Book Review: The New Mother by Nora Murphy

3.5⭐
Publication date ~ May 30, 2023
Page Count ~ 304
Audio length ~ 11 hours 51 minutes
Narrators ~ Dylan Moore & Lee Osorio
POV ~ single 1st & single 3rd
Featuring ~ 4 part story, lawyers, unreliable narrator, murder, postpartum depression

My review:

Natalie is a brand new mom having a tough time. Oliver won’t stop crying and she’s feeling the stress of lack of sleep. There is no doubt she is struggling and although her husband, Tyler, tries he just can’t seems to help in the way Natalie needs and she begins to resent him.
Paul is a stay at home dad in the neighborhood and weaves his way into Natalie’s life with his understanding demeanor and stellar skills of calming Oliver down.

I totally think men and women can just be friends, but I think it’s different if you’d already had that friendship before you were married then if it was developed during your marriage. Everyone will always make assumptions that something sinister is going on.

It’s not a secret that Paul has something up his sleeve when he starts showing up when Natalie is taking strolls. I knew a crazy plan was up his sleeve, but I was surprised about the murder. Overall, this had definite slow points where I thought it was just all going to be about new motherhood, which is not super fascinating if you did it yourself, and probably if you haven’t either. It takes a while for the pace to pick up, but it does so after the murder.

I was fortune enough to have both an audio and a kindle copy. I’d recommend reading over listening. Natalie’s narrator was very stiff/robotic sounding, but I was able to listen to her at a faster speed. Paul’s narrator had a nice voice, but I had to slow down his speed.

*Thanks to the author, St Martin’s Press, Macmillan Audio and NetGalley for the ARC and audio copy. I am voluntarily leaving my honest review*

Add to your never ending TBR  ~ goodreads

I’d love to hear your thoughts if you’ve read it.

Book blurb:

From Nora Murphy, author of The Favor, The New Mother is both relatable and nerve-wracking, sympathetic and bone-chilling—a fresh new twist on motherhood and murder in suburbia.

Isolated. Lonely. Tired. It’s hard being The New Mother. Sometimes it’s murder.

Nothing is simple about being a new mom alone in a new house, especially when your baby is collicky. Natalie Fanning loves her son unconditionally, but being a mother was not all she wanted to be.

Enter Paul, the neighbor.

Paul provides the lifeline she needs in what feels like the most desperate of times. When Paul is helping with Oliver, calmed by his reassuring, steady presence, Nat feels like she can finally rest.

But Paul wants something in return. It’s no coincidence that he has befriended Nat—she is the perfect pawn for his own plan. Will Nat wake up in time to see it?

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