Like Mother, Like Mother by Susan Rieger is a novel that dives deep into the often-complicated world of mother-daughter relationships, spanning three generations. It's the kind of story that truly explores the intricacies of family dynamics, showing how bonds can be both incredibly strong and incredibly fraught.
As you read, Rieger skillfully weaves in a family mystery, which adds another layer of intrigue. You'll find yourself searching for answers right alongside the characters, trying to uncover what truly happened in the past and how it shaped the present. If you appreciate a story that blends rich character exploration with a compelling mystery, this one's definitely worth picking up.

Wow, I didn't expect to love this book so much. It's about three generations of strong women that maybe weren't very motherly but were always there, except for one. Lila grew up in an abusive household where her father repeatedly hit her and her siblings after their mother Zelda supposedly died in a psychatric hospital. After that trauma, Lila swore she wouldn't have children but Joe, her husband, promises to take care of them with the help of babysitters. As a result, Lila ascends to editor of The Washington Globe. Years later, when Lila is about to retire, Grace, her daughter, publishes a book loosely based on their family, where she explores the theory that Zelda didn't die, but ran away from her abusive marriage, abandoning her children. When Lila gets diagnosed with stage IV cancer, she leaves a letter to Grace to find about what happened to Zelda as a last wish.

I was so entertained with this multigenerational drama, there were so many characters that sometimes I would get confused but the author had a good way of pulling me back to the story. The writing was very good and engaging. It was pure perfection! I was in awe of Lila and Zelda, two women so ahead of their time. Highly recommend.

More exploration of character and relationships with very little plot, very little in the way of story questions - one question links the generations - but I found it slow until the very end.

As the title suggests, Like Mother, Like Mother centers around the often complicated, layered relationships between mothers and daughters. Told in a character-driven, three-part structure, the novel aims to be a multi-generational family saga exploring legacy, identity, and the choices women make. Unfortunately, this one didn’t land for me.

Right from the beginning, the narrative is steeped in political commentary—real politicians, historical references, and a very overt ideological stance from the author. While politics in fiction can be powerful when used to deepen story or character, here it felt heavy-handed and overwhelming. For the first 70% of the book, the story often took a backseat to political name-dropping and opinion, which quickly became a distraction.

The characters didn’t help redeem it for me either. In a character-driven novel, I need at least one character I feel invested in or curious about, and I struggled to connect with anyone. One of the central figures is so absorbed by her career that she seems to forget she has children at all, while the other left little impression—flat and forgettable. With this kind of emotional distance, even the core mystery of what happened to Lila’s mother lacked urgency or weight. By the final 100 pages, I found myself disengaged and indifferent to how it would all end.

While the premise had potential and the generational lens could have provided depth, the execution just didn’t work for me. Between the unrelenting political overtones and characters I couldn't care about, Like Mother, Like Mother ultimately fell flat.

Thank you to The Dial Press and NetGalley for my DRC.

This is a story about 3 generations of women, and how each generation affects the next. Sometimes, we don't realize what are mother and grandmother went through and when we find out, it makes you see why they acted in the way they did. I found this aspect of the book interesting, but I wasn't really engaged at parts. There are too many characters, some that really don't need to be there. It took me a while to get through this. The audio was better for me, although the narrator was monotone, and constantly said "he said" or "she said," as if you didn't know someone was saying something. I found this a bit annoying.
Thank you to NetGalley and Random House for this ARC.

A sweeping story across generations of powerful women, Like Mother, Like Mother examines how we different interpretations of shared experiences shape us. When secrets from the past come to the surface, each main character deals with them in her own way. The way each generation interacts with the other shapes the life, achievements, struggles, and joys of the subsequent generation as each woman tries to find her identity amongst the chaos.

Sometimes funny, sometimes a little out there, I loved this novel for the character study that Rieger put together. I did struggle to relate to some of the levels of wealth and success.

I wouldn't recommend reading this book when reading something else at the same time. I did tend to get a tad confused on who's who when coming back to it.

Is every woman simply destined to become just like her mother?

⭐️⭐️⭐️
Like Mother, Like Mother
By: Susan Rieger
Publisher: Random House Publishing Group-The Dial Press
Pub Date: 10/29/24
A story that spans over 3 generations and the uncovering of family secrets. Lila is just a toddler when her father had her mother committed and that has shaped who she is as a mother and a person. But years later when Lila becomes a mother she’s extremely hands off and focuses more on her career leaving Joe to do the rest. This book really focuses on the relationship between mother and daughter and how it affects everything in your life.
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We read this one for my bookclub and I unfortunately was not a fan. The writing was way too over the top, superfluous and needed multiple additional rounds of edits, IMO. I liked some of the strong female characters but the side characters were never ending and contributed little to the story. I also didn’t like the implied references to Trump, without actually naming Trump. Unfortunately this book just didn’t work for me.

Once I got involved with the characters in this story and their family, I enjoyed the audio version. It was well narrated. The story revolves around
three generations of a family and the secrets they keep. Questions come to the surface and with these questions, should family members try and discover what the secrets are or just leave it alone? As I was reading, it was blatantly obvious what the author thinks about our current political climate and her political views, ahem, I mean the political views of the characters in her story. I doubt a 47 lover would finish this book, which, in my opinion would mean missing out on the best parts.

What I liked: A multi-generational family drama with a lot of quirky characters (hardworking mom, angsty daughter, missing grandmother)

What I disliked: Too much repetitive dialogue. Also, so many characters with random side stories that did not advance the plot.

I received this book as an ARC from NetGalley.

This is a multi-generational saga that follows several families through the years.

It makes the reader reflect on life and family influences. As you follow the various story lines, you wonder about the situations that different characters experience and the affects on their lives and the decisions they would make. How much do our backgrounds and our parents' decisions determine the directions we will take?

Like Mother, Like Mother is a powerful story about family, ambition, and the things we pass down from one generation to the next. The book follows Lila, a strong and determined woman who becomes a top editor at a big newspaper. She focuses on her career, while her kind husband takes care of their kids. But their daughter Grace grows up feeling left out and hurt by her mother’s choices.

As Grace gets older, she becomes a writer and starts looking into her family's past. She discovers secrets about her mother and grandmother that change the way she sees everything. This book shows how hard it can be to understand your parents and how your past shapes who you are. It’s an emotional, honest story that many people can relate to. A great read for anyone who loves stories about family and finding yourself.

Thank you NetGalley for the ARC for review purposes.

I found this novel engaging and well written. The effect on Lila of her childhood abuses was believable and tragic. The relationships in the novel were very realistic.

I enjoyed reading the story and found the characters endearing and well written.

A rich, absorbing multi-generational saga, Like Mother, Like Mother deftly explores how ambition, motherhood, and the secrets of the past ripple through generations of women. The story centers on Lila Pereira—a formidable editor who clawed her way to the top after a traumatic childhood—and her daughter Grace, a writer determined to untangle the legacy her mother refuses to speak of.

The novel’s strength lies in its emotional depth and complexity. Each woman is portrayed with nuance and compassion, never falling into stereotypes of the neglectful career mom or the rebellious daughter. Instead, we’re offered an intimate view of how silence, survival, and sacrifice shape the choices they make. The shifting timelines are well-handled, and the slow unraveling of the family’s hidden history is both poignant and satisfying.

Some plot threads resolve a bit neatly, and the book occasionally leans into melodrama, but its insight into identity, inheritance, and the costs of reinvention give it real resonance.

It was a decent book. I dont think I am the target audience but that is okay. It had very good writing tho.

Like Mother, Like Daughter by Susan Rieger was an average 3.5 star reading for me. I loved the characters in the book and the way they were all connected. I am a sucker for the family drama trope and this book definitely had that.

Thank you to NetGalley, the author, & the publisher for an ARC copy of this book in exchange for my honest review.

A wonderful read!
This novel drew me in from the very first page and kept me hooked until the end. The characters were vibrant and relatable, the writing was engaging, and the story had just the right balance of heart and humor. Highly recommend!
Many thanks to NetGalley, the author, and the publisher for my ARC. All opinions are my own.

This was a fascinating story about generations of mothers and daughters. I loved all of the various characters but most particularly, Grace, Lila and Zelda. I really enjoyed the story telling - I do not think Zelda's story would have had as much of an impact if I didn't have the in depth understanding of Lila and Grace first. I felt very connected to the setting here as someone who grew up in Michigan and then moved to DC. I also enjoyed the newspaper world - so much fun to see characters who are reporters. Thank you to the publisher and net galley for copy of this book. All thoughts are my own.

Great book! Like Mother, Like Mother is an epic, multigenerational family saga. It is full of secrets, drama, and complex characters who are just trying to navigate love, life and family. I recommend this to fans of emotional, character-driven stories.

This story was funny and moving and showed the beautifully chaotic reality that is life. This is the story of three generations of women, spanning decades of love and loss. Lila Pereira is two years old when her mother is committed by her father, and never to be seen again. Lila climbs to the top of the Journalistic world, eventually leaving her daughter’s daily care for her loving husband, Joe. Grace is her youngest daughter and the one who always wanted more from her mother. She wants her mother’s love, but she also wants to be free of her mother’s shadow. Following her mother into journalism Grace can’t help but run in similar circles. When Grace’s bestselling novel, loosely based on her mother’s life, blows up her family dynamic; she is forced to take a deep look back into her family’s past and unearth all their secrets. Grace and Lila are messy and loveable characters so you can’t help being swept up into their drama. The other members of the family are the glue that holds this book together and makes the whole thing shine. Because of the limited knowledge we all possess of other people’s lives, this story had a mystery vibe that made you want to find the answers and to understand the complexities of someone else’s life. With a dash of historical fiction, this family drama was next level (cue the tears) amazing. If you enjoyed The Joy Luck Club, Everything Everywhere All at Once or Mamma Mia! You should pick up a copy of this book. This would make an excellent book club selection.