I received an ARC of this novel from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

A threesome of daughters deal with a driven mother who has mother issues in her own past. As a reporter, the youngest daughter delves into the family story and uncovers the truth about their pasts.

This was a very complicated book to read. If you enjoy multi generational family dramas, you’ll love this. I didn’t care for how the author would sometimes jump from one character’s thoughts to another. Overall was an interesting story that kept me wanting to read more. Thanks NetGalley for the ARC!

This is the perfect example of a multiple generational story of strong, interesting women. The characters are rich and complex, and their lives are fascinating. At the center is Lila Pereira, a powerhouse in the newspaper industry. After her mother was sent to an institution by her abusive father to never be seen again, she doesn’t have strong maternal instincts and instead leaves the child raising to her husband. This leads to her youngest daughter, Grace, feeling abandoned.

"An enthralling novel about three generations of strong-willed women, unknowingly shaped by the secrets buried in their family's past."
Well-developed characters each with their own story to tell, full of secrets and tangled relationships.
An engaging and emotional read!

Thank you to NetGalley and Random House Publishing Group/The Dial Press for an arc of this novel in exchange for my honest review.

The premise of Like Mother, Like Mother was an instant draw to me. The weaving of generational trauma and the genuinely fascinating lives and perspectives of each character was a big draw for me and carried the story, I think. As for what didn't work, the story didn't always feel like it was moving forward with purpose and it dragged a bit. Overall, an interesting and insightful read.

Why did I wait so long to read this book? "Like Mother, Like Mother" is smart and engrossing and comes sans sappy happy ending. Instead, Susan Rieger writes an ending filled with love, pain and loss.

What's not to love?

Lila isn't a good mother. How could she be? She grew up without a mother. What she did have was an abusive father.

Lila's long-departed mother had an abusive husband. According to family lore, she also had mental issues, resulting in a visit to a mental hospital where she presumably died.

Lila's daughter, Grace, has a terrific father and a mostly absent mother. Grace looks like her father rather than her mother. She's not entirely convinced that her mother loves her. She writes a novel based on her family and hits a little close to home . . . except for the parts she fabricates out of thin air.

This book sat, unread, for entirely too long. I didn't know what I had. Once I finally started it, I couldn't tear myself away.

This review also appears on Goodreads.

Unfortunately this book wasn't for me. Very early on I could tell it would be a struggle to finish. I was about 5% in and was already bored. I thik this was 100% on me. I think it was a little too much on the literary fiction side. I did not rate on Goodreads.

A big thank you to Will Lyman of Random House Publishing for providing a #gifted copy of this wonderful novel!

I absolutely loved this book. I found myself returning to my Kindle throughout the day, and then staying up too late because I couldn't put it down. If you enjoyed "Hello Beautiful" by Ann Napolitano, I believe you'll also love this one.

Each section explores the lives of the three women: Lila, Grace and Zelda. Lila is a larger than life character, a successful journalist whose career is literally the center of her life. How the actions of each of these women affect their own daughters is at the heart of this sprawling novel. I will surely be thinking about Lila, Grace, and Zelda for a long time to come.

This is a great big family saga, spanning three generations of women and their families. The characters in the book are all well-developed, despite the numerous names to keep track of. I appreciate that the author included a character list at the beginning, detailing all the connections to the main characters.

The book delves into themes such as motherhood, family dysfunction, the conflict between career and family, and sibling bonds. Its story will linger in my mind for a long time.

“𝘚𝘰𝘮𝘦𝘵𝘪𝘮𝘦𝘴, 𝘸𝘦 𝘨𝘦𝘵 𝘮𝘰𝘳𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘯 𝘸𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘰𝘶𝘨𝘩𝘵 𝘸𝘦 𝘸𝘢𝘯𝘵𝘦𝘥.”

📖 Book Review 📖

📱 "Like Mother, Like Mother" by Susan Rieger

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️💫
published October 29, 2024

A whirlwind novel about 3 generations of strong, unconventional women and the family dynamics that made them. A character driven story starting with Lila whose mother is committed to an asylum when she was only 2. She is left in the care of her abusive father and grandmother, along with her older brother and sister. Her father told his children their mother had died. With no mother figure and only a story to go by Lila forges her own path. She works extremely hard, using all her charm and whit to rise to the top of her journalism career as the executive editor of The Washington Globe knowing major sacrifices must be made- like the raising of her 3 daughters. Lila married her college sweetheart Joe who is the primary parent to his daughters. Grace, the youngest daughter is most bothered by the lack of a mother she has and as she gets older begins to resent Lila. Grace becomes a successful reporter, even publishing a bestselling book about her famous mother, but in the book writing process she realizes how many secrets her own family has. Ambition, family, marriage, power and the stories of our families that shape who we become all make this an unforgettable novel.


#somanybooks #readsomemore #audiobooks #bookstagram #bookrecommendations #readersofinstagram #readmorebooks #booklover #bookishlove #readersgonnaread #bookishaf

Excellent, interesting and captivating! "Like Mother, Like Mother" by Susan Rieger was a wonderful depiction of strong, ambitious characters, parental figures that are dysfunctional, yet unique and effective, the digging of the past and building of a strong, unlikely family unit. I loved it. Thank you NetGalley, the author and publisher for the review copy. All opinions are my own.

Thank you to Random House Publishing for an advanced copy of this book in exchange for a review. While I have a feeling that this book may be divisive, I deeply enjoyed it. This is a family story/drama spanning decades through three generations of women in one family. Lila's mother Zelda is committed to an asylum in the 1960s and she never sees her again. The ghost of Zelda continues to haunt the family for the next 60 years, inspiring both Lila's style of motherhood to her own daughters and their relationships to others as well. This book is full of complicated and complex characters who at the end of the day are doing the best they can with what they have and what they know. I enjoyed the author's long winded narration style of writing and felt that it kept the story interesting and well paced for a book with so many characters and storylines/timelines. I was worried how they would "land the plane" in the third act but I found the ending to be fulfilling without feeling overly contrived. I definitely recommend this if you are a fan of Ann Napolitano novels or family dramas in general.

I finished this over a week ago and forgot to review it, which is actually a good thing since I wasn't really sure how I felt about it upon finishing. Now with a little time to reflect, I can say with confidence that in a year, I probably won't even remember what it was about. Right now, I recall thinking that things really slowed down in the second half of the book, and I'm still not sure if I even liked the characters or not.
Thanks to #netgalley and #thedialpress for this #arc of #likemotherlikemother in exchange for an honest review.

Grace doesn’t know how to talk about her feelings. Instead of talking to her parents about their family life, she wrote a “fictional nonfiction” novel laying bare several generations of family trauma. Like her fictionalized counterpart, the inter-generational trauma profoundly impacts Grace, leaving her unable to identify or express her emotions. This plays out not just with her family but in her platonic and romantic relationships, in which Grace avoids saying “I love you” to her best friend, boyfriend, and family members.

Many people have difficulty expressing love. Reasons include fear of rejection, an upbringing in which emotions weren’t recognized or allowed, insecure or avoidant attachments with parents, and feelings of unworthiness. Sometimes, the situation is as simple as a lack of role models. If someone has never been told “I love you,” they will likely struggle to say it to another person.

When people love each other, the healthiest way to communicate these feelings is through consistent actions and words. Platonic or romantic relationships can flounder if either member is standoffish in what they say or do, so learning to express love verbally is essential.

Here are tools for learning to say “I love you.”

Identify the Why: What’s your history with the phrase “I love you.” Who said it (or didn’t say it) to you throughout your life? Who have you told it to? In what contexts?

Recognize Your Feelings: Saying “I love you” is considered when you have significant feelings. Journal your definition of love and how you experience those feelings with that person.

Isolate Your Fear: Determine the core concern barring you from expressing love. Are you afraid of rejection? Worried you’re not worthy? Unable to say the words?

Take Small Steps: Face your fear with increasingly intense exposure to your fears. For example, start by saying: “I had a great time with you today,” and build up to “I love you.”

Rehearse: Practice saying “I love you” in low-stakes situations. Say it to yourself in the mirror, your dog while on a walk, or a book you enjoyed. The more you say it, the easier it is to say.

I couldn't get into this book, tried twice but didn't make it past the 2nd chapter. Perhaps it is just my mood after the election and lack of endorsement by the Post. Sorry!

3.5 stars rounded up to 4.

I really enjoyed this heartfelt novel; it was the first book I've ever read of Susan Rieger, and I really enjoyed her writing style and the emotional depth of the book.

The characters were well defined and written - the traits of a mother being passed down from generation to generation is a really interesting concept. I loved the flashback into the past to know of Lila's journey - how her mom was placed in an asylum (was she, really?), and what life was like with an abusive father and no mother present. Then as she grows up and has her own family, she chooses her career over her daughters which leads to another complicated mother/daughter relationship - especially with her youngest.

It's a beautifully written book about family dynamics, love, and the journey of motherhood. This would be a really ideal book to use in a book club - lots of great questions and parts to share insights on.

Thank you to NetGalley and Random House for this arc in exchange for my honest review.

firstly, thank you to the publisher for an arc!

unfortunately, dnf @10% — typically i love generational stories but i was just not immersed in the writing. maybe i’ll pick this up again one day

Three generations of strong women and the ties and trials of motherhood. The novel mostly centers around the life of newspaper editor Lila Pereira. A trailblazer in journalism, she’s overcome a lot to get to this point — including an abusive father and a mother locked away in an asylum decades before, all the way to sacrificing events in her own children’s lives for work. Lila’s youngest daughter Grace feels left behind and ignored. When she writes a book about her family through pseudonyms, she subsequently also opens Pandora’s box with rhetoric question - did her grandmother really die in that asylum or did she escape and abandon her family?
While this novel took a bit to get into, it really took off for me halfway through and then I couldn’t put it down. It was full of the heart and grief that comes with complex family ties. I thought the author did a great job giving each woman her own section to explore her story throughout multiple timelines while still tying everything together at the end and within each section.
Thank you to Random House Publishing for the advanced copy in exchange for my honest review.

A memorable multi-generational story that thoughtfully provides a list of characters at the beginning. There are three sections: one for each generation of mother/daughters. The book begins with Lila, the middle generation. Her mother, Zelda, was committed to an insane asylum when Lila was two. Lila grew up in an abusive home which made her resilient, tough, and not particularly nurturing. Lila becomes a no-nonsense editor at a nationally-known newspaper.

Section two focuses on Grace, Lila’s third child. Grace is critical of her famous mother even though the two are very much alike. Grace also pursues a career in journalism, while writing poorly disguised auto-fiction titled “The Lost Mother.”

The final section is about Zelda, the missing grandmother. Throughout the novel runs the undercurrent of what happened to Zelda. Did she die at the asylum as her abusive husband contends? Or upon release, did she choose to abandon her children and begin life under a new name? Grace takes on the mission to resolve the family mystery.

This well-written novel wrestles with the definition of a ‘good mother.’ Lila, Grace, and Zelda are complex, memorable characters. At the same time, I found the contrast in fathers (e.g. Aldo, Joe, Xander, and Bobby Lee) to be equally worthy of discussion. A great choice for book clubs.

I loved the writing style of this novel, the way it flowed and gave information but was lyrical as well. It reminded me of Fredrick Bachman and Ann Napolitano, both writers whom I adore. There were a couple times that I would have liked the characters to speak a bit more directly - more than once I thought to myself, "no one speaks like this," but I enjoyed the writing so much it ultimately didn't matter.

I LOVED the character of Lila, and was glad the largest section of the book was devoted to her. She is a knockout of a character. While deeply flawed, I felt you got to understand her and her motivations in a way that you didn't as much for the other two sections involving Grace and Zelda. Grace came off like a spoiled brat for the bulk of the book, but the section focused on her helped ease some of my annoyance.

This would have been a five star read for me except I felt the ending section focused on Zelda suffered a bit. I could not connect to that character, and I wished that things were more direct in that part. I also felt like the lessons about motherhood were murkier in that section. Overall, I think this had a lot to say about parenting and familial relationships, and what it means to be a mother. A truly lovely cast of characters (I was especially grateful for the time we spent with Ruth, although it would have been interesting to hear more from the Starbirds as well).

Multigenerational family drama across the decades...I'm definitely intrigued by this type of story. I found the heavy dialogue-written style appealing, but largely the characters were pretty unlikable in my opinion. Some of that was definitely purposeful, some perhaps not. There are lots of layers to this story and it left a lot to reflect upon.
The audio version was done pretty well and did not detract from the storyline.
Like others, I felt the Author's Note was pretty sloppily done in terms of giving credit to various other authors. If there's a quote here and there...especially of something well known, I can see it, but when your characters' dialogues are so often formed by things you borrowed from other people, I just question why you didn't branch out and try to write more on your own. Rieger is both a writer and a lawyer after all. Her comments just seemed a little flippant to me.
Thanks to NetGalley and The Dial Press for this ARL. All opinions are mine.