Rating: 3.75/5 stars

This was such an interesting concept. As someone who lived on the Upper East Side for several years, I definitely saw moms like this in real life, so it was fun to dive into their fictional world.

I liked the different perspectives from each of the moms. Even though I didn’t particularly like the characters (for obvious reasons), they were still captivating enough to keep me engaged. At the same time, I found myself wanting a little more depth.

Overall, it was a fun, easy listen. The narrator did a great job, especially with the voices for each of the moms.

Thank you to NetGalley and Macmillan Audio for the audiobook ARC. This one releases on July 29th.

Emma Rosenblum has a very specific way of making terrible people doing terrible things terribly interesting. After Bad Summer People and Very Bad Company, I kept thinking this book was called Bad Moms, but Mean Moms was also an appropriate title. This story follows four wealthy mom's around NYC over the course of one fraught school year. Realistic? No? Dramatic? Heck Yes. This is a fast, fun, totally over the top read that has me begging for more of Rosenblum's signature style! Can't wait to see what she writes next.

This was such a fun listen! I love January LaVoy as a narrator - she brings characters to life and has an interesting voice that she utilizes to perfection to capture all the snark, humor, and touching moments of this story of friendship and status obsession. I don't tend to enjoy reading this type of novel - women behaving badly toward each other - but for some reason I enjoy listening to them, particularly when they are voiced by a narrator I enjoy. This one got much darker than I imagined it would based on the beginning, but it was a fun trip into the wilds of the human psyche rather than scary-dark. I loved the sarcasm and snarky banter and the ridiculous nature of the money and status that were thrown about (and under the bus) throughout the novel.

I came for the Manhattan mom drama, the scandalous spa robberies, and the suspiciously stylish sabotage. I stayed for the Surrealist New Year’s Eve Ball. But I did not sign up for cheating. That twist dropped in like an uninvited PTA member and soured the whole prosecco.

The book is fun, mean girls all grown up with matching purses and petty vendettas. It’s like Desperate Housewives met Gossip Girl and they both brought their worst behavior. Sofia was giving mysterious queen energy, and watching the clique crumble was a popcorn worthy delight.

But once the infidelity reared its sleazy head, I was out here yelling, Ma’am, NO. Not again. Cheating is my personal deal breaker, and this one caught me off guard.

If you’re into delicious drama with a side of sabotage and don’t mind some messy relationships, it’s a wild ride. But be warned these moms don’t just throw shade. They throw husbands too.

I quite enjoyed this book as a mother in a private school n New York. I love Emma’s ability to write about the status quo and capture the spirit of the society that exists where she lives in. I thought the excessive naming of brands and description of clothes were fun in the beginning but a little exhausting in the middle and further. I did think it was new and slightly different from all the other rich people in nyc books and for someone who really enjoyed the primates of New York I felt like this was novel enough and similar enough in terms of genre that I was able to enjoy it. PS- the character Belle is so specifically described that I’m expecting there’s no way this will release with all the details that I read in the NetGalley audiobook? It’s just too blatant.

Thank you NetGalley for the advanced copy!

Mean Moms was a fun, engaging listen filled with drama, excess and a whole cast of not very likable people (in the best possible way). I love Emma's style of shifting perspectives. You're never quite sure of anyone's motives and even when the picture starts to come into focus, there is still something you haven't seen yet.

January LaVoy was wonderful and I did not want to stop listening.

Also, I really enjoyed the resolution at the end and the twists that just kept coming.

REVIEW:
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

This was a fast pace read that was full of DRAMA. It was a good read if you’re looking for something to get you out of a slump. I really enjoyed it! The narrator was so easy to listen to. I was able to fly through this audiobook.

Mean Moms is my kind of book! I love a messy drama with rich moms, their high society, and their scandalous secrets! I ate this book up. It's juicy, it's quick, and it'll keep you engaged with the amount of twists and jaw-dropping moments.
Thank you NetGalley, Macmillan Audio, and Emma Rosenblum for this ALC!

Have you ever wanted to be a fly on the wall and overhear what it’s really like for the richest of the rich? To peek behind the curtain at their polished lives- the drama, the pressure, the messy moments behind the designer outfits and polite smiles? Mean Moms by Emma Rosenblum lets you all the way in. I felt like I had backstage passes to the most exclusive chaos.

The tea? SCALDING. The drama? Chefs kiss. The suspense? I was flipping pages like my life depended on it. This book is Housewives of Upper New York meets a full-blown whodunnit. An (almost) murder mystery wrapped in manicured perfection and PTA politics. And I could not get ENOUGH. It was juicy, smart, and had just the right amount of dark humor. Highly recommend if you love your thrillers with a side of scandal.

(I will be posting my review on social on pub day)

**Thank you Flatiron book for the free book and thank you Macmillan Audio for the ALC**

4.25 stars. First and foremost, this books was good!! It has all the messiness I needed. I loved that this book had multiple POVs and really kept me guessing on how this book was going to end. I enjoyed Emma’s writing but I especially enjoyed how messy/crazy these wealthy New York City moms were. As a mom, I loved that I could understand the pressures some of the moms were initially under with their kids while trying to befriend other moms. With parts being relatable coupled with all the other messiness that occurs made for a good read.

For the audiobook, I really enjoyed it. January LaVoy did a great job at portraying so many of the POVs and kept me thoroughly entertained. The production was also very good.

This is an entertaining thriller-esque novel set in manhattan at a rich private elementary school. The moms behave badly but enjoy very expensive lifestyles. If you’re looking for rich people behaving badly this is it. The secret is pretty much spoiled halfway through but I still wanted to know how it ended!




Also loved the very thinly veiled references to real life characters. Obviously Belle is Nell Diamond (daddy's money, the dress, long auburn hair) and there is a David Chang character.

I enjoyed listening to this book, it was fun and the narrator did a great job of capturing the different characters. The book itself was enjoyable, bringing the reader into a world they’ve probably seen only on TV and in movies. Not groundbreaking, but good fun that I would definitely bring to the beach.

Well, that was preposterous and predictable. I think I've had enough of rich people behaving badly for awhile, thank you very much.
Thanks to Netgalley for an advanced audio copy. The narrator did well with the voices and accents, and did keep me listening.

This was quite a bit of fun to listen to.... the rich mean moms of Atherton have a sociopath among them. I will admit, I was fooled by who it was! I actually enjoyed the characters and thought the way they were targeted was pretty amusing.

Thanks so much to Netgalley and the publisher for this ARC audiobook.
This was an absolutely wild book. I hated everyone 🤣

HEY ALL YOU PEOPLE WHO GIVE A BOOK A BAD REVIEW BECAUSE YOU DIDN'T LIKE ANY OF THE CHARACTERS, YOU WEREN'T SUPPOSED TO!!

So much back stabbing. So many affairs. Affairs with best friends husbands.
Spoiled rotten kids.

I loved it all!

And of course, the narration was excellent!

When I picked up this book I decided I wanted to go in completely blind and I did feel it made it slightly more enjoyable for me. A group of privileged rich moms and an elite school for their kids it sounds like a recipe for trouble sign me up! This book had rich people drama which I love and a few twist and turns that actually had me guessing . At times I did feel like it read a little slow and the pacing isn’t particularly one I like for a thriller but still enjoyable nonetheless. This was giving me gossip girl meets desperate housewives in New York. If you enjoy a good rich people drama I think this one will be a fun read for you. I did feel like the pacing of the book did bring my rating to a 3,5/3.75 but still a solid read. The twist reveal at the end was not exactly what I was expecting but still quite surprising.

Thank you to NetGalley and Macmillan Audio for the advance listeners copy of this book in exchange for my honest review.

We love to see bad things happening to rich people!!

Mean Moms is Emma Rosenblum's latest "rich people problems turned sinister" novel. I ate up Bad Summer People, and loved this domestic suspense story too! In it we follow ultra-rich mom group Nell, Frost, Morgan, and newcomer Sophia throughout a school year at ultra-rich Atherton Academy. Things start to go wrong quickly for the moms and they have to wonder if it's just bad luck, or one among them is sabotaging their lives.

Rosenblum has the ability to make characters that are terrible, terrible people still have moments of real sympathy. I think Nell is probably my least favorite of the group, with her biggest fear being that her daughter might be genderqueer (gasp!), but even she had moments where I felt bad or proud of her growth. Frost is my favorite, but of course, they're all pretty terrible people.

As for a thriller, I think this one is pretty easy to see the twists and turns. There's an obvious red herring, and a reveal in last third that doesn't end up twisting too much after that. I think it loses a little steam. Then it's just seeing how everything plays out, and, depending on who you grow attached to (if anyone), seeing who ends up "winning." Still, I was interested in everything that happened, and wanted to know how each event would ripple through the Atherton Moms.

I liked the commentary on mom groups, especially rich mom groups, useless fathers, fake friends, rich people problems, and even the unique passive-aggressiveness that comes from the 1%; Rosenblum captures it all. The narrator January LaVoy also does an amazing job at giving each Mom a unique voice without any of them being annoying. This is highly entertaining, tongue and cheek domestic thriller and I highly recommend.

Not for me. Too much bad language and I didn’t really like any of the characters which may have been the point. I never got pulled in and should have dnf’d.

This one is getting mixed reviews, but overall I enjoyed it. It is a totally outlandish read about a group of moms at an elite private school in Manhattan. There are a ton of characters, which made the audio difficult at times, but if you don't stress out too much about it, you will get what you need to. If you enjoy books about rich people behaving badly (which can be very hit or miss for me), then I think you will enjoy this one. Just temper your expectations going in, and then buckle up for the ride.

An elite New York social circle of mothers full of secrets is blown wide open by a sudden rash of devastating events that seems to coincide with the arrival of a new, mysterious woman Sofia hails from Miami, and while she is quickly welcomed into a group of three moms, the women begin to wonder if there is more to Sofia than they originally thought, and suspicions quickly arise between all of them.

Just like her previous novels, Emma Rosenblum brings us into a world of high-society characters who are not what they seem (and are usually pretty awful people). The story started out slow, but it picked up soon enough that I didn't get bored and then I couldn't stop! The drama of each mom, individually and as a collective whole, was just deliciously evil enough to not want to look away.

January LeVoy is always a fantastic audiobook narrator and she impressed once again. Navigating multiple characters, LeVoy read Emma Rosenblum's latest book with an uncanny ability to create audible differences between the characters.

A great, quick mystery with characters you'll love to hate!

Thank you to MacMillan Audio and NetGalley for the advanced copy of this audiobook!