Thank you to NetGalley for providing me with an eARC of this book! 

“Mother of All Secrets” follows new mom Jenn as she navigates the ever exhausting and often thankless world of motherhood. Her husband is often more than useless when it comes to their infant daughter, Clara, and to top it all off she is grieving her mother. 

And while her new mom group helps get her out of the house, she often finds herself jealous of how put together the other moms are. Until one of them disappears.  

Jenn and the others moms-  Vanessa, Selena, and Kira soon find themselves tangled up in a dangerous situation as they discover just what happened to the other missing mom, Isabel. And they soon learn they have more in common than babies.

I noted a few reviews that mentioned finding the first part of this novel slow and actually didn’t find Jenn annoying. I found her incredibly sympathetic and someone who was doing her absolute best to keep her head above water despite numerous difficulties. 

With that noted- the motherhood aspects and detailing of Jenn’s day to day life was best part of this book. Everything was going swimmingly up until we discover what secret connects the mothers. 

And then things get a bit wonky. 

Honestly, I was really into this book up until the exciting parts happen! It seemed as if there was an attempt to make this book super twisty and WOW, but for me personally it fell a little flat. The entire scenario just felt so incredibly contrived. The book was a slow burn thriller that I thought was going to pack a real punch only to be given something that felt hollow. 

It also felt like there were simply too many attempts to shoehorn in societal commentary in a way that did NOT lend itself to the story and these moments fell flat instead of being impactful. 

The quote above is taken from the black woman in the group, Selena, and the character eventually apologizes for this outburst. 

There were also moments in the big climax where the dialogue just felt like a big info-dump. It was meant to tell you why THIS character DOES that instead of showing us these character motivations.

With all of this being said- I’m giving this a three in that I did enjoy the first part of this book and I would probably still recommend this book with notes on issues I noticed.

I DNFed as soon as the name “Chris Kyle” was used for the cop.

This was a quick weekend read after the author sent me a copy in exchange for an honest review. Thank you, Jeremy!

Petrified Women follows Harley as she pulls together a surprise for her boyfriend, Aiden. This novella is what I like to call “New Adult Horror”. Harley has had a string of seriously shitty boyfriends and is navigating adult life while simultaneously coping with trauma while something absolutely terrifying happens to her.

So it sort-of makes sense why she is putting up with Aiden and his love for scaring the crap out of his girlfriends. She’s willing to put up with a whole lot, because at least now she feels included. Valued. Understood.

Only, Aiden’s pranks are a lot more serious than Harley first realized. And his art? Those carvings of women? There might be a hell of a lot more going on there too.

She felt sorry for them: frozen forever because a man carved them to be that way.

Overall, I think this story did what it set out to do.

There is a very tense scene with Harley hiding in a the closet that just got me. It made my heart race and really freaked me out! The tension build up was done very well and I could really visualize the scene as it was happening.

However, I did find myself wishing that Aiden’s character was written to be less of an obvious villain. I think there would’ve been soooo much more tension if he felt more like an actual human. Harley felt very real and this story would’ve been elevated had Aiden’s dialogue felt less ‘movie bad guy’.

Overall, I think this was a solid, short weekend read and I give it a 3.5 

In the Hidden we follow Ruby who is neighbors with Gregor and her mother Joanna, who is investigating what happened to Gregor that led to him being found injured and unconscious in his bathtub. 

Told in a THEN/NOW format through multiple POVs, The Hidden examines what it is to be a mother and what lengths you will go to in order to protect your family. 

I’ve yet to read a thriller that also threw in mythology, but Melanie Goulding did this with the inclusion of the Selkies- mythological seal people. This probably could have gone pretty bad, but it was done surprisingly well! You’ll spend most of the book wondering if they’re real or not and that is half the fun! 

Early on in the book, Ruby finds herself in a depressive episode after a familial spat. On many sleepless nights she finds herself watching her neighbor practice yoga through his window. And as her luck would have it she soon meets Gregor in public. 

They quickly go from strangers to friends to… something else? 

After all, Ruby is helping Gregor care for his agoraphobic ex (Constance) and their daughter (Leonie). And while Ruby adores Gregor, the congenial nature eventually gives way to a man far more dangerous than she could’ve ever imagined. So when Constance asks Ruby to help her and Leonie escape Ruby agrees. Things just don’t go the way they expected when Gregor shows up… 

I have to say, this book was super fun for me to read! I didn’t want to put it down last night. I really enjoyed how we got to view Gregor’s character through the eyes of the others before viewing things from his POV, which gives us a gritty glimpse into who he really is.

I’ll admit I didn’t particularly enjoy the epilogue and actually wish it had been left out entirely. It felt too much like a Q&A to answer reader’s questions. Similarly, the ending felt a bit… lackluster. There was a surprising lack of tension in the climax that left it feeling empty. I just wish we had gotten more from that scene! 

She knew that some of the kids she went to school with didn’t get their shots, because of what they called a “personal exemption,” which was supposed to be about believing in God and thinking He would make everything better, even when that wasn’t true.

Imagine (if you dare), a worldwide pandemic combined with antivax rhetoric. Not so hard to imagine, huh? KNB really wants you to GET VACCINATED!

This novella started out really well- 8 year old Lisa Morris really wanted to go ride roller coasters on the last day of her family vacation. Little Lisa Morris also happened to have what would later be dubbed, “Morris’s Disease.”

Little Lisa Morris unknowingly infected thousands of people during her time at the theme park.

From there, we follow her Aunt Izzy- a pediatrician who blames herself for Lisa’s death. It makes no sense, why she feels so damn guilty for it though.

Auntie Izzy then convinces a billionaire to fund a private, quarantined island where those who’ve got a clean bill of health can be safe from the infected. A scientist commune, if you will.

Auntie Izzy is also a bad, bad woman.

The difference between hero and villain was so frequently in the paperwork that most people never thought to file.

This book is a lovely horror novella that has quite a bit to say in regards to bodily autonomy, vaccination, and society as a whole. Unfortunately on my end, at times it read quite… preachy. Enough so that sometimes it would take me out of the story. 

Still, I found it to be an enjoyable read! 

God surveys his crew and sees that they are good.

After reading Mira Grant’s Into the Drowning Deep I have been searching for mermaid horror like crazy. I never knew how much I needed Mermaid horror! I’ve had Maiden on my TBR and was so excited to see it available on NetGalley!

The Pepper Kay is a crabbing ship heading out to the Bering Strait in search of Dungeness crab with mostly inexperienced crew. If that isn’t enough of a problem, her new captain has brought along his violent right hand man referred to as The Empty One. And soon, they are joined by the Nameless ones coming up from the depths of the ocean.

Maiden is told to us through multiple POVs including the ship. Yes, she is some sort of sentient ship! That didn’t prove to be the problem I thought it would be at first. What proved to be the problem was experiencing Nash’s POV.

This man is naaaasty enough that our sentient ship refuses to call him by his name! Reading his chapters was extremely difficult because if you haven’t guessed it yet- the real monsters are often human.

Nash is a violent rapist with a history of murder thrown in on the side. He does not refer to women as women, but instead calls them ‘gashes’ and spends time reminiscing on his previous assaults. Still, the captain (AKA God… yes he calls himself God) keeps him on and it isn’t long before he’s causing problems with the only female crew member, Charlie and eventually Jordan (I found his scene with Nash very difficult due to the homophobia too).

That’s the story he’ll be telling himself, to keep his own engine running when he comes at her: that’s she not a real woman, not in the way he understands a woman ought to be. Because if she’s not a real woman, then she’s not a real person, right? And if that’s true, then what the fuck does it matter what he does to her?

We get a solid amount of insight into each of the characters enough so that the book just feels heavy. A large focus of this book is spent on tension between the crew as lives are lost and mermaids are making themselves known. The mermaids are there and all, but they are not really the focus of the book. 

Overall, I do wish that there was more focus on the mermaids and less focus on ensuring we know who is actually the bad one. 

Don’t get me wrong, this book filled me with rage and I think it was meant to. But it felt a bit gratuitous in regards to Nash’s lack of hygiene (and soul) and the amount of sexual assault talk. He was written well enough that you KNOW what kind of man he is and the efforts to make sure we understood that were a bit much.

I’d likely recommend this to someone who enjoys both creature features and human monsters. It’s a fast read that will for sure give you some anxiety as you read and I think it does isolation very well. 

*I received an eARC of this book through NetGalley. All opinions are my own!*

Like many of us, 32 year old Gemma loves her oversized sweaters and tights. Almost as much as she loves working for the inspirational self help guru Ian Fortune. 

Unfortunately for Gemma, her mother is convinced those sweaters play a part in Gemma’s perpetual single status and is always trying to get her into nicer clothes.

And after splitting with her husband Gemma has convinced herself that love isn’t in the cards for her despite a strong desire to be a mother.

So she pursues single parenthood through IVF- the only catch? She needs a donor. Enter Josh Lewenthal.

Gemma wants a donor she knows and lucky for her brother’s longtime BFF Josh- she knows him very well or so she thinks. However, she’s about to discover that there is a LOT more to Josh than she realizes. 

If you are looking for a rom-com to really make you ugly laugh- this is it. Sarah Ready has tackled the difficult subject of fertility troubles in a way that not only gives you a glimpse into the pain Gemma feels, but breaks that up with witty dialogue and punchy, fun writing. 

You will laugh. You might cry. You may also pee your pants (especially if you’ve had kids). 

In regards to tropes- there is, in fact, a miscommunication trope happening in this book. I’ll admit, I’m not a huge fan of this trope and often find it done in a really lazy manner. 

Thankfully, this book actually features a well done miscommunication trope and I will tell you why. 

Gemma has long suffered loving criticism from her mother who comments on her clothing, her size, her relationships- the list goes on.

You realize pretty quickly that Gemma has been beat down by this steady stream of criticism in addition to her ex-husbands infidelity. You’ll see this in the way she speaks about herself and others.

She thinks she is unlovable and covers up these views of herself with Ian’s positive affirmations. 

This view of herself lends a large hand to the miscommunication trope and does a fantastic job of making it feel real and not like two people who have never had an adult conversation in their life. 

The character growth! 

I’ve not raved about a romance book yet, but I think this is one I will go ahead and rave about. 

Oh! For my spicy friends- its just one chili pepper.