Really enjoyed this read, I needed a pallet cleanser from my typical genre, and this was it! The cover is what pulled me in but the storyline kept me wanting to read! I can’t wait to read more from this author!

Love this book, can’t wait for the movie. Sometime, you need something different in your reading genre, and this was it.

I was surprised and excited to find that this novel, by an author I was unfamiliar with, that I hadn't known anything about going in, was really, really good. I wasn't sure what to expect before I picked it up but I'm surprised I haven't seen this book everywhere because it really fits the bill for the type of "book club fiction" that you see all over the place. I'm sure the window for that has passed, since it was published last year, but I do hope it gets a little more attention.

Anyway, I loved this. The characters are vibrant, complicated and complex and truly feel like real people. I had a ton of empathy for Lila, and despite the fact that she was objectively unlikable, I still liked her and rooted for her. It actually took me longer to warm up to her daughter, Grace, because to me she read like a spoiled child who was disappointed at not getting the exact family situation that she wanted. As I got to know her, I really did understand where she was coming from, and I liked her a lot more in the last third.

The novel is really about generational trauma and how we can never escape our pasts or our parents. Growing from the pain of our upbringing really takes a lot of work and a deep understanding of ourselves and our families. This was so well illustrated in this book as Rieger traces the trauma that followed this family through these women. I really liked this, and I won't stop thinking about it anytime soon.

I really enjoyed this book. Was a good character study of mothers & daughters. Will definitely read more from this author.

This book was lovely and endearing as you watched the relationships unfold amongst generations. It was easy to become entrenched in the drama and feel each characters feelings deeply.

The premise of this story seemed very interesting. However I felt for me it did not grab my attention and pull me into the world the way I want books to.

Not a perfect book by any means, but incredibly propulsive with interesting characters. I also really enjoyed the audiobook narration.

I enjoyed this multi generational story about mothers and their impact on their children. I won’t say that Zelda or Lila are necessarily good mothers, but the argument that they did the best they could with what they were given could sway me. I left this book a bit heartbroken for both the mother figures and their children. I loved how the story unfolded between Lila’s story, Grace’s story, then Zelda’s. I also liked the call outs to Detroit and the suburbs where I live. There were times when the story was a bit slow but overall I enjoyed the story and the characters.

Thanks to NetGalley and st Martin's Press for the EARC for review. All opinions are my own. The premise to this book was interesting to me with the mother/daughter relationship between Lila and Grace. The problem I had was that I did not find either one particularly likeable. This tends to make it harder for me to fully get into the book and the choppiness of the book jumping around was problematic as well.

I love a multigenerational story and this one is no exception. It would be great for a book club discussion.

I loved this…a lot. This multi-generational family story centers around Lila and Grace, and how looking for a connection and trying to figure out the past can lead you to information you might not want to find.

The supporting characters on this story were amazing, also! I chuckled every time “The Starbirds” made an appearance.

Read this!

I started out liking this book a lot. The characters were interesting and different than normal. However, nothing really happens. The book is mostly people talking and telling about their lives. It was repetitive and I thought the ending was a letdown.

If you are a working mother with any type of career—from the mundane to the impossibly powerful— this book will be your most thrilling dream and your worst nightmare. It will be validation and excoriation of the path you have chosen, but in the end, it will be so well worth the ride. Rieger, in a stunning debut, has brought to life generations of women who have been shaped by raw ambition and punishing circumstance. I loved them all.

What a great story! Like Mother, Like Mother is a story about what happens when spouses and children are abused and when women without maternal instinct become parents. Lila Pereira's mother disappears when Lila is two years old. Her mother was the victim of spousal abuse and Lila then becomes the victim of child abuse. Lila has it all- beauty, charm, intelligence, wit. She eventually becomes the Executive Editor of the Washington Globe newspaper, with all the perks and salary that come with a position of status and responsibility. But, like her own mother, Lila does not have maternal instinct. Lila has one set of twin girls and one additional daughter, Grace, with her husband, Joe. Over time, Grace searches for the truth about her mother and why her grandfather sent Lila's mother away. Ultimately, the truth is found. This is a complex story. At times I had to work to keep up with who the characters were. I forgot there was list of characters available at the beginning of the book. It certainly would have been helpful if I had remembered it was there. This is a complex story, but so worth reading, written with intelligence and sincerity. I recommend it.

Like Mother, Like Mother was a book spanning 3 generations of women. I found this book to be very dark. None of the women were particularly likable. Lila, the main character, has her mother removed from the family by the father and supposedly put into a mental hospital where she later dies. Lila grows up always wondering if her mother really died but never pursues looking for her. Lila marries and has 3 daughters where the youngest one decides to pursue looking for Lila’s mother. I never got a good picture of any of the characters.

Susan Rieger’s Like Mother, Like Mother is a sharp, engaging, and deeply moving novel that spans multiple generations, unraveling the complexities of family dynamics, ambition, and the haunting power of secrets. This enthralling family saga takes readers on a journey through the lives of three strong-willed women, each unknowingly shaped by the secrets buried in their family’s past, all while examining the legacy of these hidden truths.

The story begins in 1960s Detroit, where a two-year-old Lila Pereira’s life is irrevocably altered when her father has her mother committed to an asylum, never to be seen again. Lila grows up with a deep sense of abandonment, determined to make something of herself, and ultimately rises to the top of American media as the powerful executive editor of The Washington Globe. She is unapologetically driven by her career, often leaving the nurturing of her daughters to her husband, Joe. However, Lila's professional success comes at the cost of her relationship with her youngest daughter, Grace.

Grace, feeling neglected and resentful of her mother’s absence from her life, yearns for more than just material success. As she grows older, she becomes a successful reporter and even pens a bestselling book about her formidable mother. However, her journey to understand her family’s history uncovers startling revelations that shake her perception of the past. As Grace delves deeper into Lila’s life, she begins to question the legacy of secrecy that looms over them all, including the mystery of whether Lila’s own mother really died in that asylum.

Through Grace’s eyes, we are invited to witness the tension between the powerful pull of family history and the desire for independence. Rieger deftly navigates themes of motherhood, ambition, and the lies we tell ourselves and others in order to become the people we aspire to be. The book explores how the past—particularly the secrets we refuse to confront—can shape our identities and relationships in ways we may not fully understand.

Rieger’s writing is brisk yet poignant, with an effortless blend of wit and wisdom that keeps the reader engaged. Her portrayal of the complicated relationships between mothers and daughters is both heart-wrenching and relatable, capturing the nuances of love, resentment, and the complexities of personal ambition. Lila’s drive to succeed and her reluctance to look back are compellingly juxtaposed with Grace’s desire for answers and the painful realization that knowing where you came from might be key to understanding who you truly are.

In Like Mother, Like Mother, Rieger has created a story that is as much about the burden of family history as it is about the strength and resilience of women. The novel is a brilliant exploration of the ways in which we are both shaped and constrained by the stories we inherit—whether we choose to acknowledge them or not. The tension between ambition and familial loyalty, the fear of facing uncomfortable truths, and the exploration of identity through generations all make for an exhilarating and unforgettable read.

Fans of literary family sagas will find this novel to be a captivating and thought-provoking read, filled with rich, complex characters and an unflinching look at the ways we shape our own destinies—sometimes at the cost of what we leave behind. Like Mother, Like Mother is a testament to the power of stories, both those we tell and those we hide, and how they shape our journey through life.

I wanted to like this one. The multigenerational drama/generational trauma aspect was interesting, but the execution wasn’t there. The timeline was at times confusing and I didn’t really care about the characters as much as I should have by the end. I get where the author was going, but it fell flat for me.

In Susan Rieger’s recent novel, Like Mother, Like Mother, three generations of women grapple with what it means to be a woman: wife, mother, and professional. Driven by aspirations beyond the home yet burdened by the poor role models they believe shaped their understanding of motherhood, they must decide whether to draw inspiration from the past or chart a new path forward.

Lila, the youngest of three siblings in a single-parent household, endures her abusive father’s wrath as his primary target. She grows up hearing a repeated story: her mother, Zelda, was institutionalized when Lila was very young and died while in the asylum. Now married, Lila reluctantly agrees to have children, but only on the condition that her husband, Joe, shoulders the bulk of the parenting responsibilities.

Grace, Lila’s youngest daughter, battles her own demons of abandonment. She wrestles with whether Lila’s brand of maternal love provided her with the tools to balance a fulfilling career and a meaningful home life.

Grace is further haunted by Zelda’s story, recognizing how Lila’s sense of abandonment by her mother might explain her approach to parenting. When Grace publishes a semi-autobiographical novel, “The Lost Daughter“, she inadvertently opens a Pandora’s box, inviting speculation into her family’s most protected secret.

Lila and Grace are richly developed, complex characters. The novel delves into a variety of familial relationships while examining the impact of education, wealth, religion, and even regional differences across the U.S. And many of the secondary characters – Joe’s mother Frances, Aunt Hilda, Lila’s brother Polo, and Ruth’s mother and grandmother to name a few – warrant their own analysis.

This novel combines the hallmarks of a multi-generational saga without feeling overly heavy. And whether read in solitude or discussed with others, Like Mother, Like Mother is thought-provoking and thoroughly entertaining.

This review as well as additional Book Club Discussion Questions, are available on my blog - Lit&Leisure.com.

Lila is just a toddler when her father has her mother committed to an asylum, never seeing her again Growing up with a cold, angry and abusive father, Lila works hard to rise up it, becoming in time the editor of one of the nations most prestigious newspapers. She marries and has a daughter, Grace, with her husband Joe. Joe has done the majority of the work raising Grace until he decides he has had enough. Grace grows up always being under the shadow of her mother and wishing she could be more like other people's mothers. Grace becomes a respected reported and writhes a book based on her mother. This leads to tension between the women and Grace decides she needs to look into her family's past and what made the women the way they are. Strong female characters, good pacing and an intriguing storyline make this a riveting read.

Like Mother, Like Mother was my last book in 2024 and I give it 4.5 stars out of 5. It was an immersive read for me to the extent that at one point I had to remind myself that this was fiction and not biography. Granted there is a fictionalized US president named and I was not confused by that but at one point in the story it just seemed real. I enjoyed the structure told in three parts with the focus on three different characters but also appreciated that the author did not make us run through every single year/incident for each character. The reasons it’s not quite a perfect 5 for me are that stories with ultra wealthy families feel a little contrived and make for some convenient plot points and the ending felt a tad anticlimactic, partly because I didn’t want the story telling to end.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher, Random House | The Dial Press for a copy to read and review. This book came out October 29, 2024. If you’re reading this review when I post it (December 30, 2024) I noticed this book is only $5.99 for Kindle or the B&N eBook.