I have decided not to write a review of this book. I enjoyed it and I think the author touched on a lot of interesting and emotional topics. But, one character (the social worker) didn't fit into the narrative for me. She wasn't connected enough to the rest of the story and to the other characters in the book. Her story line was therefore less compelling and seemed extraneous. It all fit together in the end, in an unsatisfying way that seemed too contrived and convenient.

Thank you to St. Martin's Press for an ARC of this novel. Sally Hepworth is an insightful author. She is a master at examining families and relationships. Zoe Stanhope suffers from debilitating anxiety. She has just turned fifteen. She doesn't know her father. Her mother Alice may have ovarian cancer. It is just Zoe and Alice and no support system. Could things get any worse? Miraculously Hepworth's story develops into a novel full of courage and hope. Be brave enough to read this book!

I received a copy of "The Mother's Promise: A Novel" from NetGalley for an honest review. I wish to thank NetGalley, St. Martin's Press, and Sally Hepworth for the opportunity to read this book.

This book was a REAL page-turner for me. I just could NOT put it down and was eager to keep reading it. It was a very good book and I wish that I could give it 4.5 stars. The story was very riveting and made me realize how how lucky that I have been as a mother.

Definitely a good book for reading with a cup of hot tea, roaring fire, and a rainy day. I highly recommend this book!

Sally Hepworth has produced another emotional, resonant book with THE MOTHER'S PROMISE as she weaves the relationships between Anna, Kate, Sonja, and Zoe, as well as exploring those between the others in the women's lives. I don't usually say this, but I almost felt as though the book could have been a little longer- I felt that I didn't get to know some of the characters as well as I would have liked. Kate and Zoe were the best developed characters, but I wish we had a little more story about who Anna was before cancer, and while I think Sonja's role may have been intentionally smaller, I felt like I didn't get to know her well enough to truly understand her experience and motivation. Sally Hepworth writes women's fiction that is perfect for those who want to see the familiar, if very difficult, struggles of women with full, complex lives.

As a mother, I know I'd do anything to insure my child's well being. The Mother's Promise by Sally Hepworth is the story of Alice and her daughter Zoe. As a single mother with practically no other support system, Alice raised Zoe as best she could considering Zoe has a severe case of social anxiety disorder. When Alice is diagnosed with a life threatening illness she must find a way to insure Zoe's well being. Enter the other characters in this emotional novel: Sonja the social worker and Kate who is Alice's nurse, both have their own family issues to deal with, but are important in the outcome of Alice & Zoe's struggles.
This book will stay with me for a while, as I was overcome with emotion at various parts of the story. Sally Hepworth is a wonderful storyteller who makes the reader feel like part of the family she is writing about. I cried and cheered for Zoe and Alice whose love for each other was truly beautiful.
Thanks to NetGalley and St. Martin's Press for an advanced copy of this unforgettable book.

Heartfelt. Emotional. Thought-provoking. “The Mother’s Promise” is all that and more. It’s the story of Alice Stanhope, a single mother who has just received a cancer diagnosis. Alice has a fifteen year old daughter, Zoe, who suffers from social anxiety disorder. The father is out of the picture, and Alice’s family and social network is very limited. Alice has to confront the realization that she is dying, and she is forced to make one of life’s most difficult decisions—who should have guardianship of her daughter after she is gone.

Two other women’s lives intertwine with Alice’s in this novel: Kate, who is one of her oncology nurses, and Sonja, who is her medical social worker. All three are dealing with their own personal crises. Add in to the mix Zoe’s own phobias relating to her peers at school, and sprinkle that with normal teenage angst. The different story lines tug quite hard at the reader’s heartstrings. A shocking revelation towards the end of the book binds the women together in an unexpected way with the shared purpose of finding Zoe a safe and loving home. And the ending? Well, all I can say is have some tissues handy, because you are going to need them.

I rarely give a book five stars, and when I do, it’s for something really special. It has to be something that has touched me at my deepest core. Something that I continue to think about long after I’ve finished it and moved on. Something just like this book, which in my opinion is highly deserving of a five star review.

Thank you to St. Martin’s Press and NetGalley for a complimentary digital ARC in exchange for an honest review.

A very poignant novel that is, at heart, a social commentary on the end of life decisions and mother/daughter relationships. The author also describes serious physical and painful emotional issues that the well-drawn characters are facing. It is both heart-breaking and up-lifting.

Thank you Netgalley and St. Martin's Press for letting me read an advanced copy of Sally Hepworth's newest book, The Mother's Promise. I thoroughly enjoyed her first two novels The Secrets of Midwives and The Things We Keep. So, i was excited that her newest novel was available for review on Netgalley.

Alice Stanhope is a single mother who is struggling to raise her daughter Zoe on her own. Zoe has suffered from a crippling social anxiety disorder since she was a young child. Alice's parents died before Zoe were born and her brother, Paul, is an alcoholic. So, she doesn't have a support system. Alice was recently diagnosed with Stage III ovarian cancer. Sonja is the hospital social worker assigned to Alice's case. Kate is the oncology nurse. Alice reaches out to these two women for support and stability for Zoe as her prognosis becomes grim. As Sonja and Kate struggle with their own issues of abuse, marriage, step children and infertility, they stand strong for Alice and Zoe.

Sally Hepworth has delivered another beautifully written book!

It's not often that I can finish a book within 24 hours of starting but with The Mother's Promise I couldn't put it down. Though it isn't a long book it was the story that drew me right in and I just could not stop reading until I finished.

This is the third book by Sally Hepworth , I enjoyed her first two books and jumped at the chance to request the arc from Netgalley when I saw it was available.(The Secrets of Midwives and The Things We Keep click on titles for links to my review). I will admit that I don't always read the synopsis for certain authors, which happened here. To be honest I might even have shied away from this book if I had known what it was about, cancer is such a scary thing and with my son finishing his last chemo treatment six months ago everything is still fresh in my mind. So needless to say I found this to be a very emotional story, one that grabbed me and would not let me go.

One of the scariest things of being a parent is when something happens to your children and you have no control over it. But what if the roles were reversed and something happened to the parent, add no family or friends for support creates a bad situation. Such is the case with Alice Stanhope when she is diagnosed with stage III ovarian cancer. Her daughter Zoe has serious anxiety issues and only 15 years old. Nurse Kate has her own issues as well as social worker Sonja.

With chapters alternating between characters it was easy to get absorbed in their lives, to care for them and feel their fears. Anxiety disorder it's something that I have never really heard of before and I think the author did a great job of portraying it and how it affects people. This book was a perfect example of being sensitive to other people because you don't know what is going on in their lives just like they don't know what is going on in yours.

The Mothers Promise is a story of love, devotion and heartbreak and one that will stay with me for a while.

Thank you to St. Martin's Press for an advanced copy (via netgalley).

When I saw this book offered on Net Galley, I quickly requested it. I had read "The Things We Keep" and had loved it. Yes, it was sad and emotional, but it was about real life, emotions, reality and that you don't always get what you want.

I found the same thing with this book. Alice and Zoe are a family, a mother and daughter that have seen each other through hard times and good times. Alice has spent many hours helping Zoe try to get over her severe social anxiety. So crippling that she has no friends, no outside life other than her and her mother. One day Alice is diagnosed with a life threatening disease and her fears for Zoe only add to her frustrations.

The journey that this mother and daughter take are in this book are highly emotional and true to the author's past writings. She does a beautiful job in the story and I enjoyed reading it.

Thanks to St. Martin's Press for approving my request and to Net Galley for providing me with a free e-galley in exchange for an honest review.

The Mother's Promise is my second book by Sally Hepworth. I love her writing style! I think she deals with health issues in a very gracious way. She always leaves a message of hope to the readers. Her books are not only written to make us cry.

This one moved me a lot. In a few words, it's about a single mother, Alice, who has ovarian cancer. She has no one in the world but her teenage daughter, Zoe.

They're both very lonely. Alice doesn't have any friends, no one to go to the chemo sessions with her, no one she trusts to watch her kid. Zoe only has one friend at school and suffers with social anxiety disorder. She's always invited to parties and stuff, but her fear doesn't allow her to go. She just wants to be alone all the time... That's until she realizes that being alone is also very scary.

Together, mother and daughter face their fears and try not to show their weaknesses to each other. They also get some help along the way from the secondary characters: a social worker, a nurse and Zoe's boyfriend.

I really enjoyed this read. I think the ending was very touching. It's a story that makes us reflect on our fears and how far we go when there's no other choice.

This is such a heartfelt story about a diverse group of characters whose lives intersect because of cancer. I loved it!

An Amazing, full of emotion book!
This story is about a single Mom who gets a diagnosis of stage 3 ovarian cancer. Not totally unexpected- her own Mother had died from this dreaded disease.
Alice is raising her daughter Zoe (15) who has a severe anxiety disorder. How will she ever cope with her Mom's illness and continue to function in the world? Will Zoe be able to help and adjust to this new change in her routine?
It has only ever been Alice and Zoe. There has never been a need to "let" anyone else in their lives, until now..

This fabulous book has so many facets; including social anxiety,abuse, isolation, death and dying, and most prominent is Love, Courage, Friends and Family
Sally Hepworth did an awesome job with these delicate subjects. Be aware!
You will need tissues through out the chapters!!
Thank you so much Netgalley for allowing me to read this wonderful book!

Sally Hepworth really knows how to tug at the heartstrings with her realistic portraits of family. An insular family of 2, Alice and Zoe's world is rocked when Alice is diagnosed with ovarian cancer. In addition to her cancer diagnosis, Zoe has an anxiety disorder and her mother has always had her back. With no family to back her up, what will happen to Zoe if something were to happen to Alice? Fortunately for Alice, she finds two women who can be a support for her. A story of love and family that will stay with you.

Publisher: St. Martin’s Press
Pub. Date: February 21, 2017

With the title of “The Mother’s Promise”, and the book’s blurb stating that the mother was dying, I did surmise that I was about to read a sappy narrative. I also knew that I wouldn’t care since I most likely was about to read a heartwarming story. There are four heroines in this book. There is a single mother who has been diagnosed with cancer. Her teenage daughter suffers from a social anxiety disorder (as if high school isn’t hard enough). As well as the mother’s nurse, and her social worker, both who are also battling their own personal issues. After a rocky start (who wants strangers interfering in your life), these four females form a close bond. Before they met each was isolated in their own way from the rest of the world. Now they have a support system in one another. The expression “you can choose your friends but not your family” applies to this group.

Although this tale should have read somber since the plot squeezes in many troubling subjects including, mental illness, bullying, rape, abusive husbands and infertility, the author, Sally Hepworth, chooses to write her story focusing on female strength (think “Steel Magnolias”). By attempting to help the soon-to-be orphaned teen each woman turns out to be helping one another. So even though the book’s content is intense, this is an uplifting read. However, because it is written in this manner I think that sometimes the story is lacking the appropriate seriousness making some scenes unrealistic and certainly predictable. Still, I knew what I was getting into. I chose to review this book as I was in the mood for a storyline that would make me laugh, cry and probably bore the heck out of my husband. Women’s Contemporary Fiction is not usually what I seek out to read. But, if you are a fan of that genre you will like this one.

Find all my reviews at https://books6259.wordpress.com/

Before you start reading "The Mother's Promise" take out the tissue box. This is novel is so much more than a story about a dying single mother with a daughter who is struggling with a severe social anxiety disorder. This story tugs at your heartstrings. Prior to reading this novel I really did not understand the depth of social anxiety disorder. Hepworth did a fabulous job of bring light to this disorder and at the same time making one aware of the importance of having family and friends who you can depend on. I will be thinking about this story for a long time.

A well-written page turner. BUT. Far too manipulative for my taste. And transparent.

That being said, the book deals with very real issues. A dying, single mother. A teenage daughter with social anxiety. Family, love, fertility, marriage, secrets, abuse--there's a whole lot of relevant topics going on in this volume.

Positive for wanting to find out how it would end [though I pretty much nailed every scenario]. And mostly about empowering women. Negative for being overly manipulative [I resent being led though a novel in this regard]. Yes, I teared up--who wouldnt?!

Very much like her previous novel, The Things We Keep, is light reading with heavy content.

The lives of four women – a single mom with cancer, her fifteen-year-old daughter, an oncology nurse, and a hospital social worker – intertwine in unexpected ways in this complex tale exploring family, friendships, marriage, and motherhood.

Alice has stage three ovarian cancer, and she fears for her daughter, Zoe, who suffers from crippling social anxiety disorder that renders her almost helpless without Alice as her safety net. Zoe’s father has never been part of her life, and she has no relatives other than a totally unreliable alcoholic uncle. Kate and Sonja, Alice’s nurse and social worker, respectively, seek to help. But their own lives are beginning to fall apart for personal reasons, and as the story unfolds, each woman learns things about herself and others that will change her life and her relationships forever.

The story is narrated from the points of view of each woman, and we get to know them intimately. We experience Zoe’s paralyzing fear of everyday things, we share Alice’s losses, we ache with Kate and feel her longing, and we begin to understand Sonja’s inability to make a decision that may seem simple but never is. Their lives come together in believable, if unexpected, ways, and each character finds new strengths within herself to do what must be done. This well-written and knowledgeable book is fascinating, satisfying, and absorbing.

Great story and easy to read. Look forward to reading more from this author