This was an interesting book though I found a lot of time was spent in the head of Grace, the main character. Which isn't surprising since her and her mom are living together and for much of the book are staying at home due to an exposure to COVID. Grace has allowed her mom (Jackie) to move in with her, she hasn't had a very good relationship with her mom and she's nervous about how they will get along. Things start off alright, they are both trying to be nice to each other, her mom is older and somewhat set in her ways. Jackie soon starts to rearrange items, something Grace gets very unhappy about. The book switches between present day and Grace's childhood, her twin sister Holly had cerebral palsy and had difficulty talking, and used a wheelchair to get around. It seemed no matter how hard Grace tried, Holly was the favorite one in Jackie's eye. Once Grace and Jackie are confined to the house because of a potential COVID exposure things get very tense, they exchange some nasty words and something I certainly wasn't expecting happens. This was a good book , though I found it slow at times because Grace spent a lot of time thinking, she also had nightmares that sometimes was hard to tell if it was a dream or reality. Thank you to #Netgalley and #Thomas & Mercer for the ARC.

✨ 🅑🅞🅞🅚 🅡🅔🅥🅘🅔🅦 ✨

Title: Mothered
Author: Zoje Stage
Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️/5

Review: Grace finally has a home of her own, that is until her elderly mother comes to live with her. The two have always had a strained relationship, even before Grace’s sister died at a young age. But with the pandemic in full force, Grace feels the financial gain of having two people in the house outweigh the difficult relationship the two shared.

Grace begins to have nightmares. The past she has long tried to push behind her keeps creeping up in graphic dreams. Her mental state begins to drop, especially when a self- quarantine traps her and her over-bearing mother inside the house.

This book was a great slow burn horror! It has a great unreliable narrative aspect. I found myself questioning who to trust… her mother or Grace. The nightmares Grace has were super creepy. Not to mention the epilogue was great, leaving me with an additional question or two.

If you’re looking for a book that will mess with your mind, look no further! This book comes out next March, but is available to read on NetGalley now.

Fantastic author, great novel - really really well written, the only negative was that the ending seemed very abrupt. Other than that, I look forward to reading novels by Stage, they’re fantastic!

The story gives me mixed emotions. There are elements that this story doesn't read as a psychological thriller but more of a quirky thriller. There is nothing psychological about it. Jackie and Grace's relationship is very straightforward. The ending is at the beginning, and the rest of the story describes how the event unfolded. The middle part doesn't make me want to dive deep into the story. Everything from the characters to the events was very on the surface. There is no proper development in any of the components. I don't see Grace as crazy. She's not another daughter whose mother drove them insane. Although, most daughters would not react in the same way as Grace. The ending with Grace's psychologist is more interesting. He is the story's most interesting character, yet he is not there. The end does open up for another book, and I would love to see the next novel focus more on the psychologist.

Thank you Thomas & Mercer and NetGalley for letting me read this eARC in exchange for an honest review.

Zoje Stage is my favorite author but I have to admit I did not like this one too much. I thought the main plot (Grace's relationship to her mother and twin sister) was developed wonderfully and I didn't mind the background of COVID, although I didn't think it was necessary.

Unfortunately, Grace's online activities seemed irrelevant and to take away a lot from the main story. Once the peak of this side plot is discovered, it's barely mentioned afterwards and it is at a point where there are a lot of other things going on, and it takes away from this. The framing of a story within a story also seemed random, it wasn't until the therapist talked again that I remembered that this was how the book started, and by then it seemed too separated from the rest of what I had read. Lastly, I thought the dialogue with Miguel sounded a bit too forced and unnatural, a caricature of how a gay person talks and acts.

Grace isn’t thrilled when her mother moves in with her during the pandemic but maybe it’ll be a chance to bond. She’s not sure how she’ll hid her catfishing schemes from her. Then .. the dreams begin.

This was not my favorite Zoje Stage book, although she is still one of my favorite authors. This book was a little too abstract for me. A lot of times I felt I didn’t know the difference between reality and dream, which for many readers may be appealing but it wasn’t for me. I loved the flashbacks and wish there were more of them. My favorite part was the sister relationship between Grace and Hope.

“Catfishing wasn’t simply her being deliberately cruel; it was her finding a way to feel good about herself.”

Mothered comes out 2/14.

There was so much packed into this book, my head is still reeling. I was entertained throughout the book which is why I gave it 4 stars. However, the book jumped around so much that I’m not quite sure what was real and what was dreams. I guess that’s how I related to the main character, Grace so well. I was just in constant confusion. There was catfishing, a pandemic, murder, nightmares and complicated relationships all at play in the book. Stage did an adequate job of tying everything together at the end.

Thanks to NetGalley, Stage and the publishers for allowing me to read an advanced copy in exchange for an honest review.

Ahhhh what a twisted story. I loooooved it. The nightmares were a bit creepy but I enjoyed the build up and the characters development. Also enjoyed the mother/daughter and sister/sister dynamic. You won’t be able to put it down. This is my first book from Zoje, but it won’t be my last!!
Thank you Netgalley for my ARC

Great horror/thrilled by Stage. I loved the set-up of this, several months into the COVID-19 pandemic, a woman's life (Grace) seems to be coming apart, and things go from bad to worse when her mother (Jackie) moves in. Only reason why I didn't give this 5 stars was that the flow of the book. I think when the dreams started coming hard and fast you weren't given enough time to figure out what that real or what is happening now. I am still wondering if conversations Grace had were real or not real.


"Mothered" follows hair stylist Grace who is struggling to make ends meet a couple of months into the COVID-19 pandemic. Grace feels adrift because she's lost her job, her great boss, and she is scared she may end up losing her home. Her one source of comfort outside of her best friend Miguel, is her online personas which she says are used to help other people. When Grace's mother Jackie calls, she asks can she move in. After Jackie's husband has died, his children want what is left and Jackie really can't live alone anymore. Though Grace is hesitant, she realizes her mother will be able to help her with the bills. What starts off as an uneasy roommate situation starts to get darker and darker once Grace and Jackie are forced to isolate more and more due to COVID-19.

Grace was a complicated character. You feel sorry for her throughout, but want to tell her to get her shit together. I think it's because she does some really crappy things in the book, but you realize how affected she has due to her in essence being forced to care take her twin sister Hope who had cerebral palsy. The book flits back and forth between Grace's dreams, the present, and her memories (maybe?) of her past with her sister and how much she wanted her mother to just love her. There's resentment because she needs her mother to help her at this time in her life, but also anger because her mother keeps pressing her about her sister.

Jackie is complicated as well. I want to know who is the real her. Sometimes we get glimpses of a woman who is broken by where her life led her. You can see someone who was in love with Grace and Hope's father who is broken by the fact that he moved on and left her to live in her dead parent's home. Now she's been pushed out of her life by her dead spouse's family. Her daughter is all she has. So at times you can see her trying to be close, but also resentful of needing Grace.

Hope is not really a solid figure in the book. She appears either via flashbacks or dreams. She seems to be a malevolent person, but one wonders though was she? Or was this just Grace's perception?

The writing I thought was great. An ever increasing feeling of dread starts at the beginning of the book and doesn't let up. Weirdly enough I don't even recall the first couple of weeks of the pandemic and being scared. I was way luckier than other Americans. I was able to work from home right away and was able to get things delivered. My one brother found tons of cleaning products and kept sending me things. I was able to work out from home or go on walks (masked). I think things hit me worse when the election got in full swing. I started to get scared that former President Trump was going to win again and what that meant. I definitely felt like his Administration was winging things and we had so many loud (but small) anti vaxxers and anti-maskers screaming about their rights and it just felt like things were never going to get better. But Stage plays with how time and how many days/weeks started to blend for each other once they were quarantining and the fear many had when they lost their jobs.

The only reason why I gave this one 4 stars was just because the flow stumbles after a while. I think also trying to work out what was real and what was a dream sometimes had me come to a hard stop in my reading. Not often, but enough I noticed it.

The book takes place in Pittsburgh which I definitely enjoyed seeing in book form. Of course you don't really get a sense of the city, outside of people and their particular quirks, because the world seems to be closed away due the pandemic and waves that are now hitting the United States.

I enjoyed the ending though it wasn't a shocker.

Another psychological thriller from Zoje Stage. Set during the isolation of the pandemic. Grace is the main character that lets her estranged mother move in with her to help make ends meet due to losing her job. Grace starts having nightmares and has difficulty separating reality from her nightmares. Are her nightmares caused by her Mother, being isolated due to the pandemic or her past that involves her late twin sister?
The story was well told from the time frame of the pandemic. Suspenseful with a lot of twists.

I really enjoyed Mothered. The tension between the two main characters builds perfectly. Just when you think they are back on track and things are going well with their relationship, another twist develops. I enjoyed the flow of this novel as well. It was very relatable to the times we live in today. The dream sequences originally threw me off a little bit, but the more I read the more I realized it was essential for the main character’s development. I give this book 4 stars and I look forward to reading more books from Zoje Stage.

My thanks to Thomas and Mercer, Zoje Stage and Netgalley.
I didn't finish this book. Crikey! It seems that Zoje and I just don't get along!
I read Baby Teeth and hated it! But, I sometimes try another book from blah, blah, and blah!
Unreliable narrator's tend to annoy the absolute crap outta me! Soon as I saw where this was going, I quit!
I know plenty of peeps will love this book. Not me.

Twisty and turny. Kept me guessing the whole way and I would definitely recommend if you’re looking for your next thriller

Probably one of Zoje Stage’s best books to date! I first fell in love with this author when I read Baby Teeth. Mothered is equally as twisty and really makes you question what is real and what is delusion!!! I received an advanced reader’s copy of this book, and am so glad I was able to read it early! It gave a dystopian vibe, taking place during the beginning weeks/months of the pandemic. I highly recommend this book!!

I follow Zonje on Tiktok and she is a very unique and awesome woman and that comes out in her writing so much. I did not go into this blind because she explained what this book was about in a video. But I knew I really wanted to read it. I mean I love everything shes put out thus far anyways. And I just read Lucy By The Sea which is also a pandemic story. I thought this one sounded like a winner to be up next. And it exceeded my expectations and all the emotions I felt while reading was wild. I loved this story and I will deff buy a copy of this book when ti comes out. Thank you so much for the ARC.

What a return to form from the author that gave us BABY TEETH.
Mothered is a disturbing and dark tale about a mother and her daughter, who are forced to live in close quarters after Jackie becomes widowed.
This story is deeply unnerving and unsettling. We start to see layers of history and secrets peeled back, and with each new darkness that is uncovered, the focus on these two women comes into disorienting view.
This book will leave you breathless and the twists and shocks are expertly crafted.
You will wanna pick this one up.

I thoroughly enjoyed Zoje Stage's Baby Teeth, so when I saw that Netgalley had her upcoming book up for request, I jumped at it! Many thanks to them for giving me an eARC of this amazing book!

This is a pandemic book. Many people's experience of the pandemic was very different from my own. I was an Essential Worker, I suppose, since I worked in a geoengineering lab and construction of new roads stops for nothing! Because of this, I never stopped seeing coworkers, never stopped leaving my house, and in general had a very different experience from what was described in this book. I'm not sure how many people actually lived like this, but Stage certainly uses the isolation, feelings of helplessness, and being in work limbo to best advantage to tell a truly chilling story.

Grace is a new homeowner struggling to pay her mortgage after losing her job to lockdowns. She hasn't seen her mother in years, but readers get flashbacks throughout the book that suggest her childhood was less than ideal and that her mother idolized Grace's twin, Hope, who suffered from cerebral palsy and died when they were children. Her mother, Jackie, has recently lost her husband and is recovering from an illness that remains mostly vague in the book. The two decide to live together in Grace's new house until they are both self sufficient again. Grace REALLY doesn't want to live with her mother, but sees no other options. From there, the two women become more isolated from the outside world, their pasts continue to haunt them, and as the book went on I honestly wasn't sure which woman was more reliable. Half the book was spent trying to figure out if Jackie was the crazy one or if Grace was. I loved the tightening tension in this book; Stage does a great job creating a genuinely creepy atmosphere with very little. I figured out the ending about halfway through the book, but there was so much else going on between the two women that it didn't detract at all from my enjoyment of the book! Highly recommend this when it's published in February 2023, especially if you enjoyed Baby Teeth.

Mothered is a book centered around Grace, a hairstylist who loses her job during the pandemic. In order to keep her house, her mother moves in with her. Once this happens, Grace starts to have nightmares that are very vivid.

Sometimes in the book it can be challenging to tell what is real and what is fake as the nightmares are woven into the story as reality until later presented as a dream. It did make me often feel a little confused about what was happening and how much was a dream. The book has a foggy feel to it, like you can’t quite tell what is going on. After a while, it is hard to remember what was a dream and what was reality. The narrator is very unreliable and that combined with the other factors makes this book very unsettling.

The entirety of the book takes place during the lockdown period of Covid. I felt that this added to the stress and build up of the story but could be hard to read- for me it felt a little too soon. It was also very repetitive, I felt like it circled round and round with the story, I think it would have been better if the author cut it down some.

I did feel like there were parts of the book that didn’t contribute much to the story such as Grace catfishing women. It didn’t really add anything or make a lot of sense. I also wanted the characters fleshed out a bit more- I didn’t understand why the mom was the way she was and what her motivations were.

I still don’t know if I liked this book or not. It was just a bit too stressful for me to enjoy it fully. For once, I think this would be a better movie than it is a book.

Zoje Stage is an excellent writer and Mothered is evidence to this fact. The premise of the story isn't too complex - a woman's mother (with whom she has a complicated relationship) moves in with her during the pandemic - but the story unfolds in a way that kept me hungry for more. The characters are well developed, the writing style is engaged, and the conclusion was perfectly chilling. If you enjoy horror that simmers, you should get your hands on a copy of Mothered.

This was definitely the dark and twisted book I would expect from Zoje Stage, but I sadly did not enjoy the sotry here as much as I wanted to. The repetitive dream sequences (that would pull back into reality to mix into another dream sequence that may look like but was not actually reality) were an interesting structural choice but ultimately really frustrating to read. There were far too many of them with diminishing returns as to how effective they were at getting the point across. This repetition made a book of relatively normal length feel so so so long.
In addition, it was hard to get attached to any of these characters from this protagonists perspective. No one acted like a real person (largely because half the time they were in a dream) and it made it difficult to really buy in to much of what was happening. I think while the protagonist was initially intriguing, she did not continue to be interesting through the duration of the story, especially when you knew how things were going to end up.
Lastly, while the final twist was very interesting it was not given any time to really be fleshed out into an idea. I would have liked to get more on this element that the short epilogue and the tiny sprinkling of it in the last 15%.

2.5/5