Whew! I read this in a day because it was super fast paced and kept me on my toes with twists I didn't see coming.

I listened to the audiobook for this one (well for most if it, I got to having about an hour left and my car ride was over so I switched to kindle because patience is not my best quality). I thought the beginning was a little slow for me and the end was a bit of a rush, but overall it was a good thriller with some really good twists (although also with some unanswered questions). I have read this author’s earlier works and really enjoyed the first so I requested this without reading the description, I may not have gone for it because of the role grief plays, but overall I found it to be an enjoyable book even if the descriptions of the main characters grief were spot on and hard for me to listen to. Sarah’s husband Adam has died and she is left with their 3 year old daughter and her unborn baby. Struggling with grief she is thrown even further when her husband’s business partner makes it clear that he won’t honor the agreements her husband told her he would unless she signs guardianship paperwork in case something happens to her so he and his wife can have custody of her 3 year old and with better sense than most thriller give their female narrators she knew she was being pressured to essentially sell her daughter. Some big financial barriers hit and she is left pretty desperate, desperate enough that the offer to stay with her mother in law that she had never met and in fact been told was dead sounds reasonable, Sometimes someone leaves their past behind to start over for very good reason though. I highly recommend the audiobook version of this one if you debating between versions.

Description sounded good but the book didnt grip me as well as I had hoped. An OK read but not as good as I had expected. Sorry !

Thank you Netgalley & Crooked Lane books for an eARC of Like a Mother by Mina Hardy!

This book follows Sarah and her life post death of her husband, Adam. They shared a home. a daughter, and a baby on the way. His secrets begin to emerge - His mother is not actually dead - and there's no money left for her and the children.

I think it's best to go into this one blindly as the synopsis gives away a good chunk of the plot. I love this narrator and found myself wanting to binge the story because of her - I think if I had read this in an ebook fashion I may have read it a bit slower. Interesting plot but some of the points I could see coming from quite a ways away. I'm looking forward to seeing what this author comes up with next!

I found this domestic thriller by Mina Hardy to be compelling, fast paced, and at times shocking. I was immediately drawn in by the description of the book and then the beginning of the book. I wish we had gotten a bit of the dynamic between Sarah and Adam before he passed away but enjoyed all of the other character dynamics. I am still left a bit confused by the character with red hair that was scene on the grounds though and why Graham and his wife were thrown in at such random times. It didn't really quite fit together seamlessly when Graham was brought back in at the end. Overall though I did find the book entertaining and intriguing. Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for this ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Overall, I really enjoyed this book, though it did bring out the "mama bear" in me! However, I have mixed feelings about Sarah. At times she just seemed so naive and oblivious that I struggled to appreciate the actual story. That said, I did not see that twist coming, and I enjoyed the ending. A solid 4-stars for me!

“Truth could hurt, but lies would always hurt worse.”

“Darkness invited darkness, didn’t it?”

This was a twisty psychological thriller about Sarah and her late husband Adam. As the story unfolds you realize no one is who they seem and Adam was keeping quite a few secrets from his wife.

This one didn’t grip me the way a lot of thrillers do, though. It kept me reading but didn’t have me furiously flipping the pages. The twists were surprising but not jaw dropping. It is definitely more of a slow burn.

Thank you to Netgalley, Crooked Lane Books, and the author for the ARC in exchange for an honest review.

This book was a predictable, and just okay.

Plot -
The book opens with Sarah's husband, Adam passing away. She is left pregnant an raising a 3-year-old on her own. When Adam's business partner and wife essentially offer to buy Sarah's unborn baby, she needs to get out of there. Adam had told Sarah that his mother was dead. When Adam's mother, Candace shows up at Sarah's doorstep, clearly not dead, offering to help, Sarah packs up and moves in with Candace. Almost immediately, she realizes that things aren't quite right.

Thoughts -
First off, I don't know why thriller authors keep naming the MC couples "Sarah and Adam," it lacks creativity at this point. You need to stretch your imagination real hard to find any of this book believable. Sarah ignores a world record number of red flags only to find herself in a predicament that the reader could predict from the moment she went to live with Candace. There are aspects of a religious cult, but nothing is fully explained. Apparently, Adam's father was some "messiah" and leader of a church on their property, but that was simultaneously in both the background and forefront of the story. There were never really full explanations for anything. Candace has a weirdo quasi-housekeeper, and the book tried and failed to explain why she stayed on but didn't fully make sense. The housekeeper also kept doing different things that felt out of character, so you could never fully get a grip on who the character actually was.

My last note is that there is this weird passage where the author describes Sarah aggressively urinating in excruciatingly descriptive adjectives. It would never have caught my attention but for her first book. I found it super odd that she did the same thing with a character in her first book, describing him urinating in a, "long hard stream." I don't know what that is all about, but I find it weird that a thriller author will now forever live in my mind as someone who always writes a scene about someone in the book urinating loudly.

Overall -
It was far too predictable and filled with far too many plot holes. I am not even sure I liked the idea of the story because it was kind of a B list story plot we have seen too many times, with a not so great execution.

Like a Mother by Mina Hardy
(Narrated by Gail Shalan)

Great plot twist and unexpected ending!

Not long after Sarah’s husband passed away, a woman called Candace who claimed herself was her mother-in-law. But Sarah has never heard that from her late husband. Sarah then spent some time in her late husband’s childhood home, until she found some buried secrets…

I enjoyed the story plot. Twisty, easy to follow and captivating.

Many thanks to NetGalley, the publisher and the author for my copy.

Pub date: Feb 6, 2024

Thanks to #NetGalley and #CrookedLaneBooks for the book #LikeAMother by #MinaHardy. This book tells about broken relationships, abuse and surviving. Great thriller with a plot twist.

This book started with a bang with Sarah revealing that her husband Adam had died. When Adam's mother Candace appears, Sarah is stunned as Adam had told her that his mother had passed away. Needing money and assistance, Sarah takes up Candace's offer to move in with her so they can get to know each other.

Yikes! Poor Sarah. How was she to know that Candace would turn out to be the mother in law we all don't want?! I could handle the first one or two out there scenarios but after that, I felt like it was too much. This book was quite unbelievable in a lot of ways and Sarah stuck out the situation more than any normal person would. Sadly this book was just okay for me.

Another twisty Thriller by this author. This one gets pretty wild. It’s about a pregnant woman whose husband dies and she meets his mother at the funeral. She thought his mother was dead. 👀 I don’t want to say too much!

A woman gets more than she planned for when she agrees to move in with her mother-in-law after her husband's death.

There should be a major trigger warning included for this book about anti-semitism microaggressions and overall religious uncomfortableness. I was expecting this to be more suspenseful, but it was more just uncomfortable to read. I did feel like I needed to finish it so that I could see if any twists at the end made it worth it. There was a decent twist, but it didn't make up for my overall discomfort reading this book. I think Hardy could have created just as sinister character if it had little to do with religion. I'd really not recommend this book unless you want something that makes you feel uneasy the whole time you are reading it (and not in a spooky good way).

I received my copy from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

Thank you to NetGalley and Crooked Lane Books for this ARC.

I thought this was an interesting domestic suspense novel. I wouldn’t consider this a thriller, but the story does move fast and keeps you engaged until the end.

All and all, I was a bit disappointed with the story and how it ended. This was my first read by this author, but I’d read more in the future.

This was a super-fast-paced book, and its short chapters made it an addictive read! Reading this book is the epitome of one-more-chapter-itis, the short chapters make you feel like that and then you notice that it is past midnight already.
A seamless and accessible thriller, the narrative weaves a web of lies, secrets, and suspense, ensuring that nobody is as they appear, and nothing is as straightforward as it seems. A perfect fit for aficionados of popcorn thrillers, this novel effortlessly combines entertainment with intrigue.

Holy Plot Twist!

Like a Mother, put me on a dark and twisted ride of a lifetime.

I cant even begin to describe the way this book was skillfully crafted to come together with an explosive ending that no one will see coming. Talk about twisted! Cue the jaw drop.

This was my first book by Mina Hardy (Megan Hart), but there is no way I will stop now, I just want more more more! Hardy, is a true storyteller that will have us all eating out of her hands if she keeps delivering books like this. After concluding Like a Mother, I did my research to find any and all books that might have been published previously and imagine my surprise when I found a ton of exotic romance’s that I would love to check out (I downloaded Broken!).

I have become a fan of Hardy, with just having read Like an Mother and I am sure you will be too!

Check out the teaser below :

Sarah and Adam Granatt had the perfect suburban life: a beautiful house, an adorable daughter, a baby on the way, and a once-in-a-lifetime love. They were the couple everyone envied–until Adam died.

In the wake of his death, Adam’s secrets begin to emerge. The first comes out when a woman named Candace introduces herself to Sarah as Adam’s mother. Sarah is rightfully confused: Adam had always said his mother was dead. Adam also lied about making sure Sarah, Ellie, and the new baby would be taken care of, financially. The truth is, there’s no money.

Candace proves she is who she says, but admits the relationship between her and Adam was strained. Her beloved son is gone, but she can offer emotional support and better yet, a place to stay until after the baby is born and Sarah can get back on her feet.

Living in Adam’s childhood home, Sarah begins to understand the life he had before they met–the life he buried along with his relationship with his mother. When Sarah notices Candace’s strange obsession with her, and the house begins to feel less like salvation and more like a cage, she realizes that the secrets go deeper than she ever could’ve imagined. Candace might not be the caring mother-in-law she seems...

And maybe Adam had good reason to pretend that his mother was dead.

It took a while to get into this one but it got better about halfway through. The ending was pretty good.

LIKE A MOTHER had me on the edge of my seat. I liked the short chapters and all the hidden secrets. I would grab a copy of this one now. You won't be disappointed.

Many thanks to Crooked Lane Books and NetGalley for my gifted copy!

2.5 stars, rounded up ⭐️

Honestly, the writing style was not for me and I really struggled to get through the book. The plot was interesting, but not earth shattering. I could predict 90% of what was going to happen. The interactions between the characters and their motives seemed to be surface-level, and weren’t super fleshed out. It is also pretty slow-paced and takes awhile to get to the “thrill”.

Thanks to NetGalley and Crooked Lane Books for an advance copy of this book.

Sarah's life is turned upside down when her husband Adam dies- she's pregnant, Adam's business partner is both cheating and threatening her, and now Candace. the mother Adam said was dead has turned up. Candace seems so nice that Sarah and her little daughter Ellie move in with her. Fans of thrillers know, however that there was a reason Adam disavowed his past. In the scheme of things, this isn't as twisty or as scary as it might have been and that's actually a good thing. Hardy has brought in unexpected elements and created good characters. Thanks to Netgalley for the ARC. A fast read.