TW: death of a child, gaslighting, pregnant drinking, sexual harassment, toxic relationships, abuse, miscarriage, suicide, attempted murder, rape, abortion talk, death of a child

About the book:A girl would be such a blessing...The last time Maeve saw her cousin was the night she escaped the cult they were raised in. For the past two decades, Maeve has worked hard to build a normal life in New York City, where she keeps everything—and everyone—at a safe distance.When Andrea suddenly reappears, Maeve regains the only true friend she’s ever had. Soon she’s spending more time at Andrea’s remote Catskills estate than in her own cramped apartment. Maeve doesn’t even mind that her cousin’s wealthy work friends clearly disapprove of her single lifestyle. After all, Andrea has made her fortune in the fertility industry—baby fever comes with the territory.The more Maeve immerses herself in Andrea’s world, the more disconnected she feels from her life back in the city; and the cousins’ increasing attachment triggers memories Maeve has fought hard to bury. But confronting the terrors of her childhood may be the only way for Maeve to transcend the nightmare still to come…
Release Date: 05/17/2022
Genre: Cult horror
Pages: 320
Rating: ⭐ ⭐

What I Liked:
• The cover is creepy but pretty
• The plot sounded interesting
• Book is very easy to read

What I Didn't Like:
• Micah ew
• No surprises in the book
• How naive Maeve is
• The ending
• Rip off of Rosemary's Baby

Overall Thoughts:

Micah didn't seem too bad in the car but after the baby talk with Maeve he's pure evil. And now Emily is crazy.

We can retire "drink the kool-aid" now? It's a terrible thing to say about people who were murdered.

By the time you know that Andrea mentions her baby she lost you kind of know that she is going to ask Maeve to help her have a baby.

By the 30% mark you kind of know what's going on.

Maeve is so completely confusing. She spends 20 years searching for her cousin and when she finds her she acts as though she's some annoying person. She gets excited when they stop texting even saying she won't hang on every word Andrea says like Emily does. What happened to the excitement she had to reconnect with her?

So Ryan dies in a mysterious fire which is quoted as being burned from the top down, but somehow they're able to wheel him out and he still has a body left and his shoe flies out. Which I think they would have put him in a body bag not just a sheet over him but whatever. Maeve then proceeded to drive around town not knowing what to do because she's rented her apartment to some Airbnbers. She makes out like she doesn't have a house but she does just go back to the house after your Airbnbers leave and remove your ad. You can go stay in a hotel until then. You still have a place to live and you have money to pay your rent right now and you have a job coming up. I don't know why she thinks she has nowhere else to go.

I think it's disturbing how Maeve isn't weirded out by Tyler's stalker ways. They met and hung out 1 time and he keeps calling and texting. She never questions how obsessed he is with her that it borders on stalker like.

It is grating on my nerves how a naive Maeve is. She just lets everybody tell her what to do and goes with it. She even acknowledges red flags and STILL ignores every single one of them. I find that annoying and frustrating.

What happened to Maeve's apartment? Us there still airbnb people in it? Doesn't she clean when they check out? Does she answer if the have problems? Did she lose the apartment?

What is the timeline of Tyler and her seeing each other? In chapter 24 she mentions seeing him for 2 months and then a few pages later she says she's not going to rush Tyler into seeing his place - it's only been a week it would be weird if he was spilling all his secrets this early on. A week of what? 2 months is too early to want to see where a dude lives? It's not! It's very suspicious. She then let's Tyler tie her up, hears the door open & close and he doesn't talk the whole time. No limits are talked about before being tied up. I knew where this was going. They Rosemary's Babied her! She's not even worried about pregnancy when he comes in her. Go get plan b! You could get pregnant, which is the last thing you want! Why isn't she taking this seriously?? Again the time line makes NO SENSE! Maeve has sex with "Tyler" and he leaves around 5am. She goes back to bed till noon wakes up and talks to Andrea. Maeve mentions that evening that she is helping with the retreat. Skip to after everyone has already went to bed Maeve pulls out a stick in her toilet that shows to Andrea that she is pregnant. How? How could a stick already show she is pregnant??? It's been like one day! It takes 6-12 days for a fertilized egg to travel to the uterus and attach. There is no way it would show she is pregnant. She's so stupid that she buys that it would show you're pregnant that fast. Is this women 33 or 15?

The cop coming to the house makes zero sense. Tyler was drunk and his breaks cut out so he hit a tree. Why would he go to Andrea's house? Tyler kept it all secret so how would they know that Maeve was at Andrea's house or that they are related just because Maeve was at a restaurant eating. They lie to the cop and say she is in the city.

Turns out Andrea is running a fundamentalist pro-life religion like The Mothers. The whole point of living is to birth girls and kill men.

The ending with the search warrant is so ridiculous! Talk about deus ex Machina. Rob takes her to the tunnel and she runs off. She says she can barely see but I doubt she can see at all since it's a dark tunnel, no light, and she has no light - so no you can't see at all enough to even run. It doesn't make sense for Rob to walk through the tunnel in the dark when he has a phone with a light on it. Maeve manages to find Micahs knife, cut herself free, get his phone, get the flashlight app open on a phone that's not hers (I have to struggle to get mine open and I've had my phone for a year) and blind him - all without Rob knowing she has the phone. "With that, I shone the flashlight bright in his face, bright enough to make him blink, startled, and to illuminate all I needed." The next page she says that she's now using the home locked screen to show where she is going. What happened to using the flashlight? Also how is the phone still working? Micah mentioned that the battery case he had only gave him an extra day of battery so he's only been dead a few days then?

We finally figure out why Andrea hates Maeve so much. It's because Maeve left with the boy and didn't come back. She had the cult people arrested, breaking up Andrea's family. I find it hard to believe that an eight-year-old could drive a car without adjusting the seat or anything or even reaching the pedals and seeing over the wheel. There's just no way.

The mothers somehow manage to overrun all of the police and kill them. Like how? Did two cops only show up and didn't have guns?

We find out that really she's 27 weeks pregnant and she never noticed she didn't have a period for 3 months??? She then decides to give the babies to a single working mother. Why would anyone do that. Being a single parent to one child is stressful enough but two babies? And then after Maeve is so dead set on not having children the book fucking ends on her being pregnant!!! Plus her kids were given to a woman that is working with The Mothers 🤦🏻‍♀️

Final Thoughts: This book just puts the nails in the coffin that women choose to ignore the alarming things that people do as not to bother people. Maeve reminded me so much of Rosemary from Rosemary's Baby. The way she just takes EVERYTHING at face value. Ah.

Book turns into everything I thought it was from page 10.

That ending... This book... No. No.

This was crazy. So many twists! Some I suspected and some I did not. If you like fucked up family thrillers this book is for you. Spoilers ahead! As a mother of twin girls I found the ending to be extra creepy. Andrea is a total psychopath and Maeve will never be able to trust anyone. Thanks so much to NetGalley for the opportunity to read this!

I thought this was an okay thriller. The writing was average, but the cult aspect felt a little too theatrical for me: a little more research would have helped. Overall, this was just really hard to finish because I didn't like the writing.

Was this book written by two people? Or were bits and pieces of the first draft lazily left in because the author was racing against a deadline and thought the editor would fix it for her? Because, my god, this was a mess.

Just Like Mother is about two long lost cousins reuniting two decades after escaping a horrific matriarchal cult, one desperately trying to leave their past behind them while the other secretly embraces it. It's an intriguing premise and some of the creepy horror I anticipated were delivered, but the writing itself is what I have a problem with.

It's wildly inconsistent. Some parts were excellent, vividly written, built that terrifying atmosphere, but then it quickly cut to rudimentary, unnecessarily over-explanatory writing that felt like the author cut and paste parts from the outline and called it a day. It's baffling.

The horror itself is decent and it's not a bad take on baby fever/the unofficial cult of "Mommy and Me" clubs. The plot is implausible, as are most books in the genre so it gets a pass, but the "twists" were predictable, especially the ending.

Thankfully, it's a very fast read, albeit a frustrating one. I'm just glad it's over.

⭐️⭐️ / 5

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

I really enjoyed this book for about the first 2/3. It was tense and creepy, and I just knew there were some epic twists coming.
Except. There are no twists.
I'm usually not very good at guessing the endings. In fact, I don't usually try to, because it ruins the surprise, and I want to be surprised. However, it's human nature to think about what comes next and when everything in a "thriller" novel happens exactly how you expect, the result is.. less than thrilling.
My assumption about what happened concerning the death of a character at the 40% mark turned out to be correct, and every subsequent guess I made was spot on. It was really disappointing that everything was SO incredibly obvious in the end, and I couldn't help find it kind of unbelievable that the main character (who does not appear to be stupid) can be so gullible. I understand if she realized what was going on immediately, the book would be like pointless. However, she is given COUNTLESS red flags, and she doesn't even begin to suspect, even a little.
I was all set to give this book 4 or 5 stars, but everything after about the 80% mark was just meh.

📚ADVANCED READER REVIEW📚⁠
⁠
Reviews are in for Just Like Mother by Anne Heltzel

a good nighttime read, Just Like Mother scratches that itch for gothic lit and cults with a splash of reproduction drama. If you like a little postmodern fem paired up with your horror, this book is for you. I truly enjoyed reading it.

I must confess, I felt (as a 30-Something Millennial) that it was a little heavy handed on the 30-Something Millennial identity vibe. At one point in the book, I was a bit like "okay, yes, we get it, you are a 30-Something Millennial). That said, I think I related to, but just didn't like the protagonist. That might say more about me than the poor protagonist though.

very smooth, very entertaining read. Pick it up, its worth it!


Thank you @tornightfire @macmillanusa for a copy of 𝗝𝘂𝘀𝘁 𝗟𝗶𝗸𝗲 𝗠𝗼𝘁𝗵𝗲𝗿 by @anneheltzel [Pub Date: May 17, 2022] #ARC #AdvancedReaderCopies ⁠
#book #bookstagram #reader #reading #booklover #instabook #booksofinstagram

A horror novel where the conversations were my real life nightmare!

Just Like Mother follows our main character Maeve who when she was a child grew up in a matriarchal cult. She was separated from her cousin when the cult was broken up and reunites with her after years of being apart. Things get weird.

Heltzel does a great job at building tension and will have you yelling ‘get out, get out, get out’ like any good horror novel will do. There are scenes of genuine creepiness but there are also several that fall flat. The flashbacks to the cult are actually pretty interesting and even her flashbacks to a childhood where her normal behaviors are mutated by being raised around it are rather interesting but in my opinion not explored enough to be completely effective. I think she wanted to focus more on the modern day creepiness but I think it would have added to character building to be more aware of what it was like.

I do not know why in my brain I thought there wouldn’t be creepy dolls in this book with a doll on the cover but I didn’t and please insert Jason Bateman Arrested Development gif of him opening that bag saying “Well, I don’t know what I was expecting.”

I think the book mostly suffered when it expanded its scope a little too wide. If you read this you can understand what I mean. It was most effective as a smaller entity of horror and more of a locked door scenario. The expansion caused more questions and disbelief then I think was really necessary for the story.

If you are a childless by choice person you will want to throw some people out the window and will probably have flashbacks to every single conversation you have ever had about having kids and the “you’ll change your mind!” attitude.

Overall though, it was an easy read (well when you are aiming for anxiety in horror!) with some genuine terror. I liked the concept even if it broke apart a little around the end. 3.5/5 rounded up.

Thank you to Netgalley for my ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review!

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Just Like Mother by Anne Heltzel
Just Like Mother
by Anne Heltzel (Goodreads Author)
Want to Read
Read in December 2021
Maeve, a thirtysomething book editor in New York City, had a traumatic childhood. She escaped a cult when she was very young, leaving everything she knew - including her best friend and beloved cousin, Andrea - behind. She now lives a relatively peaceful but lonely life, always holding everyone at a distance until she gets a match on a DNA testing site one day. Andrea has been found after searching on and off for years, and although Maeve is wary, she is excited to have her one true friend back.

As her old life begins to crumble, Maeve seeks refuge in Andrea's new home: a remote, partially refinished mansion in the Catskills. There, she becomes friends with Andrea's friends, who try to impart the importance of motherhood as every woman's privilege and right. And although Andrea doesn't want to speak of the past, Maeve's new life brings more and more memories to the surface, and her past may be catching up with her.

This novel was a pulpy thrill ride with some horrific imagery. The reveals are orchestrated relatively early in the story, but it still had some "aha!" moments. The first-person narrative makes you feel connected with Maeve, even if you sometimes want to shake her and tell her to pay attention (as you do with most horror protagonists). My overall main problem was the epilogue, which I felt diminished the story a bit and seemed tacked on—still, a solid psychological thriller with a good gothic setting. For some of the spookier moments, the use of technology was an effective contrast to the dusty old mansion. Overall, 3.5 creepy doll heads out of 5 bumped up because that cover is too good.

This book had great pacing and kept the pages turning. It definitely had a creepy, gothic vibe. However, I found it to be more of a domestic thriller than a solid "cult book" and that wasn't really what I was expecting. Overall it wasn't bad and I will definitely recommend to those I know who like a domestic thriller with a twist.

It is very rare that I finish a book feeling baffled and shocked, but Just Like Mother stunned me with its context and sadistic plot. With creepy relatives, an unreliable narrator, and a FBI cult bust, what isn’t there to be intrigued about?

This book follows Mother Collective, a Vermont based cult of motherhood, and the young girls impacted by the cult’s exposure in 2001. As children, Mauve and Andrea’s relationship is built on trust, but Mauve’s instinct to run ultimately leads to the discovery of the commune, and thus their separation. Many years later, Mauve and Andrea are reunited and although the cousins try to pick up where they left off, Mauve cannot help but feel like there is something off with Andrea and her husband. When Mauve’s life begins to fall apart, she is blinded by her loneliness and desire to be with family, and despite the red flags, moves in with Andrea. As Mauve begins to spiral, it is impossible to discern reality from her nightmares.

I really enjoyed how this book jumped back and forth between the past and present to slowly build the reader’s awareness of what events unfolded to cause Mauve’s prevalent trauma. I recently finished a book called Cultish, which explores how language is utilized to amass a strong following for radical ideas, and based on glimpses into Mauve’s past, I would have enjoyed understanding more about the cult history behind Mother Collective. However, it is overwhelming clear that motherhood may be cultish all on its own.

Just Like Mother explores just how far women are willing to go for a chance at motherhood, even if it means committing murder. This book was twisted and binge worthy, and although I predicted what was coming, it was like watching a car crash. I needed to keep reading until I knew the ending, and the twist did not disappoint.

Book review 📖
Just like mother by Anne heltzel

The last time Maeve saw her cousin was the night she escaped the cult they were raised in. For the past two decades, Maeve has worked hard to build a normal life in New York City, where she keeps everything―and everyone―at a safe distance.

When Andrea suddenly reappears, Maeve regains the only true friend she’s ever had. Soon she’s spending more time at Andrea’s remote Catskills estate than in her own cramped apartment. Maeve doesn’t even mind that her cousin’s wealthy work friends clearly disapprove of her single lifestyle. After all, Andrea has made her fortune in the fertility industry―baby fever comes with the territory.

The more Maeve immerses herself in Andrea’s world, the more disconnected she feels from her life back in the city; and the cousins’ increasing attachment triggers memories Maeve has fought hard to bury. But confronting the terrors of her childhood may be the only way for Maeve to transcend the nightmare still to come…

A well written novel with a ton of potential but poorly executed.
The synopsis and start of the story was completely amazing but fell very flat through the middle.
I was unable to finish this book because I felt it dragged on too much in the middle, I got 45% through before ultimately DNF’ing.

Overall rating is ⭐️⭐️.5 stars I’m really disappointed I wasn’t able to finish.

I’d like to thank netgalley and the publisher for an advance copy in exchange for an honest review. I had been wanting to read this book since I first saw the cover, it is so striking, but what in the what did I just read?! The story is told in Maeve’s perspective, both know and when she was a child, unknowingly in a cult with all women called Mother. Years later she reconnects with her cousin who seemingly has it all together, but the more time they spend together, the more Maeve is suspicious of her cousin and what her ulterior motives are. While at times I found it too far fetched, I just couldn’t put it down and finished it in one day.

This book's cover really caught my attention, and I'm glad, because it really is a creepy, well plotted thriller! The story moves quickly and there are plenty of twists and turns I didn't see coming. Looking forward to seeing what this author comes up with next!

30-something Maeve, who spent part of her childhood in an all-woman cult, is reunited with her older cousin Andrea after 25 years apart. While she's initially thrilled to reconnect with her best friend and family member, there's clear signs that something is deeply wrong with Andrea despite being ultra wealthy & successful. Despite some lost plot threads and a somewhat predictable twist, Just Like Mother is most definitely creepy, dreadful, and chilling. Give this to readers who enjoy The Stepford Wives & The Husbands by Chandler Baker, but make sure they don't mind a fair amount of violence, body horror, and depictions of rough sex scenes.

Wow, this book amazed me. It follows the main character who was rescued from a cult when she was a kid and as an adult reunited with her cousin who was also raised in the cult.

This book is so creepy and dark, I could not stop reading. It was predictable, but not in a bad way, in a way that I just HAD to keep reading to confirm my suspicions.

I loved that the characters were so normal at first, and the back of your mind is telling you something isn’t right but you don’t know what. The main character was frustrating at times, but realistic, as anyone would want to trust their only family. I truly loved reading this and going deeper into the plot. Nothing about this book disappointed me.

Just Like Mother by Anne Heltzel is a horrifying tale of a women's cult and its effect on the lives of the girls held under the Mothers' control. Almost identical eleven and eight year old sisters survive until they escape and are separated and adopted or in foster care. Twenty-five years later they miraculously reunite and the twisted excruciating story unfolds. I could not stop reading until the excitement ends. An amazing unbelievable story.

📖Book Review 📖
“Just Like Mother” by Anne Heltzel
💜Release set for May 17, 2022
ARC thanks to @netgalley @tornightfire @macmillianpublishing @anneheltzel

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Fast paced, well written with a jaw dropping ending- “Just Like Mother” was exactly how a thriller should be! Main character, Maeve spent the first 8 years of her life in a women lead cult, and was the reason the police raided the property. She has guilt that she left her best friend and cousin Andrea behind when she was adopted by a couple. Maeve is in her early 30s now, living in NYC with some major issues-PTSD, lots of anxiety, keeps people at a distance, on a lot of prescription meds, no support network, unexplained memories/dreams, etc. She finds her cousin Andrea due to a DNA website and thinks she has finally found a family where she can share her past, not keep secrets, have a social life, etc. Andrea is captivating, beautiful, intelligent, has a great marriage, good friends, lots of money and runs a super successful life coaching business for women- from birth to grief over a death. Andrea quickly inserts herself into Maeve’s life which is perfect as Maeve has no life and really craves that bond. As Maeve’s life falls apart, Andrea swoops in to save her…place to get away, new guy to meet, fun girls night out, etc. All seems too perfect and deep down Maeve knows that- dark memories from her childhood keep popping up, blackouts/total loss of days, and other things that make no sense keep happening. This is definitely a page-turner that will keep you up until 3am because you just can’t put it down! Thanks for the the ARC, my first one. #netgalley #tornightfire #arc #kindle #macmillianpublishing #bookstagram

https://www.instagram.com/p/CZmvlhYLWnF/?utm_medium=copy_link

I feel like this is the book I've been waiting the last decade for.
This cryptic story about a girl reuniting with lost family years after a cult raid had me hooked from the start and I couldn't put it down. this book reads like a good thriller movie, and I loved the ending!

So, yeah, the doll on the cover of Just Like Mother is creepy, but want to know what's really creepy? Those baby dolls that look exactly like real babies. This book is crawling with them. Poor Maeve had a crummy childhood because of a cult and a blah young adulthood because of her fear of getting close to anyone. Just when things start looking up, everyone around her dies or disappears and Maeve can't find a toilet that works. That's the way it goes. Silicon babies piling up, a stink coming from hidden hallways, and the damn toilets won't flush.

The only things that stand in the way of world domination by a cult are Maeve's eggs, and I don't mean over easy. Never has a woman's ovaries been so in demand.

There are men happily serving little meatballs on toothpicks instead of gorging on them themselves, so you can shelve this book as unrealistic. Plenty of blood if you like that stuff (I think the meatballs are legit) but there is child abuse so be warned if you are triggered.

Good twists, some I saw coming, but the end was super unexpected.

Thanks to Netgalley, Tor and Nightfire for allowing me to read and review an eARC of Just Like Mother.

Anne Heltzel’s adult debut is a fast-paced mix of horror and thriller that shines a spotlight on motherhood, trauma, and misguided feminism. Readers looking for a creepy, adrenaline-pumping read will find themselves hooked to this unpredictable page turner until the very end.