The Perfect Mother

By: Caroline Mitchell

Narrated by: Alana Kerr Collins, Christina Traister

Length: 10 hrs and 55 mins

Publisher's Summary

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...

©2020 Caroline Mitchell (P)2019 Brilliance Publishing, Inc., all rights reserved

The twist at the end is incredible!

THE PERFECT MOTHER is worthwhile for the final 30 minutes. The rest is an excellent psychological thriller, but the unexpected twist is really special.

7 people found this helpful

A perfect thriller

Wanting to give her baby an advantage over her own childhood, Roz decided to sell her baby to a celebrity couple. Leaving her Irish homeland for New York City Roz learns she is being kept a prisoner for one reason, her child. Unable to contact family or friends the situation becomes more desperate with each passing month until things come to a boiling point,
Had the couple held another girl captive? Were each of the staff employed by the celebrities what they seemed?
After the birth of her child, would her captors allow Roz to return home?
This book kept me on the edge of me seat - turning page after page to the end. Great read from start to funish.

FellOff

This book outlines the struggles some women have with child bearing and the lengths they go to have a child.
It also brings to light that no matter how famous or financially well off one may be, that won’t remove all your issues and in fact may sometimes increase them.
This book though fiction, speaks on the dark side of fame and what people will do to remain famous and well off and how ethics and morals are thrown out the window in order to remain significant.

This book tells the tale of two struggles coming together to in a sense move forward in life.
One a single mother, who struggles to make ends meet and is less fortunate, and the other, a wealthy couple who
relies on others for child birth.

A pro is that the concept of the story is intriguing and encourages curiosity to discover how things turn out.
However it really isn’t mapped out correctly, until like the end when it starts gaining lots of friction.

I had read a review that stated there were lots of plot twists? Where? Majority of the story was about the conflicts between the wife and the woman who was responsible for child rearing. More like a soap opera and drama filled. I also believe it was overhyped because the book started off good and the ending was good but the middle was drawn out.

I also beleive there were conflicting statements.
((Spoiler))

The wife stated that she wanted the younger woman around to keep her husband interested and at home rather then having him away doing a pack of nonsense. If this was the case, why hold the woman against her will? If the husband really was an alpha male and charming and charismatic who is also able to get any woman he desires, why didn’t he just use his charms on her to keep the young woman around?

I had used my audible credit for this book and I regret it.

Intense story!

An intricate, suspenseful and engaging story! With a handful of fascinating characters. I could barely put this book down! The two narrators did an amazing job! Using a variety of accents and changes in their voices between male and female characters. One of the best narrations I have heard! I highly recommend this book and will look forward to others by this author end narrators. I hope you enjoy it as much as I did.

Nothing is as it seems and excellent narration!

A story that keeps you guessing! I couldn't put it down! Will definitely be looking up other titles by this author

Hooked from the start

Very good read. I was hooked from the beginning . Sure I had an idea of the final outcome of the story but each chapter had me wanting more. I needed to know what happened next.

To recommend or not recommend...

On one hand, this book really makes you think about the things that could happen when it comes to international adoption, surrogacy, etc... And why there are so many laws to protect prospective families and babies. On the other hand, it is “a bit” of a stretch! It just kept getting harder and harder to believe, And every time it was Sheridan’s turn to talk, I almost turned it off. She is so awful. But the narration was good. Curiosity is the main thing that kept me listening, and I did enjoy the ending. I think Dipna must be a SAINT & I cannot imagine anyone realistically having a reaction that she did.

Super entertaining and that little twist🤫

From the moment the first few paragraphs came out of the narrators mouth, I was hooked! the performance was 5 stars, the character development superb, the pace of the story was perfect, and the author took her time with the ending and dining everything up which I feel has been lacking in a lot of books I've listened to lately so I was ecstatic! You are on a roller coaster of emotions in this story while always trying to foresee what was coming. The twist in the end was perfect and I didn't see it coming as well as 1 thing in the summary that I didn't see either.

Definitely a huge recommendation from me! I listen to at least 3 books a month so this was very refreshing!

this is the second book I have read by this author and I just love her!

Such an interesting read!!!

Wow!!! This book kept me so interested and craving to find out what will happen next. The narrator was excellent and I can visualize everything she said. The audio was filled with some much emotions , I loved every minute of it. This is my first book from this author, will be looking to see what else she writes. Love, Love Love this book.

Wow! Excellent read!

Twists and turns to the end. Well written and the narrators do a great job. I thoroughly enjoyed this book and highly recommend it.

A brilliant story with great characterisation

Another corker of a story by Caroline Mitchell who I am a big fan of and I don't need to explain the plot but it was totally addictive from start to finish, a well crafted psychological thriller in which the suspense grows and grows. The character development is spot on; Roz, a naive young Irish woman who you cannot help feeling a little sorry for. All she wants is the best for her baby but from the moment Sheridan is introduced, there is a sense of impending doom. Sheridan is everything you loathe about rich, pampered American celebrities where image is all important. So when Roz signs a contract to give up her baby to this couple, little does she know she is about to fall into a terrifying trap and her life hangs in the balance. Some parts were predictable but having said that, I was a little sad when it ended because it was just so enjoyable!

1 person found this helpful

Very good but...!

I did enjoy this, it was entertaining. However, the narration was really distracting and at times irritating until I got used to it although the distraction carried on throughout. The Irish accents, whether during speech or narration, went up in that annoying way like every alternate line was a question, and it would be one quiet line, one louder. When in America the Irish character went from Spanish to Scottish to an American drawl and various others. Perhaps it was just my ears! I still enjoyed it and do like this author.