Reading Between the Wines book review #100/130 for 2024:
BOOK TOUR!
Rating: 3🍷🍷🍷
Book: Loving Mothers
Author: Miranda Smith
Available now!! Released on October 3, 2024!

Sipping thoughts: This was a very quick read. I love the way Miranda Smith tells stories. I really felt I was a neighbor in Hickory Hills. What do you do when a young teenager goes missing in such a small knit community? Who can you trust? Shelby wasn’t the best person and definitely not a role model, but does that mean someone wanted to get rid of her? I changed my mind so many times on what happened and what led to it, and I was wrong on all occasions, lol, and I enjoyed that.

Cheers and thank you to @Bookouture and @Netgalley for an advanced copy of @LovingMothers.

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I’m sure we’ve all heard the saying ‘No One knows what goes on behind closed doors’. And it’s certainly true for the residents living in the upmarket residential area of Hickory Hills. This fast paced domestic thriller had me captivated from the very first chapter. The characters all had certain flaws and kept me on my toes trying to figure out who the culprit was. From start to finish this was an excellent read.

I devour all of Miranda Smith’s books. This one didn’t have me hooked. The plot was good, but it was too slow for me. Lots of characters to keep straight in the beginning. All the moms of the neighborhood seem to have secrets and figuring out who killed Shelby and why, had me interested in this tale. I found myself bored with the characters and didn’t care much for them. But, I will continue to read all of Smith’s books.

Thanks to netgalley for an ARC of this book in exchange for my honest review.

It’s Halloween night in Hickory Hills. The neighbors are a mixture of personalities.

Mary is the Queen Bee of the neighborhood married to the high school principal and mother to Grace.
Donna Bledsoe is divorced and mother to Shelby, good friend of Grace.
Naomi Davies is a fitness fanatic.
Janet Parks is a trophy wife who drinks too much.
Stella Moore is a newcomer to the neighborhood and single mother to Hudson.
Annette Friss is a spinster who enjoys yard work.
No one notices when three teenagers disappear into the woods.

The next morning, Donna calls Mary saying Shelby did not come hone last night and she is worried. First off, the police aren’t interested in pursuing this as they feel she is a teenager who may have simply run away. But when she doesn’t come home, the women print out posters and head out to other neighborhoods to put them up.

As we get to know the different women, we find that some are hiding secrets. In addition, some of the teenagers are also hiding secrets. Each family is dealing with its own kind of problems and the women do a lot of gossiping. This leads to unfair accusations that are quite hurtful. But, what happened to Shelby?

I loved this book. The gossip makes me feel rather sorry for these women that they don’t have more in their lives to keep them busy. But when I thought I figured out what happened to Shelby, I was totally wrong. This is a tense story that will keep the reader glued to the book. Enjoy!

Copy provided by NetGalley in exchange for a fair and honest review.

Miranda Smith is a new-to-me author and I will definitely read more of her titles.

Loving Mothers gave me Stepford Wives meet Mean Girls meet Housewives of ____ (fill in your fav housewives show) vibes. Stella moves with her son to a new neighborhood to escape her horrible husband. She thinks she's finally fitting in with the women. But on Halloween night, one of the local girls (Shelby) goes missing. To divert attention from her daughter Grace, Mary spreads a rumor about what Hudson did at his old school, and now there's a witch hunt. Is Hudson more like his father as Stella fears, or is Grace keeping secrets? Both Stella and Mary know their kids are guilty of something. And when the final secret is exposed, it has an explosive impact on the perfectly curated neighborhood of Hickory Hills.

The characters of the four moms and three kids are well-developed, with separate personalities in this a highly readable thriller.

Thanks to NetGalley and Bookouture Books on Tour for an advance reader's copy.

My god, this was juicy! I absolutely love suburban drama, they are one of my favourite sub-genres of thriller.

The peaceful and idyllic family atmosphere of Hickory Hills suddenly gets disturbed by a tragedy - one of their own appears to be missing. Worst of all, it’s someone’s child, a barely adult teenager.

Mary’s daughter, Grace, seems to be the focus of the investigation in her bff’s disappearance, but as we as all know - a mother will stop at nothing to protect their own.

The plot actually reminded me a little of A Slow Fire Burning by Paula Hawkins, even though I have yet to read that one fully.

There are a lot of characters but the writer does a good job at giving everyone their own voice, and the multiple POV chapters make it easier to not get confused at all.
Twisty, suspenseful, and full of drama, just how I like my books.

This book was one of the best psychological thrillers I’ve ever read! It’s told from multiple POVs, in a small suburban neighborhood. After their yearly Halloween party, one of the teenage girls goes missing. Fingers are pointed at the new kid in town, neighborhood gossip is spreading from numerous sources. The twists and turns just keep coming and you WILL be sucked in needing to know more!

Thank you for Net Galley for access to this book!

it’s full of twists & turns which will keep you guessing until the very end. It has multiple POV’s, close neighbourhood setting giving it a sort of desperate housewives feel which I loved.

"A-sixteen-year-old girl goes out on a crisp fall evening and never comes home. It’s every parent’s worst nightmare. Every mother in the neighborhood holds their children tighter. But two of these loving mothers are hiding something terrible…"

Such a good book! This book is well written and pulls you in to the drama immediately. The twists keep coming right up until the end and you won't want to stop reading. I can't wait to recommend this to everyone. I enjoyed the different character perspectives we were shown chapter by chapter. It helps the story unfold in a very satisfying way. Great book; I can't wait to read more by this author!

Thank You Netgalley for this arc in exchange for an honest review!
I absolutely couldn't read this one fast enough. It kept me on my toes. I can definitely say I was thoroughly shocked by some of the events that unfolded in this story.

This story is told from multiple points of view from the residents of Hickory Hills. 16-year-old Shelby has gone missing the day after the big Halloween Party. The whole neighborhood is shocked as they frantically search the area and talk to the police about what they remember from that night. Everyone has their secrets that they want to stay hidden but how far would you go to make sure they don't get out?

Happy Pub Day
Loving Mothers by Miranda Smith is nail-biting and suspenseful.
I was totally absorbed in the story from the first page. It is a fascinating and fast-paced book.
Thought-provoking, gripping and unputdownable!

Thank s You NetGalley and Bookouture for your generosity and gifting me a copy of this amazing eARC!

This story centers around a missing teenage girl, but it is about so much more than a missing girl. This gave me the Desperate Housewives vibe with snooty, spoiled women who think the world revolves around them and appearances are everything. Mary, Naomi, Janet and Donna are mean girls in adult form. I really despised these four characters.

For all their posturing, these women are all hiding secrets. The tragedy of a missing girl is about to bust this community wide open. The secrets are oozing just below the surface, and they are about to bubble to the top. Lives will never be the same again when this mystery is solved.

I was completely glued to the pages of this book. Sleep is not necessary when you are engrossed in a good book. The author kept dropping clues and you would think it was over. Then you would turn the page and something else would happen. The conclusion was absolutely stunning. I never saw it coming. There is nothing more enjoyable to read than a well-written mystery that gets its claws in you and will not let you go until you finish.

Thank you to Bookouture and NetGalley for this ARC. I am leaving this review voluntarily.

This was a wild read as the twists just kept coming!!! Told from multiple povs and timelines, this was exciting and engaging. The story moved at a nice pace that kept me wanting more every time I finished a chapter. Will definitely read more from Miranda Smith. If domestic thrillers are something you enjoy, this is a great pick!

This book was filled with surprises.It was very entertaining and a good page turner; definetly kept my interest. Sometimes the people you mess expect it (because they show their lives as perfect when it’s far from it) have secrets to hide and big juicy ones at that. The ending ended in the best plot twist ever!

Thanks to @bookouture for having me on the tour of Loving Mothers by Miranda Smith,

I found myself feeling like I needed to rush through this book because I wanted to know what happened. I enjoyed reading the different points of view of those involved. I enjoyed the pacing of this book, and it definitely kept me on my toes about who has done it. I kept being suspicious of the wrong person, and there were so many twists and turns that I audibly gasped as I didn't expect some of the revelations to happen.I absolutely adored all the fascinating characters and their intriguing secrets! It gave me nostalgic vibes of Desperate Housewives or Stepford Wives, with each mother having their own captivating hidden stories.

#Bookouture #LovingMothers #MirandaSmith #MysteryNovel #BookTour #PageTurner #IntriguingPlot #SecretsUnveiled #UnexpectedTwists #MemorableCharacters

This was such a great thriller!

So many twists and turns - I could not figure out who committed the crime.

I could not put this book down. It was such a quick read and so easy to get lost in.

10/10

Big thanks to Bookouture for a copy on Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.
I quite enjoy a Miranda Smith psychological thriller.
Her books are clever, mysterious and very entertaining.
Loving Mothers is another to add to that list.
Stella and her son have moved to Hickory Hills to escape her mean husband.
She meets four other wife’s and mothers who seem to rule the street.
The night of the neighbourhood Halloween party everyone has great time.
But the next morning the daughter of one of the mothers has disappeared.
What happened…..
As the police get involved, there’s more to this story than meets the eye…..
A fast paced read with many revelations along the way.
Full of tension, surprises, twists and turns.
Behind the facade of perfect there’s more secrets than you can count…..

I knew I was going to love this from the first pages and I was not disappointed, desperate housewives meets big little lies in this mystery set in a gated community called Hickory Hills.

The housewives here all think they are a cut above the rest, first to talk behind the backs of anyone who is absent. On Halloween the annual party sees one of the teenagers Shelby not return home. the parents are questioning the children, the finger pointing begins and soon more than one families life is shattered.

I flew through these pages (staying up until 4am to finish) this was a great read with relatable characters, red herrings and a lot of mystery.

Many thanks to NetGalley, Bookouture and of course the author for my eARC

Talk about the tangled webs we weave! This book was quite the wild ride with murder, family drama, lies, secrets, and betrayal at the center of it all. There were so many twists and little hints/details that kept you hooked from the beginning until the end, and kept you guessing to try to figure out the truth. Told from multiple points of view, details from each character were revealed as the story unfolded, leaving you trying to piece together the bigger picture, how each character was connected, and what role they played in the events that happened. Overall, it was a fast paced and entertaining read and I will definitely be checking out more books by this author. Thank you to Miranda Smith, Bookouture, and NetGalley for the ARC in return for my honest review.

I feel like my mind has gone through the wringer after finishing Loving Mother’s by Miranda Smith. I could not put it down and devoured this juicy thriller in a day. Loving Mother’s was intense and mind blowing, and perhaps the twistiest psychological thriller I have read. Miranda Smith has once again written a masterpiece. Her writing style is propulsive and engaging and left my mind exhausted (in a good way of course!). I have definitely found a new favourite thriller author.

It’s the annual Halloween party in the tight-knit gated community of Hickory Hills. The community comes together for celebration and good times but by the end of the night 16 year old Shelby is missing. Did she run away as half the town believes or did something more sinister happen to her? In a community where everyone has secrets you won’t know who to believe nor who to trust. You absolutely must read this 5 star thriller and find out what has really happened. You won’t believe it!

Thank you so much Bookouture, NetGalley and Miranda Smith for my e-arc.