I started this book last night and just found it bizarre. Unfortunately I won't be finishing this one. Couldn't get into it.

Wow, they were not kidding about the 'jaw-dropping twist'!!

Ivy is struggling after her mother Patsy's death in an accident. Her husband Clayton insists in giving her pills and her father Richard is wealthy and well-known in the community. On day Sandra knocks on the door, and tells her that she's her biological mother. Patsy was going to tell her before her accident. As Ivy tries to uncover the truth, is she getting too close? Was her mother's death really an accident?

Don't Trust Mother was a fantastic read, I don't even know where to begin without spoiling things to others. It has fantastic character development. amazing family mysteries and the chapters are short and straight to the point.

An absolute page turner!

A slow burner for me in the beginning but I soon got into the storyline and there were plenty of secrets and some surprises along the way.

The characters were well described and it was very well written.

Thank you to Netgalley and Bookouture for this ARC which I can thoroughly recommend.

The knock jolts me from my tears. I’ve been in a daze since my mother died. But the stranger at the door—Sandra, she says her name is—has brown eyes the same as mine, hair exactly the same shade. She says she’s my real mother. I’m her daughter. She’s lying… Right?! Great read! This book had suspense, murder, mystery, gaslighting, dark past secrets, intrigue, and a few shocking moments! The story was very interesting! I definitely recommend reading this book! Thank you NetGalley and the publisher for sharing this book with me!

I thoroughly enjoyed how there were so many secrets and surprises sprinkled throughout the entire book!

Ivy learns that she's adopted and meets her biological mother but after her adoptive mother has passed. So many secrets come out and soon she has no idea who to trust - especially when someone has tried to kill her!

This book was from several points of view but is so well written and flows so well.

Definite must read!

Ivy has been having a hard time since her mom, Patsy, died in a car crash six months before our story starts. Her husband, Clayton, has been hovering over her, trying to get her to take pills instead of go to a counselor. Ivy’s father, Richard, is a man of wealth and is well-known in their community. Having a daughter that can’t pull it together wouldn’t be okay, so Ivy lays in bed and Clayton feeds her pills…that she sometimes doesn’t take.

One day, laying in bed and thinking of her mother, there is a knock at the door. When she opens it, she sees a woman with her eyes, her hair - this woman, Sandra, is telling Ivy that she was adopted as an infant, and she is her biological mother. Ivy has a half-brother named Dalton, and Sandra claims that Patsy was going to tell Ivy the truth…until the crash that killed her. That actually sounds right - soon before she died, Patsy left Ivy a message that she wanted to talk to her about something important. Unfortunately, they never got to have that talk.

This book has a lot of twists and spoilers, so there isn’t much more that can be said. There are some crazy family dynamics and a lot of lies in this story - the question throughout is, who is telling the truth? I loved all of the twists, but I have to say I didn’t really care for any of the characters, except perhaps Ivy, but she was pretty weak too…at first. Then she got her strength back, but was it too late?

This book isn’t as good as others I’ve read from this author, but it was still a decent story. The beginning was great, but the middle started to lag and get a little far-fetched. The ending was also very far-fetched, but I didn’t figure out a few things, so there was some good surprises. I wouldn’t call this a cozy mystery, but it was a slower story that will probably interest mystery readers more than thriller readers. 3.5 stars.

(Thank you to Bookouture for inviting me on this book’s tour! “Don’t Trust Mother” is slated to be released on July 22, 2025.)

The title of this book strikes me as both disturbing and intriguing. A mother should be the one person every child—young or old—can trust and rely on. I’m curious to see what this “mom” will be up to.

What would your first thought be if your mother had passed away, and suddenly someone shows up at your door claiming to be your biological mother? Would you believe it and start realizing that you’ve been lied to all these years? Or would you be more cautious and try to figure out whether this woman is the liar?

Usually, the twists come later on or at the end of a story, but the author chose to drop a few bombshells early in the book. I really enjoyed being left open-mouthed already several times so early on.

The author clearly dug deep into her drawer labeled "untrustworthy characters” to bring this story to life. I had the impression that I could trust only two people—and it turned out even that was one too many…

On the one hand, I could understand Patsy, but on the other, her actions weren’t really fair to Ivy, her daughter. But, as is often the case, once the ball starts rolling, it’s hard—sometimes impossible—to stop, and things spiral out of control.

This leads to some people getting what they deserve, while for others, the future still looks very bright.

Sometimes the liar turns out to be genuine and trustworthy after all, and the person you confide in is actually the one spinning stories. It just takes time before you finally see it for what it is.

I thought this was an amazing book. I had my suspicions aimed at all the wrong people again, and once more, I was completely off the mark.

The author definitely succeeded in creating a gripping story. 5 stars.

Thank you

This book was slow to start and it took me a little while to get into it. Things gradually pick up pace. Stay with it. There is a surprising twist at the end.