Thank you so much to Hachette Audio for the alc, all opinions are my own.

Unfortunately I am finding out very quickly that I am not a fan of the style of writing for this book. I love apocalypse books and was looking forward to the story.

Specifically what I am struggling with on the audio is all 3 sisters, the mom, and the dad have different accents.

I received a complimentary copy of this book for review. All opinions are my own.

This book was not what I expected it to be. It was good but it wasn't great, though I can't quite explain what it was missing. Mostly, I felt like it was a bit disjointed but still enjoyable as a mystery.

The story is set in a post-apocalyptic world, but it is very vague what exactly happened. I was hoping for a more fleshed out world building, but this is very much a character heavy story. It focuses on triplet girls and their parents, and is told in past and present POVs. I did enjoy the story overall. It felt like each now-adult triplet got a fair amount of attention and fleshing out.

This was a bit confusing as an audio, however, with multiple POVS and timelines. It's also partly told with reddit threads and DMs. The narrator used accents seemingly randomly and that was a bit jarring and took me out of the story, but her voice was clearly spoken and well paced.

Thank you to Netgalley and Hatchette Audio for an ALC

The best part about this book was the cover art. This was not my favorite. I really love apocalypse stories, but the writing in this was not good. It felt just too straightforward, nothing thrilling or scary other than the few similarities with some political figures today. It had a very slow start to the point I almost dnfd immediately. Too many POVs. It was very slow in sections and I was bored. I also wished there were more details of what started the apocalypse. They just mentioned a flood in California…what about the other states? And no other countries were affected? Is that considered an Apocalypse? The narrator did a great job giving each character their own voice and the accents!

This was completely unexpected. I mean I read the blurb about the book, but I never could have imagined this. This was so well done. I LOVED it, and I was hooked from the very beginning. Honestly I don’t want to give away too much here, but the characters were well done and the mystery just kept unfolding in ways I thoroughly enjoyed. Thank you Hollie Overton for this masterpiece i didn’t know I needed in my life. I will be ordering this for my shelf ASAP.

PS. The narration was soooo good! I could listen to this again and again.

Thank you Hollie Overton, Hachette Audio, and NetGalley for this opportunity. I received a free copy of this book in exchange for my honest review. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

Overall: 3.5⭐️ rounded up
Narration: 2.5⭐️
Something about this book drew me in, even though dystopian fiction isn’t typically my genre. Thankfully, the post-apocalyptic elements were fairly minimal, which worked well for me. That said, I did find myself wanting a bit more backstory at times, especially readers who enjoy fully fleshed-out dystopian worlds may find it lacking in that regard.

The story itself held my interest, particularly the mystery surrounding a family’s search for answers about their missing mother. It was one of those reads where I appreciated stepping outside my usual picks, and it passed the time in a satisfying way.

I listened to the audiobook, but in hindsight, I wish I’d had the eARC instead. The dual timelines and multiple POVs, especially the journal entries from the mother were tricky to follow in audio format. Visually seeing the structure might have helped, particularly during the middle section.

Unfortunately, the narration by Eleanor Caudill left a lot to be desired. The pacing was very slow, and the inconsistent accent work was distracting. Despite the characters being British and the story set in England, the narration would randomly shift between American and British accents, sometimes mid-sentence. One character even had a Scottish accent despite being described as British. The three triplets, supposedly raised in England, all had varying UK accents that didn’t quite match up. It pulled me out of the story more than once, and I often had to rewind because I’d tuned out.

All in all, this was a mildly engaging and unique read that will likely find its audience, though I’d recommend the print or ebook version over the audio.

I am thankful to have gotten a complimentary audio ALC or eARC from through NetGalley to read which gave me the opportunity to voluntarily leave a review.

My general rating system is below. Since I primarily read ARC books I rate according to how I think like minded readers will receive the book. I will round up or down depending on many factors and try not to let my personal wants affect a books ratings.

⭐️ Hated It but pushed through as I don’t DNF ARCs I have received.
⭐️⭐️ Had a lot of trouble, prose issues, content issues, poorly edited.
⭐️⭐️⭐️ Meh, it was an ok read but it had something that stopped me from rounding up. Usually the book may have much more potential than what was given. I recommend it but with reservations.
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ I Really enjoyed it or think others will. These are solid reads that I definitely would recommend for a variety of reasons.
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ Outstanding! These are books that remain rent free in my head for well after unfinished the book. It can be for a variety of reasons from being very well written or just the vibes that captured my mind. These books are also ones I would probably read again

A Mother’s Guide to the Apocalypse is a story of a family trying to figure out and in search of the truth of what exactly happen to their mother. A flash flood swept her away and now 20 years later they are in search of the truth. Told in the third person our triplet sisters go into the world. During the entire book we get snippets of Reddit posts and parts of a journal that their mother, who also doomsday prepped. These continued to tell more and more of the story of who their mother was and the mindset she was in.
For me some of my favorite parts were the Reddit posts and the journal entries telling us all the information we could need to know from our water supplies and so on. I thought that these entries were well needed in between the chapters and kept me really interested in the book.
Now I did listen to this in audio book format. I thought that the performance given by Eleanor Caudill kept the book very entertaining. The delivery was fun and i liked the variety of voices and different tones of voice she used to articulate the characters. I found that it kept me engaged in the book and didn’t have my mind straying away from it. I liked her pacing and found that it was very digestiable at various speeds. I would definetly reccomend consuming this as an audio!

Thank you to Hachette Auido for the complementary copy. All thoughts and opinions are my own.