Grace agrees to let her newly-widowed mother stay with her as Covid cripples the world, but past wounds come back to haunt her nightmares, raising questions about the past and causing tensions to rise.

The prologue blew me away. As the story developed, the line between Grace's dream state and her childhood memories blurred, and it was unclear what was actually going on. I found those scenes the most disturbing and could relate to having nightmares early on in the pandemic, which made the book all the more dark for me. Grace's relationship with Jackie, her mother, was very uncomfortable and I often found myself jumping back and forth between feeling sorry for them while also suspecting each of them of the younger sibling's murder. The flashbacks of psychological abuse and emotional neglect Grace endured at the hands of her mother were awful however, the fact that Grace was so unreliable threw her recollection of the past into question, right up to the last chapter. The pace of the story was steady, the suspense slower than I usually read, but the characters were fleshed out and flawed making it interesting to delve into. I particularly enjoyed the friendship between Grace and her friend, Miguel. The action in the prologue kept me turning the pages until the end, determined to find out how it all played out.

There are a few scenes that stick out to me but one of the worst was of Grace's dream/flashback (I still don't know) in which she returns home with her sister, Hope, after being injured playing on the street with the neighborhood kids. Jackie comes out to greet them, sees Grace bleeding, and completely ignores her needs focusing on Hope instead. After which she leads Hope inside, closing the door on Grace in her time of need. This is one of the more subtle examples of abuse that really got under my skin and I felt terrible for the main character.

3/5⭐️⭐️⭐️

I recommend to readers who enjoy slow-burning suspense, family secrets, and dark psychological vibes.

This book was so much fun to read! I have only read Baby Teeth by this author, which I also loved, so when I saw the author had a new book out I wanted to read it (and was lucky enough to get an ARC!!). It is the only book I have read so far that is set during the pandemic. Where the pandemic is a tangible thing and is what we all lived and are living through. At first I thought that might be a bit much for me to read, do I really want to go back to those early days and relive them? Plus I still am very cautious, but it was the perfect setting for this story. The story of Jackie and Grace, mother and daughter who do not really have a good relationship.

When Jackie moves in with Grace she seems to be trying. Trying to be nice. Trying to be good. She is not the same mother that Grace remembers. As things are slowly revealed and as Grace starts having these dreams that feel so real it can be hard for her to tell reality from her dream world. Add in the stress of living together for the first time in forever, the pandemic, worries about work and being able to afford everything, it is the perfect storm for things to go a bit sideways. I loved this story and how everything worked out. The ending was perfect and really put the whole book into a new perspective. I loved this story and now I can't wait to go read the rest of the author's books.

Thanks to NetGalley, the author and the publisher for an advanced copy of this book.

To say I’m still processing the “hickory dickory duck” craziness that I just read would be the understatement of the century. Zoje Stage’s latest psychological thriller, Mothered is a twisted, distorted story of one woman’s descent into feverish madness when her mother comes to live with her.

Grace and Jackie have a turbulent relationship that ended in their parting of ways after Grace’s twin sister Hope passed away tragically years ago. With the rise of the pandemic and unforeseen obstacles presented to both women, Grace accepts Jackie’s offer to come live with her in her new home and help split the cost of living. Things soon take a weird turn when Grace begins having feverish, frighteningly real dreams about events in her past. Soon it takes everything in her power to separate dream from reality, while at the same time her fragile relationship with her mother takes a foreboding turn.

Stage incorporates elements of horror and mystery into this psychological thriller and it is crazy and dark as heck. Written during the pandemic, Stage makes it clear there was inspiration from her own experience with the effects the virus had on her own life. While certainly not a duplicate of our own times, there is a definite parallel to the struggles, fear, despair and madness people were forced to deal with during that time. Grace’s point of view becomes increasingly unreliable and as you read, you keep waiting in agitation and suspense for the ball to drop. This is a dark, frenzied read with drawn out moments of suspense that leaves you confused and spiraling. Reminiscent of the craziness you’d find in other dark thrillers (like a Gillian Flynn) you’re sure to be left with more questions than answers, wondering what the actual f you just read and at the same time having enjoyed every second of the delirious madness.

4- 4.25⭐️

This claustrophobic psychological thriller set in covid lockdown is my first read by this author.

Grace finally got her first home just as covid struck, she lost her job and is worried about managing the mortgage. Her mother Jackie wants to stay with her, she reluctantly agrees as she is desperate. But there’s plenty of bad feeling and history between them, so you just know things aren’t going to go well with them both in an extended lockdown.
Strange things start happening Bringing a sense of suspense.
The dream sequences blur reality and fiction leaving the reader wondering what is happening, some are totally bizarre and I found them irritating.
The tension is ramped up well towards the end. The reader is still not sure how things were going to turn out.
I enjoyed the ride. I didn’t know how the cards were going to fall right up to the end. I’ll have to read baby teeth now!

Zoje Stage has been on my authors to read list for a long time with the high profile of Baby Teeth.

Mothered is an unusual psychological thriller, focussing on a mother / daughter relationship and the strain on their lives and mental health while living together during Covid isolation.

Widowed mom Jackie moves in with daughter Grace, and the strain starts to show immediately. As well as adapting to life in a pandemic, Grace starts to have weird dreams and nightmares.

I loved how the dreams are handled, blurring lines between real life, dreams and nightmares. Frequently shocking and disturbing, it's as unsettling for the reader as it is for Grace.

I appreciated the flow and the pace and found this to be a very entertaining book to read.

Recommended if you want something a little bit weird and unsettling, and definitely read the author's note at the end.

Thanks to Netgalley and Thomas & Mercer

I keep trying each new release from Zoje Stage, but they just don't live up to Baby Teeth. I have to move on at this point.

Our unreliable main character, Grace, has a lot going on. The pandemic has hit, she's starting a new job after being unemployed because of the pandemic, she's catfishing multiple women and trying to keep her multiple identities straight and now her estranged mom Jackie is coming to live with her.

Grace has her guard up well before her mother arrives. When Jackie does come, things aren't as bad as they seemed. Sure she's annoying, but they're actually getting along.

Jackie's presence brings a constant, painful reminder of how she treated Grace as a child and of her twin sister Hope, who Grace was a caretaker for until she passed away. Grace starts having traumatizing dreams, leaving her on edge.

When Jackie tries to tell Grace how Hope really died, things take a turn for the worse. The dreams get worse, they aren't getting along and Grace is left questioning what really happened to Hope as well as reality.

You really get into Grace's head in Mothered. I love psychological twists and this one has plenty. I did feel like it was building up for some big revelation at the end, but I ended it a bit confused when it was all said and done. I think that was the point? Regardless I enjoyed it. Many thanks to Zoje Stage, NetGalley and Thomas and Mercer for my ARC. Mothered will be published 3/1.

In the midst of the pandemic, Grace is not particularly thrilled when her mother, Jackie, moves in with her. But Jackie has recently lost her husband and been ill and Grace is unemployed and could use help with her mortgage. Soon, though, stuck in the house with her mother, Grace feels claustrophobic, flashing back to her unhappy childhood with her mother and her late sister. She starts having horribly realistic nightmares and clashing with her mother over her hobbies, which oddly include catfishing people online. As things come to a head, Jackie accuses Grace of something unspeakable, and Grace feels unable to delineate her dreams from reality.

Ugh, I had to slog through this one. I didn't really realize it was written with a pandemic setting and wow, it's fully pandemic-centric, with COVID playing a central role. I don't mind pandemic books, but I just did not feel like reading a gloomy book about sad, depressing pandemic themes and unhappy, mean characters.

Even worse, MOTHERED took the unreliable narrator trope too far for me. Between Grace's nightmares and Jackie's passive aggressive anger, I couldn't tell what was happening and wow, that got annoying really fast. The book moves so slow--Grace and Jackie fight, Grace has bad dreams that may or not be real, and then it repeats. There's a weird side plot with Grace catfishing women that does not really make sense, as well as pieces about Grace's missing dad. Then there's the focus on her deceased twin sister, which is central to the plot, but almost seems grotesquely portrayed at times (Hope was disabled) and done in poor taste.

I just wanted to get to the end, but then there was no real payoff that explained things.

I wouldn't call this one a thriller per se, but a really intense drama about a woman whose estranged mother moves in with her at the start of a pandemic. You know from the beginning that one of them kills the other at the end, so most of the book is spent building up that suspense and casting suspicion on each character as they grow annoyed being cooped up together. It was a little gory for my taste (talk of chopping off ears and running hamsters over) but I was very invested in the story. I didn't care for the dream sequences (which were important to the story but I just don't like dreams in books or movies) but overall a good read!

Every book I have read by this author always offers some sort of mental illness involved. This book was no different. When Grace decides to have her mother move in with her, everything that was Grace’s life begins to fall apart. Grace has terrible nightmares, her dream world clashes with the waking world and she begins to see her new life deteriorate. As the pandemic continues and she deals with the virus personally, Grace begins to spiral. Her mother just wants her to admit to killing her twin and why she did it but Grace refuses to comply. As their relationship grows worse, Grace becomes even more unraveled going on to commit the unthinkable. The end did not solve the question asked by Grace’s mother and we see the therapist begin to become involved in the web. Excellent book with questions left unanswered.

Grace and her mother never had a great relationship, but at the beginning of the pandemic they decided to live in the same house to help and support each other. Grace likes her independence, but Jackie doesn't respect her daughter's space, and soon old wounds fester and new ones open. Grace's past and nightmares come back to haunt her, fueled by the fear of catching the virus that has already hurt many people she loves.

Mothered was a strange experience for me. It takes place at the beginning of the Covid19 pandemic and, even though it was two whole years ago, lockdown's claustrophobic feeling still hasn't left me. The main character Grace is also affected by it, plus the presence of her toxic mother is not good for her mental health: she starts having weird dreams and hallucinations, sometimes she can't tell the difference between what's real and what's not... and I have to say, I was very confused too. Because of this, I think the author did an amazing job in capturing the essence of the repressed trauma and pandemic anxiety and the escalation of domestic tension. Unfortunately, as I said, I was very confused by the vivid nightmares and I kinda wished the "real life" parts had more action, more fights between Grace and Jackie, more cruel honesty. It's like we stay on the surface of their relationship, of their feelings, and never really dive in, which is a shame because Mothered could have been brutally real.
The ending though was very dark and satisfying and I really liked it.
If you're in the mood for a creepy psychological thriller, this is the book for you.

* I'd like to thank Zoje Stage, Thomas & Mercer and NetGalley for providing this ARC in exchange for my honest review. * Mothered is out on March 1st, 2023.

I enjoyed the pandemic subplot and the creepy nature of this one.

I didn’t love the dream sequence aspect of the storytelling. I was left very confused which in turn frustrated me.

I think horror lovers will really enjoy this one if you don’t mind dream sequences.

My thanks to NetGalley and Thomas & Mercer for the opportunity to read and review this book.

Zoje Stage's latest book "Mothered" takes the Covid-19 pandemic and adds the stress of job loss, home ownership, guilt and moving back in with one's mother all in one book. It's a terrifying combination that is equal part enjoyable and horrifying.

Grace is half awake in her life. Now, when her mother moves in with her during the pandemic, she is forced to relearn how to live with someone, and that someone is the one person she can't deal with. She's avoided dealing with her twin sister's death for many years, living her life on the internet behind fake profiles as young men taking advantage of young women. Her best friend is a gay man who get Covid soon after her mother arrives.

Grace finds her nightmares return and she struggles to live in reality versus her nightmares world. She makes terrible choices and must live with the results in the end..... the terrible end.

Thanks to NetGalley and the publishers for the opportunity to read and review this book.

Grace has invited her recently widowed mom, Jackie, to live with her in the very early stages of covid. Their relationship has always been a bit rocky, but Grace is struggling with money and the extra help is needed. Unfortunately it's not long before old memories and events get brought up, and the already rough relationship takes a turn for the worse.
I admit that I going back to the initial stages of the pandemic was something I sure didn't want to do.. But this book took me back there. Remembering it, it's really not so hard to imagine the madness someone may go through in quarantine, dealing with the unknown, especially when there may be some longstanding mental health issues to begin with, and I certainly appreciated that insight and overall enjoyed the book.

Mothered is a standalone psychological thriller by author, Zoje Stage. I've seen the authors debut, Babyteeth recommended many times and highly praised so I was excited to grab a copy of this latest release by the same author.

The book is set during a pandemic, and written while one was actually going on which gives an interesting and unique concept that I've yet to see done before. I could related to our characters being in isolation and their fears about the impacts of an unknown virus. The story follows our main character Grace, who has a complex and strained relationship with her mother, Jackie since the death of her sister in childhood. When Jackie has to move in with Grace things between the two set to reach boiling point.

The author teases us that something terrible has happened in the opening but we will have to read along to find out exactly what. I found myself invested in the story and turning the pages to reach the conclusion and uncover the truth about this one. It's hard to say too much more about the plot without spoilers.

I can see why this author is so highly praised and recommended. I have added Babyteeth to my TBR list and am looking forward to read that one next.

Thank you to the author, publisher and Netgalley for the opportunity to read an ARC of this book.

Picture this: it's the middle of an ongoing viral pandemic. Not hard, right? Exactly - Mothered is set in present day This Earth reality. It is the middle of the COVID-19 Pandemic (aka the pandemic that will probably never end because we're a planet of morons).

Things have been going pretty well for Grace. She has a job at a salon she loves, she's just bought a new house, and her mom lives across the country. Everything is as it should be. But of course, the ol' pandy had to roll in and ruin EVERYTHING. Now Grace's job has shuttered, she's struggling to pay bills, and her mom is in the market for a new living situation following the death of her husband.

Now Grace finds herself living with Mom. Hooray (not).

Grace and Jackie have never seemed to get on all that well. Things have always been tense between them. Grace's disabled twin sister seemingly took up all of Jackie's time and energy, and after her death years before things have only gotten more strained. But she thinks that maybe having Jackie stay with her will give them the opportunity to bond - or at least to begin to heal some old wounds.

But, much like humanity as a whole, it seems that the relationship is set on a potentially irreversible doom spiral. As tensions continue to rise between the two, judgments and accusations begin to fly.

They can't really escape each other, so they're forced to bear the weight of each other's accusations. When repressed emotions meet cabin fever, things start to go horribly awry. Soon, it becomes difficult to tell what is reality, and what is just paranoid, sleep-deprived delusion.

When I started reading this in July of 2022 (I am SO SLOW getting these reviews written/uploaded, I know) I remember thinking to myself, "I wonder if this is going to be difficult to read due to taking place in the current, ongoing pandemic." Well, it was. It might be less so now that I'm another half-year jaded. So. Unbelievably. Jaded.

But I think it is kind of brilliant the way Stage uses the backdrop of the pandemic to both parallel and ratchet up the mounting tension and borderline insanity of Grace's home. I love that it prods at the terrible things that extended quarantining has done to those of us who bothered to listen to medical science and do so at any point (or were able to do so due to being deemed "non-essential" - no shade to those who weren't given the choice. I'm sorry our government/society nominated you to play the part of cannon fodder whether you were willing or not).

*this review goes live on my website Feb 1, 2023*

As Zoje Stage remarks in her acknowledgments, “Mothered is a batshit crazy book.”

“Cat. Fat cat. Cat with a rat. Hickory dickory f*ck, the mouse ran out of luck. The clock struck two, the mouse got the flu, hickory dickory f*ck.” 🤣

It’s the dreaded lockdown of 2020, and Grace just lost her job as a stylist at Barbara’s beauty salon. Never mind that she just moved into her first house the day lockdown began. How is she going to pay her bills? When her mother, Jackie, threatens to move in with her, Grace isn’t sure it is a good idea. However, Jackie agrees to pay rent and stay out of her way.

“Agreeing to this arrangement was something a Good Daughter would do. But was Grace a Good Daughter? For that matter, was Jackie a Good Mother?”

Will they survive Covid, the lockdown, and living with each other?

Mothered is the second book that I have read from Stage, and I’m still not sure what to think about her writing. It’s kind of like watching a car crash, you just can’t look away. She really captures the claustrophobic atmosphere, fears, and anxieties about Covid and the very dysfunctional relationship between Grace and Jackie. Didn’t we all go a little stir crazy too?

I wasn’t really sure where this plot was headed throughout most of the book, which kept me reading. However, the second half of the book became very repetitive and didn’t include any plot twists. Unfortunately, I was also left with a few lingering questions.

I’m sure this was a difficult book to write so soon after Stage’s own mother died from Covid-19.

Read this: If you are looking for a book about the Covid-19 pandemic
Skip this: If it’s still too soon for you

3.5/5 stars rounded down

Expected publication date: 3/1/23

Thank you to Thomas and Mercer publishing for the ARC of Mothered in exchange for an honest review.

Zoje has done it again. Another reality bending novel that leaves you questioning your sanity and the reality that surrounds it.

This story starts off relatively normal…In the midst of a new pandemic Grace has to deal with her estranged mother moving in. Quickly the story veers off into left field. The dreams blur into reality and you have to take a moment to decipher that you’ve just read.

What is truth and what is fiction or better yet a fever dream.

Mothered tells the story of a mother and daughter quarantined together during the pandemic. The forced lockdown together finally forces them to confront their toxic relationship. There were some really well done, creepy scenes but I didn’t like the dream sequences. It left me feeling confused and not sure what was real. Overall, Mothered was an entertaining read that fans of Stage’s previous work will enjoy.

ARC Review
It’s awful that I’ve already forgotten the fear of Covid. Weren’t we all scared? I haven’t read many books about the pandemic but I thought the author portrayed a good example of the early days. Having said that I was interested and engaged in the plot until I wasn’t. The back and forth was to much and what was real?
I found it confusing and disjointed and maybe that was the point. But it was just too crazy for me.
I’m giving this a 3⭐️. And what really happened here? Anybody?
Thanks Thomas & Mercer via NetGalley.