This was really good! No spoilers, but I was thinking something like what happened would happen. I DID NOT see it coming, though, HOW it happened!! Prom Mom is a slow-burn, character driven story that will keep you on the edge. The current events and using actual places in Baltimore made it so I could see and feel the places and things that were happening. I enjoyed reading this book and I highly recommend it. Thanks to NetGalley and the publishers for letting me read this ARC in exchange for my honest review.

WOW! From the opening chapter this book doesn't let up and tells a story I haven't seen before. Flashing between present day and 1997, we learn how Amber received the nickname "Prom Mom" after giving birth and allegedly killing her baby at the prom. Secret pregnancies were a real thing in the late 90s and this is the first book I've read that explores that phenomenon. How Prom Mom got to that moment and everything that comes after is compulsively readable. Will keep you up turning the pages all night!

📚: Prom Mom by Laura Lippman (@lauramlippman)
⭐️: 4/5

Whoa. What did I just read?

Dark and revenge driven, this book left my jaw on the floor by the end. (In a very good way.)

Amber Glass has returned home to Baltimore after running from city to city, state to state, trying to put her teenage reputation as the “Prom Mom” behind her. The trick to doing so? Avoiding Joe, the “Cad Dad” as the tabloids nicknamed him after their baby is found dead on prom night. (Is this plot out there? Yeah.)

Set in very current times, the second half of this book takes place in 2020-2021, with COVID times as the backdrop. It’s (maybe?) the first book I’ve read with this setting, and sent me back mentally to the days of toilet paper hoarding and vaccine reservation struggles. I know it’s been years, but minus one star for sending me back to that time. (Also a 4 star rating for an ending that, while incredibly twisty, leaves a couple unanswered questions that I would have loved just one more chapter to flesh out.)

Big thanks to @williammorrowbooks via @netgalley for the digital ARC in exchange for an honest review. Prom Mom is out next week on July 25th!

Although I love mysteries, I’m usually not a huge fan of thrillers/suspense novels. I think this is because in a mystery, the crime usually comes at the beginning and I haven’t developed a relationship with any of the characters, especially the victim. In a thriller, the evil act generally comes at the end, by which time I have generally come to know both the victim(s) and the perpetrator(s). I hate reading an entire book thinking that something bad may be done by or to any of the characters I’ve come to know and even like.

The three main characters, “Prom Mom” Amber, “Cad Dad” Joe, and his wife Meredith, were so well written that I liked and/or identified with all three of them at various points in the novel.The Covid-era setting provided just enough sympathetic detail to pull me further into the plot. So, although I was worried about the ending, about who was going to hurt whom and how—it was fine. A satisfying ending that didn’t make me cringe. And for me that is the mark of good suspense.

Highly recommended, even for hesitant readers of suspense like me!

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for providing me with a copy of this novel to read and review.

3.5 stars

The start of this feels straight out of a tabloid story, a teen gives birth at prom and then kills her baby. But that's only the beginning of the story--this is much more about Amber and Joe, the "couple" (in quotes because he refused to call her his girlfriend) from prom, and their lives twenty years later. Are their lives now what they seem? Was that night what it seemed?
*
The premise and the first half or so of this book really drew me in. I loved getting the perspectives of Amber, Joe, and Joe's wife Meredith 20 years after that fateful prom. It ended up being much more character-driven than I expected and I really liked it. I also liked how interspersed into the more present-day chapters were chapters that gave more set-up on the prom itself - the dress, the corsage, the limo.
*
But at some point, the book seemed to change very dramatically. All of a sudden, those flashback chapters stopped, and it became all about the pandemic (you kinda see it coming, it's set in late 2019 and jumps forward a couple months every chapter). And then there ends up being a good amount of space dedicated to talk about politics...but why? It did nothing to advance the story, and honestly just felt like filler.
*
The ending is great (and bumped up my rating a half star), with a series of twists I didn't expect...although I also wasn't looking for twists because I was largely trying to get through this.
*
This had a lot of potential, but ultimately felt like it was two different books smashed together. I think if it had focused on the prom and the aftermath, it would have been great, and all that extra stuff really didn't need to be there.

This was an incredibly slow burn and I’m not sure the ending was worth it. My favorite parts were the references to all the Baltimore locations, other than that, this is a forgettable thriller.

While this book wasn't fast paced at all, I was still intrigued and wanted to know where it was going. I am not sure if it was supposed to be a suspense or thriller or just plain fiction - it was such a slow burn. But the chapters read quick and there was just enough for me to want to keep reading. The characters were interesting - not the most likeable, but I really did want to know more about them. Thank you NetGalley and William Morrow for a digital arc of this title.

I have been reading Laura Lippman's books since the 90s and I am a fan.

This one was interesting. It was a verrrrrrryy slow burn book, so slow burn that I almost didn't realize it was suspense at all. I truly thought she had switched to writing straight fiction, and that is really most of the story: two people, tied together by a tragedy, then reunited, then coping with the pandemic. And then, oh yeah, there is some stuff at the end.

I think a lot of people will find this maddenly slow. I didn't mind it!

Read This Book If…you loved Rock Paper Scissors by Alice Feeney!

Please note: this was an ARC provided to me by the publisher in exchange for an honest review.

Genre: suspense
Spice Level: 1/5🌶, closed door
Setting: Baltimore
POV: multiple, 3rd person, past tense

What I Thought: I literally don’t know how to talk about this book…It’s like contemporary fiction meets suspenseful thriller? Either way, it was an easy read with a ton of fun, flawed characters. This is very character-heavy and light on suspense, so it would be perfect for someone who wants to give thrillers a try!

Memorable Quote: “You had to love the flaw. People were not flawed; they simply had them. Everyone could be improved.”

Slow Burn

Thriller

Can't Trust Anyone

Don't Like Anyone

Yet you like the book! This was reallllllly good and something I felt was unique in its premise.

𝙃𝙤𝙬 𝙙𝙤 𝙮𝙤𝙪 𝙡𝙞𝙫𝙚 𝙬𝙞𝙩𝙝 𝙮𝙤𝙪𝙧𝙨𝙚𝙡𝙛? 𝙃𝙤𝙬 𝙙𝙤𝙚𝙨 𝙖𝙣𝙮𝙤𝙣𝙚 𝙡𝙞𝙫𝙚 𝙬𝙞𝙩𝙝 𝙩𝙝𝙚𝙢𝙨𝙚𝙡𝙫𝙚𝙨 𝙞𝙣 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙚𝙣𝙙?

Amber Glass makes a shocking decision when she leaves New Orleans and heads back to her hometown of Baltimore, the place where she was once known as the ‘Prom Mom’. Earning the name on her prom night when she delivered and if the locals were to be believed, killed her baby, she knows she will never live it down. A night that was meant to be a living dream beside Joe Simpson, the boy she would do anything for, before it all went sour and he danced with his beautiful ex-girlfriend Katilyn. Before Amber was left lying on the cold bathroom floor of her hotel room in her own blood with severe stomach pains. Where was Joe through all of this? Amber knew he didn’t feel the same way about her as he did Kaitlyn, but they had shared something special. They were more to each other than study buddies, weren’t they? That he could leave her like that, all alone, was devastating. Lost in a daze when it was over she went home and crawled back into the safety of her own bed before they came for her. She was left in shame to face the crime, he with the moniker ‘cad dad’ but weren’t they just innocent dumb kids? Who was to blame? What really happened that night?

Two decades have come and gone, Joe is now a commercial real estate developer married to a plastic surgeon named Meredith. Joe credits Meredith with pulling him through the rough years that followed his unwanted high school notoriety. His wife truly is his rock, he would be nothing without her. Amber doesn’t plan on getting tangled in Joe again, she is no longer the love-sick, moony girl she once was. Is she? Opening a gallery in the very place she ran from is either crazy or brave. For all her bravado, she cannot resist Joe, time hasn’t changed the spell he has over her. His own feelings for her are a complicated mess, and she isn’t the only woman weakened by his allure. Covid winds its way through their lives, a threat for his wife’s health, but germs aren’t the worst thing lurking in other people.

Can any of these characters be trusted? If ever truth and facts were slippery, they are in this novel. You can grow and learn from your mistakes as much as you can sink even lower. I don’t know if I understood any of the characters choices, nor did I like them much. Certainly, I was young once, and stupid with my affections and placing my adoration upon those careless with my heart, but there is something beyond naivety here. The story didn’t play out the way I thought it would and I always enjoy turning a dark corner. Bent minds to be sure that made this a strange read.

Publication Date: July 25, 2023

William Morrow

Kept me engaged and and wanting to know more about these characters. It wasn’t my favorite Lippmann novel, but it was one I’d recommend.

Prom Mom is for fans of slow burn thrillers where no one can be trusted - or maybe even liked.

In 1997, Amber Glass gave birth to her baby on Prom Night and killed it in her and Joe's shared hotel room. When Amber is drawn back to her hometown in 2019, she doesn't expect how hard it will be to stay away from Joe after all this time. Told from the perspectives of Amber and Joe's wife Meredith, an almost unbelievable series of events unfolds, leading to a shocking finale.

I'm a fan of "unlikeable" characters, so I thoroughly enjoyed the exploration of Amber, Joe and Meredith, and I'm also fine wading through a slow burn when the payoff is worth it, and in Prom Mom's case, it was more than worth it.

This story follows the lives of four main characters, and although the plot itself is totally engrossing and entertaining, not a single one of the four characters had any redeeming social value, at least to me. There's Joe, who abandoned his tutor-turned-lover, Amber, on prom night when his ex-girlfriend beckoned him back to her arms. There's Amber, forever to be identified a a girl who killed her newborn baby on that same prom night. There's Meredith, a reconstructive surgeon, whose troubled background makes her an uber-neurotic wife to Joe. And finally, there's Jordan, a petulant but beautiful young thing who's determined to take Joe away from Meredith and Amber.

Needless to say, all four are on a collision course; but how their lives are entertwined, when those tendrils will start to unravel and what the fates have in store is the stuff of which a juicy story is concocted.

Chapters shift in time so readers can get peeks into what conspired to tie these four together, starting with that fateful prom night when Joe abdicated his responsibility for taking care of Amber, who clearly was in distress. Sure, they weren't destined for marriage and neither realized she was even pregnant, much less about to deliver the baby (go figure - I've got no clue). But both have moved on; Joe to marry Meredith and Amber to live a relatively happy life that now includes relocating from New Orleans to Baltimore to open an art shop.

Joe, however, is miserable; his financial life in Baltimore is in shambles (mostly of his own making, and unknown to Meredith), and he still feels guilt over what happened on prom night all those years ago. To ease the troubles, none of which really are his fault, he's prone to straying to other women's beds, most notably Jordan's. Then as fate would have it, he spots Amber's art shop, and Amber, and the race to the finish begins in earnest.

What that finish will be, though, isn't known till the end, which is a doozy. No doubt readers will differ as to which of the four should have had which comeuppance - personally, I didn't like any of them, so I wasn't rooting for anyone in particular. But their trip was well worth reading about - from somewhere around midpoint on, I had trouble putting it down. I thank the publisher, via NetGalley, for letting me ride along by way of a pre-release copy. Good one!

Amber Glass is became known as prom mom when she gave birth in a hotel room on prom night. She was arrested as she fled the scene and left a dead baby. Her prom date Joe was known as cad dad as he left her in room when she was sick and never bothered to check on her.

Now years later Amber returns to Baltimore. She runs into Joe and soon they are sleeping together again. Joe is married to Meredith. Meredith trusts Joe and believes she is keeping him good. Amber is the one person who Joe tells everything to.

Joe is lying to his wife and keeping things from her. He tries to come up with a plan to get out of this situation. He trusts Amber to help him.

The ending was great!

I've enjoyed just about all of Laura Lippman's books, and Prom Mom was no different! The story is so timely and it really explores the consequences of our actions when we are young and how they can come back to hurt us when we are adults. There was a great twist ending to this book, as well, that I really liked. I can't wait to read whatever Laura writes next!

Thank you NetGalley and William Morrow for an eARC in exchange for a review. Where do I begin?? This was an interesting read. I didn’t really understand what it was even about until like the last 20%. Honestly, almost quit reading it but wanted to push through for a review. The stuff about trump and the pandemic was off putting. The ending was okay and the only reason I’m giving 2/5 stars ⭐️

I loved this book.

Amber Glass has been trying to escape her past but she ends up back in Baltimore where she was known as Prom Mom after giving birth at her senior prom. She ended up serving time in a juvenile facility for the death of the baby. The father, Joe Simpson was known as Cad Dad. When Amber moves back to Baltimore where she opens an art studio, mainly focusing on the art of convicts. Of course she runs into Joe who is married to Meredith. We follow their lives, their interactions. Joe is not a good man.

What I liked the most about the book was that it was the best descriptions of what happened to us all when Covid started. The social distancing, waiting for a vaccine, working from home or not at all. For some reason, this struck me as the most interesting part of the book but it also has a strong bearing on the story. Well done.

I standardly love a Laura Lippman and this was a good one. One of the reasons I love her is that she recognizes this world is full of all types and she lets people do F'd up things and be F'd up without trying to explain them away. This did not go how I thought it would at several points. Enjoyed! Thanks to Netgalley for the free advanced copy in exchange for an honest review, book publishes July 25

Do you like train wreck books? Not BAD books, but books where the characters are slowly but adeptly positioned in front of a proverbial oncoming train and you get to watch how it all goes down? That’s PROM MOM by Laura Lippman. And it was quite a spectacle. Lippman might be a low key evil genius.

In PROM MOM we follow Amber Glass and Joe Simpson, who already survived one train wreck together— the birth of their secret baby in a hotel bathroom on prom night, hence Amber’s tabloid nickname, Prom Mom. The baby doesn’t survive and people generally believe Amber killed it. They survive that tragedy and move on with their lives, as much as anyone in that situation could, I suppose. But Amber and Joe manage to reconnect 20 years later when Amber moves back home after the death of her stepdad. Was that reconnection a coincidence? Hard to say.

From there, the freight train is rolling and you spend the whole book wondering who will be an innocent bystander, who will have a narrow miss, and who will get bludgeoned. It’s a slow burn and little is revealed until the last 10% or so, but it was the best slow burn I’ve read in a while. Maybe since the last Lippman I read. With PROM MOM, she’s definitely made her way onto my favorite authors list.

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for a free review copy of this book.

Review @fromsarahsbooknook on IG to be posted closer to release date.