Becky's Great Book Reviews The Mother Next Door by Tara Laskowski

I love a good soapy drama. A wicked, gossipy neighborhood tale just hits the spot sometimes. I was drawn to The Mother Next Door by Tara Laskowski because of its comparison to Big Little Lies, which is a favorite of this reader.

In some ways it was similar, the school mothers forming cliques with a hierarchy of women. And they certainly had secrets to keep. But halfway through this novel my interest was waning, perhaps because the characters seemed like stereotypes. However, the plot was decent, and it won me back with the revelation of the big secret the group of neighborhood moms were hiding.

The Ivy Five is what they call themselves. As they approach their big neighborhood Halloween party, someone is taunting them. The queen bee of the moms, Kendra, keeps getting notes and pictures threatening to reveal their secret, and they are wondering if a mom that used to live there but has now left her husband and child is sending them.

A new mom has moved into their midst, Theresa, and we also get her viewpoint and learn that her past interweaves with the Ivy Five. Theresa is desperate to be accepted into the mom clique, so readers are left wondering what she is capable of, along with Kendra who has thoughts like, "I'm in charge of this town".

It's not too hard to figure everything out, and The Mother Next Door was pretty fun to read. I give this book three stars out of five.