Cover Image: His Mother's Lies

His Mother's Lies

Pub Date:   |   Archive Date:

Member Reviews

WOW what a surprise ending. Some parts were slow but quickly picks up. But WOW I did not expect the twist and the ending. Definitely would recommend especially for those who love in-law stories.

Was this review helpful?

This author is new to me, but I already absolutely love his writing style. Both the plot and the characters have such depth. Since the story is told from Charlotte, Ethan, and Anna's points of view, I was left wondering which character was the creepiest. This psychological thriller contains excellent storytelling which will keep you guessing until the very end. Absolute page turner for sure!

Thank you NetGalley and BooksGoSocial for the opportunity to read this excellent thriller.

Was this review helpful?

This book gave new meaning to having a terrible mother in law! I never knew what she would do next. When I thought she had done her worst?? Well, I won't leave any spoilers..... You will have to read it to judge what she did next. I found I just had to keep reading!

Was this review helpful?

His Mother's Lies
A gripping psychological thriller packed with intent
by J A Andrews
What a wild, creepy mother-in-law. I loved how karma finally stepped in on her. Great reading.

Was this review helpful?

The plot. The manipulation. The freaking tension between the MCs.

This book in separated into three different parts and it has three povs, Charlotte (daughter in law), Ethan (son), Anna (mother in law).

I liked the way it was separated into three parts Beacause, the first part, creates the tension between the characters, the second part, is where it really starts and the third part, is where it ends.

The plot, the writing was so good, I could feel the tension through my kindle.


Thanks to netgalley and the author for an eARC in exchange of a honest review.

Was this review helpful?

The story starts with Charlotte and Ethan getting married. Ethan's mother, Anna, is overbearing and obsessed with her son. Anna offers the couple a free room in her house. The couple has some financial struggles, so they cannot resist this offer. However, as time goes one, the relationship between Anna and Charlotte worsens. Anna will stop at nothing to keep her son to herself.

This book was extremely predictable. I have also read other thrillers with the exact same storyline. It's the classic "mother terrorizes daughter-in-law and son does not believe mother is crazy until the very end''. I really did not like Ethan's character. Very little left me guessing. It was fairly well written, which is why I gave it three stars instead of two stars.

Thank you BooksGoSocial and NetGalley for the advanced copy.

Was this review helpful?

Thanks to NetGalley for the ecopy of the book.
Mother in law and daughter in law drama- "evil" mother in law and what she does to keep her son!
Interesting and moves along at a good pace.

Was this review helpful?

Absolutely loved this book! I can’t help but love a good evil mother in law story.

Charlotte and her husband Ethan have to move into his mothers house to help save for their own house, but the mother in law isn’t quite what she seems to be..

Was this review helpful?

If I could give this a zero I absolutely would- whole pages are repeated and the grammar is awful. Nobody would have conversations like these! Did not finish

Was this review helpful?

I was quite blown away by this psychological thriller. Love stories about horrid mother-in-laws, luckily mine isn’t like that!!

It was a very fast and intense read for me with a very powerful ending, definitely an unexpected twist i never saw coming. Loved all the characters, very believable indeed. This is the first book i have read by this author and i am certainly going to search for more. A great read, thoroughly enjoyable and it only took me 24 hours to read, but that shows it’s a good one!!

Thanks to BooksGoSocial and NetGalley for allowing me an advanced copy to read. As always, my reviews will also be posted on Amazon, Goodreads and Waterstones and interaction on Facebook and instagram where possible.

Was this review helpful?

It's succeeded in bringing back memories that I've been witnessing through my entire life.

Fun Fact:
Mother-in-law and daughter-in-law are real stories in real life; they both always had stereotypes, you know. And let me tell you that's true. Not everyone experiences this rare opportunity, but a person I know did.

POV from this book is alternate from Ethan, Charlotte and Anna. And also divided into three parts of the story.

Part One
The first part of the book is more about building the tension from each character, and I learned through this first part that no one is an angel in here, like every character has their own dark side. A lot of bickering and upsetting things keep happening in here; even the smallest things will make these characters upset.

His mother (Anna) is indeed the worst. She is a paranoid, manipulative, accusing, and an absoulute nightmare in your life.

His wife (Charlotte) is none better (I guess this guy didn't have any luck); at first, I thought her character would be like an innocent and good one that have been wronged by his mother, but NO. She's just an upgraded version of his mother. So at some point they're the same but different (you get that?).

Our guy (Ethan) huh😮‍💨.... he is hopeless. Standing there between his mother and his wife can not decide which side he should take. I totally get that you can never take sides in this case. But at least you should know when to keep your mouth shut, so you don't make the situation worse. (Whenever I read his POV I kept saying "No No No.. you stupid shut up")

Till the end of Part One, I don't get any clues on what his mother is hiding, what her true color is, or why she's so obsessed with her own son. The author still keeps you guessing.

Part Two
Oh no...  I thought I would get something from this part, but the drama was still there.

His mother turned Charlotte against Ethan. She's psycho at this point. And I'm getting tired of Anna being a drama queen and fuck all of those things that she caused

The synopsis said, "Charlotte discovers a hidden family secret." (I reread the synopsis again to make sure I saw it correctly.) But let me tell you, that's still not happening utill the end of Part Two.

Part Three
Finally, the secret is here. I kept guessing till the end, like, "What's going on with this vindictive bitch?"
 
The answer is not something that I saw coming, but I did sense it. However, it's still shocking.

MY THOUGHTS:
•There are some language errors, such as typos and grammar mistakes. (I received this as ARC so could be not the final one)
 
•The story started slowly for me because there were a lot of details. Some of them are unnecessary and can be cut so we can get to the secret faster.

•Some twists (not the main one) are predictable to me.

•For me, this story is mostly focused on mother-in-law, so it takes ages to get to the synopsis itself. I sighed a lot during this time.

•But on the other hand, the author succeed in bringing this mother-in law's tale, some things are indeed happening in the real life (once again I'm one of the witness, so i fully understand about this situation). Is hard okay, once your in law dislike you then It goes round and round every time things go south, and you're the one to blame (not her son and never will be).

CREDIT:
Thank you NetGalley, for providing me with this ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Was this review helpful?

This was a great thriller which will have you gripped. The story is told through the eyes of the Charlotte, who marries Ethan, only to discover that his mother, Anna, is manipulative and controlling. As Charlotte struggles with her new family dynamic, she uncovers a web of lies and secrets that not only threaten to destroy her marriage but her aswell. Great psychological thriller which has fantastic character development. Would definitely be recommending this book to anyone who loves a gripping thriller.

Was this review helpful?

What a story! Gaslighting is right at the heart of this domestic thriller that leaves you wondering if it's the daughter in law, or the mother in law who is the most crazy. I couldn't stop reading and was desperate to see how it ended because it puts you straight into the relationship cracks between all three of the main characters.

Andrews writing style is not what I'm familiar with because it's mostly inner thoughts and feelings with the story developing around how each character feels. It was an easy read, short, but it made an impact for me.

I didn't guess some of the twists, but with all mother in law books, we all know who the bad one is. What separates this from all the others is that it felt so plausible. I absolutely hated Anna with a passion, and she really got under my skin.

None of the characters were very likable, but overall it was a fantastic thriller that I would recommend.

Was this review helpful?

This was a pretty decent domestic thriller. At times it felt like a competition to see which woman could be the craziest. There were a lot of editing errors, so many that I was pulled right of the story more than a dozen times. There were also a few minor plot holes that bugged me. Overall it was decent and with more work and polishing could be a good, solid read.

Was this review helpful?

Oooh this cover is so beautiful. I can keep on looking at it!
This book tells a tale as old as time. The battle between mother and daughter in law.
Nothing new on the horizon, but I loved the way the story was told.
We follow three perspectives. Anna, the said mother in law, Ethan, her son and Charlotte, his wife.
I loved being in everybody’s head and seeing how the actions of the others impacted on that particular person.
To cut things short, this book is about a men surround by crazy woman. And I will admit that the obvious villain in this story was the craziest without a doubt. But his wife Charlotte is no angel either. Maybe the intention of the writer was to make her a very unlikeable character with very questionable actions. But honest If I was Ethan, I would have just pulled the plug on both these ladies in my life.
I overall loved the story, but the bad English and the many grammatical mistakes really made me struggle with this book. I understand it is an ARC, but the mistakes that were in here…. If I got a penny for everyone I would be a very rich woman right now. And I am not even a native speaker, so pretty sure I missed quite a lot of them.

Was this review helpful?

Anna feels that her son is not paying enough attention to her, that his wife, Charlotte is trying to come between the special relationship she has with her only child.

Anna is the mother-in-law from hell, trying to drive a wedge between the newly married couple, even ruining their wedding and their wedding night.

Ethan and Charlotte move in with Anna when there are complaints about the noise that they make in their apartment by an unknown person. Ethan is caught in the middle of his beloved mother, and the woman he loves.
Things go from bad to worse, and then Charlotte discovers a secret that goes back decades, which will change the relationship between Ethan and Anna for good.


I enjoyed the plot of this story, it is by no means a 'new' idea, but is something that can happen, a daughter in law being preyed on by an overbearing mother in law.
What put me off giving this book more than 2 stars is the really bad English and the punctuation, and words being used in the wrong context. I am no English scholar, but I get annoyed by bad grammar and mistakes in punctuation.
Or "mistake's"....
Another thing, when Charlotte's friends arrive to take her out while she is packing up the house.... it says that she could see Samantha and Lauren, but not Jessica. After that, Samantha and Jessica are mentioned, and when they are discussing Charlotte's mother in law, it is mentioned that there are only the three of them. Lauren is never mentioned again.
This type of error has to be corrected, surely I can't be the only one to notice?

Please could someone edit and correct the punctuation and grammar in this book before it is released for publication?

Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for the opportunity to read this book in exchange for an honest review.

Was this review helpful?

Omg! Total creepfest! This was crazy and disturbing ! Although it made me want to bang my head against the wall I was totally hooked.
JA Andrews has quite the knack. Compelling characters and a whole list of obsessions.
Thank you NetGalley for the opportunity to read and review this book

Was this review helpful?

Wow! Great book! Its a bit short for me but what a story! It had suspense, intrigue, murder, mystery, and one crazy momma! Lol The storyline was very interesting and kept me glued to my Kindle! There were a few crazy twists and turns! I highly recommend reading this book as it was well worth reading! I definitely enjoyed reading this one! Thank you Netgalley and the publisher for sharing this book with me!

Was this review helpful?

A really good book, I loved how it from start to finish, looking forward to seeing what’s next from the author in the future

Was this review helpful?

This is an engrossing page turner with striking imagery and breakneck twists. The author has a crisp writing style which guides readers through this layered and innovative thriller. It was a treat to read.⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Was this review helpful?