A Good Mother is a gripping debut legal thriller about two young mothers, one shocking murder and a court case that puts them both on trial.

I had a hard time getting into this one. While unlikeable characters do not detract from my enjoyment of a book, I found both Luz and Abby hard to connect with.

A Good Mother by Lara Bazelon is a legal thriller that will disturb you and leave you transfixed to the page as you hope beyond hope that there is a better tomorrow.

What I Liked

The story is very compelling. My eyes did not want to leave the page as I was often concerned, disturbed, and at a few points even horrified. It isn’t really even about whether or not Luz killed her husband out of self-defense or if she murdered him. It’s about the outcome of the trial regardless of what actually happened. After both lawyers offered their case, who would the jury believe?

I liked the theme of what makes a good mother that ran throughout the story. It paints the picture of mistakes and bad choices just being moments in time, not defining what kind of mother one is. And this is true to an extent. Good mothers are not perfect; what they share is an uncompromising love for their children and a willingness to strive to make the best choices and do the right thing.

What I Wish

I wish that the main characters hadn’t been so lacking in relatability. Most of Abby’s, one of Luz’s lawyers, choices on the home front disturbed me, though I could understand how she felt to a point. But she took everything past the point of understanding, and two events even horrified me. Nic, her significant other and father to her baby Cal angered me. If someone does something more than once that is horrifyingly abnormal and dangerous, there is either a medical health issue or a mental health issue, and a loving partner, to me, would have done something to make sure she got the help she needed. Then there is Luz’s other lawyer, Will. For Will, I have no words. I would say he was just fortunate and leave it at that. Lastly, Luz is an interesting character but is really sealed herself off, so getting a peek inside is all but impossible. This makes her unrelatable, and she lacks development as a character. Maybe if Jonathan had played a more significant role in the story (as he had the most potential to be a relatable character), my thoughts about the story in terms of characters would be different.

To Read or Not to Read

If you enjoy compelling legal thrillers that are plot-driven, so you are okay without character connections, you will enjoy this dark and disturbing read. But if you get triggered by violence and endangerment, beware.
Rating: 3.5/5

The one true thing in this over the top legal thriller is that 19 year old Luz stabbed her husband Travis to death on an Army base in Germany and now is on trial in a federal court in Los Angeles. The rest of it, well, no spoilers but there is a lot of inappropriate behavior. Abby, the public defender assigned to Luz' case is assigned the case when she's 9 months pregnant and then comes back from maternity leave to see it through. She's a dogged, ambitious attorney who does something so unlikely that...no spoilers from me. Luz, a manipulator, has a lot of secrets in her short life. Because both women ar new mothers, the title, I suppose is meant to suggest that the reader will find of them to be the good mother, or at least the better mother (is that possible?) Both of them are unlikable, Veteran readers of courtroom novels (and those who have spent time there) will find much to quibble with as Bazelon seems to have gone for drama over reality. Thanks to the publisher for the ARC. Wasn't for me but might make a good travel or beach book.

Interesting tale of two mothers love for their child and what a they would do to protect that love. Would you kill to protect your child? 19 year old Luz is being tried for the murder of her military drunken abusive husband. Was it murder or self defense? A surprise in every chapter.

The title of this one drew me in, and I have to say that cover is pretty compelling. Then I read the blurb and was ready to jump right in. I do like a good courtroom drama. As it turns out, this one has drama in spades, and there are some things that go over the top. So, I suppose this one is more domestic/legal drama than thriller, but that's not necessarily a bad thing. It's a little bit soap opera-ish at times, but it kind of works for these characters. The story revolves around Luz and Abby, and the author does pose some interesting questions, which kept me turning the pages to see how things would play out for these women. So, yes, A Good Mother is overdramatic at times, but it somehow works for the story and its characters. I'd say this one will appeal to anyone who likes a good legal drama, and it even brings some television series to mind - some of those with characters we love to hate and storylines that sometimes leave us gasping.

This book features two new mothers, Luz, a young woman on trial for murdering her husband and Abby, the attorney who is defending her. The circumstances surrounding the murder and Abby's backstory is intriguing. Unfortunately, neither Luz nor Abby was easy to connect with and some of the other significant characters in the story are just as hard to like. There are also some disturbing and unbelievable things that take place between Abby and the judge assigned to the case and also between Luz and Abby's co-counsel, Will, that spoil the good things about the book. The dramatic courtroom scenes are what kept my interest and kept me reading the book when I probably would have given up otherwise. I strongly disliked several parts of the story, but since I liked the suspense of the case, I averaged both opinions into an overall 3 star rating of the book.

Thank you to NetGalley and Hanover Square Press for providing an advance copy of this ebook. My review is voluntary and unbiased.

A Good Mother by Lara Bazelon is a legal thriller and normally I’m a huge fan when I pick those up so I was excited to get to this one. In this story a young mother is arrested for killing her military husband and her legal team goes to work on proving that their client was only acting in self defense when she was in fear for not only herself but for her young baby.

The idea of the title “A good mother” comes into play when the female defendant, Luz, is on trial for her bigger and stronger husband coming home drunk and her protecting her baby. Then the female public defender, Abby, is also pregnant and goes into labor right as the case is coming to court and instead of staying home with her baby she wants to save Luz from being seperated from hers.

I will admit as a fan of courtroom drama and legal thrillers as this one began I was completely engrossed in the story. However, the glamour of the genre didn’t hold for me as events unfolded in the book that really became way too over the top to be believable. Without including spoilers I will just say I can handle one or maybe two instances where I need to suspend disbelief but when I continue onward thinking there’s just no way this would ever play out in real life I begin to feel the book drag on instead of flying quickly by wanting to know the outcome. I landed on three stars since it did have potential if the characters actions hadn’t gotten over the top making it a bit blah to me.

I received an advance copy from the publisher via NetGalley.

This thrilling book is a legal thriller about a young mother who murders her husband. That is a fact but is she guilty of murder or was it self defense?

I would love to read a prequel to this book about Abby. There is a lot that is explained about a prior high profile case she won that sounds like a great book.

I liked this book because of the twists.

A Good Mother is well-written, and I liked how the author tied the protagonist lawyer and the defendant she represented to the experience of childbirth and nursing, which gave them a perspective unique to women. The delicate subject of domestic abuse was also skillfully handled in this legal thriller, which can be a trigger for some readers. That said, I decided that legal thrillers just aren't my thing. Many thanks to Harlequin Hanover Square Press and NetGalley for providing an ARC of this book to read and review.

I loved Rectify: A Story of Healing and Redemption After Wrongful Conviction, and I was excited to read Lara Bazelon's fiction debut.

The writing itself is engaging and easy to read. Unfortunately, that's where my enjoyment ended.

All of the characters are intensely unlikable. It's as if every single negative stereotype available was tossed in, magnified, and placed under hot spotlights. If the tone wasn't so serious, these characters would've been a bad comedy skit.

The plot requires a total suspension of disbelief on many levels. I can't express my thoughts on any of this without spoilers, so I'll just leave it at that.

I almost gave up on this book, but kept reading to the end, and I’m glad I did. There are so many surprises I never saw happening, and just when you think you have heard it all, well, don’t get to comfortable!
I felt sympathy for this teenage on trial for murder, a new mother, was she protecting her baby?
Then the lead lawyer, who should have been home with her new baby! Then the Assistant Attorney, you wonder if he is ready to throw his whole life away?
The twists and turns here are great, but the morals of all involved in this story is terrible, and the language leaves a lot to be desired.

I received this book through Net Galley and the Publisher Harlequin, and was not required to give a positive review.

A Good Mother by Lara Bazelon is a superb read with a well defined plot and characters. Well worth the read!

I received an ARC of this novel from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

A pregnant defense attorney accepts a brutal murder case in order to defend a young mother. Lots of twists in this legal thriller.

This is a great read and a well detailed plot that kept me engaged from the very start.
I really liked the well thought out characters and found them to be believable. I cannot wait to read what the author brings out next.

DNF. Unfortunately, this was a book that I started multiple times but could just not get into. Although I am normally a big fan of courtroom dramas, there were parts of this book that felt a little stereotypical and made me quite uncomfortable as a reader. I appreciate having the opportunity to read this book, it was just not a good fit for me.

This would be a standard legal thriller, except that the defense lawyers are both pretty flawed people and the defendant is morally questionable and the two babies at the center of the action clearly the motivation for the vast majority of what goes on in the book. There are no heroes in this novel - it's a realistic portrayal of people in all their flawed human-ness, but there are people you root for (despite, maybe, their cavalier attitude to their personal lives) and people you hope get what's coming to them. This was a well-written, well-plotted novel with an engaging (if not really likeable) cast of characters that made you want to find out how it all ends. It's still a little up in the air at the end, at least for the personal lives of our lawyers and defendant, but the conclusion is satisfying and relatable.

A Good Mother, a debut legal thriller from Lara Bazelon, kicks off with an intriguing 911 transcript that opens the door to murder and sets a solid pace right from the start.

From there, we dive into the first-degree murder trial of the defendant, Luz Rivera Hollis. The legalese and courtroom proceedings throughout this book were really great and seemingly well researched (at least from my lack-luster legal perspective). They were captivating and engaging.

But I think I kind of hated everything else about this book.

We have two defense attorneys, Abby and Will, who both navigate through life with little to no morals, not to mention a very sexist, pompous and—somehow—newly appointed federal judge, who is the worst character of them all—a complete narcissist with a God complex to the highest possible degree. I hated him and wanted to punch him square in the face.

The defendant on trial, Luz (a 19-year-old new mom), is accused of stabbing and killing her Army husband (is it self-defense or premeditated murder?) who had a severe drinking problem that often left him angry and abusive. To make matters worse, he couldn’t seem to stay away from his (dare I say it?) very trashy ex-girlfriend.

Not once throughout this book did I like this woman (Luz) or feel the least bit sorry for her…just, not a fan of her at all. She’s the defendant and I shouldn’t necessarily like her anyway—I should question her and doubt her sincerity, right? But still—I felt like I was going to, or at least was supposed to, care about her eventually, but I just didn’t. Aside from the love she had for her daughter, there was literally nothing likable about her.

This entire book is riddled with sexism, racism and mom-shaming (I mean, sure, the title kind of tells us there will be a good mom/bad mom situation here, so you expect a bit of this, but the story doesn’t take it where you might expect). New mom and defense attorney, Abby—who is beyond unlikable for plenty of reasons unrelated to her parenting—is highly criticized for going back to work only 6 weeks post-partum. She’s told repeatedly that what she’s doing (going back to work) is wrong (never mind that she’s the breadwinner in the family) and that a mom should simply stay at home with their baby.

Once that cat comes out of the bag we simply beat the dead horse with it the entire rest of the book. The mom-shaming theme is prevalent all throughout and again, not for reasons you’d think.

I’m over it, next argument, counselor...

Then there’s the whole issue of Abby’s “empowering” act to try and get the a-hole judge to recuse himself from the case. Umm—no. Just no.

Next gripe: every single one of the main characters, in one way or another, cheats on their spouse/significant other. WHAT. THE. F. Umm...really? Was every character in this book cut from the same dirty cloth? There was no depth—just the same or similar actions & cliché backstories for each character.

Then there’s Abby’s gay BFF/coworker, Jonathan, whom I actually really liked at first. Until the two of them do nothing but throw stereotypical insults at each other during an argument that—surprise—is about Abby’s lack of maternal anything. Okay, thanks. Ruined that storyline for me, too. Next!

It felt like the author was trying too hard to use irony as a way to initiate shock-value, and highlight all the negative stereotypes that riddle our nation in order to drive the point home with this story, but it was just...complete overkill and seemed to derail the whole book for me. If this story took place in an earlier decade, maybe I’d feel differently but the book is set in the early 2000’s and it just made it all feel so forced to me. Don’t get me wrong—I’m well aware that this stuff exists today—but I kept having to double check the timeline and confirm that I was really reading a story that was set in the 2000s.

It just didn’t work for me.

Now, here is—perhaps—the most shocking twist of it all (non-spoiler)...somehow, some way, in spite of alllll this...I was so invested in this story. Despite wanting to DNF it several times, I couldn’t walk away from it. I had to know the outcome of this case, as much as I despised every single character and everything they did—I kept reading until the end.

I really wanted to love this book, I’m so bummed that I didn’t and I don’t think I’ve ever grappled so much while writing a book review. This is one that I would’ve normally moved on from without reviewing or even rating, but I just had too much to say...my rating swayed several times, and I’m settling on 3 stars because like I said, I couldn’t stop reading it. Who knows, maybe I was meant to feel this way in the end? Hmm…

"I am so sick of you, of all of you, and your 1950s misogyny.” —Abby

I hear ya, Abby. I hear ya.

Sigh.

Thank you to NetGalley and Harlequin - Trade Publishing (US & Canada) - Hanover Square Press for the advance copy in exchange for an honest review.

This type of crime thriller normally isn't my speed as it felt very procedural but I really enjoyed the author's writing and the way the plot was broken down. The book's set up allowed the book to feel very fast.

I struggled with this one. I didn't really like the characters, so I couldn't connect with them. As a results, I also didn't really care what happened to them. The storyline just didn't pull me in.

This is the type of book you want to see as a movie or tv series.
It’s a quickly paced legal triller and filled with drama in and outside of the court.
Two young mothers struggle to figure out what it takes to be a good mother and live the life they want to live. One is accused of murder and the other is her lawyer coming off her mat leave early to take the case.
I love the twist at the end!
I think this was a great debut novel by Lara Bazelon and cannot wait to read more from her.