A good and pretty threatening story. Kept me on the edge of my seat. I thought the premise would be a bit unbelievable but it worked well x

Thanks to Netgalley and Amazon UK Publishing for providing this ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Roz is young, poor, pregnant and living in Dublin. She has decided to give the baby up for adoption via a website that matches up mothers with adoptive families. She decides on a very rich couple from New York City and she is soon on her way to NY. She finds out this couple is very famous and they plan to pass her baby off as their own. Roz winds up basically a hostage in their basement almost completely unable to make contact with the outside world.

This book was a pretty quick read. I started reading and before I knew it, I was halfway done. This was another one where I thought the main character, Roz, was a bit of an idiot. The potential adopter, Sheridan, took her phone and wouldn't give her the keycard needed to get out of the basement, but she didn't immediately see this as an issue. Sheridan was awful, but her actions seemed a bit out of character at the end. Typically I hate books where people are held hostage because I think they are boring, but this one was the exception, because I did find myself moving right along with it. Overall a good quick read.

Roz has been plodding away through life with not much to show for it. She lives with her best friend, of which both have cleaning jobs. When she finds out she is pregnant, being catholic, an abortion is something she can’t even consider.

Whilst I personally couldn’t give up a child, I can understand why someone would in the hope that they are offering their child a better life. Roz lands on her feet when she is picked by an elite couple who will be able to offer her child everything.

As soon as Roz lands in New York, alarm bells were ringing in my head. I found myself willing her to turn round and get back on the plane. As the story progresses whilst Roz is living in Daniel’s and Sheridan’s home, that uneasy feeling kept on growing, with very good reason.

The author sure knows how to keep her readers on guard, making them fear the worst. I could feel my heart beat getting faster and faster the closer to the end I got. There are some wonderful little twists and turns that you won’t see coming, well I didn’t that’s for sure.

The Perfect Mother, as a mother myself, made me want to hug my children that little bit tighter. This was such a dark read where the tension builds, sending me into a frenzy as to how it was all going to end. There are plenty of shocks, chills and thrills in store to satisfy any psychological thriller fan.

Overall, this was ok, had some decent twists

The premise was good and the writing and characters were quite decent. Roz made some pretty crazy choices and boy does she pay for them.

The story started out being somewhat believable (a bit over the top) but then it goes cuckoo crazy at the end. Had some of the crazier elements been left out (or toned down) then it probably would have been an even better story. It was entertaining for sure. I would read more by this author.

Thanks to NetGalley, the author and Amazon Publishing UK for a copy in exchange for a review.

This was a really gripping and enthralling story. I felt claustrophobic while reading it as there truly didn’t seem to be an escape!
Roz has found herself in a bit of a predicament; she is pregnant but can’t afford to keep the baby. She decides the best course of action is to adopt the baby to a lovely couple that she meets online. They seem a perfect choice and can offer the baby everything she can’t. Roz is also a little starstruck as the couple that want her baby are very famous and live the perfect life.
However, once she has arrived in New York to meet them, things get scarier and scarier, and Roz is trapped with no one to turn to.
The story is really captivating and keeps you turning those pages. There are so many secrets and twists and turns, and they just keep on coming. It truly is an unputdownable book. The story is well-developed and brilliantly written.
I kept trying to think if there was anything Roz could have done differently not to have put herself in such a perilous situation, but there really wasn’t. The situation was genuinely thrilling.
This was a perfect read and another fantastic and brilliant book by Caroline Mitchell.

5 stars! What a book, be prepared to be shook to the core! Well written, thrilling, chilling, and shocking are all precise descriptions of this book! I look forward to more by Mitchell, as she really knows how to build that suspense and make your head explode in shock! A must read for my fellow thriller lovers!
I will make sure I buzz it up!

A young pregnant woman moves to NYC to meet and stay with the perfect couple who will give her unborn child a future that she cannot. It seems to magical to be true. Because it is. Soon she discovers that not all is what is seems and that her very life may be in danger. A thrilling and at times terrifying read.

The Perfect Mother by Caroline Mitchell

The book opens with a young pregnant woman fighting for her life. Roz Foley, fatherless and a mother who was an alcoholic, is having a baby. But who’s baby? Even her best friend Dympna doesn’t know. The lifestyles of these two girls couldn’t be further apart. Dympna with her trendy parents: Father a police officer and mother an event planner. But they are inseparable. A bond of sisterhood that cannot be broken. But will Roz’s secret drive a wedge between them?

Roz has her own reasons for not keeping her child and answers an ad for an adoption site in America. Plunged into the US glamour scene via Celeb Goss Magazine, we meet the couple who are desperate for a second child. Blonde bombshell Sheridan Sinclair (44) and Daniel Watson (38). A couple hoping for a quiet life but bombarded with paparazzi, they must keep their private life out of the papers. But at what cost? Daniel, on the other hand, is generally good natured and has oodles of compassion. But is he too busy on set or just generally being public property? I kept asking myself: Is he merely eye candy or is there more to Daniel than meets the eye.

Hollywood starlet Sheridan Smith is the most interesting character for me. Even her staff stand to attention. She is curiously frail, but at the same time equipped with an excessive sense of self-importance. But throw in a serious lack of empathy and you get a ticking time bomb. There is the manic side to her and the depressing side. It made my skin crawl to know her. Taming Daniel with a new baby belonging to a complete stranger is a risk. But Sheridan is a risk-taker. I love the mention of Daniel appearing in a blockbuster movie called Murder Game — which also happens to be a book written by the author.

As Roz embarks on her adventure to America, I couldn’t help feeling a sense of dread. Her baby is going to the best possible couple and — according to an article in Celeb Goss Magazine — a luxury apartment equipped with a doctor’s surgery served by the best OBGYN in NY. Somehow, you can hear the ‘but’ a mile away. When I learn Roz will be sleeping in a basement without windows, the overall mood darkens. But that’s not all. She is kept on a strict regimen because let’s not forget, she is merely a walking incubator.

The book is well written and the twists well thought out. This is a story to savour. Although I read it in a day (YES! It’s that un-put-downable) you need to take in the detail. The plot is complex and realistic and the characters are fascinating. Mitchell is skilful in cutting through the layers to get to the darkest planes of her characters’ minds. This book is cunning, unpredictable, subtly layered and populated by characters so deliciously immoral they’re hard to part with. Five fat stars for another brilliant book!

Bloody hell! Just finished #ThePerfectMother after starting it this eve! A heart-racing read - twisty, intense and chilling! I think I can say it was the #perfect read! Full review for the #blogtour - highly recommended 👌

This fantastic book was very hard to put down! Barely getting by, Roz finds out she is pregnant after a one night stand. Wanting to do what is is right for the baby she contacts a couple through an elite adoption website. They sound perfect for her and her baby. After she is flown to NYC Roz realizes she’s has been duped and the situation is out of control. This is definitely a page-turner, and a stay-up-past-your-bedtime book. Don’t miss this suspenseful surprise-filled novel! I received an advanced read copy of this book from NetGalley and Kensington Books. All opinions expressed here are my own.

First off, this book is cracking!! If you love being kept awake reading all night because you can’t put the book down, then this is definitely the perfect book for you!

When Roz finds herself pregnant, unemployed and single, she looks into her options and thinks she’s found the perfect solution via an online advert, where couples look for surrogates and pay extortionate fees to become members. She finds a couple who are adamant about maintaining confidentiality as they are celebrities from New York.

Knowing she can’t keep her baby, she agrees to fly out and meet them, they seem perfect prospective parents so far, so with an all expenses paid trip, she sets off to meet Sheridan and Daniel.

This is a classic case of “too good to be true” and when Roz finds herself held virtual prisoner in their basement she becomes seriously scared for both hers and her baby’s safety.

Be prepared to be unable to put this down, this book is the very definition of “suspense thriller”

I always enjoy books by Caroline Mitchell and this was no exeption. When Roz finds herself pregnant and jobless, she goes online to put her unborn child up for adoption, for a fee. She flies to New York and her nightmare begins. This book is full of weird and quirky characters, It is entertaining and full of twists. I enjoyed the plot and it was well written with a super twist at the end with the revelation of the baby's father. Thanks to Net Galley for my ARC.

The Perfect Mother is fantastic!! I love Caroline Mitchell's police procedural books and this stand alone story is just as addictive. I read this over just a few nights, needing to know how it was all going to end up for Roz. It is a twisty and surprising read, not at all predictable. I highly recommend you pick this book up as soon as you can!!

The story begins in Ireland and a young girl named Roz. She has just lost her job and finds herself pregnant after a one night stand. She is not ready to be a mother yet and worries that after her own upbringing that she cannot give the child what it needs. Her solution? She joins and elite online adoption agency and is snapped up by a Diamond couple - in New York. They are a rich, power celebrity couple and she is thrilled. But soon after she settles into her swish basement apartment she starts to realise that things are not what they seem. Her prospective adoptive parents are secretive and controlling and she soon starts to fear for both her own life and that of her unborn child.

Thanks to Amazon Publishing UK and Netgalley for my advanced copy of this book to read. All opinions are my own and are in no way biased.

Ever since I discovered the work of Caroline Mitchell, I've been a big fan! I've been following the Ruby Preston and Amy Winters series and have been blown away with each of the books. The Perfect Mother is not part of any series but is a suspenseful and captivating read! though there were parts of the book that were guessed correctly by me, I enjoyed the book from the start until the finish. Unlike the series she writes, that are rife with mind-blowing twists, this book was a bit more predictable. Nonetheless, I enjoyed experiencing all the twists and turns that made this story so good.

When Roz, a proper catholic Irish girl discovers she's pregnant, she has a choice to make - to give away her baby to a good family or bring it up on her own. Almost broke and afraid of being judged, Roz decides to give her baby up and registers on a website that promises to find the baby a decent home and a happy upbringing - something that she was never lucky enough to experience either. So when her profile is matched with a "diamond" couple in NY, US, Roz knows that her baby's future cannot get brighter than this. Packing her bags Roz leaves behind Ireland and flies to the US to deliver her baby to the millionaire couple who want her so bad! But soon Roz realizes that the couple although famous have a disturbing and dark secret. She comes to know that the person you see on screen is so different from the ones when they're behind the cameras. Roz is soon trapped in with no escape in sight. Pregnant and afraid, Roz must escape with her baby before the psycho-couple harm her and her baby.

I enjoyed the plot of this book. Told in multiple POV's I enjoyed reading through the parts of Sheridan and Roz the most. While the pacing was good, the ending felt a bit rushed. I would have liked to know more about Daniel, Monica, and George and how their relationship with Sheridan started out. The focus was primarily on Roz and Sheridan. I also loved the character of Dympna. She seems like a good detective in the making! Strong and sassy like her - these are the characters I really love reading about. Although I found Roz to be dull and unbelievably naive, I appreciate the need for such a character in the book. In all, I enjoyed this book.

Thank You, NetGalley, Amazon Publishing UK and Caroline Mitchell for an arc!

A young, pregnant woman living in Dublin, Ireland, looking online for a family to adopt her unborn child. A famous Hollywood couple looking to secretly adopt a baby girl. What could go wrong??
I am a fan of Ms. Mitchell and this is another page turner. Her writing style is always engaging and relatable. This would make a good movie. Recommended!

I love Caroline Mitchell. You can tell that she used to be a police officer because her procedurals are flawless and her characters are always rich and rounded. That said, I really liked the first half of The Perfect Mother , but the second was a disappointment. Roz starts off as a sympathetic character and grows within the story, from a good girl who’s made a lot of mistakes to a mother who’s willing to do anything for her unborn child. It’s the rest of the characters that I had a problem with. Sheridan is way too much to be believable. Maybe Hollywood superstars are that bad, but she had no redeemable qualities whatsoever. Her henchmen are also close to caricatures and transform (from good to evil or from bad to good) too fast to be believable. But may main problem was the structure of the chapters. It’s a pet peeve of mine when the POV changes from first to third person, but I can live with that. It was the parts devoted to Roz’s best friend Dympna that just don’t work. She’s an aspiring Garda and her Dad is a copper. She knows there’s something wrong but… (mild spoiler) in the end whatever she does doesn’t matter. She’s not front and center, but just an afterthought. Maybe if I didn’t like the author so much, I would have liked it better, but I had really high hopes for this novel.
I chose to read this book and all opinions in this review are my own and completely unbiased. Thank you, NetGalley/Amazon Publishing UK!

This is a hard one to rate as it’s, to quote the cliche, a game of two halves. The start is four star as are a few other sections, the end is two star as is some dialogue, so let’s settle for three stars!! Twenty four year old Irish girl Rosalind (Roz) Foley finds she is pregnant after a one night stand. Her circumstances mean that it is difficult for her to keep the baby and so she signs up to website Miracle Moms to seek an adoptive couple. She chooses an NYC based pair who turn out to be celebrity couple Sheridan Sinclair and Daniel Watson. What unfolds is entertaining in a barking mad and probably unrealistic way but then, it is fiction!!!!!

Roz as a character is likeable but very naive as she trots off to NY without any real understanding of what she’s walking into. She won’t be the first and I doubt the last. The prize for likeability goes to her best friend Dympna and everyone should have a Dympna in their lives. There are times when I found Sheridan unbelievable as a character and I certainly wouldn’t trust her as far as I could throw her. Daniel is hard to work out as I don't think his character is sufficiently developed and Mike p, the fixer, is a stereotype. There is some tension at times and it’s certainly twisted and twisted.

Overall, a good premise, entertaining in parts but disappointing in others.

Thanks to NetGalley and Amazon Publishing for the ARC.

The Perfect Mother
by Caroline Mitchell
Pub Date: Jan. 14 , 2020
367 pages
4 ⭐⭐⭐⭐

Description:
She thought they wanted her baby. But they won’t stop there.Roz is young, penniless and pregnant. All she wants is to be the perfect mother to her child, but the more she thinks about her own chaotic upbringing, the more certain she is that the best life for her baby is as far away as possible from her hometown in Ireland.Determined to do the right thing, Roz joins an elite adoption service and can’t believe her luck. Within days she is jetting to New York to meet a celebrity power couple desperate for a child of their own. Sheridan and Daniel are wealthy and glamorous—everything Roz isn’t. Her baby will never go hungry, and will have every opportunity for the perfect life. But soon after Roz moves into their plush basement suite, she starts to suspect that something darker lurks beneath the glossy surface of their home.When Roz discovers she isn’t the first person to move in with the couple, and that the previous woman has never been seen since, alarm bells start ringing. As the clock ticks down to her due date, Roz realises her unborn baby may be the only thing keeping her alive, and that despite her best intentions, she has walked them both into the perfect nightmare…

📕⭐MY REVIEW📕⭐
The Perfect Mother is a 309 page masterpiece with many twists.
This is my first time reading a book by this author. This fast paced, heart racing, suspense filled, mystery ,crime psychological thriller will have you quickly flipping the pages. It is full of twists and turns. It is very well written and each character is really well developed. I felt like I was right there with them during every part of the story. It was so good i didn't want it to end. The Perfect mother is a gripping psychological thriller that had me glued to the pages. Caroline Mitchell drew me in so much that I refused to put this book down until I read the last page. I started and finished this book all in one day.That's how good it was. I really could not put it down ! I absolutely love love loved it !!!!This is one book you will not want to miss. It Caught my attention from the very first page and i could not turn the pages fast enough. I read mystery,crime & psychological thrillers all the time and this one kept shocking me right to the end.I thoroughly enjoyed this different twist the author spun with this story. The only faught I had with this story is it takes place in both Dublin and New York City . When the author switched to New York she often used words we don't use here in the US. And in the beginning of the book before Roz finds out the real name of the diamond couple adoptive mom she calls her Sheridan . Thoes things aside it was a really great book. I highly recommend getting this book. You can pre order this book on Amazon for just $4.99 and it will be auto-delivered to your Kindle on January 14, 2020. Many thanks to the Publisher , the Author , and NetGalley for a ARC copy of this book in exchange for my honest review. I was not required to write a positive review nor was I compensated in any other way. All opinions I have expressed are my own. If you would like to follow my reviews please do so at my facebook page Joyce Stewart Reviews or my facebook reading group Stewart's Book Reviews Book Club.

♥️ About the Author ♥️
A former police detective, Caroline Mitchell now writes full-time. She has worked in CID and has also specialised in roles dealing with vulnerable victims—high-risk victims of domestic abuse and serious sexual offences. The mental strength shown by the victims of these crimes is a constant source of inspiration to her, and Mitchell combines their tenacity with her knowledge of police procedure to create tense psychological thrillers. Originally from Ireland, she now lives in a pretty village on the coast of Essex with her husband and two children.

OMG!! Sit down and hold on for the ride! Roz finds herself pregnant. She knows who the father is but cannot tell her best friend Dympna as it would ruin their life long friendship. She can’t keep the baby as she is out of work and doesn;t have a family behind her so decides to let it adopted via a website that specialises in prime adoptions mainly in the USA. When a “diamond” couple are interested she jumps at the chance. Dympna is more suspicious and knows that Roz has had her head turned by the money side of things. A diamond couple are millionaires. Roz travels to the states to meet them and then finds that things are not quite as she had imagined. She has a luxurious apartment- in the basement. There is no natural light and the only ways out are locked. She keeps finding old celebrity magazines that appear to have been left there to warn her. What is going on and will she ever be allowed to leave? I jumped at reading this. I remember reading my first Caroline Mitchell book and being thrilled with it so jumped at this one and wasn’t disappointed, There is the tension and suspense that you expect from a first class psychological thriller, that unease that puts you on the edge of your seat. A plot that makes you think about how much we trust people that we don’t know for potential spoils. I liked Roz and Dympna had a huge heart. Of course there is a twist and I was wrong the whole way
(rest of links as part of blog tour)

LOVE! An amazing psychological thriller, a few times I thought I'd worked it out but the surprises kept coming. SO tense it kept me up til 4am to finish it. Is you're a fan of psychological thrillers, this is a MUST read. I can't wait to read more by this author.