Mothered is set during a pandemic lockdown which many of us experienced firsthand, making this story feel more real.

I loved the concept of this book. I’m not very close with my own mother, so having her move in with me would probably be difficult for me. Though I doubt it would ever get as bad as this.

The only characters I liked were Miguel and his cat Coco.

Grace - the epitome of an unreliable narrator. The trope of not knowing if something is real or if it’s in your head - nah, it ain’t for me.

The first one or two times Grace had a vivid nightmare was unsettling and did well to shock me. But then she had another one, and another, and another. It became boring and a predictable schtick.

I kept wanting someone, maybe Miguel, to tell Grace to get her shit together. She’s worried about money but orders out for lunch every day she works?

Jackie is supposed to be despicable. She favored Hope, she sits on Grace’s preferred side of the couch, she let the cat outside, not to mention she went all Sleeping With The Enemy in Grace’s kitchen. Oooh that really un-hots my dog. You don’t mess with how the homeowner organizes their cereal or where they store their dishes. But drinking glasses belong in the cabinet next to the sink, and I will die on this hill.

So many things were brought up in this book that were left undeveloped. Why was Jackie eating flowers? What was the stench in her room? Why was Grace catfishing people? How did none of them ask to FaceTime with Grace? What did Jackie’s husband die from??

Rating: 2 (rounded down from 2.5)

Thank you to Netgalley and Thomas & Mercer (Amazon Publishing) for providing me with an eARC in exchange for my honest review.

Apron strings, hanging empty crazy things
My body tells me, I want someone
To tie to my apron strings. *



"I wasn't always there for you when you were little. I didn't mother you. And maybe you don't want my mothering now, but . . . I can try, Grace."

This is pure psychological horror with a claustrophobic vibe as the Covid-19 lockdown forces a troubled daughter and her estranged (and strange) mother together in a small Pittsburgh dwelling. It's a bit slow moving, but the tension is almost nerve-racking at times, and though the ending was expected, it still packs a punch.

I'd consider this the perfect read for anyone who's ever been forced to share living quarters with someone they don't completely trust.


*by Tracey Anne Thorn and Ben Watt

Many thanks to NetGalley and Thomas & Mercer for gifting me a digital ARC of the latest book by Zoje Stage - 5 stars!

In the time of the pandemic, Grace is adrift. She had just bought a new home before lockdown hit and now she has lost her job as a hair stylist. Then her mother moves in. The two have a complicated relationship because Grace's twin, Hope, was born with cerebral palsy and died when they were kids. Grace always had to be the responsible one and help take care of Hope. Those old wounds between mother and daughter haven't healed and their new living arrangement is making things worse.

While I feel like this will be one of those books that people either love or hate, put me squarely in the love department! I really liked this author's debut, Baby Teeth, and this one has the same creepy vibes. The pandemic adds another layer of horror in the plot - we all know the feelings we went through of feeling trapped, alone, and in a never-ending nightmare where even good relationships were put to the test. Parts of this book are Grace's dreams and while it takes a minute to process the difference between reality and her dreams, this is an effective way of getting into Grace's thoughts. That end was spot on perfect!

Zoje Stage takes on the creeps of motherhood and children. If you read her book Baby Teeth then you know exactly how creepy her children are.

Grace is just like everyone else, trying to navigate the world after the pandemic, when her very elderly mother asks to move in with her. They really don’t have the best relationship and living with her mother wasn’t the brightest idea she had. Her mother is completed judgmental and every little action sends Grace spiraling deeper.

We go back and forth from modern time to Grace’s childhood where we learn disturbing things that Grace has gone through. There’s definitely the added creep that makes this book devour-able. There's tension and pounding claustrophobia. It also took a big jump into the topic of toxic mother/daughter relationships.

I really love how Zoje writes her family dynamic stories with horror that feels so real!

Mothered is an unpleasantly claustrophobic psychological suspense novel, set during the early months of the pandemic, about a woman who is forced by circumstance to let her estranged mother move in with her. The author wrote the highly polarising Baby Teeth, which I enjoyed, so I was looking forward to another unusual but clever story about toxic mother-daughter relationships. Unfortunately a large part of this is chapters and chapters of increasingly demented dream sequences - one of my pet hates, so after a promising start, I didn’t enjoy this, although I did finish it.

Grace is a 37 year old single hairdresser from Pittsburgh who has finally managed to buy her own home, but then lost her job due to the Covid lockdown so is struggling to pay the mortgage. When her Jackie, whose husband has just died, begs her to let her move in, despite their difficult previous relationship, Grace sees no other solution, but the longer she’s around her difficult, controlling mother, the less sure she is of her sanity. With nights overtaken by terrifying dreams of her long dead twin sister, and stuck in isolation together, old resentments will take a horrific turn…

What did I like? Stage is a gifted writer, and the first third of the book had me sympathising with Grace - up to a point - for someone worried about her financial situation, Grace sure wastes a lot of money. I went off her fairly quickly once her nasty little hobby is revealed, although I loved her charming gay best friend Miguel and his gorgeously aloof ginger cat Coco; don’t worry - while it is briefly teased, nothing bad happens to her - the author is clearly a Cat Mother too. She also wins points for writing in traditional past tense, a novelty in contemporary domestic suspense! She loses them, however, for spoiling the outcome with the completely unnecessary prologue, and failing to reveal exactly what was going on with an attempt at a twist ending that fell flat for me because it made no sense medically. Other reviewers have complained about the full-on pandemic setting - I can see why some would find it triggering. I didn’t mind those aspects, probably because we had a very different experience of lockdown here and I haven’t read much American fiction dealing with that particular time.

Overall, if you want a tense examination of the disintegration of an already fragile mother-daughter situation, you might like this better than I did - although John Marrs did it much better in What Lies Between Us, without the crazy dream scenes. Thanks to NetGalley and Thomas & Mercer for the ARC. I am posting this honest review voluntarily. Mothered is published on March 1st.

Mothered by Zoje Stage starts out with the worst of the pandemic. Grace decides to let her elderly mother come live with her to help out with bills and possibly, the mortgage, since she had finally bought a house months before the pandemic started. Jackie moves in and they have to learn how to live with one another. Grace’s best gay friend, Miguel, comes over for a social distanced meal. He learns more about Grace from the mother and he gets to see a picture of Hope, Grace’s deceased sister. Miguel had attended his sister’s wedding recently and some of the wedding party becomes sick. Grace ends up driving him to the hospital and agrees to look after his cat, Coco. At this point, Grace and her mom start their quarantine together and soon get sick of each other. The past can come back to haunt you. Thanks to NetGalley and Thomas & Mercer for the ARC.

This was a really tough read personally. A lot of the fear and anxiety of the early pandemic was very skilfully integrated into this story. The inclusion of so many dreams made the storyline choppy and difficult to follow. Which I suspect is intentional. I’m not sure enjoyed is the right word but I was certainly engaged with this book!

⭐️⭐️

𝘼 𝙘𝙡𝙖𝙪𝙨𝙩𝙧𝙤𝙥𝙝𝙤𝙗𝙞𝙘 𝙥𝙨𝙮𝙘𝙝𝙤𝙡𝙤𝙜𝙞𝙘𝙖𝙡 𝙩𝙝𝙧𝙞𝙡𝙡𝙚𝙧 𝙖𝙗𝙤𝙪𝙩 𝙤𝙣𝙚 𝙬𝙤𝙢𝙖𝙣’𝙨 𝙣𝙞𝙜𝙝𝙩𝙢𝙖𝙧𝙞𝙨𝙝 𝙨𝙥𝙞𝙧𝙖𝙡 𝙬𝙝𝙞𝙡𝙚 𝙦𝙪𝙖𝙧𝙖𝙣𝙩𝙞𝙣𝙚𝙙 𝙬𝙞𝙩𝙝 𝙝𝙚𝙧 𝙢𝙤𝙩𝙝𝙚𝙧.

This was such a confusing book and I struggled so much to get into the storyline.

The book was written back in 2020 so it does mention a covid lockdown - it plays a major part in the story. I don’t mind reading about the pandemic, but I feel like this book didn’t really have any meaning to it.

We follow Grace and her mother, Jackie, who has just moved in with her. Grace isn’t particularly happy to have Jackie there, but they both get stuck in the house with the pandemic going on. There’s part of the book that goes to the past with Grace’s childhood memories.

Neither Grace nor Jackie has a strong connection with each other and I feel like both characters were unlikable in their own way. Most of the time they didn’t even know what was going on… and frankly I didn’t either.

The story itself wasn’t super entertaining. The story was short, but the book dragged out so much. And it didn’t help that these characters were mean and unlikable.

I didn’t really get anything out of this book. I wish I would’ve enjoyed it more, but with a pandemic setting, I felt like I didn’t care. There weren’t many thrills and these characters were annoying to read about. Also, the book was so slow and dragged a few times. In the end, I had myself questioning the entire story.

Muwahahahahahaha! Zoje Stage has done it again with this twisted and creepy pandemic-rooted psychological horror tale! This book isn't going to be for everyone. If you are traumatized by the COVID-19 lockdown, then choose another book. COVID-19 is just too engrained throughout the story for you as a reader. If you are intrigued by the psychological response we all had to the pandemic, then read on.

I've always been a vivid dreamer, but since the initial stay-at-home orders, my entire sleep pattern has changed, and my dreams have been on a whole other level. So, in many ways, I relate to some of the main character's (Grace's) bizarre sleep experiences. But, wow, this just takes weird dreams to the extreme. With a sense of haunting claustrophobia, Mothered tells a story of an estranged mother moving in with her daughter during lockdown, further testing their dysfunctional mother-daughter relationship during a time of fear, immediate societal change, and confusing uncertainty. As their brittle relationship erodes, how much is real and how much is imagined by both? Is the COVID-19 virus the only infectious thing to worry about? What else is spreading? In classic Zoje Stage style, you have to read to the very end.

Major props to Zoje Stage for having the courage to write this story during the pandemic and while dealing with her own mother's death from COVID-19. The care with which she incorporated COVID-19 throughout was clearly evident.

Thank you to Thomas & Mercer and #NetGalley for the opportunity to read and review this ARC.

Zoje Stage is an auto-buy author for me. Wonderland is a phenomenal examination of motherhood and identity. Getaway was one of my favorite reads of 2021, and The Girl Who Outgrew the World is a stunning portrayal of the violent beauty of coming of age. When I saw the Mothered cover reveal, I couldn't wait to get my hands on this and FINALLY got to read it last week.

From Goodreads: Grace isn’t exactly thrilled when her newly widowed mother, Jackie, asks to move in with her. They’ve never had a great relationship, and Grace likes her space—especially now that she’s stuck at home during a pandemic. Then again, she needs help with the mortgage after losing her job. And maybe it’ll be a chance for them to bond—or at least give each other a hand.

But living with Mother isn’t for everyone. Good intentions turn bad soon after Jackie moves in. Old wounds fester; new ones open. Grace starts having nightmares about her disabled twin sister, who died when they were kids. And Jackie discovers that Grace secretly catfishes people online—a hobby Jackie thinks is unforgivable.

When Jackie makes an earth-shattering accusation against her, Grace sees it as an act of revenge, and it sends her spiraling into a sleep-deprived madness. As the walls close in, the ghosts of Grace’s past collide with a new but familiar threat: Mom.

Phew, I loved this book.

Grace is such a good character. Layered in deceit and the desire to find her place in the world amidst the backdrop of the pandemic and the forced interaction with her mother, it was difficult to either fully dislike or like her, and that made for a deliciously entertaining read.

Stage is the master at examining the toxic edge to mother-daughter relationships. The nightmarish imagery juxtaposed with the claustrophobic atmosphere between Grace and Jackie creates a palpable tension that resonates through the very last page.

Terrifying, visceral, and un-put-downable horror, Mothered is a must-read.

Huge thanks to Thomas and Mercer for providing an eARC in exchange for honest review consideration.

This is a quick read from the author of Baby Teeth.

Grace’s mother is moving in with her. It’s during a global pandemic (but not Covid, according to the author), so they spend a lot of time together at home, and Grace is forced to confront a childhood that she’d rather forget.

This book has some very creepy moments, but overall it just never came together for me. This is one you can probably skip unless you are a rabid Baby Teeth fan, and if you are, it publishes March 1st.

Thank you to @netgalley and the publisher for my complimentary review copy.

I might have been more into this if it wasn't so pandemic-centered...So toward the end of the pandemic, (June-ish) hair-stylist, Grace, gets a call from her estranged mother hoping they can reconnect. Jackie wants to come back to Pittsburgh to live with Grace, and reluctantly Grace agrees. It doesn't end well. While this novel was fairly easy to get through, I did not enjoy it. Was Grace actually delusional? Was Jackie a sociopath? A bad mom? Clearly that, however, she seems to be making poor Grace even more unstable than perhaps she was before. Again, this did not end well. And Grace is a very unsympathetic character. This was my first Zoje Stage novel and I don't know if I want to go back and read Baby Teeth.

*Special thanks to NetGalley and Thomas & Mercer for this e-arc.*

of things that may or nay not have happened. I liked the way the story was framed. If not for the beginning, I would have had trouble following the story through to it’s conclusion. I also liked how it ended. I didn’t expect the psychiatrist’s confession at the very end of the story. That's not a spoiler because it has little to do with the story up until then.

I did not enjoy entering the world of lockdown again, but I must say that is a brilliant setting for a book.
Grace lives alone in her new home, when her newly widowed mother Jackie needs a place to live. Mother and daughter are estranged and their past is overshadowed by Grace's twin Hope and her death 25 years ago. Grace has lost her job due to covid and is desperately trying to find a new job. Her only comfort is her best friend Miguel and his cat Coco.
The atmosphere is claustrophobic and unreal. We have an unreliable narrator and horrific dream sequences. There are just a handful of characters and Miguel is the only one I really liked. Grace is a great character, though, independent and driven, even though she has one questionable hobby. I quite enjoyed the story. There was a moment in the middle, where the story dragged a little, but it picked up nicely afterwards. The ending was mindblowing.

2.5 stars

This book is a bit difficult for me to review because as I read it, I became increasingly confused as to what the heck was going on. I love psychological thrillers with unreliable narrators, but at times, I felt like I needed a psychology degree to figure out the plot of this book.

I thought this started out pretty strong, but then it went downhill. I got tired of trying to figure out if Grace was dreaming or living in reality, and I found some parts to be repetitive. I'm not sure how her internet catfishing hobby was relative to the plot. I have a theory, but I'm not sure I'm right. 🤔

I did like one of the plot twists at the end. It was unexpected and shocking. I was happy to see that there was an epilogue. I was hoping it would clear up some of my confusion, but it only added to it.

Thank you @Netgalley and Thomas and Mercer for the e-arc of this book.

An interesting read - very dark, and I'm left with no real answers. It was compelling enough to keep me reading, but also felt a little flat in places.

Buckle up, dear readers, because Zoje Stage is back with another absolutely wild ride. The tone is set in the beginning, and Stage kept it up, relentlessly, leaving me breathless, bewildered, and absolutely delighted.

All the stars ever.

Thank you to NetGalley, Zoje Stage and Thomas & Mercer for the free e-book in exchange for an honest review.

I’m still thinking about this one, which I guess is a sign of a good novel. But I’m still unsure where I stand. It was definitely dark and twisted; I didn’t know what was going to happen next but I definitely didn’t expect the ending. The ending I loved. It was a quick read and you definitely feel like wtf the whole way.

Thoughts

Okay okay... I was a little annoyed at some parts of this book. But it did pull through. This book will not be for everyone. There are dream sequences where you don't know if it's a dream or real life. And it kind of leaves you with an unanswered question. But this is the fastest I have read a book in months.

I really had trouble putting it down. It had me completely engaged because I just needed to know what was going on. It does focus heavily on the pandemic, which makes it a little hard to read but also adds to the creepy factor.

I am not even sure what to say. It was a wild ride, just like Baby Teeth. Stage will definitely be an auto buy author for me from now on.

Thanks to Netgalley and Thomas and Mercer for this eARC in exchange for my honest review.

This one started out so good, but eventually got so boring and slow. I could not put it down the first 30% of the book, but then it got very repetitive and just in general, strange. At first I enjoyed all the COVID-19 lockdown references, but then it just became annoying. Along with the mother constantly talking about the MC's deceased sister.