Thanks to NetGalley for the ecopy for my Kindle.
I have purchased and read all of Sally Hepworth's books, but this one is my least favorite of all her books. It's a murder mystery with a mother/mother in law who is completely in love with her husband and thinks she can't continue living without him. Her idea of practicing "tough love" with her children is too tough for me. But there is a turn of events which leads to the mother/mother in law's murder and "who done it" which was probably the most interesting part of the book. In all, I found this book hard to read. It really didn't keep my interest plus I don't agree with the "right to die" aspects brought forward in this movie. Sorry, but as much I have enjoyed her previous books, this one was just o.k. for me.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for an advanced reader’s copy of this book in exchange for an honest review. I really enjoyed Sally Hepworth’s previous works so I was really looking forward to this latest. This particular book was not my favorite - I just could never connect to the many characters and the storyline.

I enjoyed this book. I found Diana a hard character to like, even with her backstory. I thought story was well paced, and there weren't too many unnecessary sub-plots going on to distract from the overall concept of the book.

Overall I would recommend this book.

Definately a 5 star and if I could give it a higher rating, I would. Sally Hepworth has done it again in a big way. I absolutely loved this book.

“The Mother-In-Law” by Sally Hepworth is a murder mystery set in Australia. Lucy and Ollie are married with two children. Ollie’s mother and father are as different as night and day. While his dad is easy-going and fun to be with, Diana, his mother, is an uptight woman who is totally interested in what people this and what people will say about her family. She is also not a generous person. Although the parents have a very comfortable life, they are not generous with their children. Antoinette is Ollie’s sister and married to Patrick. Her greatest regret is that they have not yet been able to have a child. Ollie and Lucy could surely do with a bitter home and Nettie and Patrick could use some financial assistance also.

The story begins as the police come to Ollie’s and Lucy’s to bring the sad news that Diana has committed suicide. However, things really don’t add up for the police and one by one the family is taken to the station to answer questions about their relationship with their mother. Lucy and Diana have not gotten along as Diana is constantly correcting Lucy’s parenting and housekeeping and everything. Diana is not well liked by her family. Did one of them kill her? Why would anything be so bad that would cause someone to take her life?

I found this story a bit difficult sometimes because different chapters were devoted to Lucy and others to Diana.

I have been a fan of Sally Hepworth for a while now and her new novel did not disappoint me. I was so intrigued and engrossed in this book from the first chapter and I loved the way the author wrote the different point of views. I feel this showed me more of an insight into each character's thoughts and why they made the decisions/choices they did. I highly recommend this book to anyone who enjoys reading women's fiction and/or family suspense.

My latest book was another Advanced Reading Copy!!! This one comes out on April 23. It was my first Sally Hepworth novel and just like...that she is now on my list of favorite authors.
Diana and Lucy struggled from the very beginning to get along, see eye yo eye, and generally have some human decency for each other. Now Diana is dead of an apparent suicide, but is that what really happened? The family starts pointing fingers and blaming each other, but who really knows the truth behind Diana’s death and what really happened??
The Mother In Law tells an amazing story from both the daughter in-law’s and the mother in-law’s points of view. Doesn’t a story change so much when you read it through someone else’s eyes??? I expected this to be a typical horrible mother in-law story, but it really explored so much more than that. The human relationships between parents and children, right and wrong, and our perceptions with everyday life situations are all brought to the forefront throughout this novel. So much of this becomes a self reflection of our own relationships with the ones we love mostly.
This is a great novel that is a combination of a fictional story with some added suspense that will keep you guessing until the very, very end!!
I highly recommend this book!! It was such a great one!!
⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️⭐️

Diana is an interesting mom and person. Her and Lucy (daughter-in-law) have a very strained relationship. They just really didn't get along too well.
It was a good story and there were quite a few "what were they thinking" moments near the end that I didn't see coming. I didn't really love any of the characters though but enough to finish the story.

This story flips between Lucy and her mother-in-law Diana. It also flips from Present day to Past day. The story flows very well and I was never confused while reading.

Diana is discovered dead from an apparent suicide. The family is shocked and the police are investigating. As the story progresses, we learn more about Diana and Lucy's relationship. When I thought that I had the story figured out, another twist would surprise me and sen day thinking in a whole different direction. I had a hard time putting this book down because the end of each chapter had me wondering what happened next.

I officially want to work for St. Martin's Press so I can read all the goodies they get!

This book was a whodunit, but it also was a story about a woman, and her family. Well, maybe a story about two women and their families. It incorporated classic mother in law grievances, but it went so much deeper.

You start off not really liking Diana very much but then there's a shift. The book alternates between Lucy's point of view and Diana's point of view.

Lucy just wanted to be accepted by her mother in law and to possibly have what she had lost with the passing of her own mother. She a mother and committed to her family with a mother in law that is awfully unbearable at times.

Diana is cold, unfeeling and oftentimes hurtful but eventually you get to see that there are two sides to this multifaceted woman and your view of her may change a little. The book shows that now of us are one dimensional. There are always several layers of a person and sometimes you're surprised by what you find when those layers are peeled back.

Then there is Nettie and she is a reminder of the harsh reality of the price some people pay in their quest to have a family.

This story is about the love two mothers have for their families and how different it is often conveyed. Mixed in with a good mystery, greed, and family secrets this book was nothing short of amazing.

4.5 stars, rounded up*

Lucy, a stay at home mom, is completely floored when police show up at her doorstep with news that her mother-in-law, Diana, has died. There are signs that Diana committed suicide, but the police suspect she was murdered. Lucy’s relationship with Diana was complicated even at the best of times, and the past is revealed through alternating POVs of both women. This is certainly a strong mystery, cemented in Diana’s death and the events leading up to it. But it’s also a powerful novel about women and their relationships with each other, particularly mothers and daughters.

I especially love the alternating POVs, as one person’s coldness or oddness is revealed as simply an ineptitude to connect with others. No one is a cartoonish villain; life just happens, with hopes and aspirations, and the sometimes thin line between cruelty and kindness.

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for an arc.

My first book by this author and it won't be my last! Evil Mother-in-Law, or no? What is her side of the story ? Well you get to hear from both... which I really liked! Gives the reader the perspective of both women.

Greed, betrayal and murder.... Diana is found dead, supposedly due to suicide but is that really what happened? If suicide, why ? If murder, who hated her enough? This was more than just a mother-in-law, daughter-in-law story, it is family drama, greed and secrets which I found very interesting.

A quick and compelling read that I thoroughly enjoyed! I will be checking out this author's other books..

" I worked hard for everything I ever cared about. And nothing I ever cared about cost a single cent."

A huge thank you to St. Martin's Press and NetGalley for allowing me the opportunity to read an advanced copy of this book! Greatly appreciated!

The Mother-I-Law reads like a combination of a whodunit and a jigsaw puzzle where all of the pieces fall into place perfectly! The book opens with a crime scene where the mother-in-law Diana is found dead in her home with a bottle of poison close by, and a suicide note tucked away in a desk drawer. The likely suspects are the main characters... the son Ollie, and his wife Lucy,the daughter Nettie and her husband Patrick. The reader is taken through the complex backgrounds and relationships that Diana has with each of these characters which builds the motive and suspense in this book. This book is a real page turner because you just have to find out who actually committed the crime. The book moves very well between past and present with the chapters being labelled past and present and who the main character in the chapter is addressing so it is very clear and flows well. The suspense builds at a great pace and keeps the reader engaged right through to the last page.
Many thanks to Neutrally and St.Martin's Press for providing me with an ARC of this book in exchange for my review.

I received The Mother-in-Law as an ARC from NetGalley. This book reminded me of a Liane Moriarty book - full of twists and turns. Lucy's mother-in-law, Diana, is found dead of an apparent suicide. Lucy did not have a good relationship with her mother-in-law but no one believes that she would commit suicide. This book will keep you drawn in trying to figure out how Diana actually died. I have not read any of Sally Hepworth's other books but this one makes me want to go read them.

The Mother In Law was a good book overall and it was surprisingly different (in a good way) than I thought it would be. The build up was slow, I felt the book dragged in the beginning yet I still couldn't put it down. It definitely left me thinking about relationships and the meaning of family whether it's spouses, mother and daughter, mother and son, mother and daughter in law, etc. A quick read and one I would recommend to others. Thank you for the ARC copy.

Do you get along with your mother-in-law? Lucy hopes to have a good relationship with her husband Ollie's mother, but Diana makes it difficult. Diana is far from nurturing and Lucy finds her cold. When Diana is found dead of an apparent suicide Lucy reexamines everything she know about Diana and the rest of the family. An exploration of family and how you never really know everything about a people.

This book had my attention from the first page, finishing it in just over a day! I did not know what happened to Diana in her final moments until the final pages of the book. It was a fun and complicated story of a family’s deep secrets.

But beyond the mysterious death of Lucy’s mother-in-law, I found all the family issues fascinating and, as much as I would have liked to have disliked Diana(the mother-in-law), she really grew on me and I respected her views of her adult children and her love for her husband Tom.

Diana and Tom(the in-laws) were fairly wealthy and were “expected” to bail their children out of whatever financial troubles they came across. This never sat well with Diana and caused tension in the family. I could relate to Diana’s feelings of wanting her children to be independent and fight their own battles.

Anytime I finish a book and the characters sit with me for a while, making me reflect on my own life, that is a great book! I love the character developement in this story, and even though there was a mysterious murder, this story for me was ultimately about family, and the relationships we leave behind when its time to go.

I received this advanced copy from NetGalley and St. Martin’s Press in exchange for my honest review. All opinions are my own. This book was published April 23rd, 2019. I hope you will check it out!

Wow! This was a compelling story. Diana had some secrets didn’t she? I was engaged immediately and when a book does that for me I am hooked. Thanks to St. Martin’s Press and to NetGalley for providing me with a galley in exchange for my honest opinion.

Although it is a mystery, this novel explores some very large life issues. The writing skillfully moves the reader through several narrators and a period of several decades.

We are made to think about the horror of being an unwed mother and forced to give up a child, the ethics of euthanasia and the fertility issues which haunt so many women.

So, wrapped within this mystery, there are so many topics that a reading group will enjoy discussing. Amazing how Hepworth has turned what could have been an ordinary “who done it” into a thoughtful study of a family in crisis.

Enjoy!

This was the first book of Sally Hepworth's that I have read. I didn't know what to expect but enjoyed getting to know the characters in The Mother-in-Law. I was hooked fairly quickly and found myself looking forward to each character's storyline. I would like to have known more of Diana's story. This book explores the relationships between family members and made me wonder how I fit in my "in-law" story. A good read.