The Mother-in-Law: An utterly gripping psychological suspense novel

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And everything did run smoothly...the ceremony, the service, the reception, the speeches, the meal...everything up until the happy couple cut the cake. Sam places her hand over his as they cut into the bottom layer of their three tiered cake and playfully fed each other a couple of crumbs and luscious icing. And then everything changed. Her world suddenly falls out of focus as she falls to floor, the voices yelling seemingly in the distance. The last thing Dana saw before she passed out was the triumphant gleam in her mother-in-law's eyes. Mind you, she doesn't really do much to help herself and I just kept thinking what a doormat she was allowing herself to be treated as. The way her naivety and eagerness to be accepted was being used and taken advantage of would have become quite annoying, if I hadn't known that things were probably going to escalate out of hand and the situation explode out of control at some point in time. Sam is too busy trying to appease 'mummy', who he has set on a very impressive pedestal, to see what is really happening right under his nose and although he makes all the right noises, it takes a life or death situation to stir him into decisive action.

This is how you write a tense battle of wills. Right from the start you know things have gone horribly wrong for bride Dana…… However, one thing is more than clear. Sam's mother Evelyn is very controlling and gaslighting is rampant. No matter how small or how big the conflicts occur between Evelyn and Dana, Sam is convinced that his mother only means well. In fact, there are even times when Sam dismisses Dana's concerns. Dana just wants to marry Sam, so she endures trial after trial when it comes to Evelyn. She feels that their time living in the same house is only for a rather short duration and she doesn't want the rest of their lives soured by her having a bad relationship with Evelyn. The characters were all ok, could have more depth. It was all a tad stereotypical. But in this case, I really did not mind. I got the read that I expected and don’t mean that in a bad way. I can't say that I got to get close or feel sympathy for any of them in the end. Some cheesy scenes were definitely on the spot for the romance part. I’m also just really not a fan of the trope where we make women look weak and stupid. I mean there were soooo many red flags that Dana should have caught on to. Like…he’s 35 and still lives with his parents and you still continued on with the relationship??? He sided with his mom every time something went wrong???

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However, the sweet and beautiful love story was tragically cut short following a painful battle with cancer that had taken Lily’s mother. Glancing down at my sparkling engagement ring, I pretend to myself I can forget about the ‘accidents’ I keep having, that I can’t believe are coincidental. Or about his mother’s barbed comments, and the dark looks she gives me. And then it was time to meet his parents. "They'll love you" Sam assured her. But Dana wasn't so sure...particularly when she saw their house. Sam came from a very different world to her and she was sure his parents wanted more for him. But they were in love and not only were they engaged but they had both decided on a summer wedding...in just a few months time. His parents were stunned but accepting of their decision. Maybe things wouldn't be so bad after all.

The things that happen to Dana throughout are pretty standard for the evil mother-in-law genre, but fun to read nonetheless. There are a couple twists in this story that make it stand out from similar stories, though, including a surprise ending that I enjoyed. My only real nit with the book was the characterization; I felt like I didn’t really KNOW Dana and also couldn’t figure out how she and Sam fell so helplessly in love right after meeting. I wish the author would have given me more into into what that connection looked like and what Dana’s life was like until that point.She first got into children’s fiction given that she then had young children and she believed she had all the content she needed for writing.