Like Mother, Like Mother is a beautifully woven inter-generational tale. This is an epic story of women, their families, and the way they carry the pain from their parents throughout their lives.

This novel follows Lila Pereira and the people in her life. Her abusive father has her mother committed to an asylum, and she never sees her again. Lila rises to become a famous newspaper editor, has kids with her loving husband Joe, and seemingly has everything. Yet, she didn't want to be a mother. She doesn't think that she knows how to be a mother. Joe parents the children while she pursues her career, at the cost of a true maternal relationship with her children.

Years later, following Lila's death, her daughter Grace seeks to understand what happened to Lila's mother. Grace feels abandoned in her own right, and wanted more from Lila than she could have given. Grace goes on a mission to find out what happened to her grandmother, because she doesn't believe that she was committed to an asylum and then died.

Like Mother, Like Mother echoes the structure of Richard Powers and Tommy Orange, beautifully weaving together multiple interconnected tales. This story will make you think about your own family, and what the people that love you had to carry to raise you. This is a rich story, that sucks you in immediately. I felt deeply connected to each character in this novel, due to Rieger's masterful character development.

Thank you for the ARC. I was intrigued by the description of this book. Unfortunately, I just could not get into it and it was a DNF for me. It might be a case of wrong book, wrong time.

In 1960, Lila's abusive father has her mother committed to an asylum, and the family never sees her again. Lila grows up, marries, and works her way up to being executive editor of The Washington Globe. Luckily for her three children, her husband Joe becomes their main caretaker, while Lila prioritizes her career. Eventually, Lila's youngest daughter, Grace, writes a book based on their family history, partly to expose her mother and partly to bring to light the idea that Lila's mother ran away rather than going to the asylum. For some reason, I had a hard time following parts of the story. The characters were so similar it was hard to keep them straight. In the last part of the book, new characters are introduced that help with the asylum mystery but the story both dragged by that point and ended abruptly. Thank-you to NetGalley, Dial Press, and Ms. Rieger for the ARC of this title.

I love novels about multi-generations so knew I'd enjoy this one. Zelda is committed to an asylum in 1960 when daughter, Lila is only two. Three decades later, Lila works at the Washington Globe as husband Joe raises their daughters. It's an insightful look at how family members work together even when times are tough and not everyone gets along!
Thanks to NetGalley for this ARC!

This book was well written and kept me captivated throughout the entire narrative. You will find it has something for everyone. It's an intergenerational family saga; there is some romance and a mystery to be solved. It's a book about careers, and especially the life of a writer. It's a book about friendship, and how important those relationships are; the way they shape us. It's a story about loss, not just the things we lose, but the things we gain through loss. It's about hard work and commitment and the quest to become your authentic self. There is drama and conflict -- what novel succeeds without that-but nothing is overdone. You will find the characters to be believable and, (for the most part), sympathetic.

I enjoyed it and would recommend it to others.

"Like Mother, Like Mother" by Susan Rieger offers an intriguing storyline that spans multiple generations within a family, exploring how they navigate different environments yet end up remarkably similar. While the concept caught my attention and held it, I found the writing a bit stilted and awkward at times. The dialogue between characters felt disconnected, making it hard for me to fully engage with their conversations. Overall, it's a decent read, but it didn't quite become a favorite for me.

This is a sprawling family story about mothers, fathers, and daughters. What makes a good mother? Grace is the daughter of Lila, nothing like her, but very much like her. mother. Lila came from a rough upbringing to rise to be a powerful DC newspaper exec, often leaving the child raising to her wonderful husband Joe. After Lila passes away, Grace longs to find out what happened to Lila's mother Zelda. I was very invested in all of the characters and my mystery of what happened to Lila's mother. The book was witty and well-written at times funny, at times heartbreakingly sad. Great bookclub book.

I love a story that dives deep into how parenting affects our children into adulthood. His novel does not disappoint. A saga of generational trauma. Excellent read

I enjoyed this interesting read about three generations of women and motherhood. Opening in the 1960’s, Lila is out to make something of herself after escaping a childhood with an abusive father and a mother who has been institutionalized. Years later, Lila is the editor of the Washington Globe and has three daughters of her own. Her youngest, Grace, finds her identity shaped by the absence of her own workaholic mother and ponders what really became of her missing grandmother. The idea of what it means to be a mother, the gender stereotypes of parenthood, and the generational effects of parenting are focused on throughout the novel. While I found the plot and both main and secondary characters engaging, the dialogue often felt stilted and unrealistic. Overall it is a recommended, but somewhat uneven read. Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for the chance to read this ARC.

⭐️⭐️⭐️💫

Thank you to @netgalley and @thedialpress for the ARC

In addition to the ARC I got to attend a small group discussion hosted by the publisher to discuss the book with other readers, which was such a cool experience.

This book is a good intro the family saga genre and a very interesting character study on nature versus nurture.

Like Mother, Like Mother is one of those books I had to sit with for a bit after I finished. I wasn’t quite sure what I thought, and I wasn’t ready to move on right away.

I really do enjoy books that highlight complicated familial dynamics. The relationships between a mother and her children are so interesting, and I have a new perspective now as a new mom, myself.

This book spans different POVs, different periods of time, and has mystery woven in the pages as well of what truly happened to the matriarch of this family.

I can see this book being polarizing in opinions, but it is surely a good book club pick because there is SO MUCH to be discussed.

First I would like to thank Random House Publishing Group and NetGalley for the opportunity to read this novel prior to publication. This is multi-generational story that spans decades of secrets, lies, and heartache. I enjoyed hearing the story from different points of view and I was happy with the way the storylines ended. However, for me, it wasn’t until about halfway through the story that I was really engaged and wanting to read more.

#LikeMotherLikeMother
#NetGalley

I absolutely adored this book. Which is weird today because this book could have easily been called "Generations of Bad Mothers." This book is about three generations of women: Lila, her daughter Grace, and Lila's mother who died when she was little. Each part of the book dives deeper into each woman. My favorite part by far was Lila's but I loved each part. I loved the characters. Even all the side characters like the amazing Joe who might be the best dad of all time. Joe's wonderful mother. The "twins," Grace's best friend and the man who runs the paper with Lila. They are all wonderful and written so well that they jump out of the page.

I savored this book so much and tried to read a little each day which is incredibly rare for me.

There's so much at the heart of this book about motherhood and family and siblings and marriage and money and choosing work over family and dysfunction and all the different ways in which we can mess each other up. I won't forget this one for a long, long time.

with gratitude to netgalley and Random House in exchange for an honest review.

What if we hate what our mothers were but still create the same dynamic? Repeats through the generations of lack of love and focus on other things in life occur in this book. This was a great read and I loved the writing style and empathized with the characters as they all want more as women .

Like Mother, Like Mother by Susan Rieger is a story about women that covers three generations. It seems as though what started with Zelda continues through to Lila and then Grace. Lila is only a couple of years old when her father Aldo has her mother committed to an institution. Aldo was abusive toward Zelda, had her committed, then told Lila she had died.

Lila grows up and becomes a very successful, well known editor of the Washington Globe. She marries a wonderful man, Joe, who puts up with Lila’s success and becomes the main caretaker of their 3 children. Grace is the youngest and her two older sisters are twins. Grace feels abandoned yet she seems to be the most like her mother. Grace writes a fiction book based on her mother’s life which causes a lot of friction between her and her mother. However, it also leads Grace to wonder about her families background and what really happened to her grandmother Zelda.

Much takes place to bring Grace to the point where she searches for Grace but she learns a lot in the meantime. Thank you Net Galley for giving me the opportunity to read this pre-release.

Absolutely fantastic plot! Could not put the book down once I began reading it. Cannot wait for it to be released. I will recommend it to everyone I know!

Susan Rieger's Like Mother, Like Mother offers a compelling exploration of family dynamics. The novel follows Lila and Grace who are mother and daughter and are more alike than they think. Their intersecting stories reveal the truth about the family’s relationships and the sacrifices that are made by both parents and their children.
I thought it was a little bit slow at the beginning, but once I realized how important Lila and Grace’s internal struggles were developing the story, I wanted to keep reading. Another thing I struggled with was the back and forth of the timelines. For me, they were kind of all over the place at first, but after awhile I understood why. There are a lot of other characters in the book, and it can be hard to keep track, but the author included a “cast of characters” at the beginning of the book which was a huge help.
The different perspectives allow readers to appreciate the differences and similarities between the women's experiences. The author manages the tension and emotional depth between Grace and Lila in a way that provides both heartache and hope.
Overall, Like Mother, Like Mother is a thought-provoking, funny and emotional read. It's a worthwhile read for those who like family drama, humor and a little twist.

I wanted to love this so bad. I tried very hard to give it a chance to meet my expectations, but I missed the mark with this one. I love books exploring the relationships between mothers and daughters, so when I saw this book I requested it right away. From the description, I was expecting an overarching plot that dove deeply into the women in a family and how their relationships affected the relationships they had with their daughters. That, however, is not what I found with this book. Split into three sections, this book focuses separately on a mother and a daughter. They do not feel interwoven into each other, it feels like two separate stories that happen to have a mother/daughter in the story. I didn't feel like the mother/daughter relationship was explored any more than a book with that dynamic in it. I found that the dialogue heavy scenes that "told instead of showed" lacked a solid plot that I could follow easily. The mystery that was thrown in didn't feel like it matched the overall tone of the book. I think I was ultimately thrown by the expectations the title gave but didn't meet. The writing itself was fine but didn't quite achieve what I thought it would.

I fell in love and became fully absorbed with this novel. Such a cast of truly unique women. And what I loved about these women (three main characters; three generations of a family) was that none of the supporting family and friends were trying to change these very independent thinkers, but observed and ultimately admired their quirks. Great story, superb character study. I will be thinking about this one for quite a while. Thank you Net Galley for the ARC.

Multigenerational fiction with flawed characters and women who break molds? It’s my kink as Chappel Roan would say. I loved this book. I loved the characters, the way the characters were unapologetically themselves, I loved the Jewish rep, the good and ugly. Gosh this may be a fave of the year.
4.5 stars.

In Susan Rieger’s Like Mother, Like Mother, Lila is the successful, high powered editor of the fictional Washington Globe Newspaper in Washington DC. We learn that she comes from an abusive home where her father committed her mother to an asylum many years before.

Grace, Lila’s grown daughter writes a barely fictional account of Lila’s life and grandmother’s disappearance and possible later life. Through alternating timelines we follow these characters and many of those who they love as the story asks us to consider: what impact do our mother’s choices really have? How do maternal bonds, whether or strong even painfully absent, influence our daily lives?

I wanted to like this more than I did. I thought the plot was interesting, but the story suffered from an over abundance of unlikeable characters. I also found myself looking forward to any part where characters were not speaking to each other, as much of the dialogue was stilted and followed the same odd mannerisms. I was also hoping the mystery of where Zelda was would be actively acted upon much earlier in the book.

All-in-all, this one just wasn’t my cup of tea.

I received this free advance copy from the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for my honest review and feedback.