When Jordan at St. Martin’s Publishing presented this book to me to read and review- I definitely ‘paused’’, thinking this could be an interesting topic, yet I definitely had reservations of concern. I didn’t want to create problems - add more to my already - sometimes challenging relationship with my mother in-law.
However - this book is so far off from anything in my life - I didn’t relate to any of it.

NOTES OF INTEREST.....about in-laws’ ......It’s a hot topic in the news today. Review of this book will follow at the end.
In the news recently- a psychologists stated the rise in couple’s coming to therapy for the sole purpose to deal with issues with their mother-in-law. Seems universally the most delicate relationships is when the son gets married. When a daughter gets married, they remain close with their mother regardless of how much the mother gets along with her husband.
The mother in-law and daughter in-law dynamic is the most fraught of in-law relationships. Son’s are made to feel guilty. Daughter-in-law‘s are made to feel not good enough - judged - and intruded on by lack of boundaries.
In laws can either help or hurt marriages.... being much more trickier and stressful for a daughter in-law than a son in-law.
But this book by Sally Hepworth, is not an advice manual.
But they ‘do’ have these type of books. A high rating such book is written by Susan Abel Lieberman Ph.D, called:
“The Mother-in Law’s Manual: Proven Strategies for Creating and Maintaining Healthy Relationships With Married Children”. There are excellent reviews on Amazon. The book is not only about being a better mother-in-law - NOT A SELF HELP MANUAL about ways to create a better relationship with their own adult children.
The reviews are inspiring. In most cases readers reported it was helpful, informative, and entertaining.

SO.....NOW THAT WE GOT THAT OUT OF THE WAY...THIS IS NOT THAT TYPE OF BOOK......let me share my thoughts about THIS BOOK. ( no spoilers)

Similar to “Big Little Lies”, by Liane Moriarty, this is not a mystery. We know the mother-in-law dies at the very beginning.
The setting also takes place in Milbourne, Australia....just as “Big Little Lies” did.

The title of this novel is very incidental IMO.. There are many side plots - many characters - ( very easy to remember all of them including every child) - with the mother-in-law’s story not standing out that much more than any other character - as everyone has a story. There are lies - secrets - judgements- resentments - told in present and past time alternating narration between Diana and Lucy.

Diana is the mother-in-law. Tom the father in-law.
Ollie is their son. Lucy is the new daughter in-law in the family. Ollie & Lucy have 3 young kids: Archie, Harriet, and Edie.
Nettie is Diane and Tom’s daughter - Patrick is their son- in-law. Nettie & Patrick have no kids.
A few more characters - (friends of Diana)...Cynthia and a few other women.
Diana runs a charity business - she brings maternity clothes and prams to pregnant women. One woman in particular she has gotten close with: Gheala and her two young children Aarash and his little sister Aziza. Gheala’s husband is from Kabul.
We meet some of Ollie’s friends too ( and business partner).

I promised no spoilers - ( easy to do). Truthfully I found the writing - the dialogue to be very ordinary. I was bored for at least the the first 60% of this book. It’s readable- but lacking creative conflicts between characters. The writing is very safe...very few juicy risks. My thinking is if you’re going to be bold enough to put a title on your book called “The Mother In Law”......( and bless the author’s heart for sharing that she has a wonderful relationship with her mother-in-Law at the start)- I think there needs to be some out-of-the-box outrageousness.

With so many stories about each character - I felt the book lacked a strong focus. There was wasted chatter of each child: from watching TV, eating snacks, tossing balls, climbing trees, playing with Tupperware lids, etc.
Add lots of talk about judging and evaluating the meals or housekeeping - and descriptions of basic clothing that people wear: leggings, a long cardigan, trainers, AND PAGES of grammatical typing errors on the Kindle download that I had —
guessing this will get corrected -domestic family life wasn’t particularly clever- or complicated or heartwarming or hilarious or earth shattering exciting.
It was ‘readable’.

3 Stars. Read other reviews. Its woman’s fiction. Sally Hepworth fans who enjoy easy reading quick page turning books should love this novel. I needed something meatier to wrap my brain around.

Thank You Netgalley, St. Martin’s Fiction, and Sally Hepworth

Thank you to NetGalley and to St. Martin's Press for sending me this Advanced Reader Copy. This book will be available for purchase on April 23rd, 2019, and I’m here to tell you that if you like mysteries, humor, rotating perspective, and you dislike your mother-in-law...this one’s for you. JUST KIDDING! You can absolutely adore your mother-in-law and still love this whodunnit.

Set in Australia, Diana Goodwin is your no nonsense, no drama mom who has worked for everything she has and takes nothing for granted. She’s not particularly known for her engaging or empathetic nature, which gives the police quite the job when she’s discovered dead in her home.

Whatever Diana lacked emotionally, her daughter-in-law Lucy has been personal witness to. She’s experienced firsthand the cold, dismissive demeanor of the dearly deceased and the Goodwin family dramatics. Married to Diana’s son, Ollie, Lucy is all too familiar with what it feels like to be on Diana’s bad side, and unfortunately for Lucy, the feeling has been mutual.

Caught up in a possible murder investigation, Lucy must rethink everything she’s assumed about her mother-in-law. As secrets are exposed, Lucy begins to question whether or not she ever truly knew Diana at all.

But Diana’s secrets won’t be the only ones to see the light of day...

Navigating their way through Diana’s death, her children, Ollie and Nettie, must put their faith in one another and try to mend the broken bridges of the past in order to move on and to find out what happened to Diana.
As I mentioned before, the book is narrated between two perspectives, Diana’s and Lucy’s. The story rotates between the present and the past, giving the reader their own front-row seat to the Goodwin family-technics, as I lovingly call them. Can you piece together what happened to Diana?

I found this book to be a lighthearted mystery. The characters are relatable, and, as the reader, you get both Lucy's and Diana’s perspectives, of which each is seriously misunderstanding of the other's—much as in real life, which makes this novel all the more accessible and profound.

Who hasn't had a negative thought about their mother-in-law? Who has never thought critically of their daughter-in-law? How many of us have wished we had taken that opportunity to say something nice, but instead remained silent? You don’t need to have a tumultuous relationship to understand the complexity of the mother-daughter-by-marriage dynamic.

All in all, I finished the book on a positive note, feeling satisfied with the ending, and discovering a newly found respect for my own MIL relationship. Hence the 4 out of 5 rating I’m giving this little gem.
Remember, ya’ll...you never know what someone else is going through. Act accordingly.

#The Mother-in-Law# NetGally#

This is one of Sally Hepworth’s best. A very thought invoking study of the relationship between a mother-in-law and daughter-in-law and their families. As everyone who has ever been married knows, we can all recognize the competitive nature of the MIL and the DIL. In this book, the reasons for discord are not clear in the first part of the book, but they are made clearer in the second half. I was not feeling the love for any of the characters at first, but grew to respect Lucy and Diana’s relationship. There is much misunderstanding about the relationships among all the characters. The book does bring up some controversial issues that are difficult to read. All in all, a very enjoyable book to read. Will definitely recommend this book to all my friends and family. 5 stars.
Thank you to NetGally and the publisher for an advance read copy in return for a fair and honest review.

The MOTHER-IN-LAW by Sally Hepworth is a suspenseful domestic thriller that kept me guessing right up until the surprising ending. It is a clever and original story that explores a lot of different family dynamics, but especially the complicated relationship between daughter-in-law, Lucy and her mother-in-law, Diana. It is written from the points of view of both characters and also alternates between the past and present. I really enjoyed how the author slowly revealed the complexity of the characters and their relationships to one another while building up the mystery of what might have happened to Diana. Filled with intrigue, secrets and plenty of family drama, I couldn’t put this book down. I highly recommend it! Thank you to the author, publisher and NetGalley for the chance to read an early copy.

Sally Hepworth, well done!

This book has many twists and turns up until the very last page. Throughout the novel, you think you have an idea of "who do it" but Hepworth does a great job of throwing in so many theories, it keeps you on your toes! I enjoyed each chapter being told from a different characters point of view. You were able to really connect with their past and present situations. This book has drama, love, and a thriller component, a very well rounded read!

This was the best book!! I could not put it down. I loved reading the layers of the different relationships between the characters. I fell in love with many characters. The mystery of Diane's death made the book a great page turner. I am going to start reading Hepworth's previous novels. I cant wait for my patrons to get a hold of this book!

If you're a mother in law, have a mother in law, or FEAR a MIL, this is for you! (JK, Most mother in laws ARE AMAZING, ) This is so well written and exciting, you won't know how things have twisted around and how bad the characters lives have gotten, until you catch your breath. Just the right amount of scary, family and mystery. Well written and fun to read. One of my top ten favorite's this year. Appreciate Netgalley giving me the chance to read this for my honest review.

I loved this book! HIGHLY recommend it. The Mother in Law by Sally Hepworth was really good and I’m excited for my fellow book lovers to read it. The chapters alternate between characters and you can see their points of view which made the death of Diana even more bizarre. The author did a fantastic job of creating sympathetic characters and a plot that kept me reading past my bedtime every night.

Synopsis:

From the moment Lucy met her husband’s mother, Diana, she was kept at arm’s length. Diana was exquisitely polite, and properly friendly, but Lucy knew that she was not what Diana envisioned. But who could fault Diana? She was a pillar of the community, an advocate for social justice who helped female refugees assimilate to their new country. Diana was happily married to Tom, and lived in wedded bliss for decades. Lucy wanted so much to please her new mother-in-law.

That was five years ago. Now, Diana has been found dead, a suicide note near her body. Diana claims that she no longer wanted to live because of a battle with cancer.

But the autopsy finds no cancer. The autopsy does find traces of poison and suffocation. Who could possibly want Diana dead? Why was her will changed at the eleventh hour to disinherit both of her adult children and their spouses?

With Lucy’s secrets getting deeper and her relationship with her mother-in-law growing more complex as the pages turn, this new novel from Sally Hepworth is sure to add to her growing legion of fans.



I know this one is going to be extremely popular! Due out April 2019.

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️— The Mother-In-Law by Sally Hepworth— Out April 23, 2019
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Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for a free advanced copy in exchange for a review!
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Lucy has a complicated relationship with her MIL. In fact everyone has a complicated relationship with Diana. The Diana ends up dead. And that cancer she said she had? Not real. Told in alternating views and time frames, Diana and Lucy’s stories show us this complicated relationship and how it could have ended up with someone being dead.
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So much yes! I read this book in two sittings. I loved the dynamics of each relationship in this book because it made me think of all the murder motives. Hepworth doesn’t do anything overly dramatic. She takes a plot of runs with it in the most perfect way. No outlandish twists. Everything is right in front of you, the question is if your guess is the right one. Which is why this was truly a ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ for me. So many suspense novels are beginning to drop in ridiculous plot lines. Not one plot line here was ridiculous! Loved this book!

Sally Hepworth brings to life an incredible family saga of greed and betrayal with The Mother-In-Law. This novel follows on the heels of The Family Next Door.

Diana is found dead. And she left a note.

The Mother-in-Law centers around Lucy's twisty relationship with her husband's mother Diana. Lucy has married Ollie, and into a wealthy family dominated by the matriarch.

"Were you close to your mother-in-law?" ........"It's complicated."

In the first chapter, Lucy is greeted at the door by the police. The somber news of Diana's passing is given. But because of some items found at the house, the death is being treated under suspicious circumstances. Diana has left her last note, tucked in the top drawer of her desk. But what potentially looks like suicide has become something more deceiving. Like all the relationships in this family. Diana, a stoic widow, is survived by her son Ollie and daughter Nettie with husband Patrick. And a sizeable estate. All could use a piece of the pie. But all eyes are on Lucy. After all, there was no warmth in Lucy and Diana's relationship and there was even shared a moment of violence.

The story unfolds in alternating voices, Lucy and Diana's in the past and present. When we first meet Lucy "past", we see a young woman trying to bond with her boyfriend's mother. As a bride, we see her trying to please her future mother-in-law. But the harder Lucy tries to be the exemplary future daughter and wife, the more obstinate Diana becomes. But there is more to Diana that meets the eye. She is a woman with a long history and a past not known to many. And as we grow to see the true Matriarch, the fractures in the children's relationship with Diana also start to show. As the "past" starts to merge with the "present" it becomes clear that nobody in the family really knows each other.

What a well-crafted story. And nothing you imagined.

One of my favorite aspects of reading a novel is the fluidity of the writing. Hepworth provides details and twists of the plot without muddling the atmosphere of the storyline. What sets this novel aside from other stories about in-laws is Hepworth giving depth to Diana's voice. We see Diana as an emotional statue in Lucy's chapters, but in Diana's "past", we see a young woman faced with many challenges she's often faced alone. Diana is complex and a paradox. She is ambivalent to her own family but extends a helping hand to an impoverished one. There is a hint of an unreliable narrator, as she twists ill-will into kindness. Diana's history is layered with sadness and triumph, solidifying her character. In Lucy's chapter, we see a mother and wife growing weary from trying to please her mother-in-law. And she starts to unravel. Each chapter leaves you with a feeling that compels you to read further. Towards an unforgettable ending.

The Mother-in-Law is a story of suspense but also of reflection. It makes you dig a little deeper into your own family relationships and dynamics. This novel definitely leaves you thinking well after the story has ended. I highly recommend this novel and I am excited to see what Hepworth's future work.

"And nothing makes us so lonely than our secrets."

Thank you NetGalley, St. Martin's press, and the author for the ARC in exchange for my honest review.

I was hooked on this book from the start. I could not put it down and stayed up way past my bedtime to get through as much as I could every night. The writing was incredible and I had no idea where this story was going- or who committed the murder. The flashbacks were such incredible insights into how you sometimes don't really know the whole story. The characters were strong and the pace was fast where it kept me wanting more.
This is a must-read for 2019! Another excellent read by Sally Hepworth- she is one I will continue to watch.
I wish to thank St. Martins’s Press, NetGalley and Sally Hepworth for this incredible ARC.- I highly recommend it!

I admit, I started reading this book not thinking I’d like it too much...the whole mother-in-law/daughter-in-law theme. Boy was I wrong! The story was well written, and really described how things left unsaid can be misconstrued. Highly recommend!

I just adore Sally Hepworth! This is another great novel that involves great family drama, but allows an underlining theme of loss, infertility, compassion and connection. This book was almost impossible to put down. Some parts had me laughing out loud, thinking of my own awkward family moments, while other parts of the novel had me in tears. This book was fantastic and I can't wait until everyone is able to read The Mother-in-Law, so we can talk about it!!

Thank you to NetGalley for an early copy of this book!

This is my first book by Sally Hepworth. I've been eyeing her books for awhile and happened to get an ARC from NetGalley. I love mystery/suspense so I decided to read this title before her others. The chapters alternate between past and present and from the POV of Lucy (the daughter in law) and Diana (the mother in law). Lucy and Diana's relationship has been complicated from the beginning. Diana has always been polite with Lucy, but very reserved and kept her distance. All Lucy wants is to have a close relationship with Diana, especially since she lost her own mother at 13. The mystery starts in the beginning. Diana is found dead. At first glance it appears to be a suicide, but as more details are revealed the suicide seems like a cover up. Who would want Diana dead? I loved the alternating chapters and seeing the events in the past and how they shaped the future. I definitely wanted to keep reading to see what really happened to Diana. I'm looking forward to reading more of Sally Hepworth's books.

I read this book in 24 hours and am sad that it’s now finished. It will definitely be one of my top ten books of 2018. With the title and description being what they were I assumed that I would hate the character of the mother-in-law. But Ms. Hepsworth did an amazing job of making all of the characters layered. I loved loved loved this! Only question that remained for me is how did the MIL end up so wealthy?

I love all of Sally Hepworth’s books. Surprises and great characters are everywhere. They flow clearly and are never easy to put down, even to get a bite to eat. She is a fabulous writer and satisfies me with every book I read of hers.

Loved, this was a page turner but not in the sense that it was a thriller. I never thought that the daughter in law had done it...

This book is written well, and I look forward to her next book!!

I found the book hard to put down for the first half both plot and characters held my interest then something shifted and I didn’t feel so compelled to find out what happens. Overall I loved that Sally Hepworth would take on the mother in law myth at this particular cultural
moment. fun read, not deep
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Really enjoyed this book. A great read exploring the complex relationship between mother-in-law and daughter-in-law. With a mysterious death thrown in, this book will keep you gripped to the end.

I received this book "The Mother In Law" from NetGalley and all opinions expressed are my own. What an awesome book! The words flowed smoothly and I liked the characters, yes, even Diana. I couldn't wait to read this book each day. Family drama, a bit of a thriller, a page turner for sure.