This was an absolutely perfectly written book that drew me into the story from the beginning! It is told from the viewpoints of Diana, the mother-in=law, and Lucy, the daughter-in-law. Since the novel is told from the time of the current and the past, the reader needs to pay attention to the title of each chapter which tells you when the action takes place. It is the story of a dysfunctional family into which a young motherless girl, Lucy, marries. She really loves Ollie and wants to have a great future with him, but the problem seems to be Diana who doesn’t seem to like Lucy at all. From the time Diana meets Lucy, Diana seems to be withdrawn from her, hiding her feelings behind her aristocratic demeanor and speech. The family relationships also include Nettie, Ollie’s sister, and her overbearing husband Patrick. The only character that seemed likable was Lucy, but I did applaud Diana for her work with charities. I thoroughly enjoyed this book and its portrayal of a broken family and the results that affect all of them forever. I highly recommend this book to anyone who enjoys psychological suspense. I can’t really characterize it as a thriller, but definitely a suspense! This was the second book that I have read by this author, and she certainly does not disappoint her readers!

Dude. This was an edge of your seat, fantastic thriller!! Not many thrillers catch me off guard, it this sure did! I can’t believe the way this story played out. It was amazing and I’m so glad I read it!

This book is AMAZING. This story is so different from any other I've ever read. It isn't every day one finds a book that breaks down the intense and confusing connection between a mother-in-law and daughter-in-law. Sally Hepworth did this with such tact and intellect while simultaneously giving the reader a phenomenal story. This story is both thrilling and heart-gripping. I loved Lucy from the start. As a wife also eager for the respect and affection from her mother-in-law, I fully understood Lucy's character. She had a deep passion for her family and for that family to be whole, which included the acceptance of her mother-in-law, Diana. I thought Diana was extremely admirable. From the way she carried herself and Ollie through her younger years to how she mothered and "grandmothered" her family. Although hard to understand her ways at times, Diana always cared and thought of her family first. I never saw the ending coming. Mrs. Hepworth's writing truly had me questioning and analyzing each character to figure out what had happened to beloved Diana. WONDERFUL, wonderful read. Thank you for the ARC! I will buy my personal copy when it releases.

3..75 stars

Lucy lost her own mom when she was just 13 years old, so, she was always hoping that when she married, her “Mother In Law” would fill the void.

But, how often does THAT really happen?

Diana is “stand-offish” from their first meeting, even though she admits to her friends that she thinks Lucy, her new daughter-in-law, is “fine.” .

It doesn’t matter how hard Lucy tries, Diana is not really warm towards anybody except her husband Tom, and the refugee women she chooses to help through her charity. Generous toward them, but refusing to use her money to help her own children, claiming this will make them stronger.

Beginning with a scene where the police arrive at the door to inform Diana’s son Ollie and his wife, Lucy that his mother has been found dead of an apparent suicide, the story then unfolds through the perspectives of both Lucy, and her mother-in-law, past and present.

But, was it a suicide? And, why was her will changed at the eleventh hour, disinheriting both of her children, their spouses and her grandchildren?

I enjoyed “The Family Next Door”, Ms. Hepworth’s previous novel, more so than I did this one. As a woman, without children, I was a bit bored with the chapters narrated by Lucy, in the present tense, as their were endless descriptions of pregnancy and child rearing.

Diana’s chapters showed a softer side of her which conflicted with the hard stance she took against helping her own children and it was hard to reconcile her actions toward them, or to understand why.

In case you were curious, the author assures us in her dedication that she has never thought about murdering her own mother-in-law, Anne, although on the odd occasion, she has had those thoughts about her father-in law, Peter...😉

I would like to thank Netgalley, St. Martin’s Press, and Sally Hepworth for the ARC I received in exchange for a candid review!

This title will be available on April, 23rd, 2019 and is recommended for readers who enjoy domestic suspense novels, and perhaps for those who are less than fond of their own mother-in-law!!

Would recommend to book clubs or other reading groups. Characters were interesting with varying points of view. Tone matched plot points.

I loved the character development in this book almost as much as I loved all the unseen twists and turns!

I received an ARC copy of this book from Net Galley in exchange for my honest opinion of it. What really happened to Lucy's mother-in-law? Who killed her? I really liked how the story was told from the perspective of different people in the present and past, however, I thought it was kind of choppy in places where a paragraph would end in critical spots that you wait to see what happens and the next paragraph is talking about something else entirely. I thought it was less a thriller and I was really disappointed in the ending.

Thank you Netgalley and the publisher for an arc copy of The Mother-in-law in exchange for an honest review.

I have read Sally Hepworth books in the past and have really enjoyed them so when I saw that there was a new one coming out I couldn't wait to read it! The Mother-in-Law did not disappoint. I enjoyed the author's style of sharing the relationship of Lucy and her mother-in-law Diana from their individual points of view. I also liked how we were able to learn their back story to better understand the characters and how their experiences brought them to present day. The beginning of the book starts with Lucy and her husband Ollie being informed that Ollie's mother was found dead in her home. It is an apparent suicide based on a letter that was found in Diana's desk drawer and her having told her family she was diagnosed with cancer. The book proceeds to go back in time to explore Lucy and Diana's relationship, as well as the entire family who may have had motives to see Diana out of the picture. The ending was quite unexpected. I don't want to give it away so you must read it to find out. I totally enjoyed this book and can't wait for the author's next one.

An interesting approach to the mother-in-law / daughter-in-law relationship. This wasn’t the “thriller” that I was expecting it to be - but rather a glimpse of “two sides to every story”.

Briefly, Diana (MIL) and Lucy (DIL) are caught in a dynamic where neither understands the actions and motives of the other. When Diana is found dead, the family is now stuck figuring out why she committed suicide...or why she was murdered....

Overall, I liked this book, but found “The Other Woman” to be more suspenseful. These characters were likable and realistic...maybe a little needy (Lucy) and cold (Diana). The writing style was easy to follow and very readable.

It was an easy read completed in a few days. This was much more about building up the storyline than than it was about the finish. Since I typically like a lot of suspense, this fell a bit short for me.

*I read this ARC (thanks to NetGalley and Sally Hepworth) in exchange for an open and honest review. Mother-in-Law is in stores 4.23.19!

Sally Hepworth did an excellent job taking a psychological thriller plot and adding character depth that will keep the reader interested. I found myself getting invested in the family dynamics, and finished the novel in less than 48 hours. I found myself really enjoying the back and forth between the past and present day. This provided me the opportunity to better understand the decision making of the characters. I was satisfied with the ending of the novel, and look forward to this author's next book!

I have never read anything quite like THE MOTHER-IN-LAW, Sally Hepworth’s agonizing and thought provoking novel that illuminates one woman’s complicated relationship with her mother-in-law. The story of their association alternates between the viewpoints of the two women over a ten year period citing incidents, both past and present, that lays the groundwork for their tenuous association.

Hepworth possessed the ability to gaze steadily at feelings most of us can barely acknowledge even to ourselves in this harrowing account of love, money, the need for acceptance, despair and family relationships and how they are joined to travel together through a lifetime.

Lucy, the daughter in law, is a woman who lost her own mother when she was 13 and wants Diana, her mother-in-law, to like her and perhaps be a proxy mother. Circumstances in Diana’s past have made her the person she is today. She is a bit withdrawn when it comes to showing affection to her own children, possesses a set of “no handouts without work standards” geared to making her children strong, independent and unspoiled and spends an inordinate amount of her time involved in assisting refugees in adjusting to their new environment. Ollie and Tom, the ladies respective husbands are hard-working yet easy-going when it comes to their families with Ollie’s obsessive sister and her philandering husband rounding out this compelling cast of characters and their ever changing interaction.

As for the “was it a suicide or was it murder?” aspects for the story…..just as soon as you think you’ve figured it all out Ms. Hepworth hits you with a twist you didn’t see coming and you’re left to rethink your conclusions.

This is a story that examines the internal dynamics of one family. It provides the reader with plenty to ponder and had this reader "changing sides" on a regular basis. Guess I'm just fickle but sometimes l sided with Lucy and other times with Diana and then there were those times I thought they were both just a little crazy.

We all know that daughters-and-mothers-in-law have complicated relationships. Even in the best of circumstances, they are still complicated and full of desires for affection and feelings of inadequacy. Especially for Lucy and Diana. From the moment they met, Lucy and Diana just didn’t hit it off. Something was just...off. Lucy wasn’t the wife Diana wanted for Ollie, and Diana wasn’t the comforting mother-in-law Lucy hoped could fill the hole left by her mother’s passing when she was younger. Years pass, and then Diana winds up dead. All signs point to suicide, but what really happened?

The plot sounds like a simple “whodunnit,” but Sally Hepworth once again delivers deep characters and such an emotional storyline, you feel like you’re part of the family. She expertly jumps not only between Lucy and Diana’s perspectives and voices, but also from the past to the present.

I haven’t read a Sally Hepworth novel that I didn’t love, and this one may be my favorite yet.

I loved this book!! I've read a bunch of books lately that were either too predictable or had too many unlikable characters, but I loved this book because almost every character had some redeeming qualities. I also flew through it because I couldn't wait to figure out what happened. I felt like I had just started, and when I glanced down at the bottom of my kindle and I was already over half way done. I loved how it kept me guessing the entire way which is pretty rare these days! So good!!!!

When Lucy marries Ollie she is so very happy! She loves Ollie and she is so excited to be part of a bigger family. For years it has been just Lucy and her dad since her mom died. Marrying Ollie she has Tom and Diana her in laws. She wants to be close to Diana but Diana is cold and distant. This story is told by Lucy and Diana, now and in the past, in alternating chapters. When Diana is found dead, did she die of suicide or was she murdered? This was a great story of family drama and secrets and moves very quickly as you want to read and find out what exactly happened. The characters are so real and Lucy could be your best friend. The ending was simply perfect and I thoroughly enjoyed getting to know Diana. I received an advanced readers copy from NetGalley and St. Martin's Press. All opinions are my own.

“Sara is the only person I know who adores her mother-in-law. That’s because Marg looks after Sara’s children two days a week while also doing the family’s laundry, ironing and preparing homemade meals for the freezer. (Marg is what is known as a mother-in-law unicorn.)”

I love when a book can make me change how I feel about a character from the beginning of the book to the end. This novel kept me guessing the whole time as to what happened to Diana and I was very pleased that I was wrong in my assumptions. I was also impressed with how smoothly Sally Hepworth was able to alternate each chapter from the POV between Diana and Lucy, while also jumping from the past to the present.

There were so many parts that I could relate to with having my own mother in law. This book was full secrets and it was fun to try and guess each characters. I wish I wasn’t reading this book in between others because I know I would’ve breezed right through it!!

I highly recommend this book and I know it’ll be a huge hit with people who love suspenseful novels!!

I was intrigued by the title of this book-as I am a Mother-in-law 4 times! I am so happy that I can say I am not the Mother-in-law that Diana was. I felt both love and hate for this woman. She was a cold, unemotional woman with her family, but showed love and emotion for strangers that needed a helping hand. The mystery is to find out what happened to DIana, maybe not the supposed suicide of the note left behind. I thank the publisher, author, and net Galley for the opportunity to read this story.

Suspenseful and intriguing. This was a great book. Story unfolded like onion layers. You never know what is going on with some people and especially these people!

A disturbing but compulsively readable of a dysfunctional. I normally criticize authors who create ambivalent characters, but in this case the ambivalence is brilliant. I wanted to hate the mother-in-law.....yet i couldn't.
Surprise ending was fabulous.
I received an ARC from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

Diana is dead. There’s a suicide note in an odd location, “suicide materials” found near the body, and a host of evidence that the death was not in fact a suicide. What happened? Who is responsible? Did she actually kill herself?

I mistakenly thought this was a thriller when I requested it, but it’s so much more than just the story of a mysterious death. What I got was a layered story about a wealthy, well-to-do, flawed family and their strange and tense dynamics. It centers on the always-complicated mother-in-law/daughter-in-law relationship and is told through both perspectives, past and present tense. While Diana comes across to the people in her life as cold, distant, and unhelpful, through her side of the story, we learn so much about her complicated life and why she raised her children the way that she did. I thoroughly enjoyed it!

I think fans of Liane Moriarty will love this one!

Thank you to NetGalley and St. Martin’s Press for the advance copy!

I loved this book. I devoured it in 2 sittings, interrupted only by work and couldnt put it down until I was done in the wee hours of the morning. It wasnt a feel good book by any means, but it was interesting to get to hear the story from the perspective of not just the protagonist Lucy, but also her “evil” mother-in-law who we learn throughout the course of the book is just somewhat socially awkward and strong in her conviction that she won’t let her kids grow up spoiled bu wealth they didn’t earn (what a concept!). The mystery kept the pace of the book moving but what had me so invested was watching the relationship between Lucy and Diana develop into something that you secretly wanted for them all along, even after Diana had crossed a serious line. The story made me laugh, made me angry, made me frustrated and ultimately moved by what developed. But I hate that it wasnt a happy ending, even though that is made clear in the first pages. Great read, and thanks to netgalley and the publisher for the advanced copy!