Thank you Netgalley and Inkubator Books for the eBook in exchange for my honesty review.

3 stars


The Good Mother is a Desperate Housewives meets My Strange Addiction with a side of everyone ignoring the issues right in front of them thrown into a domestic thriller. I'd also like to compare this to a train wreck that you just can't look away from.

I'd recommend this for a quick read on vacation or if you need something to ignore the stress of life, like I did when I read this.


What I did like: This book seems to be addressing some issues that are in the news right now. Men and women thinking women are raped because of what they wear. People thinking everyone in jail is there for a violent offense. It's like Cathryn was basically trying to say with this book, "This is what happens when you assume things and stop blaming women for their own rapes."

Everything that was eh:

Amy reminds me of that girl in high school that everyone knows that expects to always get her way. She grew up thinking women asked to be raped because of what they wore and the things the did that let men into their lives. She lets this get the best of her when Charlotte moves to town and seems to be drawing the attention of her husband and her daughter seems to want to be friends with Charlotte's daughter. She doesn't like that Charlotte is different and assumes that Charlotte's boyfriend is in jail for a violent offense. Amy, you know what they say about people who assume. Also her friends and husband are enablers. Jane, Kit and Rachel's husband Greg seem to be the only sane ones in the group of couples.

Charlotte is just trying to start over her life after her boyfriend gets arrested, but since she's an outsider that doesn't like to wear a bra and likes to take photographs of things (so she can make a living), Amy hates her. Charlotte isn't afraid to confront those who don't want her there. Overall, I really liked Charlotte and wanted to see more of her in the plot.



TW: Rape, paranoia, dead animals, unaddressed alcoholism