Anne Heltzel’s novel delivers in all the creepy, thought provoking, challenging, disturbing and cultural nightmarish vibes from beginning to end. A story about cultism and anti patriarchy with social commentary on modern motherhood and honest expressions of women’s rights embedded into a grotesque horror novel that was shocking and slightly nauseating. There are so many cult stories out there yet Heltzel found a unique way to deliver with a ton of triggering content related to conception, sexual assault, pregnancy, womanhood and motherhood in general. This would perhaps lead me to say to approach this one with caution but also understand that between the lines of horror are in fact honest moments that as a reader, I found refreshing. Now, this book is not perfect, and I could nitpick at certain parts, but I don’t think they matter because; You know that feeling at the end of a book when you are utterly satisfied but also deeply repulsed? Thats when I know it’s a five star read!

I knew I had to read this book solely based on the cover. What’s creepier than a bald, severed baby doll head whose eyes follow you wherever you go? Ok maybe the Annabelle doll, but only because she is based on a real Raggedy Anne doll who was possessed by a demon. All I know is you won’t find any baby dolls in my house.
➡️Prepare to suspend your beliefs during this one. It will be way more fun if you do:)

Maeve grew up in a cult called The Mother Collective with her cousin Andrea where women are valued based on their ability to have children. They escaped as kids and lost touch with one another. When Maeve and Andrea suddenly reunite through a DNA search, Maeve is beside herself. The trauma of her childhood prevented her from forming any lasting connections and she couldn’t be more excited to have a family again. She moves into Andrea’s Catskills estate and shit starts to get weird. The novel is told from Maeve’s perspective, switching between the past and present.

I wanted more of The Mother Collective! We definitely get creepy cult leader vibes from the “present” chapters, but I wish we got a more detailed view of Maeve’s childhood. The beginning of the book was great and kept me turning the pages quickly, but I was able to predict a lot by the halfway mark. Did I still enjoy reading it? I sure did! It definitely gives off some Rosemary’s Baby vibes🙌

What the heck did I just read?! Wow, what a crazy thriller about motherhood. This book was chock full of sinister characters and questionable events. And the dolls… honestly I hope this book gets turned into a movie just for the creepy dolls alone. Overall I enjoyed the book especially as I couldn’t always tell where it was leading. My first critique is that I wish the plot would have been slimmed down just a bit. At times it seemed a bit all over the place with the different characters and their storylines. The second is that this book would have been unputdownable with more atmospheric writing. The mood of the book did not meet the eeriness of the plot. The ending though was on point!

**3.5-stars rounded up**

Twenty years ago, Maeve risked her life and fled the cult she was born and raised in. After that Maeve was swiftly adopted by a loving couple, but the transition to life on the outside was quite difficult. Maeve feared boys and men. She had never been to a public school, or played amongst her peers of the opposite sex.

Now an adult, Maeve has done her best to build a normal life for herself in NYC. She works in publishing and has a guy she's kind of sweet on.

One thing she is missing though is a family. She doesn't want any children of her own, but Maeve misses being a part of a larger family nonetheless. In particular, she misses her cousin and childhood best friend, Andrea, who she hasn't seen since the night she fled the cult.

In an unexpected turn of events, Maeve is finally reconnected with Andrea via a DNA service. Thank you, 23andMe. Andrea is wildly successful, an entrepreneur in the fertility industry. She's married, with a loving husband and big old house she just purchased upstate. A house she pretty much offers up to Maeve on a platter.

Maeve is excited for the opportunity to reconnect with her cousin and become a steady part of her life. She travels to the house upstate, along with Andrea, her husband Rob and Andrea's work partner, Emily. The more Andrea and Maeve interact, and Emily too, she can't be discounted in this assessment, the more uneasy the vibe becomes. There's clearly something off, but Maeve isn't really open to acknowledging that.

Maeve wants Andrea back in her life. She's willing to overlook any awkwardness. Even though Andrea and Emily both seem to disapprove of Maeve's lifestyle, she's not going to let that ruin everything. She dusts it off. As things in Maeve's normal life begin to veer wildly off course, however, she's pushed even further into Andrea's orbit. That's when things start really getting intense.

Just Like Mother is a sort of Rosemary's Baby for the modern age. It's definitely channeling those vibes and I'm not mad about it at all. While I will admit, for me, this started slow, it did leave me with one of my favorite things: an evil smile on my face!

Heltzel's writing was engaging and I did like how Maeve's character was built out using both past and present perspectives. Understanding her past in the cult was pivotal to understanding her life path and choices involving Andrea.

I liked Maeve. I definitely connected with her decision not to have children of her own and some of the other characters reactions to that choice actually infuriated me. I feel like my strong reaction to those topics is a clear sign that Heltzel delivered these ideas believably. This is super intense towards the end. After the initial build-up, once it starts spiraling, it really starts spiraling.

I feel like this would make a great selection for a book club, or a buddy read. There's a lot of solid discussion topics held within these pages. If someone is looking to deep dive, there's plenty to keep them occupied. I will remember this one for a long time to come.

Thank you so much to the publishers, Tor Nightfire and Macmillan Audio, for providing me with a copies to read and review. This one definitely kept my attention and I look forward to picking up future works from Heltzel!

First off? That cover is cursed. That creepy baby head will be living in my nightmares for quite some time. Unfortunately, the book itself didn’t quite live up to that for me.

“My cousin had made a real life for herself. What did I have to offer, after all these years? If my life was a lazy river, Andrea’s was the Autobahn. I couldn’t help but feel that all those years I was looking for her, she’d been busy leaving me behind.”


Maeve and her cousin Andrea grew up in a cult that venerated motherhood – until Maeve’s eighth birthday, when everything came crashing down. Twenty-five years later, Maeve has a job as an editor in NYC – she loves studying people – but feels like she’s not quite living her life. She struggles to open up enough to people to make friends and her romantic relationship barely qualifies as a relationship. Then a genetic test reconnects her with Andrea, now a CEO of a successful life-coaching startup, happily married to a doting husband, and the proud new owner of a rambling mansion in the Catskills. As Andrea and Maeve reconnect, Maeve’s life starts falling down around her again. But the echoes of her childhood are all in her mind, aren’t they?

“Well. Trust takes vulnerability,” Andrea pointed out. “And bravery. You’re a strong person, Maeve. You have the capacity to let people in.”
“I want to trust you,” I said, my throat tightening. “I just—for so long, after everything—” I faltered, mindful of our pact not to speak about the past. “I’ve been alone, for the most part. I’m not used to this.”


This book is an exploration of the darker side of motherhood, of rejecting patriarchy so far that you hit the exact opposite side. For the cult, motherhood is everything, the source of women’s power, and men are good for only one thing. Women who reject motherhood, like Maeve, are seen as misguided at best and traitors at worst. From the moment Maeve and Andrea meet up again, it’s obvious something is not quite right but Maeve is so desperate for connection that she misses the red flags. Maeve’s foster parents encouraged her not to talk about what happened, so she feels like seeing Andrea again will finally give her some sort of closure. But Andrea’s more interested in making a future with Maeve than reliving the past, which Maeve reluctantly accepts. But spending time with Andrea and her friends isn’t exactly comfortable for Maeve. She feels self-conscious and almost like a child, like they’re caring for her. Their financial success, their understanding of how to move through the world, sets her off-balance. What reads as condescension to the reader feels more like love and caring to Maeve. It does require quite a suspension of disbelief – it takes Maeve way too long to realize what’s going on despite the ridiculous number of red flags – but I liked Maeve’s voice and part of it was just watching a train wreck.

“Well, it sort of is just what you do,” Emily replied. “Right? It’s the greatest power we’ve been given as women. It’s what we were made to do.”
“Like I said, skeletons,” Micah broke in, shaking his head. “This is probably why you don’t have a partner.”


As for cons, the plot never quite coalesced for me. There’s a lot going on – the echoes of the Mother cult, the creepy baby dolls (modeled after the child Andrea lost as an infant), the secret passages in Andrea’s house. It’s creepy, but it’s all a bit muddled. Rather than a cohesive narrative, it’s more like a bunch of content warnings thrown at you in hopes that something sticks. That’s also perhaps why the ending fell flat for me as well.

Overall, this is a very chilling premise, but the execution fell a bit flat for me. I’d probably try another book from the author, though, as I found her writing style very readable and engrossing.

I received an advance review copy of this book from NetGalley. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.

Twisty turns had my eyes glued to each page from the beginning. This thriller has all the elements I want. Just Like Mother by Anne Heltzel pushes past suspense into horror and wow, this book blew my mind! I do not want to write too much, only enough to tell you that the character development, plot, twists and turns, and ending had me all caught up into finding out what happened. I like the way author Heltzel builds the suspense so that I have this pit of dread building that makes me want to put the book down! Let me say that it contrasts nicely with that desire to read nonstop until I figure out what is going on and how it all endS

Thank you to NetGalley, Macmillan-Tor/Forge Publishing, and author Anne Heltzel for this digital review copy for me to read and devour! As always, my reviews are voluntary and my opinions are my own!

Thank you to Netgalley and Macmillan-Tor/Forge for the ARC.

4/5 stars 🌟🌟🌟🌟

A quick, creepy read with an excellent cover. Just Like Mother is about Maeve, a woman who is still grappling with escaping a cult as a young girl. She is closed off from the world until her cousin, Andrea, makes a reappearance. As Maeve gets closer to Andrea, things begin to spiral out of control.

This book is a ride and would definitely work as a miniseries. I loved the creepiness and unpredictability. It is very dark and the ending is spot-on. I am interested in what this author writes next.

ARC was provided by the publisher via Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

Who doesn’t love a good cult book? And JUST LIKE MOTHER starts off strong introducing us to Maeve growing up in a compound where every adult woman is “Mother” and there are no men. Despite her unlikely naivety, Maeve was such a fun protagonist to follow, as she is roped back into this baby fever world.

I think my biggest qualms come down to 1) I wish we got more nitty-gritty culty details - I think it was played a bit too easy by leaving it somewhat vague, and 2) I was disappointed that the "twists" we so easily anticipated and it was almost grating how naive Maeve was until the end. However, neither of these things were deal breakers for me. I was invested and interested in the journey itself. I enjoyed the narrative on motherhood, gender roles, and family. Even that ending made my creepy-senses tingle a little bit and I enjoyed that abrupt reveal.

This is definitely not a book I should have been reading right after my daughter gave birth to twins, but in spite of the creepy topic, I could not put it down. A mash-up of the Stepford Wives and a few other similar tales, this included an old house with hidden corridors, and was just too tempting to pass up.

Andrea and Maeve grew up in a cult called the Mother Collective. The women believe motherhood is the ultimate goal in life and that men are useful for only one thing—and that would be supplying the sperm. If that was all there was to it, maybe it would not have been so bad, but the Mothers took things to a horrific level. When the authorities discovered their secrets, Andrea and Maeve were separated and ended up in foster care.

Having been apart since they were children, they managed to find each other as grown women. Suffice it to say, Maeve was in a better place before she reunited with Andrea. Their entire relationship was odd, eventually proving to be dangerous.

The ending was chilling! I’m not much of a horror reader, but this was tame enough for my tastes. I do think readers who may be sensitive to anything related to childbirth, child abuse or a few graphic details may want to pass this one by.

Many thanks to NetGalley and MacMIllan-Tor Forge for allowing me to read an advance copy/. I am happy to give my honest review.

Exceptionally disturbing!!

Maeve and Andrea are cousins who grew up in The Mother Collective, escaping and being split apart, they haven't seen each in over 20 years. When they reconnect, is it like they were never apart or are they now too different to get back what they lost?

Some parts of this roused such anger in me I literally had to pause and walk away. Despite the deeply powerful feelings this pulled out of me, I absolutely enjoyed the journey of this WICKEDLY MESSED UP RIDE! These characters are unforgettable and so sideways you can't help but be drawn to watching what they do next.

Also, just look at that cover! It's so creeptastic! I also listened to parts of this and the narrator did such an awesome job!!

Please read TW for this one before going in blind; infertility, child loss, abuse, rape, and murder.

Thank you so much to @tornightfire, @macmillanaudio, and Anne Heltzel for the gifted copies to review!

What made me really want to check this out was the cover then I read the synopsis & found out it was about a cult & I was sold.
I loved the concept of the book definitely saw the twists coming but I enjoyed how creepy it was. It deals with some heavy topic so be sure to check for trigger warnings if needed. It switches timelines from the time our 2 main characters are just girls stuck in the cult then flashes 20 years later to them being adults and reconnecting (I just wish we got to know a little more about the cult though). The ending was probably my favorite part out of the whole book, really had me looking at strangers wondering if they're part of some secret cult. I could definitely see this getting a sequel in the future. The only thing I didn't like was how predictable it was. Overall I thought this was an okay read. I give it a 3.5 star rating.

I'll be posting this review on its pub date on my Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/chibichapters/

Intriguing story centering around Maeve and her cousin Andrea that were separated as children after living in a cult. Years later they reconnect and as they do Maeve is force to relive the trauma she has been trying to forget. Andrea seemingly has it all and has chosen not to talk of their past and the dreadful night that separated them. As Maeve spends more time in Andrea’s world she finds herself facing the past and experiencing more terror than she thought was possible.

Definitely a similar vibe to The Handmaids Tale, it is disturbing on so many levels. It is predictable in places but I couldn’t put it down. Starts off slowly but builds to a heart stopping finale. Trigger warnings of rape and cults.

3.5 stars

Thanks to NetGalley for the advanced copy in exchange for an honest review.
#NetGalley #JustLikeMother #AnneHeltzel

Just Like Mother by Anne Heltzel is the first book I've read by this author. It's her adult debut, so I suppose that's why I was not familiar with her work. Now, however, it's a name I'm sure not to forget! I started this book late last night and sped through it. I just had to find out what happened next!

Maeve last saw her cousin and best friend Andrea the night Maeve escaped the cult in which they both were raised. Two decades later she is living a lonely existence in New York City with no real friends and her occasional hook-up partner. She's been searching online for Andrea for years, and suddenly up she pops on a DNA family search! Maeve begins to spend a lot of time with Andrea and her husband Rob at their remote Catskills estate. Andrea's work friends cannot understand why Maeve doesn't want a family and children. Andrea's business, NewLife, is a life coaching business, with its upcoming roll-out of an Artificial Intelligence doll whose purpose is helping expecting and grieving families to connect with a baby, so you could understand their obsession with having children, especially girls. They are a blessing, are they not? The longer Maeve spends in the Catskills, however, the more she feels detached and cut off from her independent life in NYC. She begins to have disturbing dreams and flashbacks of her horrific cult childhood. Just what the heck is going on?

This book was creepy and disturbing on so many levels! There are trigger warnings for those disturbed by storylines of cults, violence and rape. Did those things disturb me? No. But the nightmarish AI dolls totally FREAKED ME OUT. Seriously, the only things scarier than dolls are clowns. Yes, apparently I have weird issues, but I digress... Maeve was a compelling and sympathetic character. She initially comes across as being a bit standoffish, not having anyone she's really close to; even the man she's sleeping with doesn't know much about her. Yet flashbacks of her childhood show us the horror this young child survived. The events started out being uncomfortable, but there was a feeling of impending doom. You just knew these events would increase in terror. The same was true of her current life. She was thrilled to be reunited with Andrea, who seemed to have the perfect life, home and marriage. But Andrea lost her baby Olivia, hence the NewLife venture for expecting or grieving mothers. Andrea and Rob were quite welcoming, but some things began to feel...somehow off. I don't want to give anything away; I want you to be as surprised as I was. I did figure out a few things before they were revealed, but others I didn't suspect until they jumped up and slapped me in the face! I'm hoping to read more exciting gothic horror from this storyteller.

I received an ARC of this book courtesy of the publisher and NetGalley. I received no compensation for my review, and all thoughts and opinions expressed are entirely my own.

This was a an original and very quick and interesting read about a woman who grew up in and escaped a cult as a child, to be raised by adoptive parents. She takes a dna test and is reunited with her cousin, who was also a child in the cult. When she moves in with her, cousin and becomes involved in her life, strange things begin to happen and she begins to have harrowing flashbacks of the times when she was in the cult.

I thought this was unique and I liked the main character a lot. I felt like the plot was too over-the-top at times. It was a little far-fetched. Some of the characters were very black and white and not entirely authentic. Still, this was entertaining with a lot of action and suspense.

Just Like Mother by Anne Heltzel is a trip. Creepy and immersing, I didn’t put this down until 2 in the morning. I had to know what was going to happen. The character development of Maeve and Andrea, two complex people, was nuanced. Their arcs were completely satisfying, as was the conclusion to Just Like Mother.

Thank you to NetGalley and Macmillan-Tor/Forge, Tor Nightfire for an advance copy of this ebook in exchange for an honest review.

Juicy Thriller Horror with lots of suspense! I really enjoyed this suspenseful story of a "Mother" feminist type cult. As children Maeve and her cousin Andrea lived with a group known as the Mother Collective, normal to the girls it was anything but normal. In this house women were better and it was drilled into all. An event changed everything and the girls were separated to be raised by foster parents. Years later Maeve searches for her cousin and is reunited through a genetic testing site. Slowly the girls get to know each other again and become close, everything Maeve dreamed of her whole life. But as she gets closer to Andrea things start to get weird. Secrets surface and maybe Maeve would be better off alone.
loved this suspenseful mystery reminiscent of The HandMaid's Tale but this time the roles are reversed.

There's really only a few ways to say how much I loved Just Like Mother. It's everything that a thriller should be. There's a creepy factor, non-stop suspense, and an epic twist. How much more could you really want? I will be sitting here anxiously waiting for whatever Anne Hetzel is working on next!

Thank you for the opportunity to review!
Link to 5/1/2022 Instagram post:
https://www.instagram.com/p/Cdi0-XNrC_6/

Maeve lost her beloved cousin Andrea when she was eight and escaped the cult where they were born and raised. Now, as an adult, she has issues with commitment and is living on the margins in NYC and then...Andrea contacts her after she gets the results of a DNA test. How different Andrea's life is! She's made a bundle on fertility treatments and now with a doll that helps mothers either grieve their losses (as Andrea did) or learn to other, she's married to Rob, she's got a big house, and she's got a circle of friends. Or are they friends? Maeve is slowly roped into Andrea's life which seems idyllic until she starts to question what's really happening. Heltzel does a nice job with upping the tension and the slow reveal. It's very character driven and you'll want to shake Maeve more than once to open her eyes. Thanks to Netgalley for the ARC. A very good read.

Maeve was born and raised until her eighth birthday in a cult called the Mother Collective. She is now a grown woman, who after the loving care of her adoptive parents has managed to create a quiet, simple life for herself. The one thing she misses from her childhood in the cult: her cousin, Andrea.

Out of the blue, Andrea finds Maeve and both are overjoyed. But we quickly learn that Andrea has retained some startling opinions from her days with the Collective. Her views on motherhood are... interesting, to say the least. And I say that as a woman with five children who loves being a mom. But loving being a mom and thinking the way Andrea thinks are two very different things.

Now at this point in the story things begin to happen which strain credulity. Not that they happen, necessarily, but that Maeve is so utterly clueless that she doesn't realize what is happening or see who is behind it all. It is obvious in the first third of the story who the villain is. The reader will find plenty of bizarre behaviors and occurrences but no mystery behind why these things take place.

The story is good, the idea wonderful. You've got cults, incredibly disturbing life-like AI babies, strange marriage relationships, blackouts in which Maeve doesn't remember what happened, secret passages, creepy nursery rhymes, and the most unsettling group of women ever to gather for a retreat. But...I found myself rolling my eyes quite a lot at the idea that all these totally crazy things could happen to Maeve and she takes months to begin to suspect that something is actually up. I wanted to scream at her CAN YOU NOT SEE WHAT IS GOING ON? Now, sometimes that kind of feeling works in a story to make you feel impelled to see if the character ends up OK. In this book...it mostly just annoyed me, because Maeve is not dumb, and she shouldn't be as naive as she is, and it made her unbelievable as a character for me.

Still, all this aside, I kept reading. The flashbacks to Maeve's childhood days in the cult and the events leading up to the fateful night that changed everything were my favorite parts. There is definitely a feeling of unnerving discomfort throughout the book. There were also parts when I thought, "I swear I've read this before." After contemplating for a bit, I realized it is because a few of the scenes here are very reminiscent of scenes in another cult story, The First Book of Calamity Leek by Paula Lichtarowicz. I don't know if Anne Heltzel has ever read that book. It's possible the scenes are similar because there's only so many places you can go when writing about cults full of women who hate men and think they're only useful for one thing.

I will say that there are a couple of small twists at the end that helped redeem the book in my opinion.

There's good and bad here. Or good and... frustratingly unbelievable. The book was middle ground for me.

What It's About: The night Maeve escaped from the cult she was raised in, was the last time she saw her cousin Andrea. Decades later, they reunited and as they spend more time together, Maeve begins to realize something else is going on with Andrea.

My thoughts: Okay, I have to admit that this book was better than I expected! It was creepy and just… chills to my bones. It wasn't gory or horror kind of creepy. It was the not-knowing kind of creepy - if this makes sense! So naturally I need to find out what is going on and this totally kept me invested in the story. I finished it in one sitting! It was so addicting!

I really liked Maeve and just wanted to give her a hug. I think other characters are done well too. I enjoyed the weird conversations! Eeek!

It's hard for me to say something about the plot without spoilers. It was just creepy till the end. But I think you do need to suspend disbelief to really enjoy and appreciate this story for what it is. I enjoyed it! It was wild and the ending was unexpected and perfect!


Pub. Date: May 17th, 2022


***Thank you Macmillan-Tor/Forge, Tor Nightfire and NetGalley for this gifted review copy. All opinions expressed are my own.***