Good Bad Mother is a thrill ride packed with twists, secrets, and edge of your seaf heart pumping adventure. The central theme focuses on how family dynamics and two split second decisions altered the life of two sisters, Hazel and Meadow. The characters were relatable with a top notch plot with a few Easter eggs sprinkled in. It had all the elements of a perfect psychological thriller. If you enjoy thrillers with engaging character, edge of your seat thrills, amazing plot lines, twists, secrets, lies, manipulation,and hope for a better life outcome this is a great choice. Anya Mora is now one of my top thriller authors. I’m sitting here patiently waiting for you to go preorder this amazing 5 star book.
*Thanks Netgalley and Bookouture for the opportunity to read this ARC in exchange for an honest review*

Thank you to NetGalley and Bookouture for the free eARC!

This was a fun little read, that had a pretty annoying couple of main characters. The whole story could have been avoided if the FMC was up front with the MMC. The story was gripping and fast moving, but by the time you got to the end, it could have all been avoided with a simple conversation. This is probably more of a me problem than anything. There’s nothing wrong with the writing itself. The book kept me hooked the whole way through and I finished it in just a few hours. Will definitely read more from Anya Mora!

Wow, Wow, Wow! This book is absolutely fantastic. I was completely hooked and spent hours staying up to read this as I needed to know what was going to happen. Full of twists and suspense.

Good Bad Mother by Anya Mora

AD/PR - Out 17th February 2025

⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ ✨

I wake up in my beautiful bedroom and instinctively feel for my husband. But the silk sheets are cold—he hasn’t come home. Reaching for the baby monitor on my nightstand, I scan the screen for the familiar shape of my sleeping daughter. But she’s not there….my baby is gone.

As I collapse onto the carpet, I smell smoke. And when I turn to see flames licking at the banister, I know this is my fault. I am paying for what happened that night all those years ago…

Because I am not a perfect wife.

I am not a good mother.

But I am the perfect liar.

Thoughts :

This was my first book by this author but it certainly won’t be my last, because I loved this one! After a heart stopping prologue, the story slowly unravels and never lets go! It’s told from a dual-timeline, switching between ‘Then and Now’, with characters trying to keep their secrets hidden from the past! This writing style was easy to follow and the short chapters kept me glued to the pages wanting to find out more!

What I also loved about this book was the writing. It was fantastic at being so descriptive, but was also beautiful and felt emotional. 🥲 It explored the themes of motherhood and sisterhood, and what it means to be a good mother with a bad past! There were plenty of twists too that I didn’t see coming, and one of them gave me goosebumps! 😯

At times I did find that it became a little confusing for me with the amount of characters. I struggled to keep up with how each of them were related to each other. It was still a really enjoyable read though! Everything is pieced together well at the end and it wraps up nicely. I loved the heartwarming epilogue too! 🥰

Highly recommend this one!

Thank you so much to @bookouture @netgalley for the advanced e/book copy.

Anya Mora’s Good Bad Mother is a masterfully twisted psychological thriller that keeps readers on edge with its unexpected turns and deeply buried secrets. The novel unravels a tangled web of deception, where every character holds a hidden truth, and just when you think you’ve figured things out, Mora delivers another shocking revelation.

The pacing is gripping, with tension building steadily until it reaches a breaking point, plunging the characters—and the reader—into utter chaos. Mora excels at creating complex, morally gray characters, making it difficult to determine who can truly be trusted. The emotional depth woven into the narrative adds an extra layer of intrigue, ensuring the story lingers in the mind long after the final page.

For those who love psychological thrillers filled with dark secrets, unexpected twists, and explosive climaxes, Good Bad Mother is a must-read. Anya Mora has proven herself as an author to watch, and I’ll definitely be following her future work.

Thank you NetGalley! This is my first book by this author and I was blown away. I was pulled in from the very beginning with the prologue and could not put it down. I finished it in one day

Amelia Sterling is a new mother, loving wife and harboring a dark secret. She lives with the guilt of the death of 2 people but everything is not what it seems. After she and her family are featured in a local story, she begins to receive anonymous notes threatening to reveal her secrets.

This was a fast paced novel , It was very repetitive and the plot twist wasn’t so unexpected

Good Bad Mother focuses on Amelia, a new mother who marries into a wealthy family. While her life seems perfect on the outside, she has a dark secret, and unfortunately, she will not let you forget that. Not for a single page.

Listen, I like what this book is going for, but the repetition drove me insane. Throughout the first half, the narrator’s self-loathing became so unbearable that I almost noped out of this book, but I trudged on because, clearly, this secret HAS to be juicy.

Then the twists began to pile on, and it turns out that her deep dark secret is… pretty uninspired. Yes, there’s a little more nuance to it than I’m letting on, but I found the finale to be passively entertaining at best and downright corny at worst. Most of the characters’ motivations seemed bizarre, and it felt like everything could have been solved with some antidepressants and a mature conversation.

I appreciate Anya Mora’s passion for motherhood, but clearly I’m not the right audience for this book.

In "Good Bad Mother," the narrative follows Amelia, a spouse and mother residing in the affluent community of Cutters Island, whose seemingly idyllic life experiences a profound disruption as her meticulously curated existence begins to unravel. While she presents the façade of the quintessential wife, hidden beneath her polished surface is a troubling history that she is determined to conceal. One fateful night, she awakens to discover her daughter is missing and a fire endangers her home, igniting fears that her buried secrets may finally resurface. I was drawn into the plot as Amelia begins to experience emotional upheaval and increasing tension due to the overbearing expectations of her in-laws and husband. She also begins to receive threatening anonymous letters. It is a fast-paced story that will keep you guessing. It embodies the themes of family dynamics, trauma, and trying to outrun one’s past.
Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for the advance review copy in exchange for my review.

I really enjoyed this book! It was suspenseful and interesting, but did start off slow. The ending tied everything up perfectly, which I liked. I couldn’t stand the Sterlings and their superiority. The twist at the end was not what I was expecting at all! Overall, a great book!

🔹 My take - 2.25/5

This book had so much potential and the start really had me gripped. The problem I saw was that the beginning was engaging and there were some good twists but they were thrown at the very end. Also the end was quite rushed. The majority part of the book was very repetitive just talking about the nervousness of the MC. If the twists could have been interwoven at regular intervals rather than all at the end and if breadcrumbs were thrown over the different chapters, it could have lead to a 5 star read. Unfortunately this book did not work out for me since I was at my wit’s end nearly halfway as to nothing much was happening.

Thanks to @bookouture and @netgalley for sharing the DRC in exchange for honest review. Opinions expressed in this review are completely my own.

Anya Mora does it again! and you can read it February 17, 2025!

What a read!! Anya sure knows how to tell a story and knows how to hook you from the beginning.
I have to say at first, I was like this is the same old story. Poor girl gets married into a life a luxury and hides her past from her husband. Then I was like WOW! I loved Amelia but sometimes felt a little distant from her. I actually found her to be quite annoying at times. Like if your baby won't stop crying you should put her on top the washing machine. The doctor said she was fine but you said she had colic. But, in the end the author took me for a spin myself and I totally didn't see that ending coming. The dual POVs were amazing because they only confused the reader a little more each time.
In the end this was a great read.

Thank you Netgalley and Bookouture for a copy of this ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Good Bad Mother was an addictive thriller following a mother who’s been haunted by lies from her past that’s affecting her future she’s carefully crafted. After receiving threatening letters, Meadows seemingly perfect life she’s built gets upended and the lies start unraveling. How far will she go to keep her secrets and how far will someone go to expose her??I could NOt stop reading this!!! Very well written where it keeps you hooked from page one! If you struggle with feeling like you’re a good parent, this gives some insight on the struggle of new parents and the stresses of trying to be perfect. High paced, action packed and just enough clues to keep you guessing. Would you keep the biggest lie of your life going to protect someone who was supposed to be close to you?

I love Anya Mora books! Amelia wakes up to find that her husband hasn’t come home and her baby is gone! Then she smells smoke….,Has the past come back to get her?
This was a fast paced thriller that was filled with suspense!
Release date February 17, 2025
Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for allowing me to read this arc

One of the main reasons I keep coming back to Anya Mora’s books is her ability to make you care deeply for her characters. I always find myself rooting for the protagonist, but what surprises me more is that I occasionally end up empathising with the antagonists as well. I also love how descriptive her writing is—it always leaves me with a vivid picture of the characters' surroundings.

I’m happy to report that Good Bad Mother is another book by Anya Mora that I thoroughly enjoyed. I really liked the main character, Amelia, and as a mother myself—having gone through some of what she was experiencing—I felt a strong connection to her. Motherhood is such an important part of my life; it’s a terrifying, challenging journey, but also one filled with love, and this was portrayed perfectly in the book.

Good Bad Mother doesn’t have the huge twists and turns that some psychological thrillers have, but I never really knew who to trust. When the reveal came, I was genuinely surprised. In a story full of mistrust and deceit, I experienced a wide range of emotions toward the characters—some were completely infuriating, while others were kind and gentle, which often provided a welcome relief.
The writing is beautifully descriptive, and I felt as if I had visited the estate where the story is set and met the people who live there. I’m often critical of endings, but I enjoyed this one.

I gave the book a slightly lower rating not because I didn’t enjoy it (because I did), or because I couldn’t relate (I could), or because the ending was unsatisfying (it wasn’t), but because at times, I felt there was some unnecessary repetition. The story occasionally felt like it got stuck, not quite sure how to move forward. Another reason for my rating was that I didn’t feel completely gripped by the storyline. While I certainly enjoyed reading it, I was able to put it down and take breaks. The book took me about four hours to read, and I finished it in four sittings.
Overall, I’m glad to say that my enjoyment of Anya Mora’s books continues! I would recommend this to any mums who would like a relatable protagonist (though being a mother isn’t a requirement to enjoy this book) or anyone looking for a short but enjoyable read with simple yet effective writing.

Once again, thank you to @netgalley, @bookouture, and @anyamora for this ARC.

Thank you to Anya Mora, Bookouture, and Netgalley for he arc of Good Bad Mother! Had my attention from the very beginning; hard to put down! Short chapters & under 300 pages. A fast paced read! Tension, secrets, & unexpected twists. Everything you can ask for in a quick thriller read! This book publishes on 2/17/25!

Wow! That was truly amazing!
Good Bad Mother (I didn't get the title or the cover though lol), is a quaint psychological thriller that keeps you gripped from the beginning.

I loved that the book was an extremely fast read. It only took me about 6 hrs to complete and I devoured it!

The story is well planned and the povs are placed at appropriate points without too many annoying ill-timed flashbacks.

I loved the intense descriptions of paranoia that Amelia faced and how precarious she felt her situation was. I liked reading about the different trails of Motherhood and how much time and effort it takes to raise a baby. Amelia is exhausted and tired of taking care of her child alone, all the while adjusting to a new rich family, an unfamiliar husband, snobby inlaws, an ex-girlfriend and unsympathetic neighbours who ware waiting for her to fall.

Her attempt at creating a life for herself after so much of childhood trauma only to be faced with difficult choices and unwelcoming environments is something that is captured perfectly.

The book is an apt example if you believe that karma comes back and passes through generations as well.

I am slightly dissatisfied with the ending. It felt very..anticlimactic. I wanted Amelia to get justice but it felt brushed off. There wasn't much resolution and although I apprecaite her forgiveness and martyrdom in saving her sister, I wanted her to be..angry. I felt anger on her behalf but her actions seemed very resigned and docile. The plot with the niece was unexpected. I felt mad at the girl's actions while also understanding why she did what she did and her misplaced rage towards the supposed injustices her parent felt.

I wanted Timothy and his family to face the consequences of his/their..actions and snootiness. But it's a great reminder of how the rich get away with nearly everything and rarely ever face the music. I never liked Timothy from the beginning anyway and he never sat well with me. Felt too controlling and uptight about appearances.

The story is slightly predictable but a fun nailbiting read nonetheless. I did notice a tiny Inconsistency in Celeste's hair which is mentioned as dark in one place and blonde in another but I assume that's because this is an unedited version.

I would definitely recommend this book to fans of Freida McFadden, Lisa Jewell, Gillian McAllister and Claire Doughlas.

Thankyou to NetGalley and the Publisher for the free ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Good Bad Mother is a fast paced, super quick popcorn thriller. I thoroughly enjoyed it. It kept me on the edge of my seat. There were so many secrets, lies. The twists and turns were perfectly placed and revealed at the right time. Some things were predictable but it didn't hinder my enjoyment. It was a truly entertaining read.

The characters are absolutely despicable and flawed which made it for an even more addictive read. The plot was fun and the major twist did catch me off guard. I don't want to reveal too much, you'll just have to read it for yourself!

Overall, this was a super fun and entertaining read. Never a dull moment, kept me hooked and intrigued from beginning to end.

✨️Thank you to @netgalley, @bookoutureaudio & @anyamora for my gifted ARC & ALC in exchange for an honest review.

A nice, easy popcorn thriller. I would've rated higher but I feel like I've read this plot line SO many times.

The storyline had me hooked from the start. It did fall a little flat in the middle for me but I didn’t see the twists coming! Was a good, easy read.