Her Mother's Shadow

Kiss River, Book 3

By: Diane Chamberlain

Narrated by: Arielle DeLisle

Length: 11 hrs and 2 mins

Publisher's summary

Annie

A loving mother and wife, Annie O'Neill was the heart of the small community of Kiss River. But her generous nature hid a darker side that remained secret for years after her tragic death.

Lacey

When Lacey O'Neill finally learns the shattering truth about the mother she's spent a decade emulating, the foundation of her life begins to crumble. Then her close childhood friend dies, leaving her teenage daughter, Mackenzie, in Lacey's care, and Lacey unwillingly finds herself in the role of mother.

Mackenzie

Uprooted by her mother's death, Mackenzie resents her new home of Kiss River. She wants nothing to do with the father who never knew she existed - and especially not her mother's oldest friend. But the person who could understand her best might be the one she resents most: Lacey.

©2004 Diane Chamberlain (P)2014 Tantor

Critic reviews

"Complex, credible characterization. . . . Even readers who are not already fans will sympathize with the flawed but caring people [Chamberlain] compassionately evokes." ( Publishers Weekly)

Slut Shaming

While most of Her Mother's Shadow was well written, the underlying theme was distinctly misogynist. Lacey's kind hearted mother Annie had been promiscuous (due to mental and emotional issues) in spite of being deeply in love with Lacey's father. Since Lacey was a carbon copy of her mother, she unconsciously emulated Annie's sexual behavior.

However, when Lacey's brother and other male characters were sexually active, there was no name calling, shaming or condemnation. Evidently boys will be boys but girls and/or women who have indiscriminate sex are stupid sluts. It wasn't surprising that Lacey did not like or respect herself, which complicated her helping Mackenzie.

While I found Lacey sympathetic, I was frustrated by her lack of confidence even after years of professional therapy. It wasn't until Lacey inherited Mackenzie and tried to create a stable home that Lacey grew a backbone.

Nice ending for the trilogy

The narrator was Terrific! Tempo was right & I always knew who was speaking because she altered her voice for each character.

The story tied up all the loose ends from the other books.

Enjoyed it a lot.

Great trilogy

Diane Chamberlain does it again. I loved hearing how the members of this family grew up & continued on through the stories. I love the twists & turns.
And to hear the same awesome narrator through series kept the stories flowing. Great job!!!

Great trilogy

It definetely met my expectations. Is difficult to find a defining moment because there were many. It was a great story and finally I loved every character.

I also liked very much the narrator.

MUST READ!

I read the triology ( listened ) these books are well written and filled with surprises, I really enjoyed them.

Five Star Read

The third in the Kiss River trilogy kept me listening,eager for each secret to be uncovered. The last one was the biggest shocker! Ms. Chamberlain has done it for me again!

A rather confusing story for me

Too much back-and-forth with the different time spans.
To me also the women’s names were strange, rather confusing. I would rather just plain ordinary names were used. The first half was very good, the last half, especially 1/4 or so I thought it was rather mixed up. How in the world did Carlyn, or whatever her name was, and up with Quinn when she had been with Alan all those years? And it said that she was with Quinn a very long time.?
The narrator was only fair, but at least she didn’t try to do other voices, which so many mess up on.
Also, not to do with the story, but I think it is very irritating when the authors name is put in huge letters on the front of the book, the title of the story is put in small letters. In this case the small letters were put in a shade of pink on another shade of pink, very hard to make out. This is the first Diane Chamberlain book that was so confusing to me. I read all the comments on Amazon hoping to find out who this Quinn was, Nobody mentioned him. I certainly don’t feel like listening through this again, so I guess it will forever remain a mystery to me.
Sounds like the other woman also ended up with a different man, and It didn’t really explain it. Oh dear!

Second listening

I enjoyed this series of three so much I hope listened to each twice. For now I will leave Kiss River behind hoping you will extend the series at some point. Thank you for your great work. I have enjoyed many of your stories and will continue to.

Good

Have been following the many stories! I like series books. Good listening and enjoyed the plot

Great continuation of the story!

Loved the first book of the trilogy and even though the second had a slow start, it turned out to be good, too. Love this one, too! Narration was good, too!