Creepy, creepy, creepy--from the cover art to the very last sentence! An adult horror story, deftly told.

Two cousins, Maeve and Andrea, were growing up together in the Mother Collective, a Vermont-based commune referred to as the 'cult of motherhood,' until the night eight-year-old Maeve escaped and blew the whistle on the cult. After the raid, Maeve was fortunate enough to be adopted by a loving older couple while eleven-year-old Andrea went into the dismal foster care system.

Now twenty-five years later, the two cousins miraculously find each other again as adults through the wonders of ancestry DNA testing. Maeve is single and struggling to earn a living wage as an editor for a NYC publishing house. Andrea is the CEO of a lifestyle startup called NewLife, which utilizes AI technology. She and her husband Rob Rothko have become quite wealthy and own a multi-room mansion in the Catskill Mountains. They invite Maeve to come for a visit...(start the tense and creepy background music here.)

The story is told through Maeve's perspective with a few flashbacks to what went on back in the days of the cult. Andrea and Rob seem charming and welcoming but what is their real endgame? Wake up, Maeve, before it's too late!! This is a real page-turner of a horror novel.

I received an arc of this new novel from the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. Many thanks for the opportunity.

Just Like Mother by Anne Heltzel was billed as a horror and had the cover of a horror novel. Reading it, it seemed to fit the bill as the situation was truly horrifying. I know there are a lot of people who will love this novel and its originality. There were parts of it I really enjoyed, too. In fact, there were some ideas postulated in the novel that had me really thinking about the nature of being a woman and even about the idea of being able to carry a child being seen as "powerful". I have often seen the idea as a sign of strength or privilege, but I don't think I have seen it presented as a "power" in a novel.

The story of Maeve and Andrea HINGED on them being children together in a cult-like situation they were eventually rescued from. I was disappointed at how much of the novel was RELATED to that shared experience, but what that cult was about was mostly just hinted at and pieces of information were dropped here and there throughout. To me, the novel would have been stronger if we had known more about it. Its not always a bad thing to be kept in the dark, but to me, after finishing the novel, I feel disappointed about that.

The book is being marketed as a Feminist Horror and it really is a horror in the vein of something like Misery by Stephen King. I would have enjoyed it if I weren't so reactive to the idea of gender-hate or gender-subjugation or even the idea that one gender is more important than the other. I see that too much these days when people try to correct past prejudices by just reversing them and creating new ones. As a Enneagram 9 Peacemaker, books about -isms are painful for me to read. So I was extremely entertained, but also didn't enjoy feeling as disturbed as I did throughout.

Also, I have seen reviews where people thought the ending rocked and was one of the best of all time and other reviews where the ending was HATED. For me, I was fine with the ending, though did not experience either extreme opinion.

Thank you Netgalley and Tor Nightfire Publishing for this advance reader copy in exchange for my honest review.

WOW! Thoroughly enjoyed this book. I did toggle back and forth between the print edition and the audiobook. This story was intense from start to finish and had me cringing numerous times. The story was creepy and shocking and although I did see a few twists coming, it was still shocking when they were finally revealed. This was "feminism" to the extreme.

Maeve escaped from a cult as a young child and has desperately tried to make a normal life for herself. One day, Maeve's cousin Andrea, who also grew up in the cult, resurfaces and Maeve and her rekindle their relationship. Shortly after Andrea reappears, Maeve's life begins to unravel. Just in time for Andrea to help pick up the pieces.

This was such an intense, nightmare of a book that I devoured it in a just over a day. I couldn't find out what happened. I did have one complaint about the book, which drops it from a five star to a four and a half star rating and that is the excessive sex. While the acts were essential to the story, I found the graphic depictions to be a bit much. However, it wasn't enough to take away from the quality of the story or writing too much.

4.5 stars! This was a great book!

As a pro-choice woman and all the chaos of forced childbirth going on in the real world right now, some of the aspects of this were downright terrifying. I got major Handmaids Tale vibes from some parts of it. Maeve doesn't want children. If you don't want to have kids, I'm sure you have had at least one person questioning that decision and explaining how amazing parenthood is. You will certainly feel for Maeve's character. The lengths they go in this book to prove that point is astonishing.

The beginning and ending of this one were great, while the middle was a little bogged down for me. For a person that has escaped a cult already, Maeve was so naive. It was mostly predictable, but I did not see that final twist coming!

Just Like Mother is Anne Heltzel's adult debut and I'll be looking for her next one when it comes out for sure.

Thank you to @netgalley @tornightfire and @macmillan.audio for the advanced copies of this book in exchange for an honest review!

Just Like Mother could very well be one of the most disturbing books I've ever read. The whole premise of a cult of women, who only want to raise daughters, and will go to any lengths to make it happen is unsettling, but also not a far-fetched idea.

The ending left me shook. I really had to take time to process it before moving on to my next read. Be prepared before reading this one - the cover definitely matches the vibe of the story.

I don't want to say much more because it would be easy to give a lot of the plot away. There are some trigger warnings too: rape, drug and alcohol abuse, self-harm, and violence.

4/5 creepy stars
Thank you Tor/Forge and NetGalley for the digital ARC in exchange for my honest review.

This was a creepy book - party mystery, part horror. It wasn't anything like I had expected. Even though I liked some of the suspense, it was more graphic than I thought it would be and ulimately wasn't the book for me.

I received this ebook from NetGalley through the courtesy of Macmillan-Tor/Forge. An advance copy was provided to me at no cost, but my review is voluntary and unbiased.

Maeve and her cousin, Andrea were raised by a group of women, “Mothers" on a commune. That is until one night when Maeve flees the commune with BOY. Leaving both the commune and Andrea behind. But Maeve and Andrea find each other again after being matched by a DNA website. Maeve is an editor who keeps others at arm’s length. Andrea is a successful woman working in the technology and fertility industry.

They soon reconnect and Maeve finds herself immersed in her cousin's life and when Andrea asks a question of her, Maeve is unsettled. When memories begin bubbling to the surface, she must face that the past might not be as terrorizing as her present.

I did feel that insta love with this book that others found. I found it to be an okay read from beginning to end. I often wondered if I was reading the same book that others had read. We can't love them all, and this was the case with this book. I listened to the audiobook and had a copy of the book on kindle so I could dive in to either when I wanted.

I would put this in my good not great pile. Enjoyable but left me wanting more. The creepy factor fell short for me.


Thank you to Macmillan-Tor/Forge, Tor Nightfire and NetGalley and Macmillan Audio who provided me with a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review. All the thoughts and opinions are my own.

Just as Maeve is reconnected with a long lost cousin, everything in her life goes wrong. She loses her job, her boyfriend gets into a tragic accident and there seems to be no hope on the horizon. However her cousin, Andrea seems to have all of the answers to make Maeve’s life better. But at what cost?
This debut horror novel is a punch in the gut. Right out of the gate you’re thrust into this Maeve’s life that is anything but perfect and her amazingly beautiful, kind, smart, and wealthy cousin has all of the answers to fix all of her problems. When it is clear that no jobs will be coming Maeve’s way, her cousin offers a solution - becoming her and her husband’s surrogate (which is the last thing this woman wants to do.) She considers herself to be the furthest from being a mother and wants to keep it that way.
The mystery and the horror just keep going on from there.
This is definitely a book that you aren’t going to wanna miss. It’s on a lot of lists for a good reason. This novel is slated to be released on May 17 so make sure that you pre-order a copy now. And happy Mother’s Day.
Thank you to @tornightfire for the advanced readers copy in exchange for my unbiased review.

This book was hella messed up. It starts out with 2 little girls - cousins - who live in cult. Eventually the main character is removed and put into foster care. As adults the cousins are reunited and everything seems to be great. Until the past comes back tenfold. I don’t want to give too much away, but I highly recommend this one if you want a book that is completely insane.

When Mae was a child, she escaped from the only life she had ever known, having been born into a cult referred to as the Mother Collective. She was quickly adopted by parents who loved her, but were not prepared to deal with the level of emotional trauma she had suffered. Mae did receive some counseling but was taught that it was best to just let the past go rather than actually process her feelings. Throughout the years she never gave up searching for her cousin Andrea who was raised in the cult with her, and who she had not seen since the day of her escape. When she finally reconnects with Andrea, her wealth and success are intimidating and she refuses to let Mae speak of their past. Despite this, she is excited to have found her family, but the closer she gets to Andrea, the more isolated she becomes from her own life. Is it a series of terrible coincidences that leave Mae with no choice but to turn to Andrea? Or has Andrea orchestrated these events for her own nefarious agenda?

I loved Mae from the start. She seemed to look down on herself but I was proud of her accomplishments. She is stronger than she knows, even if I did want to scream at her to run away! Some of the occurrences were predictable, but knowing that they were going to happen did not detract from my enjoyment of the story and maybe even increased the dread I felt since I saw what was coming but I couldn't warn Mae. The way that Andrea and her friends interacted with their husbands fairly screamed that they had been drinking the Kool-Aid. yet somehow the ending managed to take me by surprise. This is a must read for any fan of psychological thrillers.

This book had me rethinking if I should become a parent tbh.
When I read the description for this book, I was hooked. I love a good cult story.
As a child, Maeve was a part of the Mother Collective, a cult that placed a high value on motherhood and women. She has a lot of trauma from her experiences as a child and shuts everyone out. Her cousin Andrea, who was also in the cult, reconnects with her and invites Maeve to come visit her in upstate New York.
One thing leads to another and soon Maeve is completely dependent on Andrea.
While this story was pretty predictable, it was absolutely bonkers and I really enjoyed it. The author did manage to throw in one twist that surprised me. I was also surprised by the spicy scenes…I wasn’t expecting that at all.
This story is unhinged in a great way and truly did make me question if I want to be a mother. Deliciously creepy.

This book was one of the creepiest books I have ever read, and that's saying something. The main character(s) have an interesting bond, and there are several plot twists. The end...shocking!

by Anne Heltzel

Thanks NetGalley for the ARC of this book.

Maeve escaped the Mother Collective, a cult that reveres motherhood and girls with plenty of dark secrets, on her eighth birthday. She is adopted and we meet her as a grown woman, lonely but generally successful and happy. She gets an alert from an ancestry website that her cousin (and best friend) from the Collective has registered and they reunite and begin to grow close. Cousin Andrea is the head of a successful life coaching business that has begun specializing in helping people prepare for having babies, or grieve after losing one. The cousins' relationship grows more and more important as Maeve's life begins to fall apart.

This was a good book, but it was not for me. I cannot relate with all of the people who say they flew through it in one sitting. The beginning set the book up nicely, but the middle dragged for me. The last third is where the pace really picked up and it became more of what I expect from horror. Before that, it was more of a sense of creeping dread.
I rather like creeping dread in horror, and it was done well. You're going to want to slap the protagonist a number of times, there are so many red flags and she keeps skipping by them. It was very interesting to see her world narrow tighter and tighter. I guessed the ending (yes all of it), but reading it was still delightful. The author clearly knew what she wanted to write and did a good job of getting that story down. I wish we'd have gotten more flashbacks, both of the cult and the protagonist's foster family.
The reason this book was not for me was because of the number of graphic sex scenes. I'm not particularly prudish about sex in literature, but these were serious stuff, with plenty of triggers. POTENTIAL SPOILER.................................................................................................. Normally when I'm that uncomfortable I'll just skip past, but that's not possible with every scene in this book, a couple are important to the plot.

I'll call this a 3.5

Just Like Mother was a slow burn for the first 60% of the book, and then it was one crazy event after another with an ending I didn’t love. The foreshadowing in the book was done exceptionally well, and I enjoyed the complicated dynamic between the two main characters. Andrea and Maeve were cousins born into an extreme feminist cult who were affected in completely different but equally horrifying ways. However, I found myself constantly wanting to know more about the cult and being confused by some aspects of it. I attribute a lot of this confusion to the flashback scenes that were somewhat vague and disorienting. One part of the story that I found unnecessary was the graphic sex and rape scenes — I quickly skimmed over these parts of the book. Finally, I did enjoy the commentary on feminism and motherhood. This exploration of women judging other women for their relationship and reproduction choices was timely and fitting.

Thank you to NetGalley for an advanced copy of this novel. This is my honest review.

I feel like there is definitely an audience for this book, it just wasn’t for me. I found parts of it a bit more disturbing than I’m comfortable with and it definitely required me to completely suspend disbelief. Many horror fans will enjoy this and it’s strong feminist vibe though.

I’m rounding this up to 4.5 stars and it would totally have been 5, but I still can’t shake off the creepiness of this book! And the ending!!!!! I cannot believe the author had the audacity to end the novel that way. You could almost see it coming but I wouldn’t have believed it until it was right there.
Maeve escaped a cult when she was 8 years old. After being found in the wreckage of a car accident, the Mother Collective is broken up and Maeve is separated from her cousin, Andrea. Later, Maeve and Andrea connect again and almost from the first reconnection, this story spirals quickly. There are definitely some predictive elements to the novel but the creepiness factor and the sprinkling of childhood details keep you guessing. Anne Heltzel just might be my new favorite!

*Special thanks to NetGalley & Tor/Nightfire for an e-arc of this novel.*

I can’t stop thinking about ᴊᴜꜱᴛ ʟɪᴋᴇ ᴍᴏᴛʜᴇʀ. A cult: The Mother Collective. The entire narrative on motherhood. The dolls. The gothic house.

I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again: dolls are creepy so I KNEW I had to have this book because the cover just…ick 😂

Emily and Maeve are cousins who promised to never leave each other, but the last time Maeve saw Emily was when she escaped the cult. And she’s worked really hard on creating a normal life, but she can’t help feeling as though something or someone is missing from her life: Andrea.

Once Andrea reappears in her life, she feels like everything is finally coming together for her. She has her cousin back after all, and she doesn’t mind that Andrea’s friends disapprove of her single lifestyle.

But something just isn’t right. There’s discarded doll parts in an abandoned section of the house. Mysterious deaths are occurring when people get close to her. And she has this feeling of disconnection from everything she’s tried so hard to create. But Andrea has her best interests at heart….right?

This book slowly builds a very sinister atmosphere. There’s mild gore to keep your horror heart happy, while your gut adjusts to the ever deepening dread of what’s to come. Even though this was pretty predictable for me, it still held a lot of surprises.

Oh and did I mention, I hate dolls? Honestly, if you find them as creepy as I do…please give this one a chance. This book will infuriate you with its messages of motherhood. If I could slap Emily, I would have.

And the ending 😱😱😱. I think you just really need to see for yourself. If you read this, come let me know!!

Thank you to Nightfire for my ARC!

I wanted to love this book so badly, but it just fell flat for me.

The book starts out super promising: you have an MC who was born & raised in a cult, creepy relationships where the spouses seem to act like robots, extremely weird dolls that are meant to serve as a sort of replacement for real children. This had all the components to be a really good horror story about cult survivors, female body autonomy, infertility and both the desire and lack of desire to become a mother. Just Like Mother could've been an amazing social commentary wrapped in a horror story but it just became more bizarre as the story progressed, and not in a good way.

The characters felt inconsistent, the sex things were so damn awkward and completely unnecessary (don't get me wrong, i love smut as much as the next person, but what was the reason for those? it felt so awkward). Even the cult aspect of the story, which is one of the main themes, didn't even feel like a cult. It just felt like a bunch of women on a weekend retreat. Honestly, Just Like Mother is the epitome of an incredible idea but with terrible execution.

The Mothers

Predictable and not so scary. I thought this book would be better than it was. I actually guessed what was happening or going to happen before it did. It made Maeve look a bit naive and not very perceptive to the happenings around her.

The story of two girls raised in a cult until they were ages 7 and 11. The they didn't have contact for over 20 years and all of a sudden they were cousins again and best friends. I didn't buy it from the beginning.

The only thing I found creepy was the dolls. The dolls were creepy. Maeve should have picked up on Andrea's motives, especially after her encounter with Emily. Maeve's escape from Andrea and the cabin was the only really interesting part of the book.

There was a bit of a twist at the very ending, but not enough to make much of a difference to the story, I already figured it would end somewhat as it did, I was just waiting to see how.

Thanks to the Author Anne Heltzel, the publisher Macmillan-Tor/Forge, and NetGalley for making a copy available to me to read and review.

****trigger warning for this book: rape****

This book is insanely good and keeps you hooked. I wanted to scream at Maeve for being so oblivious to everything that was happening to her. Maeve and Andrea grew up in a motherhood cult and escaped when they were children and were separated and placed in foster care. As the book goes on you get small peaks into the events that occurred back when Maeve was 7, as she begins reconnecting with her cousin Andrea at in their thirties. The scariest part about this book is that the motherhood cult does not differ all too much from the beliefs of many pro-life women and knowing that those women do exist in the world, just maybe not to the same degree. A great horror novel that you won’t want to put down!