Yes!! I really enjoyed this book, could not put it down!! Thank you Net galley and Kira Peikoff and Crooked Lane books for the opportunity to read and review this book, Loved it!! Well written. Story about a couple who lost their son to an unfortunate genetic disorder. Clair and her husband Ethan decide to try again after a few years to have another child. Secretly Clair is taking birth control. She finally decides to see a specialist with Ethan and really go forward with another pregnancy. Well this is where the story really takes off. It is written from the viewpoint of three of the characters and i thought if would be very confusing, but was very easy to follow. Also alternates between past and present. There are twists and turns and unexpected events that keep you reading till the wee hours of the morning, Abby is sheltered by her parents and starts digging into genetics to ultimately uncover the truth about her history and creation that she had no idea she would be uncovering. Fast paced book. I finished this book in a weekend. I would definitely read more of Kira's books.

An intriguing premise for a book - the manipulation of genetic code to eradicate the possibility of inheriting a deadly disease; a prime illustration of how motivations shape decisions and the consequences reaped from less than nobel proclivities. This book would make an excellent choice for book groups that are able to engage in civil, respectful discussions.

I recieved this book via Netgalley and give it my honest review.

I requested this book as I do not normally read psychological thrillers. I had to put it down almost half way through as it really wasn't my kind of book. It is well written and I am sure for some it would be enjoyable, but sadly not for me.

This is the story of Abbey and her parents...all three of them. The story is told via three points of view; Abbey, Claire, and Jillian. The first half is told with a mix of "before" and "after" and, as the story progresses, they merge into the second half of the drama.
The story is told well, and this is a real page-turner contemporary thriller. There are themes of grief and how people carry on after losing a child, also themes of mental health. Mother Knows Best delves into the world of gene mutation and it raises some very interesting questions about the ethics of playing with human life.
It's difficult to write more in a review because there are so many twists and turns in the story and I don't want to spoil it for anyone. I will say that I had a slight issue with Jillian's character. I found her development and general persona to be a bit confusing and mixed up. The best way to describe it is that I didn't buy her development...I'm not sure that the Jillian we meet at the start of the book would progress to become the Jillian we see later in the book.
I felt the ending was a little too neat - after all the drama and the secrets, the epilogue felt like it swept all that away and everyone lived happily ever after. Sometimes it's nice to read of an ending like this, but I thought the fact that it was such a complex subject meant the ending could have had a bit more complexity to it.
So, I had a few issues with it, but this book was a decent thriller with some interesting ethical questions.

Mother Knows Best has a unique premise within the thriller genre, and I could not put it down! We get a preview of where science is heading, and some of the ethical and personal implications involved.

Thanks to Crooked Lane Books and Netgalley for this ARC!

This was an interesting read mostly for the science involved. I really wanted to like it, unfortunately the characters are not very likable. The only good character is Abigail and you feel really bad for her. The story was good enough to keep me reading and it was definitely different. I would recommend this to Sc Fi fans. Thank you Netgalley and Crooked Lane Books for the advanced copy.

If you’re sick of the traditional thriller then this may be for you. The science aspect was interesting and was written believably enough for this non medical person. That part was good and kept me entertained.

The mystery part that follows didn’t keep up the pace unfortunately. It’s rather easy to predict and at times unbelievable. It wasn’t bad per se but just a let down after a different and clever set up.

Good writing, characters and premise but a little lacking in the thriller aspect. Overall, pretty good and I would check out more by this author.

Thanks to NetGalley, the author and Crooked Lane Books for a copy in exchange for a review.

Mother knows best was an enjoyable thriller that seemed to fly by. Claire and her husband Ethan recently lost a child and they are desperate for another child. She contacts Doctor Robert Nash with the understanding that his methods might be not what others consider ethical. Nash helps the couple have a healthy child by using part of another woman’s eggs. I enjoyed the novel bit wish there was a little more character development.

This was an okay read, nicely plotted. The characters were certainly annoying and their actions were a bit unbelievable at times.

I received an ARC from NetGalley and publisher Crooked Lane Books in exchange for my honest review.

This was a really good thrill. It was good in multiple points of view, 1st person. It was well written, fast places, and a very intriguing page turner. The story was addicting and entertaining. I flew through the short chapters and the alternator between now and then. Then ending was a bit predictable, but not disappointing in the least. Overall, very well done.

wow! what an amazing adventure this book took me through..

Claire wants nothing more than to have a second chance at being another after the death of her 8 year-old son due to a genetic mutation she passed on to him. When she finds out about Robert Nash, a doctor who has possibly come up with a way to successfully reduce the risks of passing on the mutation to future embryos, she does everything in her power to meet him. The problem is, the procedure is illegal because it would require genes from 3 parents, rather than two. Modifying and manipulating the human species is something the United States has not yet approved.

Dr. Nash, with the help of her over eager and obsessive postdoc, Jillian, carry out the procedure in secret. When the feds are tipped off of the experiment, Claire goes into hiding in order to protect her child from becoming a lad rat.

Ten years later, Claires baby is a bright curious girl who starts questioning why her parents never go out in public. Her quest for the truth unravels the safety net Claire has worked so hard to keep her under.


This novel was such a crazy and wild ride from the beginning of the book. Would definitely recommend it to everyone

A very good book, mixing storylines with biology and real life dilemmas. Lots going on, lots of decisions. The perfect read to keep you entertained, educated and wanting more.

4.5/5
I loved the twists in this book and it kept me engaged the entire way. A medical-based thriller with a girl Abigail born to three parents with modified genetics. She grows to learn about who her real parents are and how she came to be.

Thank you to Netgalley and Crooked Lane for the preview.

Claire carries the gene for mitochondrial disease which caused her to lose her first child when he was 8 years old. Now her husband wants them to try for another baby. Claire teams up with a fertility specialist, Robert Nash, and his research assistant Jillian to conceive the world’s first baby with three parents. Nash is at the forefront of research that eliminates gene markers for deadly diseases. However, it is ethically very questionable and not yet legal. What follows is a lot of drama and suspense. I found the premise of the book interesting, but from the beginning of the book, I developed a strong dislike for Claire which affected my enjoyment of the book. I could never agree with her choices and decisions. There were also some events that just did not seem believable. The best developed character was Jillian. The ending of the book felt a bit rushed and too neatly tied up. Overall, it still is a good book that had me thinking about bioethics and made for interesting dinner conversations with my husband.

4 Stars - "Mother Knows Best" is a story about a mother who did everything to have healthy children and did her best to protect them, no matter how they were created! I went in blind and I suggest you do the same. This is not really a mystery, at least it wasn’t for me but it was a really good thriller! I enjoyed it so much! Told in multiple POV, 1st person. It’s a standalone novel; well-written, fast-paced, a page-turner with a satisfying ending, contains short chapters and alternates between Before and Now. Overall, it was an enjoyable read and hope you like it as well!
Thanks to Kira Peikoff, Netgalley and Crooked Lane Books for the advanced digital copy in exchange an honest review.

I was looking forward to reading Mother Knows Best by Kira Peikoff because I was excited to read a medical thriller instead of the overdone familial thrillers that have been saturating the market lately. Unfortunately, not even halfway through the book, I realized that this was going to end up being just another procedural domestic thriller.

This is too bad because there is a unique and interesting premise at play here - Claire and Ethan tragically lost their son to a hereditary illness when he was far too young and they have been trying to have another child. Claire has done her research and found Dr. Nash - a renegade doctor that is pioneering the way for genetic manipulation of cells in order to edit out the transfer of DNA that could potentially prevent the passing on of terminal illnesses. Ethan is vehemently opposed to any genetic modification during IVF yet Claire is able to hide from him the fact that with the aid of Dr. Nash and his colleague Jillian, she is able to conceive a child by combining her DNA with that of Jillian's, resulting in a child that ends up having three biological parents. Whether or not this is something that is actually possible is beside the point; I'm not a scientist and I can suspend my disbelief because this idea creates so many interesting possibilities and moral ambiguities that are fascinating to consider. Once Ethan finds out the truth about how their daughter was conceived he alerts the authorities and a pregnant Claire finds herself out of options and on the run. What results is a hidden life with new identities to protect herself and her daughter. Everything has been going well in Claire's new life until her daughter Abby participates in a DNA mapping project at her elementary school and suddenly realizes that perhaps all isn't as it seems in her life.

That all sounds exciting, right?? Well, after the initial intrigue behind Abby's conception and her and Claire's new life, this story devolves into a paint by numbers domestic thriller. Who is stalking them and why? What will happen when Abby learns the truth about herself? Sadly, the answers are all too predictable. By the time I reached the end of this story, I was glad to be done with it; disappointing is an understatement. Perhaps if it hadn't been billed as a medical thriller, my expectations wouldn't have been so high.

I received this ARC as a courtesy from NetGalley & the publisher in exchange for an honest review.

This is a tautly-written, fast-paced medical thriller with richly developed characters and an incredibly creative premise. The author mentions in her foreword that the book went through several rewrites, and it shows—the story grabbed me immediately and didn’t let go until the end. As a new mother myself, there was an extra layer of intensity as the main character, Claire, navigated her grief for her dead child and grappled with her desire to become a mother again. Especially in the beginning, this book evokes so much emotion as it explores the depth of love that a mother feels for her child. From there, the plot picks up and races ahead until I was left breathless at the end.

That said, the resolution of the novel was almost too quick for me. While satisfying, the final confrontation between the three parents of Abigail is very black and white—very much “bad guys vs good guys”—and not an exploration of the potential complexities of an utterly novel family dynamic, which is what I was hoping for. I would have enjoyed the villain being less villainous, as that would have allowed for in-depth consideration of the competing goals of all three parents. End result, the climax of this novel is less thought-provoking and more edge-of-your-seat thrilling. It just depends what you’re looking for!

All in all, the writing was excellent, the story gripping, and the characters believable. A great, quick read that grabbed me early and didn’t let go.

This book was not for me. I should have not judged the book by the cover and read the synopsis a little more closely and I would not have chosen to read this in the first place.

Thanks to NetGalley for this ARC!

There is science. There is suspense. There is drama. There is also an important element that makes this fiction seem closer to non-fiction.

Claire wants another baby and is willing to go to great lengths to make, I mean to have, one. Against her husband’s wishes, she goes to see fertility specialist Robert Nash. Using a top-secret plausible-in-real-life-sort-of technique, Claire becomes pregnant with Abby, who is considered a “frankenbaby” after Claire’s secret is uncovered. The story jumps back and forth from the POV of Claire, Abby, Nash, and Nash’s assistant Jillian. This technique lets us see each character’s perspective and motivation (be aware, not all of them are altruistic).

The mix of science and family dynamics was done perfectly, and the bad guys are eminently hateable. As I mentioned before, the procedure to create a baby using multiple people’s sperm/eggs seems within reach. This made the book dramatic without focusing on obviously fake science.

As the author shares the character’s flaws and desires, she illustrates the desire to have and protect a child in a poignant and accurate manner. She is adept at creating psychological suspense that appears real, not overly histrionic. Except for the science and the “three-parent creation”, each character’s emotions add to the plot and support the action. Abby behaves exactly the way a kid her age would, exploiting her computer savvy and using the Internet to find answers.

There were a couple of twists in the book, one that seemed obvious and another that was a shocker. I feel there is enough going on to get the reader hooked and wanting to get to the end to see how things turn out. Things get tied up kind of quickly in the end but it was satisfying. If the author continues with her science-backed plots I’ll definitely pick up her next novel.

The scientific aspect in the story was very well explained and very interesting, I liked the book immensely and will definitely look for more books by this author.