This author does an excellent job of creating a setting that adds to the tension of the story.
The twist in the plot was amazing and made the entire book a great read.
I liked how it kept my interest and stayed at a very good pace throughout.
The suspense increased and I was fully invested and didn’t want it to end.
The author did such a great job with the characters keeping them engaging and entertaining through it all.

A great addition to the psychological suspense/domestic thriller genre. By starting the story with the missing baby, author Wright lets us know right away that the women in this baby group are in danger, and one of them isn't to be trusted. Darcy, feeling isolated and alone after leaving London with her fiance, is happy to be part of the group. But she starts to get suspicious of Lucy, who despite her pregnancy throws herself at the other men. Her own husband is never around... and his first wife was brutally murdered. Is Darcy right to be suspicious, or is she just depressed because her parents died in a fire and Darcy herself was in a car accident where she left people for dead?

However, I did find myself disappointed in the ending, expecting a twist that never came. More so, the book concludes with three clinically insane people all working together to target Darcy. Most books in this genre require some suspension of disbelief, but I felt the author tried too hard to tie everything together.

Well written, not massively thrilling but overall an enjoyable read although the twist felt a bit 'off' because she speaks to his Mum all the time etc and has nobody ever mentioned like hey he ALSO used to live in Aus ... red flag no? But generally this is a pretty good book and you can feel the isolation as it goes on. Very tense!

Can’t believe this is a debut novel. It was so twisty and I really liked the characters and the idea of not knowing who to trust. The ending was great and I am really hoping for a sequel.

The characters are unrealistic and so are the scenarios and situations that are in the book.
I had to more than suspend belief so my rating can only be low.

Thoroughly enjoyed this thriller! The first two thirds are a quite a slow burn but the last third is so good - the epilogue is perfect 😮
Darcie’s character is likeable and although she is insecure and doesn’t have much confidence, I found I didn’t get frustrated with her despite all these things happening around her/to her and her not knowing what exactly is going on. The women in the baby club are a good mix and along with their partners, they work well in the story to create a supportive but sometimes suspicious group.
Thanks to Netgalley and Joffe Books for the arc for review.

[NetGalley Read #41]
4.5 ⭐️

"The past is the past. It's not going to get in the way of things here."

Brilliant psychological thriller with a wild third act.

The story builds slow and steady, sometimes at the risk of becoming repetitive (which I thought was a great way to show just how repetitive arguments can be), but it picks up speed. There are four parts (titled April, May, June, and July). The first two are more or less buildup with little seeds thrown about here and there. The third part is where the wheels start turning and the fourth is where the writer just floored it. It's incredible. Zooming past at incredible speed before coming to a somewhat open ending destination where you can decide whether, in your mind, you want the characters to be happy or let that Epilogue take effect in your brain.

As far as characters go, Darcy can be a superhero if there was a way to harness anxiety into some kind of superpower. She's pregnant. She has anxiety. She has trouble making friends. She has a tragic backstory that can almost rival Peter Parker or Batman (maybe a bit of an exaggeration, but still). She's a mess. She has secrets, fears, insecurities, nightmares, flaws. The whole package. But most important of all, she is resilient. She goes through it all. Literal blood, sweat, and tears. She does it alone, mostly, and comes out the other side. Supporting characters are good. The couples at the antenatal class, Alex, even Debbie, and the late introduction of Rob. The policewoman who gave two fucks about the whole wedding dress scenario and the attempted break-in.

This gave me similar vibes to Verity and Gone Girl. The main character losing their fucking mind to the point where even you start questioning yourself whether this is a Shutter Island scenario. The writer kept the central secret pretty close to the chest, dropping a hint or two in the first half. While I questioned it a little when it was revealed, I ended up liking it more than I thought. Maybe because it was revealed in one of the most batshit crazy scenes in the book. As for that Epilogue, I'm going to pretend I didn't read that. I liked it. It has a very horror films quality to it where the evil hasn't gone away completely. I want to and don't want to read more of this story at the same time. Mainly because I don't want the main character to go through any more shit and yet, the villain intrigues me and I want them to suffer.

Easy to read with a few British idiosyncrasies you can probably Google (although there is a glossary at the end for US Readers which I found amusing). Short-ish (230+ pages). Dark and serious subject matter. Gets gory towards the end. Very tense; both in its third act and the conversations between the characters.

Recommended. 👍

Title: The Baby Group
Writer: Jade Lee Wright
Publisher: Joffe Books
ISBN: 9781805731382

Darcy and Alex have moved to a remote Cornish village to escape London. There they plan to bring up their new baby. When Darcy suggests joining an ante natal class, she hopes it will help them to make new friends in the area.

The others in the class are all different but the most odd amongst them is Lucy, who is clearly not all she seems. Never accompanied by her husband, she appears to have a need to control the agenda.

The book was an ok read but I found myself getting very frustrated with Darcy and Alex as they didn’t act at all like parents to be. There is clearly something from Darcy’s past that is affecting her present & future, which points towards an accident she had many years ago, but the twist is highly implausible.

I received a free copy of this book via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

Thank you to NetGalley, the author and publisher for granting me an ARC of The Baby Group.

I love this sort of book and anything surrounding pregnancy and babies. Because my children are older now, it gives me a little reminder of how it was when they were small. However, I’m glad none of the situations in this book arose when they were!

Definitely a slow burner until the last third of the story, when it escalated FAST! Then I couldn’t put it down! I did suspect one of the twists was coming, but loved the epilogue!

Ultimately, an enjoyable read and a solid 4 stars from me.

I can recognize that this book is a well written book with strong characters and an interesting premise, but I personally couldn't relate to it, and I found myself getting bored at times. I didn't really feel emotionally connected to the story or characters, which made it harder to stay engaged. That said, I can see why others might enjoy it more, just not quite the book for me!

This new Psychological thriller by Jade Lee Wright has some huge twists..
Six mothers to be one of them is lying.
It's a definite slow burn but it does not disappoint.
It's a great addition to any bookshelf

Wow, where to begin...
I struggled to put this book down. It was a slow-burning thriller but with plenty of twists and turns.
I wasn't taken by Darcy and she frustrated me enormously but I'm guessing that was intentional. I did feel many emotions for her and can understand some of her actions given her state of mind.
Jade Lee Wright clearly has a talent for storytelling, she created quite a picture in my mind. The story flowed very well and all the twists were very well thought out. I didn't guess all of them.
I'll definitely look out for more by Jade in the future.

Thank you #Netgalley for the advanced copy!

In this psychological thriller, Darcy is pregnant with her first child with her soon to be husband Alex. When they join a pregnancy group, the couple begins to connect with the others in the group. Group texts begin, social outings for both the moms to be as well as the fathers. However, Darcy was having difficulty connecting while her past continued to haunt her. As time goes on, I as the reader felt I connected the dots but little did I know who was ultimately connected and the impact to Darcy...

The beginning is extremely slow and kind of difficult to get through but picks up very fast around chapter 19/20..

The characters and the amount of times cheating was brought up in this book was insufferable.

Thank you net galley for allowing me to read this arc. This book just wasn’t for me 🙃

Thank you Joffe Books and NetGalley for an early copy of The Baby Group. This was a Fantastic Fast read. I Loved the characters except Alex. I felt like I was in the plot with the women. There were many different emotions through the chapters, I was extremely sad for Darcy at the beach. The birth part was extremely graphic, wow that was intense to read. When it all came together, you realize how CRAZY this book really is! I have never heard of this author, I hope to read more books by her.

Darcie and Alex have been together less than a year, now they're just weeks away from the birth of their baby. They've moved from London to a lovely seaside town, and decide to join the local antenatal class in order to make new friends. Everyone seems lovely except from Lucy. She seems to take a disliking to Darcie, and yet somehow is getting very close to Alex.
As due dates get nearer, Darcie is sure something is going on. She just isn't sure what.

Okay, so this one was a little difficult for me to get into at first. It was mostly Darcie constantly whining that she had no friends, and how she felt left out of groups when she did make friends, and feeling jealous and constantly freaking out on Alex about his previous infidelity. Then it was her going to the antenatal classes, meeting other women who all made her feel jealous about the way she looks, and attempting to become friends while desperately clinging on to Alex. Most of this time was spent talking about birthing plans and pain relief and babies in general. I get it, it's a story about a group of pregnant women. But having been a pregnant woman, we do have other things to talk about. It would have been nice for there to be some kind of break in the baby talk.
However, once we get into the last third of the book, things start getting interesting. One by one, the women start having their babies, and Lucy is trying to be friendly with Darcie. Things all seem great until Darcie starts being snubbed by the group and realises they're all meeting up without her. Drama unfolds and she's left with no one around her but Alex who is a dick. Then Darcie has her baby. What happens is terrible and scary, and we finally start getting to the "thrilling" part. Secrets come out, and it's filled with tension. The final twists in the epilogue are what made me round my rating from a 3.5 to a 4*. It took me the better part of 2 days to read this purely because it just wasn't gripping me to start with.

I've been so excited to read this book and it certainly didn't disappoint. Beautiful, engaging writing and fully developed characters who you love to hate. I won't lie. I didn't particularly like any of them but I think that was the point!

It's certainly a slow burn. Not a huge amount happens until well past the half way point so I did find things a little slow which is my reason for 4 stars. Personally, I didn't feel the usual tension at the start either as I already knew what was going to happen from reading the blurb.

But boy, when things kick off, it's an all out rollercoaster! Did I see the twists coming? One of them, yes. The other? Heck no! A brilliantly executed twist!

I can't wait to read more from this author. Possibly a future sequel? We shall see! Highly recommended for readers who love their thrillers on the slow burn side.

P.S. I had mental flashbacks to my own pregnancy and giving birth! 🤣🤣 that was traumatic enough!

A great debut! There was a lot of baby and birth talk in this novel, it brought back a lot of memories for me - thankfully good ones! I enjoyed this novel. It was well structured and thought out. I liked Darcy but throughout I kept thinking there was something missing - well, the answer to that came later. They say love is blind. Clearly it is in this instance! Alex was a funny character, I liked how he developed throughout the story. Without writing any spoilers, a good read with fast turning pages. I’ll look forward to the next book by this author.

Psychological thriller with almighty twists..
Six mothers to be one of them is lying.
Henceforth anti natal classes cornwall north coast.
Darcy recently moving from London with her partner Alex it's a good way to make new friends.
Lucy, Dora, Carmen, violet and Rachel all mothers to be all start at the same time.
A mind-blowing creepy read from start to finish that I found so unputdownable absolutely brilliant.
Loved it.

🌟🌟🌟.5

The prologue does not hold back!! It get's right into it setting the eerie feel to this book right from the start. I felt so much frustration and anger for Darcy when everyone was trying to make her appear crazy and doubt herself, it really set a creepy atmosphere around the book.

I love a psychological thriller and this had such a good concept. There were parts of the book where I couldn't put it down but it took a bit off a lull in the middle and didn't really start to get going until nearer the end. I loved the twist when it was revealed who Lucy was, it tied the story line up so well. Although the twist with Lucy was great it then ment you could see the twist with Alex a mile off, it was a bit predictable.

I'm not sure if the back story with the murders at Lucy's house was really needed, it was mentioned at the start then just forgoten about till the end. This also just made her a total psycho. If this didn't happen her character would of maybe been a bit more likeable and you could understand why she did what she did to Darcy. I think the plot about the crash would of been enough then it would of been a devistating story about two mothers just desperate to have their babies.

The last part of the book was reminding me of the handmaids tale. I was nearly shouting at my book for Darcy to manage and get her phone so she could get help. It was heartbreaking.

I loved the ending, I thought it was a really clever way to end the book. An other twist added in there that I didn't see coming!!!

Over all this was a great thriller, it didn't hook me like some other psychological thrillers have but I wanted to keep reading and it was really well written. A great thriller to add to your tbr.