Dark, dark, dark, dark and UNSETTLING! Wowzers, I feel a little traumatized after reading! This story carries a sinister vibe from beginning to end, darkly claustrophobic and atmospheric. Grace, a new home owner, loses her job during the Covid quarantine. Her newly widowed mother moves in to help pay the bills. Their relationship is complicated as Grace still carries baggage from her early years and her mom, Jackie, can’t help being her critical, judgmental, and snoopy self. When Grace starts experiencing insomnia and nightmares about her sister who died young, she begins to spiral to a very disturbing place. Thank you Netgalley, Thomas and Mercer and the author for this eARC in exchange for my honest review. This book will be available for purchase on March 15, 2023.

My first Zoje Stage and mixed feelings all the way...

The Story:

Grace has just bought a new home. Unfortunately, she lost her job due to the lockdown. When her mother, Jackie offers to move in with her, Grace is unsettled but grateful for the monetary help her mother will provide.
As soon as Jackie moves in, she starts changing things in Grace's home. She evokes memories of Grace's twin sister, Hope.
As they pass through an infection scare and subsequent quarantine, Grace starts spiralling. And when Jackie accuses her of a terrible crime, Grace cannot believe what's true and what's false.
With frequent nightmares and paranoia, Grace proceeds towards an ending that may be disastrous to both her and her mother.

What I Liked:

1. It was an absolute trainwreck of a book. I couldn't put it down at all. Finished it in a day and a half.

2. The characters are well-etched. One of the thrillers that concentrates on the characters.

3. Grace's descent into madness was so well-written, it was as if I was there.

What I Disliked:

1. The writing was...chaotic. It was more like a stream of consciousness narrative and made me crazy.

2. Grace. She came across as immature and prone to temper tantrums like a child.

3. The ending. I didn't understand it? Especially the epilogue?

Final Thoughts:

I've heard mixed reviews about Baby Teeth but wanted to read it anyway. When I saw this book on Netgalley, I couldn't resist.
This book is good for a one-time quick read. It will grab your attention and keep you awake at night too.

Thanks to Netgalley and Thomas&Mercer for the ARC.

3 stars.

This was a strange book and my first one from Zoje Stage.

It was claustrophobic given that it takes place during the pandemic where a mother and daughter and stuck with each other in a house with nothing else to do but deal with each other and their pasts. But I have to say that it was not my kind of book.

It's filled with scenes where you don't know if something is really happening or not and the whole book seems to be a vague mishmash of events. I only kept reading because I wanted to find out what happens in the end.

Not for me but thanks to Netgalley and Thomas & Mercer for the uncorrected e-copy. I appreciate it as always!

Had such a hard time connecting to the dream sequences. Very disorienting but maybe that’s the point!

I was super excited to receive an early copy of Mothered. Zoje Stage's Baby Teeth was one of the creepiest books I've read.. literally gave me goosebumps and made my skin crawl. While Mothered had a creepy feel about it, I couldn't quite get into the book. I definitely think it was a me thing though. One of my least favorite things in books are dream sequences.. and boy did this book rely heavily on dreams. I don't know what it is about them but my brain doesn't process the story well, I miss the connection to the plot. I spent most of the time reading Mothered confused as to what is real and not real. Also by the end I'm still not 100% sure I understood the novel. I do think this would make a great book for a book club pick.. I feel like I could use a support system to process the story. Zoje Stage's writing style is fantastic. The book was intriguing. The backdrop of a pandemic felt authentic to the story. I think fans of horror stories and the dark psychological thriller books will find enjoyment in Mothered. For me it was okay.

Thank you to netgalley and the publisher for an opportunity to read and review honestly an advanced digital copy.

Grace isn’t exactly thrilled when her newly widowed mother, Jackie, asks to move in with her. They’ve never had a great relationship, and Grace likes her space—especially now that she’s stuck at home during a pandemic. Then again, she needs help with the mortgage after losing her job. And maybe it’ll be a chance for them to bond—or at least give each other a hand.

This book is twisty but a really slow burn. It was a little hard to get into as the story took me some time to sort out. It came together but had lost my attention by then to really appreciate a Zoje novel. The dream factor, is it real or is it a dream just didn't work for me. Hoping that I will love the next one more, I have faith that we will receive a brand new twisty and thrilling read soon!

Thank you Netgalley and Thomas & Mercer for the opportunity to read and review this ARC.

Mothered was definitely twisted. A different kind of dark and crazy read. The pandemic twist was something I didn’t think I’d like but I did. Zoje Stage definitely knows how to weave the crazy tales!

Grace isn't thrilled with idea of her estranged mother, Jackie, moving in with her but the recent loss of her job and poor job prospects due the Covid pandemic lock downs and Jackie's inability to continue living on her own due to health problems leave Grace with little option. Initially it looks as though Grace and Jackie are going to find a common ground with cohabitation, however, when Grace starts to experience nightmares, primarily involving her sister, Hope, Grace realizes there are still unresolved issues. Hope was Grace's twin sister who was born with Cerebral Palsy and wheelchair bound and died as a teenager. As Jackie was a single working mother, Grace was often left with a lot of the caregiving responsibilities for Hope and often blamed for Hope's conniving ways. What's the cause for these lifelike nightmares and what accusations will abound from Grace and Jackie?

Mothered is my first book by Zoje Stage but won't be my last!! Stage is a great story teller with an ability to build characters with depth while staging an intriguing yet horrifying story!! The book's opening scene builds such suspense that you can't wait to get to the end to find out what really happened inside Grace's home!! The nightmares did get redundant after awhile but for the most part, added to story as a whole. Otherwise, I really enjoyed this story and found myself not wanting to put it down!

Thank you Netgalley and Thomas and Mercer for this e-ARC in exchange for an honest review.

You know when you wake up in the middle of the night, and you still think you’re dreaming? Everything kind of goes in and out of focus, but you sort of know you were sleeping and now you’re awake? That’s what this book is like. lol
You don’t know what’s real and what isn’t. I tried to keep up, but seriously had no clue. Grace is the ultimate unreliable protagonist. But then again, her mother is a nut job too. The two of them, stuck together in the same house under quarantine, was damn hostile.
I wish this book had been a little longer. Maybe with more of Grace in the after Covid. She is a pretty complex character and really needs more diving into.

This book blew my mind! I eagerly devoured it in one sitting. The fallout from the pandemic is something everyone can relate to, and the author captured this perfectly adding a supernatural twist. The entire time I was reading I couldn’t definitively decide on the mental state of the main character Grace, and I loved it! It was creepy, claustrophobic, atmospheric, and by the end my mind was twisted into a gymnastic position. Grace is learning to navigate life after the pandemic when her elderly mother asks to move in with her. The two have had a strained, tumultuous relationship and Grace immediately regrets her decision when she says yes to her mother's request. She decides to look at the glass half full and hopes that their relationship will be different. Things take a drastic turn after her mother Jackie moves in. Jackie is critical, passive aggressive, and judgmental. Grace also begins having disturbing dreams about her deceased twin sister Hope who suffered from Cerebral Palsy. As Grace’s dreams intensify, she begins to question reality. After a disturbing accusation from her mother sends her off the deep end, an act of revenge changes Grace’s life forever. Now mother and daughter are quarantined together pitting them against each other once and for all. Who will be the victor and who will be the victim? Who can really be trusted? You'll have to read this to find out!

Those expecting the usual horror novel here will be largely disappointed. On the whole, there's nothing supernatural here, not even lurking in the margins: no ghosts, no ghouls, no monsters of any sort (outside of the nightmare of a certain virus, and the monsters that lurk in the shadows of your memory). At best, this could be seen as a claustrophobic or paranoid thriller. What this book is, however, is a really excellently done examination of at the anxieties of the 2020 quarantine. Perhaps better than any novel I've read, this captures all of those uneasy moments that were so common during that period: the restlessly, the cabin fever, the anger of having to spend your every waking hours with the same person, day after day,week after week, month after month. It's about watching a friend go on intubation, not knowing if they'll ever get out; it's about watching your career go up in smoke as your bank account slowly drains; it's about wondering where your next bit of food will come from, as Amazon delivery windows grow even as the selection at the grocery store falls. It's about having to grow into a new lifestyle. Add to this the lingering presence of a dark moments from your past, coming up like bubbles from water, all told with the lyrical, but relatable, prose of Zoje Stage, and you get a very solid little thriller, that may spin its wheels a tad too much, and may not be the horror book I wanted, but captured the feelings of the quarantine better that just about anything I've come across.

Thanks to Netgalley and Thomas & Mercer for the chance to read this one early! Be sure to check it out when it hit shelves March 1st!

Mothered is my second read by Zoje Stage, and one of my most anticipated books of 2023. I loved Baby Teeth and all of its despicable characters, and Stage with back with more unlikable characters.
We meet Grace, new homeowner and jobless hair dresser, during a pandemic lockdown. Her recently widowed mother, requests to move in with her, and why not? She can help with the mortgage and provide some companionship. This turns out to be a terrible idea.
Stage nails the claustrophic, anxiety riddled atmosphere of the pandemic lockdowns - I really enjoyed this aspect of the book, and I think it is something that everyone can relate to. Stage then adds a very strained, toxic mother - daughter relationship, and the events in this book go off the rails! There is so much unreliability that I had absolutely no idea whether to believe Grace or her mother's perspective. For much of the novel, I felt it was very thriller-esque until the end, where I found the solid influence of horror.
I've already recommended this book to a few people, and I need to read Stage's novels that I have overlooked.
Thank you to Netgalley and Thomas and Mercer for an ARC in exchange for review.

EXCERPT: Given how the evening was progressing, Grace was starting to think he was taking advantage of the situation. He hadn't even asked what medications "Miss Jacquelyn" was on when she requested a teensy refill and he splashed more wine into her glass. It was a fraction of what he and Grace had consumed - she had a cheap shiraz on hand that they dived into after finishing Miguel's much better merlot - but, his conversational efforts were revealing a mischievous undertone: she got the feeling he was plying her mom with alcohol.
His questions played into Jackie's worst social tendency to spin a funny tale - often at someone else's expense to make herself look witty. Miguel made it almost too easy, focusing on Grace's awkward elementary school years; he asked what sorts of hobbies she'd had, if she'd sung in the choir or played any sports. The less drunk part of her thought that he was probably hoping to hear Jackie boast about Grace's early talents, and maybe he was ready with supportive retorts, "She always loved a good karaoke night!", or "So that's how she learned to crush her opponents!" (Miguel believed she was too competitive when it came to board games.) He might also have been digging for more details about Hope.
'Can we do something else now?' Grace asked, lifeless. The school assembly memory was all the more bitter for being one of the few times her mother had been in attendance. Grace had been so excited, so nervous.
Miguel blew her a kiss and she read in his expression This will be over soon, which made her feel a smidge better. Maybe this was good, give Miguel a hearty dose of Brassy Mommy - which was a better match to Grace's descriptions than the Jolly Chef or Carefree Hostess he'd witnessed for most of the evening. Maybe Jackie hadn't really changed as much as it sometimes seemed. Her stresses were different now and her culinary skills improved, but perhaps underneath she was still the poisonous viper from Grace's youth, waiting to lash out.

ABOUT 'MOTHERED': Grace isn’t exactly thrilled when her newly widowed mother, Jackie, asks to move in with her. They’ve never had a great relationship, and Grace likes her space—especially now that she’s stuck at home during a pandemic. Then again, she needs help with the mortgage after losing her job. And maybe it’ll be a chance for them to bond—or at least give each other a hand.

But living with Mother isn’t for everyone. Good intentions turn bad soon after Jackie moves in. Old wounds fester; new ones open. Grace starts having nightmares about her disabled twin sister, who died when they were kids. And Jackie discovers that Grace secretly catfishes people online—a hobby Jackie thinks is unforgivable.

When Jackie makes an earth-shattering accusation against her, Grace sees it as an act of revenge, and it sends her spiraling into a sleep-deprived madness. As the walls close in, the ghosts of Grace’s past collide with a new but familiar threat: Mom.

MY THOUGHTS: Yesterday, upon the stair, I met a man who wasn't there. He wasn't there again today ; When I came home last night at three. The man was waiting there for me.
- William Hughes Mearns

Reading Mothered by Zoje Stage is a similar experience.

The author herself described Mothered as 'batshit crazy'. I have to agree. I have no idea how to describe what I have just read, other than to say that neither Grace nor I knew what the hell was going on. Good luck Silas!

I loved parts of it. I hated parts of it. Overall I fall somewhere in the middle.

⭐⭐.5

#Mothered #NetGalley

I: @zoje.stage_author @amazonpublishing

T: @zooshka @AmazonPub

#contemporaryfiction #familydrama #friendship #mentalhealth #mystery

THE AUTHOR: Zoje Stage lives in Pittsburgh with her cats.

DISCLOSURE: Thank you to Thomas & Mercer via Netgalley for providing a digital ARC of Mothered by Zoje Stage for review. All opinions expressed in this review are entirely my own personal opinions.

For an explanation of my rating system please refer to my Goodreads.com profile page or the about page on sandysbookaday.wordpress.com

This review is also published on Twitter, Amazon, Instagram and my webpage

Thank you NetGalley and Thomas & Mercer for an advanced copy in exchange for my honest review. This one releases 3/1/2023!

I love Zoje Stage and her books. Unfortunately, this one was not it. It centered largely on the pandemic, which I’m not a fan of in books. Grace was an unreliable narrator and this felt all over the place. I kept chugging through in hopes that the ending would be worth it and it wasn’t. The ending fell flat and I feel like it pained me to get through it.

This book was eerie, suspenseful and truly unputdownable! I devoured it and loved every second. Highly recommend, 5 stars!!

Thank you NetGalley for providing me with an eARC of this book.

I absolutely love Zoje Stage's writing style. I have loved everything that I have read from her, and this is no exception. Typically, I would be turned off by a pandemic thriller, but in this case it really worked. I think we probably could have gotten the same story without covid being such a big part of it, but it was fine. I really enjoyed how disoriented this book made me feel. By the end I didn't know what was real and what wasn't. I do know that I did not like this lady's mother. I couldn't imagine sharing a house with her. I would have loved to learn even more about Grace's childhood and what happened between her and her sister. I honestly was having such a good time reading this that the ending kind of snuck up on me. I wanted to just keep reading more about these characters. I am slightly confused about the very very end (last page) and not really sure what was actually happening there. This book was super disturbing. I loved that it centered on mother/daughter relationships as well as sister/sister relationships. It was just overall a really fun time.

When an author describes her own book as “batshit crazy”, you know you are in for a wild ride. In this pandemic-era novel, Grace has just lost her job as a hair stylist and her financial situation is looking a little precarious. When her estranged mother Jackie asks to move in, Grace wishes she didn’t have to say yes, but she needs Jackie’s income to help pay the mortgage on her new house.

I think we all remember what the early days of the pandemic felt like – tense, isolated, anxious. Now imagine spending those days cooped up with a manipulative mother with whom you share a lot of emotional baggage and things start to feel truly claustrophobic. Grace starts having horrific, vivid dreams and losing chunks of time. These dream sequences are where the author’s talent for horror really shines – Grace’s dreams are grotesque and feel terrifying real. The first couple of dreams I was like OMG what is happening here?! Unfortunately, this novel over-relies on this device, making me unsure what was real and what was Grace’s imagination. I’m guessing that’s what the author was going for, but it felt redundant after a while and kind of lost its shock value, as a lot of the most nightmarish events were just that.

While I loved the unsettled, creeped-out feeling this book gave me (reminiscent of Gillian Flynn’s Sharp Objects), ultimately I was frustrated by unanswered questions and loose threads left dangling. I’m also going to need someone to explain that epilogue to me!

Many thanks to NetGalley and Thomas & Mercer for providing me an advance copy of this book.

Thank you to NetGalley and Thomas & Mercer for this ARC. I requested Mothered after seeing it was by the same author that wrote Baby Teeth, a book I really enjoyed. I had high hopes for this one and was a bit let down.

I feel that the plot for this story was twisty and I did like how it went back and forth from present to the past, although sometimes it was confusing. I think Mothered started off strong, but more than halfway through I felt it became repetitive and I didn’t enjoy how much Covid was the center of the story. I didn’t know this going into it and I probably wouldn’t have read if I knew that before.

The ending felt rushed, but I wasn’t completely against it. This was a slow burn thriller featuring fever dreams that feel real! I enjoyed the writing for this and I would read more by Zoje.

This was too confusing and disjointed for me. I was extremely disappointed as I enjoyed Baby Teeth very much.

Thanks to #netgalley for the ARC in exchange for a fair and honest review.I loved Babyteeth and was very excited to get a copy of this book to read. Whilst I liked it, I didn't love it and I can't really pinpoint why.
When Grace finally purchases her first home it comes right as the pandemic is set into motion. Thrilled to finally be a homeowner she is then let go from her hairdressing job when her boss lets her know she is closing the doors for good. Now she's panicking on how she is going to make her mortgage payments when her mom, Jackie, gives her an idea. Why doesn't she move in with Grace? Now that her second husband has passed away and left her some money she would be able to help pay the bills relieving some of Grace's stress. Told in 2 timelines, we go back to the past when Grace was a child left to care for her twin sister, Hope, who had cerebral palsy while Jackie worked to support them as a single mother. Hope has a dark side though and liked to torment Grace. Meanwhile Jackie doted on Hope and made sure Grace knew who her favorite daughter was.
Now mother and daughter are quarantined together pitting them against each other once and for all. I enjoyed the dark side of Hope, but the dream sequences were a little annoying, in that Grace would be reliving something that had happened revealing Hope's dark side etc and then we would find out it was a dream and it maybe didn't happen, I found this to be a little confusing for me also,
there were some really creepy parts that were unnerving in the best way. It just isn't one of those books that stayed with me once I was finished with it. Maybe I was expecting another Baby Teeth and this one just didn't hit the mark for me. #zojestage #mothered #netgalley #tea_sipping_bookworm #goodreads #litsy #thestorygraph #amazonaustralia #kindle #thriller