The Mother grabs you by the throat and doesn't let go! A family has been torn apart by a terrible accident and they are grieving. Cora lost her husband and Ezra lost his father when there was a terrible accident at his work. It was a terrible shock to both mother and son. Cora is trying to cope with the loss by throwing herself into her work. She's a writer of a column that gives advice on stain removal, recipes, housework, etc. She's met a man that she likes through a writing retreat and they bonded over loss. Riggs lost his wife from a mass shooting at a school that she worked. Riggs now writes articles for newspapers and magazines about mass shootings that occur.

Ezra feels lost without his Dad. He's in high school and is a good student taking lots of AP classes in his junior year. He doesn't have any friends that he can talk to about his grief. Ezra goes online and meets people through video games and online chat rooms. He thinks he's talking to people his age that really care, but do they? One of the chat rooms that Ezra is in turns out to be a white supremacist group. Ezra doesn't believe in a superior race or any of that, but he likes some of the guys in the group. At least he thinks he does.

One of the guys in the group brags that he's going to meet the most famous gay guy in town out by the clay fields. He's going to teach him a lesson. Ezra knows where this is and he knows that the guy he's meeting is his childhood friend, Danny. Ezra and Danny grew up together as their families lives right next to each other. They grew apart when they were older as Ezra's family moved to a single family home. Ezra likes Danny and always will so he's going to go to the clay fields.

Cora keeps trying to text and call Ezra while she's having dinner at a restaurant with Riggs. It's not like Ezra not to answer her for this long. She's been trying to reach him for several hours. Riggs' phone starts lighting up as there's been a teenage boy left for dead out by the clay fields. Cora is terrified that it could be Ezra as he hasn't answered any of her calls or texts. They quickly leave the restaurant and race to Cora's home. She doesn't see Ezra's car when they get home. She races in and calls his name, but there's no response. As she races up the stairs to his bedroom, she throws open the door, and to her relief he's sitting there with headphones on playing a video game. She terrifies him by grabbing him. He tells her he was at the library and his phone died. He tells his mom that he forgot to plug it in to the charger when he got home. Cora finds this hard to believe as teenagers are glued to their phones.

As Cora and Riggs leave Ezra's room, she wonders if he's telling her the truth. Why did he say he parked on the next block over when he normally parks in the driveway? Was he really at the library that late? Cora can sense that Ezra is keeping something from her but she doesn't want to press him now. She's just relieved that he's home safe. Riggs has to excuse himself to go cover the story about the boy. When Cora gets up the next morning she chats with Ezra over breakfast. She senses he's upset but doesn't know why. Ezra is trying hard to act normal after the horrible night he had. He can't tell his mother what he did.

When Ezra leaves for school, Cora goes down to the basement to do a load of laundry. When she opens the washer there are dry clothes in it. As she pulls them out she sees that it's Ezra's jeans with a heavy stain and his sweatshirt with a huge stain. Cora knows her stains from her column and knows that this dark stain is blood, lots of blood. How did Ezra get all of this blood on his clothing? Where was he really last night? Panic starts to build in Cora when Riggs calls and tells her the victim left for dead was Daniel Reyes. Cora can't believe it as she and Gloria, the mother, were as close as two people can be when they were neighbors. She feels horrified for Gloria and the family as Daniel is such a sweet boy. He's always known he was gay and didn't hide it. He spoke at gay pride events and came out to his classmates in high school. He became a celebrity in town and someone that they gay community looked up to.

As you read this book you will be terrified of what you might learn. Did Ezra have something to do with Daniel's injuries? Will Daniel survive the beating? Will Ezra ever tell his mother the truth? Who are the boys that Ezra is talking to online? Does he actually know these boys? Will Cora find her way back to the friends she turned her back on when her husband died? Will she speak to God again? This is a story of a mother's love for her son and the lengths she will go to to protect him. It's also a story of grief and what it does to people. How people pretend they're okay when they're not. How a lonely boy got caught up with people that he really didn't know and that didn't know him.

I read The Mother in one sitting and it was a great book! I've never read a book by Anya Mora, but I definitely will read more! I rate The Mother 5 stars and give it my highest recommendation! I'd like to thank NetGalley and Joffe Books for an advanced copy of The Mother in exchange for a fair review. The Mother is out today 9/20 so don't hesitate to pick it up. #TheMother

This book was gripping! I stayed intrigued all the way through to the very end, and I didn’t see the end coming whatsoever, which is exactly what I look for in a psychological thriller!

I loved this book, it had me gripped from the start - was it Ezra? And if it wasn't then what exactly is he hiding? I lived how the book was written with Ezra's emails to his Dad included within and getting us closer and closer to what has happened.

I think that this was cleverly written as well as the obvious finding out whodunnit, it also touched on topics such as grief, religion, family and friendships. I loved the pace of it however found that I had to keep reading to see what had happened.

This book showcases how strong and always binding a mother's love is even when their child gets into some tricky and awful situations. It was a thrilling read that left me wanting more in the best way possible.

A mother. Her son. A tragedy.

Cora who lost her husband 2 years ago is trying her best to pick up the pieces and move forward with life all while still finding herself grieving. Her son, Ezra, misses his dad terribly and just wish that life would go back to how it used to be for them. A child is beaten & airlifted to the hospital one night and that leaves Cora in a state of shock as she thinks it could be her teenage son. Relief washes over her when she finds him in his room a safe playing video games. Then she finds his clothes. Covered in blood and orange clay…

This was an emotional read for me. It’s one of those books that going to pull at your heart strings. The author did a great job with making readers feel Cora’s raw emotions with every word written. There’s a lot of back and forth between the past and present but it’s done in a way that ties the whole story together. I enjoyed this book, I read this in 1 day. It’s a page turner that will have your heart racing, anticipating what’s going to happen next. Highly recommend.

Brilliant book amazing plot :) would defo reccomend this to anyone and everyone love this author!!!!

Thank you NetGalley for the ARC of The Mother by Anya Mora in return for my honest review. This is a new author for me and I must say I will defiantly be adding her other books to my ever growing list of authors to read. This had me gripped from the beginning till the end, would definitely recommend.

In my opinion, the complex issues discussed and described in this book were not handled delicately. I did not enjoy the book and would struggle to recommend it.

The bad:
There was so much whiny, lovey stuff that it got irritating, that I ended up skim-reading a lot of the pages so that I could skip the marshmallow-fluff.

The ugly:
The repetition, of feelings and events, actually made me so frustrated that I was skim-reading so that I wouldn't have to endure anymore.

Having said that, the blurb on the book definitely did even come close to expectation, as I was really expecting a suspense with a shocking twist ... that I saw coming from a mile away.

Previously titled “Secrets Mothers Keep”.
I’m struggling with rating it a 3 or 4 star. There were pieces of this I really didn’t enjoy, but that’s my own personal reaction (I am not a Church/God/Bible) person, so the parts that revolved around the MC’s struggling with their religion I didn’t enjoy. There is also a strong plot line around LGBT, where supremacy, white privilege, racism … it was a lot to take in, and really didn’t not feel this fit the bill for “Thriller” or suspense. The story premise was good, the wanting to know the truth of what happened that night was good, I kept reading to find out the answers, but I honestly don’t know if I will be recommending this to others.

WOW! This book was phenomenal! It was my first read by this author, but definitely not the last! The writing style was easy and flawless, and the story flowed seamlessly.
This book will have you feeling every emotion known to mankind. If you're a wife/mother, you will definitely connect with the main character. I can honestly say I've only cried while reading one other book, but I had tears in my eyes a couple times while reading this book. If you enjoy psychological thrillers, I highly recommend this book

What a gripping read, The
Mother was a book I found quite hard to put down, will be reading more by this author.

Omg talk about a roller coaster read wow this book kept me on the edge of my seat through out I just couldn't put it down this writer keeps you hooked and once your hooked your not letting go I found this book thrilling the characters were fantastic and well thought out and the little clues all the way threw keep you guessing until the end this book stays with you long after you close the book this book is well worth the read I promise you wont be disappointed.

I've read Not My Baby by Anya so I was excited to read this book. Dealing with the pain of loss, fear of being a parent and the protective side whilst also trying to innately trust your child.