From the Bookshelf of SpecFic Buddy Reads…

Just Like Mother

Anne Heltzel

Start date: September 1, 2022

Finish date: September 30, 2022

Discussion leader: Vavita

Why we're reading this: Group Read Horror September 2022
[close] Group Read Horror September 2022

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May 01, 2022 Christina Pilkington rated it liked it

After escaping from a cult as children where they were raised by women they called “Mother,” Maeve and her cousin reunite suddenly decades later. At first Maeve is thrilled to see Andrea. Maeve has suffered from intense trauma and has a hard time making friends or having non-toxic relationships with men. But soon after reuniting with Andrea and spending time at Andrea’s Catskills estate, Maeve becomes disturbed as she learns more about Andrea’s fertility and motherhood business and the way Andre After escaping from a cult as children where they were raised by women they called “Mother,” Maeve and her cousin reunite suddenly decades later. At first Maeve is thrilled to see Andrea. Maeve has suffered from intense trauma and has a hard time making friends or having non-toxic relationships with men. But soon after reuniting with Andrea and spending time at Andrea’s Catskills estate, Maeve becomes disturbed as she learns more about Andrea’s fertility and motherhood business and the way Andrea’s friends are disgusted by her single lifestyle and desire not to have children.

For the first half of the book, I was so engrossed in Maeve’s story. We’d get flashback chapter of Maeve’s childhood and the first few years after she left the cult. I loved the flashbacks, but they always felt very surface-level. They often raised more questions and never provided the answers I wanted.

Maeve is also a character who has been deeply scarred by her past. She has severe mental health issues, especially in the first half of the book, and the book was much darker than I was expecting in that regard. She struggles with identity and self-respect and lacks confidence.
The book also tackles the themes of motherhood and the toxic idea that motherhood is the ideal for all women. I thought some of the dialogue and discussions in the book were thought-provoking, but after the first half the discussion started to lose nuance and became too on-the-nose for me.

The first half really felt more like a dark contemporary novel than horror. So that’s why the last half of this book really threw me. After Maeve undergoes a series of additional traumas in her life and spends almost all her time with Andrea, the book gets more and more bizarre. It became too over-the-top. The villainous characters lacked depth and nuance. By the end of the book when I was supposed to feel the most horrified, I was mostly just rolling my eyes. I can’t get scared if too many things logically don’t make sense, if the secondary characters feel like props instead of people and if the strange time skips and jumps make me feel like some essential part of the story is missing.

I’d recommend this story if you like books that make you keep turning the pages, dark psychological thrillers, and if you are willing to put up with unanswered questions and logical inconsistencies.

*Thank you to NetGalley and Tor Nightfire for the e-arc in exchange for an honest review. ...more

11 likes · Like · see review

Sep 27, 2022 Linda rated it really liked it

Shelves: 2022, specfic-2022-group-reads-challenge

Creepy, thrilling, and twisty to the very end! This was a great read, especially with that doll head cover sitting on my nightstand for the past few weeks. :D

6 likes · Like · see review

Aug 10, 2022 Vavita rated it really liked it

3,5 rounded up
Not scary but definitely unsettling. I had a constant feeling of unease…
I need to read it again and analyze it.

5 likes · Like · see review

Jul 21, 2022 Lulu rated it liked it

Shelves: horror, thriller, books-read-in-2022

3.5*, rounded down. I really liked a lot of the writing and content of this story, but it felt a little too long to maintain tension in any palpable way. There were also a lot of things that Maeve gets up to that only make sense if she's a complete idiot, which she didn't seem to be at other moments?

The climax of the book was very effective though, I was definitely on the edge of my sheet, glued to my audiobook and unable to do anything but listen. The epilogue, on the other hand, left a little ...more

3 likes · Like · see review