The Good Mother

By: Cathryn Grant

Narrated by: Suzanne Elise Freeman

Amy’s life is picture perfect. Mess with that picture and you’re going to pay.

She has two lovely daughters, a wonderful husband, and she’s queen bee in her circle of soccer moms. She feels content, like she’s finally put some distance between herself and the terrible events of long ago. The only fly in the ointment is Charlotte, a recent arrival to this affluent suburban community. The shameless way she dresses, the way the men look at her; it’s not right. She’s just not the kind of person they want around here.

Amy spearheads a drive to exclude Charlotte, to make it clear to her that she’s not welcome here. Infuriatingly, Charlotte doesn’t seem to care, and when her daughter joins the soccer team there’s just no getting away from her. But Amy knows from bitter experience the kind of trouble a woman like Charlotte can bring. And there is no way on earth that her girls are ever going to be exposed to anything like that.

The solution is clear: Charlotte has to go. No matter what it takes.

©2022 Cathryn Grant (P)2022 Podium Audio

Too much and not enough

I am riding the fence on this one, or in this case, the mid-field line. (No spoilers)
What scored:
* I appreciate the author’s compassion and insight into multiple POVs.
* Awareness is crucial in the battle for gender equality and ending abuse, and this is eye opening.
* This is a domestic thriller, which is my favorite genre, so there’s that.

Penalties:
* The narration is not terrible, but it’s also not an extra point.
* Come on Charlotte… You knew what you were doing when you took and displayed the pictures. These insane moms went overboard, but why would a brand new mom come into a school where her daughter attends and try to shed light on negativity right out of the gate? At least save it for the second grading period. That would be social suicide anywhere, not just for her, but also her daughter. So it’s a little bit hard to feel sorry for her.
* Villainizing sports. What I’m about to say may feel like I’m picking on this book, but it’s an ongoing theme in all entertainment over the past 12-18 months. No, athletics aren’t the “be all and end all” and every child has gifts that may not be useful in sports that are just as important, if not more so, and should be encouraged. I also get that there are some abhorrent soccer moms out there. But they aren’t the norm, and this new, depressed, anti-competitive, anti-motivated, “focus only on feelings” America is not the America I know and love. If your kid hates soccer, of course don’t sign him up for soccer. But to continually drone on about “silly trophies” and “what’s the point” grates on my nerves.

There is nothing wrong with encouraging physical activity, learning to work with teammates and watching your hard work pay off. There is nothing wrong with the disappointment you will inevitably feel at times when it comes to competition. Some of the happiest, most successful (ooooh no, that 4 letter word that has more than 4 letters: “successful”) people I have ever met played sports. Not just successful at work, but successful at relationships and at life. Maybe they weren’t the best, didn’t get a scholarship or go to the Olympics, but they learned a lot from sports. So many kids from really dysfunctional homes (like myself) have been saved by running, playing football, softball, tennis or golf.

I guess what I’m trying to say is that by continually spreading this message that athletes and/or successful people are jerks, and that we shouldn’t have to push ourselves so hard, we are encouraging people to miss out on the joys of setting and achieving goals. People aren’t dreaming or aspiring anymore… you can see it in the attitudes of our youth and in the workforce, and I find this extremely sad.

I hate to always reference Lisa Jewell, but she does such a masterful job of depicting multiple points of view and influencing social norms without coming across as whiny and obvious. I feel like so many authors are trying to hard to ride and push a theme that they automatically turn people off that they could have influenced, and their novels become boring and cluttered with initiative.

Not worth a credit...

I choose my credit of the month book carefully. This time was a disappointment.

First off I gave it a 2 star, but it changed it to a 3 automatically.

I will give credit for:
Representing the mental thoughts of the main character.
The last couple chapters were a actual story.
If you missed paying attention a few chapters, no worries because nothing missed.

Lost credit for:
Long, repetitive droning on about nothing....it was like listening to a small child tell a story.

The author has potential. I will check them out in the free section next time.

ah it's ok

Ok story, somewhat hard to follow at times but gets easier. The story just never really clicked, nor did the characters. Narration was great