Disturbing, haunting, and interesting. Sarah Gailey always manages to write stories that intrigue and unnerve, and Just Like Home fits right in. I've been on such a horror kick recently, so Just Like Home filled that need perfectly. I definitely enjoyed it in all its curious strangeness.

Thank you to NetGalley and Tor Books for providing an e-ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Just Like Home was on my list of most anticipated books of the year, but it was also the one I was most apprehensive about. I found the Pepto Bismol-pink cover suspicious. I am just not a pink person, and it felt like far too cheery of a color for a decent horror novel. I am thrilled to say that I was absolutely incorrect, and Just Like Home is one of my top reads of 2022 so far.

Sticking with gothic tradition, Gailey weaves a tale in which the house is a character unto itself. It is imbued with the blood, sweat, tears, and misdeeds of the Crowder family. Gailey’s take on the haunted house story is vibrant and quirky. Just Like Home blends supernatural haunting with the harrowing ghosts of Vera’s past in a way that will leave you guessing and wondering what exactly is happening with the Crowder house. You won’t be able to put it down.

The relationship between Vera and Daphne is incredibly cringe-worthy and reminds me Sharp Objects, but on steroids and without the Munchausen’s.
With Daphne’s treatment of her and the loss of her father, you will feel for Vera and be rooting for her the whole time.

“This house, the house her father built, the house where her mother would die - this place was safe. This place knew her. This place was where she belonged.”

Vera left her childhood home after her father is arrested for multiple murders. To her dismay, she has to return to take care of her estranged, dying mother and clear out the house once she’s gone. There is also a random artist living in the guesthouse always asking questions and trying to spend time with her. He is stripping away parts of the house for attention and “art” to the public. There are many hidden secrets deep under the house and Vera needs to figure out how far and rotten it goes.

“That house would never let you leave.”

The story is told from two timelines - alternating between Vera’s childhood and the present which worked really well in piecing it all together. Vera’s father was her only friend growing up and always came to the rescue with her mother until he’s arrested for murders and deemed as an infamous serial killer. 

“I save the other men. I keep them from turning into monsters. When they start to go bad, I help them.” 

Aside from the horror and mystery, this book delves into complicated family dynamics and relationships. Loneliness and betrayal are a prominent subject as well. You can feel Vera’s loneliness constantly threatening to swallow her whole into the void. I thought this was a unique take on a haunted house story rather than only just utilizing the usual tricks and scares.  

“She was too alone to be afraid"

Just Like Home is definitely a slow burn with a modern gothic feel. I also love the pink cover that contrasts with the content. Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for the advanced copy of this book.

HAPPY RELEASE DAY!

Sarah Gailey's The Echo Wife was one of my favorite Sci-fi/Thriller books of 2021 and I knew as soon as I saw Just Like Home, I needed it. Not just because it was a gothic horror thriller, but also look at that cover!

Vera's mother is dying, and Vera has no choice but to return home. But home is not just any house, but one built by her serial killer father and haunted with not just memories. Her strained relationship with her mother and the house itself is bad enough, she also has to deal with James Duvall, an artist staying in her infamous home to draw inspiration.

Just Like Home is a slow building, twisted and dark ride. While not normally a fan of slower building horror, it aided in the creepy atmosphere to the story. While I loved the book, I loathed every character entirely. I suppose it's supposed to be like that, but it made it hard to root for Vera.

Do not skim the slow moments, even things that are seemingly unimportant and trivial end up building to the end.

If you're looking for a nice haunting read to slide into spooky season, pick up Just Like Home.

This book made me physically sick. I think that's a good thing? It's a testament to its strength, but I didn't expect it to be such a genuinely bleak, difficult reading experience. I wanted to adore this book. I liked a lot of it! But it felt like it took on too many things that it didn't all entirely tie together--I mostly wasn't sure what to make of the artist, who was pitched as a massive part of the narrative but felt frustratingly underused. I don't know what to make of the revelation that not only did Vera know about her father's actions all along, she believed and encouraged them, effectively captive torture victims. I guess it's a plausible response for a child raised in those sort of abusive, claustrophobic conditions, but yikes. The twist at the end particularly didn't work for me; I thought this was a gothic novel in the sense that there was no supernatural, only the insanity of trauma and memory, and was thrown when Gailey revealed a supernatural sentient house beneath it all (the clues lined up in retrospect, but I'd gotten so far thinking it wouldn't exist that I was thrown when it did). I don't know what to do with the end, with the revelation that the only parts of Daphne that ever seemed to love Vera were the house, that Francis may have had a point. I don't know that this book forgives an objectively monstrous serial killer, but it comes close to comfort.

As frustrated as I am by Just Like Home, the reading experience was excellent; I particularly liked the structural conceit of flashbacks in present tense and present scenes in past tense. Gailey's prose and atmosphere are visceral and engrossing. And grim. So, so grim.

This book is my first one by this author and I was excited to dive into this horror book!

Vera is asked to return to her old childhood home where her mother is dying. The home she hasn’t been to in years, where she had last seen her father before he was arrested for the things he had done in their basement.
Just a few days back and Vera starts to experience unusual things around her home - especially in her sleep.. as if the house comes to life at night.

This book is told in dual timelines of past and present. There were several gripping parts, but I mostly found this book to be very slow paced and too detailed. I wished the buildup would have happened a lot faster without the extra information. It does get action packed towards the end, but the rest of the book fell a bit flat for me.

Wow. This is definitely a dark gothic thriller. The story style and pacing have a great undercurrent of tension and I really couldn’t stop reading to see the reveals and how the details all fit together. I’m surprised that I liked the story so much, at the 60% mark I wasn’t so sure, but everything paid off for me and I think this one will stick with me for awhile.

An ARC copy was provided by the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

The creepy factor is here! Vera has to return to her family home when her mother is dying. Vera has to face her past and what happened in the house. And her mother, who has been giving tours of the house and letting artists use it as their muse because everyone wants to see the house where Vera’s father killed so many.
The reader spends most of the first half playing catch up to what the characters already know. I got frustrated a couple times and felt like I had walked into the middle of a conversation. Once the reader finally catches up, the spooky stuff starts and the pace really picks up! There are tons of twists and turns and some gore! If this is your focus for this read, you’ve got it! If you’re hoping for some good character growth and relationship growth, this is not it.
Thank you to NetGalley and Macmillan-Tor/Forge for the advanced copy in exchange for an honest review!

Weird, wild, and creepy all the way through. I read it entirely in one sitting, and loved all its strange twists and turns.

Thank you NetGalley and MacMillan Tor-Forge for this e-ARC in exchange for my honest review.

Once I saw this cover and read the description of this book, I HAD to request it. I was beyond ecstatic to be approved to read this!!!

"This was the Crowder House. The house her father built. There was nothing to be afraid of here."

Vera Crowder returns to her childhood home because her mother, Daphne Crowder has asked her to. Her mother is dying and Vera is eager to get on with the process. This book is dark, filled with secrets, and had me on the edge of my seat. I loved Vera's character and her interactions with her mother. I was dying to know what secrets the house, Vera, and her mother were hiding. Who was Francis Crowder and what dark secrets was he hiding?

Absolutely loved this book and Sarah Gailey's writing. Now to add the Echo Wife to my TBR!

I had high hopes for this book…but it just wasn’t for me.

This book started super slow, with hints of a good story forming. I was very interested in the story and secrets of the family, and was totally surprised when they were revealed- I even found myself holding my breath at times when reading about the fathers past, but was really the only storyline I had any interest in.
The book has major haunted house vibes and you know right away something eerie is going on.

I didn’t feel any connection to the characters, and I didn’t understand the main character at all. The relationships were so bizarre and frustrating. I was also a little puzzled by the artist that lived on the property and was always confused by his intentions.

The story switches timelines, and I loved the snippets of the past because it was thrilling and creepy, but again, after the past was revealed I felt like I wasn’t getting anything out of the book.

The ending….it was a no for me and I literally said “wait, what?” out loud. I’m sure there is an audience out there who will love this, but it wasn’t my kind of book.

Sarah Gailey’s writing is excellent in this creepy and dark tale of how layered our home and past lives can be. Part of the reason this works is the way Gailey peels off the layers of Vera’s past, giving you glimpses but never all of the story at once. As you slowly realize what is haunting her and her mother, you realize how strange and compelling this story is and also just how disturbing as Vera faces her secrets so too does the audience learn just how terribly deep the horror of this tale goes.

Without giving anything away, what I can tell is that part of what makes this story so compelling is how it shows how belonging to a place or with a person can warp your perceptions, change what you think is right and wrong. This novel explores what happens when you grow up in a dark environment and how much that informs your future if you let it. It also allows you to see the events of Vera’s life in a different perception than you would expect. The other reason this is so engaging is how much you find yourself bonding to this character even though it’s sometimes difficult to trust her perception of events.

Truly this kept me awake at night and brought shivers to my spine, especially at the ending. If you like rich, creepy and dark horror, this novel is for you. You will find home and belonging will never feel quite the same again.

Dont be fooled by the cute pink cover of this book. This book will give you the creeps! I almost wished I read this one a little later in the year during spooky season! I read The Echo Wife by the same author last year and enjoyed it, which was why I wanted to pick this one up.

Thank you to Netgalley, Tor Books and Sarah Gailey for an e-ARC of this book which comes out 7/19/22!

Vera was called home by her terminal mother. The house she grew up in is full of secrets and has haunted her her entire life. Soon as she returns, frightening things happen and undiscovered secrets start to uncover the notorious Crowder House.

Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️.💫/5. I liked the vivid descriptions and unique eeriness of the whole haunted house setting. In the beginning, the plot wasn’t holding too much of my attention except for the grossness of it all. It was however, compelling enough to keep me intrigued and find answers towards the end that left me satisfied. I can totally imagine this as a horror movie complete with floor creaking and violin screeching sound effects that will make you scream from suspense. Overall a spine-tingling read that’s great for spooky season!

Wow, pleasantly surprised at just how creepy and engaging this book was the whole time I read it! Why does it feel like such a rarity? This book was equal parts haunted house, murder tale, and monster story all in one book and it was a very fun read. I look forward to adding Sarah Gailey to my authors-to-look-out-for list and her other books.

This book took a long time to say nothing. I felt like my time was wasted in reading it. I received this book from NetGalley in exchange for my honest review.

We all love a cover buy, don't we?
Vera goes back to her childhood home that she shared with her cold mother and serial killer father. Toss in a fun and interesting supernatural aspect and you're in for a fun ride. Sure, it could be slow and drag in some spots, but it was still a good time and I wanted to keep reading.

Tense, evocative, and riddled with surprises, Just Like Home [Tor, July 2022] by Sarah Gailey is delightfully claustrophobic gothic fiction mixed with important—even endearing—lessons on family, forgiveness, and the power of unconditional love.

There’s something innately haunting about going home to watch a loved one die, especially when “home” is as much a memory as it is a place and “loved one” is a matter of lineage more than emotion. But that’s exactly what Vera Crowder faces when her estranged, expiring mother calls Vera home to watch her die. Vera’s homecoming is more, though, than a daughterly duty—it’s a return to a crime scene. Decades before, Vera’s father—Francis Crowder, who built the notorious Crowder House—was discovered as a serial killer who tortured and killed men in the house’s basement, directly under Vera’s childhood bedroom. While Crowder House has been relegated to a gory landmark and dissected (even vandalized) by artists seeking “inspiration,” the town doesn’t want the house there anymore than it wants Vera, or her mother. Many, including Vera’s one-time best friend Brandon and his mother, are anxious to see everything Crowder permanently erased from their small town’s collective memory.

Unfortunately, Crowder House is not just a house, nor is it ready to be forgotten.

Gailey’s prose is lovely, atmospheric, and delightfully cloying, crowding the pages like Crowder House gathers around its inhabitants. Tension is achieved through an alternating timeline—Vera as an adult after, and her as a child before—as the story unravels as slowly and intentionally as a reptile shedding skin. The author misses a few opportunities to heighten the emotional stakes of the plot, however the ending ultimately satisfies. There’s more than one monster in Crowder House and enough surprises and carefully crafted realizations to keep readers burning the midnight oil.

As much a story about the unintended forms and consequences of love as it is about facing internal and external horrors, Just Like You offers a new perspective in gothic fiction—what if it’s not the house that’s evil, but the people inside it?—making Gailey’s newest a totally different kind of monster under the bed.

DO NOT look under your bed 😱🏚☠️!! This book gave me chills. Just Like Home is a dark gothic thriller with a dollop of horror. It’s a disturbing creepy story with haunted house vibes and I’m 100% here for it 🖤.

Vera’s mother is dying and beckoning her home after a long estrangement. Vera returns to the house her father built, the house built over the bodies of those he murdered in their basement. But now there’s a stranger living in her home, a man who is trying to exploit the fame of the Crowder House for his “art.” Is he the one leaving old letters from Vera’s father around the house? And who is pulling off her covers and shifting things in the night?

This story is perfect for horror lovers, but it’s not your typical haunted house story. And Vera is not your typical “likable” MC. Gailey’s writing is addicting, dark, and lyrical. The story has this sort of unsettling out-of-body feeling to it. I could not put it down🖤.

I read and listened to this book. Thank you to @macmillan.audio , @torbooks , and @netgalley for these digital ARCs in exchange for an honest review.

Just Like Home - Sarah Gailey
4/5⭐️
Pub Day: 7/19/2022

3.5 stars

It was a little slow for my taste, and there was some petition in the prose I didn't care for (I don't how many times soft palette was used but it was several too many). But it did keep my engaged and the ending was weird and spooky enough that it mostly made up for everything else that didn't hit 100% for me.

Wow…I don’t even know where to begin with this one. You truly cannot get into any detail, as it will completely ruin the story. Not being a big fantasy reader myself, I do not usually gravitate toward this type of story however I was entranced with Gailey’s writing in The Echo Wife last year so I knew I needed to read this one.

This is tense, chilling and downright scary! Truly, a testament to her writing once again because the atmosphere is there and it will leave you with goosebumps! The story is told from only Vera’s POV but with some past tense chapters of her childhood. I thought that made the creep factor even more terrifying because you are left to guess a lot until the end. Everything is wrapped up and completed which was helpful in this style of story.

I cannot be more helpful with a rating because I am personally still unsure about this. It’s brilliant but also so out of my comfort zone that I can’t actually say I loved it either if that makes sense.

**Thank you Netgalley for my advance copy in exchange for my review**