This was an interesting and unique premise but to me, the last half of the book seemed to lose its way. The thriller aspect just didn't seem to be there and the unique aspects of the story got lost as well. It was a good enough read, just not quite what I expected and not "fantastic thriller"

What happens when a mother is desperate to protect her child and will do anything to reach her goal, even if it means to neglect any moral and ethical issues that may arise during her journey to have a healthy and “happy” child? “Mother Knows Best” not only answers this question but also brings up many different issues in today’s society, especially in the world of science, more exact, in the genetic engineering branch of science. Well-written and captivating domestic thriller, with interesting yet a little annoying characters. I did enjoy the first half of the book more than the second half, but overall it was a fast and entertaining read.

Thank you NetGalley, Crooked Lane Books, and the author for providing me with an ARC copy of this book in exchange for my honest opinion,

A decent thriller. I'm not super keen on the recent craze of "psychological plots with completely unlikeable characters," but this one was bearable for large parts. I thought the scientific plotline was very interesting, and it really does present an argument that's difficult to resolve: if it's possible to modify someone's DNA to make sure they don't/can't inherit terminal illnesses, is that wrong? Compelling arguments on both sides, in my opinion. I didn't like the fact that Jillian and Claire were so competetive and at odds with each other for no other reason than a guy. The female versus female trope, especially when there's really no good reason for them not to get along or at least be civil to one another, is tiring and overplayed. The story was well-told, and I appreciated Abby's chapters, although I did find her voice to be a little annoying at times. Overall, an okay read.

Synopsis (edited):⁣
Claire Abrams’s dreams became a nightmare when she passed on a genetic mutation that killed her little boy. Now she wants a second chance to be a mother, and finds it in Dr. Robert Nash. Claire, Robert, and Jillian (Robert’s protégée) work together to create the world’s first baby with three genetic parents—an unprecedented feat that could eliminate inherited disease, but is also extremely illegal and ethically questionable. When word of their illegal experiment leaks Robert and Claire escape and start a new life together, leaving Jillian to serve out a prison sentence and plot her revenge. ⁣
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📖 👨‍⚕️ 👩‍⚕️ ⁣
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This is a fast-paced read that draws you in quickly. I don’t read a lot of medical thrillers, but I found Peikoff’s writing engaging and approachable. ⁣
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The book makes you question the moral, medical and ethical boundaries surrounding reproduction and tackles the complex question of “designer babies,” something that is becoming more and more relevant in today’s world.

Claire is a well-written character and her grief and the motivations behind her actions come across on the page. I thought the alternating POVs really added to the book and I enjoyed reading each of the women’s perspectives. I did struggle believing that Abby was a 10/11 year old- she came across as a teenager to me. ⁣
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Final thoughts 🤔 ⁣
It’s fun and bingeable read that takes a predictable plot line, adds in an interesting concept and makes you think about the morals and ethics around genetic engineering. Worth a read ! ⁣
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Thank you to #netgalley ,#crookedlane and #kirapeikoff for an advanced copy in exchange for an honest review and for including me in the Blog Tour ! ⁣

Overall, I found this book to be an enjoyable read. I liked the mystery and tension of the first half and thought the second half tied it together nicely. It has one of my favorite tropes: unreliable narrator. Is she going crazy? Was she seeing things the whole time?

While there were times where the characters did not act like normal people would in a situation, it gets a pass for being entertaining. It wasn't a very heavy-handed thriller/mystery, but it has enough thriller/mystery elements that if you like that genre, you might enjoy this one.

Thank you so much to Crooked Lane Books and NetGalley for providing me with a free copy of this book for my review.

This was another thriller that for me, held promise and sounded good but unfortunately fell a little flat. The storyline is what really gripped me in the beginning as I’ve never read anything like it before but to me, certain things seemed a little far fetched.

As for the plot twist, I felt like there really wasn’t one. Or at least to me there wasn’t. When crazy things started going down I wasn’t gasping in disbelief and I wasn’t speed reading to find out what was going to happen next.

This was a very fast read for me but I feel like I skimmed over areas of it and I really don’t feel that I lost out on anything by doing that. I’m giving it 3 stars mainly because the storyline was very creative and captured my attention and I did enjoy the characters but it didn’t give me the thrills I wanted.

This book was absolutely amazing. I read the blurb but didn't have a full expectation of what I was going to get myself into. This absolutely is worth a read if you love suspense novels. The book goes back and forth between the past and present, which normally I am not a huge fan of, but it was absolutely necessary and executed perfectly.

Her son died from a genetic mutation that was passed on to him from his mother, Claire.

Ten years later, she has a daughter ... free of any genetic mutation. How was this possible? It's a secret ... a secret that could put Claire, her doctor Robert Nash, and his assistant Jill at great risk. They have discovered how to eliminate inherited diseases ... but anything they do is entirely illegal.

When word of their illegal experiment leaks to the wrong person, Robert escapes into hiding with the now-pregnant Claire, leaving Jillian to serve out a prison sentence that destroys her future.

But Jill is now free .. and she wants her daughter ... and the doctor.

This is a complex journey into what could happen in our own future. The question is ... just because we can.. does it mean we should?. For every leap into the unknown, there are consequences ... and Claire, Robert and Jill are going to discover just how dangerous those consequences can be.

Well written, part science fiction, part crime thriller, this one is guaranteed to keep the reader glued to each and every page from the very first page to the very last. The story is told in alternating viewpoints and the pace never once slows down. The characters are somewhat credible ... but some of the story doesn't quite reach that level. An interesting and entertaining read nonetheless.

Many thanks to the author / Crooked Lane Books / Netgalley for the digital copy of this thriller. Read and reviewed voluntarily, opinions expressed here are unbiased and entirely my own.

3.5 ⭐️‘s
Claire Abrams has recently lost her son to Mitochondrial Disease. When her husband, Ethan, wants another child she drags her feet afraid to go through that pain and devastation again. When she hears about Dr. Nash and his controversial genetic testing, she takes matters into her own hands and has the first genetically modified human being. A baby not with the usual 2, but with 3 parents. The premise of this book was quite good and the story moved along swiftly, but as it progressed
it became quite convoluted and lost its original appeal, making the first half of the book much more intriguing than the second. The psychological suspense was overdone in my opinion and it ended much too neatly.

Mother Knows Best is a dramatic new thriller from the mind of Kira Keikoff. Here we have all of the thriller elements we know and love, mashed up into a plot full of genetic engineering, drama, and science.
Claire Abrams has always wanted to be a mother. And for a brief time, she even was. But thanks to a genetic mutation running through her cells, her son didn’t get the long life she hoped for him. Now, Claire has the chance to make sure that her future children won’t face the same fate.
But it’s going to require an illegal experiment in order to make it work. Claire is willing to take the risk. And so are the two scientists she’s found. But when things go south, it isn’t Claire who’s left to foot the bill for the risks taken.
That was ten years ago. Ten years of Claire living, constantly looking over her shoulder. Waiting for Jillian to come back into her family’s life. Ten years of waiting. Or dreading.

“In this numb state, I am severed from time and space. I find myself tumbling back years, to the last time we saw each other.”

Warnings: The description alone should give away most of the warnings for this novel. Mother Knows Best covers subjects such as genetic mutations (which range from benign to fatal), child illness and death, genetic engineering, as well as kidnapping and endangerment.

Mother Knows Best is a dramatic thriller, full of family dynamics, genetic engineering, and revenge. It’s not a combination you see every day, and that is what makes this novel stand out so well. The unique concept is supported by extensive character development, turning it into an entirely different tale along the way.
There were a lot of reasons why I wanted to get my hands on this book. For one thing, the cover is striking. That’s what first brought my attention to it. Then there was the unique plot. I’ve never read anything that blended this branch of science (and politics, really) with a thriller element.
I’m not going to deny the part that really drew me into this novel; the focus of having a daughter with three parents. It seemed like the perfect twist to throw into this sort of novel. And admittedly, this plot point started feeling less and less relevant as the novel carried on. But I don’t think that’s automatically a bad thing – it just went in a different direction than I expected.
I loved the focus on all of the characters, their backstories, their motives, the works. It made for a complex tale, having so many people acting in their best interests. Having that one common theme to tie them back together helped of course.
So while Mother Knows Best didn’t end up being quite the novel I expected, I still greatly enjoyed reading it. And it was a quick read too – I got through it in a day. So there was no waiting to find out what happened next for me! I loved that bit.

As gene research and CRISPR gene editing become more common, it may soon be possible to use doctored embryos to create “designer” children. That science, amped up on steroids, is the subject of Mother Knows Best.

Claire and Ethan watch their eight-year-old son die from a rare inherited disease. Claire is a carrier of a bad gene. It is 100% likely that her children will get the disease, though some may be asymptomatic like her. Ethan wants another child regardless of the risk. Claire finds an answer at a mothers’ support group. Using that innovative but illegal option, without telling Ethan, starts off a chain reaction involving family, deception, and prison.

Mother Knows Best starts out as a fast-paced science thriller. I loved the beginning. However, once the science was explained, I quickly lost interest as the typical crazy stalker plot played itself out. Also, Abby is literally the most annoying teenager in a fifth grader’s body ever. I had to grit my teeth through each of her scenes. Why didn’t she just believe her parents? Although this thriller wasn’t my favorite, it is well-written so 3 stars.

Thanks to Crooked Lane Books and NetGalley for a copy in exchange for my honest review.

Claire Abram’s saw her worst nightmare come true when she learned that she had passed along a genetic mutation to her son. Colton was able to fight the disease for a few years, but eventually lost his battle. Claire wants nothing more than to be a mother again, but the risk of endangering another child is too high. Things change the day she learns of Robert Nash, a fertility doctor working in secret with scientist, Jillian Hendricks to develop a way to eliminate the part of the mother’s genetic material that passes long this inherited disease.

Claire, Robert, and Jillian join forces to create the world’s first baby with three genetic parents. Word gets out about their illegal experiment and Claire is forced into hiding. Now pregnant, Claire must rely on Robert for everything as they both risk the future to bring baby Abby into the world. Meanwhile, Jillian stands alone to face the charges of their crime. After ten years, Jillian has finally planned her revenge on Claire and Robert. Past and present will collide and she hunts for those who did her wrong.

MOTHER KNOWS BEST is a fantastic psychological thriller that hones in on a unique premise. There are plenty of books in the crime fiction genre that choose to focus around family interactions, but Claire’s situation starts off as a moral dilemma. Would you choose to bring a second child into the world if you knew that the potential for them to inherit a life-threatening disease was massive? If you heard that there was a way to eliminate this issue, but it crossed an ethical boundary, would you give it a try? By placing the reader into Claire’s mind from the first few pages, Peikoff forms a strong bond between one of the main characters and the reader. This bond drives the reader to binge read sections of this book anticipating what might happen next.

Peikoff smartly uses alternating narratives between Claire, Jillian, and Abby. The narratives for Claire and Jillian span both past and present, while Abby’s sections are devoted to showing the impact of the actions of these women. Each viewpoint is strong and dripping with passion as the three characters navigate the story and work towards the ultimate breaking point. The chapters are short and action-packed with a high potential to end on a cliffhanger, which propels the reader to continue reading.

This book seems to have readers divided on whether or not they love the book. I think for many the need to suspend reality and embrace the medical scenario surrounding this story won’t work for every reader. You have to walk into this book with an open mind and be willing to buy into the plot. There’s also a predictability factor to this book, which could deter readers from falling in love. Did I find some parts predictable? Yes, but I thought Peikoff did a great job of navigating a well-traveled storyline. There are only so many directions to take a psychological thriller of this nature and what you need to succeed is good writing, which is exactly what Peikoff provides. Everything was smooth, captivating, and intriguing. At the end of the day I fully enjoyed binge reading this book!

Disclosure: A huge thank you to Crooked Lane Books for sending me a free copy of this book in exchange for my honest review.

Oh that pesky genetic testing to find out your ancestry! Claire lost a child to a rare genetic disorder and after dealing with the grief, sought out Robert Nash and Jillian Hendicks who were working on a new IVF technique which showed promise for families with similar problems. Miracle of miracles- Claire became pregnant with Abby but there was a problem. Abby had the DNA of three parents. Hmm. Told by Claire, Abby, and Jillian, who goes to jail for her role in the experimentation, this is a tale that sometimes gets a little implausible but is always page turning. You'll find Claire and her husband Ethan sympathetic but wonder about Robert, who flees with Claire to avoid prosecution. You'll also experience the ups and downs faced by Jillian. Thanks to Netgalley for the ARC of this well plotted and written novel. It's a cautionary story about so many things.

WOW! Not sure what I expected from this book but what I got was WOW!! It was a thrilling, scary, emotional read. A little sci-fi (which isn't my thing) but more thriller (which is). Just when you think you know what's going on there's a twist and you're confused again. It's a little mind-boggling to know that this could actually happen and probably will but fascinating at the same time. Very well written and it keeps you riveted.
I received a free copy of this book from Netgalley and the publisher and voluntarily chose to review it.

Mother Knows Best is an inventive and creative psychological thriller. It is difficult not to empathize with Claire and her reasons for wanting assistance in securing a healthy child that won't suffer with the genetic abnormalities that she can pass on. After already watching her son die from the effects of a mitochondrial disorder, Claire doesn't want to risk putting another child through that fate. This drives her to seek out the assistance of a fertility doctor who is making advances on the cutting edge of science and has had luck in a procedure which could potentially aid Claire with her goal. There are a few catches with this plan. This type of experimentation is illegal and Claire's husband, Ethan, is a bioethics expert who will never approve.

Claire proceeds with the experiment under the guise of standard invitro fertilization. She works with Dr. Nash and his assistant, Jillian to create an embryo free of her mitochondrial defect which will be implanted. She plans to never tell Ethan and just let him think that they were fortunate. Naturally, nothing works out as planned and this is where Claire has to make even harder decisions.

I enjoyed the fact that the author blended futuristic science with a psychological thriller. It gave it a very different flavor. The only thing that bothered my about the story was that the daughter, Abby, felt older than her age of ten. In my opinion, her behavior would have been more typical of a teenager. Other than that, I found the book to be unique and quite enjoyable.

My thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for this ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Really enjoyed it! Different from other books that I have read. It will keep you on the edge of your seat. The title is perfect too!

Summary from Goodreads:

"Claire Abrams’s dreams became a nightmare when she passed on a genetic mutation that killed her little boy. Now she wants a second chance to be a mother, and finds it in Robert Nash, a maverick fertility doctor who works under the radar with Jillian Hendricks, a cunning young scientist bent on making her mark—and seducing her boss.

Claire, Robert, and Jillian work together to create the world’s first baby with three genetic parents—an unprecedented feat that could eliminate inherited disease. But when word of their illegal experiment leaks to the wrong person, Robert escapes into hiding with the now-pregnant Claire, leaving Jillian to serve out a prison sentence that destroys her future.

Ten years later, a spunky girl named Abigail begins to understand that all is not right with the reclusive man and woman she knows as her parents. But the family’s problems are only beginning. Jillian, hardened by a decade of jealousy and loss, has returned—and nothing will stop her from reuniting with the man and daughter who should have been hers. Past, present—and future converge in a mesmerizing psychological thriller from acclaimed bestselling author Kira Peikoff."

My Thoughts:

What an interesting and compelling read! I breezed through the pages of this book in a matter of two short days because I just couldn't stop reading. I will say that this isn't a long book which is another reason why it was such a bingeable read for me (not sure if that's a word but it should be). What I really liked about this book though was that the author took what is a controversial issue and made me see both sides of it. This book shows firsthand the heartache that Claire has dealt with after losing her son and the fear that having another baby with the same genetic issues causes her. You feel for her and want for her to have that chance of a healthy child. There's also that question present of if science is going too far and where is the line in the sand type of thing throughout the book. I fully admit that I don't know enough about the subject to have strong opinions one way or the other which meant that I just found the story compelling. For me, I cared about the characters and what was going to happen to them. This is billed as a thriller from the above description, and it is a thrilling read in the fact that you can't put it down. But really for me this was more of a suspenseful book where I just wanted everything to be okay and turn out for the best for everyone. I'm not sure if I'm explaining that really well to be honest. I just don't want readers to go in expecting this psychological thriller when for me at least it was different then that. More maybe then what you usually get with thrillers. It was thrilling though and oh so hard to put down! I'm hesitant to say much more than that because I don't want to spoil anything for readers. I'm looking forward to seeing what others think about this one for sure!

Overall, I enjoyed my time with this book and am eager to read more by this author. The subject matter of this book really made it stand out for me as it is so different from my usual reads. This is my first book by this author but it certainly won't be my last! I would recommend this book to readers to fans of suspense and thrillers as well.

Bottom Line: One of those books that I just couldn't set down until the very end!

Disclosure: I received a copy of this book thanks to the publisher and Meryl Moss Media. Honest thoughts are my own.

Mother Knows Best is based on a thought-provoking premise. The idea of genetic modification is controversial at best, and Kira Peikoff does a good job of showing both sides of the issue with these characters. Whether or not I agree with Claire's decision, as a parent, I can certainly understand it. While the science may be a big part of the beginning of this story, it does move past that and the rest is where the thriller comes in. Here's where I tell you that this one is completely predictable. There are twists, but they weren't surprising. Not even a little bit. That said, I still enjoyed the read. Now, that did surprise me because I normally wouldn't have much good to say about such a predictable story. This one turned out to be the exception. The story is fast-paced, and even though I figured out what was going on before it was revealed, I liked the building tension, and the characters were certainly interesting - maybe not likable, but interesting. Predictable or not, Peikoff has written a compulsive story that kept the pages turning.

DNF @ 30%

Unfortunately, this book and I did not mesh.

I am sure so many more will love it, but it was not for me

Thank you Netgalley for providing me this ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Mother Knows Best is a psychological thriller that sends chills down my spine. There is so much character dynamic and a very unique plot line. The entire concept of the book was absolutely mind-blowing and so interesting to read about. The book keeps you on the edge as you delve deeper into the story. The plot twist is such a gem. If you're a lover of psychological thrillers, this is the book for you!