Hi,

Well. I disappeared for a while. Completely unintentionally I will add. I have been reading and I have been finishing books, but work has had me so busy, I’ve been completing a book and rolling straight onto the next one without writing up my reviews. It’s a habit that I don’t wish to continue so hopefully I can catch up over the next few days.

Book 📖

Thank you to @headlinebooks for this advanced audio copy of Mother’s Day by @abbie_burdess in return for an honest review. Mother’s Day was published on 2nd March 2023 and you can get a copy here.

Description 🔖

The last thing Anna needs is a baby. Abandoned, adopted and living hand to mouth, she never dreamt of having a real family.

But when she meets her birth mother, everything changes – because the same day, she learns she’s going to be a mother too.

Marlene is eccentric, generous with her considerable fortune and overjoyed to become a grandmother. Anna’s living the dream. But is it her dream, or someone else’s?

Now she will have to decide what she’s willing to sacrifice for a real family – her future, her freedom, even her unborn child.

General Thoughts 🤔

This book was up and down for me. when I picked it up, I was expecting something dark and sinister that would have the hairs on the back of my neck raised and shivers running down my spine. Instead, I was finding sections quite funny and I was becoming endeared with some of the characters.

The latter part of the book was when the darkness started to kick in, but because I had been thrown off track already, it felt a bit jarring and out of place. On reflection, this wasn’t such a big deal as it felt at the time and I actually think it was quite an interesting way to develop and move along the story and the characters.

Characters 👫👭👬

There were some big characters in this book and I had feelings about a lot of them. I won’t go into too much detail, because I don’t want to give spoilers. Anna was so sweet and so likeable but she was horribly naieve. I instantly felt like I was her friend and I wanted the very best for her. Considering all that she had been through in her life and what she went through once meeting her birth mother, I don’t know how the woman was still standing.

Marlene was out there but I feel like we all know or have met someone just like her. She was very opinionated and very outgoing to the point where her company would be aggravating but the way in which she kept people around her was with her generosity. She was the type of person to grind someone down so much that they have no option but to remain in her life whilst all the time, wearing a smile.

Writing Style ✍️

The style and tone of this book was what surprised me the most. As I mentioned, I was expecting chilling but I actually got dark humour with some tense drama to round it all off. I actually really liked this and thought that it made the plot more interesting as well as more believable. Not all bad people are wholly bad and not all good people are wholly good and I think that the author captured that through these characters really well.

I listened to the audiobook of Mother’s Day and the narration was great. I was kept engaged and the characters were definitely brought to life as opposed to just being read to me.

Conclusion & Scoring 🎖

Although this book ended up being something a bit different from what I was expecting, I still enjoyed it. The plot was interesting although it was also a bit wild to the point where I questioned if it was believable. Even so, I was entertained and I became invested in what was to become of these characters. If you’re looking for an audiobook to keep you occupied and you don’t mind some dark humour with a touch of thriller, then I would recommend that you give this a go.

😍😍😍😐😐