I am not quite sure how I feel about this book! I loved the narrator, Nicky Diss I thought she did a fab job at voicing the women. She made me hate the characters you were meant to hate. But I didn’t feel affection for any of them.

I kinda saw the “twist” coming but it was still a surprise at the end. However, I just wasn’t sure where this story was going. I felt we lived a lot in the past, without much police presence especially as someone is missing. I mean I was also glad over which “someone” that was as I couldn’t stand the vile character, but the threats etc they made just seemed very weak.

I loved seeing a glimpse into the life of the different women and their daily struggles with and without children. They all attempt to find a place for themselves since their new roles in motherhood. But I just didn’t feel much particularly happened. I also felt like it was too easy for something to be covered up and I only saw one BIG secret. It’s hard discussing the book without giving anything away.

I am glad I read/ listened to it, but I just don’t know where I sit with this book, and it’s not very often a book makes me feel a bit flat, and when it does it makes me sad. I have heard good things about the author’s other books so at some point I will give them a go but for this one, I will deliberate a bit longer.

This was a real edge of your seat thriller, with so many twists and turns, you wont know which way is up! Fantastic and gripping read!

Five Women.
They meet at their NCT Group. The only thing they have in common is they're all pregnant.

Five Secrets.
Three years later, they are all good friends. Aren't they?

One Missing Husband.
Now the police have come knocking. Someone knows something.

And the trouble with secrets is that someone always tells.

Parenthood often throws women together who have nothing in common except for the age of their babies. When my daughter was small I was part of a group that met at a council run baby massage course and we met once a week until I moved out of the area. This book is about five women who live in London and met at a NCT antenatal class and three years later were still friends. Then one of their husbands goes missing.
Twisty and engaging and even though there are lots of characters to get to know they are introduced fairly slowly so it’s not overwhelming.

This is very much a character led book as at times the mystery takes a back seat and we are immersed into their lives. It made me feel more optimistic about my own marriage as in comparison to most of these characters, we are doing really well.

These five women are supposed to represent a cross section of mothers living in London but unlike reality there is little diversity. On the other hand NCT classes are infamous for their middle classed demographic so it may be accurate.

The book runs on two timelines, the first a contemporary one from the perspective of the quite frankly, inept police handling the case and the second starting from three years in the past from the perspective of the five women.

The twist near the end changed everything I thought I knew, and I didn’t see it coming at all.

What I liked:
Twisty plot
Well rounded characters

What didn’t work for me:
Little diversity

Suitable For: Adults Only
Sex: Yes
Violence: Yes
Drug Reference: Mostly Prescription and Wine
Swearing: Yes

Another thrilling read by a very talented author. Ms Naughton is one of my new favorite authors and I can't wait to read the next one she comes up with. Recommended.

Explosive and gripping. I can't wait to read more from the author. The ending was very satisfying. Loved the twists and turns until that part.

A slow burn thriller with highly developed characters making me invested from the start. A creative and well-plotted mystery that also wove in insightful and engaging issues each main character was facing as a mother, and each of their experiences was unique and got me invested in the characters.

I received a digital arc of this from netgalley in exchange for an honest review. I don't think I've read anything by this author before so was interested to read this. For me this started really slowly and it was hard to stay focused on it. However around halfway through the pace really picked up and I couldn't put it down. Great twist at the end, although I had anticipated some of it, I'd not guessed it all.

This is an entertaining thriller filled with suspense.
The plot is suspenseful with a collection of characters. Some of whom are unlikeable. The ending was good.

This was a great little read, really twisty and well written!

The story follows a group of mothers who all met during their pregnancies, and have remained friends ever since, and what happens when one of their husbands goes missing. There were so many surprises in this book - every time I thought I had it figured out, there was yet another twist!

I really enjoyed the fact that we get to see the perspectives of all the different mothers, as well as some shorter snippets from Iona, one of the police officers who ends up investigating the disappearance. I think multiple POVs can add so much to a book when done well, and this book definitely does that, also switching between the past and the present to gradually build up the story.

I did think a few parts of the book could have been shortened, but that may have been me getting impatient because I wanted to get to the end and find out what had happened! Overall, I would definitely recommend this book to anyone who likes a good suspense/thriller style read.

This was such a gripping and twisty read – I’ve been reading here and there when I can but this was so difficult to put down and not read in one sitting!
We follow a group of mothers who all met during their pregnancies and kept friends ever since, meeting regularly for drinks as one of their husbands goes missing and the police get involved. Honestly, this book was so twisty – I thought I had everything figured out and could see the twist coming from miles away but I was so wrong and that’s what made this such a great book.
We also get to see the perspectives of all the different mothers as well snippets of the police office, Iona, as she goes through the investigation with parts of the mother’s perspectives been told from both the past and present which really helped to bring all the little bits of the story together and not get confused!
I would 100% recommend this book for anyone looking to pick up a gripping and twisty suspense novel that they won’t want to put down.

Brilliant. This was a well written book that I greatly enjoyed and already plan to recommend. Believable characters and an inticing setting. Some parts were perhaps a little lengthy, but maybe because I was impatient to reach the novels conclusion! Thank you Netgalley for the chance to read this book in exchange for an honest review.

Loved this book! I was hooked from the very start. I loved the writing, the pace was just right, everything was great.

Loved it....what a ride I got from this one, seriously got through this in double quick time, it was a fabulous book and I loved all the different characters in it, mainly about family, friendships, and motherhood the story is centred around 5 mums that all attended the same NCT groups. They’d never be friend usually outside of here as they are all so different, they all have secrets and the book but by bit lays this all out, then a husband goes missing 🙈

Great little gem of a book and one I’d defo recommend to my friends

What a treat this was! Iona is a police officer, her and her team are assigned to a case of a missing husband. Nothing out of the ordinary, he was in financial difficulty and had embezzled funds from his company.
His wife Bella is beside herself, but she has the support of her friends , a mis-matched bunch of mothers all brought together when their babies were born at the same time.
I won’t give anything away as the twists in the tale were brilliant, right to the end of the. book.
Read it, you won’t be disappointed!

★★★★★ 4.5 stars (rounded up)

If real life hadn't gotten in the way, I would have devoured THE MOTHERS is one sitting! It is brilliant, compelling and so completely addictive with a twist that just deliciously clever. My first read by Sarah J. Naughton had me turning the pages though my eyelids were drooping on 2 hours sleep. A totally unexpected well twisted and ingenious read, THE MOTHERS has an easy reading style that draws you in from the first page.

Five women from different walks of life, who would probably never normally cross paths, meet at an antenatal group and become friends. Beyond their birth of their babies, the women form their own informal "mothers group" where they get to unwind for a few hours in each others company and not be judged.

But life is about to get a little more complicated for them and bring the women closer in a way they never would have imagined.

Bella gave up work to become a stay at home mum but since Teddy's birth feels that her husband Ewan no longer sees her in the same way. She's middle-aged, frumpy and putting on weight where she was once a slim and beautiful. Not only that, Bella suffered post partum psychosis which had her delusional and erratic. Does Ewan see her differently since then? Because he certainly doesn't seem to want her now. In an attempt to boost her self esteem, Bella gets herself a job in a department store where she thrives and enjoys every moment...particularly coming home to Teddy's face lighting up when she walks in the door. But life with Ewan is difficult. He's moody, secretive and snappy. Is he having an affair? Or is it porn he's looking at when he locks himself in his study every night for hours on end?

And then Bella's world begins to fall apart when she starts to see things again. Blood in an uncracked egg. A tiger stalking towards her. A butterfly wing. Spiders in her pockets. And when she sees Ewan defaced in their wedding photo she wonders...did she do that? And forgot about it? Is she getting ill again?

Chrissy is a successful divorce lawyer living in the affluent area of Chelsea. She is married to Russell and they have beautiful baby Chloe. But Chrissy is unhappy and restless. Her job may be lucrative but it is also unfulfilling with selfish wives demanding more than they need to survive divorce.

Then she meets Atanis, the builder working on their new basement extension, and with him she feels she can be herself with no judgement. Russell is away or at the pub so often their clandestine meetings go undiscovered and although she knows it is not forever, Chrissy dreads the day when she must bid him goodbye.

Electra is mother to twins Pearl and Ozzy, whose conception came as something of a surprise to her and her younger boyfriend Zack. Living in a basement flat, she struggles daily with Ozzy who is so far removed from his placid sister. One day at the supermarket, Ozzy laid himself down in front of the pram and refused to budge...even with customers tutting and trying to get past. Electra was beside herself with frustration and embarrassment but no amount of pleading or cajoling would budge Ozzy. When she moved him herself and plonked him into the pram, strapping him in, she was then accused by an onlooker of kicking him.

Days later, a social worker was on their doorstep outlining an incident had come to their attention where her children's safety was no in question. But it was Bella who made a suggestion as to a possible reason for Ozzy's behaviour which made Electra delve further for more information.

Skye has tattoos, her hair in dreadlocks and lives aboard a boat on the river with her baby daughter Juniper. The love of her life, Pedro, as well as being Juniper's father, is gay and has met the man of his dreams, Felippe. The two of them adore Juniper so much that they want to share that love with a child of their own and give Juniper a sibling. And they want Skye to carry the child.

And then there is Jen, the youngest and most spirited of the women. She has the saddest tale to tell. While their pregnancies brought them together and their babies unite them as mothers, Jen has no child. All her babies have been stillborn. It seems both her and her boyfriend Eliot carry a gene that will deform their child so horribly that if they survived birth they would not live very long afterwards.

Each woman has their own story. Their own demons. Their own secrets. But together they are one.

Then one night each of the women get a call from the other in what sets of a chain of events. Bella awoke from a drunken night with her friends to the most horrific discovery. And she knows she is responsible...

Enter DI Iona Chatwin and her partner Yannis who are tasked with the disappearance of Ewan Upton. The pair question Bella and then each of the women in turn...until they discover Jen is also missing. Have the two high-tailed it together? But when they discover blood in Jen's flat with her phone still on the table and some broken crockery, Iona begins to suspect foul play. And how is it connected to Ewan's disappearance?

THE MOTHERS has a touch of drama, a hint of contemporary fiction and a load of mystery with secrets, thrills and twists in abundance.

Told in dual timelines, playing out from three years earlier and the present day, THE MOTHERS then shifts the story to "before" and "after"...an event which binds the women and is at the heart of this well written story. We hear from each of the women as their stories unfold as well as from Iona, the detective investigating Ewan's disappearance.

I loved each of the women for their uniqueness of characters. All of them had secrets and hidden insecurities which made them vulnerable and bound the story tighter. I did not, however, love Ewan. He was a despicable and completely unlikeable character. He treated his wife first with indifference and then open beligerance and pure nastiness. Even doing so in front of Jen, who was their childminder while Bella was at work, smirking as if it were a joke. He was a hypocrite, a narcissist and a downright horrible person. I thought Bella was well shot of him and hoped he never came back.

I did like Iona but felt that she wasn't as believable as the other characters in the story. She appeared to lack the confidence a Detective Inspector would surely have and had no clue on what to make of each of the women. She didn't seem to figure anything out and spent most of her time mooning about a colleague, despairing the fact that she would be straight and not in her league. I felt that too much was made of the fact Iona was gay especially as she mooned over the abovementioned colleague constantly. It should have been more important that she was the police detective tasked with the investigation at hand, not the fact that she is gay. But then I had to ask myself why was she written as gay when there were an overt number of gay characters added to the story - five in total. While their sexuality did appear to have their own unique parts to play in the story, only Iona and the last one, which I felt was merely added for the sake of it, I felt didn't really need to be written as gay. In fact, I think Iona would have been a far stronger character and better detective if she wasn't.

Aside from that, though, all the other characters were complex with nice juicy stories to easily absorb oneself into the intricate web Ms Naughton weaved. Although I did work out the "who" of the mystery, it wasn't until it was being played out that the "how" and "why" became apparent. Intricately brilliant and cleverly woven, THE MOTHERS is most certainly one of those "just one more chapter" books that keep your reading into the night!

I thoroughly recommend this book to fans of a good well-written psychological domestic thriller with a difference!

I would like to thank #SarahJNaughton, #NetGalley and #Trapeze for an ARC of #TheMothers in exchange for an honest review.

Absolutely loved this. What mother hasn’t been in a similar position as one or more of the mothers in this book. A rollercoaster of emotions as I was lead through this book by the various narrators.

Grab a cuppa and a comfy seat as you will not want to be disturbed.

Highly recommended 5 stars

I really liked this book. I recommend this book and look forward to more books by Sarah J. Naughton.

This book was the oldest one on my NetGalley shelf and I’m kicking myself for not reading it sooner because it was such a gripping read. It follows a police officer investigating a missing man. We then follow a group of five mothers and we learn about how they became friends and how they are with each other. The missing man is the husband of one of these women and it seems there is more to the story than we initially find out. I really enjoyed how it went back and forth in time as we get to know the women and their back stories. At first it seems like they’re frenemies but there is a bond between them. I love stories about female friendship and this was another good one, and it went in a different direction than I was expecting so I loved that aspect. There are moments in the novel where I had to suspend my disbelief but that didn’t spoil my enjoyment at all as I was fully invested in the wider story. I recommend this one!

Interesting characters, some slightly more predicable than others but a good read and definitely kept me turning the pages. Took me back to the days of toddler groups and the chaos that went with it. Nice easy read which is sometimes exactly what you need.