Becoming a new parent can be the most beautiful gift. It can also be incredibly daunting and scary under the best of circumstances and for Natalie, these are not the best of circumstances. Chemically her body is betraying her as she’s experiencing very serious post partum issues and neither she nor anyone in her sphere notices. Not even her dr. She is trying the fake it till you make it method, but that truly never works for anyone. She finds help and comfort with a fellow stay at home parent and neighbor Paul. He claims that gets her and what she’s going through. Does he or does he have his own agenda and using her for his own nefarious reasons? This is a twisted psychological story that will have you questioning everyone, liking them, hating them and wondering why no one notices whats truly going on and why it takes a stranger to take notice. I would have rated 3.5 stars if half ere available. The narration added to the listening experience.

The New Mother is not what I was expecting based on the summary so I was quite disappointed with this one. The description describes it as nerve-wracking and bone-chilling and a fresh new twist on motherhood and murder in suburbia. I expected an intense, suspenseful thriller, but it read more like fiction. I’m not a mother so I struggled with this one; however, I think readers who enjoy books about motherhood with mental health representation will enjoy this one.

Unfortunately I found every last bit of this book to be annoying. The characters were incredibly unlikable - in fact I really only enjoyed the baby that wouldn’t stop crying for most of the story.

The first half was extra rough with setting the scene. We had to get to the over tired new mom struggling with her newborn - but it’s clear she’s dealing with much more than that and she isn’t doing anything about it…but also half the time I’m not sure she even realizes she isn’t doing well.

Regardless she finds solace in the stay at home dad that lives nearby. He seems to have it all together and he helps to calm her crying baby. They develop a friendship, but he has ulterior motives and she just doesn’t see it. When his wife goes missing, everything gets crazy.

So we follow a new mom that’s having trouble adjusting to life with a newborn, her relationship with her husband is strained, her friendship with the neighbor is now in question as well - it’s got the potential. The lack of any redeemable characters (apart from the baby) really ruined it for me. The story itself was great but it’s hard to enjoy a story when the characters aren’t people to root for.

I personally had postpartum depression and it’s very rough. The worst part of this book was the clear postpartum struggles our main character is having and the lack of support she had through it. Now I’m not saying I expect her husband to be a mind reader, but he does notice that things are off with her and instead of adjusting how he talks to her, he continues to repeat the same “you won’t let me” “maybe stop breastfeeding” - there are other more effective ways to say things like that. On the flip side, she certainly didn’t make anything easy for anyone … except the neighbor that was using her for his own nefarious plot.

I absolutely adored The Favor from this author, but this feels a bit “sophomore slump” to me. It happens!

⭐️⭐️💫

3.5.
This was an enjoyable read. I felt a little beat over the head with how hard motherhood can be but it was all totally true. I felt that secondary awkwardness while reading and I definitely always like getting a physical reaction. A bit easy to put the pieces together but a good read nonetheless.

Thank you Macmillan audio for the gifted ALC.

First-time mom, Natalie, is struggling with motherhood. Her baby is colicky and never sleeps. She's exhausted, and it's severely impacting her mental and emotional health. When she meets neighbor and stay-at-home dad Paul, things are looking up for her! Paul is a natural with babies and gives Nat the respite she so needs. There's nothing nefarious going on between them... They're just friends. Or so she thinks. Paul, on the other hand, has something much more sinister in mind! 😳

I really enjoyed The Favor, so I couldn't wait to get my hands on The New Mother! As a thriller author, Nora Murphy has such a unique style, in that she adds a great deal of character depth to her stories. So often thrillers focus more on plot than character development, but Murphy does both!

And while this might not work for all readers, as it does tend to make the book more of a slow burn, it works for me! I find the characters more authentic, more believable when they're well fleshed out.

Something unexpected here was how much I related to Natalie! My second child was colicky, and while I didn't suffer from postpartum depression, I do remember going through a lot of what Nat went through.

Overall this was a solid thriller that I definitely recommend. The narrator duo did an excellent job bringing this book to life.

My review will be posted to IG in the coming days.

My thanks to the publisher and NetGalley for the advanced audio copy of The New Mother. This review may contain spoilers.
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While it has been seven years since my first child was born I was instantly transported back to those first days home with my own son. Nora Murphy absolutely NAILED what it is like to be a first time mother, trying to do it all. Though Nat and I differed in that I left my job when my son was born knowing that staying home with him was something I wanted to do. Not that I was forced into. While I shared her PPD, I did not (thankfully) end up with PPP, which I recognized instantly in Nat from a few chapters in. Again I was lucky to have doctors who told me what to look for...just in case.

I enjoyed the story but I feel like the addition of Paul and the murder of his wife were not really a mystery to be solved, but a plot device to get someone to notice Nat had PPP. Which isn't a terrible plot device at all. But the ending seemed like an afterthought. Like finding the button after a few weeks seemed a bit impossible to me. But was I proud of Nat for planting the wrap back at Paul's home...heck yes I was. But I wish we had heard more about him like he was found guilty of his wife's murder...how Nat's family friendly law firm job was going. How much more help her husband was to her and Oliver.

The ending resolved things, but it left me with more questions too. I enjoyed Dylan Moore's reading of the book and think it would have been better if she and Lee Osorio had taken every other chapter. Having her read more of the chapters made me feel like he was added in as an afterthought. Otherwise I did enjoy their reading of the book.

*Please note this review was also posted to GoodReads, but would not share from here.

Well this book hit new motherhood on the head! This book is so accurate and honestly could make women that struggle with this feel alot better! The plot and story line was great, and with a great ending!

I am more than sympathetic with new mothers. I did it with someone who would not even try to help. The sleeplessness was real. The resulting feelings and behavior were real. But still. I had no sympathy for this woman. I really hoped for some tension and intrigue. None of that here. A whole lot of whining. And if you ever want to know the status of her nipples at any given moment, you will be a happy reader. I was less of a happy reader. It was clear what was going to happen and then it happened. Eventually. For some reason, it was then reexplained at the end.

A 3.5 rounded to 4 stars. Here's the deal...the plot of this one takes a backseat to the thorough description of the struggles of postpartum. I very much related to the extremely raw and accurate descriptions of what it's like to be a new mother. Murphy captures the physical, emotional and mental struggles beautifully but also in such a way that I was (reluctantly) taken back to those days of utter exhaustion and anger. With all that said, the actual plot doesn't even start until 50% in and is fairly lackluster. I wanted to finish for the sheer knowledge that I didn't miss a big reveal of some sort, but honestly I enjoyed this one more for it's incredibly relatable subject matter than the actual story. If you enjoyed The Husbands' take on motherhood, you might also enjoy this one.

I really enjoyed this thriller. It was fast paced and intriguing. The characters really captured my attention. I felt they were well developed and I was excited to watch how their stories played out. I was definitely surprised by how things played out and almost wished this was a bit longer to prolong the game of cat and mouse. These are one of my favorite types of thrillers so I wanted to enjoy this for a bit longer. I thought this was a familiar but fresh take on a common trope. Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for this ARC in exchange for an honest review.

I'd like to give this 2.5 stars because I wanted to DNF this multiple times, but I made it through. Not that it was poorly written, but because I was getting sick of hearing about post-partum and Natalie's whining. I know that sounds harsh, and I don't mean it to be, but the first half of the book was only about how tired she was and her struggles as a new mom. It felt like a memior and not a fictional story. I am not a parent, and I dont go for books with the main premise being parenthood because I don't relate. I feel like the struggles that made her vulnerable could have been described without using more than half the book before the actual plot started. For the first solid 53% of the book, all that was talked about was her parenting struggles, and there were only 3 brief interactions with the neighbor. There was no suspense or thrill, and then all of a sudden, at around the 60% Paul had this plan and was going to kill his wife and blame it on Natalie. As the plot developed, the book did get better, but it was very rushed as the story was told in the last 40%. I did think the narrators did a good job, especially the voice of Natalie.

This was really a 2.5 star read but i rounded up because I was feeling generous and I think the subject matter is one that hasn’t been explored much.
First time mom, Natalie, is dealing with colicky Oliver and all the changes to life that a newborn brings. Hormonal, physical, mental, sleep deprivation, putting career on hold just to name a few. She treats her husband, Tyler, like a nuisance rather than someone who can help and she randomly develops a friendship with a new neighbor, Paul, a stay at home dad, who seems to be a baby whisperer. Paul is unhappily married and soon Natalie and Paul are spending loads of time together-that is until Paul’s wife turns up dead.
Both Natalie and Paul are suspected of course because they have motive and Natalie has to prove that she did not do it, while continuing in her sleep deprived new mom state. She’s had some black outs-is it possible she really is guilty? What is Paul hiding?
This could have been a lot better but it spent the first have talking about how hard breastfeeding is, which it definitely is, but in a thriller it didn’t warrant that much time being devoted to it. It ideas address post Partum depression and post partum psychosis and I really that Natalie was a more likable character because then it would have been easier to feel for her, but as it was, she was so brittle it felt like I couldn’t.
Thanks to Macmillan Audio and NetGalley for this audiobook arc in exchange for my review.

Fun, creepy, and kept me on the edge of my seat! This was a quick popcorn thriller that will be sure to keep you guessing.

I really enjoyed Nora Murphy’s first novel “The Favor” and was really looking forward to reading “The New Mother”.

Natalie Fanning is a lawyer who has just given birth to her first child, Oliver. Natalie is an overachiever who lives for rules and routine. Her husband goes back to work soon after Oliver’s birth. Natalie is struggling. Oliver is a colicky baby who almost never sleeps, breast feeding has been difficult, and she is beyond exhausted.

Then she meets her neighbor, Paul.

Paul is a stay at home father with a ten year old daughter. He is an unpublished author who has been trying to write a book for over ten years. Paul doesn’t feel like his wife appreciates him and he knows she wishes he would go back to “regular” work.

“Why aren’t you writing more? What is it that you do all day”.

Paul becomes someone Natalie can really talk to and he’s able to soothe Oliver in a way that Natalie feels she can’t.

But does Paul really have Natalie’s best interest at heart?

This novel deals with some very important issues. However, there was a lot of talk of sleep deprivation, breast feeding, and how difficult it is being a new mother. Especially mothering a very colicky baby. All of this was important to the storyline but seemed to go on a bit too long. The suspense didn’t really start until somewhere after the halfway mark.

I was still curious to see how everything turned out so I kept listening. The story is told from both Natalie and Paul’s point of view and two narrators were quite good. It was definitely a slow burn. The ending was good but a little abrupt.


I'd like to thank the publisher and NetGalley for providing me with a copy of this novel. All opinions are my own.

Wow, this book was extremely relatable. My first was a "colicky" baby with food allergies so I really felt for the main character.
This was a slow burn with good character development. It was a different type of book for me because you know who the murderer is the whole time, so it's really not that mysterious and definitely not a thriller. I really enjoyed it though!
The narrator was really good. I had to look her up because I thought it was Paget Brewster (Emily Prentiss from Criminal Minds).

Natalie finds herself in a new house with a new baby with a few weeks of maternity leave to adjust to her new life. But as her baby Oliver becomes harder to handle, and after returning to her old job doesn't go as planned, Natalie feels trapped in her home. Until Paul, her stay-at-home dad neighbor, comes to help her manage all of the difficulties with being a new mother. But as Natalie and Paul begin to connect she doesn't realize the grand plan Paul has created.

The New Mother was a lot of fun to read once I got into it. The first half of the book is a bit slower, going through the challenges of trying to balance a career at a law firm with a new baby, and it reads more like a memoir (and as the author's note describes at the end of the book is completely removed from reality). Then, as Paul begins to ingratiate himself onto Natalie, the book picks up in suspense and I did not want to put it down for the last third until the final reveals. The chapters delving into Paul's mind are a great contrast to the chapters from Natalie's perspective and give the book a lot of its driving narrative force. This book does not reinvent the wheel for domestic suspense, but provides a good examination of the particular anxieties and exhaustions of motherhood combined with a mystery with murder and betrayal.

For the audiobook, the two narrators give a great contrast to the voices of Natalie and Paul and both sell the overwhelming exasperation of Natalie's chapters and chilling machinations of Paul's chapters. The audiobook made for an enjoyable listen that matched the tension of the words on the page.

Thank you to NetGalley and Macmillan Audio for a copy of The New Mother in exchange for an honest review.

The new mother

Natalie Fanning just had her first baby and moved into this new, gorgeous house. So she should be so happy, right? Why doesn’t she feel it? When her son refuses to sleep and she refuses to let him have anything besides her milk, she becomes tethered to him with little her husband or anyone else can do to help. When she tries to go back to work, it becomes clear to everyone she cannot perform her job on little to no sleep. They decide on a sabbatical, which is how she meets her neighbor, Paul who is a stay at home dad. He quickly befriends her and takes her in to help. But Paul may have ulterior motives, that Natalie is too naive and sleep deprived to see.

This is my first Nora Murphy book and now I am dying to grab The Favor off my shelf asap! The New Mother is such a twisted domestic thriller that dives into postpartum mental health and how pregnancy and having children can change a woman significantly. I immediately connected with the MC as she is going through all of the newborn struggles, I was there! But it was a little slow at the beginning as we read about her nuances. Then when the book picks up, Nora Murphy is not playing! I found every chance to pick it up and read or listen to see what would happen and found myself yelling at the MC! I enjoyed alternating between audio and digital ARC, the audio was so well done! This is out May 30th, so get it on your list now!

I found this book incredibly painful to read. In fact I almost gave up on reading it. The majority of this story focuses on the new moms colicky clingy baby, her depression and lack of sleep. It felt like a continual loop of the same thing.

Nora Murphy did it again. THE NEW MOTHER was a total trip- in a good way. I really enjoyed this novel, much like I did her previous book (which I also listened to as audio) THE FAVOR. In THE NEW MOTHER, Natalie
is struggling deeply with the challenges, change, and exhaustion that accompanies new motherhood. Her type A high achiever approach to parenting has set herself up for zero sleep, crazy stress, and the inability to successfully return to work. Paul befriends her and the reader immediately knows he has ulterior motives, we just don't know what they are. This is a twisty story that literally made me anxious, with plot points that truly surprised me! Good book. EXCELLENT narrator

Many thanks to NetGalley, Minotaur Books and Macmillan Audio for gifting me both a digital and audio ARC of the newest novel by Nora Murphy, wonderfully narrated by Dylan Moore and Lee Osorio- 4 stars!

Natalie is a new mother to baby Oliver. But nothing is as easy as she thought it would be. Oliver is colicky, doesn't sleep, and Natalie finds herself holding him all day and night. She's exhausted, angry at her husband who can go off to work, missing work and her old life. Then she meets Paul, a stay-at-home dad and close neighbor. Paul has the magic touch of soothing Oliver and Natalie finds herself seeking him out as someone who understands her like no one else can. But Paul has his own motives for getting close to her.

This is a slow burn, which I thought fit well with the storyline. You can feel Natalie getting more and more desperate as she tries to be a good mother, but is getting no sleep or support. There is definitely a mystery involved here but it is alluded to and no big surprise. I enjoyed the dual narration and could felt the book was relatable and the storyline intriguing. Good read!