Thank you to NetGalley, the Author and the publisher for this ARC.

This story follows the socialisation and family dynamics of affluent families living in Silicon Valley. The narrative consists of pushy parents, the local soccer team and societal fears. This book is less thriller and more of a drama think Real Housewives or Stepford Wives.

I enjoyed the story and think the characters were believable and well written. I appreciated the contrast of characters from the city and characters from the suburbs. The final twist was gripping but there wasn’t much excitement in the rest of the novel.

I received this book from Netgalley for review and all thoughts and opinions are my own.
Released in 2010 as " Demise of the Soccer Moms".
This will be a good book club selection. The female characters are strong and uniquely different. Each woman has an idea of what a good mother should be, in a perfect world. However, circumstances and environment can alter the perspective considerably. Amy, Charlotte, Rachel are moms with a past, keeping secrets and their true self under wraps. A crime in the neighborhood sets in motion the twisting thrill which invades and changes the dynamic of these soccer moms. What does it take to be a good mother?
Great discussion should follow. The ending is shocking and completes the Story perfectly.

Not sure about this one. Found it difficult to read at times due to part of the story being about rape.
Amy has her perfect life and keeps her family safe. A newcomer upsets the balance and things start their downward spiral. Amy is haunted by her past, what happened to her mother and the way her father dealt with it.
Thank you netgalley for this ARC in exchange for my honest review.

I couldn’t decide if Amy was just plain mean, or has a mental illness. I really didn’t find any of the characters likeable and was unsure what the whole point of the story was. Hard to read and some parts just lagged on.

Thank you to Netgalley for my advanced ebook copy.
However, I just couldn’t get into this! Amy was totally unlikeable from the start! The beginning rape scene didn’t bother me as much as I thought I was being set up for a great thriller but it totally fell flat! More like mean girls drama that I wasn’t into.

The main character,Amy is written so that the reader is torn between seeing her as a evil or simply a result of mental health issues. One isn't sure whether to feel compassion or digits for her actions. The neuroses of the modern "soccer mom" are in full display. Definitely a page turner that you won't put down.

This book was a great combination of two of my favorite movies ever - Stepford wives and Mean Girls!
In Stepford wives everything must be done in a certain way, no outsiders allowed, and in Mean Girls all girls must act the same way, and the ones that go outside the norm, gets ostracized......
Amy has the perfect life, everything in its place and a place for everything, until Charlotte happens along....
This was an entertaining read, recommended!

I couldn't get into this novel. It starts with a rape scene, and doesn't get easier to handle from there. All the characters are unlikable, especially the protagonist. You'd think unaddressed trauma in her past would make her a sympathetic character, but it doesn't.

The story follows two women whose daughters become friends through school and soccer. One of the mothers is new to town and the other women treat her poorly. I was confused by their motivations and didn't enjoy reading this.

This book is labeled a thriller on NetGalley and Goodreads, but that doesn't feel accurate. It's a drama about relationships, parenting, and family history. There are many other books in both genres that are much better, so I can't say I'd recommend this one to other readers.

I found this story to be more drama than thriller. My guess is that a true thriller lover wouldn't find it too thrilling. A bit slow in the middle. A story of Mothers, families, and friends in a fictional town. The characters were not very likable, in fact, seemed a bit mean. Thanks to Net Galley and the publisher for the opportunity to read an advanced copy in exchange for an honest review.

an overly simplified story of three woman, kept reading it and wondering why i was bothering other than my commitment to netgalley.

The writing was quite good and the story was easy to follow. Each of the characters were defined well. Good imagery for the descriptive material.

The characters were not very nice people for the most part. I saw character development as good; yet Amy needed severe family as well as self-counselling. The men in the story were portrayed as weak. (As was fitting in this book).Amy imagined that all of these men wanted to be with Charlotte. Yet, Amy's perception of everything was extremely jaded. (Especially, her perception of herself). Yes, her mother had gone through an awful experience but she truly did need to somehow "get over it".

The school principal had a difficult time with the parents. I do not think that she should have allowed Charlotte to display her photographs at the school in the first place, either. This was the catalyst for a major turn in the character's hatred and obsession.

I give this read 3 stars - it was quick and easy to follow.

Many Thanks to Inkubator Books and NetGalley for a poignant read.

This was a tough one for me. I absolutely hated Amy, so reading about her made my blood boil and made it hard to enjoy this book. But it was a good story and I didn't expect the ending so I kept reading. Not sure i would recommend this because of how awful Amy was though.

I enjoyed this book even though there were very few likable characters. Of course we sympathize with the protagonist, Amy who is living in a little cocoon of misery and paranoia as she relives the aftermath of her mother's rape years ago and tries to protect her twin daughters. So when newcomer, Charlotte moves to town with her daughter, she becomes Amy's target as she tends to dress seductively and in Amy's mind is "begging" men to notice her. This is basically Mean Girls Grow Up (but don't mature), as the women in Amy's circle attempt to discredit Charlotte any way they can. The end was oddly satisfying although a little too trite to be entirely believable. Overall, it was a good solid read.

Although this one left a little to be desired, I did enjoy the work of adding an additional villain to the mix to shake it up a bit and it no doubt offered a nice to twist to the plot!
Amy is on the verge of a breakdown, she's paranoid, and filled with wine and assumptions so when Charlotte moves into town, it turns Amy's world on it's head. Having never dealt with her demons, Amy is out to get anyone who doesn't fit into her neat little community life, but she fails to see that her undoing is a direct cause by her own actions that just so happen to almost bring down her best-friends too.
Rachel, Amy's biggest supporter and best friend is weak at best. I hate to describe her that way, but she lacks the backbone needed to stand up to her friend if not to save her than to at least protect her own family.
Then you have Charlotte, relocated to the area after her own life implodes has no idea that the women in her new community will be more to reckon with than her previous life. Confronted with Amy's wild accusations and threats, she does her best to stand up for herself without ruffling more feathers. After all, her crime is just being herself...that's enough to throw Amy over the edge!
Although I did enjoy the plot and could relate to the characters, especially Charlotte, I felt there was something lacking. I wish the author had developed Amy a bit more, made her a little more likable in the beginning to that I felt I had some connection to her. However, overall I thought it was refreshing with a special twist at the end!

“There was something chilling and frantic about this fragile, overdressed woman that wasn’t quite right.”

Firstly this cover made me look twice and really grabbed my attention. Yes my friends that is a dead bird on the doorstep. This was a very interesting read. It’s one of those rare times where I loved the book but also hated every single one of the characters haha.

These women were truly so horrible and there were multiple time’s where I had to stop, breathe and then continue. It follows three separate women and the main character Amy well damn. There were so many times where my husband found me sitting on the the lounge muttering this b*tch is crazy so so crazy.

The story definitely kept me interested and guessing until the very end but did lose me every now and then with the whole soccer thing.

This was my first book by @cathryngrant_fiction but I’d definitely be interested in reading more of her books. A big thank you to both @netgalley and @inkubatorbooks for the review copy.

The Good Mother will be releasing on 8 January 2020. You all ready for some crazy soccer mums...

While The Good Mother is being pushed as a domestic thriller, I am not sure I would classify it as such. The Good Mother definitely has a domestic story to it about mothers, families, and friends but it lacked in the thriller part. I did enjoy the story and the dynamics between the women in this fictional town. I felt sorry for the main character, Amy. She had a very hard childhood with her own mother and that has spilled over into her adult life with much paranoia and some obvious mental illness. The book did lag in the middle and I found myself checking to see where I was in the book. Grant writes the story from three of the characters point of views and it flows very nicely, although at times I felt like each character said the same thing over and over. Charlotte is the new girl in town and is shunned. It was the adult version of Mean Girls. Overall, this book had more potential if it wanted to be classified as a thriller. The thriller part was very predictable and not all that thrilling in the first place. I would push this book as more of a mental illness awareness book and what trauma does to a person. Overall, it was a decent story. I wouldn't throw it out. I will look for more Cathryn Grant books in the future and see what else she has to offer. Special thanks to NetGalley and Inkubator Books for the advance digital copy in exchange for my honest opinion.
#TheGoodMother #NetGalley

Thank you to Netgallery for the free digital ARC in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own.

**** Trigger Warning : Rape ****

I was really hoping I would like this one. It had potential, but fell super short of a true Psychological Thriller. The book was a very slow and sometime boring read. There were no major plot twists that you couldn't see coming. The characters were either flat or annoying. If I had gotten this book at the library, I would have stopped reading it about 30% through and added it to me DNF list. The only reason I pushed through was because I promised an honest review. I wouldn't recommend this book to any person that loves Psychological Thrillers. Maybe those that enjoy high drama are more suited for this book.

Amazon review will be posted on 5 Jan, publication day.

This book was so absorbing I finally understand the term "unputdownable". The interplay between the characters was fascinating to watch, and contributed so much enjoyment to my interest in this book. I will be sure to watch further for this author!.

So, I thought this would be more of a Mean Girls book instead of something a little sadder. Are there really women out there that think like that about themselves and other women?I'm definitely a guy's girl over a girl's girl so I had a tough time trying to relate to Amy and her psychosis (sp??) but I thought the plot was original, the subplot was suspenseful, and the ending was not what I expected at all.

Thanks Netgalley and the Publisher. Not sure what review I should give this book as it really is not a thriller and really could not relate to the characters, read it and skipped it