I went into this book with the preconceived notion that it would be like Baby Teeth. It was not. I loved Baby Teeth but I liked this one. Zoje Stage is a great author whom gives us a great deal of build up. Mothered took some time to build up and a lot of back history was given, bringing us to today. We learned a lot about Grace’s deceased twin sister, Hope. We also learned about her strained relationship with her mother, Jackie. The rocky relationship with her mother began as a young child and it is still strained today. They have a lot of resentment toward each other and it stems from how close Jackie was to her daughter Hope until Hope died. She was not necessarily as nice to Grace as she should have been while Grace was growing up.

During the Covid-19 Pandemic, Jackie moves in with Grace. Grace is apprehensive due to their tumultuous relationship but she finally concedes and allows Jackie to move in. From the beginning Jackie seems nicer than she used to be so Grace has hopes in reconciliation and a new chance at happiness with her mother. As time passes, Jackie begins to be rude and take over the house and Grace’s anger is building. She begins having nightmares. At times I was confused as to whether it was a nightmare or really happening.

Does she have a mental disorder and she imagines her mother is being evil to her or is her mother really being mean and getting her all riled up? We end up in a constant state of wondering what is real and what is imagined. The ending was anticipated but I was left questioning myself and wondering if it really happened or not. I also like the dialogue between the characters in this book. It really adds to the story, giving us enough information and showing us the character’s true self when we get to hear them talk and interact with each other with quality dialogue. Eerie Read!

Thank you to NetGalley and Thomas & Mercer for the ARC of this book.

Thank you to Netgalley for the ARC of this spooky, chilling book!

From the very first page, I was invested in Grace and Jackie's story. Reading a book where the two main characters are incredibly unreliable kept me guessing the entire way through - there were so many instances where situations seemed normal and then the spook factor was turned up to 11 and you didn't know what to believe. The pandemic provided a perfect setting for this book and for the relationship between mother and daughter to be stretched and tested. The only reliable character and voice of reason throughout the novel is Miguel (who is perfect and I want to be his best friend) and he provides a perfect relief from all of the tension. Though this comes out in March, I highly recommend it for your spooky season TBR in 2023 - it'll keep you spooked until the very last page.

This book is a complete mind trip. If you like this sort of thing then you will love this. I’m still trying to wrap my head around it to be honest. Grace is a surviving twin whose mother ends up moving in with her during the pandemic. Her relationship with her mother has been difficult since the death of her twin, Hope when she was 12 years old. Her mother was not there emotionally or physically for her and her sister (who had cerebral palsy) growing up, so there are many unresolved issues. Grace loves her independence and resents having her mother live with her. This is a very slow burn story as you start to get to know Grace, Hope, and her mom and learn more about their past. There are nightmares and flashbacks and it’s difficult to determine what is real and what isn’t…which is likely the point. Is her mother messing with her? Is she having a mental breakdown? You feel the stress of Grace’s life weighing down upon her and you question everything. While I didn’t love it, the sheer craziness of the where this was going and the outcome was pretty darn creative and twisted. 3.5 stars.

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for the ARC.

Expected Publication: March 1, 2023.

4 ⭐️
In the middle of a pandemic, a daughter struggling with money and bills decides to allow her estranged mother move into her house. With a rocky relationship and something just not right Grace and Jackie must figure out how to make it through.

For novels written about the pandemic, this one is one of the better ones for me. The beginning of the book was a little slow for me. The pacing did pick up, I didn't care for the characters as much as I wanted to. The plot was well thought out, and the ending makes you think.

Thank You to the publishers via NetGalley for an advanced readers copy in exchange for an honest review.

Living through the pandemic was hard for most of us. Our main character has the added problem of her mother moving in with her. Plus many nightmares!
Recommended for those who like horror in their books.

This book was a whole trip! I love books like this, that start with the ending and then the whole book is about how the characters got there. With this book, there were still plenty of surprises along the way too.

It flowed between the present, nightmares/dreams, and flashbacks. Sometimes it was hard to tell which it was at the time but that was on purpose and just kept me even more interested. The story mostly revolved around her fractured yet intriguing relationship with her mother, interwoven with her relationship with her sister. I loved the crazy family dynamics that were so relatable at times and at other times, made me so glad I couldn’t relate.

If you liked her first book, Baby Teeth, this one will likely land well with you too.

I received an advanced reader copy of this book from NetGalley in return for my honest review.

I read this author’s debut novel, Baby Teeth and had enjoyed some aspects of it – so I wanted to try out another novel of hers. Mothered is a case study of pandemic life and how it is to cope with your life dramatically changing as the world outside was full of uncertainties and how a mother/daughter relationship completely deteriorates towards the end. Grace and Jackie have been estranged for many years but now during the pandemic, Grace has allowed her recently widowed mother Jackie to move in with her. The two haven’t had the best relationship since Grace took the burden of taking care of her disabled twin Hope growing up while her mother worked – being a single parent. I wasn’t particularly fond of the protagonist Grace, so I actually found her behavior more offputting than her mother’s. My biggest gripe with the novel is that the majority of the horror happened in dream sequences and since I could easily tell when Grace was dreaming – reading the horrible gory dream weren’t as frightening because I knew that nothing truly happened in the waking world. I know the novel took place mostly at home due to the pandemic, but it still made me feel restless and I couldn’t wait for it to be over (especially since we already knew what was going to happen since the prologue gave it away). Overall, the book was well written but I’m weary of Covid and reading about it was such a chore. I recommend the book if you like protagonists with mommy issues – don’t mind a Covid plot, and are okay with slow burn thriller with no clear resolution.

*Thank you so much to NetGalley and Thomas & Mercer for the digital copy of this book in exchange for an honest review!

Molasses Massacre! 😳😯🤯😯🤯

WHAT?! I'm sorry.. excuse me... but what the actual fluffery fluffness! I don't know how Stage does it, but she comes up with the most twisted, crazy, fluffed up plots and scenarios! I adored Baby Teeth and geez almighty this one is even more insanely crazy & nuts! I am absolutely, utterly speechless. The ending is absolutely crazy and I'm left with a feeling of "wait what?! WHAT?!" Insanity at its finest and crafted so spectacularly I'm still reeling from it! At times, things made no sense & you questioned everything. I haven't felt more crazy after reading such a novel. I'm still left wondering "what the freakin' fluff!?" Be prepared for one insanely, messed up, dark novel. Usually not my type of thriller, however it was minimal with horror and had a huge psychological thriller factor i greedily soaked up & savoured. Dreams will never be the same for me for a while after this twisted bobcat pretzel conundrum! Dark, crazy genius is what you are Stage!

Mყ 𝐒ყɴ𝐨ρѕιѕ: It's a time near the beginning of the pandemic when everyone feels at their most vulnerable and uncertainty. Grace is like most who has lost her job & living alone, isolating. But she receives a call from her mother Jackie, recently widowed, asking to move in with her. Grace reluctantly agrees and hopes for a better relationship between them. But old demons, hurt, bitterness and anger are re-ignited and Jackie hurls a horrid accusation at Grace. Not able to leave the house, Grace feels she's losing her mind, losing sleep, paranoid and can't tell the difference between reality and her nightmares.

🔴 Trigger Warnings: Slight Mention of Animal Abuse ; Graphic & Disturbing Imagery

Thank you to NetGalley & Amazon Publishing for this ARC.
Release Date: March 1, 2023

𝐌𝐞𝐫𝐢𝐭: 4.5 / 5 Autumn Leaves! 🍂

Mothered tells the story of Grace and Jackie, daughter and mother with an estranged and complicated relationship who find themselves having to quarantine together in Grace’s small home in the early stages of the pandemic and subsequent lockdown. Grace hasn’t seen her mother in years and has barely spoken to her. When her mother moved in, this brought up feelings of Grace’s traumatic childhood with her now deceased disabled twin sister Hope. Tons of secrets are between them regarding her and Hope’s childhood with Jackie.
Sharing such a small place with Jackie is slowly bringing back terrifying nightmares and Grace starts to wonder if there is more going on at the surface since she is suddenly living in a nightmare she can’t seem to wake from ever since her arrival. Is Jackie behind Grace’s declining mental and physical shape? Why is Jackie really there? And why is she now accusing Grace of horrible things of the past she has no memory of? Her mental state depends on her to find these answers. This was a 4* read! Thank you to Thomas & Mercer and NetGalley for the EArc and the chance to review it!

This book knocked my socks off! I enthusiastically ate up it at a time. The aftermath from the pandemic is something everybody can connect with and the creator caught this flawlessly adding a powerful curve. The whole time I was perusing I couldn't absolutely settle on the psychological condition of the primary person Elegance and I adored it! It was unpleasant, claustrophobic, climatic, and toward the end my psyche was wound into a pretzel.

This was a disturbing story where we discover the complicated past between Grace and her mother. After many years of being estranged, the two are thrown back together amidst the early days of the pandemic.

Like with many of us, Parental proximity can stir up a part of us we thought was long healed or well buried. Grace wasn’t prepared for this emotional upheaval. Much-added stress for this duo on top of the Covid chaos that was already unfolding in their daily lives — a recipe for trouble. A new slant on how unique circumstances have the possibility of widening the cracks in our consciousness and can trigger a descent into madness.

I enjoyed this dark journey and recommend it to all fans of the macabre.

I'd like to thank NetGalley for an advanced copy of Mothered for my unbiased evaluation.  4 stars

This was an interesting book though I found a lot of time was spent in the head of Grace, the main character. Which isn't surprising since her and her mom are living together and for much of the book are staying at home due to an exposure to COVID. Grace has allowed her mom (Jackie) to move in with her, she hasn't had a very good relationship with her mom and she's nervous about how they will get along. Things start off alright, they are both trying to be nice to each other, her mom is older and somewhat set in her ways. Jackie soon starts to rearrange items, something Grace gets very unhappy about. The book switches between present day and Grace's childhood, her twin sister Holly had cerebral palsy and had difficulty talking, and used a wheelchair to get around. It seemed no matter how hard Grace tried, Holly was the favorite one in Jackie's eye. Once Grace and Jackie are confined to the house because of a potential COVID exposure things get very tense, they exchange some nasty words and something I certainly wasn't expecting happens. This was a good book , though I found it slow at times because Grace spent a lot of time thinking, she also had nightmares that sometimes was hard to tell if it was a dream or reality. Thank you to #Netgalley and #Thomas & Mercer for the ARC.

✨ 🅑🅞🅞🅚 🅡🅔🅥🅘🅔🅦 ✨

Title: Mothered
Author: Zoje Stage
Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️/5

Review: Grace finally has a home of her own, that is until her elderly mother comes to live with her. The two have always had a strained relationship, even before Grace’s sister died at a young age. But with the pandemic in full force, Grace feels the financial gain of having two people in the house outweigh the difficult relationship the two shared.

Grace begins to have nightmares. The past she has long tried to push behind her keeps creeping up in graphic dreams. Her mental state begins to drop, especially when a self- quarantine traps her and her over-bearing mother inside the house.

This book was a great slow burn horror! It has a great unreliable narrative aspect. I found myself questioning who to trust… her mother or Grace. The nightmares Grace has were super creepy. Not to mention the epilogue was great, leaving me with an additional question or two.

If you’re looking for a book that will mess with your mind, look no further! This book comes out next March, but is available to read on NetGalley now.

Fantastic author, great novel - really really well written, the only negative was that the ending seemed very abrupt. Other than that, I look forward to reading novels by Stage, they’re fantastic!

The story gives me mixed emotions. There are elements that this story doesn't read as a psychological thriller but more of a quirky thriller. There is nothing psychological about it. Jackie and Grace's relationship is very straightforward. The ending is at the beginning, and the rest of the story describes how the event unfolded. The middle part doesn't make me want to dive deep into the story. Everything from the characters to the events was very on the surface. There is no proper development in any of the components. I don't see Grace as crazy. She's not another daughter whose mother drove them insane. Although, most daughters would not react in the same way as Grace. The ending with Grace's psychologist is more interesting. He is the story's most interesting character, yet he is not there. The end does open up for another book, and I would love to see the next novel focus more on the psychologist.

Thank you Thomas & Mercer and NetGalley for letting me read this eARC in exchange for an honest review.

Zoje Stage is my favorite author but I have to admit I did not like this one too much. I thought the main plot (Grace's relationship to her mother and twin sister) was developed wonderfully and I didn't mind the background of COVID, although I didn't think it was necessary.

Unfortunately, Grace's online activities seemed irrelevant and to take away a lot from the main story. Once the peak of this side plot is discovered, it's barely mentioned afterwards and it is at a point where there are a lot of other things going on, and it takes away from this. The framing of a story within a story also seemed random, it wasn't until the therapist talked again that I remembered that this was how the book started, and by then it seemed too separated from the rest of what I had read. Lastly, I thought the dialogue with Miguel sounded a bit too forced and unnatural, a caricature of how a gay person talks and acts.

Grace isn’t thrilled when her mother moves in with her during the pandemic but maybe it’ll be a chance to bond. She’s not sure how she’ll hid her catfishing schemes from her. Then .. the dreams begin.

This was not my favorite Zoje Stage book, although she is still one of my favorite authors. This book was a little too abstract for me. A lot of times I felt I didn’t know the difference between reality and dream, which for many readers may be appealing but it wasn’t for me. I loved the flashbacks and wish there were more of them. My favorite part was the sister relationship between Grace and Hope.

“Catfishing wasn’t simply her being deliberately cruel; it was her finding a way to feel good about herself.”

Mothered comes out 2/14.

There was so much packed into this book, my head is still reeling. I was entertained throughout the book which is why I gave it 4 stars. However, the book jumped around so much that I’m not quite sure what was real and what was dreams. I guess that’s how I related to the main character, Grace so well. I was just in constant confusion. There was catfishing, a pandemic, murder, nightmares and complicated relationships all at play in the book. Stage did an adequate job of tying everything together at the end.

Thanks to NetGalley, Stage and the publishers for allowing me to read an advanced copy in exchange for an honest review.

Ahhhh what a twisted story. I loooooved it. The nightmares were a bit creepy but I enjoyed the build up and the characters development. Also enjoyed the mother/daughter and sister/sister dynamic. You won’t be able to put it down. This is my first book from Zoje, but it won’t be my last!!
Thank you Netgalley for my ARC

Great horror/thrilled by Stage. I loved the set-up of this, several months into the COVID-19 pandemic, a woman's life (Grace) seems to be coming apart, and things go from bad to worse when her mother (Jackie) moves in. Only reason why I didn't give this 5 stars was that the flow of the book. I think when the dreams started coming hard and fast you weren't given enough time to figure out what that real or what is happening now. I am still wondering if conversations Grace had were real or not real.


"Mothered" follows hair stylist Grace who is struggling to make ends meet a couple of months into the COVID-19 pandemic. Grace feels adrift because she's lost her job, her great boss, and she is scared she may end up losing her home. Her one source of comfort outside of her best friend Miguel, is her online personas which she says are used to help other people. When Grace's mother Jackie calls, she asks can she move in. After Jackie's husband has died, his children want what is left and Jackie really can't live alone anymore. Though Grace is hesitant, she realizes her mother will be able to help her with the bills. What starts off as an uneasy roommate situation starts to get darker and darker once Grace and Jackie are forced to isolate more and more due to COVID-19.

Grace was a complicated character. You feel sorry for her throughout, but want to tell her to get her shit together. I think it's because she does some really crappy things in the book, but you realize how affected she has due to her in essence being forced to care take her twin sister Hope who had cerebral palsy. The book flits back and forth between Grace's dreams, the present, and her memories (maybe?) of her past with her sister and how much she wanted her mother to just love her. There's resentment because she needs her mother to help her at this time in her life, but also anger because her mother keeps pressing her about her sister.

Jackie is complicated as well. I want to know who is the real her. Sometimes we get glimpses of a woman who is broken by where her life led her. You can see someone who was in love with Grace and Hope's father who is broken by the fact that he moved on and left her to live in her dead parent's home. Now she's been pushed out of her life by her dead spouse's family. Her daughter is all she has. So at times you can see her trying to be close, but also resentful of needing Grace.

Hope is not really a solid figure in the book. She appears either via flashbacks or dreams. She seems to be a malevolent person, but one wonders though was she? Or was this just Grace's perception?

The writing I thought was great. An ever increasing feeling of dread starts at the beginning of the book and doesn't let up. Weirdly enough I don't even recall the first couple of weeks of the pandemic and being scared. I was way luckier than other Americans. I was able to work from home right away and was able to get things delivered. My one brother found tons of cleaning products and kept sending me things. I was able to work out from home or go on walks (masked). I think things hit me worse when the election got in full swing. I started to get scared that former President Trump was going to win again and what that meant. I definitely felt like his Administration was winging things and we had so many loud (but small) anti vaxxers and anti-maskers screaming about their rights and it just felt like things were never going to get better. But Stage plays with how time and how many days/weeks started to blend for each other once they were quarantining and the fear many had when they lost their jobs.

The only reason why I gave this one 4 stars was just because the flow stumbles after a while. I think also trying to work out what was real and what was a dream sometimes had me come to a hard stop in my reading. Not often, but enough I noticed it.

The book takes place in Pittsburgh which I definitely enjoyed seeing in book form. Of course you don't really get a sense of the city, outside of people and their particular quirks, because the world seems to be closed away due the pandemic and waves that are now hitting the United States.

I enjoyed the ending though it wasn't a shocker.