Member Reviews

Alice Feeney's โ€œGood Bad Girl" took me on a thrilling ride through a labyrinth of mystery and intrigue, leaving me utterly baffled and eagerly flipping pages to uncover the truth. From the very beginning, the narrative gripped me with its enigmatic atmosphere and refusal to reveal its cards too soon.
Throughout the tale, the author masterfully maintained an air of secrecy, skilfully weaving a web of uncertainty that kept me guessing at every turn. The anticipation was palpable as I struggled to piece together the puzzle, and I must admit, I was utterly clueless about where the story was headed. The unveiling of secrets towards the end was a whirlwind, leaving my mind spinning as the threads of the plot came together.
However, as much as I enjoyed the suspenseful journey, I found myself slightly underwhelmed by the ending. It had a certain quaintness to it that I found a tad predictable. I was yearning for a more gritty and impactful conclusion that would leave me truly stunned. While the ending was cleverly executed, it lacked the shocking punch I had hoped for.
One notable aspect that struck me was the noticeable absence of male characters in the story. With only one male presence portrayed as a villainous figure, the narrative felt somewhat unbalanced and detached from reality. Although the story centred around Mother's Day and its associated themes, the lack of significant male figures made the narrative world feel somewhat skewed and less relatable.
In conclusion, "Good Bad Girl" is an enthralling tale that keeps you hooked from start to finish, shrouded in mystery and intrigue. The suspenseful journey and intricate unravelling of secrets make for an engaging read. However, the slightly twee ending and the absence of substantial male characters did take away from the overall impact of the story. While it might not have delivered the shocking blow I anticipated, it remains a captivating exploration of secrets and deception.

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Firstly, I would like to say a massive thank you to @alicewriterland for my personalised copy. I'm still shocked and feel super lucky!
In this book, there is a quote
๐Ÿž"Ladybugs are a symbol of new beggings, love, and luck."๐Ÿž
This book signfys a time of new beggings, love and luck.

This book is another masterpiece by feeney. I devoured it in 24 hours and struggled to put it down. It's got a real mystery murder and domestic drama feel to it. The main focus being around two crimes, 20 years apart but significantly linked, but how they are linked is the overall mystery. It's unusual for a psychological thriller to pull on my heart strings. However, it's quite an unusual story and very thought-provoking!
It was a gripping read, with a very deep and intricate plot. I was hooked and engaged throughout. The book is packed with intriguing quotes and statements that make this an oringinal and memorable story. There is a strong focus on mother daughter bonds, somewhat fractious but none the less unbreakable and a slight conflict over nature vrs nurture.
Not all bonds have to be blood!

The story is narrated by Patience, Frankie, Edith, and Clio, which alterante between the chapters. Each character is vividly created, deeply developed, and easily relateable. These are four strong, independent women. They demonstrate strength and courage. However, each has their own vulnerabiliies and can be compulsive in their behaviours. Their stories do not stay separate for long and how they come together, with cleverly twisted links that were just marvellous to read.

I'm fond of Feeney's writing style and the layout of this book; short chapters, full of suggestive information, making your mind want to guess different theories, but, honestly I found it all very unpredictable. The ending of this story was neatly tied together, very bitter sweet.

"Sometimes bad things happen to good people, so good people have to do bad things"

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Iโ€™m not due to make of this one! It felt like an entirely different type of feeney book Iโ€™ve read before.
The timeline and book structure as always were very clever, the characters interesting.
You need a lot of patience to wait for the story to play it & once it does, it tied up in a fairly near bow

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โญ๏ธ 4.75/5

โ€œTwo wrongs donโ€™t make a right, but they can make the world seem more evenโ€

As usual, I loved Feeneyโ€™s writing - there are always so so many good quotes! Liberty was my favourite character, Iโ€™d love a book about her!

โ€œAll dogs talk, but only to people who know how to listenโ€

I enjoyed the multiple POV. I loved the picture at the start of each chapter to denote which POV it was from, great for someone who is visual like me!

โ€œTruth tends to stretch and bend out of shape to best fit its ownerโ€

I think the cover fits the book really well. The Mr Sheen matches the red theme cover BUT the reason itโ€™s there is because โ€œMr Sheenโ€ is mentioned 6 times in the book - I havenโ€™t figured out if thereโ€™s a reason for it? Or if Iโ€™ve just picked up on something random?

โ€œThe love between a mother and daughter is like a contract signed with invisible ink, but the terms and conditions do varyโ€

If you enjoyed A Slow Fire Burning and Not A Happy Family, I think youโ€™d like this one!

Thank you @panmacmillan for giving me access to this e-arc via @netgalley

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Twenty years after a baby is stolen from her push-chair, a woman is murdered in a care home. The two crimes are somehow linked, and a good bad girl may be the key to discovering the truth.
I love Alice Feeneys writing. Good Bad Girl is an exceptionally tense thriller. It kept me on the edge of my seat and I couldnโ€™t put it down.
Thank you to Netgalley and the author for the opportunity to read and share this book.

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This book has a very different vibe from Alice Feeneys previous novels but that doesnโ€™t make it a bad book! It just means that you need to go into this with an open mind as itโ€™s much more about the dynamics of mother/daughter relationships, emotionally challenging at times but still with the unexpected twists that readers have come to expect. I took a long time to get into the story mainly due to the multiple points of view and working through the questions I had in my own mind about who they were and what they wanted from me!
Towards the end I was completely focused on what was happening and this last part lifted my star rating to a 4 from a 3.

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Daisy Darker was one of my top reads last year and I was thrilled when I saw Good Girl Bad being advertised.
The story follows two events, a baby stolen from a stroller 20 years ago and the more recent murder of a woman in a care home. This is a thrilling read with four strong characters, Edith, Clio, Patience and Frankie, each have their own chapters, which I thought worked really well. This is a read that will have hooked from the start.
Thanks to NetGalley and Pan Macmillan for early access to the read.

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This book had a bit of a slow start and was a little confusing at times but it all came together nicely at the end.

My thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for an ARC of this book.

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An intriguing, quirky and original thriller about four women whose lives get tangled up when the manager of a care home is found murdered. I thought the characterisations were brilliant, and I was drawn in from the beginning, wanting to know how their lives fitted together and how they'd come to be in the same place at the same time. A tightly plotted and โ€“ at times โ€“ heartbreaking thriller, that tied up neatly at the end.

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I absolutely loved this one, a fast paced story with so many twists you'll get dizzy! I found it hard to put down.
With thanks to netgalley and the publisher for the arc ebook.

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Thanks netgalley for early review Copy.

I havent read this author but something about I fancied and wasn't let on. Fantastic twists.

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๐Ÿž ๐‘ฎ๐’๐’๐’… ๐’ƒ๐’‚๐’… ๐’ˆ๐’Š๐’“๐’ ๐‘จ๐‘น๐‘ช ๐’“๐’†๐’—๐’Š๐’†๐’˜ ๐’ƒ๐’š ๐‘จ๐’๐’Š๐’„๐’† ๐‘ญ๐’†๐’†๐’๐’†๐’š
๐Ÿ—“ ๐‘ท๐’–๐’ƒ ๐‘ซ๐’‚๐’•๐’†: ๐‘จ๐’–๐’ˆ๐’–๐’”๐’• ๐Ÿ‘, ๐Ÿ๐ŸŽ๐Ÿ๐Ÿ‘
๐Ÿ“š๐†๐ž๐ง๐ซ๐ž: Mystery, Thriller

Thank you #Netgalley, @panmacmillan and Alice Feeney for gifting me with #GoodBadGirl.

๐ŸŽ‡ ๐˜๐˜ข๐˜ฑ๐˜ฑ๐˜บ ๐˜—๐˜ถ๐˜ฃ ๐˜‹๐˜ข๐˜บ ๐˜ต๐˜ฐ ๐˜ต๐˜ฉ๐˜ช๐˜ด ๐˜”๐˜บ๐˜ด๐˜ต๐˜ฆ๐˜ณ๐˜บ ๐˜›๐˜ฉ๐˜ณ๐˜ช๐˜ญ๐˜ญ๐˜ฆ๐˜ณ! ๐ŸŽ‡

โœ๏ธ ๐…๐ข๐ซ๐ฌ๐ญ ๐ฅ๐ข๐ง๐ž: "People say there's nothing like a mother's love. Take that away, you'll find there's nothing like a daughter's hate."

๐Ÿชถ ๐๐ฎ๐จ๐ญ๐ž: "There is often a gap between what we think and what we say: it's where what we feel lives."

๐Ÿค” ๐ˆ ๐ญ๐ก๐ข๐ง๐ค ๐ˆ๐ญ'๐ฌ ๐ญ๐ข๐ญ๐ฅ๐ž๐ ๐†๐จ๐จ๐ ๐๐š๐ ๐†๐ข๐ซ๐ฅ ๐›๐ž๐œ๐š๐ฎ๐ฌ๐ž... of the quote "Sometimes bad things happen to good people, so good people have to do bad things."

๐Ÿ“– ๐๐ฅ๐ฎ๐ซ๐›: 20 years after a baby is stolen from a stroller, a woman is murdered in a care home. The crimes are linked, and a mysterious woman could be the key to the truth. The story involves four women and with reasons to distrust one another, the women must unravel a mystery involving three suspects, two murders and one victim. By doing so they might uncover the fate of the missing baby, the grieving mother and the connection that tie them all.

๐‘๐ž๐š๐ ๐ข๐Ÿ ๐ฒ๐จ๐ฎ ๐ž๐ง๐ฃ๐จ๐ฒ:
โ€ผ๏ธ Plot twists
๐Ÿ—ฃ Multiple POV
๐Ÿ’ฅ Complex relationships
๐ŸŽญ Mystery thriller with a dash of drama
โ‰๏ธ Red herrings
๐Ÿ‘ Character growth
๐Ÿ“– Short chapters

๐Ÿ’ฌ ๐“๐ก๐จ๐ฎ๐ ๐ก๐ญ๐ฌ: My heart felt both full (due to the heartwarming scenes from the book) and like a fool. I always try and try too hard to work out on who did what that sometimes I end up hurting my brain. LOL. I tried to figure out where Alice was going with this story so many times but later on found out that she did put a load of red herrings and of course her usual twists just to make sure she drives her readers insane.

๐ŸŒŸ ๐‘๐š๐ญ๐ข๐ง๐ : โญ๏ธโญ๏ธโญ๏ธโญ๏ธ/5. I rate it 4 stars because even if some parts were predictable - I still wasn't able to guess the huge twist. I enjoyed the way she weaved the intricate details of the story. Multiple POV
- which I โ™ฅ.

โ“ QOTD: What are you currently reading? โ“
๐Ÿ’ญ AOTD: 2 ARCS - Pestilence & The Pieces We Leave Behind ๐Ÿ’ญ

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Alice Feeney is one of my favourite authors so I was delighted to receive an ARC of Good Bad Girl from @Netgalley and @panmacmillan.

As I've come to expect with an Alice Feeney novel there are lots of twists and red herrings throughout this complex story about mother/daughter relationships. I really enjoyed trying to work out the connections between these strong female characters.

The story is told from four different POVs and the chapters are short. I love this style of writing as it makes the pace feel faster and there is always time to squeeze in one more quick chapter ๐Ÿ˜‚

Overall this was a superb read that had me gripped from beginning to end. A must read for psychological thriller fans.

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This is the second Alice Feeney book I have read, having really enjoyed Daisy Darker last year.

Twenty years ago, a baby is stolen from a stroller and now a woman is murdered in a care home. The two crimes are somehow linked, and a good bad girl may be the key to discovering the truth. is a mother daughter kind of book has some unusual characters with unusual traits. The four main characters are Edith, Patience, Clio and Frankie. Its a great mystery.

While I enjoyed most parts of the book, I found some of the repeated traits a little unnecessary and took away some of my pleasure and struggled as whether to put as a 3 or 4 star review, so decided its a 3.5. and rounded up. It was quite a quick and easy read but with lots of twists and turns to keep you guessing.

I'll definitely look to read more by this author.

A big thanks to Pan Macmillan, Macmillan and Netgalley for advance review copy.

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Many thanks to Net Galley and Pan Macmillan for an ARC of this book in exchange for a review.
This is another fabulous page turner from Alice Feeney, was hooked from page one.
Great strong female characters, Edith is 81, in a nursing home, against her wishes, she feels her daughter Clio tricked her, hence they are estranged. Edith is a feisty character and knows what she wants, she has made a friends with 18 year old Patience who is a carer in the home. Edith trusts Patience and has her running personal errands for her, Patience rescued Edithโ€™s little dog from the shelter and brings him to visit Edith.
Then there is Frankie, who works in the prison library, she counts her steps to help her keep calm, her daughter is missing and she feels very alone.
How are these four woman connected, Edith, her daughter Clio, Frankie and Patience? Each of them are carrying secrets, as the suspense builds we begin to see the truth fighting to get out, with a jaw dropping twist! The ending is good but also a little sad.
This is very clever and entertaining read, Alice Feeney has once again written another bestseller.

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I really enjoy Alice Feeneyโ€™s novels and although this one came together at the end I canโ€™t say it was my favourite normally I fly through her stories but Good Bad Girl was quite a convoluted plot and took a while to get into the rhythm of it. But if you like family sagas & mysteries this would be a good Choi for you.

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This was an interesting twisty story. Four women's live intertwine around a missing person and a murder.
I liked the way bit of information was revealed to se how their lives were linked.

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Yes Queen! Alice you've done it again... managed to completely frazzle my brain. Haha! In a completely good way of course. Grab a paper and pen and write those characters names down because I know I should have ๐Ÿคฃ

All the characters were written with such depth that they pretty much felt so real! The relationships between characters were constructed fantastically and I really enjoyed how complex the mother daughter relationships were throughout.

Try not to worry too much about the relationships though as the end does reveal all.. however Alice takes us on a path of dramatic twists and thrilling turns to get there. Its probably best you don't know too much before diving into this one.

Just go get the book already because a review doesn't do the book justice as if I spill too much it will totally ruin it.

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Good Bad Girl is a fantastic read that had me gripped from the first page.
A baby is taken from a supermarket but the mother wanted her gone, did her wish come true or not?
The opening of this book draws you in the four main characters are Edith, Clio, Patience and Frankie, they each have their own chapters which works really well as they have very different lives until they come across each other. The twists and turns are fab and some I never saw coming which is a bonus.
The characters are well developed, so much so I felt like I really knew them. I have t gone into the storyline as I feel it will definitely ruin your experience. Go in blind and you wonโ€™t regret it. Another winner for me by Alice Feeney.
I would like to thank Netgalley and Pan Macmillan for this ARC I received in exchange for an honest review.

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An edge of the seat read!
Alice Feeney has done it again and I think this is the best story she has written!
The book follows four women and the story is told from their point of view.
Thereโ€™s a stolen baby and a murder and itโ€™s all wrapped up perfectly at the end.
Feeney has an incredible talent for storytelling and Iโ€™m looking forward to her next book.
A very definite five star read!
Thanks to NetGalley and Pan Macmillan.

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