This started off as a really good listen and I enjoyed the book and all the twists and turns but there was just too many coincidences near the end for me and that spoilt the overall book for me

❤️ WoW this book was so good!❤️

Don't Trust Mother by Carey Baldwin and narrated by Elise Roth was an absolutely unputdownable psychological thriller with a jaw-dropping twist that will have you sitting there with your mouth open and then spend a few seconds thinking about it!!! Now, thats what I call a excellent audiobook/book! especially as it was very twisty throughout that will have you sitting at the edge of your seat. I loved it I found it hard to turn this audiobook off and I ended up listening to it whilst shopping, walking my cavapoo and doing my housecleaning. WoW what a day, this book made me finish the house cleaning and washing and I didn't mind doing it! 😂 The time flew by!

The narrator Elise Roth was superb for this book, she bought it alive.

I highly recommend this audiobook/book.

Big Thank you to NetGalley and Bookouture for the ARC

A decent mystery thriller. A family is faced with what they claim to be the biological mother to their daughter. Only there are many more secrets to be uncovered.

Oh man, this was a twisty mystery. There are many intersecting stories and timelines and Carey Baldwin did a great job of weaving them all together to create this thriller. There were so many lies being told in this story that I felt bad for every character, except the bad guy, they deserve the day they got.
I definitely will be reading more of Carey's work in the future.

Elise Roth did a great job narrating this story and I look forward to listening to more of their work in the future.

I found this book difficult to get into because the narrator chose a little girl's voice for the main character. The storyline is rather convoluted, but the author does a decent job of tying all the loose ends together. Although the twist at the end felt forced, I was glad I had decided to continue listening overall.

I love a good evil mother book. This was not it. It seems that the author tried so hard to avoid the common trope that she made the plot convoluted to the point that I did not understand nor care what was happening with the characters. Did the mom die? Is the woman really an actor pretending to be the mom? Why is she doing it? Who cares? Indeed. Unfortunately, this book missed the mark for me.

Took a while to get my head around the plot as it seemed a bit confusing at first, although as the pieces slotted into place I became more engrossed in the story, and found it a satisfying listen.

This was a fun listen. I was guessing while listening. I like it when we get a whole bunch of information and are a bit confused as to why we have all this information and then things start falling into place and everything starts making sense. The main female character seemed a bit naive, but I think that was the plan of the author. Overall, this was a fun listen. Thank you for the advanced audio copy!

I enjoyed the storyline of this on the whole - good thriller with lots of questions. I found it a bit ridiculous that it took half a book for anyone to question Becky leaving without a goodbye as suspicious. The ending threw me a bit (as in, not sure it quite rang as realistic!)
Unfortunately struggled to like any of the characters…. I felt it dragged a little too.

This thriller had me on edge from the very beginning. Just when I thought I had things figured out, another twist would hit—and they didn’t stop coming. The suspense was nonstop, and the layers of secrets unraveled in the most shocking and satisfying ways.

If you enjoy books that keep you guessing until the very end, this one definitely delivers. From the very first chapter, I thought I had a solid idea of who was behind everything, but as more details unfolded, I kept second-guessing myself. Every new clue made me question what I thought I knew. The suspense was steady throughout, with just enough twists to keep me hooked without feeling overdone. A great read if you like stories that make you rethink everything right up to the last page.

The premise alone is enough to pull you in: a woman shows up claiming to be the main character’s mother… but she’s supposed to be dead. What unfolds after that is a tangled web of lies, mind games, and shocking revelations that had me questioning everyone’s motives.

I loved how nothing was ever quite what it seemed. The tension kept building, and every chapter ended in a way that made it impossible not to keep reading “just one more.” The twists felt smart and unpredictable, and the final reveal left me stunned.

If you’re in the mood for a gripping, psychological thriller that keeps you hooked from start to finish—this is it.

Twisty, Addictive, and Impossible to Put Down

Great story with a beautiful ending! Loved all the twists and turns and surprises this story gives you. Perfect for anyone looking for a psychological thriller.!

Ivy is struggling to deal with the death of her mother Patsy, when Sandra suddenly turns up on her doorstep claiming that she is Ivy's birth mother and that Ivy is adopted!

Stunned, Ivy decides to ask her father Richard for some answers. But everyone in this story from the beloved housekeeper to Ivy's doting father Richard, to her husband Clayton who keeps dosing her with various medicines, seems decidedly shady...

This story is best suited to readers who are happy to suspend disbelief entirely, because it does deliver a number of far fetched twists - the final of which is genuinely unexpected.

Thank you to Bookouture Audio, the author and NetGalley for a LRC in return for an honest review

I managed to listen to 34% of this book before I decided to put it to one side. I will go back to it at some point and try to finish it because I don't like to DNF a book. But for the moment it will remain on the shelf. I found it really slow to get going. By the 34% stage I expect there to have been more advancement of the plot other than 'Woman finds out she's adopted'. I also found that the narration by Elise Roth made it difficult to stay engaged with the story. I don't think she is a good match for this book at all. I might do better to have a go with a written copy when I next pick this book up.

#DontTrustMother #NetGalley

This was such a good audiobook. I think the narrator did a great job and the book itself was great as well. It was a little over 4 stars for me but not quite a 5. The twists were so good and had me guessing throughout the book. And what a great ending. I started questioning if it was going that way but didn't know for sure. Awesome job to Carey Baldwin.

Thank you to NetGalley and Bookouture Audio for the ARC! Overall I enjoyed Don’t Trust Mother by Carey Baldwin. The premise of the book was sound, and the description caught my attention due to the family drama angle. I liked that the book started with a twist, as it got me hooked to the plot immediately. However, the pacing in the middle of the book fell a little flat. I’m not sure if it was the author or the narrator, but multiple times I thought “wait, that was the end of the chapter??” It just seemed very suddenly cut off without a natural flow.

I did enjoy the extra POV towards the end of the book (trying not to give a spoiler here). I think this POV would have been interesting throughout the book, with the reader not knowing who the POV was from. It would have added an extra psychological twist to the story.

Most of the characters were not very likable and I did not connect with them, but I’m not particularly looking for that in a thriller. I did feel like Sandra had some nice character development by the end of the book, which was nice to see.

Overall it was a good book, just not anything that stands out. I feel that with some work and editing the author has the bones (pun intended??) to write a more thrilling mystery.

I love a good psychological thriller, and Carey Baldwin hit the mark with this one! I love that everything single character in this book was shady as hell it just added so much depth to the story. Nothing is what it seems here, and everyone is holding on to a secret of some kind. This was fast-paced, and the deception was deep and intriquid. Elise Roth's ability to switch from sweet innocent Ivy to Seriously shady Sandra and then to raucous Richard is commendable, I loved her interpretation of each individual character. The ending was jaw-dropping, and I did not see all the twists coming. If you are looking for a seriously messed up family dynamic, then this one is for you... morally grey .... more like morally black!!

Thank you to Netgalley and Bookouture for this advanced copy in exchange for my honest opinion.

This book starts out a little slow, but the pacing definitely picks up around the halfway mark. There were reveals throughout the story that kept me engaged and wondering who each character really was and what they were hiding. If you like a thriller with family drama and long buried secrets, this book is definitely one to check out.

Thank you to Bookoutre and NetGalley for the ARC in exchange for an honest review.

3.75 ⭐
Twisty family drama! I guessed a couple plot twists but the big reveal at the end was good.

Thank you to NetGalley and Bookouture Audio for this audio ARC.

The premise itself is enough to hook you - 'She says you're her daughter. She's lying... right?' This question perfectly encapsulates the unsettling core of the story. Ivy lost her mom, Patsy, in a car crash, and six months later, she is struggling to get by. Her husband, Clayton, has her on a regimen of pills to help her cope daily. Ivy's father, Richard, is a very wealthy and powerful man in the community. One day, Ivy wakes up feeling better and thinking she is starting to turn a corner in her grieving when there's a knock on the door. To Ivy's surprise, there is a lady named Sandra on her doorstep claiming to be her long-lost mother. She claims that Ivy was adopted as a baby. Ivy feels like this can't be true! Is this woman really her mother? Or is something far more sinister at play?

Don’t Trust Mother is a psych thriller that grabbed me from the beginning and didn't let go. This was my first book by this author, and I'm planning to dive into the rest of her catalog very soon. The suspense in this book builds slowly. As the narrative unfolds, the lines between truth and manipulation blur, which made me question everything I thought I knew alongside Ivy and the other main characters. Everyone was lying to everyone, and I had no idea who to believe. The author masterfully crafts an atmosphere of suspense and paranoia, building tension with every revelation and doubt. Just when I thought I knew where the story was headed, another layer of deception was peeled back. I flew through this audio in record time because I had to know what was going to happen. Ivy was my favorite character, and I was rooting her all the way until the end. I love how determined she was to find the truth.

Thank you NetGalley and Bookouture for the ALC in exchange for my honest review.

Thank you to NetGalley and Bookouture Audio for the early audiobook of Don't Trust Mother.

What I liked most about this novel was that I didn't immediately enjoy any of the characters, and when I started to like them, they did something horrible. I appreciated how the characters' relationships were dynamic and fluid, although some of the transitions and character choices did seem not as organic, as they were presented as twists - so I didn't see them coming at all! I wish the characters had stronger sense of "wholeness" with more than just dialogue-driven action.

I do love a good thriller with twists and turns that were absolutely not expected, and Baldwin delivered that element. The ending certainly brought together what felt like loose ends throughout the novel, making me wonder how they were going to tie together elements of the biological and adoptive mother.

I did enjoy the narrator's voice, and I felt like it fit Ivy - the novel itself was very dialogue driven, so at times it was difficult to follow the conversations. I found the narrator paused and transitioned into new topics and descriptions well, making the dialogue much more tolerable.