The character development in this book is incredibly well done. I loved how the author, Sally Hepworth, used the characters thoughts as well as past and present actions to show how one-sided and sometimes completely wrong a person’s perceptions of another can be. An example is that you may think someone is behaving in a very rude fashion, but if you knew that they just were given some horrible news, your anger might instantly turn to feelings of compassion.

Moreover, Hepworth adds some intrigue with the mysterious circumstances surrounding the mother-in-law, Diana’s death. Was it suicide or murder? And if it was murder, who was desperate enough to commit such an act?

This is definitely one of the best books I have read so far this year. It is definitely worth 5 stars. I am also thrilled to say Sally Hepworth wrote this amazing book without throwing in profanity or sex scenes.

This was the first book that I have read by:Sally Hepworth and I look forward to reading more!! The Mother-in-Law is not your normal edge of your seat thriller - it is a family drama that surrounds a mysterious death.

We have dual POV's - Lucy and her mother-in-law, Diana. I think the dual perspectives made for an interesting storyline because the reader would see a situation from Lucy's eyes and think Diana is batshit crazy. The reader would then see the rationale behind her actions in Diana's chapter. This lead me to feel bad for Diana because there were numerous times when she had a reasonable explanation for her actions but she did not tell Lucy the reasoning. There were times that I was on Lucy's side and then times when I was on Diana's which was rather interesting to me. Normally I can pick one side or the other.

I enjoyed the set up of this book - during the first chapter Diana is found dead in her home with a suicide note in her desk drawer. The remaining chapters tell the build up until this point in time. I could not put it down! I wanted to know the outcome as quickly as possible.

If you enjoy family drama filled with lies and a pinch of mystery then this one is for you!

It took me a little time to warm up to this novel, but after the first few chapters, I noticed it was hard to abandon it, I cared about the characters and the story. The information is slowly, gradually portioned, at just the right time and pace, and I was hooked!

This story was a wonderful portrayal of Diana (the mother-in-law in the title) and I loved the way it was told from her and Lucy's (daughter-in-law) altering points of view. No event was really retold, but from little remarks and self-analyzing thoughts it was possible to learn the motivations behind both of their acts (which the other many times completely misunderstood), and every little thing got a subtle explanation, without the two-sided storytelling ever getting forced. It was perfectly crafted! The only thing I should say here on the possibly negative side is that the two women's writing style didn't differ a bit - and I prefer when I can instantly tell who's talking in case I'm reading several POVs. Luckily it's not confusing at all, all chapters start with the name of the narrator, and honestly, the two think so differently than it's all obvious when you see what they're saying. Still, it would've been nice to see a little difference in the style. But really, this is just a minor detail, and it in no way took away from my enjoyment of the book.

Now, though I didn't agree with Diana's decisions most of the time, I understood where she came from. This book is all about showing her personality and motivations (among others', but I felt like hers were the center), and it does it beautifully, subtly. I started out thinking she's too strict, too... sticking to her principles. Then I got to learn more about her, and then Lucy got to learn about her more, and I started to more and more understand Diana, always a half step ahead of Lucy, but along with her. At the end of the day, I think Diana's tragedy was that she communicated terribly bad, leaving people no way to understand her motives, to get to really know her, or to openly talk and debate about things. Which was at first infuriating, but then I realized that these little misunderstandings, forgotten thank-you-s, ignored explanations are things that happen to all of us. Some less, some more, but everyone's affected. Too many times the problem is the lack of communication, and the lack of willingness to listen to the other and understand their motives, even if we don't agree with them. Expectations, unfortunately, are almost always higher than the willingness to accept and understand. On all sides.

For me the ending wasn't a surprise at all, but I feel like the point of this story wasn't really all about that. The journey there was the most important. After the 'big reveal' it was wrapped up bit abruptly, but I'll let that slide, because I enjoyed the book so much along the way.

I'm torn on this book, therefore I'm giving it a solid, middle-of-the-road 3 star review.

Diana's chapters kept me enthralled. She was cold and odd, and maybe that's what drew me in, but there was just something about her - you want to know why she is this way.

I was not a fan of Lucy's chapters, who I thought was rather boring, even with the backstory of her parents... I did feel bad for Lucy, losing her mother at a young age, but she wasn't written as interesting as Diana.

Overall, this was a good read, just not fantastic for me. Domestic thrillers seem to go either way for me, this one was right down the middle - neither great or really bad.

Great read. I finished it in one afternoon. With all the stories about girls going missing or on a train or in the window, this was a breath of fresh, albeit dead, air. All Lucy wants is to be liked by her mother-in-law. Once her mother-in-law turns up dead, everyone starts pointing fingers. I really enjoyed seeing the story from differing points of view. It kept my attention, and I did not want to put the book down.

Thanks, Netgalley, for the ARC.

From the moment Lucy met her husband’s mother, she knew she wasn’t the wife Diana had envisioned for her perfect son. Exquisitely polite, friendly, and always generous, Diana nonetheless kept Lucy at arm’s length despite her desperate attempts to win her over. And as a pillar in the community, an advocate for female refugees, and a woman happily married for decades, no one had a bad word to say about Diana…except Lucy.
That was five years ago.
Now, Diana is dead, a suicide note found near her body claiming that she longer wanted to live because of the cancer wreaking havoc inside her body. But the autopsy finds no cancer. It does find traces of poison, and evidence of suffocation.
Who could possibly want Diana dead? Why was her will changed at the eleventh hour to disinherit both of her children, and their spouses? And what does it mean that Lucy isn’t exactly sad she’s gone?

This definitely has a twist you wouldn’t see coming, a laid back mystery novel.

Absolutely loved! Quick, fast-paced chapters with concise, captivating writing made this one a stand-out for me. Domestic drama at its best. Would highly recommend.

Such a great book. I loved the suspense of the book and I loved the different characters. I think anyone who has a mother-in law can relate somewhat to this book. I love my mother-in law but there are times where she gets a little too much. I loved all of the twists and turns in the book and never saw parts of it coming. This was a fun read for me and I hope that others will enjoy it as well. I typically get confused when books switch between past and present, however I thought the author did a great job at guiding the reader as to whether they were in the past of one character or the present of another character. Thank you so much for this book. I thoroughly enjoyed it!

This was a really solid domestic mystery/thriller! It definitely went in a completely different direction that I thought it was going to, and that made my reading experience all the more interesting/enjoyable.

I really enjoyed the dual perspective as well as he time jumps throughout. I thought it was the ideal way to tell this story. The charaacters were also very interesting and they kept me guessing until the last few pages. I look forward to checking out more of Sally Hepworth’s works in the future!!

Lucy was so excited to meet Diana, the mother of her boyfriend, Ollie. Lucy's mother died when she was a teen and she hoped for a good relationship with her hopeful mother-in-law. But Lucy and Diana don't get off to an easy start--Diana has a rigid set of views formed by her own life experiences. From simply co-existing to arguing about parenting to eventual fisticuffs, their relationship is volatile. Then, one night, Lucy and Ollie hear a knock on their door. The police arrive and tell them that Diana is dead in an apparent suicide. But as the investigation progresses, it looks as if there is more to the story. Everyone in the family has history with Diana; but did someone actually kill her?

"'Then I'm very sorry to inform you,' the policewoman starts, and I close my eyes because I already know what she is going to say. My mother-in-law is dead."

This was my first Sally Hepworth novel, and I have heard good things, so I was excited to read some of her work. I found it to be a fast read, with a set of engaging characters. The book alternates between Lucy and Diana's point of view, with much of the story being told in the past. I found the format to be very effective; it worked very well at drawing you into the story and keeping you guessing at what was going on. Many parts of the story were told twice, in some ways, as both women told their side of the story, yet it never felt repetitive.

The main characters in this one are Lucy and Diana, but we have strong appearances from Ollie, his sister Antoinette "Nettie, " and Tom, Diana's husband. I can see why people enjoy Hepworth's novels--I felt very much a part of the story, and I was certainly stumped along the way. Sometimes there was a little too much rumination about mother-in-laws and the meaning of families for my taste, but oh well. I was too eager to find out what had happened to Diana.

"More importantly, you don't choose your mother-in-law. The cackling mercenaries of fate determine it all."

Overall, I really enjoyed my first Hepworth book. It was a quick, engaging, and interesting read that kept my interest.

Like many other women, Lucy yearns for a close relationship close with her mother-in-law, Diana, who seems to keep her at a distance. Try as she might, Lucy never quite break through the walls Diana has built up and instead, suffers through many an awkward birthday party, family dinners, even the birth of her children proves to be fraught with complications. It's no secret that the two women aren't the best of friends but Lucy would never stoop to murder, would she? When Diana is found dead in an unclear case of "is it homicide or suicide?" everyone's eyes turns to her.

I think this book has a great release date and I fully expect it to be the beach read of the summer, given how easy and entertaining it was to flip through. The problem is, I feel like I've seen this plot of women not getting along with their mother-in-laws. Case in point: "The Other Woman" just came out last year. Unfortunately, I don't think this book brought anything new to the table and was rather light on suspense. What I enjoyed was the alternating viewpoints between Lucy and Diana, helping me understand the two women and the dynamics of their relationship as it evolved.

Many thanks to St. Martin's Press and NetGalley for the opportunity read this book ahead of its scheduled April 23rd, 2019 release date.

I read The Mother-In-Law by Sally Hepworth for a Bookstagram buddy read. Some people recommended it to me, and I decided that I would give it a try, even though I’m generally not a big fan of thrillers or dramas. The beginning, however, was incredibly suspenseful and pulled me right into the story. Lucy’s mother-in-law, Diana, is murdered or has committed suicide and the rest of the book focuses on all the events, past and present, leading up to this death and eventually explain what exactly happened.

I had to get used to the writing style a lot. I can’t really put my finger on it, but it was just hard to follow for me and I had a difficult time distinguishing thoughts from actual spoken language. It did get better as I got used to it, though. A friend of mine referred to is as Australian suburban, and since I’m not very familiar with that, it would explain why I was struggling a bit. There were, however, also plenty of spelling and grammatical mistakes throughout, which didn’t make it much easier on me. It was an ARC, though, so I’m willing to turn a blind eye for now.

For me, the most interesting part of the book was the relationship between mother-in-law and daughter-in-law: Diana and Lucy. The way it evolves throughout the book is very captivating. At the end I was quite sure that Lucy was not Diana’s murderer, which turned out to be true. They actually ended up having much more in common than I had ever thought possible. Even though their relationship was always rocky, there were just these little things that crept in that proved it was never that bad. For instance, the way they referred to men as “menfolk” in some part of the book really cracked me up. It was like they were discussing a whole different species.

Overall, I enjoyed the book and I’m glad that I picked it up. If you’re ever looking for a change of genre and feel like reading a thriller/ family drama, I would certainly recommend The Mother-in-Law.

Wow, this is my first book by the author. I was completely blown away and found myself guessing until the very end.

The story is told in alternate viewpoints from the daughter-in-law and mother-in-law from last to present. The book was easy to follow and I enjoyed until the very end,

Thank you Netgalley for the ARC in exchange for an honest review.

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/39863405

I greatly enjoyed this novel. It was an engrossing and suspensful read. The characters were realistic and empathetic. The plot was good enough to keep me reading for hours. The mystery of Diana’s death kept me wondering what happened to her. Was it suicide or murder? Lucy, who tried so hard to make Diana like her, finally got her wish toward the end of the novel. Ms. Hepworth brought Diana’s character to life even to a greater extent than she did Lucy. Diana appeared to be one of those perfect women that did everything correctly, had endless energy for pursuing her charity, was a very young-looking 53 year old and, to top everything else off, was wealthy. Years later, when she & Lucy begin to get along, Diana becomes a more human version of her earlier self. She becomes likeable to the reader then suddenly she dies.
The ending was a big surprise and shock. I really didn’t see it coming.
For those readers who enjoy psychological drama, mystery, and women’s fiction, this novel is definitely worth the read.
Thank you, NetGalley & MacMillan for the opportunity to read & review this novel.

What an absolutely captivating novel! Mother-in-Law beautifully navigates the complex relationship between a woman and her Mother-in-Law.

Diana Goodwin is the classic family matriarch. She’s the picture of strength, poise and unyielding resolve. Lucy is kind, loving and desperately wants to be accepted by her future Mother-in-Law. She has always dreamed of having a mother-in-law she could be close to and would care for her in turn. What she got however, was a cold woman who appears to loath her. Lucy’s devastated.

From the day they meet, to Lucy’s marriage to Ollie, her first child, death of Diana’s husband and following depression culminating in Diana’s suspected suicide; the reader bears witness to all that Lucy and Diana are. How they feel, their perceptions of each other, and often times misunderstandings.

There was something lovely and raw about Lucy and Diana’s rocky 10 year journey. At the core, Diana is a cold, strong vulnerable woman who can’t communicate her feelings. Lucy’s empathy, openness and quiet acceptance of those around her lend a strength of its own. The juxtaposition between these two women was perfect and lent honesty to the story. It made those moments of true understanding more believable.

Then there’s the rest of the family. Ollie, the ever-friendly son, and Diana’s daughter Nettie who is obsessed with being a mother. All of whom, like Lucy, have a strained relationship with their often cold and apparently uncaring mother. Readers get to see into their psyches as well, illustrating a family dynamic full of struggle, heartbreak, hate and love.

The death and resulting mystery was interesting and full of twists. I truly enjoyed it but I felt at the heart of this novel is the need for acceptance, understanding and how precarious family can be.

Hepworth’s writing was excellent with smooth transitions between characters both past and present. However, I felt the story dragged a bit. But that’s just me. If you’re a lover of mystery thriller’s and family drama this one’s for you!

Wow! I loved the twists and turns. My stomach was in knots and this book had such a great ending. I truly enjoyed this book and will definitely be recommending it!

I ended this book I tears. What I thought was going to be a book about battling mothers-in-law turned out to be so much more! Sally Hepworth has a gift for creating characters and plots that keep the pages turning. I read this one in a little over two days because I couldn’t stop.

I like that this book flipped between past and present, and between Lucy and Diana. It was interesting to hear an event from Lucy’s perspective, then hear it from Diana’s. It’s a perfect example of how our intentions aren’t always shown, and that we should always say what we’re thinking, because you never know when it could be too late.

Part murder mystery, part family dynamics, The Mother in Law is not one to be missed!

Thank you to St. Martins Press for an advance copy of this book. All thoughts are my own.

I finally read my first Sally Hepworth book and absolutely loved it! Can we all agree that the subject of mothers-in-law make great books?!

This was such a quick read and kept me turning the pages dying to know what was going on. Hepworth wrote a fantastic domestic thriller centered on family secrets. I love this type of book! It was mysterious and the perfect amount of twisted but wasn’t scary.

I really enjoyed that the chapters rotate between the past and present. That has become one of my favorite formats. It’s such a fun and interesting way to find out how the stories come together.

I sided with the daughter-in-law and then found myself having sympathy for the mother-in-law. It was a lot of back and forth of emotions. Hepworth did such a fantastic job showing the reader the different sides of each character.

I highly recommend you pick up The Mother-in-Law as soon as it is available! I cannot wait to read more of Sally Hepworth’s books. She is clearly a very talented author.

It was an interesting book. I felt it was somewhat "draggy" in areas but all in all good. Somewhat surprised on the ending.....not who I thought it would be.

Told from alternating points of view, and in the past and present tense, the story of the Goodwin family unfolds as they learn of the death of their matriarch, the keeper of the money and the secrets, Diana. This novel explores the truth behind the rocky relationship between Diana and her daughter in law, Lucy, and how things within a family are not always what they seem. Full of twists and turns you might not see coming, The Mother In Law will keep you guessing the entire way through!