Quick Synopsis – Florence Grimes is a thirty-one-year-old party girl who always takes the easy way out. Single, broke and unfulfilled after the humiliating end to her girl band career, she has only one reason to get out of bed each day: her ten-year-old son Dylan. But then Alfie Risby, her son’s bully and the heir to a vast frozen food empire, mysteriously vanishes during a class trip, and Dylan becomes the prime suspect. Florence, for once, is faced with a task she can’t quit: She’s got to find Alfie and clear her son’s name, or risk losing Dylan forever.

Song This Reminds Me Of – Famous 5eva – Girls4eva

Publication Date – March 11, 2025

Content Notes – This story revolves around the kidnapping of a young boy. There is violence, sexual assault, anxiety, and mention of self-harm. There is also some mention of post-partum depression.

Rating – ⭐⭐⭐out of 5

Review – Do you ever read a book and the main character is just so hard to root for it makes you not want to read? Florence is a little like that. She’s selfish, manipulative, and hung up on things that happened a decade ago. Some of it I get, she had a rising pop career only to get screwed over and pushed out of the band. I get why she harbor’s resentment, but in the ten years since falling pregnant and losing her pop career, she hasn’t really done much else. Florence constantly seems to want more in life but has no direction or gumption to get it. 

Besides being an unlikeable main character, the central story is good. A student goes missing during a field trip and Florence is worried her son had something to do with it. In order to protect her son, she teams up with one of the other moms, Jenny, to try to solve the case. Florence’s foray into being a detective is fun, but really just serves as another way to show how selfish she is. Florence does thing that she says are for her son, but I really for herself. I really with the author would have made Florence more likeable or at least set this book up to be part of a series. I think it would have been a better pay off and ending if Florence gained back some of her power and decided to be a Private Investigator. 

There are some flashbacks that show Florence dealing with post-partum depression and the fall out of losing her career. That on top of having little to know support system does kind of show how she got to be so selfish, but it just felt so one dimensional.

All The Other Mothers Hate Me is a fun thriller, but the main character almost ruined it for me.

Thanks to NetGalley and Penguin Group Putnam for the advanced copy, all opinions are my own.