This was a somewhat enjoyable read - I went through ups and downs with my enjoyment levels. I liked the idea of a gaggle of mid-thirties mean girls but this group just didn't click for me. Thanks to the publisher and netgalley for an ARC egalley.

I hate that I didn't love this. This is definitely a case of "it's Me and Not you" for this story.
I relocated and was the new one in an area and the horrible mothers in the group - judgmental and so sure of their way being <i>the right</i> way, was just a bit too close to home. So I was instantly frustrated by the story and the characters. I found myself unhappy with the storyline, only because of how close it cut to things in my real world.

I wish I'd loved it but instead I hated everyone in it. And the odd redeeming moment near the end wasn't enough to help me like it more.

I finished the book in one day, in between watching TV and cooking dinner. On the one hand, it was such an easy read I didn’t need to use 100% of my attention to read it. On the other hand, it didn’t captivate me so much I couldn’t do anything else.
I found it a rather strange book and I didn’t like the characters much. All they do (except Charlotte) is argue, fight and drink. And after having drinks, they get into their cars. Which is absolutely very irresponsible and I’m wondering why the author writes about such women. The book is a chronicle of women who lead an absolutely empty life, so it was bound to happen their ‘friendship’ would crack when Charlotte arrives, who is the only one with a career, a nice daughter and no drinking issues.
Thanks to Netgalley and Inkubater books for this review copy.

I personally don't feel the title of this book matches what was going on at all. This book reminded me of a bunch of mean girls who gang up on the new kid on the block. In their nice residential town, the mothers are on edge as there's a serial rapist running lose in their neighborhood. He's murdered women and raped them all prior to doing so. When a new mom (Charlotte) moves in and enrolls her daughter in the soccer program, she has to deal with the drama from the mean moms (Amy and her best friend). As she's dealing with the drama from the moms she's also dealing with being a single mother and trying to do the best for her daughter. This book had suspense and the ending was opposite of what I was predicting would happen, which kept me turning the pages. Overall I wish there might have been some more suspense and less cattiness from the moms, but it was still interesting.

**Netgalley provided me with this book in exchange for my complete and honest review.**

A “domestic thriller” about 3 mothers living in the suburbs. Charlotte is a single mom with a 10 year old daughter and just moved to the suburbs. She came to the suburbs to start a new life for her and her daughter. She is immediately disliked by some of the other mothers especially Amy. Amy is a cold and vindictive woman and makes Charlotte’s life miserable because of the way she dresses. She does some really mean things to Charlotte and believes they are justified. Rachel (Amy’s best friend) follows Amy like a little puppet and helps her bring misery to Charlotte. The story is told by the perspective of these three women. I was excited to read this book but was disappointed. There were parts of the book that made me hopeful but fell flat almost immediately. It was hard to like the characters especially Amy. She has some unresolved issues that she needs to deal with but would rather make excuses and make other people live in misery. I didn’t necessarily find this book a thriller - it’s a story about bored housewives with too much time on their hands.
Thank you Netgalley for the advanced e-arc copy in exchange for my honest review.

Amy has a traumatic past- one she wishes to forget and one that shapes her future with disastrous consequences.
With the arrival of a new mom on the block and to her social group, Amy loses control. Doubt and insecurity step in and everyone's lives are turned upside down.
Very suspenseful- not particulalry believable but overall still an enjoyable read.

Very enjoyable domestic thriller! Would recommend to fans of Big Little Lies and other Liane Moriarty books!

Amy was always well turned out, had a handsome husband, two lovely daughters. Others looked up to her. However, haunted by events in her youth she is obsessive about keeping her family safe. Charlotte moved to the neighbourhood looking for a safe place to raise her daughter. She is a photographer. She dresses in what the other 'soccer moms' consider 'inappropriate'. Rachel regards Amy as her best friend, even though beside her she feels fat & frumpy. She has a husband who adores her, but that doesn't help. She also worries about her son, who is a bit of a loner.

When a rapist is on the loose in the neighbourhood Amy's fears take over. She also has taken a deep dislike to Charlotte especially after some photographs Charlotte had displayed seemed to present Amy as less than perfect. Amy's paranoia begins to be dangerous for all- especially for Charlotte.

I know Amy was mentally ill, but I found it difficult even sympathise with her. Rachel- who was probably a nice woman also annoyed me a great deal but I really felt for Charlotte.

This book was a slow starter & by the time the pace had moved up a gear I was really getting fed up with Amy, whilst wondering why her husband couldn't see how close to the edge she was. This was a bit of a marmite book. Thanks to Netgalley & the publisher for letting me read & review this book.

I want to thank Net Galley for an advanced copy of "The Good Mother" by Cathryn Grant. I truly enjoyed this book. I love a thriller about domestic issues.

My first book by Cathryn Grant . The idea of the trauma which not only the victim of a brutal violent attack suffers but also how it affects the person who happens to witness it, especially a child.

The book is about 4 close friends - Amy, Jane, Kit and Rachel. They all are perfect mothers and housewives with perfect husbands living in the best neighbourhood of San Francisco. Their world starts wavering when Charlotte enters their town with her daughter. Short chapters really made it a quick-read. The end of this domestic thriller does not disappoint at all.

I’ve finished this book in a couple of days, The story hooked me from the beginning and I couldn’t put it down. Amy is a woman that had a traumatic childhood and she caries her traumas and wounds with her to the adulthood, where her main goal make her children have a perfect and happy life, no matter what. It’s a gripping domestic psychological thriller with an unexpected twist..Thus is the first book I read from this author and can’t wait read the next one. .

The Good Mother was a fun one to pass the afternoon! As a 35 year old mom, I could relate to the "mean girls grown up" premise. Was it fluff? Was it kind of implausible? Yes, but it was still a deliciously fun read!

I really wanted to love this book because the premise was interesting. As a mom of 3 kids, one of whom is obsessed with soccer, so I can relate to the cliques and "mean girls" attitudes that come along with elementary and middle school PARENTS and their kids. I empathized with Amy's childhood trauma and understand how that made her obsess over giving her kids an easier life. However, I really couldn't stand her. She was such a mean person who reeked of insecurity and jealousy, and I didn't like her friends either. Pretty much the only likeable character was Charlotte, who is new in town after relocating for a better life for her daughter. I was waiting for a lot of action and thrilling moments, but unfortunately this one just fell flat for me.

3 out of 5 stars for The Good Mother by Cathryn Grant.

Thank you to the author and to Inkubator books for the opportunity to read and review The Good Mother. All comments and opinions are my own.

A big fan of Liane Moriarty and Sally Hepworth, I was very excited to receive a galley of The Good Mother by Cathryn Grant from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. Unfortunately, this book fell flat for me and if it weren’t for the promised review, I most likely would have put it down at the halfway point if not earlier. I felt the writing was juvenile with step-by-step sentences of the characters' actions, lacking anything complex. The characters were immature and not fully developed. I couldn’t connect to any of them even though I am a total suburbia soccer mom. The plot was all over the place, wasn’t logical at points, and simply not believable. I was really hoping it would come together with a great twist at the end but I was disappointed with a very anticlimactic event and wrap-up in the last 3% of the book. The description made the book sound like a peek into the juicy, gossip-filled lives of a group of soccer moms, but instead it just felt like a bunch of unconfident crazies that no one would want to associate with upon meeting. I think my biggest issue is that there was no “unraveling” of the main character, Amy; she was unstable from the very start making her “queen bee” status far-fetched. MASSIVE TRIGGER WARNING as rape is a common theme in this story and towards the end is referred to on almost every page. Note: This book was previously released as "The Demise of the Soccer Moms" which brings the book down another notch in my book.

Charlotte is the mom in town, and poses a threat to the tranquility of Amy's home and social life. As Charlotte becomes more entangled in Amy's day to day life, Amy begins to unravel. She becomes paranoid, conniving, and even violent. Amy will go to drastic measures to keep her perfect life as picture perfect as it seems.

This book was thoroughly entertaining, but required minimal effort as it was pretty surface level reading. It reminded me of reading about a high school clique, but they were mothers. Some parts of it were pretty unrealistic, starting with the sheer amount of things the mothers get away with. Charlotte was a fairly likable character but I do wish she had more depth to her. Amy is highly unlikable, and the lack of consequences for her actions are infuriating. She also portrays mental health with the 'hysterical suburban mother' stigma. This is a good beach read, but it lacks the emotional depth to get the reader invested.

3.5 stars rounded down to 3

Amy is your typical 'mean girl' all grown up.
Shes a manipulative bully that readers will love to hate.
When free spirited Charlotte and her daughter Meadow move into Amy's quiet community, this budding psychopath will lose her mind. 

The beginning of this book was kind of all over the place, eventually everything falls into place, but it take a little while.
I really enjoy books with alternating perspectives, these chapters rotate between Amy, Charlotte, and Amy's "best friend" Rachel,  highlighting the dynamic between these women, showing you different views on the same story.

The ending while predictable and anti climactic, was still enjoyable. 
For the most part this is a 2.5 star book, but Amy was such a great character. Lately I have been reading books with no great villain, most characters sit on the fence between good and bad, and it was refreshing to have a true antihero.
Amy made this book one that I looked forward to picking up.

"The Good Mother" is the story of Amy, a suburban mother with twin girls, and Charlotte, the newcomer Amy finds a threat to her perfect life, for no real reason other than Charlotte is pretty and Amy insecure. 

While the story had promise and was well-written, it ultimately lacked believability for me. I'd have loved to have seen some more fleshing out of the central characters, as a lot of their actions were explained only by one key thing in their backstory, ie, Amy's witnessing of her mother's rape when she was a child, and there was no other nuance or development beyond that. This made me feel incredulous about some of the characters' responses and reactions at times as they just seemed completely disproportionate and over the top. 

There were some good twists, and I did like the ending, but I found Amy's snowballing from neurotic to psychotic too fast and too unbelievable, and I just would have liked a little more character development so that I could find a way of connecting with the characters a little more. 

Thank you to NetGalley for providing me with a free ARC copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

The Good Mother by Cathryn Grant is the first book I have read from this author and I enjoyed it however, it did not grip me at first like other books I have read recently.
It's a domestic thriller about three friends, Amy, Rachel and Charlotte. Amy and Rachel have been best friends for years and Charlotte is new to the area.
This book is told from their points of view, by all three characters. However, some of the characters within the book were unlikeable and I just wanted a little more information about them.
The beginning of the book was a slow burner and not much happening. Then, all of a sudden the book woke up and became alive!

Big Thank You to Netgalley and the publisher for providing me with a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

I liked this book a lot- more in the beginning though. A few too many plot twists for me andI felt the writing was a little juvenile. The main thing I don’t care for in a book is when too many different and disturbing things keep happening. All of them happened in The Good Mother. I feel some readers would enjoy it more than I. Thanks again to NetGalley for allowing me to read and review.

Thank you Netgalley and the Inkubator Books to give me an opportunity to review this book in exchange for an honest review.

My first book by Cathryn Grant and it didn’t disappoint at all. She has wittingly worked on the idea of the trauma which not only the victim of a brutal violent attack suffers but also how it affects the person who happens to witness it, especially a child. This book has been labelled as a psychological thriller but I find it closer to a domestic thriller.

The book is about 4 close friends - Amy, Jane, Kit and Rachel. They all are perfect mothers and housewives with perfect husbands living in the best neighbourhood of San Francisco. Their world starts wavering when Charlotte enters their town with her daughter. How is Charlotte affecting their lives and how some recent incidents in the neighbourhood affect their belief of their safe neighbourhood?

I loved reading this page-turner domestic thriller. I found some characters very unlikable but I still kept reading because I was interested to know what happened next. All the characters are written in such a way that they feel relatable.

Cathryn Grant’s writing has been non-complicated and very easy to read. Short chapters really made it a quick-read. The end of this domestic thriller does not disappoint at all.

If you like a short and engrossing domestic thriller, grab this one!
***Warning: Rape is discussed often in this book.

Amy has devoted her life to her family. She is the queen bee of a group of soccer moms at her twin daughters' elementary school, married to a successful and handsome man, and living in a beautiful suburban home. But Amy fears that it can all fall apart at any moment, and believes it is her job to protect her family at any cost. As a child, she witnessed a horrific incident that shook her to the core. She has promised herself that this will never happen to her daughters.

Charlotte scares Amy. She's an artistic, attractive newcomer from San Francisco who doesn't dress or act like the other mothers in the neighborhood. Charlotte is trying to keep her own daughter safe after her boyfriend was sent to prison, and has thought they'd find safety in the suburbs. Amy finds her offensive and provocative. She intends to let Charlotte and her daughter know they're unwelcome in every way she can, enlisting her insecure best friend Rachel to help.

At first, the Good Mother drags. It reads like a novelization of the movie "Mean Girls" with crow's feet. Can't a grown woman wear short skirts instead of linen capri pants? Can childrens' soccer really be so important? But, of course, it's not actually the soccer that's ultimately important for Amy, Charlotte, and the other mothers. Cathryn Grant steadily shares the mothers' deeper motivations. As Grant steps away from the soccer field and into the womens' relationships with their husbands, each other, and themselves, the novel blooms into something far more intriguing, even disturbing. The Good Mother is a tale of obsession, the desire for safety, and just how difficult it can be to do one's best.

Thanks to NetGalley for providing an ARC in exchange for a fair and honest review.