The Mother's Secret

by Kate Hewitt

When the call finally comes, my life as I know it is over—my job as a teacher, my marriage, my family are all gone. In a heartbeat, I’ve lost everything that ever mattered to me. All because of one secret, and what someone thinks she saw…

As I sit in the school’s office, listening to the accusations being made against me, I wonder how I got here. As they discuss what they think I did, words begin to jumble in my “a video,” “blurred figures…” I don’t know how to explain that they’ve got it all wrong. Instead, I think back over the last few months and try to pinpoint the exact moment when I allowed a secret to ruin my life.

I squeeze my eyes shut. I’ve been so stupid, I can see that now. Because I know who told them I did this. But it’s just not true, I would never cross that line. So why would she do this to me, after all we’ve been through? What possible reason could she have to shatter my life into a million pieces?

When I open my eyes, my colleagues are staring at me, waiting for answers. I take a deep breath. It’s time to tell them what really happened. It’s time to tell them the truth.

An emotionally gripping and totally unputdownable story about the complexities of love, female friendship and betrayal. This page-turning read will stay with you long after the final page, and is perfect for fans of Jodi Picoult, Liane Moriarty and Susan Lewis.

Genres: Fiction

316 pages, Kindle Edition

First published September 14, 2023

About the author

Kate is the USA Today-bsetselling author of many books of both historical and contemporary fiction. Under the name Katharine Swartz, she is the author of the Tales from Goswell books, a series of time-slip novels set in the village of Goswell.

She likes to read women's fiction, mystery and thrillers, as well as historical novels. She particularly enjoys reading about well-drawn characters and avoids high-concept plots.

Having lived in both New York City and a tiny village on the windswept northwest coast of England, she now resides in a market town in Wales with her husband, five children, and two Golden Retrievers.

Reviews

[theliterateleprechaun · Rating 5 out of 5]

Wow. Just WOW.

This will be a hot one for book clubs come mid-September!

I’m a teacher and this one had the pencil in my messy teacher’s bun quivering. LOL.

At first, I wasn’t sure about my reaction and I stopped reading. I honestly wasn’t prepared to pick it up again…and then, the author’s reputation overshadowed any doubts I was having. Am I ever glad I continued reading.

“What is it about other peoples’ misfortune that makes us turn into the worst versions of ourselves?”

This is the basic question author Kate Hewitt asks as she examines the life of Laura Haile and Rachel Masters. In doing so, she spotlights ‘schadenfreude’ a German word that means the opposite of sympathy. Both women, teachers, are catapulted into an intense situation that neither could predict nor expect. Their response produces a captivating read.

We’ve all felt like proving we could do something on our own when we knew deep down that we couldn’t, right?

Watch Laura and Rachel spiral out of control when they fail to admit that they are out of their depths and need help.

One of these ladies is a tired, stressed mother of a three-month-old baby and is struggling with postpartum depression. She feels invisible and this drives her to take her future into her own hands … at the risk of everyone she loves.

The other is the wife of a new principal and takes on a role she hadn’t planned on taking - a role that ends up putting everything she holds dear into question. She can’t believe that a person she counted as a friend could betray her. Looking back, she realizes that she should have asked for help sooner.

Hewitt examines
1) how a close-knit community in a remote setting can be both positive and wonderful and at the same time so threatening and divisive.
2) the difficulties of motherhood
3) the consequences of mistakes
4) the opportunity to grow
5) silver linings and second chances
6) how innocence and guilt go hand in hand
7) how appearances can be really deceiving
8) the push and pull of desire and fear

“I feel like I’ve lost everything.”

Been there? Then you’ll love this investigation into the teaching profession and what we can all learn from making mistakes.

Once again, Kate Hewitt, you write a book that works its way into my subconscious and won’t let go! I’m still thinking about this one weeks later. STILL. This was a perfect read for me as I head back to teach this September. Know this, I’m on high alert.

I was gifted this copy Bookouture and NetGalley and was under no obligation to provide a review.

[Nicola “Shortbookthyme” · Rating 4 out of 5]

Two mothers with some pretty intense secrets. They are both struggling with different problems.
The Mother’s Secret was a ok read for me. I do have to say, I had a hard time getting into the story.
Main character, Laura, just irritated me.
I started out thinking this was going to be a psychological thriller suspense and there was some suspense for sure. I feel like this should be thought of as a domestic suspense. If you like reading domestic suspense, you will like this book.
With that said, the story did have some good points to it.
All opinions expressed are my own.

Thank you to NetGalley, Bookouture and the author for the opportunity to read this book for my honest review. All opinions expressed are my own.

[Trish at Between My Lines]

What an interesting and hugely thought provoking book. I'm a big fan of Kate's books and how she hooks you in emotionally to her characters and morally grey issues.

This book being a prime example. Two women at different stages of life; one a new mother, the other an empty nester living in a new location. Both are struggling their new identities and their feelings of being invisible as women. I empathised so much with both, and even when they made mistakes I cringed/berated/understood/forgave all in the one breath.

The setting is a boarding school in Northern Maine where Laura’s husband has landed the job of headmaster. A promotion for him, but a downgrade for Laura in most areas of her life. Rachel is on maternity leave from being an English teacher at the school. I loved the isolated setting and the gorgeous scenery descriptions.

This would make an ideal book club read as there is so much to discuss and debate about. I know I'm still thinking about the characters and their choices. Highly recommended.

[Nicole · Rating 1 out of 5]

Thank you to Bookouture & NetGalley for an ARC of this book, in exchange for my honest opinion.

This book was a struggle to get through. I continued reading thinking it would pick up, but sadly it didn’t. Chapters dragged on without anything happening. I went into this book expecting it to be a thriller, which it definitely was not.

Told in alternating points of view between two mothers; Laura and Rachel. Laura’s husband has just accepted the position of headmaster at the prestigious all boys boarding school ‘Wilderness’ in Northern Maine. Struggling with the move and to find a purpose she takes over a maternity leave for Rachel,teaching English. Rachel is spending her maternity leave trying to get a hold on motherhood with her 6 week old son, Nathan. The women strike up a friendship, but then weird things begin happening. Laura is having trouble with a student who is fixated on her, and Rachel is struggling to care for her son while her husband is away. We will see the fallout that occurs, because of the choices these two women have made.

After finishing this book I can’t help but wonder, what the exact story was even trying to tell us. I kept waiting for a twist or for something exciting to happen, but the entire story and ending was very mundane.

[mrsbookburnee Niamh Burnett · Rating 4 out of 5]

Well I don’t think I have shouted so much at a character as I did towards Laura 😂, I loved how I could completely see what would happen before Laura did and her stupidity within the situation!

I did feel for Laura though, a bit of a wet wipe of a husband and moving away from her life and having to deal with the work colleagues from hell!

I enjoyed seeing the events from two different perspectives and seeing their different opinions on what should happen. I did also feel for Rachel, new job titles and another wet wipe husband!

This will definitely make you think twice about how you deal with events

[Stephanie Hirsch · Rating 5 out of 5]

Misunderstanding of an inappropriate relationship between a student and teacher is so exaggerated and her husband’s role as head master are destroyed.

[Kathy · Rating 3 out of 5]

It was ok - not as good as her others. Wasn't a book that I couldn't wait to go home and finish reading.

[Trina Dixon · Rating 4 out of 5]

Laura is moving upstate with her husband Allan as he begins his new role as Headmaster at a boarding school. Laura is apprehensive about the move as she's left her daughter behind and has no job of her own now. Although supportive of Allan a life as Headmasters wife isnt really what she wanted. Finding herself in a temporary teachers job covering maternity leave seems an ideal situation until she meets one of the older students and ends up in a difficult situation.
If I'm totally honest this isnt my favourite of Kate's books, I found Laura's behaviour annoying, she knew what she had to do for the best but found reasons and excuses not to report the issues she was having. However I did enjoy the storyline.
3.5 rounded up

[Sonal · Rating 2 out of 5]

Two mothers, two different horrible situations, yet so much in common. When Laura's husband is offered a headmaster position at a boys school in a remote part of Maine, she isn't thrilled. She is leaving behind her teenage daughter and a teaching job she loves.
Rachel is a new mother, her husband Kyle works as a logger and is not home often. She is realizing how difficult it is to parent a newborn alone and she misses being a teacher at the boys school. Both women end up dealing with extremely difficult situations and realizing they aren't that different is the main basis of the story.
I had high hopes for this book after seeing mostly positive reviews. I personally wasn't a fan. I appreciated the way in which both women connected, but I disliked every single character in this book, except maybe Nathan, but he was a newborn. Both husbands are completely useless and then all of a sudden do a 180 and are good, was a bit hard to believe. Rachel was probably the only one who I had a bit of sympathy for, especially in the beginning. I liked that she questions herself and her own motives and struggled with her feelings. It felt more genuine than Laura, she was just dumb, there were times where I wanted to reach into the book and smack her. I was also annoyed that everyone else at that school was useless and just never got what they deserved. I really wanted some redemption on that front. On that note, how do you just blindly take a job at a school and not ask at all about the financial situation, the ins and outs, etc??? This book is in no way a psychological thriller, it's more domestic drama, I think the synopsis possibly makes it seem like the former.
Thank you to Netgalley and Bookouture for the opportunity to read an advanced copy of this book in exchange for my honest review.

[Jasminegalsreadinglog · Rating 3 out of 5]

The Mother's Secret by Kate Hewitt is a domestic drama set in a small community of a boarding school. Two mothers are struggling with their lives, though years apart with their new roles. They cross paths, and one confides in the other, but one betrays.

Laura, a mom of two teenagers, is struggling with a move that she has to do for her husband's new job. She is isolated, she is lonely, and being an empty nester is not easy to adapt to. Rachel, a new mom, is missing her life before having a baby. She misses teaching, and taking care of the baby alone is incredibly hard for her. She is isolated and lonely as well. Both of these women are connected through the boarding school. How, why, and what happens when these women's lives intersect is the book about.

This story is a slow build one. There's no explosive reveal, but a lot of things happen at the same time. You need to just keep an eye on the incidents. The parallel lives of these women and the underlying commonality make for an interesting read.

Thank you, Bookouture and Netgalley, for this book.

CW: Postpartum Depression, hints of assault (physical and sexual)

[Julie · Rating 5 out of 5]

I loved this book! It was so well written and raw and honest and real. It's told from alternating points of view: Laura who is the wife of new headmaster Allen at a boy's boarding school in northern Maine. They are leaving their home to travel here and Laura had to give up her teaching job to support her husband. Additionally they left their teen daughter with friends so she could finish school year at her school.
The other p.o.v. is Rachel who is a new mother, on maternity leave from the boarding school and she is struggling as an almost single mother since her husband travels north in the winter to work at a logging camp. She wants her job back earlier and then learns one of the English teachers has resigned and hopes she could ask to come back early. But before she can do so, Laura has asked Allen to consider her for the interim teaching job, and the head of the department interviews her and accepts her. Finally, she has something to do, a role to play to help get beyond the loneliness.

Meanwhile, Rachel is upset to learn she can't take this job but then learns there is a temp job as a dorm mother two evenings a week. She cajoles a local daycare to take her son for those hours and also relies on her neighbor, Gladys, to help get her son when she can't leave early to pick him up. Some of the things she hears from the boys, overhears from the boys, is about the MILF, who is Laura, and an 18-year-old, Ben, who seems to be targeting her.

Back to Laura's p.o.v. and we learn that she is really out of her depth with Ben's attention. She knows she should report it but she doesn't, as she almost freezes when he winks at her or touches her arm.

I was so absorbed in this book, in the stories of the two women and how tough it is to be a new mother and to be a woman in this boy's/man's world. Especially when Ben seems to sense Laura's loneliness from her family, her friends, her husband and her vulnerability makes her a target. While Rachel is trying to be a good mom, the best mom, but struggles mightily and wanting help without asking for it.

I highly recommend this book! The ending was so real, true, not flowers and roses but just real life.

[Kat · Rating 3 out of 5]

Kate Hewitt is one of my favorite authors. I ordinarily love her women’s fiction, her cozy romance, and her historical fiction, but this book was unfortunately a miss for me because I did not care for one of the main characters.

THE MOTHER’S SECRET focuses on two characters, both mothers, Laura and Rachel. Laura is married to a man who has recently taken a Headmaster’s position at a boarding school in rural Maine. In order to make the move, Laura and her husband chose to leave their 14-year-old daughter behind in Connecticut to be raised by one of their friends, and don’t change course even when she begins struggling with partying and alcohol. Their other child is a student at the boarding school and Laura spends zero time with him. This is women’s fiction, and I just couldn’t relate to Laura’s choices to abandon both her children when they were struggling.

To say that I did not connect with Laura as a character in any way would be an understatement, even before she begins her weird interactions with “Ben” a senior in one of her English classes, that quickly turn inappropriate. The attraction is mostly on Ben’s side, not Laura’s, but not entirely (yuck), and the fact that Laura did not immediately shut things down, and ask to switch classes, or have Rachel (who wanted her job back!) come back to fill in so she did not have to interact with Ben, but allowed herself to be alone with him time and time again. The fact that Laura was ignoring her own struggling children and spending all this time with Ben, made her immensely dislikeable to me as a character.

Rachel is a young mother who is struggling with her newborn son, Nathan. I liked Rachel as a character and found her relatable and sympathetic. I found the way her struggles with the early weeks of parenting were written to be very well done and impactful. Rachel cannot bear one more second of a screaming baby and her husband is away on work as a logger for 6 months at a time. Lots of themes of feelings of abandonment in this book, which was well done. Rachel puts Nathan in daycare to get a break from him, but then troubles start. 3/5 stars.

[Anne · Rating 4 out of 5]

The Mother’s Secret by Late Hewitt is a modern day “thriller,” for lack of a better word. It is the story of two mothers: Laura, who is forty-seven and Rachel, who is under thirty. Laura is the wife of the headmaster of a boarding school, his first such assignment, and Laura is a new mother. Laura gets herself mixed up in the innuendo linked to a seventeen-year-old student who sees she’s as lonely as he is and misinterprets that emotion. Rachel used to be a teacher at the same school but has had a baby. Her husband is a logger so he is gone for weeks at a time in the winter. It’s an all-boys school and all they boys think Ben’s infatuation with the older woman is a hoot. Rachel is alone and overwhelmed. The saving grace for each of them is that they have husbands that love them and stand with them.

Laura is a middle aged woman, an empty nester, and feeling it starkly. There is a half-year opening for an English teacher, the maternity substitute decided against it, and so Laura finds herself back at work, and at the mercy of this boy. She is aware that sometimes students develop crushes, but this seemed to beyond that. She didn’t know what to do. She was so isolated. What a well-written character she was. Her loneliness cried out on the page. Rachel found having a baby overwhelming. She was probably in the throes of postpartum depression, untreated. She was no different than many young women but didn’t know where to go for help. Two amazing portraits of lonely women. There were a plethora of well-meaning “witnesses” to the crimes of both, leading investigations astray when they could have simply helped. Modern day rush to judgement and mass hysteria. Well done.

I was invited to read a free e-ARC of The Mother’s Secret by Bookoutre, through Netgalley. All thoughts and opinions are mine. #Netgalley #Bookoutre #KateHewitt #TheMothersSecret

[Poppy Marlowe · Rating 5 out of 5]

Synopsis (from Netgalley, the provider of the book to review)
******************************************************
When the call finally comes, my life as I know it is over—my job as a teacher, my marriage, my family are all gone. In a heartbeat, I’ve lost everything that ever mattered to me. All because of one secret, and what someone thinks she saw…

As I sit in the school’s office, listening to the accusations being made against me, I wonder how I got here. As they discuss what they think I did, words begin to jumble in my mind: “a video,” “blurred figures…” I don’t know how to explain that they’ve got it all wrong. Instead, I think back over the last few months and try to pinpoint the exact moment when I allowed a secret to ruin my life.

I squeeze my eyes shut. I’ve been so stupid; I can see that now. Because I know who told them I did this. But it’s just not true, I would never cross that line. So why would she do this to me, after all we’ve been through? What possible reason could she have to shatter my life into a million pieces?

When I open my eyes, my colleagues are staring at me, waiting for answers. I take a deep breath. It’s time to tell them what really happened. It’s time to tell them the truth.

Is the playground the structure outside of the duplicity of the co-workers and other who would profit from the crime? I don’t think that there is a single person that you can or should trust in this book as this is a book full of people madder than a box of frogs. Revenge may be sweet, but this is just cruel intentions from these horrible people you want to see suffer who what they did.
Highly recommended to lovers of thrilling books!
#shortbutsweetreviews
 

[Julia · Rating 5 out of 5]

The Mother’s Secret by Kate Hewitt is a powerful contemporary novel that had me gripped from the start.
This is a story about two mothers, both with similar feelings but at two different stages of motherhood – the new mum and the mum of teenagers. Both are English teachers. Both feel like misfits. Both lay down their career hopes to do as their husbands wish. Both bond together, as the experienced mum helps the new one as she understands her.
We see just how hard motherhood can be. The adjustment to being a new mum is hard, with the lack of sleep, a baby who cries and a husband who works away. Kate Hewitt writes in such a way as to elicit sympathy from the reader.
Being a mum to teens is a whole different ball game. There are different problems. The isolation felt is huge, after a wife and mother is ripped from her home and a job she loves, in order to follow her husband’s dreams.
Both mums suffer at the hands of their husbands’ jobs. Both are caring and compassionate. And both are fighting demons. The novel is emotionally charged. The two lead characters are easy to identify with. We understand the guilt they feel as they try to balance motherhood with jobs and external problems are not of their making. Guilt and innocence exist side by side.
The story is written in two alternating points of view of the two mums. As such, both are easy to relate to. They have our sympathies. We also question – could they be guilty? Or are they innocent? Read the book and find out.
The Mother’s Secret was a powerful and emotional read. I enjoyed it.
I received a free copy from the publishers. A favourable review was not required. All opinions are my own.

[Kristin · Rating 4 out of 5]

Laura is moving away from her home with her husband Allan who takes a new job as a headmaster at a private school. Laura doesn’t know anyone, and feels alone. She offers her help teaching English; Rachel is out on maternity leave and her temporary replacement left. In Laura’s class is a boy named Ben. He sees her. He pursues her. Rachel, on the other hand, is having trouble dealing with motherhood. With no sleep and her husband away for work, Rachel feels alone and she just wants some time to herself. When bruises show up on her son, she wonders how they got there or was it her fault?

This is a very powerful book. It takes on the difficulties of early motherhood with a newborn baby. How everyone says that it’s hard and there are many sleepless nights, but you don’t actually get it until you experience it. I was lucky enough to have my husband help out a lot with our first child and pretty much take over with the second child. My second son was born during the pandemic and my husband wasn’t working so he took on all the responsibilities while I worked from home.

Laura’s situation was very well handled by the author. There was no sexual abuse here, or sexual encounters but it really touches upon what things look like versus what they actually are. It even brings to light how easy it is to manipulate a situation with video that only shows a small clip and doesn’t depict the whole situation.

I really enjoyed how these two women came together, and even with a hiccup, Laura was still there for Rachel in her time of need.

Brava to Hewitt for a wonderful book.

[Samadhee Ismail · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was actually beautifully written told in the perspectives of two women.

Rachel has just become a mother to Nathan and is on maternity leave. She is having problems adjusting to the motherhood and she finds some marks on Nathan's body. Has she done that or someone else is abusing her son particularly at the day care? Meanwhile Laura, who is Rachel's cover up teacher gets into trouble when a student takes a picture of her and Ben, a student together. However, there was no love going between the student and the teacher yet accusations are hurled at Laura which may threaten her family life as well.

Kate's stories are always beautifully written and she does a good job of drawing the reader into the story. The story overall is realistic particularly Rachel's part where she is struggling with motherhood. It is nice to know and read about the two women perspectives and so we will know what each of the character think of each other. It was slightly slow burn but overall, it was actually a heartbreaking and emotional story in general. Laura's part was particularly a little sad to read and I liked how Rachel in the end gets a happy ending.

If you are looking for a bit of drama and a book that is emotional and heartbreaking then this book is one for you--worth five stars!

Many thanks to Netgalley for the ARC. Many thanks to Bookouture for making me a part of the blog tour. This review is based on my honest opinion only.

[Suesyn Zellmer · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was the first book I've read by this author, so I wasn't quite sure what to expect. As stories about scandals go, it was very tame. I expected a lot worse and believe most readers will, also. Laura is the wife of a new headmaster, Allan, in a tiny boarding school in Maine and much later in the book than expected, is accused of inappropriate behavior with a student. Seriously, it's way past the halfway mark when it happens, and since it's right there in the story summary, you'll wonder what took so long to get to that point. That's one of the key issues with the book. If you're going to give away the scenario to the reader ahead of time, why wait so long to get there? You don't need that much backstory, and there was quite a lot of filler. And then it happens and you're like, that's it? When it's too mild for even a young adult story, you might consider spicing it up a bit.

At the same time, there’s another plot involving Rachel, an English teacher on maternity leave whose husband is away for work and who is struggling to bond with her newborn. She becomes friendly with Laura, as they are both lonely and averse to the gossip and scrutiny of the school’s close-knit faculty. They end up with more in common than they ever expected.

I enjoyed the story, and the ending was satisfying, but feel that if you center the plot around one specific occurrence, then it’d better be good! It’s just a bit too underwhelming otherwise.

[Sharon Valler: Live Love Read Review · Rating 4 out of 5]

Completely different to what I was expecting from the blurb!

Told from the POV of Laura and Rachel, two very different women who are both English teachers.

Rachel is a new mum and struggling to exist beyond feeding and caring for her baby boy.

Rachel is a new empty-nester and on top of that, has given up her much-loved teaching job to support her husband in their move to the north of Maine, so that he can take up a headteacher position.

Both women miss their lives and who they were “before” and whilst their lives are seemingly worlds apart, they are brought together by events out of their control.

The pace is slow, building the backstory of the two women who I found to be likeable and extremely relatable. It’s the relatability of these characters that really made the book for me; any new mum who says it’s all breezy is deceiving herself as well as everyone around her, and it is this honesty in Rachel that I really connected with. Similarly with Laura, at the other end of motherhood, struggling to find her identity outside of raising her children. But does a mother ever stop being needed by her children?

If you enjoy women’s fiction, you will embrace this story of motherhood.

4 ⭐️ Thanks to Netgalley, Kate Hewitt and Bookouture for an ARC in return for an honest review.

[Shelley · Rating 5 out of 5]

A book review of The Mother's Secret by Kate Hewitt.

Laura’s life is going to change, in more ways than she realizes. She quits her job to follow her husband to his dream job. In doing so, she has to leave her daughter to stay with friends for the remainder of the school year. Her son transfers to the new school with the family, but he stays in the boarding house with the others. Laura is lost as she tries to find her footing in her new life.

Meanwhile, Rachel is also dealing with some big changes. After having a baby, her husband leaves for several months in order to support his new little family. However, motherhood isn’t as easy as it looks, especially when the newborn never sleeps and cries all the time.

Laura steps in to take over maternity leave for Rachel and finds herself in an uncomfortable situation that she never imagined when one of her students openly flirts with her.

Rachel also finds herself dealing with an uncomfortable situation when her son starts getting bruises on his body. She has to try to figure out who is hurting her child, while also wondering if she could have caused them without even trying.

The two women meet and find themselves as allies in the strange world of an all-boys boarding school.

Just like the other Kate Hewitt book, I couldn’t put it down. I have already downloaded a few more to read soon!

[Pat Simpson · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is the story of two women Laura and Rachel. Laura, an an English teacher has had to move with Allen, her husband, as he has secured his dream job as Headmaster at a boarding school. Laura is devastated as she had left her teenage daughter behind. She is living with her best friend and her mother. Laura misses her old life and finds it difficult to settle. She takes a temporary teaching post covering a maternity leave at the boarding school but still feels frustrated. Rachel is a struggling new mum, who is finding it difficult to cope with a new baby who isn’t sleeping and is constantly crying and a husband who is working away. She was the teacher whose job Laura is covering. They meet up and become e good friends. Laura finds herself becoming very uncomfortable with the attentions of one of the older boy pupils who becomes infatuated with her. She confides in Rachel but when a video is discovered her world comes crashing down. This was an emotional story told from both Laura and Rachel’s perspective and how they both fight their demons. A highly recommended read.
Thanks to Netgalley and Bookouture for giving me the opportunity to read and review this book.

[Melissa Suslowicz Bartz · Rating 5 out of 5]

My Review:
Loved!!!!! I enjoyed reading this one so much. I want start off by saying that when I’m looking for an intense emotional read I look no further than this author. She delivers a book that pulls at every heart string you have in your body. I mean every single one. You better make sure you have a full box of Kleenex ready and waiting by your side at all times when you read one of her books. You definitely will need it. The twists and turns she delivers are great too. You never see them coming. I love that and I love that this author deals with hard topics. She doesn’t shy away from anything. This one was a tough one but she dealt with it with such grace. The last thing I want to say is nobody is perfect and everybody makes mistakes. It’s how you handle them that makes the difference. I can’t wait for this authors next book.

In conclusion, the plot, the characters and all the twists in this book made this book an enjoyable read. I would definitely recommend it and happily give it 5 Hearts❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️

[Paula · Rating 4 out of 5]

The Mother's Secret by Kate Hewitt is a heartfelt touching story of one woman’s struggles when accusations are made against her. It takes a while in the story to get to what the accusations actually are. Much background is given on the new move, the new home, and the new situation that Laura finds herself. Emotionally intense with a subplot that is just as interesting.

I have read many of Katie Hewitt’s book includes wonderful historical fictional as well as romantic fiction. This story is more in line with That Night at the Beach, contemporary women’s fiction from beginning to end. There are many unanswered questions that you must keep reading to see what the truths really are in this story.

An ARC of the book was provided by the publisher through NetGalley which I voluntarily chose to read and review. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

[Vanessa · Rating 5 out of 5]

Every book I have read from this author I have loved from the very beginning till the very end and her latest book and this book was no different. The Mother's Secret by Kate Hewitt was a very powerfully but very emotional book, so be warned you will need lots of tissues.
Kate Hewitt has a way of writing from her heart. Once you open any of her books; you will be taken on an emotional journey that will pulled you heart strings. She is the Queen of emotional stories of families.

This book will not disappoint it was just beautiful from start to finish and the cover was beautiful as well.

I highly recommend this book.....But, don't forget your tissues!

Thank you to NetGalley, Bookouture and the author for the opportunity to read this book for my honest review.

[Janilyn Kocher · Rating 4 out of 5]

This one will make readers think. Two women, at different stage of motherhood, are forced to make difficult decisions. I had sympathy for both but probably a little more for Rachel. I thought Laura made a lot of mistakes with her situation, firstly she should have told someone immediately and then documented stuff.
Being a teacher myself I hope to never find myself in that predicament.
I also felt bad for Laura being forced to move to such a remote place and leave her 15 year old kid behind, not a good choice and her husband was quite selfish.
It’s a good novel about choices, repercussions, and moving forward.
Thanks to Bookouture and NetGalley for the early read.

[Tracy · Rating 3 out of 5]

Book about two mothers set at a private boys' boarding school in Maine. Laura has moved because her husband got a job as the headmaster, but she misses her kids and her jobs and is unfulfilled as just the wife. She ends up taking a temporary position filling in for a teacher on maternity leave when something odd happens with a student. Rachel is the teacher on maternity leave with a child that will not stop crying. She also longs for her old life or at least for her husband to come home on the weekends (his work takes him away for weeks at a time) because the stress is overwhelming. Their stories collide. I liked this book fairly well.

[Sall · Rating 3 out of 5]

Not one of the best, but good enough. I felt that for an experienced teacher she had no concept of safeguarding nor did she have any idea about how schools worked. There were too many plots, the inappropriate flirting teacher and student, the teacher whose baby was supposed to be abused but wasn't...that was predictable it was obvious the kid was going to have some unusual condition causing the bruising. As for the new head...it felt like he was showing his true colours but it's hard to tell because his character never really developed, neither did their childrens or the freind who was guardian to their daughter.

[Sheri · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is the story of two mothers. One is a new mother with a 6 week old. She is struggling to adapt to love with a newborn, so if that is a trigger for you, this might be the book for you. The other other is the new headmasters wife who struggles to find her place at the new school. Both women had secrets and struggles they were trying to get through. I enjoyed the book and the two stories within one. If you like unique settings (an all boys boarding school in Maine), and relatable characters, you will want to check out this book.

[Rieta · Rating 4 out of 5]

There were so many people I wanted to throttle in this book. Allan, self centered, Tamara focused on nots what best for the school or the other humans but drama. Kyle for thinking it's ok to leave his wife alone for months with a brand new baby. Don't even get me started on Busy Bee's day care. Self righteous, smug, superior twats. My heart sincerely went out to Ben. It seems like so many walls were erected through events, movements & personal constraints it seems like a simple conversation with this kid might have been very helpful.

[Jen · Rating 5 out of 5]

Another brilliant book by Kate Hewitt! "The Mother's Secret" is a book about 2 women and how easily and fast life can change. The book is written with each chapter being about the other woman, I love this style of writing because it really draws you in to the story and gives you different perspectives of what happens. It's an interesting page turner with a great ending that will leave you reading late into the night!