Mothers Don't Lie by Jo Crow

☆☆1/2
.ePUB, 306 pages
Expected publication: November 17th 2020 by Relay Publishing

About the Book:
The perfect life becomes the perfect lie. Molly Burke has it all. With the help of medication to control her borderline personality disorder, she’s become a successful real estate agent with a loving husband who treats her four-year-old son as if he were his own. The emotional highs and lows from a difficult childhood have smoothed out but are still best concealed with little white lies to protect loved ones from her troubled history. Until Molly’s past returns to shatter her idyllic life. Molly’s son, Colin, is discovered injured and covered in his grandfather’s blood—and her father-in-law is nowhere to be found. The police suspect foul play. Longstanding bitterness erupts between Molly and her mother-in-law, exacerbating Molly’s feelings of inadequacy and triggering fierce reactions that can no longer be contained. A hallucination of her missing father-in-law only increases Molly’s paranoia over the sins of the past. Deceit lies around every corner and embroils everyone in the growing madness. Someone knows what she did. And someone is trying to expose the truth. And if the truth is revealed, her family will pay the price.

My Review:

I have read another book in this series and loved it...this one not so much. It wasn't bad by any means but the mother with mental health issues trope is getting to me. I understand these issues are real and I love reading fictional books about people with these issues coming to terms with it and getting help or even ones that suffer through it but survive by any means possible. BUT why must almost every writer make them so weak and let people "play tricks" with their minds. As someone who is bi-polar...I have a mental health disorder I am not stupid. I am really sick of it. As they said in the movie Network: “I'm mad as hell and I'm not going to take it anymore!” I was also disappointed that we didn't get much background on Molly. I think that would have made me feel a little more sympathetic towards her.

What I Liked:

Mr. Crow can write a story well and the pacing was wonderful. I loved the plot line and the structure of the book too. The cover was very cool and was one of the reasons I was drawn to the book. The characters, with the exception of Molly herself, were well drawn and I hated Bryan and his mother. That is a sign of good writing. The little guy Colin pulled at my heartstrings and I felt so bad for him and what he went through.

Overall a book that I could have enjoyed so much more if the mother wasn't inflicted with the "let's make her crazy" trope. Two and a half stars rounded up to three because of the author's great writing.

Disclousure:
Thank you NetGalley, Jo Crow and Relay Publishing for the opportunity to read this book in exchange for an impartial review; all opinions are my own.

#MothersDontLie #NetGalley