“All I’ve ever wanted is to be a mother. And as I look into the beautiful, bright blue eyes of this baby tucked up in her blanket, I can’t wait to bring her home with me. I know this little baby is safe in my arms. That I deserve her. That I should do everything in my power to keep her. Even if she wasn’t mine to take...”

My gosh, I thought I knew where the story was going with this one. And even though I guessed some of the twists right, I didn’t expect the deeper emotional turmoil that came with it. This could’ve been just a fast-paced popcorn thriller, but the writing made me care deeply about the characters and what had brought them to the point in the book.

This was an example of a ‘simple’ plot executed right, with an expertly done storytelling layered on it. I’d recommend jumping in blind and checking out the audiobook. The narration definitely enhanced my reading experience.

Thank you so much Bookouture Audio for this ALC! I was not a huge fan of the narrator but the story was intriguing and had me hooked. As a psychological thriller I was on my toes trying to figure what would happen next. Any book were children are harmed cause be very triggering so please check trigger warnings before reading.

This was soooooo good. It got me through the Christmas deep clean and I was hooked from the first chapter. A psychological thriller told from the point of view of the 2 main characters Maya & Elise. It is a really well developed and cleverly written storyline with some great twists, red herrings and drip fed clues along the way. The story unfolded just as was needed and really built the suspense. The characters are unique that’s for sure. It’s one of those listens that you just can’t predict which I really loved and just had to keep listening. I’m hoping there is going to be a sequel as I feel there is more to come in those storyline. Definitely interested to read more by this author.

Thanks to Netgalley and Bookouture Audio for the opportunity to listen and review #ThePerfectBaby

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for a copy of this audiobook in exchange for an honest review.

Wow! This book was full of twists! I was dumbfounded during the reveals! I never saw that ending coming and am shocked. This was a quick and gripping read and the topic of surrogacy was very interesting. I really enjoyed this reading experience.

This book was certainly dark and twisted, and I wouldn’t recommend it to anyone who’s pregnant. Every mother worries about someone taking their child, and this book ignites all those fears. I wish the ending had been more satisfying; I felt like I was left hanging on a cliff.

It was gripping and indeed a interesting read!
The three protagonist indeed had an interwined story. The topic of surrogacy and the care which needs to be given to the mother's along with making them feel important was highlighted beautifully. The protagonist was just yet extremely crooked. And it's definitely a jaw dropper.

The Perfect Baby by Sam Vickery and narrated by Sofia Zervudachi, and Katy Sobey was an excellent audiobook. It was a dark and gripping page-turner which was full of jaw-dropping secrets that will have you hooked. I ended up listening to it whilst doing my weekly shopping, then doing things round my house, it was a hard audiobook to turn off once I started to listen to it. I loved it and the narrators Sofia Zervudachi, and Katy Sobey were superb!

Big Thank you to NetGalley and Bookouture for the ARC

What would you do to have the baby you always wanted? If all else fails, there is always surrogacy. In Vickery's novel, we get all the arguments for, against, and in between for being a surrogate or being the contracting (expecting) parents. Elise's sister Julia has agreed to be her surrogate, but Julia is aloof and as the delivery date grows closer, Julia shares less and less about the pregnancy with Elise. Then, Elise meets Maya at a surrogacy support group. Maya is carrying a baby she has promised to the expectant couple Nina and Will. Maya's problem is that she agreed that Nina and Will could control most of her actions and behavior while she is carrying their baby.

Maya does everything she can to get close to Elise when Elise joins the surrogacy support group. The thing is that Maya is privy to information about Elise's past, which makes her eager to learn all she can about Elise's present situation. You will be shocked when you finally learn how Elise and Maya's lives intertwine. The end is shocking, though it did leave me with a few questions. Nonetheless, this book is worth the read (or listen).

Elise meets Maya in a surrogacy group - while Maya is a surrogate for a couple named Nina and Will, she learns that Elise's sister Julia is acting as her surrogate but Julia is not comfortable to meet any group is what Elise says.
Maya really starts to like Elise and wants to be her friend, she wants to learn a lot more about Maya - because there is something connecting both of them from their past but Elise is unaware of this!

As Elise learns to deal with her personal issues such as her sister abruptly leaving her out of the medical appointments and not sharing the status of her health as well as the baby's health she really doesnt know how to tackle this issue as Julia gives her an ultimatum that if Elise gets too involved then Julia will just kick her out of her life! But Elise is not ok with it, she really wants Julia to give her the son she is carrying!

Maya is in the meantime learning to deal with the clingy parents Nina and Will - when Nina starts threatening Maya she realizes that they are trying to take advantage of her by claiming that Maya has signed a contract and there's no way she can do what she wants!

The ending of this book changes everything and left me with a shocking reaction when some of the characters past is brought to light!

Thanks to Netgalley, Bookouture Audio & Sam Vickery for approving the audiobook ARC in exchange for an unbiased review.

This was an incredible psychological thriller than I will HIGHLY recommend. I found myself reading through this incredibly quickly, very fast paced, and keeps you guessing until the very end. I have not read anything by Sam Vickery before, but absolutely will make sure she is on my list in the future. I found these characters to be relatable and enjoyed the multiple person point of view. The twist at the end really got me, and felt this was impossible to predict earlier in the story. I can't wait to read more by Sam!! I highly recommend this story to any fans of fast paced psychological thrillers!
Huge thank you to Sam Vickery, NetGalley, and Bookouture Audio for this advanced copy.

Thank you Bookoutue Audio, Netgalley and Sam Vickery for the audio Arc of The Perfect Baby.

Narrated by Sofia Zervudachi, Katy Sobey

This is the first book Ive listened to by Sam Vickery and it won't be my last. I really enjoyed the pacing and the psychological aspects of this narrative as we follow two women through surrogacy. We have Maya , who is a surrogate Mum to a demanding, somewhat controlling parents to be. We also have Elise who is using her sister as the surrogate. Both these women meet up at a surrogate /adoptive parents support group and establish a friendship. The narrative itself gives the reader different perspectives on being in a surrogate which I felt was well balanced. I felt that I bounded and understood the different sides of what being in the situation would be like and how heartbreaking it would be if something was to go wrong.

The pacing of the book is medium, you get a good build up of the characters and their lives and then becomes faster paced once the twists start, the reveal and pay off I wasn't expecting so the build up kept me engaged and on the edge of my seat!

Sofia Zervudachi, Katy Sobey did a fantastic job in keeping both Elise and Maya separate in the narrative. Both ladies are a pleasure to listen to.

4.25 stars for Storygraph. 4 stars for Amazon, Netgalley and Goodreads.

Fist let me say a huge Thank You to Netgalley and Bookoture Audio for the ALC of The Perfect Baby. WOW Sam Vickery you had me from the very first chapter! This was my first psychological surrogacy thriller and it did not disappoint. The Narrator did a great job keeping me engaged, even having to go back to confirm what I just heard...lol The basic premise revolves around 2 characters that meet in a surrogacy group and well the plot twist was not easily predicted like some other books I've read. Great job to all involved.

The Perfect Baby by Sam Vickery was a thrilling ride I did not expect. I was given the audiobook and couldn’t stop listening. This is my first book by Vickery and I cannot wait to read more, especially the preview I got at the end for The Child at My Door.

Vickery did such an amazing job with the storyline and plot for this book, I thought I had the ending figured out but I was wrong. This story was told in two POV’s Maya and Elise. Maya went through a breakup and became a surrogate for a couple to help her financially. Elise has a baby on the way that is being carried by her sister Julia. This story had so many twists and turns, and that ending I did not expect at all. I want to say more but don’t want to give it away. Just listen to the audiobook. Sofia Zervudachi and Katy Sobey did the voices of Maya and Elise and they did a fantastic job. Thank you to Bookoutre and NetGalley for letting me listen to this audiobook in exchange for my honest thoughts and opinions.

This is a gripping, creepy, dark and twisted in the best way. Surrogacy, the good, bad and in-between told from multiple points of view, which I really like. We meet the main characters when they meet in a surrogacy support type group and go on the well woven tale that when I got to the end was quite surprised. All of the characters (main and secondary) are well developed. The narration was stellar and added to the experience of this story.

These narrators were excellent! The TWIST in this book is not at all something I saw coming?! Which I feel is hard to do with thrillers! Nothing groundbreaking as far as content other than keeping the twist well hidden until the last moment. Well done!

The Perfect Baby by Sam was one of the most impressive thriller I have ever come across lately. The topic was unique which was about surrogacy, the pace of story was fast which I was hooked and the ending was totally unexpected.

The characters were well invented and their personalities stood out amazingly. The story plot moved smoothly and the twists were planted at the right place!

The various POVs just gave the thriller even a rounder and fuller content!

Many thanks to Netgalley, Bookouture and the author for my copy.

Pub date: Sep 27, 2024

I don't know how to summarize the plot of The Perfect Baby; it's too convoluted. Yet-- and this is to show the amazing skill of Sam Vickery-- when you reach the end (rush to the end, if you're me), not only does it all make perfect sense but you are cheering. The best TL:DR I can come up with for The Perfect Baby is "actions have consequences." That totally does not do justice to the plotline, though. This is the kind of book that could get a club talking and talking for days. Is addiction illness? What about the breakdown of the mental health system that allows callous individuals to act as therapists? The Judgment of Solomon revisited? There are some excellent issues for a comparative family law class, too, re surrogacy. I truly could babbble on and on and on myself. I could probably talk about The Perfect Baby for even longer than it would take to read The Perfect Baby! This was my very first Sam Vickery novel. If this is truly representative of her oeuvre, then I hope it's not my last.

I absolutely must give a shout-out to the narrators. First of all, I adore the use of multiple narrators. I was introduced to Sofia Zervudachi via The Paris Apartment. Her voice is rich and welcoming all at the same time, the voice of someone who has seen a lot of life but has a good heart. When I find a narrator I like, I have a tendency to want to listen to anything they perform, even if it's outside of one of my typical genres. I feel that way about Sofia Zervudachi. I don't want to leave out Katy Sobey; she was great, too! Really, just an excellently-cast audiobook all around.

So, in sum: gush, gush, love, love, more, more, more! Five stars all around and many thanks to Bookouture Audio for allowing me to experience this NetGalley audiobook.

Thank you to NetGalley and Bookouture for the ARC (Advance Reader Copy) of The Perfect Baby by Sam Vickery In audio format. This was quite a book. It was fast paced and very unpredictable. The ending was quite unique. I tried this one as an audio book (I had never tried one before) but ended up reading the book instead. I just couldn't get into the audio version. Well worth the read. I gave it a 4 star rating.

A twisty tale full of grey areas, The Perfect Baby is well-written and gripping, and while it was a teeny bit slow in the beginning, it rapidly picked up pace.

Surrogacy is a strange thing to me. That is not to say I don't agree with it, more that the idea of carrying a baby in your body for nine months and then giving him away to someone else is a rather terrifying and impossible thought. I'm not sure I could do that. On one hand, this book delves into just that, and on the other, it shines a bright light on what a desperate person is capable of.

So, right off the bat, let me say this - there is a moral quandary that comes to light towards the end of the book which is a bit of a mystery to me. In many ways it's the backbone of the story, the reason why Elise is waiting for Julia's baby. While I won't say I would react the same myself (I'm not saying I wouldn't, either), I can 100% understand Elise's reasoning. Towards the end, Julia's holier-than-thou ideals start to crumble, but only because she suddenly sees that when things go badly wrong, you'll do whatever it takes. Losing someone you love is kak.

Maya really needed a swift kick up the jacksy, and got on my nerves a bit with her penance intentions (I really do think that Nina and Will, while a bit pushy, were also victims here, and really got a raw deal, which relates back to what I said earlier. There is a very thin line here). You'll understand when you read it. I had no time for Harry. None. And Ben is an idiot.

There is a lot more to this book than meets the eye, so be prepared for an eye-opener towards the end. Nothing is what it seems. There are many topics that come under the spotlight - revenge, doctor-patient relationships, sudden and gut-wrenching loss, addiction, even infidelity rears it's ugly head. The way the babies are described is quite lovely, little tufts of fluff and delight that smell like all things rosy. *Side note: For anyone who hasn't had a baby, this is not strictly true. Sometimes they are holy terrors and they don't always smell like baby powder and vanilla cupcakes.

3 and half rounded up to 4 shiny, and sharp, stars.

Great psychological thriller involving a surrogate mom and a donor mom who meet at a support group for surrogates. I did not see the ending at all!! What a twist! I really enjoyed how the author portrayed the emotions of the characters. The audio held my attention from start to finish. I listened to it pretty quickly as I wanted to know what was going on. I'd recommend this to anyone who enjoys psychological thrillers. Thank you to NetGalley and Bookoutour for this ARC in exchange for my honest opinion.