Thank you for the opportunity to read this book. Unfortunately the first 60% of the book only made me not want to have kids ever. I know Murphy was painting a picture of what it is like to be a new mother, the many ways yo are physically and mentally affected. But I wish this could have been done a little more swiftly, I struggled to get through and thought the investigation was a little unrealistic. But the book had potential! I appreciate the author’s attempt to shed light on the struggles of motherhood.

What kinds of books do you like? Do you like one where you can escape from the reality of some hardship? Or do you like a story that you can relate to? One where a character is going through some of the same struggles you've been through? I think where you fall on that continuum will determine how much you enjoy The New Mother from Nora Murphy.

"Natalie was excited and nervous about being a new mother. She's done lots of research on all of the best ways to parent a newborn and feels ready to tackle motherhood. But reality doesn't match her expectations. Her new son won't sleep and cries all the time. Natalie feels awful about how she looks and whether she can make it as a mother.
Paul lives across the street and desperately wants a different living situation. He is not happy in his marriage and sees Natalie as a means to get out of it."

I can't relate to post-partum depression but I realize it's something that can bedevasting to young moms. I can relate to the sleep deprivation. Our first child didn't sleep until he was 8 months old (and we took turns getting up) I don't think you need a hundred pages to make a point or set the stage. Real life may be like that but it makes a story drag.

In the third act, Paul shows his evil side and you feel even more for Natalie, but the ending doesn't save this one. And the ending feels a bit abrupt

Unfortunately, I could not get behind this story. If you're looking for relatable, maybe you would enjoy this one if you're willing to relive the hardship of a new infant at home for the first time

Thanks to NetGalley for the advance copy of The New Mother. The premise of the book is good but it didn’t work for me in the execution. Basing the story on a new mother suffering major sleeplessness and stress as a result of her extremely difficult, needy baby who cries constantly, provides a good basis. Natalie temporarily sets her law career aside to be with her new baby while her husband, Tyler, continues to work his way to partner in his law firm. Natalie really misses her job and views her current status as stay at home mom with disdain, even saying “The stay at home moms would wait in the school drop-off line, feeling sanctimonious, and the working moms would be there, too, feeling sanctimonious. Who was right? I always thought I had known.”.

All of this is placing a tremendous strain on her marriage. She continuously spurns help from her husband and others. When she finds a sympathetic neighbor, stay at home dad and writer, Paul, she is relieved to have someone she can share her feelings with and who has a way with baby Oliver that provides her some short-lived times of peace. He recognized in Natalie that she “feared nothing more than being a bad mother, being incompetent” and steps in to help. But he has ulterior motives and therein lies the suspense of the book. It took way too long to get to the meat of the story then almost felt as if there was a race to wrap it up. En route, it bogs down so heavily in her issues that it makes anyone wonder why anyone would want to have a child. Sadly, this was a miss for me.

A suspenseful neighborhood read, set amidst a mother's battle with postpartum depression.

This book does a great job at shedding light on postpartum depression and anxiety. This is a really big issue that is often swept under the rug. I thought that this part was written so realistically. I loved that the author was able to piece this storyline together as she did.

The New Mother by Nora Murphy
St. Martin's Press
Expected publication date: May 30th, 2023

Another addicting domestic thriller for the shelves! There's just something about murder in cookie-cutter suburbia that draws me in every time, especially if you throw in some struggling-new-mom context. I knew this book would deliver exactly that from the cover alone.

While I was not surprised in my inability to put this book down once I started, I was pleasantly surprised by the unique vocabulary and wonderful writing style throughout.

The downsides really only occurred in the last 5% of the book (which is very common for thrillers for me.) The ending felt extremely abrupt and far too serendipitous. I wish the ends didn't tie up so neatly since it felt unrealistic. The epilogue also gave me major Hallmark Channel PSA vibes. Once I read the author's note and realized that the book was based on real experiences, I realized the epilogue was completely intentional and was meant to be educational and raise awareness. Fair enough.

4.25 overall; I'd recommend this for anyone who enjoys domestic thrillers or a quick, engaging suburban mystery.

Thank you NetGalley and St. Martin's Press for the opportunity to read an advanced reader's copy in exchange for my honest review.

Thank you @macmillan.audio @netgalley for a copy of this audiobook. I thought this book did such a great job depicting life of a new mother and dealing postpartum as well. As a new mom in a new home, Natalie is at a loss what to do while her husband is at work and she is struggling not only with motherhood but her career as well. When Paul offers help, I can see why Natalie took it. I remember those days with a new born and how exhausting it was me and my hubby. The story is very slow and it's a lot with Natalie's struggles. The twist of the story for me was predictable and I enjoyed this overall.

I will start off by saying this book wasn’t for me and I could not relate to it at all.

Long story short this book spends most of its time focusing on Natalie who is obviously dealing with post part depression while her creepy neighbour Paul secretly plans to use that to his advantage.

The story dragged on and the interesting parts were few and far between.

Thank you to NetGalley and St Martin’s Press. All opinions in this review are my own.

I am very on the fence about this book. The Author's Note at the end was the only thing that bumped this from a two-star to a three-star review. That being said, I found this book exhausting to read. It was very repetitive, new mother Nat was more pathetic than sympathetic, and nothing really happens until more than halfway through the book. I loved THE FAVOR by Nora Murphy, but even as someone with two daughters, one of whom was a very colicky baby, I could not relate to the main character in this book at all and found most of the story just very frustrating. The conclusion to the murder mystery was also very abrupt and unfulfilling.

This book was about a new mother, as the title suggests. The first fifty percent of it was filled with rants and raves from Natalie. Oliver was a colicky baby, always screaming, never sleeping, and she wasn't either. We have to read about how much she hated her husband for never helping, guilt about whether to go back to work or not, how tired she was, etc. Nobody but Paul, her neighbor, helped or understood her feelings. Well, I am pretty sure that most women who have had a baby can understand her feelings. And I am pretty sure that most women could easily guess that she was having postpartum depression. So why didn't her husband, her father, her mother-n-law or her best friend who was a doctor notice that things were just wrong? No spoilers, but why did it take her getting into some very serious problems with the police before anyone wondered what was actually wrong with her? The second half of the book was slightly better, but I just wasn't that thrilled with it.

This story was exactly what my semi-readying slump needed. This is a story that had me on edge and I enjoyed every minute of it. I can't wait to ready another book from this author.

Special thanks to NetGalley and St. Martin's Press for the ARC of this book..

I liked this book. I think newly single mother's will relate or mothers in general. This book was pretty good. I can't tell you I didn't see the twist coming.

A single mother stays up nights with her new baby. Makes friends with Paul her neighbor who is very helpful. But there's a twist, of course. Good book!

Thank you MacMillan for the audiobook and Minotaur/St Martins Press for the ebook copy of The New Mother. This is a well executed domestic thriller that really resonated with me when Nora Murphy leaned into the tenuous, nebulous time that is new motherhood and the range of complex emotions that fill that time (and the weird feeling of being at home away from work and having to manage that transition). The mystery works because it is more of a how did this happen story and will the murderer get away with this; it is a story of unraveling the how did this happen within a story of a possible unraveling of a woman as she navigates post partum life. The multi POV from the protagonist Natalie, the neighbor Paul and later the detective (she was my favorite) works well as it gives the story depth and insight that really made the development of the background leading into the murder and investigation feel grounded and complete.
This is great for fans of Murphy's first book The Favor and books such as Stacey Willingham's All the Dangerous Things and a win for fans of nuanced domestic thrillers.

I’ve got a review for you for #thrillerthursday 😊

I really enjoyed The New Mother. As a former working mom who quickly went to stay at home mom, the author perfected the main character. After my 12 weeks of maternity leave were up I went back for three weeks before quitting to be home with my baby, but I didn’t realize how lonely I would be. I resonated a lot with the main character Natalie, up until the point where she let a stranger hold her baby. Thanks to my severe anxiety my stranger danger is strong, but I know not all people think the worst like I do. 😅

Natalie is exhausted, lonely, resentful of her husband who’s still able to work, and suffering from PPD. Her family has just moved to a new neighborhood, making her feel even lonelier when along struts a new neighbor, Paul, who is also a stay at home parent. He’s kind, understanding and amazing with Natalie’s colicky baby Oliver. Natalie quickly relies on his friendship and becomes so trusting of Paul with her newborn that she allows him to watch after Oliver in her home while she rests. Unbeknownst to her, Paul has malicious intent and Natalie finds herself in the middle of a police investigation and she’s the main suspect.

I really enjoyed this one and finished it in about a day. It’s a slow burn told from both Natalie and Paul’s point of view and man did I want to reach out and strangle him 😅 Thanks to the author and Minotaur Books for my eARC. The New Mother will be published 5/30.

Thank you, Nora Murphy, @minotaur_books , and Netgalley, for the gifted eARC.

Natalie Fanning is the mother to a newborn living in a new home in a new neighborhood. She's overwhelmed, exhausted, lonely, and she misses the familiarity of her old home. Plus, motherhood isn't exactly what she expected it to be. Enter Paul, Nat's neighbor. Paul shows up and helps Natalie take care of her baby, Oliver, so she can get a break. Nat feels like Paul is the supportive lifeline that her husband isn't. Only Paul isn't the supportive friend he seems to be. He is using Natalie for a plan of his own.

The New Mother is marketed as a domestic thriller, but for me, there was nothing thriller about this book. I hate to say this, but this book was just awful. I slogged my way through the first half of the book, wanting to quit reading on multiple occasions. The first half is nothing but descriptions of Nat as a new mother struggling with the ins and outs of motherhood, breastfeeding, and having a baby who sleeps very little. It's the same thing over and over and over. It's gets very redundant and annoying. Nat is such an unlikable character. I felt so sorry for her husband Tyler. She never let him do anything with the baby. She was a total bitch to him. The last half of the book is where the action finally happens and the book gets a little more interesting. The pace picks up, there's more than just Nat and her baby, and there's a murder. Overall, I feel this book was more about the motherhood experience than the thriller experience.

This is such a hard book for me to review. I thoroughly enjoyed the author's, previous book The Favour and jumped into this one expecting another addictive suspense read. But I didn’t get those vibes until the last 60%. To be honest, I almost gave up at 40% but since other reviews mentioned the action started later, I persevered. Also I was gifted both the audio and digital arcs and did listen to the last 40% in one go.

So what did I struggle with? The pacing was very slow and also very repetitive, but given the subject matter and reading the author notes at the end, kind of softened my view of how I felt. Does that make sense?

The New Mother is the story of Natalie, a professional attorney, highly educated, but this new, living creature named Oliver is now totally dependent on her. He doesn’t sleep so mom doesn't either, he cries all the time and she is at her wits end. Also, Nat believes she is the only one who can take care of Oliver properly, because she read that in a book or two, which then alienates her from family

Then there is Paul the neighbour, who is totally unreliable as a character but as Natalie’s new friend, he is someone she has come to lean on and trust. What follows is a twisty story that would have worked better for me if the last 40% was spread out a bit more and some of the repetitive detail was toned down.

The New Mother is a twisty story with a mystery as well as some serious subject matter for new moms. There should be trigger warnings for some which I won't mention but given the subject matter it should be obvious.

My thanks to St. Martin's Press and Macmillian Audio for an early copy in exchange for a honest review.

Natalie and Tyler are both attorneys and have just welcomed their baby boy into their career oriented lives. Natalie is not prepared to care for her colicky son who never sleeps. Tyler offers to help, but Natalie keeps shutting him out, trying to do it all, but being resentful at the same time. Eight weeks pass in a blur and maternity leave is soon over for Natalie. The pressures of returning to work along with no sleep and having to pump every couple of hours has Natalie making mistakes that cause problems at work and has her questioning her own sanity at times at home. Stepping away for a sabbatical, Natalie meets her neighbor, Paul, a stay at home dad, and quickly gravitates to him as he is quite the baby whisperer. Paul has ulterior motives though, plans that could be detrimental to Natalie. Will she catch on before it’s too late? While I empathized with Natalie (I had a colicky baby once upon a time myself), her whining got old after a bit, but my main concern was that no one noticed that she really needed help, even when she refused their offers. The crime seemed like more of an afterthought and I think it would have been better to put more emphasis on that and less of the sleep deprivation that we heard so much about. Thank you to Minotaur Books and NetGalley for an ARC of this book.

Special thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for a free, electronic ARC of this novel received in exchange for an honest review.
Expected publication date: May 30. 2023
“The New Mother” is Nora Murphy’s second novel (the first being “The Favor”, which I read and loved) and I was thrilled to receive a copy.
Natalie Fanning is an attorney, married to Tyler, who is also a lawyer on the way to becoming a partner in his practice. Now, Natalie has just given birth to their son, Oliver, and it isn’t at all what she expected. Oliver is a difficult baby and she is often up all night, losing patience, sanity and sleep. Natalie is desperate for an escape and she finds one easier than she expected- in her neighbour, Paul, a married stay-at-home Dad. Soon, Natalie is relishing their time together in a purely platonic way. But that’s not what Paul’s wife, Erin, thinks, and vocally says so. So, when Erin is found dead, questions immediately arise and fingers are pointed- it’s usually the husband, but could the sleep-deprived, stressed, new mother next door be hiding dark secrets?
Murphy has another novel to add to the suburban murder genre! “The New Mother” will definitely resonate with mothers (new or not-so-new) but it even appeals to those of us non-procreators! Sure, the first few chapters detailed, ad nauseum, Natalie’s struggles with her newborn son and although I sympathized, I could not relate. But I know, from second-hand experience of friends and family, that motherhood is no joke and Murphy pulls no punches. Her honest depiction is terrifyingly realistic and I loved Murphy’s open honesty. Natalie’s fatigued mind and depressed mood also leads to her budding platonic friendship with Paul, which is where the real story begins.
“Mother” is narrated primarily by Natalie, but we do get to hear from Paul here and there. Right from the beginning, it is obvious who is (and isn’t) responsible, but this is intentional on Murphy’s part, and all that’s left for readers to do is be pulled in to the gripping suspense and follow the ride through to the end!
The beginning of the story was more of a slow burn than I would’ve liked, but it quickly picked up and I couldn’t put it down after that! Murphy is respectful of post-partum depression and psychosis (and shares an author’s note about her own experiences), and also depicts society’s understanding of it in an emotional way, without making the plot preachy. “The New Mother” is satisfying, emotional and suspenseful, and I’m so excited to read more from Murphy down the road!

A friendly neighbor takes a new mom under his wings, but is there a sinister reason behind it? This was a slow burn for me. I had a hard time keeping focus. While I loved the brutal honesty with how hard motherhood can be, I just didn’t love this book. Thank you to NeyGalley for the early release.

Fascinating take on new motherhood, PPD and just how terrifying it can be. Well written, evenly paced and held my interest all the way to the end! Very clever!

Many thanks to NetGalley and Minotaur for this ARC!

I wanted to like this one so much but it was a cliche from start to finish. I feel like I’ve read it before so it just fell flat. Thanks to the publisher and netgalley for this copy for review .