A well-written, & suspenseful page turner!
An excellent option as an audiobook. Jackson gives each character their own voice and dialect.

Both terrifying and thoughtful, this is the excellent kidnapping book I’d hoped “The Chain” would be. In fact, this is very best “missing child” book I’ve read all year. A standout in a crowded field.

I listened to the audiobook, which was narrated very compellingly by the author. It’s rare when an author can narrate a book as well as a professional actor, but sometimes when they can, they add so much more to the feeling of the story, because only they truly knew what they were trying to convey. This was a great narration.

The story told here is original and fantastic. I am not going to summarize it because I think this is a good one to go into totally blind. I did that and was surprised at every turn. I will say that if you’ve read and like “The Chain,” I think you’ll love this one even more. It is a much better story. Told with fully developed characters and a crackling plot, “Mother May I” asks some thought-provoking questions, has a fantastic, fully realized plot, and a wonderful main character.

I will also say that if you’re like me, there will be points of the book where you might feel disappointed, and ask yourself, “that’s all?” But keep reading. That’s NOT all.

This book is so well thought out, plotted, and executed. It’s not the fastest paced thriller on the market — in fact it has a somewhat surprising plot progression - but all of these things make it more unique and interesting. I had a couple of nitpicks about the way a certain sensitive aspect of the plot was portrayed, but I could see how it could be viewed that way through the eyes of a crucial character.

A really good, 4.5 star audiobook that you won’t want to put down. I really recommend the audio for this one - I think the narration added a lot to the experience.

Many thanks to Harper Collins, NetGalley, and the talented author/narrator for the advance copy. I think this book will be on my mind gfor r awhile.

I was hooked from the beginning with this one! The suspense was so high and I just had to know what was going to happen. The ending to me though was somewhat of a let down. I was expecting a bigger twist or something that would make me go “omg”!


Thank you NetGalley, William Morrow and Harper Audio for the free audiobook in exchange for an honest review.

A mother's worst nightmare on multiple levels. This one definatly kept me on the edge of my seat and I could not stop reading until it was finished.

In the beginning as much as I wanted to criticize Brie's decisions I also could imagine as a mother that in that situation I would make whatever decision I thought would save my child.

Thank you to NetGalley and Harper Audio for an advanced audiobook for review.

This book had me hooked and interested from the beginning all the way till the end! This is one of the best thrillers I’ve had the chance to check out this year so far! Bree Cabbat has everything every women aspires to have - three wonderful children, a successful husband, a beautiful home, and every opportunity at her hands! One morning she is woken up by a little old woman dressed in black looking at her through her bedroom window. She thinks she is seeing something until later that day she sees the women again just minutes before her son vanishes. She finds a note left where her son was telling her to drive home and to not call the police and instructions will follow! The women who has taken her baby calls Bree once she reaches home and gives her a task she must complete to get her baby back. Once she completes the task, her life just doesn’t snap of a finger go back to normal. Her life starts to unravel and become a big mess of lies and secrets. Bree gets thrown on a path where she must do whatever it takes to protect her family, at all costs...
•
This was such a good audiobook! It was interesting, the characters were well developed/likable, and the story line kept you wanting more! I highly recommend checking this thriller out when it hits the stores in April! Thank you NetGalley and Harper Audio for my Advanced Readers copy of this Audiobook!

3 stars. I love Joshilyn Jackson, but this one fell a little flat for me. I listened to the audio version, which could be what impacts my opinion. i will likely give this another shot, but with the written version. Special thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for the free ARC in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own.

Mother May I gave me chills. I'm not a mother and don't plan on being one but just the idea of someone kidnapping your child is a bit terrifying. It must be an horrible experience and in this book, we follow Bree as she's thrown into that situation. She saw an old woman watching her and her baby and when the woman calls her with instructions, Bree knows she would do anything to get him back. Including not telling the police or even giving some drugs to her husband's friend, Spencer. The big question here is why? Why would she kidnap her child? What's her motive?

Overall, this was a really interesting read (even if a bit predictable)! I really liked following the main characters (Bree and her friend who will help her and is also in love with her) as they tried to figure out the truth behind it all and get her child back. The audiobook kept my attention from the beginning and I think the author narrated it which is a nice touch.

<i>(Thank you for letting me read and review an ARC via Netgalley)

I’m 10 pages in and my heart wis already in my throat! Jackson will have another around the world refusing to put this one down after a young mother’s infant is take while she is just feet away.

Written in three parts this book will haunt your thought and dreams long after you’ve read the final pages. The quick pace, race against the clock plot keeps readers on their toes and questioning every move until..... boom! Part three comes in with a disappointing climax and pretty little bow to tie it all up.

Maybe I’m just to dark and twisted from all the wonderful hells Gillian Flynn and Ruth Ware have drug me through but this ending just killed it for me.

I truly loved the first two thirds of Mother May I and I will still recommend it to many of my Rose glasses friends 😜

⭐️⭐️⭐️✨ 3.5 stars for this gripping page turner with an unforgivably pleasant wrap up.

This is quite the story of what a mother will do to save her son. Bree's son is kidnapped from under her nose and she is given instructions on how to get him back. While trying to save her son, her husband past comes up and she must unravel the history in order to save her son. I loved Bree! She was everything you would expect from a mom. Every time I thought I had figured out where the story was going, I was wrong. There were twists, turns and surprises. I did not love the narrator on this audio. It made it hard for me to get into the book at first. I only listened a chapter or so at a time at the beginning. As the story picked up the pace, I got more used to it, but I think I would have enjoyed a print copy more and I will definately be recommending it!

What a great book! I've been in a reading rut lately and this book brought me out of it! Not only was this book filled with twists to keep you guessing, it also reminded me of the mystery/suspense books that I fell in love with many moons ago. I wouldn't be surprised if this book became a movie or an episode of law and order SVU in the future. Can't wait to see what new stories Joshilyn Jackson will bring. Thank you netgalley for an advanced copy. This was an unbiased review from a teacher that just loves books:)

WOW! Thank you to William Morrow & Harper Audio for my advanced audiobook copy of Mother May I by Joshilyn Jackson. Coming April 6th, this is a domestic thriller that you should absolutely put on pre-order!

What's it about?
Bree Cabbatt grew up poor in rural Georgia, eventually marrying a wealthy lawyer and having two talented teenage daughters, a newborn baby boy, a beautiful home and a seemingly perfect life. That is, until she spots a witch looking into her bedroom window. She thinks her eyes are playing tricks on her until she sees the witch again, and then her baby son vanishes just feet from her. The witch, another mother, asks Bree to complete a small task to get her son back - Following all instructions exactly. Why would she do this? What does she want? When Bree's single action given by the woman spirals into something much, much more, it becomes a question of what will Bree do to protect her family.

Read this if:
-You like dark novels.
-You enjoy alternating POVs.
-You enjoy suspense that builds into a thriller.

My thoughts:
I absolutely love that this audiobook was narrated by Joshilyn Jackson herself. It’s great to hear the voices and personalities that the author assigns to the characters when creating them in her mind. Her emotions absolutely shone through from beginning to end, bringing each character to life. This was my first full audiobook and I’m SO glad that it was. I would look for any 5-10 minute period to continue listening. Just under 13 hours of listening, the story didn’t feel dragged on at all. The pacing was great, starting more suspenseful and building into a true domestic thriller.

One thing to keep in mind that I wasn’t expecting at the start - This is a dark novel with heavy subject matter. I don’t want to give anything away by listing the TWs, though. I read some reviews that did before I finished, so I had an idea of where the story was going before I actually got there.

I’ve read Joshilyn Jackson’s books, and I’ve been a fan of everything she’s written so far! I also love that she narrates her own audio, so I was thrilled to get an ALC from NetGalley and Harper Audio.

Mother May I is told through dual perspectives. Bree and Marshall. Bree Cabbat’s life is full of all the things she dreamed growing up poor in rural Georgia--handsome husband, two teen girls and their “bumper” baby brother. Her life is full of power, privilege and plenty of opportunity. Marshall is her husband’s colleague and the widower of her late best friend.

When Bree swears she wakes up one morning to see a witch peering in her bedroom window, she can’t shake the eerie feeling that seeps into her soul. She spots the old woman again near her daughters’ school, right before her sleeping infant son is taken.

A note left in her son’s place says to tell no one and stick to the plan to follow. Next, Bree makes contact with the woman--herself a mother--and agrees to perform one seemingly simple task in exchange for her son’s safe return. That task quickly spirals into a deadly crime, and the secrets unlocked threaten to tear apart Bree’s whole world. Ex-cop Marshall steps in to help, and he and Bree are set on a twisted path to find out why this woman is intent on hurting Bree.

While I liked this book overall, I didn’t love it. I felt like it was a tad too long. Everytime I felt like we were about to wrap things up, the story continued. As a mom, the plot was gut wrenching and basically a nightmare brought to life. Bree’s determination to do anything she could to protect her family resonated, and I really appreciated her perspective on the things from her husband’s past at the end of the book.

I’ve always been a fan of Joshilyn narrating her audiobooks, but I almost felt like this would have benefitted from dual narration. I like dual POVs, and I really enjoy when they have separate narrators.

Joshilyn Jackson will continue to be an auto-read author for me. I’d recommend this book, with plenty of content warnings, for fans of suspense. 3.5 stars rounded up.

What would you do to save your child? How well do you know your spouse? These are all questions Bree is faced with in this fast paced, entertaining suspense novel. I would highly recommend the audio book. Joshilyn Jackson does an excellent job narrating. It is one of those audio books you'll make up chores for just so you can keep listening.

What a wild ride!

Thank you Netgalley and Harper Audio for an advanced reader copy of this thriller.

When I read a description broadly like I did this one- I can be quick to put it in a category of "not for me" or "I have read this one before." A woman's child goes missing and family secrets are reveled. "Meh" I thought. BOY WAS I WRONG.

Bree was born into a poor family, living in the countryside of Georgia. Shopping at Goodwill and showcasing a strong southern twang, she was raised not knowing how the upper crust lived. That is until she met and married a wealthy lawyer, Trey and started her family. Now her days revolve around tending to her twin daughters drama classes and private school and keeping their new baby, Robert happy. Her perfect life changes quickly when a mysterious old woman appears and suddenly her baby is missing.

I don't want to ruin it with any more detail. I highly recommend going into this as cold as possible.

I ate this audiobook with a big fat spoon and was so impressed by Joshilyn Jackson's narration and writing. I was on the edge of my seat at times and found myself chewing on my fingernails in anticipation when I was supposed to be cooking my family dinner or folding laundry. This isn't like anything I have ever read in this genre and I will be cataloging it right where it belongs: THRILLER.

An unconventional thriller that kept on challenging me to put it down...and I couldn't!

In Mother May I, Joshilyn Jackson has created a very niche thriller. The intended audience is a little hard to pin down - is she writing this for new mothers? For families of victims? For victims of marital infidelity? Maybe for all of the above?

Another mysterious element of the book is the title and the cover, which don't really seem to have much to do with the plot at all, except for the fact that there are mothers involved in the story. There were also several logical leaps and some suspension of disbelief required by the plot.

And yet, in spite of all of these things, I couldn't put it down! Some of the things that bugged me the most ended up teaching the lessons contained in the far-from-perfect plot. And the very personal aspect of the mother-child relationship kept me engaged to the end.

The author is also the narrator, and while she is not the best author/narrator I've read, she's also far from the worst. And again, it actually added to the personal nature that kept the book intriguing.

All in all, you could do far worse than spending some time with Mother May I and Joshilyn Jackson. I look forward to checking out more of the author's work.

Bree Cabbat. The mom life everyone dreams of, finds her youngest child and only son has vanished. As a mother of young ones, this book had my head and heart running a million miles a minute. I was throughly enjoying all of the chase of the thriller, following along, feeling all the feels, then the book hit all the action and just kind of wrapped up really fast. I thought it was a great story line about the world of motherhood thru different eyes and different walks of life, but I needed more to the ending I felt. Thank you Netgally for an early audiobook release

Audiobook provided by NetGalley and Harper Audio in exchange for an honest review.

This is my first Joshilyn Jackson novel, and I was a little hesitant when I saw that the author reads her own audiobook. However, it was unwarranted because Jackson does a phenomenal job and this audiobook was a pleasure to listen to.

It took me a bit to get into the story, but once I was, I found it hard to put down. I HAD to know what happened. After the big plot point was wrapped up I found it hard to think how there could possibly be 2hrs left in the book, but Jackson wasn’t done with readers yet. The end was a hell of a ride!

I also appreciate that Jackson dedicates pages to the social commentary of “boys will be boys” and “girls asked for it” and how as a society, we need to do better.

MOTHER MAY I is a great thriller that had twists to it I didn’t see coming. It may have been my first Jackson novel, but it won’t be my last.

And COME ON she thanks librarians and booksellers in her acknowledgments, how could I not be a fan of hers after that?

3.5 stars I'm torn on this one. I really liked so many parts of it but I think some parts just came together too easy and the ribbon was tied in a nice little bow. Just seemed like towards the end everything was too convenient. Also, I loved the baby kidnapping, the chase to find him, the mystery of where he was in the shelter. I was confused how big of a role Kelly came to be st the end and how it tied back with bree's husband. It was just okay for me but I did have fun, I did enjoy myself and I would recommend this author.

The concept for this book is fantastic. It will get you engaged quickly, invested, and then...you fall off a cliff. I loved how the stories and characters intertwined and the breadcrumbing throughout the book. What I didn't like was that rose-colored ending. Too perfect, to clean after a book that was so gritty and heavy - murder, abduction, rape.

And while I typically love when the author is also the narrator, I think she missed the mark with Bree. I felt that her narration lacked that unpolished voice I thought Bree should have. The author does a wonderful job of developing characters but then does nothing with them, like the young attorney being harassed at the gala. There is this huge build-up about her becoming a partner - and then nothing... Or the letter from Cora, what did it say?!

Overall, I liked it but wish it had kept that feverish energy until the end.

#MotherMayI #NetGalley

Thanks to netgalley for this Arc in exchange for my honest review.

This is my first book by this author so I can’t speak to her other work, but this was heavy. There are some trigger warnings of rape, murder, kidnapping.

That being said, it was an interesting thriller. There was definitely a bunch that could have been left out that would not have altered the story in any way, but I know some people prefer lots of extraneous details. I am just not one of them.

Bree doesn’t want to be like her mother, who is scared of everything and taught her that the world and everyone in it was out to do bad things. Bree grew up poor and managed to get scholarships to go to college, where she met a guy who came from money and was going places with his life and they fell in love and had the perfect life. Until one day, while Bree was at their daughter’s school, their infant son gets kidnapped and she is given instructions on how to get him back, which includes not telling her husband. However, her best friends husband figured out that something was up and helps her try to get her son back. They think it’s a business deal gone wrong, until the kidnapper makes them aware of some things that happened in college that links her husband and his frat buddies to her family. They’ve got to sift through the clues and the evidence in order to get to her son in time
The pacing was good, even if it was a little long and the ending wraps up with a pretty little bow, which again I am probably in the minority in not being a fan. The audiobook was enjoyable though and I liked the old lady’s voice.