I’ve read the author’s Wonderland, so I sort of knew what to expect – a literary atmospheric slow-boiler. This one certainly was more of the same, although with a distinctly 2020 flavor to it. Perhaps too much so for it seems to tip over an already bleak depressing production into this-way-madness-lies territory.
Lockdown is terrible enough but more so for Grace whose estranged mother comes to stay with her. Grace was just enjoying her newly purchased place and now she has to share it. Not the thing she can say no to, being in dire financial straits due to underemployment, so she agrees.
Grace and her mother do not get along and haven’t in ages. Grace had a twin once, her mother’s favorite, a mean-spirited disabled girl who died at eleven.
Now Grace is all alone. No love interests, nothing but a gay best friend and sporadic work for company. Well, that and her passion for catfishing, which she enjoys greatly and has been doing for years.
Grace’s mother arrives seemingly determined to turn a new leaf in their relationship, but they are simply too different as people to get along properly. Soon, Grace’s life gets taken over by vividly potent hyper-realistic nightmares that dredge up the ugliest times of her past.
All of that is mirrored by the nightmarish reality outside.
You can kind of see which way it’s going but you can’t look away – a slow-motion car crash of a mother/daughter relationship.
Engaging in its own right, but with no really likeable characters and it being so terribly dark and depressing, it’s difficult to outright recommend. This book is a waking nightmare, is an ode to nightmares. Smothered / mothered – all too frighteningly.
Trippy, demented, disturbing – this one is for the toughest fans of dark psychological fiction.
Thanks Netgalley.

Thank you NetGalley for the opportunity to preview Mothered.
OMG!!!!What a book.
Zoje hits this one out of the park. This book is far from ordinary and I was mesmerized with each chapter.
Grace lives a solitary life. It’s the pandemic and she’s lost her job and identity. That’s until her mother comes to lives with her. Grace and her mother have not spoken in years. Grace was a twin. Her sister Hope died years ago but she haunts both women. But Graces mother is going to come to stay. Just for awhile. Let’s see how it goes.
Each chapter will keep you in a state of unreality. And what is real will be revealed. Or will it?
5 stars!!!

I always enjoy Zoje Stage’s books! So much so that Zoje is now an accepted word in my phone dictionary.

This one was a little close to home due to the pandemic setting. I also lost my mom then (not due to Covid but it made it harder) but luckily she wasn’t a gas lighter sociopath. I really enjoyed Grace, she was complex and a bit troubled but real. I could see her upbringing leading her right down this path. She was a good friend and tried hard.

I wish a tiny bit had been fleshed out more like about the fetid odor that arrived with her mother.

Holy smokes, what a book! A family drama, a thriller, a horror/suspense novel. All of these would seem to apply to Mothered. These characters are so well constructed I found them fascinating. The author does a meticulous job of building the suspense, and the chemistry and back and forth between this mother and daughter is chilling, terrifying and absolutely unforgettable. Telling this story against the pandemic backdrop is just a masterstroke of plotting and adds to the claustrophobic feel of the narrative. I love this author and have read all of her prior work and was so delighted to read Mothered. I will enjoy recommending it to our library patrons and my fellow horror fans.

I think I may be in the minority here, but I thought this book was mediocre. I see a lot of 5-star reviews, so I guess this one just wasn't for me. It was confusing at times, not knowing what was real or imagined. I also felt that the storyline was just too drawn out and quite boring at times. Don't get me wrong, Stage does an amazing job at capturing the slow, torturous descent into oblivion that so many of us have experienced during the pandemic. That anxious feeling of cabin fever or feeling trapped inside not knowing what would happen if you or a loved one became sick. Having all of your everyday freedoms ripped away, losing your job, not knowing how you will pay the bills. That stress was real for so many of us. Now, imagine how much worse that would be if you are quarantined at home with someone who is driving you mad?

I give you: Mothered

Grace allows her estranged mother, Jackie, to move in with her during the lockdown. They haven't seen each other since right after Grace's high school graduation, two years after her twin sister, Hope, passed away. Little by little, small changes are noted around the house. Grace starts having nightmares and vivid dreams, not knowing anymore what is real or imagined. She feels herself slipping deeper into an unsettled state of mind. Is this all because of her mother? Or is she finally seeing the truth for what it really is?

Thank you to the author, Thomas & Mercer and NetGalley for allowing me to preview this eARC in exchange for my honest opinion.

I freaking loved Baby Teeth so I was stoked to read this one.

I have no words. 😶

My mind is left reeling and questioning everything. 🤯

Wow.. what did I just read!!!
This one pulled me right in had a creepy weird aspect to it that you wondering at times what's real or a dream. The beginning need I say more...wooooww what a start.
Would love to read more of Grace's story for sure.

Thanks to the author, the publisher and NetGalley for an early release of this book.

First of all, I’m a huge Zoje Stage fan. No matter what she writes, it’s un-put-downable to me. There are fantastical dream sequences which can be confusing, but we were all a bit nuts during the beginning months of COVID quarantine. I will always think of nightmares as “dreamtime quicksand” as Zoje referred to them. I’m left contemplating what else was contagious in addition to COVID in this story. Leave it to this author to give readers more to think about after they’ve finished.

Author Zoje Stage has an easy way of writing. Her smooth style makes Mothered an easy read, even with its dark and edgy content. Grace is the surviving twin who finds herself riding out the Covid pandemic living with her difficult mother, Jackie, in western Pennsylvania. Her life is falling apart with the loss of her job, a new home with a mortgage, and her BFF, a gay boy-pal Miguel being hospitalized with the virus.

As the story unfolds we learn about the dark underbelly of family dynamics. Her twin sister, Hope, died in late childhood as a result of birth defects. The relationship between the sisters was strained due to Jackie leaving the caretaking in the hands of Grace while she worked. The burden of caring for her sister left Hope with a jaded childhood at best. The reader also learns that Hope is an internet catfish who, with good intentions, has a bevy of damsels that she gives life advice to in the guise of a male hero archetype.

The author has created a dreamscape (dream-escape?) for Hope and the reader never knows, chapter by chapter, if the story unfolding is real or one of the series of Freudian schemas.

I found this book entertaining and well written. I wish the catfish story line had been more fleshed out as, to me this was an integral part of Hope’s psyche that was never truly taken advantage of. I’d recommend this book as a great #SummerRead.
#NetGalley #Motherded # ZojeStage

Oh man, I was so hoping to love this book, but the dreams were so repetitive that it really lost me. I kept waiting for things to pick up or for the pace to switch up and become darker but it didn't really change until the very end.

This is my first time reading this author and I will definitely check out her other books. This story just wasn't for me.

As a matter of fact, I probably would have preferred to have read in the POV of Silas. He seems like a fascinating character.

This ARC was provided to me via Kindle, from Thomas & Mercer and #NetGalley. Thank you for the opportunity to preview and review. Opinions expressed are completely my own.

The relationship between a mother and daughter always has it's complications, "Mothered" takes it to a new level. Intriguing, full of mystery and suspense. I didn't put it down.

I felt like this book had so much more potential. There were moments where Stage articulated feelings myself and many others felt during the first stages of pandemic lock downs in 2020. But I also felt like it went on far longer than it needed with a lackluster ending. There was no real answer to the book’s questions and not even enough information for the reader to interpret their own hypotheses. The confusion and unreliable narrator trope of whether or not Grace was awake or dreaming started getting redundant. I was overall confused the whole time and not in a good way. This book is classified as horror and I would say it’s more of a psychological thriller with only a tad bit of horror in some scenes.

NetGally ARC

I can not say enough about this book! I gave it 5 stars but it needs 10! Zoje Stage knows how to write a captivating, suspenseful and thrilling tale. It keeps you hooked even when you should not be reading! I highly recommend this author and this book!

What in the what did I just read?? I started this early this morning and have not moved until the afternoon finishing this. What a mind trip this book is. It has weird dreams, catfishing, mental illness, grief, sibling rivalry and so much more. I think the best part of this book was the confusion I had while reading it. That may sound strange, but it was NOT predictable in the least. From one sentence to another my mouth would just fall open from the shock of what I was absorbing. Mom moves in with daughter, daughter lost her twin sister as a child, daughter starts seeing dismembered doll heads, becomes a paper doll, seeing her dead sister around and not knowing what is reality and what is a dream. Did she actually kill her own twin? Will her mother survive this crazy ride. Oh, and it’s all during lockdown from the pandemic. Amazing! I give this a solid 4.5 stars! Do not miss this. If you like being kept on your toes throughout an entire read, being shocked several times, and a lot of twisted and creepy feelings, read it!!!
Thank you NetGalley and Thomas & Mercer for the e-read ARC of this book. Publication Date is 2/14/23!

Wow. Such a great story. Is it sad to say I can relate a bit? To the emotions, the anger. These characters were flawed, yet human, took those way beyond extremes. I love Zoje Stage and will read anything she writes. She a great writer. Look forward to so much more.

This was a great read, even though I felt like I was reading a news story from 2020. Unfortunately this could have been based on somebody’s real life experience. Too much family togetherness can stretch a person’s sanity to a breaking point. Zoje Stage’s writing puts you right there and you can feel the stress building within the house. Secrets come out but are they real or only the perception of reality?

Grace had recently moved into her house a few months ago after having spent years saving for it when the pandemic hit. Single and now out of a job, her worries start to intensify about her financial stability. Enter Jackie, her newly widowed mother seeking a place to stay. They have never been close and although Grace cherishes her independence, she needs help. What starts as a seemingly innocent domestic thriller turns into a spine tingling nightmare.

First things first, this is a COVID/quarantine psychological thriller, and an outstanding one at that. I can't even begin to explain the madness that is this book. It shows the aggravations of having to live with a parent, while during quarantine, where every little thing gets on your nerve. This novel explores a more horrific side of that where you begin to see that maybe your time during quarantine wasn't so bad after all. This slowly escalates from drama to thriller to horror and has you wondering where it all went wrong. I highly recommend this to my fellow readers.

Thank you Netgalley for this ARC.

Thank you to Netgalley and the publishers for providing me with a digital arc of this book, in exchange for an honest review.

This book tells the suspenseful tale of the circumstances that lead a daughter to live with her estranged mother, and how quickly their meeting spirals out of control. They both struggle to find a means of peaceful communication and things appear to be far from both of their grasp on control, as harmful accusations against each other are made. Trapped in a pandemic, as well as the nightmarish crevices of the mind, there must be sacrifices and self-acknowledgment for the truth to be set free, even if it means that one person has to suffer for it.

My reviews are completely based on my personal opinions and should not affect the ways that others perceive this story. I deliberated with my rating on this book until I was able to finally settle on 2.5 stars. The beginning was extremely slow and it took me approximately 50% before I was able to begin feeling immersed in the story. I felt no connection to any of the characters, which impacted my appreciation for them and their relationships. The plot was well-thought-out but because of how long it took for some development to be made, I was extremely detached from the book by the time I got to the climax. I also am not a fan of the slightly conversational tone that the writing style represented, and the mentions of the pandemic were a bit jarring because it is still something that I am getting accustomed to in fiction.

Overall, I do think that this is an interesting novel, but it just was not for me. I am still curious as to whether or not I will be a bigger fan of the author's other works, so I will still check out anything else that they have published. This was an interesting concept and I am grateful to Netgalley for providing me with the opportunity to read this book.

The first thing that I love about this book is the cover! Cover. Love. On this one! They say never judge a book by its cover, but I’m so glad that I did with this one. This was my first Zoje Stage read, and I cannot wait to read her very popular Baby Teeth next.

Mothered took place during the start of the Covid-19 pandemic lockdowns. Even though we are not totally out of the woods yet with Covid, it just seems like so long ago that the whole world was practically shut down. Many of us may have been stuck at home or sheltering in place with someone who we may might not have been very close with- as was the case in Mothered. Grace and her estranged mother Jackie, were in lockdown together. It was during this lockdown that strange occurrences started to happen, especially for Grace. Grace started having weird dreams and nightmares, sometimes not being able to tell the difference between real life or the dream…
Grace also had a twin sister named Hope, who passed away. Will Grace’s mother,Jackie and her dreams help her remember what really happened to her sister?

The ending of Mothered had a nice little surprise ending that I did not see coming. I also enjoyed the Epilogue very much, as it will leave you with something to think about for some time afterwards.

Special thanks to NetGalley and Thomas & Mercer for an ARC of this book in exchange for my honest review. Publication date: February 14, 2023

This is one of the most sinister books I’ve read all year. There’s nothing scarier than a mother with duplicitous motives. You will absolutely get swept away in this book.