Petrova’s timely new book is a deep dive into the oft-underrepresented world of infertility, pregnancy, and motherhood, including all the medical, legal, and emotional obstacles women face ... With jaded humor, Lana captures an experience many struggling with infertility will recognize ... The clever narrative structure...grow[s] increasingly layered and intertwined as the plot progresses ... The thrill of voyeurism drives the novel’s manic energy ... Petrova is writing in a genre known for its stock characters ... Yet, the author’s plunge into the complicated world of infertility and mixed families shapes old tropes into ripe canvases. The result is a thrilling suspense novel that asks important questions about the way parenthood will evolve in our medical and political landscape. This impressive debut novel is an ethical matryoshka that ups the ante with each plot twist. Despite this weightiness, like the best crime fiction, Her Daughter’s Mother still makes for a page-turning beach read.
Petrova has written a consummate page-turner that also manages incredible layers of emotional depth. This is one of the year’s most provocative and eye-opening novels.
... gripping and quite plausible ... Alternating the viewpoints of Lana, Tyler and Katya allows readers to understand each character and the motives that propel them ... Petrova delves deeper in her plot with intriguing twists making even the most benign action and supposed coincidences seem sinister and foreboding.
... a tension-filled tale that reveals one layer of subterfuge after another as more and more of the story comes to light. Daniela Petrova’s debut psychological thriller raises many questions about what can happen when science combines with nature to give people the innermost desires of their hearts, and explores how not everyone involved always gets a happy ending.
This psychological suspense story rests on a coincidence and sometimes skids off the road of narrative credibility, but it is ultimately rewarding ... Petrova is expert at showing how desperate both these women are ... This is an uneven novel, but its darkness and wild resolution will appeal to many readers.
... impressive ... Some will piece together the mystery faster than Lana can, but there are still burning questions that will keep readers at the edge of their seats. Fascinating details about Bulgarian culture leaven this gripping tale of the consequences of obsession. Petrova is off to a promising start.
Lana is an engaging and sympathetic protagonist. Katya is a troubled and rather dreary victim burdened with a lot of backstory. Tyler, the third of the three first-person point-of-view characters, is little-heard but offers some of the most sympathetic moments as he struggles to cope with the fallout from Lana's fertility obsession ... A credible but underwhelming ending mars this otherwise suspenseful, contemporary, and twisty thriller.
