I absolutely loved everything about this book! I could not put it down!! The story gave you just enough to make some guesses, but never enough for you to be confident in your prediction. This is my first of Sally Hepworth's books, but it certainly will not be my last!!

Thank you to St. Martin's Press and NetGalley for the advanced copy in exchange for an honest review.

5/5! Absolutely loved The Mother-In-Law and read it in a day! At first, I was certain that I had figured everything out, but by the end, I was truly surprised. I was impressed with the author's ability to make me second guess what I believed several times throughout. Additionally, Hepworth is a master at the evoking the ability to concurrently like and dislike her characters at the same time. If you are a fan of domestic suspense, I highly recommend this book!

This book is so enthralling that the mystery almost takes the backseat! I was so interested in learning about Diana's past and Nettie's struggles that I would speed read through the present chapters. I'm usually pretty good about spotting an ending way before it happens but this one kept me in the dark. And not in a way that made it feel like she was trying to create an extra twist just for the sake of it. I could not put this book down, reading at every chance I got I was able to finish in two days. I definitely recommend this to anyone who likes a good thriller and family story.

This one was not my cup of tea. I found it very slow and hard to get into it just didn’t excite me the way most thrillers do. I don’t know if it was the characters or what excatly I have enjoyed this author before just didn’t care much for this one.

The best book! It drew me in quickly and I never got bored. I couldn't wait to find five minutes in my day to read The Mother-in-Law. It was written well, and just when I thought I had it figured out, I realized I didn't.
It also made me think about someone else's perspective of things. We judge and think we know what the other person is thinking, but the chapters from Diane showed that she wasn't as cold as people made her out to be. She cared and really was thoughtful in her own way. Hepworth made her likeable to me.
I really enjoyed this book - my favorite of 2019 so far!

I really liked this book and read it in one evening. The book goes back and forth between the perspective of Lucy and her MIL Diana, as well as between past and present. The format of the book and the story were easily accessible and I found myself not wanting to put it down. Better yet, the ending was not what I expected. 4/5 stars.

I appreciate the effort and the idea, but this was a miss for me. I felt the plot wasn’t very unique and it was predictable. The author gave away too much early in the book, which is unusual for Hepworth. I think the story has some potential but misses the mark in terms of character development. The structure was good, and the writing was good (as I expected it would be). I am still glad I read this, but it seems to be several revisions away from a finished product right now.

Wow! What a book! This was a first read for me from Sally Hepworth! I am now a huge fan and look forward to reading more of her bokks! This one was amazingly well crafted I could not put it down! This will keep you guessing until the end which I found so refreshing! Thank you Netgalley and St.Martin's Press for a ARC copy in exchange for my honest review! I highly recommend this book!

A family, or not a family, one wonders sometimes. Diana, the mother in law, becomes pregnant at an early age, and is sent away to have her baby, her parents insisting she give it up. Her parents disown her. She decides to keep her son Oliver (Ollie), and for several years struggles financially, having to use initiative and hard work to support her son. She marries Tom and her financial problems become a thing of the past. They have one daughter together.

Not wanting to be idle she sets up a foundation to support immigrants, by trying to find them better jobs. Many of these immigrants are well educated and experienced professional people who are working in their new country (Australia) for minimum wages and struggling to support their families. (We often hear about this in our newspapers, don’t we? or maybe you have had the same experience.). The foundation becomes an integral part of the story.

Ollie marries Lucy, whose own mother died when she was young and she is desperate to get close to Diane, her new mother in law. She soon discovers it is not to be. The daughter marries Peter, who is money hungry and knows there is money around. Lucy has 3 children, Diane’s daughter struggles to get pregnant, then loses the babies; she becomes obsessed with having a child.

The family dynamics make this story unique, the chapters go back and fore from past to present, with Lucy and Diane. Diane believes there are no handouts, if you want something, earn it! She is adamant about this which creates tensions with the family throughout the book.

I thoroughly enjoyed this thought provoking book, it may make some of you think about your relationship with your mother in law, or maybe you are one, and will think about how you support......or not support your in-laws. Highly recommended.

I really enjoyed this page turner. The multiply POV’s and timelines helped develop the characters at a perfect speed. 5 stars!

<i>The Mother-in-Law</i> is one of the most exciting thrillers that I've read in a while. The novel starts with the death of Diana, the matriarch of a flawed family. Although the death appears to initially be a suicide, police quickly realize there's more to her death and her relationship with her family than it initially seems. The novel is told between the past and present with alternating views between Diana and her daughter-in-law Lucy, who desperately wants her Diana to be the mother she never got to have.

Many of the reviews that I've seen so far have placed Diana in the role of the stereotypical mother-in-law character, however I really liked her character. She's a flawed woman with a deeply traumatic past. She loves her children, but her own background and her own mistakes causes both her and the people she loves a lot of heartache. I really enjoyed her character because she seemed so human and broken.

I really enjoyed the story because we see all of the characters at their best and at their worst. I would have given the book five stars because it was a very exciting read but there were quite a few loose ends that I wish the author had either chopped entirely or wrapped up. Otherwise, the story is a fun read, and I'm excited to read more by Hepworth in the future.

Thank you St Martin's Press and NetGalley.

I really enjoyed this book! It was a first by Sally Hepworth and won't be a last.

I loved the dynamics between all of the characters. Lucy and Diana's relationship took a nice turn. I couldn't quite grasp why Diana was the way that she was and why they didn't all "just talk" to each other.

I'm glad that the refugees had nothing to do with it. I thought it was going in that direction and was pleasantly surprised.

Wow, had never read Sally Hepworth before but am definitely a fan now. Excellent domestic mystery about an Australian family and the relationship between a mother-in-law and her daughter-in-law,
Diane, the mother-in-law dies under suspicious circumstances and the story is about all the different personalities in her family and how Diane’s death came to be. You will be rooting for the two main
characters. Gave me some insight into being a mother-in-law to three.

Anyone with a mother in law is going to enjoy this read. It will make you laugh, but will also leave you pretty freaked out and hoping nothing like this happens for you. Even if you don't have a mother in law, if you enjoy the psychological thriller genre, this is worth the read.

LOVED this book. Once I started I was totally sucked in. Did not have the ending figured out at all. Was a great book.

This was a story that kept me guessing from the very beginning. You know it is a good storyline if you can pin the murder on any one of the characters throughout the story. I honestly wasn't sure until the very end who did it.

This is a story told from different POV from different times in the storyline. Almost every chapter left me with a little bit of a pause and made me question if I knew who did it.

Communication between the characters could have easily changed the trajectory of the circumstances and the relationships between the characters. I found it heartbreaking at times at how close characters were from revealing their true thoughts and or emotions and they didn't. These familia relationships were so close to happening but never got to that point. It was an interesting look at the different relationships between family members and made me wonder how often things are misinterpreted.

I received an ARC of this book. All thoughts & opinions are my own.

This book had me from the title. I mean who doesn't want to read a thriller about a mother-in-law?

Once again, Sally Hepworth did not disappoint. I was so invested in Lucy's relationship with her mother-in-law and toward the end Diana's relationship with everyone.

I throughly enjoyed this read, and think you will too. It is well written, has great characters and the story progesses quickly.

#themotherinlaw #sallyhepworth #netgalley

Really enjoyed this book. A little suspense to keep you wanting to keep reading. I thought the character development was good. Didn't necessarily agree with the mother in law's philosophy on life, but it was a good theory and worked for the story line.

I have heard of Sally Hepworth but never read one of her books. The Mother-In-Law sounded like a book I would enjoy. I was right. A very well paced and smart family thriller. I loved that every character was a suspect and it kept you guessing til the end. Well done. I will be reading more book by Ms. Hepworth!
Thank you Net Galley for an advanced copy of this book. This is my honest review.

5 full stars for The Mother-In-Law!!

Synopsis: Lucy is surprised to find two police officers at her door. They’ve come to inform her that her mother-in-law, Diana, passed. However, her death isn’t clean cut. There’s suspicion that what appears to be a suicide might actually be homicide. And as the investigation proceeds, the “who-done-it” motive unravel.

Review: Holy crap! This is not your classic mother-in-law story whatsoever. It’s full of deception, greed, callousness, rage, and guilt. The dysfunction that comes out of this family seems to anchor on who Diana was as a person and mother, and yet her very purpose in life was to equip her children (and others) to lead non-dysfunctional, self-fulfilling lives. It’s a really interesting satire that plays out.

I loved the dual perspective approach that Sally Hepworth took. The story was told from both Lucy and Diana’s points-of-view through past and present events. It built a very strong foundation for the tension and relationships within the book.

And speaking of relationships, man-oh-man Hepworth’s character development is on point! I had deep visceral feelings toward Diana - hate, disappointment, and even empathy/understanding.

The twists were appropriate. And I say that because there wasn’t anything “shocking” in this story that seemed farfetched. This story read so realistically that that’s what made it impactful.

I would highly recommend this book. It was gripping, clever, well-paced, and tight!