I have always imagined that being a mother--especially a new mother--must be one of the most difficult jobs in the world, but "The New Mother" opened my eyes to how truly demanding, both emotionally and physically, motherhood can be. I have never read any books by Nora Murphy before, but now I will be placing her other book, "The Favor", much higher on my TBR list!
Natalie is at her most vulnerable as she struggles with her newborn baby who cries almost incessantly and virtually never sleeps. An increasingly somnolent Natalie tries every possible strategy she can think of to placate baby Oliver, but nothing seems to stick. Paul, a neighbor, has noticed Natalie's growing desperation, and he seizes the opportunity to make himself invaluable to her. Unfortunately for Natalie, Paul's charming demeanor and the ease with which he calms Oliver belies his true motivation...
"The New Mother" is an engaging and illuminating thriller novel and I would highly recommend it! Nora Murphy reveals some of the darker sides of motherhood, such as postpartum depression, instead of sugarcoating it like a lot of books seem to do. I was cringing almost the whole time at how easily Paul was able to manipulate Natalie and at how overly trusting she was, even though I understand why.
Thanks so much to NetGalley, St. Martin's Press, and Nora Murphy for this arc!

This book is 4.5 stars for me.
Natalie has just moved into a new house and has just had a baby. Oliver is a difficult baby and doesn't sleep much. Natalie is a first time mother who wants to do everything perfect. She is exhausted and lonely when her husband goes to work. Paul is her neighbor and seems to know what she is going through. Oliver seems to like Paul and is calmer with him. But does Natalie really know who Paul is and what he is planning?
This is a book with an exhausted mother. Can she think straight or will her neighbor take advantage of her? Her trust in herself is waning and does she know what has happened or is her mind playing tricks on her? Will Natalie get a grip before something really bad happens? This is a book where you will be wondering what Paul's plan is. Can Natalie protect herself and her family? This twists will keep you guessing. If you like domestic suspense you should give this book a try.
Thank you to #netgalley, #NoraMurphy, and #MinotaurBooks for a copy of this book.
#TheNewMother

In The New Mother, Natalie Fanning has a brand-new baby and is struggling to adjust to motherhood. Her baby is colicky and needy, and Natalie literally loses sleep to tend to his every need. She's falling apart at the seams until she meets her neighbor, Paul, who's a stay-at-home dad who lives nearby. His calm demeanor soothes the baby and provides comfort for Natalie. As Natalie gets more and more attached to Paul, he is forming a devious plan to use Natalie to get what he wants. I thought this book was great. I didn't want to put it down. I did think that the ending came almost abruptly, and I found myself wanting more. I think this would be a great selection for a book club. Thanks to NetGalley and St. Martin's Press/Minotaur Books for the ARC.

Thank you for the advanced readers copy for an honest opinion/review

It’s a story about a woman named Natalie who is married to Tyler. Nathalie has had a baby boy named Oliver. She starts to unravel with everything that entails being a new mother.
Her new neighbour Paul is a stay at home dad and is helpful. Or so Nat thinks

Near the halfway point is where it starts to get interesting.

While this book can (and should) be called a thriller, the primary focus is on how tough it is to be a new mother. The sleep deprivation, medical difficulties, and huge lifestyle changes are all so hard to deal with, not to mention the hormones!

Natalie Fanning is going through all of this, and her baby is difficult. Plus, she has this ideal of the perfect mother, and she is trying to meet every detail. When her understanding neighbor, Paul, actually helps, Nat is thankful. But Paul has his own agenda.

The author did an excellent job at portraying Nat's state of mind. It can be frustrating seeing the irrational decisions, but they are certainly understandable when Natalie never gets to sleep! I was really interested in what would happen, and I thought this was a good psychological thriller!

I have to admit….the title “The New Mother” and the premise, didn’t appeal to me, as a woman who remained childless by choice, but I loved the author’s debut novel last year, “The Favor”, so I took a chance on this anyway.

I should have listened to my instincts and SKIPPED this one.

The author acknowledges that she wanted to write a story on Postpartum Depression, and how DIFFICULT a being a new mother can be-especially if your infant is colicky and doesn’t sleep, and if you are committed to breastfeeding, at all costs. And, she succeeds there-this story should reassure any new mother who is struggling.

But where it DOES NOT succeed is as the mystery/thriller it is marketed as.

RESENTMENT

Natalie Fanning is the struggling new mom, who begins to resent her husband Tyler for being able to continue his career as an attorney, as if they never had a baby, while her career as one is placed “on hold” while she takes time off to stay home with their new baby, Oliver.

Paul Riley, a “want to be” author, is the “stay at home” Dad down the street, who resents his wife, Erin, for treating him like the “hired help” while she is the breadwinner of their family. Ten years is too long to remain “unpublished” and “unemployed”, and now that their daughter, Petra, is ten years old, she would like him to return to work.

The two will commiserate together.

The story opens with Detective Jill West, arriving in a neighborhood that isn’t the sort, where a murder would take place, or where a murderer would live-and yet that is what brought her there.

And, the book ends abruptly with an EPILOGUE when the “murder” is solved.

But, unfortunately, ALMOST the entire story between these chapters, are endless descriptions of sleep deprivation, engorged, leaky breasts, inflamed sore nipples, and breastfeeding.

Not exactly, riveting material for what is billed as a mystery/thriller.

I enjoyed her DEBUT enough to give her THIRD book a try-but I can’t recommend this SOPHOMORE effort to readers looking for a satisfying mystery/ thriller.

Expected publication date: May 30, 2023.

Thank You to Minotaur Books for the gifted copy provided through NetGalley. It was my pleasure to offer a candid review!

This was an interesting read. I went into this assuming it was a thriller, and it is. Kind of. This was more about the struggles and sometimes horror of motherhood with 4% of murder throw in. It all came full circle and I ended up enjoying it, but the first part (book is broken up into different parts) was ROUGH. Rough enough to make me not want to be a mother some day. It made me super anxious, so read with caution. Overall, the ending was solid and I liked the book.

Natalie is an exhausted new mom. Her son is colicky, she is sleeping only in short spurts for a total of a couple of hours each night, and she feels forced to take a sabbatical when she returns to work too tired to function at 8 weeks postpartum. Her husband doesn't seem to understand how she feels, she doesn't want to burden her pregnant best friend, and her mother in law is too perfect for her to feel comfortable confiding in. Enter Paul, the stay at home dad in the neighborhood who just seems to get it and get her. The two begin spending time together, until things suddenly change and something awful happens.

This book was utterly absorbing, and I could not put it down! I felt so much sympathy for Natalie and how she felt the need to be the "perfect" mother, whether that meant staying awake to make sure the baby was ok or breastfeeding until she was raw and sore. What mother hasn't felt conflicted over the many options and choices motherhood throws at you? Nat's worries and need for perfection are only amplified by her extreme lack of sleep and support, and her isolation makes her the perfect pawn in the cat and mouse game of this book.

The beginning of this book felt less like a thriller and more a story about motherhood and the pressure society places on women. The portrayal of leaving the hospital, those first nights at home with the baby, and pumping at work felt so realistic and were incredibly well written. These all contribute to Natalie's mental state as she meets Paul and is pulled into a dangerous scheme.

It is clear who the culprit actually is once a crime is committed, and the tension comes from whether the truth will come out and which character will outwit the other. I found this to be a well written and very entertaining read!

Thank you to NetGalley and St Martin’s Press/ Minotaur Books for the ARC in exchange for my honest opinion.

Nora Murphy's first novel, The Favorite, was one of my favorite last year. So, I was very excited to read The New Mother.
Natalie has just had her first baby, Oliver, and is really struggling as a new mother, in a new house, with her husband gone all hours working. She is feeling overwhelmed, and stressed, and the new neighbor, Paul, seems to be the answer to her prayers. Paul is a stay at home dad, and can quiet a screaming Oliver in a way even she can't seem to do. As she begins to lean on Paul, his hidden motives just might be what actually leads to her downfall.
Not as good as The Favorite, but still one worth reading!

I really enjoyed this one! This tells the very real story about how birth and having a newborn can affect new mothers. How there health and mental state gets swept under the rug or overlooked as they care for a new life. In this one we have Natalie who is a new mother and is adjusting to life as a new mother, but not only is she a new mother she is in a new town and a house. As Natalie adjusts to all these changes in her life she is befriend by her neighbour a stay at a home dad who takes advantage of Natalie’s state and uses it for his own sinister plan. At first I thought this was a little bit to slow, but after thinking it over sense finishing it I really don’t think so at all and felt like all the parts I thought where slow at first really worked to tell the story of Natalie and gave us lots of detail! Thank you to minatour books for a review copy of this book it is out in May and the perfect domestic thriller!

Wow! This is the most accurate and precise portrayal of what it is like to be a new mom! I’ve never seen the struggles of postpartum, breastfeeding, going back to work, etc portrayed in a novel like this one. The new mother storyline was so relatable and the odd neighbor made me just want to keep reading to find out more. I loved this book and will definitely check out more by the author.

Read if you like:
👶 Thrillers
🤰🏼Domestic Suspense
😢 Lonely Characters

This one has slow and intentional pacing that gives so much and truly has you on the edge of your seat with all that is being shared and the journey you go on with all the characters!

This one reminded me of the vibes of another thriller that looked into the struggles of parenthood, especially for mothers, and all the emotions that come with being a parent.

All the details made me squirm in my seat as I read because the author didn’t shy away from anything as she explored the dark side of after birth and parenthood!

And then we have Paul and man did he give me all the creeps! You’ll have to read to figure out why and where it all goes and what Paul’s motives are for being a helpful and friendly neighbor.

Thank you to the publisher for my ARC in exchange for my honest review!

Nora Murphy’s newest novel, The New Mother hits on motherhood, and the plethora of emotions that it brings.

Being a mom is hard, especially in those newborns days. The baby often has its days and nights mixed up, and you go from hating things to loving them in an instant. Thanks, hormones!

Life seems to perk up when she meets Paul, a stay at home dad, who has the magic touch with her colicky son. But, Paul has his own motives for befriending Nat, and something sinister is laying in wait behind that surface layer of veneer.

You will ache for Nat, cheer for her, and eventually just hope for the best, all in this new motherhood thriller.

An eerie look at motherhood through the lens of insecurity, sleep deprivation, and isolation. As tension builds in Natalie's household, a neighbor with problems of his own seemingly comes to the rescue. The author drew me into Natalie's emotional downward spiral, causing me to alternately feel compassionate, or to lose patience with her inability to cope. Our library will not purchase the book only due to budget constraints and probably circulation numbers. It will be recommended to patrons who would enjoy it through our ebook program and would provide a lively discussion for a book group, especially one including young mothers.

First-time parents Natalie and Tyler have recently moved into a quaint colonial home in the suburbs, a perfect place for their children to grow up. For the most part, they seem to be settling in with their newborn after bringing him home from the hospital, despite the expected struggles that accompany being new parents. But when Tyler returns to work and Natalie is left all alone with baby Oliver, motherhood begins to take a toll. Due to Oliver’s incessant crying, she never sleeps, rarely eats, and she feels her career slipping away. Luckily, her neighbor Paul, a stay-at-home dad, offers to help with the baby, providing Natalie much-needed respite. But in her zombie-like state, Natalie misses the signs that Paul has ulterior motives.

This book gets off to an incredibly slow start. In fact, the first 50% could be cut in half. The pages are filled with countless scenes of Oliver crying and Natalie breastfeeding. I understand that these scenes are important to Natalie’s struggle and why she makes the decisions she does, but we don’t need so many of them. Still, I sympathize with Natalie even though I don’t have children.

During the second half, things start to pick up and get interesting. Paul is tripping up and Natalie is coming out of her stupor. But ultimately, the “suspense” is rushed and glossed over.

Despite all of this, The New Mother is an enigma to me and I don’t know how to accurately rate it. While I was reading, I kept wanting to put it down and set it aside. But every time I did, I’d find myself thinking about it and wanting to pick it up again. To me, it’s not a thriller, but it does present an important discussion on postpartum depression.

Thank you to Minotaur Books for the gifted eARC!

Thank you to NetGalley for the ARC.

Unfortunately, I starting skimming through the book at about the halfway point. Just too many complaints by Natalie about being tired, being a mother, having an unhelpful husband, having to take a sabbatical from work, etc. It made it very hard to like Natalie and truthfully, I didn't really care what happened to her.

This book definitely does not belong in the thriller category. Even the murder mystery was easy to figure out. I only finished the book because I wanted to give NetGalley an honest opinion.

This was not a favorite for me. There was too much description of what raising a newborn is like and not enough of the domestic thriller tension that I enjoy.

Thank you to NetGalley for the digital ARC.

If I’m being totally honest, I almost didn’t finish this book but I’m glad I stuck it out. It’s a slowwwww burn and let me tell you why. Natalie and Tyler have a brand new baby boy named Oliver. Right off the rip this book is honest and raw about the difficulties of becoming a new mother. I can only imagine but I really think Murphy hit the nail on the head with this one. While I’ve never given birth I am a parent and I was able to relate to some of the things she wrote about. Natalie suffers from intense postpartum depression and sleep deprivation. I absolutely love the way this author brought awareness to some really difficult topics and I believe it’s so important to talk about them. With that being said, that was the entire beginning 50% of the book. Personally I had a hard time getting to that 50% mark without anything thrilling happening. I just found myself wanting a little something more in between. I was glad I finished it because once it picked up I flew through to the end. I’d recommend this book if you’re new to thrillers and looking for something lighter on the thriller side. I think if you’re a mother you’ll definitely connect with this one!
Thank you @minotaur_books for this ARC.

Natalie can't sleep. Her newborn son won't sleep. She is struggling, but wants so badly to be the perfect mother that she doesn't let anyone know what's going on. This book is classified as a psychological thriller, and while I do agree that it is, a lot of the book is just about a new mother REALLY, really struggling. I am not saying that's a bad thing, it sets the perfect stage to enter the "nice", helpful neighbor, and for Natalie's credibility to be constantly questioned - by others and herself. This book is RAW y'all. It immediately transported me back to those hard newborn days where you are just in constant survival mode. They call it "100 days of darkness" for a reason! If you had a difficult postpartum, parts of this book might be hard to read. I did - but I still enjoyed this one! This book was so frustrating, I wanted to scream at so many of the characters and I really wanted to give Natalie a hug. And a nap. When I got to the end of the book and saw the eyes "epilogue" I immediately skipped back thinking I had missed a few chapters. The ending felt very abrupt and I wanted more, but overall I really liked this one!

Natalie is a successful, meticulous, organized lawyer who is used to always being prepared but motherhood proves to be a challenge that even Natalie can't tackle. When Natalie's son, Oliver, is born, Natalie quickly becomes overwhelmed with her colicky, sleepless child and begins to experience isolation, depression, and even pyschosis and loss of periods of time. So, when her stay at home dad, neighbor, Paul forms a friendship with Natalie, she develops a need for time with him as he makes her feel that all she is experiencing is normal and will improve with time. But, Paul has a more sinister motive in mind for befriending Natalie! He sees her in her current state as the perfect pawn for his plan for...murder!

Will Natalie be able to come out of her fog enough to save herself before it's too late?!

The New Mother is told from the points of view of Natalie, as a new mother facing new challenges, and Paul, the stay at home dad with ulterior motives. Murphy does a great job of describing the feelings most new mothers face and bringing awareness to postpartum depression. She does spend a little more time building up Natalie's vulnerability, I would have preferred the story to move a little quicker. But, overall I did really enjoy this book! It was a unique storyline with good character relation! Murphy's writing was very emotion triggering and brought back a lot of the emotions that I felt after having each my children! She is definitely a talented author and I look forward to reading more of her writings!

The New Mother should probably come with a warning for expecting mothers though as it is very in depth into what new mother's face!

Thank you Netgalley and St. Martin's Press for this e-ARC in exchange for an honest review!