The book's synopsis definitely hooked my interest and I did enjoy the whole premise of the book but felt like certain things were lacking. Some parts did feel a bit dragged on for my liking, and we never got the full answer on the ongoing problem in the book which I wish we would've. Besides those little things, for this being my first Zoje Stage book, I enjoyed it and would love to read more by her in the future.

Oh 2020, what a time it was to be alive. Its hard to believe that its been two years since the world literally came to a halt, and phrases like "social distancing" and "masks required" became a part of our every day lives. Grace's mother, Jackie, has recently come to live with her during the height of the pandemic. Grace and Jackie have had a strained relationship at best, and now they are going to be roommates. Having Jackie around on a daily basis is hard on Grace, and certain things from her childhood will soon be brought up. There is another layer added to this story through Grace's sister, Hope, who had cerebral palsy and died when they were younger. This book was messed up in a way that only Zoje knows how to write. Her books are unique and refreshing from the standpoint of a reader who reads a lot of books in the thriller genre. The line between what is real and what isn't gets blurred real fast, and we slowly watch Grace lose it. This is a book about the mother /daughter dynamic and the bond between sisters. I will definitely be recommending this one. Thank you to the publisher for giving me a chance to read an early copy of this book.

This book was not for me. There's no major plot points and I'm not ready to have Covid be a major part of my escapism entertainment. I spent a majority of the book confused about what was real and what was fake, but I guess that's kinda the point.
We follow Grace, a hairdresser, during the Covid pandemic. Her mother moves in with her to help her financially. through the book we explore Grace's past, and answer the question of how did Grace's twin sister die?
I was so excited because I loved Baby Teeth by Zoje Stage but man, this did not live up my expectations.

Thank you to Netgalley for providing me with an ARC

3 stars!

I was really excited to read this with how it was described as a claustrophobic psychological thriller about one woman’s nightmarish spiral while quarantined with her mother. I thought, oh hell yes!

I really thought the book would be different to what I read. I enjoyed reading it, but it felt like, to me, something was missing.

Grace’s relationship with her mother, Jackie, is very strained. We get to see what her childhood was like and the things she went through.

Catfishing was also mentioned in the blurb and I automatically thought oh yes a twist with that will happen! But sadly, the whole catfishing didn’t really go anywhere, and it could have been used in a really good way that would make the story more messed up or manipulating.

I enjoyed this but I was expecting something much more, I don’t know what I felt was missing for me as a reader, but a good read.

Covid, catfishing, dreams, nightmares, living again with your mother again, sounds like a nightmare.
Definitely was not ready for the covid part having lost some close family to covid.
Some of the nightmares were so real sounding I didn't know they difference between real and fake.
Will definitely suggest this book in the future.

This book was pretty good. It goes through woman's struggle of moving her estranged mother in with her during the beginning months of the pandemic. The lines between reality and nightmares is blurred, and both the reader and the main character are trying to figure out what really happened.
I found the ending to be somewhat unclear and almost felt incomplete.
It was not my favorite book by this author, but I did enjoy it.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for a chance to read this. I enjoyed Baby Teeth by the same author, but had to force myself to finish this one. It was bizarre, kind of jumbled, and I wasn't invested in the main character's life or situation at all. It was just odd but not in an enjoyable way. Sadly, this was a miss for me.

When Grace loses her job in the middle of Covid lockdowns, and her mothers husband dies suddenly - the inevitable happens. She moves her mother in to live with her to save money, and keep the house she'd worked so hard for.

And that's when her nightmares begin.

I read this book whilst self-isolating (fortunately not with my mother!) And I think this made the story all the more creepier! Extremely well written and absolutely captivating until the end.

4 stars ⭐⭐⭐⭐

Special thanks to Netgalley for providing me with this ARC in exchange for my honest opinion.

This was a really interesting, suspenseful read that I had a hard time putting down. I was nervous that I wouldn't like the pandemic references but i think it was done well! Some chapters are reality and others are dreams which adds to the creepy/ disorienting vibe. Overall I am impressed with this book, especially after not really enjoying Baby Teeth

This book was about Grace, a hairstylist who loses her job during the Covid-19 pandemic and is dealing with the isolation of being in lockdown. Her mother’s husband has recently passed away and her mother, Jackie, decides to move back to Pittsburg and live with Grace. She offers to help with the mortgage, groceries and bills if needed while Grace is out of a job. That all sounds well and good, but it quickly becomes apparent that Jackie’s presence in the house is stirring up a lot of memories about Grace’s childhood and her disabled sister who passed away when they were young.
The book focuses on Grace’s spiral into a warped reality, nightmares and suppressed memories…or are they? Is Grace crazy, or is Jacking slowing convincing her that she is?

This book was very atmospheric, and easy to relate to the covid storyline. The blurring between dreams and reality was well done. It was my first book by Zoje Stage. Overall, I enjoyed the book. 3.5 stars (rounding up to 4)

Thank you to NetGalley for the e-book Advanced Readers Copy (ARC).

So very strange. Good...but strange. I couldn't tell you what this was, but I can tell you it kept me turning the pages. Is there mental illness, dysfunction, paranormal experience. I would say a little bit of all of it, and it's hard to know what's true and what lives in the characters heads. I was oddly mesmerized, and as I turned the last page, I had lots of questions, yet I was okay with that.

Due to the pandemic and financial restrictions, Grace lets her mom, Jackie, move in with her, but she is not happy about it. She quickly takes way too much space to her liking, and given that they never really had a very good relationship, old wounds start to fester, and she starts having nightmares and soon decides to give up sleep, which sends her into madness.
This is a family thriller with a touch of horror that will have you question your sanity. The characters are unlikeable and unreliable, and I couldn't relate to them, didn't really care what happened to them. The whole is this a nightmare or reality got redundant really fast. This twisted book was a slow burn with a rushed but satisfying ending. The premise was great, but it fell a bit flat. I liked that COVID-19 was integrated in the story to add to the horror of it, but think it should have been mentioned in the synopsis.
This one was not for me, but I have read previous books by this author (Baby Teeth and Wonderland) that I absolutely loved.
I received an advance review copy for free and I am leaving this review voluntarily.

I’m not sure I would have chosen to read this if I had been aware it focuses quite so heavy on covid (I know the summary says “during a quarantine,” but that can cover a lot of possible content), but despite that not being my preference I really enjoyed the dreamlike creepiness of the book. I wouldn’t quite classify this as scary, per se, although the horror elements are certainly there. I didn’t feel that I left the book completely satisfied, but I’m glad I was along for the ride. 4 stars for the way the atmosphere melds with the plot.

Mothered is a psychological horror set during the early days of Covid. Grace is a hairdresser who is having a hard time finding work so she reluctantly agrees to let her recently widowed mother, Jackie, move in with her. Grace and Jackie have a lifelong estranged relationship that was further devasted by the death of Grace’s twin sister who had Cerebral Palsy. Upon moving in, Jackie and Grace try to mend their relationship but secrets and the recent nightmares Grace has been having lead to everything spiraling out of control.

The addition of Covid added an ominous layer to the story. The isolation and stress of the pandemic on top of the drama and toxicity of Jackie and Grace’s relationship created an intensely claustrophobic feeling. The pacing of everything was so well done that I found myself constantly thinking about this book. I’ve even found myself weeks later thinking about Grace which is probably because she and her world felt so realistic and chilling.

The prologue of this story was a great addition because it added a cloud of suspense over everything. We know from the beginning that something catastrophic happens between Grace and Jackie which we are slowly building to. I was constantly trying to guess what was going to happen next and who did what to who. The story was cleverly done and I loved being fully immersed in this creepy and deeply unsettling world.

If you think you can handle a story with heavy Covid elements than I highly recommend this book. It perfectly blends the horror of the pandemic with the horror of what is happening in the story. I love the psychological horror genre and I will definitely be seeking out more from Zoje Stage in the future.

I could not put this book down, I ended up reading it in one sitting!

Grace is navigating her life through the pandemic when she moves her mother into her home. Reality and the past began to blur together. Who is causing it Grace or her mother.

Thank you NetGalley and Thomas & Mercer for the ARC in an enchanted for an honest review.

True to Zoje Stage's style, Mothered is a character focused slow burn psychological horror that follows Grace, a hair stylist in her early 30s who is just starting to feel established in her life when the pandemic hits. Soon everything that was going right in her world seems to be upended as she copes with the virus spreading through her community and her mother (who she already has a strained relationship with) moving in. As things devolve around her, the lines of her own reality also begin to blur as some of her old memories begin to resurface in the form of nightmares, leaving both Grace and the reader wondering just how much of these scenarios are or were her reality?

For the most part, I really enjoyed my experience reading Mothered. I knew going in that I would enjoy Zoje Stage's writing style since she has a way of writing very nuanced inner monologue and unhealthy character dynamics like no one else and I was definitely not disappointed. Grace and her mother Jackie are memorable, fascinating to follow, and will have you experiencing an emotional rollercoaster ride right along with them.

As Grace starts experiencing her nightmares and the lines of her reality start to blur, it's really intriguing to explore her backstory and try to understand why her and Jackie's relationship is in the state that it's in but over the course of the novel my intrigue started to wane because I never felt like I had a full grasp on what was part of their reality and what was just a nightmare. It was hard for me to fully feel the stakes and tension within the story not knowing how much of it was factual for them and I wish that more foreshadowing and mystery elements were included or a bit more fleshed out.

I think this book will work better for readers who want to experience tension through their confusion and the murkiness of the story rather than through the mystery element slowly unfolding.

Thank you to NetGalley and Thomas Mercer for providing me with an ARC copy in exchange for my honest review.

YES YES YES! Baby Teeth was one of my favorite reads in a long time, so I had high expectations for Mothered. This psychological thriller immediately drew me in. Set in pandemic times, stilted mother-daughter relationship that is completely put to the test when mother Jackie moves in with daughter Grace. It's claustrophobic, thrilling, and just so good. HIGHLY recommended.

SO CREEPY! Zoje Stage makes such fantastic use of the unreliable narrator trope that it doesn't even feel like a trope.
At first I was 100% on Grace's side, but after her dreams start messing with her mind I had to wonder if she was really all there. Jackie was unnerving and kind in turn, but what parts of that were true? And the deceased, but oh so present, character of Hope added another level of nightmare to the real life drama. Was Hope really a villain or is that just what Grace tells herself?
Stage is truly developing into a master of psychological horror/suspense and I'm always interested to see what she does next.

Creepy, unsettling,and completely addictive. Mothered by Zoje Stage will stay with the reader long after the last page.

Slow burn, didn’t start getting good until the end. I felt like the story seemed to drag out quite a bit.