a note stating, "I know what you did!"

Throughout the book, you have no clue who is good or bad. Slow-paced and deeply unsettling, THE MIDWIFE is about the darkest reaches of motherhood.

Readers have to wait until the end of the book to get all the answers as to what happened to Lauren many years ago, the other people indirectly affected seeking revenge and the others with a plan to help or hurt her.

I cannot quite put my finger on it, but because of how it was written, it is hard to get invested in the characters or connect with them since you are not given the full story until the end.

I think the audiobook was well done; however, this one was more suspense, mystery, and psychological family drama versus a gripping thriller. Maybe that is what some of the reviewers are referring to. However, it was a pleasant listen, and look forward to reading more from this author.

Thank you to #BookoutureAudio and #NetGalley for an e-ALC in exchange for an honest review.

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@JudithDCollins | #JDCMustReadBooks
My Rating: 3.5 Stars
Pub Date: Nov 14, 2022
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