Nothing happens in the first half of the book, except a few weird exceptions, is down right dull. After 55% through, it starts to get interesting. Hated the shallow side characters who were fo used on childbearing and making the main character feel wrong that she wasn't making children.

All in all, I'm not at all the target demographic audience for this book based on the intense nature of producing children. Otherwise, what makes a woman a woman without producing a child? Ffs.

I am usually a sucker for anything cult related. And while this didn't absolutely disappoint, I did find it to be fairy predictable. The twists and turns never surprised me and even though there were parts that played out a little more dramatically (sexual assault-y) than I had anticipated, I never really got that edge of your seat thrill I am always looking for in a thriller.

Just Like Mother” is a taut thriller with an unforgettable ending. Although the book sometimes seems more like horror than a thriller (there are scenes with corpses and rape), it is a psychological thriller at heart. I wasn’t sure how I felt about the main character. She wasn’t likeable; however, given her history that made sense. She did act courageously and was (for the most part) smart. Without giving away spoilers, the villain in this book was on-point. I wished the book did a little more to explore the cult in which Maeve grew up. I found that part fascinating and wanted to hear more. Other than that, I highly recommend this book.

OMG what a ride. I had no idea what to expect from this story and wow it was unsettling and compulsively readable. I flew through this story and I loved the atmosphere. From the outset of the story I felt on edge and a "wtf is happening" vibe that just got more chaotic the further you get in the story. I liked how we just got little glimpses into the cult flashbacks, because it made it more creepy to just get little incomplete slices. The story had interest commentary on mother hood and female autonomy. The whole last 20% was definitely WTF.


SPOILER:
I only wish we found out what happened to Emily.

For fans of cult books and The Push.
TW: rape, birthing trauma, loss of a child

“Just Like Mother” opens with Maeve and her cousin, Andrea, as children in a cult we later learn is The Mother Collective. She and Andrea are tightly bonded but are separated when the cult is raided.
Years later, Maeve and Andrea reconnect after matching on a DNA website. They join for lunch to find out that both women have been living in New York. Maeve as a struggling book editor and Andrea making a fortune in tech and fertility industries. Maeve’s life slowly starts to revolve around Andrea as she spends more time at her remote house.

This story was creepy, and the flashback scenes sent chills down my spine. The author did a good job at making the reader feel disoriented along with Maeve as she struggles to cope with not only her current circumstance, but her past as well.

The setting, writing, and interactions between the character was very unsettling, something at points where you cannot distinguish what is “off”. The plot was well developed and had twists that took me by surprise. The cult aspect of the book gave the story an eerie realistic quality that terrified me as a reader. The sadistic twist of feminism made this story unique and gripping. The last line of this book had me gasping and shocked. It was one of the best last lines I have read.
My only downside of this story was the pacing. Parts of the book felt like they dragged in contrast to the high stress plot/themes.

A delightfully unsettling page-turner exploring a perverse definition of motherhood, Just Like Mother follows the story of Maeve, a woman who escaped from a cult when she was just eight years old. Now 33, Maeve is reunited with her best friend/cousin from her childhood in the Mother Collective, Andrea. Maeve hasn't been able to become close with anyone in her life, but now she feels like maybe she can start to trust others, starting with Andrea.

Filled with hints of "things are not as they seem", I found this book hard to put down! I loved how the author slowly gave us details on Maeve's experience in the Mother Collective cult as a child, as well as the time shortly after she left. The characters in the novel felt like real people, and there were several jaw-dropping moments, as well as times when my skin crawled. Definitely read this book if you're a fan of horror, thrillers, and cults! Please check trigger/content warnings before reading.

Thank you to Tor Nightfire and NetGalley for providing an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Wow! What an enthralling book. Just Like Mother had me hooked from the beginning and kept me reading to find out all the story. Although some of the plot points were foreshadowed I still enjoyed trying to figure out what exactly was going to happen. This book has a lot of interesting commentary on motherhood, womanhood and our role in society. Thank you to the publisher and netgalley for an early copy in exchange for my honest review!

Special thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for a free, electronic ARC of this novel received in exchange for an honest review.

Fantastic Read! Just the cover alone had me intrigued. Just Like Mother reminded me of a modern Rosemary’s Baby just a bit more disturbing.

The book centers around Maeve and her cousin Andera, both who managed to escape a cult. They haven’t seen each other since. Both their lives have drastically changed upon leaving the cult. Now as adults, they are thrilled to reconnect. Maeve finds herself spending more and more time with Andera which draws her away from the life in NYC she built. However, the more time she spends with Andrea, the more she feels something is not right.

Heltzel does a great job at building tension throughout. There were many creepy parts throughout (the dolls, her friends) and THE ENDING! Without spoiling, left me wanting so much more. The novel is very character driven.

There were a few loose ends that I thought were going to be tied up by the end, but never were. Also, parts that I wish they revisited to get a deeper explanation. Overall, a great horror read.



Fantastic Read! Just the cover alone had me intrigued. Just Like Mother reminded me of a modern Rosemary’s Baby just a bit more disturbing.
The book centers around Maeve and her cousin Andera, both who managed to escape a cult. They haven’t seen each other since. Both their lives have drastically changed upon leaving the cult. Now as adults, they are thrilled to reconnect. Maeve finds herself spending more and more time with Andera which draws her away from the life in NYC she built. However, the more time she spends with Andrea, the more she feels something is not right.
Heltzel does a great job at building tension throughout. There were many creepy parts throughout (the dolls, her friends) and THE ENDING! Without spoiling, left me wanting so much more. The novel is very character driven.
There were a few loose ends that I thought were going to be tied up by the end, but never were. Also, parts that I wish they revisited to get a deeper explanation. Overall, a great horror read.

The premise of the story was enticing. A child escapes a cult and is reunited with her cousin, also raised in the cult and who is now the head of a business focused on offering emotional support to those who’ve lost a child or want to experience what it may be like having a child using realistic dolls that react and sound like real children. Super creepy. Their dynamic is off kilter, which is reasonable given their time apart. What ensues is betrayal, murder, more betrayal, more murder, see where I’m going here? I found it an interesting if not a true page turner. It would make an interesting movie plot.

Just Like Mother is over the top, derivative, cheesy -- but a good enough guilty pleasure page turner

Truthfully don't know what to say on this one. Reading a week before mothers day was a choice but weirdly a good one. Just Like Mother is the disturbing women lead cult book you've been both waiting for and terrified of. I truthfully couldn't look away from this book and its eye catching cover.


I am going to try to explain the story without giving much away. Maeve and Andrea are cousins who grew up in the Mother cult. After Maeves escape she doesn't see her cousin for a decade before a chance blood test brings them together. Their reunion is a journey of discovery, betrayal, and creepiness. Maeve and Andrea have lived very different lives since the cult was exposed and this all comes to the forefront when they meet again.

I will say this books twists I both anticipated and didn't. There were some where I had to take a breather and others where I watched in awe. This is a book I wont soon forget.

Overall I would give this book 3.5 stars.


Thans to NetGalley and Tor Nightfire for the ARC for my early review.

Maeve hasn’t seen her cousin, Andrea, since the day she ran away and exposed the cult they grew up in. The Mother Collective empowered women to have babies, preferably girls, and simply used men for procreating. This fractured childhood caused Maeve to keep everyone she meets at arms length. Now, years later, the two cousins find each other again. Maeve, a struggling book editor, and Andrea, a lifestyle and tech guru, both commit to rekindling their relationship. When Maeve falls on hard times, Andrea takes her in and takes care of her, but the longer Maeve stays the less things add up. What kind of business is Andrea actually running? And why is she so obsessed with Maeve helping?

This book was so strange and spooky and good. It’s hard to put it into words. I’m sitting here still reeling, trying to think of what to say and I’m at a loss because whew, what an ending.

Maeve is a strong, impenetrable wall, so to see the story from her perspective is interesting. Her memories of her childhood and the cult are strong elements in the story. Maeve becomes an easy character to root for. On the opposite end, Andrea is easy to hate. Especially once the pattern of manipulation begins.

This book has A LOT of trigger warnings: child loss, rape, infertility, just to name a few. I would recommend being careful walking into this thriller, because there are a lot of intense moments.

Overall, I rated this book 4 stars. It was interesting and quick. The power dynamics in this book were fascinating. The ending was a little disappointing for me, and I wanted more for Maeve. Overall, if you’re looking for something cult-y and spooky, this is it.

Thanks to NetGalley and Tor Nightfire for this #gifted eARC in exchange for an honest review. “Just Like Mother” by Anne Heltzel hits shelves May 17th!

This book was supremely creepy and gave me major Rosemary’s Baby vibes. The premise was original and I especially was drawn to the conversations about the pressure society puts on women. You may figure out what is happening along the way BUT I implore you to keep reading. The end was brilliant. If you like dark, twisty and creepy stories - this is a MUST READ.

This one is hard to review…..I started out engrossed in this book and then it got so far fetched I lost interest. I think I would have enjoyed more chapters about the actual cult and why and how it worked but the author left us guessing.

I still think this was a decent read. Thank you tot he publisher and Netgalley for this copy!

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 digital review copy.

Well, let’s start with the cover, shall we? You have to know going in that this is going to be a creepy read. And you would be right. The cover sets the tone for sure, and the book is all dark and disturbing vibes with a touch of horror for good measure.

Once I started this one, it was really hard to put down. Such a creative and unique take on the genre.

I always love a good cult-based thriller, and this one did not disappoint.

My thanks to NetGalley and Macmillan-Tor/Forge for the opportunity to read and review this book.

In her book Just Like Mother, Anne Heltzel delivers an absolutely twisted and creepy tale. Growing up in a matriarchal cult, Maeve and Andrea, cousins who were as close as sisters until an incident occurs setting them free and separating them, setting them upon two very different paths. Now years later, thanks to a DNA testing service, the two find each other again and reunite. I don’t want to go too much further into the plot to avoid posting any serious spoilers, but I’ll say while the early part of the book where we first meet Maeve and Andrea and get a taste of cult life is creepy, it’s when we first meet the doll Andrea’s company is creating ( which totally reminded me of the doll from the early episodes from Apple TV’s show The Servant ) that the creep factor really jumps up a few notches! Excellent characters and the wonderfully twisted plot made this creepy thriller hard to put down. Thanks so much to Tor Nightfire and NetGalley for the opportunity to read and review an eARC of Just Like Mother.

I wanted so much to LOVE this book because psycho-horror intrigues me. The book held my rapt attention for about 1/3 of the way then it just got ridiculous. I breezed through the book and like author's style, but the book tries too hard to be The Handmaid's Tale and doesn't even come close. I would, though, probably give this author one more chance because the concept was good.
I received an ARC from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review

Thanks to Netgalley for an ARC of this book, in exchange for a fair and honest review.

Just to begin with, the creepy cover definitely sets the tone for the book - yes, it's a definitely creepy and frightening one!

Maeve is in her 30s, living a rather marginal life in NYC - job that barely pays the bills, a guy she's been sleeping with for a year or so, but who she refuses to have any real relationship with. After doing a genetic test, she reconnects with her cousin, Andrea. From the preface, we know that Maeve and Andrea lived together as children in a cult. When Maeve was about 8, something happened, the cult was raided, and Maeve was adopted - she hadn't seen Andrea again, although they had been close as children. Andrea, although saying that she had had a horrible experience in foster care, is now the extremely wealthy CEO and owner of a biotech/life coaching business.

As the book goes along, Maeve's life in NYC gradually falls apart, and she winds up living with Andrea and her husband Rob in a creepy mansion several hours out of the city. I hesitate to reveal many details about the plot, because the gradual reveal of both the back story and the current day events are important to maintain the horror. Basically, you can count on things going from bad to worse!

The book is certainly creepy and frightening. My main issue with it is that, although of course, I had my "willing suspension of disbelief" attitude in action, some of the events pushed me a little too far on this. I think perhaps a little more detail, about the cult, about Andrea's current business, about how Andrea seemed to make anything happen that she desired, would have helped. So, it's a good fast wild ride, but it left me with quite a number of "but, wait, how did THAT happen" thoughts.

Still, if you want a fast paced, creepy horror story, jump in - just don't try to think too much about it!

This is a dual timeline story, which I enjoy. The story has its creepy moments, but it's not a horror, as I was led to believe by the description and classification. The beginning and ending of the story are, by far, the strongest parts. The middle was a bit "meh" at times. The cult angle was interesting, but I was expecting a bit more with the dynamics of the cult overall. The main character seemed a bit naive, and there was a bit of predictability (including the ending), and some parts were far more graphic than anticipated. The first half of the book was more interesting than the ending, sadly.

Trigger warning: cults, rape