The Mother Next Door by Tara Laskowski #bookreview #thriller #drama #suspense
Title: The Mother Next Door
Author: Tara Laskowski
Publisher: Graydon House
Publication Date: October 12, 2021
Page Count: 266
My rating: 3 stars
About the book:
GOOD MOTHERS…
Never show their feelings.
Never spill their secrets.
Never admit to murder.
The annual Halloween block party is the pinnacle of the year on idyllic suburban cul-de-sac Ivy Woods Drive. An influential group of neighborhood moms—known as the Ivy Five—plans the event for months.
Except the Ivy Five has been four for a long time.
When a new mother moves to town, eager to fit in, the moms see it as an opportunity to make the group whole again. This year’s block party should be the best yet… until the women start receiving anonymous messages threatening to expose the quiet neighborhood’s dark past—and the lengths they’ve gone to hide it.
As secrets seep out and the threats intensify, the Ivy Five must sort the loyal from the disloyal, the good from the bad. They’ll do anything to protect their families. But when a twisted plot is revealed, with dangerous consequences, their steady foundation begins to crumble, leaving only one certainty: after this year’s block party, Ivy Woods Drive will never be the same.
From award-winning author Tara Laskowski, The Mother Next Door is an atmospheric novel of domestic suspense in which the strive for perfection ends in murder…
The Mother Next Door by Tara Laskowski is mostly being tagged as a thriller but for me I felt this one fell more into the drama category with a bit of suspense. The story is told by changing the point of view between the main characters which are in a timeline leading up to the Halloween party and also with passages between their point of view of Halloween.
Theresa has just made the move to the suburban cul-de-sac Ivy Woods Drive. Being in a new neighborhood of course Theresa wants to fit in with the other moms around. Four of those mothers are in a group that call themselves the Ivy Five and they take Theresa into their friend group hoping to make it whole again after losing their former fifth member. As the ladies are planning the upcoming Halloween block party they begin to receive threatening messages.
Now perhaps I may be reading just too many thrillers set up as coming into a new neighborhood and the secrets and lies being hidden there but for me I just found The Mother Next Door to be just an Ok read. I do however seem to be a minority opinion on this one as others are loving it and normally I do enjoy some good old popcorn drama but I just found the story rather slow moving. Also for me the characters didn’t really stand out that much and I didn’t particularly find myself caught up in their drama the way I have with other stories of this nature. Again, not bad but it won’t become a favorite of mine.
I received an advance copy from the publisher via NetGalley.
Find this book online:
Goodreads / Amazon*
About the author:
Carries Book Reviews 
As always.. great review, Carrie! Unfortunately this one is on my Tbr, well, was. I don’t think I would enjoy this as much as I thought when I added it. 😅
Shame it wasn’t a more exciting read for you!
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Thanks Sheri! I do seem to be in the minority thinking it was just alright, might have been my streak of similar books.
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So welcome! It happens.. there are always going to be the popular ones you just can’t get into. I still cringe when reaching for ‘The Cruel Prince’..
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Haven’t gotten around to that one yet myself…. so many books. *sigh*
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Thank goodness I’m not the only one! There really are So. Many.
Those books are supposed to be SO popular.. and I have no clue why. I’ve tried reading the first book five times now. Five. Never made it past chapter three. 🤣
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Honestly there are a lot of books I have tried that I think what the heck are these people reading because I swear it’s not in my copy.🤣
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I have the same problem. I just don’t “get” some of the really popular ones and end up sitting there thinking ‘Haven’t I read a much better version of this already?’
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Ah yes, I know that feeling. For me it’s the slow ones that drive me nuts. 300 pages of nothing each book so it can be stretched out to a 400+ page each book trilogy.
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Oh, man, those are so bad.. I hate to say I feel like any story is a waste of time but.. that’s like five hours of my life I’ll never get back, make it count!
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It feels like that is the new YA formula lately. If you are making a trilogy then make them all good!
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Truth!
To be fair though.. all books are meant to be loved by someone.💕
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Very true, I see people love books that I almost slept through myself all the time.🤣
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Right? I had a pretty hard time getting through Home Before Dark by Riley Sager and it was such a big hit with almost everyone.. 😶
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I haven’t read that one yet but I kind of expected to love that one since I really enjoyed Lock Every Door and The Last Time I Lied.
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I haven’t read those two! I was actually really excited about ‘The Last Time I Lied’ but then ‘Survive the Night’ came out and I kept seeing it everywhere.. Now I’ve been warned that it’s his worst one yet. 🤨
I admit that I’m concerned. 😅
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Well you know how I am, it’s a maybe someday when I might not have a couple thousand others staring at me…🤣
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Oh, I know that feeling all too well! And you can always collect them faster than you can read them..
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Excellent review Carla. We can’t love them all . . . 🤷♀️❤📚
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Thanks Sandy! That is so very true and there’s always another one waiting when you don’t.🙂
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Excellent review Carrie! Sorry this one didn’t WOW you!💕💕📚🤓
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Thanks Kaceey! I seem to be in the minority on this one but that’s ok I have tons more waiting.🤣
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When I read the blurb for this one, it sounded a bit too similar to The Street Party which was an okay read for me, but I didn’t love it like I had hoped, so I passed. Nice honest review Carrie, we can’t love them all.
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Thanks Carla! I was on a streak of similar kinds of books and had been enjoying them but this one just kinda fizzled after so many.
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