Reading in Between the Wines book review #14/125 for 2025:
Rating: 3 🍷🍷🍷
Book: Good Bad Mother
Author: Anya Mora
AVAILABLE NOW!!!
BOOK TOUR

Sipping thoughts: Such a fitting title! I love a dual timeline with an unreliable narrator. I wanted to keep reading once I started, but I knew I would pay for it the next morning. From the first chapter, I was hooked. If you are looking for family secrets, drama, and lies, then this is the one for you. This is my first Mora book, but it will not be my last!

Cheers and thank you to @Netgalley and @Bookouture for an advanced copy of @GoodBadMother.

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Thank you Netgalley, Bookouture and Anya Mora for the eArc of Good Bad Mother.

This is a duel timeline psychological thriller that's intense and engaging. We have our MC, Amelia who is appears to want to run and protect herself and her child from the past she has had to endure. The plot and the pacing is medium and unravels very naturally into a faster pace near the last 1/3 of the book. The characters are well rounded and Anya has a great writing style to combine both plot direction, character building as well as the environment that Amelia lives in. Through the foreshadowing, you might suss out the twists and turns but it really doesn't take away from the finale.

I also listened to the audio version of Good Bad Mother in which Lauryn Allman ,Penelope Rawlins narrated. They both did a great job in keeping both the duel timelines clearly marked and the characters individual.

4 stars

Amelia is a new mother, having given birth to a baby girl Clover and happily married to Timothy, heir of the Sterling family. When a family photo goes into the newspapers, Amelia is worried that her troubled past which she has managed to keep secret might come back to haunt her. And just then she starts receiving letters that threaten the new life she has built as a wife and mother.

This one grabbed my attention right from the start. As a new mom and someone with a past that needs to stay hidden Amelia's anxiousness radiates off the page and I could relate to her situation. I found a few repetitions though especially with her inner monologue, slowing down the narrative for me. The characters were well fleshed out. Most of them were completely infuriating, you couldn't help but loathe them.

I liked the flashbacks to Amelia's past as the author builds up the suspense with red herrings and twists that kept me intrigued.

Overall a quick and engaging thriller. Thank you @bookouture for having me on the #booksontour and for the digital ARC to read and review.

This was the thriller i needed.

It had past and present perspectives, a unreliable narrator and a gorgeous amount of the scary.

defo recommend for a filler read as i flew through this.

Anya Mora is a new to me author, but now I must go back and read more of their works! This book will hook you right from the beginning and keep you hooked throughout. It’ll have you keep asking “what is this secret that Amelia is hiding?” Slowly, you’ll learn what the secret is with the chapters that go back in time. I did like the decision by the author to not necessarily have every chapter alternative present and past, as that can be a little much. Mora put the past or “Then” chapters in the book where they seemed to fit.

I know what it’s like to be a new mother, so I felt for Amelia. I know the days and nights can be rough, especially if the baby cries nonstop. Her husband, on the other hand, I really wanted to believe he was a good guy, but he wound up being a villain. So that icky feeling that you get when you start to read about him, there’s a reason for it. The same thing with his family.

I thought the twist was good. It wasn’t mind blowing, but it fit the story and I didn’t figure it out. The ending was nice as well, but I hated how the Sterling family treated Amelia and her daughter Clover.

I think this is a great popcorn thriller, and a great read for those that like mysteries.

Holy plot twists! What did I just read?! I have never been more blindsided by a plot twist. I was stunned and feel like my whole perception of what I’d read in the first half of the book was completely false. I made assumptions that were so far from the truth 🤯. Initially the pace of the book was a bit slow but 1/4 of the way in, the pace picked up and had me on edge til the very last page. This book is an incredible, unpredictable, anxiety provoking domestic thriller.

So you must be wondering what this gem of a book is about. The Good Bad Mother is about Amelia, who currently lives the life of luxury with her adoring new husband and brand new baby girl, in a beautiful home on an exclusive island off the coast of Seattle. On the surface Amelia appears to have it all. But behind that perfect facade, she has deep dark secrets and a past she wants to remain hidden. But someone on Cutters Island is digging up Amelia’s past, leaving anonymous notes, threatening to reveal her secrets and make her pay for the mistakes of her past. The stress of being a new mother, keeping secrets and running from her past are catching up with Amelia. She is starting to unravel. But now with the threatening notes, Amelia begins to spiral. The reader makes assumptions but be careful what you believe. All is not as it seems!


Things I loved:
•Dual time lines
•Pacing of the plot
•Unexpected ending
•Discussion of postnatal struggles
•Creep factor
•Explosive plot twists
•PNW setting
•Mum power
•Faithful friends
•Unputdownable

Things that made me mad (in a good way):
•Upper class snobbery
•Shady husband
•Gaslighting
•Overbearing In-laws
•Unfit parents

Good Bad Mother is the first book I’ve read by author Anya Mora and I’m so happy Bookouture introduced me to her. Thank you @bookouture and publicist Sarah Hardy @sarahs_bookishlife
for my e-arc and my stop on Anya Mora’s book tour. I cannot wait to go and read her backlist.

Pub Date: February 17, 2025
Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Good Bad Mother by Anya Mora is a quick and satisfying psychological thriller with an engaging protagonist and an interesting plot line.
This book is fantastically written with vivid descriptions that absolutely grip the readers attention and puts them right in the middle of it all feeling the hair raise on your arms and feeling the sweat run down your back.
The storyline was filled with suspense, drama, secrets, explosive twists and everything you could ask for in a page turner. Filled with suspense, explosive bombshells and tension this book is one must read psychological thriller.

Fast paced thriller about a wife who looks like she has the perfect life, but in reality it’s far from it. Trying to escape her dark past, Amelia has high hopes that her new life with her wealthy husband and baby will work out. Well written domestic thriller.

Amelia has a secret. She is the mother to a baby named Clover and the wife of a very wealthy man named Timothy. But she cannot enjoy motherhood or her lovely home on an exclusive island. This is the main story of this domestic thriller as we watch Amelia slowly fall apart. The first part of the book is a lot of scenes of Amelia taking care of her baby as she worries and frets about being a mother and about her husband and his wealthy, controlling family finding out her secrets. We eventually find out her secrets and then someone begins to leave notes in her mailbox saying things like "I know your secret". There are a number of twists in this book and some work better than others. It was pretty easy to guess exactly what the situation was and that Amelia wasn't a bad person.

I thought the book was a bit repetitious and there was not much action until the end of the book. It was also strange how Timothy was initially painted as a warm and loving person, then suddenly changed into an evil character. The ending of the novel made sense but it all happened too quickly and I would liked more of a restitution for the main character. Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for a copy of this ARC to review.

My first book by Anya Mora and definitely not my last, a very good read!

For an outsider looking in Amelia seems to have it all after a whirlwind romance of a year, a wealthy handsome husband, Timothy, a beautiful house in an affluent area of Cutter Island, and a gorgeous newborn baby girl, Clover. However, Amelia is hiding dark secrets from her past which she doesn’t want discovered. When Tim’s family, the wealthy and very well known in America, Sterling’s, are asked to have an article written about themselves by an American magazine they are more than happy to oblige. The magazine also asks for photos of the family to go along with the article. Despite Amelia’s reluctance she is strongarmed into the photoshoot, and it scares her beyond belief that her picture will be going out in the magazine for all to see. Amelia is terrified, she has run from her past for most of her whole life but shortly after the magazine publishes, she starts to get mysterious threatening notes in the post. She hides these from Timothy but knows that her and her secrets are dangerously close to being found out and if they do her life will crumble to dust. Will Amelia carry on being able to escape her past or will it all catch up her and destroy everything she has so carefully built?!

Well, this was a really good read. Anya Mora did a brilliant job at capturing the suffocating and oppressive atmosphere on Cutter Island, and I would even go as far to say the place just seemed creepy. I did not like Timothy one bit, but I did like Amelia, and thought she did a really good job of keeping her head above water when she was surrounded, for the most part, by vipers at almost every turn, deliberating trying to undermine and unbalance her. It was only just over half way through the story that I had a lightbulb moment and I realised the assumption I had made about who Amelia was, from chapters about earlier events in her life, was incorrect but I am not sure whether this was me missing a detail earlier on in the story, or Anya Mora misleading me with clever writing, I have a feeling it was the latter, which was just brilliant. I did not see the twist coming that happened in chapter 27 and I always love when an author surprises me with an unexpected twist, especially considering I am a seasoned psychological thriller reader. I didn’t have a clue how everything would come together at the end, but Anya Mora did it beautifully and I was very satisfied with how the story ended.

Overall, this was a good psychological thriller that I would definitely recommend to any fans of the genre. I will be checking out what other books Anya Mora has written after enjoying this one so much. Solid well deserved 4 star rating.

Thank you to NetGalley, Anya Mora and Bookouture for my advanced reading copy. Out now.

A tense thriller with shocking secrets. Fast-paced chapters and gripping mystery throughout. Told in now and then, two timelines add the suspense. The ending is satisfying and hopeful. I recommend this shocking psychological thriller. Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for the eARC.

I would give this book 3.5 stars. The book starts out fast paced in the beginning. Ilthe author weaves a story about motherhood/sisterhood and family relationships. Some parts were a little predictable but this book kept my attention. I would read another book by this author.

This was an easy read, but I found it to be quite repetitive. I think the ending could have come way sooner, but just continued to cycle through the same thoughts and anxieties of the main character, Amelia. The ending was a little predictable. I enjoyed the read, but it was definitely missing a big plot twist at the end.

Thank you NetGalley for the ARC of Good Bad Mother by Anya Moya in return for my honest review.
This is a really quick read with multiple points of view and duel timeline. I found the story line intriguing from the beginning but did find the dialogue to be a little repetitive in places that had me skim reading, over all an enjoyable read that I would recommend.

I’ve been in a reading rut and in the market for a good quick-read. Good Bad Mother delivered. It’s a bingeable story about new mother, Amelia, who married into a terrible family. Everyone kinda sucks in this book, especially the gaslighting husband.

The POV chapters kept things interesting and the reveals/suspenseful moments were evenly spaced.

Thanks for the advance review copy.

Amelia is a new mother, having given birth to a daughter Clover. She seemed to be happily married to Timothy Sterling although Amelia knows that her mother-in-law didn't really seem to like her. When a family photo goes into the newspaper, Amelia is worried that her troubled past that she managed to bury might come back tormenting her. And then she starts receiving threatening messages.

This was a fast paced thriller and a page turner. As a reader, you wonder what Amelia has really done to be afraid that her past with catch up with her. We also have some snippets of past, which will explain about Amelia's past. The story was engaging, and intriguing and will definitely put the reader on the edge. There were some twists and turns and the ending was a complete unexpected ending.

Overall, this was an enjoyable thriller and I am looking forward to read more books from this author. Worth four stars.

Many thanks to Netgalley and Bookouture for the ARC. The review is based on my honest opinion only.

Anya Mora leaves you sitting on the edge of your seat with "Good Bad Mother"!! The unexpected twists and turns will have you second guessing what you think throughout the entire book. I believe this book was very well written with suspense keeping my attention throughout the entire book, starting on the first page. However, as the answers began to come to light throughout the book it also seemed as if the end was forced still leaving me with some unanswered questions. Although I enjoyed the ending, I just think it was missing some information so for that reason alone I rated 4 stars.

I found that the general layout of this novel was really neat, I enjoyed the multiple POVs, especially because we didn't know they were different people. There was lots of twists and turn, along with the unreliable narrator; it was bound to be chaos. I did feel like the end fell a little short, mostly because it was very rushed. All in all, it was an enjoyable, quick, and easy read. A fun psychological thriller!

Good Bad Mother by Anya Mora is a compelling read that is very engaging and suspenseful! Amelia Sterling is a new wife and mother, living a seemingly perfect life with her husband Timothy and their daughter Clover. A gorgeous house on beautiful Cutter's island, a wealthy husband, her beautiful daughter, and her in-laws right next door, Amelia seems to have it all. She is also hiding some dark secrets. Secrets she must hide to keep her and her baby safe. When her in-laws insist she attend a photo shoot for a magazine, Amelia begrudgingly agrees. But soon the threatening letters start to show up and she realizes her past has found her.
What an intense story! I found myself hooked from the very beginning. It is a very common theme in thrillers but I still eagerly awaited the twist! Definitely a gripping domestic thriller that will keep you entertained.
Thank you to NetGalley, Anya Mora, and Bookouture for this ARC. Expected release date is February 17th 2025.

Even when you have all that money can buy it doesn’t bring peace.
I wondered what had made Amelia so twitchy and paranoid. Her in-laws were enough to make me paranoid, what a repugnant group!
I started to piece the backstory together but then Mora threw in a curveball that turned the entire plot on its head.
Most of the characters in this book spent most of their time being sketchy or miserable.
I liked Tabitha and Cal the best. As for Amelia's past, I’d leave the one relative who put her in the harrowing predicaments well in the past.