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The Guilty Mother by Diane Jeffrey

I was given a copy of The Guilty Mother in exchange for my honest review.  This book was written by Diane Jeffrey and published by HQ Digital on August 2, 2019.

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2013- Melissa Slade is the mother of twin baby girls.  When one dies of SIDS (cot death), everyone believes her.  When the second dies of SIDS, she is sentenced to life in prison for the murders of her baby girls.

Present day- The court has been presented with new evidence that could mean release for Melissa.  Reporter Jonathan Hunt gets roped into reporting on this woman again.  As he digs deeper into the people around her, he really starts to question Melissa's guilt.

If she didn't kill her babies....who did?

First off-I feel like my experience reading this book was vastly different than the majority of readers on Goodreads.  It was just okay for me.  There were a lot of scandalous plot threads woven into the book, and I don't feel like they all got properly resolved (Kathy, the stepdaughter, Holly and her lies, etc).  The first part felt very much like the whole "mother loses mind and murders babies" scenario, while the back half felt like "if she didn't do it, who did?"  I kind of wish writers would branch out from the "crazy exhausted mom" theme.  It's old.  It doesn't sit well with me.  Postpartum depression is a real thing and needs to be taken seriously...BUT that's not what we're here to discuss.

I felt like the story was decent but too much was packed into it and I found myself confused at times.  I didn't connect to the characters like I probably should have.  There was a lot left unresolved for me (see above) and the resolution we did get was just kind of.... "meh."

If you read thrillers non-stop like I do, I would suggest giving this one a pass.  If you don't, by all means give this book a shot.  Like I said earlier, I was definitely not in the majority opinion with this one.

Have you read this?  What did you think?

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