I loved this novel so much!
As someone who loves Rosemarys Baby this gave me everything i wanted and needed.
I loved the cult aspect also.
I could not put this down and had to get to the end !

One can't help but wonder just how many times Anne Heltzel and her partner fielded the age-old, awfully presumptuous, and always shrilly delivered question of "So, when are you having kids?!" before sitting down to pen this shockingly good work of cult horror revolving around motherhood.

Raised in a cult compound by women known only as Mother, Maeve eventually escaped and entered a foster home where she learned to reorient herself in society. Her cousin, Andrea, wasn't so fortunate, but eventually made a name for herself in the wake of the police raid that upended her life. She's now incredibly wealthy, having made a name for herself as a life coach to moms-to-be. Separated from each other for decades, the women reconnect via an Ancestry.com-like website and begin rebuilding their relationship. After tragedy befalls Maeve and she finds herself jobless and on the brink of homelessness, she moves in with Andrea and her husband in their palatial home in the Catskills, and discovers that her troubles are only just beginning.

Just Like Mother is a cunningly insidious slow-burn. Although it's unlikely to truly surprise readers who have read more than one book of horror featuring cults, Heltzel navigates the twists and turns with sure-footed confidence, keeping readers on the edge of their seats not with the question of what will happen, but rather when it will happen, and what depraved form it will take when the inevitable finally occurs. If you're a fan of cults in your fiction, you'll immediately know who the victims are, who the betrayers are, and will sniff out Heltzel's various red herrings right from the get-go. What it lacks in surprises, though, is more than made up for with its suspenseful games of cat-and-mouse, psychological (and eventually, physical) warfare against our narrator, and pointed, razor-sharp social commentary. Told in first-person POV, Maeve never seems to see the writing on the wall until it's too late, and readers who know the all the tricks of Heltzel's trade will be telling her to watch out, to get out, but what fun would it be if she could listen? And even though we know all too well what to expect, the fact that Heltzel still manages to make those reveals dreadfully chilling is truly impressive.

What makes this story unique, though, is the subject of cultish worship here, with pregnancy and motherhood itself the subject of fright. Heltzel aims her sights squarely on the fetishization and weaponization of motherhood, the cliquishness of procreation, the commodifying of pregnancy to the demands of capitalism (at one point, Andrea shows just how much of a rich capitalist she really is with her expectations that not only can anyone, and anything, be bought, but that it's even owed to her!), and the societal expectation of what a woman's body could and should be reduced to. Reading as women inch their way into Maeve's life proselytize child-bearing, one can't help but think of the fervor with which Jehovah's Witnesses go door to door Sunday mornings, or the zealousness of the right-wing conservatives spouting their pro-birth demands. In fact, reading this book in the wake of recent Supreme Court rulings and GOP victories to strip away women's abortion rights only make Just Like Mother all the more terrifyingly potent.

If published at any point prior over the last 20 years, this book would have been deemed horrifyingly prescient. Now, it's just another frightening look at what we should likely expect as America continues to backslide into the Dark Ages of religious zealotry and conservative authoritarianism. This is the future Republicans want, with women stripped away of careers and health care, forced into pregnancy against their will because of the demands of their cultish beliefs, and reduced to nothing more than vessels for childbirth. Just Like Mother may not pack many true narrative surprises, but it sure does offer up a hell of a lot in the way of warnings.

Just Like Mother was BANANAS and I mean that in the best way possible. They build-up was a little slow, but it gradually became creepier and creepier until the suspense and dramatic irony were making me want to yell at Maeve. A truly horrifying, unsettling, and vile read - I loved it.

Loved it! It was creepy, it was compelling, and the sense of dread was palpable. I loved the fixation on motherhood throughout, especially as I go through my own new journey in life as a mom. Important to check trigger warnings before reading, but altogether I thought it was a great story.

This was a great horror novel! I read it in one sitting! I couldn’t put it down! Highly recommend! 5 stars for sure!

Just Like Mother is horror story told by Maeve, the survivor of a cult ran by women. They felt that they had the divine power of motherhood and it was there sole duty to live up to this expectation.
Maeve has left all this behind but still misses her cousin Anne whom she was separated from when the cult was shattered by the police. A chance DNA ancestry alert reunites her with her cousin who is now a successful business woman.
I really enjoyed this book. I normally don't ready many thrillers but the plot intrigued me. Definitely could see some of how this story was gonna go down but there were many twists that kept me on the edge of my seat. Will definitely be recommending to friends and library patrons who enjoy a good thriller.

Thank you to Tor Nightfire for providing me with an e-ARC of Just Like Mother in exchange for an honest review!

Content Warnings: Rape, cult, child abuse, infertility, miscarriage, murder

Just Like Mother got me back to wanting to devour every horror book in the world & for that I must thank Anne Heltzel. I miss the ~horror~ life so much & am so glad to be back in the mood.

There's something about stories featuring cults that really pulls me in. The characters are absolutely intriguing & the way their minds think is... wow. Is this the Psychological Major in me talking?

Just Like Mother has you questioning what's going on up until the very end & even then it's like "WTF?!@!@!" Sure, I figured out some things a bit quicker than that, but it was still so neat watching it all unfold & seeing what our main character Maeve is going to do. Some of this book had me feeling absolutely Stressed and hopeless for Maeve; the whole time I was pleading for her to make it through.

This book is absolutely Messed Up & saying I enjoyed it feels weird? Buuuuuuut, Just Like Mother is well-done & I'd strongly recommend it to anyone who's also interested in cult books & want to feel very uncomfortable.

Just Like Mother was a surprising book that came into my life exactly when I needed it. I could not put this book down. What starts out as a cult story becomes a suspenseful tale of navigating a relationship with a long-lost sibling. Are there ulterior motives? This book kept me guessing in the best way. Recommended if you want something to devour this spooky season

This. Has. Everything. Cult + Rosemary’s Baby Vibes = Just Like Mother and that is how I have been describing it to friends. It’s probably going to be a favorite for the year. It’s going to be a future purchase for my personal library as well.

OMG, what did I just read. This book was creepy and at times stomach turning. The ending was one too be remembered. This won’t be for everyone. I liked it but the main character kind of drove me nuts with her extremely poor decision’s. Trigger warning for rape and child abuse.

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for a early release in exchange for and honest opinion. 3.5⭐️

I really liked this! I had been looking forward to reading it for months and am not sure why I put it off so long - once I started, I flew through it!! It has all the things I love - a creepy cult, tons of suspense, a murder thrown in here and there, as well as a few additional suspicious deaths to make you start to question things, and just the right amount of crazy! And that ending!! 😳😮😳

The brief gist of it is: girl escapes from creepy cult as a child, is separated from her beloved cousin by social services/ the foster system, has all sorts of expected trauma related issues, reconnects with said cousin as an adult, cousin is wealthy and runs a mysterious business making lifelike AI dolls, main character gets pulled deeper and deeper into cousin’s successful life as her life starts to spiral and crumble. Full of weird creepiness.

There are some definite trigger warnings here, but these might be spoilers, so just keep that in mind:
Cult survival, religious (sort of?) extremism, rape, sexual assault, pre-partum psychosis, self harm, trauma induced mental illness.

Thank you to NetGalley, Tor/Nightfire publishing, and Anne Heltzel for the advanced copy of this book in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own.

Fair warning -- the contents of this book are just as horrifyingly delightful as the cover! It was equal parts creepy and super intriguing...I couldn't put it down!

I so wanted to love this book, but ultimately, it was just ok for me. I found a lot of the plot very predictable and frustrating, particularly with how Maeve reacts to certain situations. There were a lot of important conversations about women and their place in society, which I appreciated. I also enjoyed the last part of the novel where things got pretty crazy and fun, but overall, this just felt average.
I received a free copy of this book from the publisher in exchange for fair and honest review.

I wanted to loek this one but I didnt care for it. I didn't like the writing style. It was very confusing at first for me. I would give I 2.5 out of 5 stars

I enjoyed this book. It had a story that never stopped moving forward and plenty of twists. Thrillers like this are the ones I love.

Just Like Mother is an interesting thriller, but I couldn't tell if the writer was aiming for dramatic irony, or if the red flags throughout the story was just too obvious.

The plot of the book caught my attention. A book with cults and a lost relative from the cult that shows up out of the blue. What’s not to like? I have never read anything by this author so I was excited to discover someone new. The story moved along at a good pace and I kept reading to see where it was going. Which is always a plus.

I was surprised that there wasn’t any more information about the cult. So you’re not sure what it’s about, except it’s about motherhood. I would have liked to read more about that life that Maeve escapes. It might have given me an insight and I could have some sympathy for her.

The main character Maeve, is very hard to like, and she is very naïve. There is some information about the cult that is told in flashbacks, but it left me with more questions than answers. In fact, I found it hard to like any of the characters some you are meant to hate, so that is a plus for the story.

There are some sex scenes that felt very out of place since they were so descriptive. I’m not against sex scenes, but it seemed odd. I would have liked that detail about the cult and less about the sex. It wasn’t a deal breaker for me, but it felt like I was reading two different stories.

While I didn’t connect with this story, I would read more from this author. I received this arc from NetGalley for an honest review.

2.5 ⭐ rounded down.

I really wanted to like this one.

The cult aspect of the book is what drew me in and it wasn't nearly as fleshed out as I wanted it to be. The book itself was a quick read but I felt that the first half dragged a lot with Maeve's life as well as her and Andrea's newly rekindled relationship.

There were flashback chapters every other chapter or so that gave some insight into the Mother Collective, but we never really saw what their motives or goals were beyond hating men. It sure made the ending predictable.

Maeve was pretty naïve and seemed to take everything at face value. Even some moments where she seemed to question certain situations, she pretty much ignored the several red flags she was presented with and kept going on. Her relationships with Ryan and Tyler were almost interchangeable. Also the weird timing of several events throughout this book. At one point I stopped trying to make sense of it.

There was not a single character in this book that was likeable to me (not that there needs to be). The book needed you to suspend your beliefs a little too often, and with a cult having such simplistic albeit malicious goals, it makes for a very predictable book.

Wow! This book is completely bonkers. Maeve and her cousin, Andrea, were raised in a coommune/cult by a group of "mothers". After escaping, Maeve eventually reconnects with Andrea as an adult. Andrea makes some very unusual request of Maeve and this book takes off. While I love a good cult story and yes, some creepy dolls, this story was a bit predictable in the end and left me wanting more. It's a good book for if you want a quick fun read and are ready to suspend belief.

4.5/5 stars
I audibly shrieked by the end of this book! I saw the ending coming but it was done so well and just gave me the creeps. I knew most if not all of what would happen throughout the book and it was easy to piece it all together, but it was still so shocking to actually read it. It's like watching a murder documentary. It's grotesque and uncomfortable but you can't stop the feeling of sick fascination. Maeve is an amazing, strong, and personally, very relatable character. The concept is seriously wild and crazy but feels so believable. A thrilling and weird fast paced read, although it does have some heavy/dark content so please be advised. (TWs: sexual assault, rape, drugging, and death of loved ones and children) There are also some pretty explicit, consensual and non-consensual, intimate scenes I wasn't fully expecting and a lot of the book revolves around pregnancy, intimacy and especially rough intimacy. If you are ok with that and enjoy anything eerie, odd or to do with cults, this books might be for you! Thank you to NetGalley, the publisher, and the author for providing me with an e-arc in exchange for an honest review.