This was not what I expected when I first read an excerpt at BookishFirst.

I have been on a thriller streak lately, so I was excited to read this book based on the first few chapters. The book is about a woman named Claire, her daughter Abby and a woman named Jillian.

Claire is a reporter and author and has lost her only child, Colton, to a genetic disease. Claire and her husband Ethan's marriage is strained and Ethan convinces Claire to try for another baby. They meet up with a renowned fertility expert, Dr. Nash and his assistant Jillian. Claire has heard through an online support group that Dr. Nash has been secretly isolating the diseased genes and transplanting eggs into a healthy mitochondrial sac, thereby helping parents who are carriers for a genetic disorder have a healthy baby. The technology is not yet tested on humans, as the altering of human genes is illegal.

Claire secretly goes behind Ethan's back and convinces Dr. Nash to allow her to be a test subject. When Claire gets pregnant, and Ethan finds out the truth, that Claire and Jillian both contributed to the baby Claire is carrying, he is angry and kicks her out. Claire is on her own.

This book goes back and forward in time, through the time of the pregnancy and IVF treatments and to the present, with Claire raising her daughter Abby. This has romance, suspense, and some intrigue as well. I would recommend this book.

Thanks to #NetGalley for an advanced copy of this book in exchange for my honest opinion.

Although this book’s premise is a little out of the box for me, it didn’t matter one bit! It’s so well-written that I was quite intrigued about the fictional scientific aspect of a child having 3 parents. I found this book to be a great thriller overall!

There are great twists in the end, making this one fast and fun read!

Thank you to NetGalley, Kira Peikoff and Crooked Lane Books!

This book gave me all the feels. It was not the same old type of story you see in psychological thrillers so I loved that about this. 3 people are genetically the girls parents and only one goes to prison for the illegal science experiment so when she gets out of prison ten years later of course she wants revenge and the daughter that is partially hers. What a wild ride. I definitely recommend. Thanks NetGalley.

Claire lost her son to a genetic disorder. Now her husband wants to try for another child but Claire cannot imagine bringing another child into the world only to have them suffer the same genetic disorder. She finds a potential solution but it means challenging science in a way that is against many people’s thinking, including her husband’s.

This is a very intriguing story. It is about the potential human impacts to the characters because of the experiment but is more of a psychological thriller and throws in a crazy character who is driven to serve her own interests. I enjoyed the book but felt it left a few items unfinished. The book is an excellent thriller and you will stay up late reading it!

3.0-3.5 Stars

To what lengths would you go to prevent a potentially deadly condition from being passed down to your future child?

Claire Abrams has experienced the worst kind of loss when her only son Colton died due to a mitochondrial mutation. As mitochondrial DNA is only passed down from mother to child, Claire has to live with the knowledge that she is to blame for her son's short life. When her husband mentions he wants to try getting pregnant again, Claire goes behind his back and continues taking birth control pills...that is until she discovers Dr. Robert Nash.

Nash is a renowned fertility doctor, known by many for his advanced research into embryonic gene modification. Specifically, he and a trusty, young scientist, Jillian have developed an ex-vivo (outside the uterus) method to creating a baby made from 3 parents. The third "parent" only giving mitochondrial DNA, thereby removing the risk of Claire passing down the genes that ultimately killed Colton. Little did Claire know, the baby Dr. Nash implanted inside of her has the mitochondrial DNA from his lab assistant, Jillian.
Overall, I think Kira Peikoff wrote a compelling psychological thriller. She deftly weaves the past with present day (10 years after the birth of Abby, the "lab baby"), giving just enough information to keep the story moving. She made me consider in what circumstances "playing God" may be justified, if given the opportunity. However, without giving anything away, I think Abby is the reason why my rating isn't 4 stars. For being only 10 years old, her ability to uncover and understand complex DNA sequencing is a bit....unrealistic.

Thank you NetGalley and Penguin Random House for the ARC of this book!

This book started off really strong and was well on its way to getting a 4 or 5 star rating from me. But from the halfway point onward it went downhill pretty quickly and never got better. I think that this had a really interesting premise and I greatly enjoyed the general plot but I found the mental health representation in this to be very poorly done and that left a bad taste in my mouth about the book as a whole. Also the synopsis basically gives the entire plot, there really weren't any big twists so while this was a bit suspenseful at times, it doesn't feel like a thriller to me.

You're desperate for a child after your son dies due to a genetic defect in mitochondrial DNA. What lengths would you go through and what would you endure to get a healthy baby? Claire is willing to do anything...

Claire finally talks her husband, Ethan, into IVF under the treatment of Dr. Robert Nash, a fertility specialist with one of the highest success rates. She, however, doesn't tell her husband about the secret agreement she enters into with Nash and his assistant and lover, Dr. Jillian Hendricks. The upshot: they obtain an egg from Claire, use Jillian's mitochondria along with the healthy nucleus from Claire, and fertilize it, reimplant it, and VOILA. Claire gets pregnant. The only problem is that genetic engineering is illegal and is banned in the USA. When Claire tells Ethan about having the procedure, he reports Nash and Hendricks, kicks Claire out, and she goes on the run -- to Nash. Eleven years later, Claire, Nash and the child, Abby, are living under false names. Guess who shows up to reclaim the daughter she feels is partly hers -- yes, Jillian. NO SPOILERS.

The science is real and written to be easily understood but believe me when I say that you will have to suspend a lot of disbelief with regard to the domestic drama in this book. It was a very fast read and a medical thriller is one of my favorite types of novels. My issue was that I didn't really care for the narrative style using 3 points of view. I also found the characters really hard to like and root for. In fact, I really didn't want the totally predicable ending I got, but c'est la vie. The stereotypical portrayal of good and evil is just too pat and the behavior exhibited by all of these unlikeable people put me off. As far as the topic of whether or not genetic manipulation is moral or ethical, I'll leave you to make your own conclusions. This subject would make for a lively book group discussion.

I've read all of this author's books because I like the genre and the science part but I've always come away with a disappointed feeling that I can't help but think is due to the wrap up and the way that I'm never sure that the characters got what they deserved. The crazy part of me always sort of roots for the one who is portrayed as not have any redeeming qualities when, in fact, there are usually some mitigating circumstances (or people) that conspired to bring them to that point. So, yes, I do think one of them got very short shrift. But, it's not my book and I'll leave that there.

Will I read another by this author? Yes. I can separate myself from some of the plot points and enjoy the science and I do love delving into those moral and ethical quandaries and questions.

Thank you to NetGalley and Crooked Lane Books for this e-book ARC to read and review. I can't wait to read more reviews and reactions to this novel.

This was a very entertaining thriller! I found the end to be a little unrealistic and too neat, so enjoyed the first 2/3 much better. Still a fun page turner.

Wow! I've just finished this book and couldn't put it down. It was fast paced moving quickly between character's and time settings making "I'll just finish this chapter and put it down" very difficult. It will definitely leave you questioning what you thought you knew what right and wrong with the biggest question that faces all parents, how far would you go to have a healthy child? This is the first book I have read by Kira Peikoff but it won't be the last.

This was a very solid sci-fi, domestic thriller. Told in 4 perspectives, Mother Knows Best is about what happens when scientific curiosity and ability is exceeded by vanity and greed. Claire's life is thrown into upheaval after she agrees to participate in an illegal, but innovative, gene-manipulation insemination. Her goal is an honest one: give birth to a child who doesn't inherit her fatal mitochondrial disease; the results, however, are farther reaching than she imagined.

I like that the story was told by past Claire, present Claire, her daughter, and one of the scientists. Each character's motives were justified to the reader by the respective narrator.

The subject matter is definitely on trend, and I wouldn't be surprised to learn that this entire was a real case.

Review#58 MOTHER KNOWS BEST by Kira Peikoff and reviewing for Netgalley..
What could possibly go wrong when artificial insemination is done using three parents? Fast paced and an excellent story. I will be following this author! ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐Five stars!#Netgalley

A fabulous, fast-paced thriller that kept me flipping pages. The science and research entwined into the story was perfect and made the twists even more thrilling and fun. I loved the characters, even the "unlikeable ones". Fantastic ending! Highly recommended. I will be reading this author again!

Thank you to crooked lane books and Netgalley for the opportunity to read this book. I am struggling for the right words to put into words how much I loved this book. Kira Peikoff hit it out of the park with this one. It was a twisty, turns thriller that kept me on my toes while making me think about bioethics and genetic engineering. Highly recommend and I am going to add her other books to my to-read list as soon as I can.

I have rather mixed feelings about this one. It is certainly a fast-paced read - though life intervened, I can easily imagine sitting down and reading this in just one sitting. But, despite its page-turning qualities, varied voices, I just never found a character that I really connected with. The plot takes some turns and relies on coincidental timing that crosses the line into the ludicrous. The genetic modifications described here to avoid congenital illness just don't seem very abhorrent to me... and the criminality seems like it's something that a lawful contract would be able to take into account some of the ramifications... The climatic ending fell a bit flat for me because it started to feel more like a plot ripped from Days of Our Lives... I didn't hate the book, and I certainly found it to be entertaining enough to finish, but it's not one that I think you should delve too deeply into afterwards because I am finding that the more I examine it, the less I liked it overall. The book is more like a medically inspired Fatal Attraction crossed with a soap opera. The characters never feel authentic and much like the villain, Claire to me didn't seem to be inspiring that much love (or even sympathy). But, if you are looking for a fast read, this does fit the bill.

Oh, this book was so good! It was so incredibly written! I had a really good time going on this adventure. Never a dull moment! Wrapped up everything so perfectly, didn't feel rushed. This one needs to be on everyone's tbr list!

Huge Thank You to NetGalley and Crooked Lane Books for this opportunity!!!

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.

This book got my attention right away and I immediately couldn’t wait to figure out what was going on. I love reading books that add some sort of scientific ideals to make the suspense stronger. This one deals with genetic modifications of embryos and I’m here for it! I think the characterization was great and the storyline was different enough to set it apart from other novels that might be comparable.

It did get a tad bit predictable in the middle, but I thought it was written well with a few surprises near the end.

This is a Sci-if thriller reminiscent of a Twilight Zone episode. A mother’s need for another child after her first child, Colton, passes away due to an inherited trait. Claire wants a second opportunity for a second chance to raise a child but does not want to run the risk of another child dying. She Pleads with a fertility doctor to try an experiment of adding a second woman’s genes (Jillian’s) with hers to have a baby. This story alternates point-of-view between Claire, Jillian, and Abigail, Claire’s second child. Keira Peikoff’s Book is fast paced as it explores the ethics of modifying reproductive science to have a perfect baby. It is a psychological thriller also as the book explores the effects of those involved. Many times while reading this book I could hear Rod Sterling in the back of mind saying “You have now entered....” Thank you NetGalley and Crooked Lane Books for an electronic ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review.

Very different type of book that I have ever read and I really enjoyed it! It will keep u on the edge of your seat. The title is perfect!

Thank you to @crookedlanebooks for this book, which was a really fast paced read and I devoured it in a single evening. I really enjoyed the multiple points of view and the current versus flashback narration. It was an easy read which liked even though I could perfectly guess the ending even before half way. I loved the writing style of this author. As this is about an infertility related situation, there is a bit more of scientific terminology explained but it did feel right in place to understand the concept of three parents for a child.

Yeah!! That’s the synopsis - a kid with three parents and what happens when they end up in this situation without totally understanding the consequences.

Overall a good psychological thriller!

The review is available in my blog and Instagram:

https://www.instagram.com/p/B2AO4TMgaod/
https://bookstahere.blogspot.com/2019/09/mother-knows-best-by-kira-peikoff-thank.html