JUST LIKE MOTHER by Anne Heltzel (Adult Horror debut)
Release Date: May 2022
General Genre: Adult Horror, Thriller
Subgenre/Themes: Domestic drama, cults, psychological, Motherhood
Writing Style: Intricately plotted, fast-paced, reads-like-a-thriller

What You Need to Know: Maeve and Andrea are cousins, practically twins, they resemble one another and they're very close. They grew up in a radically feminist cult. During a tragic, harrowing event, Maeve escapes and is adopted into a normal family. Many years later, Maeve still thinks about Andrea and searches for her. Suddenly, they are reunited and Maeve learns about what Andrea has been up to all the time they've been apart.

My Reading Experience: This book is a wild ride. It begins with a flashback snapshot of Maeve's childhood in some kind of cult-the details are muddy. It was tough for me to settle in, I assumed the whole book would be this vague, disjointed POV. Then we slide into a new narrative of Maeve's present-day adult life and it felt like reading a fast-paced thriller. I loved that transition. Peppered throughout are more flashbacks to this cult that become progressively more detailed but it was never enough to be quite honest. More on that in a moment.
Maeve is an interesting, complicated character. I liked her. She's not like me in a lot of ways, so I couldn't relate to her on that kind of level but the author is so intimate with sharing Maeve's vulnerabilities and emotions with the reader, that I felt connected to her. I invested. There's a surprising amount of sex scenes in this book, no complaints from me, sex and romance are one of my favorite ways authors bring the characters to life, creating real people.
Once this book leans into the horror, it steamrolls toward an epic climax and a startling conclusion. There were so many times I updated my reading progress after a key reveal desperately wanting to talk about what was happening with people who have read it. I love that feeling.
My only disappointment was that the cult, the Mother Collective, wasn't fully revealed. There's enough information gathered during the course of the whole story to have a very basic understanding of what it was and what they did but it wasn't enough for me. I feel like in order to *fully* suspend disbelief for all of the unhinged behavior, I longed for more cult details. The leadership, practices, lifestyle--it was cloaked in shadow, the author skirting around the edges of it the whole time. It was maddening. I asked a few people I knew who had read this book, "Do we ever know? Is the cult explained?" We could have used one more flashback with some of this fleshed out and I would have been more satisfied. All of that to say, I was thoroughly entertained by this story. I enjoyed every, single minute. I devoured everything Heltzel gave us. A gripping, jaw-dropping descent into depravity centered on one woman's harrowing involvement with insane, radical feminism gone off the rails.

Final Recommendation: Highly recommend this book to horror readers who enjoy reading about creepy cults, horror involving the female experience, psychological horror, gaslighting, mystery, toxic relationships (seeing all the red flags), and big moments of terror.

Comps: Rosemary's Baby by Ira Levin. The Apple TV+ show "SERVANT", The Children of Red Peak by Craig DiLouie, The Push by Ashley Audrain

*potentially triggering: Infertility, graphic death of a child, child abuse, pregnancy, cult trauma

As someone who’s fascinated by cults I liked this one. I think anyone who does as well will enjoy this one. Also just when you think you know BAM twist nope you’re wrong.

Thank you to the publisher and Netgalley for the advanced reader copy. This is my honest review.

Damn, this book got me. Just when I thought things might actually work out... twist!

I'll read anything about cults, I find them so fascinating. So when I read this was about a girl who escaped a Cult, I had to read it. I did not expect the story that I read. I was twisty and fucked up.

You start to feel good that the MC is able to get back in contact with her cousin, whom she was close with when they were young and in the Cult. It's the only person she has, and it's nice to see her have a connection with someone. But as the story progresses, you start to see some warning signs, and things start to get weird.

I was at the edge of my seat, my mind was bending and I couldn't stop reading. This book will fuck you up.

Thanks for the great read.

A great read by this author. I definitely recommend checking this one out!
Thank you NetGalley for providing a copy of this ARC in exchange for an honest review!

Cousins Maeve and Andrea spent their early childhood in a cult, then lost contact with one another. Many years later, Maeve takes one of those mail order DNA tests and the two find each other again. quickly rekindling their friendship.

The brief glimpses this book provides of the Motherhood Collective, the cult where Andrew and Maeve were raised, are absolutely chilling. It's not the same cookie cutter cult I've come to expect from this kind of book, it's something else entirely. Then there's Andrea's wildly successful wellness company with it's AI baby dolls intended to help prepare women for motherhood. This book delivered so much more than I was expecting -- I can't wait to read more by the author.

What: you can leave the cult, but you can never REALLY ever leave…it follows you
About: a woman who escaped a cult as young girl finds a possible member of the family who also survived
Features: the feeling of things not being as they seem, and that they're going to go really wrong drives this novel
Assets: just when you think you know…you don't. Major twist!
Who it’s for: readers fascinated by cults, survivors, and how their cult life has impacted their current life.

The creepiness of this book will be with me for a long while.
Maeve and Andrea are cousins that escaped a Motherhood cult as children. When they reconnect, Maeve’s life starts to spiral and Andrea is there to pick up the pieces.
This is really a book about what society expects from women, how motherhood is prized and celebrated (in an often creepy way) and body autonomy. Although I expected a lot of the twists, the writing kept it creepy and scary throughout.

Got to this a bit later than I was expecting to, but was still a hell of a creepy read to start out 2023. Maeve grew up in a cult that idolized motherhood, was eventually busted by the feds, and has spent her last decade or so trying to get to something that resembles normalcy. Suddenly, though, Andrea, her best friend from the cult, shows back up in her life, right as Maeve's life starts to fall apart. Andrea has made a fortune in the fertility industry, and the people she works with are interesting, to say the least. But as she spends more and more time with Andrea, she starts to remember things about the cult, and eerie similarities start to pop up. All I can say is fuckin YIKES, but in a good way. Unsurprisingly there is body and mental horror around pregnancy and forced impregnation (and rape), and child abuse, so if any of those are triggers, heads up. The reveal of the depths of what is going on and how it's all ultimately connected to the cult is enough to ramp up the paranoia as you read it, and it's incredibly good at ramping it up as it all unfolds. Definitely worth a read, if the type of horror is something you can take.

5 stars. What the phuuggggkkk is what left my mouth when the book ended. God damn this was one hell of a twisted Rollercoaster. I am not a fan of cult books but this was BRUTAL and the cult aspects weren't in your face and brought up every few minutes. It just felt like a normal, albeit fucked up, situation between cousins who were born into and even more fucked up situation.

I couldn’t put this one down! It had me on the edge of my seat the entire way through, definitely one of the best horror books I’ve read recently!

I really enjoyed this thriller and had not read anything quite like it before. As a woman who is not interested in having children, the horror of having decisions made for our body without our consent was not lost on me. I am looking forward to reading more by Anne Heltzel in the future!

Mommy Dearest



Have you ever gotten so excited by a book cover that you couldn’t wait to read it?
This cover is chef's kiss! It is so freaking creepy I could barely contain myself! Add the fact that I have over 70 porcelain dolls in my bedroom, this book was a beautiful combination for everything I love.

This book follows two cousins who are separated when they are younger and through a DNA test website are brought back into each other’s lives after over 20 years. What follows is some pretty creepy stuff.
This book gives you small glimpses into the cousin's past to show you basically why they are the way they are in the present. I felt the main character Maeve was so strong! I loved when she talked about why she didn't want to have children and embraced the fact that all women do not have to give birth to be valuable, or an asset to society. I think people are allowed to go on their own adventures. Maeve was only a child when she stood up to the "Mothers" who were basically in a cult-like entity where birthing more girls was their mission in life. So yea even with all her "issues" she kept that stuff together and knew what she wanted out of life. She is my favorite kind of protagonist. The way the story ended was nice and not what I was expecting. I really felt it was wrapped up with a creepy little bow at the end.

Maeve escaped from a cult twenty years ago. Now, she lives in New York City, and lives a quiet life. After all these years, she is reunited with her cousin Andrea. Maeve spends more and more time with Andrea and her friends, which triggers memories in Maeve. Unfortunately, Maeve may be in too deep with Andrea to escape again.

Just Like Mother combines mystery and horror elements. Tense and atmospheric. The story did have some holes in it, but it was still an entertaining novel.

I received a digital copy of this book from the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

Are you sure you cannot judge a book by its cover? Because this cover is extra creepy and so is this book. Our MC is a bit on the naive side, which is somewhat off-putting, but the concept kept me reading. I'll look forward to more from this author.

Many thanks to the author, publisher, and NetGalley for sharing this book with me. All thoughts are my own.

This was a no from me. I just did not enjoy it at all. I only made it 100 pages in and had to DNF it. It was a little to creepy for me

This book kept me turning the pages but I was so frustrated with Maeve’s character. Unbelievably fucking stupid, she looked at every red flag like a charging bull. I had just read the last housewife before this novel and the main character made the same stupid decisions. It’s frustrating to read from someone’s point of view that is so oblivious. That being said, this was a fun, dark and somewhat creepy novel. I would check out other books this author writes. Thank you Netgalley for the opportunity to read this book.

The last time Maeve saw her cousin was the night she escaped the cult.

I decided I needed this book based entirely on the awesome & creepy cover and I can confirm the guts fully match the skin. So cleverly twisted & thrilling - I read it in one sitting. Maeve is a complex, lovely, and sharp main character. She’s also naive as hell which can be grating on the nerves of the reader but it worked very well in the story here. Lots of relevant and witty commentary on the many kinds of motherhood here. Also, ghouls, cult stuff. You can’t go wrong with cult stuff. You just can’t.

I tore through this book. Boy was it dark though! Should have known from the cover that it was CREEPY! I loved the cutly moms and it was such a unique idea! Can’t wait to read her again!

Well. This book is terrifying.

Maybe it's just that it touches on a subject (i.e. the cult of motherhood) that pushes all my buttons, but this was a genuinely upsetting, disturbing book (and I mean that as a compliment, or course). Where other books I've read this year have creeped me out, Just Like Mother had me honestly wishing I could disinfect my brain. I think the best recommendation I can offer is that I had to go watch hours of cartoons before I could go to bed because there was no way I was getting through the night without nightmares otherwise.

Part of why Just Like Mother worked so well for me (read: terrified me) is because of how brutally it intersects with our current timeline re: not just reproductive rights but, again, this cult of motherhood where even so called "progressive" women willingly reduce themselves and other uterus having folks to nothing better than baby makers by trying to couch the act of giving birth into some pseudo-spiritual experience of giving life that makes us basically holy?

Hold on, I think I just threw up in my mouth a little. And clearly Heltzel agrees, because this book is nothing if not a takedown of that kind of rhetoric, which is not only aggressively anti-women (while being sold as feminist) but also deeply transphobic in its singular idea of womanhood. My heart was in my throat (and so was my stomach) the entire time, particularly as someone with 0 interest in childbirth now living in a world that's increasingly anti-choice/pro-birth.

All this to say that if you're looking for a work of sociocritical horror that will make your skin crawl, particularly related to reproductive rights, I highly recommend Just Like Mother. But make sure you buckle up, folks, because oof, it's a rough one.

I read this book over a month ago but couldn't put a review into words other than WHAT THE ACTUAL FUCK?!?! This book 🫠😩 if you've read it, you know.

I can't remember the last time a book had me so stressed out and feeling absolute unease and such an overwhelming sense of dread. The entire time you KNEW Maeve, the main character, was going to experience the absolute worst, but you had no idea how or when. This book took over my LIFE while reading it and it was an immediate five ⭐

The story follows Maeve as she reconnects with her cousin, Andrea. Both women were born into and raised in a cult — The Mother Collective — and haven't seen each other since the night the cult was infiltrated. The two are thrilled to reconnect as adults, but something is off.

Andrea has made a fortune in the fertility industry, and invented weird AI babies that gave me the CREEPS!! I hated every minute they were mentioned. She also REALLY wants a baby of her own, and keeps trying to guilt Maeve into helping her 🚩🚩🚩

There's an incredible amount of manipulation, unreliable narration, tension, overall BAD VIBES, and a disgusting sense of pride and importance placed on the concept of motherhood. As a child-free adult woman I was SCREAMING.

The plot is incredibly dark, and it's a unique take on a domestic gothic thriller. Trigger warnings galore, so please take care of yourself before/during reading it.