Release: September 2, 2025
Author: Iliana Xander
Publisher: Poisoned Pen Press

Rating: 4 ★ 

Mackenzie Casper is a top student, but most people know her as the daughter of a famous thriller author with a massive fanbase. When her mother unexpectedly dies in what appears to be an accident, fans are heartbroken—and investigators start questioning whether it really was one. On the day of the memorial, Mackenzie receives a strange envelope from someone calling themselves her mother’s “#1 fan.” Inside are pages from her mother’s diary with a haunting message: “Want to know a secret? Love, Mom.” As more letters arrive, Mackenzie dives into her own investigation and begins uncovering long-buried family secrets. She soon learns that her mother’s rise to fame was surrounded by dark lies—and those lies may have finally caught up with her. As the truth unravels, Mackenzie realizes that some things are even worse than murder.

Love, Mom is one of those psychological thrillers that completely pulls you in and doesn’t let go. From the very first page, the story moves fast—with no filler—and the mystery just keeps building. The premise is already intriguing: Mackenzie’s mother, a bestselling thriller author, dies suddenly, and strange, personal letters begin showing up that make Mackenzie question everything she thought she knew.

The twists are relentless, the suspense is real, and every secret that’s revealed adds more depth and tension. Just when you think you’ve figured something out, the story throws another curveball that actually makes sense and fits the puzzle. I appreciated how tightly written it was—every detail felt intentional and paid off later. And the ending? It absolutely got me. Heartbreaking, smart, and so satisfying.

The short chapters made this a quick, binge-worthy read—I kept telling myself “just one more” and flew through five. Mackenzie is such a layered character, and watching her piece together her mom’s past and navigate all the betrayal and family drama was both emotional and thrilling. Even the fictional books within this book sounded so real I wanted to read them too!

If you love dark secrets, jaw-dropping twists, family drama, and stories that actually resolve their mysteries, Love, Mom is the one to pick up. Definitely one of my favorite reads of the year—and a perfect choice for fans of smart, addictive thrillers.

Favorite quote :
“You don’t know that glass is broken if you don’t hear it break. Even when you see it, it still doesn’t fully register in your mind. But when you step on it, oh, then you feel it. That’s the moment of truth. Feeling is how reality makes itself known. Pain is its ultimate manifestation.”

Thank you to Net Galley and Poisoned Pen Press for the ARC of this title.

Please excuse me while I recover from whiplash! This was one heck of a thriller. It sucked me in immediately and I was obsessed. There were so many twists and turns in this one. This book has it all! Go in blind when reading this one, you will not be disappointed!

This is an easy to read and twisty thriller, yet so implausible that it has my eyes rolling. The twist in the middle was a gotcha for me, but I just couldn’t get into this book.

The writing is amateurish, the plot is slow and the characters are nothing great. I had high hopes for this one but it’s definitely not a favorite of mine.

**Thank you NetGalley and Poisoned Pen Press for a digital ARC of this book.

What a wild ride!

This story follows Mackenzie, whose famous author mother has just passed away. After leaving her mother's ceremony early, Mackenzie finds a mysterious letter on her car seat written in her mom's handwriting and signed, "Love, Mom." From there, the story spirals into a suspense-filled journey as Mackenzie, along with her close friend EJ, begins to uncover a version of her mother she never knew - one filled with secrets, darkness, and even murder.

I don't want to say the beginning is a slow burn (because it grabs you from the first page and doesn't let go), but once Part Two hits, it's like a rollercoaster you can't get off (and don't want to!). The second half is packed with lies, betrayal, murder, and twist after twist - nonstop and back to back until a mic-drop ending that left me speechless.

This was a quick, easy, and totally addictive read. I honestly wish I could erase it from mt memory just so I could experience it all over again for the first time. If you're into thrillers with emotionally complex characters and plot twists that will leave your head spinning, this one's for you.

Reading someone’s diary is wrong... but with Love, Mom, you can’t look away

What starts off as a love story—a daughter reading about her late mother and father—quickly twists into something way darker. Beautifully written and heartbreakingly intimate, this one grabs you by the throat and doesn’t let go. And somehow, it all wraps up with this beautiful, beautiful sense of justice.

Mackenzie Casper is a brilliant student, but she’s best known as the daughter of a famous thriller author. After her mother dies in what looks like an accident, Mackenzie starts receiving letters from a so-called “#1 fan”—each one containing pieces of her mother’s diary.

The first line?
Want to know a secret? Love, Mom

What follows is a slow unraveling of long-buried family secrets, betrayals that cut deep, and a truth Mackenzie never saw coming. Iliana Xander turns all that pain into poetry—and the justice at the end? Worth every page.

This book is haunting, sharp, and impossible to put down. I absolutely loved it!

I was looking forward to reading this book for a long time, I had heard such great things. Unfortunately, it wasn't my taste. The premise was decent but it the main character seemed so immature and unlikable, that made the story not work for me.

Thank you to NetGalley and Poisoned Pen Press for the advanced ebook. All opinions are my own.

I have heard wonderful things about this book and was really looking forward to reading it. I have to say that it was a major let down. The writing was really poor and the story was slow. I do wonder if I read the same book as some others as I had to struggled to finish it.

📖 ARC BOOK REVIEW 📖

PUB DATE: Sept 1 2025

My Rating : ⭐️ ⭐️⭐️💫 3.5 Cliffhanger Stars

🍿 🍿🍿 If you like some good Book Candy reads filled with snack sized suspense and every chapter leaves you with a little cliffhanger…then you MUST add this to your TBR! 👀

This was a fun bingeable read that had me turning pages so fast I almost started a fire 🔥

If you’re looking for a serious thriller with smart characters and dialogue keep scrolling because you won’t find that here .

Mackenzie has just lost her mother and she is numb to her death , until she starts receiving letters marked as #1 fan which are mysteriously showing up in unexpected places .

Mackenzies mother is also a best selling author of very dark & twisted thrillers , and what transpires next is Mackenzie doing her own investigation into her family and realizes that her family has some dark warped secrets of their own .

Is someone playing with Mackenzies emotions ?

Is a crazy fan tormenting her ?

Will Mackenzie end up in a grave beside her mother?

You need to read this diabolical page turner for yourself to find out !!

Read this if you like :
✉️ Popcorn Thrillers
✉️ Short Chapters
✉️ Twists you won’t see coming 👀
✉️ Cat & mouse chase
✉️ Fun Reads
✉️ Lots of family drama

I see why this one is getting so much buzz , it’s the perfect little cotton candy crime of the summer and I could not put this one down !!

Thank you NetGalley , Poisoned Press Pen & Iliana Xander for this delicious thrilling ARC 🙌🏼

Thanks for reading and tell me one of your favourite popcorn thrillers .

Love Mom is a relentless mix of secrets, lies, red herrings and a twist that will take you by surprise.

When McKenzie's Mom who is a famous author dies unexpectedly she starts receiving cryptic notes that make her question her Mom's past.

The notes are in her Mom's handwriting and ask if she wants to know a secret.

Secrets have a way of impolding and changing lives.

Who can she trust.

The rest I will leave up to the reader .

Buckle up its a wild ride that will have you binge reading in one sitting.

Enjoy the ride.

Thanks to NetGalley and Poisioned Pen for the privilege of reading and reviewing Love Mom.

This was the first book I’ve read by Iliana Xander, and it was a gripping, though often intense, experience. The story is well-written and tightly plotted, but parts of it—especially in Part 2—are quite dark and disturbing. I found myself needing to take breaks, yet I always wanted to see how it would end. Thankfully, the author delivers a somewhat hopeful conclusion, which felt well-earned. If you’re a fan of psychological thrillers, this will likely be right up your alley.

Thank you for Poison Press and Netgalley.

Love, Mom is an easy read with short chapters & a story you just get swept away in. Full of twists & turns, revenge, conspiracy & betrayal. The letters to her daughter left so much mystery as Mackenzie tries to decipher the meaning & gets more than she bargained for! I devoured this quickly. Some of it was a little predictable but not enough to ruin the story. Great easy read!

I was so excited to get the ARC of Love, Mom — I had high hopes going in, and thank God… it did not disappoint!

The story is tragic, twisty, and totally out there in the best way — very Freida McFadden vibes, and I’m 100% here for it. Between the creepy fan letters, the dark family secrets, and the “wait, WHAT?” twists, it’s a fun, fast-paced ride from start to finish.

If you love psychological thrillers that don’t take themselves too seriously but still pack an emotional punch, this one’s for you.

This book just keeps pulling you in! The build up to the end is perfect. It’s something you don’t see coming! I would definitely read this again,

Mackenzie Casper has never been especially close to her emotionally cold mother, but she's still shocked when her mother is found dead, apparently of an accidental fall in the woods. Her mother, known by the pen name of E V Renge, is a best-selling author of dark, disturbing books with a cult following. Not long after her mother's death, Mackenzie begins to receive hand-delivered notes addressed to her, which appear to be pages torn from her mother's diary and written before she was born. Who is sending them and why? And was her mother's death the accident that it seemed? And who is the strange man she's seen her father arguing with? Mackenzie and her best friend EJ (who is helpfully a computer/tech expert) delve into her mother's past to try to unravel what's really going on.

The chapters are short, and the story is very fast paced. I enjoyed the twist in the middle of the book, although I had somewhat guessed it beforehand -- at least I didn't have to wait until the end to see if my suspicions were correct! A real page-turner that reveals all the secrets (and there are a lot of them) in a quick manner that really held my interest!

This is THE book of the Summer! Twists, turns, and an ending I did not see coming. I loved the plot and I was hooked from the very beginning. The characters were relatable and full of personality. I loved how the author wrote the book to be action packed from the beginning. That really kept me intrigued. If you like books full of family drama, crimes, suspense, and betrayal, then this is the read for you!

Thank you NetGalley for the eArc.

My hopes were so high for this one thanks to booktok and all the hype around it, but honestly, it did not disappoint. This was such a good psychological thriller. Had me guessing the whole time. Had my jaw on the floor. Had me gasping in shock. I loved how everything was wrapped up in the end and I didn't leave with a ton of questions either. Great read.

A renowned mystery writer dies and her daughter starts receiving letters piecing together the history of the woman she was never particularly close with.

It's hard to summarize much more of the premise without giving anything away because GOODNESS the last 50% was packed with twists. I think this book will really hit for fans of Freida McFadden--for better and for worse. On the one hand, it was a super easy read that I flew through and was intrigued by. A couple twists I guessed, but many more I did not. However, the writing style was rather lackluster and not very descriptive which made the characters, the dialogue, and the setting hard to connect with. I think this will be a good booster for people's reading goals and a nice poolside read.

*Thank you to the publisher & NetGalley for a copy of this book!*

A bestselling author. A mother. A murderer...?Mackenzie Casper is known as the daughter of a famous thriller writer, until her mother dies in a mysterious accident. At the memorial, Mackenzie receives a chilling letter signed, From #1 fan. XOXO, containing pages from her mother’s diary and a haunting question, Want to know a secret? More letters follow. More secrets unravel. As Mackenzie digs into her mother’s past, she uncovers a trail of lies, fame, and something far darker. Because some stories are worth killing for, and some truths are worse than murder.

Love, Mom came highly recommended, so I was curious to see what the buzz was about. Right from the beginning, the book plunges you into a unique and intriguing plot. The first half had me completely hooked, fast-paced, emotional, and full of suspense.
However, the second half lost a bit of that momentum. The major plot twist in the middle had me thinking, Wait, really? How does that work? Still, I have to admit, it caught me totally off guard. Despite the slower pacing later on, the story remained compelling thanks to the author's engaging writing style.
Overall, it's a twisty, emotional thriller with a fresh angle that makes it hard to put down. Definitely worth checking out if you enjoy thrillers with unexpected turns and heartfelt moments.

Love, Mom is the kind of psychological thriller I absolutely love the type that got me into the genre long before every good idea that came along got copied so many times you avoided anything even sounding vaguely similar.

This one doesn't have a totally original premise but the execution is excellent, addictive, flows along like the rapids, most importantly offers up a lot of twists and turns along the way that all make logical sense within the final outcome.

I loved the characters loved the story, was never sure exactly how it would all pan out so Love, Mom worked on every level for this reader.

Love, Mom is a new take on an old story. It will keep you turning pages all the way to the end. Each letter brings a little more light to the darkness in the MFC story. Can’t wait to see that the author does next.