Recs if you like The Push...

Fiction & nonfiction books that explore the complexities and traumas of mother-child relationships or in which such relationships play a central role. While many books on this list are what I’d classify as including “mommy issues” there are others that are more about the different perspectives and nuances of the mother-child (often specifically mother-daughter) relationship. Some books center the child, some the mother, some both.

Suggestions are welcome.

Books written in or featuring 2nd person POV

Horror stories about pregnancy and children that will immediately take away any baby fever you might have

This includes book that have either mystery or thrillers as a primary or secondary genre. If you have recommendations to add please comment and I'll happily add them 💕

pregnancy horror has been a prevalent form of body horror for decades, popularised by the arrival of rosemary’s baby. this list offers a mix of classics and more niche picks, traversing the many questions of authority, complexities, and subversions of the subgenre. these books explore pregnancy and its aftermath, sometimes literally, and sometimes through metaphor.

you definitely don’t want to babysit the kids in these books!! these are some bad kids, some might even say evil kids, like they’re possessed by demons or something, think Damien from The Omen or the twins in Goodnight Mommy

as always, taking any and all suggestions!

All sorts of stories about all sorts of women. Mostly litfic, some horror.

Being weird is fun!

"Weird girl literature" featuring themes around pregnancy or motherhood

💜 yarnandbooks

The top 100 books of the 2020’s as voted on by Goodreads members

How many have you read?

The top 5 have switched order, they should be: 5) I’m Glad My Mom Died 4) The Midnight Library 3) The House in the Cerulean Sea 2) Project Hail Mary

1. Addie LaRue

some book recs that involve the complexities of motherhood: the tough and tender, chaotic and beautiful, exhausting and full of purpose.

Celebrating Canadian authors, with an emphasis on fiction. I'm also trying to include a lot of Indigenous authors in this list! Open to suggestions.

A collection of stories that explore themes of motherhood & mother-child relationships through a darker lens.

Tags: Horror, Motherhood, Matriarch, Matriarchy, Magical Realism, Thriller

sometimes the secrets buried under family relationships and everyday routines are unearthed and it goes poorly for everyone involved

Thrillers and horror books with a family setting. This list focuses on relationships between siblings, parent and child etc.

the complicated inheritance of being someone's daughter. maternal wounds, generational trauma, inherited neuroses, impossible expectations, and the many ways love can leave a mark. mothers we love, resent, misunderstand, and spend a lifetime trying to figure out. daughters caught between becoming their mothers, disappointing them, and figuring out who they are without them. // some family issues require a little more than a family group chat.

— suggestions always welcome!

The New York Times published a list on August 5th, 2026, of the 50 best thrillers published since 2000 as voted on by hundreds of writers of every kind of crime fiction, from legal thrillers to spy novels to cozy mysteries, as well as librarians, editors, critics and Bookstagrammers.

Trick me twice, shame on Me!! Books that feature narrators who lie by omission to the reader or they don’t have enough information so have a narrow view of the plot.