The Perfect Mother by Aimee Molloy

4/5 stars

I absolutely, positively LOVED this book!

Addictive, fast-paced page-turner with lots of hooks and wonderful characters

The Perfect Mother by Aimee Molloy was everything I wanted it to be and more.  It was a great thriller, with a mystery that I could not figure out.  There were a lot of hooks at the end of chapters making me want to read “just one more” before turning out the light at night.  But the thing I loved most was the relationship between the moms.  I loved the bonds that were formed in this group of women brought together because they lived near each other and had babies that were born in the same month.  I loved how they helped each other and were there for each other.  I also loved that they each probably thought the others’ lives were perfect because they talked mostly about the babies or the missing baby and not about their marriages, careers or other insecurities.  It was a reminder that we all have challenges that we are facing even if the face we show the world looks perfect.

 

From the publisher:

A night out. A few hours of fun. That’s all it was meant to be.

They call themselves the May Mothers—a group of new moms whose babies were born in the same month. Twice a week, they get together in Brooklyn’s Prospect Park for some much-needed adult time.

When the women go out for drinks at the hip neighborhood bar,they are looking for a fun break from their daily routine. But on this hot Fourth of July night, something goes terrifyingly wrong: one of the babies is taken from his crib. Winnie, a single mom, was reluctant to leave six-week-old Midas with a babysitter, but her fellow May Mothers insisted everything would be fine. Now he is missing. What follows is a heart-pounding race to find Midas, during which secrets are exposed, marriages are tested, and friendships are destroyed.

Thirteen days. An unexpected twist.

***

I was reminded so much of my own experience in a moms group when my first child was born.  One of the women in my Lamaze class, who happened to be from the UK – though nothing like Nell – and was homesick for family and friends, had organized first weekly afternoon tea get-togethers where we indulged in beautiful cakes and talked about babies and breast-feeding and all of our concerns.  Over time we did get together in the evenings with our husbands and we did meet at the park.  Although I had friends from growing up, friends from college and friends from work, there was a special bond with these women who could understand exactly what I was going through at the moment because they were going through something similar.  Unfortunately, when we moved from Connecticut to New Jersey, I lost touch with these women.

But when we moved to New Jersey, I joined a MOMS Club, which I thought was the greatest thing at the time.  We met weekly in a community center and the kids played and the moms talked.  We had a monthly newsletter and monthly Moms Nights Out and we scheduled park dates and day trips to fun places.  One woman gave Music Together classes in her house.  It was a great community!  Our first meeting there, I was talking to a mom who was also pregnant with her second child and she pointed to her older daughter who was rocking in a toy boat right next to my daughter.  We are all still friends to this day.