Zoje Stage's Mothered brought to mind a funny thing I see on the internet sometimes. "Are you funny?" a meme with forgettable visuals asks... and then the gut punch of a punchline: "...Or did you have a happy childhood?" This never fails to elicit a bleak cackle from me, and I gotta tell you, Mothered is a mother-frikkin' bleak cackle of a book. If you had a happy childhood, then perhaps the book's premise doesn't seem like the trappings of a potential horror movie: wherein Grace has just lost her job and her elderly mother, recently widowed and just out of the hospital, has moved moved in with her. Seems win-win; Grace needs the financial support as she has just purchased a home and being unemployed during a pandemic makes it tough to pay the mortgage, and her mother obviously is going to need a bit of help recuperating after having been unwell. And there is of course a lot of unhappy history there; Grace and her mother are estranged, there's childhood neglect and trauma --and maybe some other stuff!--that's never been adequately addressed and with all of this in their past, they are really struggling to reconnect and communicate while living under the same roof again. Grace begins having nightmares, losing time, and sleepwalking, and endures a heartbreakingly gruesome accusation by her mother. What's going on? Is Grace slowly unraveling from sleep deprivation? Is her mother the one who is losing it? Maybe it's both?! If you've got a dark sense of humor and that cackling darkness was developed as a defense mechanism, I think that you, like me, will find Mothered a grim, gripping giggle of a summer read.

Baby Teeth is one of my absolute favorite books and I didn't think Zoje could top that. But then she comes on the scene with Mothered and I question everything! I hooked from the first chapter and it did not stop. All the while, the reader doubts his own sanity, while Grace questions hers. 100/10, seriously, this will be among my first readings of 2022, I already see it. The twists keep coming, just when you think you have some control over what's going on, no, Zoje throws another round. Very nice. So heartbreaking. spank like that. I liked it!!

Thanks to NetGalley for allowing me to read this in exchange for an honest opinion.

Though I still enjoyed Baby Teeth more, I still tore through this creepy thriller about a seriously messed-up mother/daughter relationship in the midst of a pandemic. Very good, with some horrifyingly gory descriptions!

Grace reluctantly allows her mother Jackie to be her roommate during the COVID pandemic. They’ve always, ALWAYS, been distant as Grace’s twin Hope was severely physically disabled (wickedly smart though) and Jackie worked full time. It was all about Hope until Hope’s death at age 12. Now, suddenly, Jackie wants to know her living daughter and she’ll pay her share of the bills. Well, the money would help, so…..ok.

“Mothered” is like surviving a gaslighting, but you volunteered for it by reading the pages, and you loved every minute of it too. I’m still going over Grace’s nightmares, memories, Jackie’s role, and allusions to something more going on when Jackie discusses the death of her husband Robert of an illness before the COVID pandemic. The writing is masterful as you read along and, like Grace, don’t know if she’ recalling a childhood memory or if she’s dreaming. Is Grace going mad, or is Jackie messing with her head or is something eve more malicious happening here?

“Truth is dangerous. It topples palaces and kills kings. It stirs gentle men to rage and bids them take up arms. It wakes old grievances and opens forgotten wounds. It is the mother of the sleepless night and the hag-ridden day“. -Frances Hardinge

Thank you #netgalley for allowing me to read this amazing book #Mothered This will be added to my All Time Favorites shelf on Goodreads.

I am a huge fan of Zoje Stage so I was super excited to get this book. Right from the beginning you are hooked. It takes place during the pandemic which makes it so relatable and engaging. Grace looses her job and is having financial trouble and then her mother moves in with her. That is more than enough to stress someone out.

Grace starts having terrible nightmares. She starts to doubt her own sanity and isn't sure what is real. Her mother is very passive aggressive and just fuels Grace's anxiety and stress. Grace keeps remembering her terrible childhood and how awful her mom and sister treated her. Her sister Hope was always the favorite and could do no wrong. Grace got stuck taking care of Hope and lost her own childhood in the process.

As I read this I love it as I am not sure if Grace is having mental health issues, or if Jackie is messing with her or what is the truth so I just want to keep reading on and find out. I loved the surprise ending.

I am o f 2 minds regarding Mothered.
1.. this was the pandemic novel we NEVER needed
2. This is the pandemic novel we ALL needed.
This books was certifiably batshit crazy. Zoje Stage perfectly wrote the tumultuous insanity/love/hate/paranoia the pandemic brought out in humanity , whether in tiny bursts, inside your home, or alone in your room.

Stage has outdone herself with Mothered. Blurring the lines between reality and dreams, this taut atmospheric story will make you question whether we can truly ever be certain what is fact and what just lives in our sleeping minds. I’ll never look at drifting off for a little nap quite the same again. And what an epic epilogue to wrap it all up. Thanks to NetGalley for the early read.

Creepy story of a mother and daughter forced to live together during the pandemic. Grace has never really been close to her mother, she lived her childhood in the shadow of her twin who had cerebral palsy and got the lions share of her mother’s attention. After her sisters passing, her relationship with her mom got even worse, as her mother simply avoided her. Being forced to live together during the stress of a global pandemic does nothing to bring them closer, instead it has disastrous consequences. Fast paced, impossible to put down. Fans of Baby Teeth will love this book.

You ever read a book that's so crazy and just out there, that at times you start to question your own sanity? Well, that's exactly what Zoje Stage did to me with her upcoming horror novel Mothered. It's an odd mixture of sibling rivalry, the horrors of the pandemic, and an exploration of a strained relationship between a mother and a daughter, who are suddenly living together after years apart. And it isn't only their differences that make their current living arrangements so difficult, but also the past and what will be unburied during their time together.

It's clear that Mothered takes place during the early stages of the Covid-19 pandemic, when we all still thought it might just blow over. But even in her writing, Stage makes it clear how wrong we all were. She perfectly captured the horror we felt at being locked into our own homes, and just like Grace, many of us simply couldn't deal with being stuck inside all day. On top of that the she looses her job, and is now forced to let her estranged mother move into her cozy little home. But with the arrival of her mother also come the old memories of her dead sister; memories Grace has been trying to forget all her life. Yet, her mother won't let her, and she seems to stop at nothing to make Grace see the truth, even if it means plunging into a lockdown fueled nightmare.

A big shout out to the publisher and Netgalley for the arc!

Now, this is a book that plays on your deepest fears: the world as it is (or was a year ago.)

I think anyone who obeyed the rules of lockdown due to the pandemic will feel the claustrophobia that this book brings about, not to mention playing on your anxieties that most people have suffered with. Add into that the fear that most adults have about living with their "parent(s)" again and you have the perfect recipe for disaster.

I thoroughly enjoyed this book, to the pint where I could not put it down and finished it in a day. While it may not be gory enough for some horror fans, I think the brilliant writing and subtle play on our emotions from the pandemic (and continuing pandemic) are enough to thrill almost everyone.

2.5-3 stars
I dont think I really liked this book all that much. To start the authors sentence structure is rough in some spots, making it a little bit difficult to read. Once you find the flow of her style it becomes easier.
The story itself is kind of repetitive and doesn’t really feel like it’s moving anywhere. The characters all kind of suck so it’s hard to empathize or relate to any of them.
If the whole book was written like the prologue and epilogue it likely would’ve been a much better read.

Being nominated for the Bram Stoker award for her previous work I decided to give Ms. Stage a try. Mothered builds in tension from the start, along with a mysterious past, made for a fast paced read. Overall, I enjoyed the story but felt in many ways’ questions were left unanswered and eventually fell flat in the end. I also had difficulty relating to the pandemic experience the characters portrayed.

This book centres around the Covid quarantine, so keep that in mind if you are looking to read this.

This book follows a young adult, Grace, who has allowed her mother stay in her home during the quarantine. The writing style is a bit simplistic but very atmospheric. I found the characters very well written, and their development was well crafted. The pace of this book was perfect for this type of story, the slow unsettling build up was amazing.

One of the points this books makes that sticks with me is how invasive social media is on our day to day lives; the way Grace struggles in real life versus her thriving social life on the internet (no matter how disingenuous it is) and how it sometimes dictates her real life social interactions.

Mothered explores complications in the relationship between a mother and a daughter forced to cohabitate in isolation and it uses the pandemic as the perfect backdrop for the story to unfold. The prologue hooks you in right away. All characters are written in a way that makes you care for them, and I found the writing smooth and evocative. Although the big reveal was a little predictable, the epilogue definitely left me wanting more from this book! Thank you Netgalley for the ARC!

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. 🤯