Not a Good Enough Mother (Grace Morton #1) by Nicole Trope
Genre: Domestic suspense
Read: 20th October 2024
Published: 12th August 2024
★★★★ 4 stars
DESCRIPTION:
Have you ever looked at those mothers who seem to be perfect – with sweet little children, a full-time job, a beautiful home – and thought: am I not good enough? But even the most perfect mothers can be hiding deadly secrets behind closed doors…
Ava Green has a successful job, two gorgeous children and a husband who makes other women blush. But now I’m working in her immaculate home, I know not everything is so perfect…
I hear the hissed arguments late at night. Finn takes phone calls at strange times – and when I talk to the children, it’s clear that their daddy is keeping secrets.
Now I know what’s hiding in this house, I’m just glad Ava didn’t check my references too carefully. Because Ava thinks she chose me. But I chose her. Even before she hired me, I made sure I knew about all the little secrets in this family.
And by the time they figure out why I’m really here, it will be far too late.
A completely addictive psychological thriller that will have you gasping at the final twist. Fans of Shari Lapena, Lisa Jewell and The Perfect Marriage will be reading late into the night.
This book was previously published as The Assistant.
MY THOUGHTS:
She knows everything about you...but can you trust her...?
What starts off as a slow burn domestic suspense turns into cliffhanger of an ending that makes me go "OK, I'm reading the next book NOW!" Not even I saw that final twist coming. And I see most of them. Throughout the entire book I thought I had it all figured out - after all, it seemed fairly cut and dried to me. Everything laid out, falling into place. It all made sense. And then came that explosive reveal. I'm impressed, Ms Trope. You had me fooled.
The story centres on Ava who is harassed at home and equally harassed at work. She can't seem to find that work-home life balance since her previous assistant left. Everything seems to be falling apart on both fronts and hubby Finn does nothing to help, citing "inspiration" for his own work - painting. Which has yet to contribute to their mortgage or living expenses. And yet as soon as she walks in the door at the end of the day, she's greeted by chaos and her work days seems to be far from over.
And then in walks Grace Enright. Fresh, clear, controlled and keen to help put some order back into Ava's frazzled life. No sooner has she arrived than she has taken up the slack where Ava was flagging and organised everything from lists to appointments to fielding calls, turning her office into a smooth-running well-oiled machine. It isn't long before Ava wonders how she managed without Grace, and truth be told, she didn't. As was clear. Grace is perfect. She is clear, decisive and controlled in a crisis. Which is soon put to the test when things begin to take a swift dive, both personally and professionally.
The women form a friendship of sorts they didn't know needed. When Grace needs a place to stay for a week, Ava knows her garage flat is sitting empty and without a tenant (another bone of contention between her and Finn that she had asked him to sort) and offers it to Grace. But is that crossing the line between her personal and professional lives? Ava dismisses the thought as quickly as it entered her head knowing she needs Grace as much as the older woman needs her.
And then things start to take a downward turn at work. Ava is up for promotion but her colleague is vying for the same position and seems he will stop at nothing to get it. Their receptionist seems to spend all her time scrolling through her phone or batting her eyelashes and flashing her cleavage at her colleague and competition. While at home, Finn has grown distant and Ava begins to question what he is hiding. But her girls, the lights of her life, bring sunshine to her otherwise cloud-filled days, as exhausting as they are.
Suddenly it seems having Grace staying there is a blessing. Especially when she is on hand to take up the slack in the mornings as Ava juggles breakfast and getting the girls ready for school and herself for work. Finn is conspicuously absent, painting in his studio.
But did things start going downhill before or after Grace's arrival? Is that a coincidence or is she just imagining things? I mean, Ava's life was chaotic before but is her new assistant just fuelling the fire? Or is there something else at play?
I love Nicole Trope and devour every one of her addictive reads. I think it's about the 15th book of hers that I've read thus far. This one is more of a slow burn to begin with as the reader wonders which direction the story is going to take. And what role Grace really plays here. Despite its slow pace at the start, the story effortlessly flows between Ava and Grace's POVs complete with flashbacks to give us a better understanding to our characters, their strengths and their flaws.
When I began, I thought it would take a whole other direction that the one Ms Trope took us on. But I wasn't disappointed...definitely not after reading those final pages. Now I want to dive straight into the follow-up "A Mother Always Knows".
Overall, an entertaining and engaging read that will keep you turning the pages until that final explosive twist...it really was jaw-dropping in this case. Nicely played, Ms Trope. I can't wait to see what you deliver next.
I would like to thank #NicoleTrope, #Netgalley and #Bookouture for an ARC of #NotAGoodEnoughMother in exchange for an honest review.
MEET THE AUTHOR:
Nicole Trope went to university to study Law but realised the error of her ways when she did very badly on her first law essay because-as her professor pointed out- ‘It’s not meant to be a story.’ She studied teaching instead and used her holidays to work on her writing career and complete a Masters’ degree in Children’s Literature. After the birth of her first child she stayed home full time to write and raise children, renovate houses and build a business with her husband.
The idea for her first published novel, The Boy under the Table, was so scary that it took a year for her to find the courage to write the emotional story.
She is now published by Bookouture and is an Amazon top 100 bestseller in the USA, UK, AUS and CAN.
She lives in Sydney with her husband and three children.
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