This book was definitely different. I did enjoy the writing and for the first half, I was indulged. But the ending was so ridiculous that it dropped stars for me. I’m not sure I would recommend this to anyone.

1 ⭐️. Well I’m definitely in the minority when it comes to this one. Let me start by saying that I VERY RARELY give below 3 stars if I’ve stuck through a book and finished it. Usually if it’s feeling like a 1-2 star then it’s a DNF for me. Well, I finished this one and I feel dumber for having read it and I’m mad at myself for wasting my time on it. Let me at least give a couple positives before I say everything that was awful about this. The synopsis and cover are very intriguing! With that said, I did not expect the ending to be like it was. I enjoy a good thriller/mystery and I don’t even mind a few ghosts or creepy things thrown in there but this…this was just dumb!! The only other positive thing I have to say is that the first 30-40% really was pretty good. But then it started to drag around 50% and then by 85%…oh dear Lord it took a complete nose dive! Only word I can describe it as is dumb!!

Now to explain why it was so bad will be hard to do without giving spoilers. So if you still plan to read this one, you might want to stop reading here. The last 15% of the book had me rolling my eyes and thinking to myself that I can’t believe this book was even published. This was my first book by Sarah Gailey and will absolutely be my last. After an ending like that, I don’t think I could give an author a second chance! 🤣 In a nutshell, there was a monster that warped into the dead body of Vera’s mother. Okay that doesn’t sound so bad. Sounds like it could be a scary movie for someone who likes horror books but when the house starts talking…yes, you read that correctly, the HOUSE is communicating with Vera, it just became so incredibly dumb. It wasn’t even written scary. It just sounded so stupid. And Vera at the end…killing to PROTECT the house! I just can’t! It was a total waste of time and I do not understand the high reviews with this one at all!

Thank you to NetGalley and Tor Books for an advanced copy in exchange for an honest review.

To see other reviews I’ve left, check out my Goodreads and Instagram page:
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*Instagram - bookworm_traveler808

Thank you Tom NetGalley for allowing me to receive an arc in exchange for my honest review- all thoughts and opinions are my own!



Well. That was weird.



I loved it.

I love a good horror story and this one definitely sounded interesting. Vera Crowder has spent the last 12 years moving from place to place and job to job. It's hard to put down roots once people put together that you're the daughter of a serial killer. When Vera's estranged mother calls to ask her to come home she reluctantly agrees to the dying woman's request. Tasked with dealing with her ailing mother, packing up a haunted house, the creepy artist boarder her mother has staying in the shed and dealing with the town that doesn't want her is almost too much for Vera to take. This one is told in dual timelines, we get Vera from 11 to about 13 and we get present day Vera. Nothing about Crowder House is as it seems. I found the writing to be well done, if a bit overly descriptive and sometimes repetitive. The pacing was too slow for me to stay fully engaged until the last 20%. It was creepy and disturbing and I did not guess the few twists or outcome. I would say it felt like Frailty meets The Haunting of Hill House. Overall I think fans of her other books would enjoy this one as well.

Just Like Home was my second read by this author, and vastly different from the previous book I read, The Echo Wife (which I loved, fyi). I've had to sit with the story of Just Like Home to full digest it and figure out now I feel about it. Overall I loved the pacing, the past and present alternating POVs, the twists and the turns. The end is what stunned me the most to the point I wasn't postive if I was into it or not; there are definite metaphors at play that I am only grasping wisps of. I recommend this book, but I also recommend a buddy read or book club because you are going to want to discuss the heck out of it.

Holy gothicy weird goodness. Sarah Gailey’s Just Like Home is a strange, grotesque gothic horror that keeps you in a constant state of “wtf” until the very last page.

I love the classical gothic elements to this book. There’s a delightfully creepy haunted house, a troubled (and certainly distressed) “damsel” Vera, ghosts, vivid dreams that blur with reality, and “villain” (James Duvall) who is trying to steal Vera’s house from her. Pair that with the intentional slow build with lots of showing and little telling until an absolutely bizarre climax, and it makes for one heck of a read.

I’m not going to go too in-depth because I don’t want to give anything away, but know that it’s dark, deeply unsettling and is well worth the time spent getting to know the characters as they finally reveal their hands. The characters themselves are all hard to gage throughout most of the book. Even our main character Vera, who you initially feel for, starts to slowly get under your skin and leave you questioning her role in everything. The setting is also amazing with the notorious Crowder House and all its secrets. Many of the scenes will give you goosebumps —especially some of the later ones.

Fans of Catriona Ward or Silvia Moreno-Garcia’s Mexican Gothic will be especially thrilled with this one. Brace yourselves for unexpected twists, odd terrors and an unforgettably eerie setting.

Perfect gothic horror with a pacing that wasn’t too fast but never felt like it was ever dragging on. The description of Haunting of Hill House was pretty spot on. Family drama rolled into a creepy house is a perfect setting for a creepy book.

Full review to come on Goodreads and Amazon. Thank you to the publisher, author, and NetGalley for a review copy.

Just Like Home is a prime example of a perfectly dark and creepy book! The plot is not particularly fast-paced and yet Sarah Gailey’s writing managed to keep me engrossed with its hauntingly beautiful style. During the first portion of the book, I was expecting the story to go in one direction and then it quickly swerved into territory I wasn’t anticipating. I love how it offered the full gamut of horror elements, including real world horror and supernatural horror, as well as elements from other genres. At times, it felt like a coming-of-age story and, at other times, a crime thriller or a family drama. Somehow, I found that all the moving parts worked and came together in a terrifying yet (oddly) touching way. I’m sure this book won’t be for everyone but I am already naming it as my favorite horror story of the year. Thank you to Tor Books and NetGalley for providing me with an e-galley!

Can I just say that I LOVE the book cover???

This is a haunted house, serial killer father type of story, and I as a horror lover found it fun and entertaining.

This sounded interesting, but the book didn't quite work for me. The pace was slow, and there were many points that were predictable or repetitious. The pace is a bit better by the end, but it was too little, too late. The horror angle wasn't what I'd expect for the genre. There is a lot of focus on the characters' internal struggles, which made it hard to stay engaged. The ending fell flat for me, as well.

Disturbing. This book is incredibly disturbing.

…I think I liked it, though. It’s amusing to me that it has such an innocent looking cover, when the thing between the pages has claws.

I want to commend the author, because this writing was horror at its artistic peak. The similes and descriptions were so well done and I really enjoyed that aspect.

The way things are described in this book had me actually feeling queasy at times…ME! That’s no easy achievement. - I worked as a surgical nurse and have seen many many bloody procedures and some of the descriptions in this story made me feel more sick than watching corn get suctioned out from the open abdomen of a stabbed patient. (True story) I do not get grossed out easy, but this book was able to do it…so keep that in mind.

The story is about a girl who is called back to her childhood home by her estranged dying mother. She is asked to come care for the mom and sort out the house after she dies. She goes back, unsure of what to expect since things didn’t end well when she departed. The story flashes back and forth between her dark past and her haunted present.

At first, I was thinking why does this author make such a huge deal that the father built this house? We get it…he built it by hand. Then, when the end came, it all made sense why it was written this way. You will whisper WTF to yourself when it all comes around.

Also, speaking of the end, you may not want to eat the last 30 minutes. 🫠🖤 I do not think this novel will be for everyone, but if you’re a horror fan it may work for you like it did for me.

This was a super twisty haunted house story. The family dynamics added to the drama and creepy crawly feelings from the dark secrets inside the house.

You truly felt the love between Francis and Vera as well as the intense jealousy from Daphne,

I wanted more of Brandon’s after story but it wasn’t too big of a deal.

Would highly recommend to suspense and gore lovers, or anyone looking for something just a little different!

(I received an ARC through NetGalley in exchange for a review)

This is a haunted house book, but what's haunting it isn't necessarily a ghost, and it may not be malicious, even though what created it certainly was. That's a hell of a premise and Sarah Gailey follows though in a way that only they can. Masterful.

Thank you to NetGalley, Tor Books, and Sarah Gailey for the advanced copy of Just Like Home in exchange for my honest review.

If I'm being 100% transparent I almost felt dumb while reading this. Even though it seems like everything is pretty transparent regarding Vera's serial killer father, it's like there's a secret everyone but the reader is in on, and I just couldn't make sense of what I was reading half the time.

I also didn't really connect to the story until about 80% in, but I may very well be an outlier.

I will say the ending was just whacko and creepy enough that I found I really enjoyed it. I definitely won't hesitate to read anything by this author again in the future.

Just Like Home will be on US bookshelves July 19.

A dark twisted ride of horror and suspense. Many times I thought I new were this book was going to go and i was pleasantly surprised and happily wrong, in a genre where so many things are expected i loved how different and fresh this was.

Monsters are the things in stories things that lurk in the darkness but what if the darkness isn't just hidden in shadows but in the person you love the most?

Darkness hides where we least expect to find it. If it can hide in a person does that reason it can also hide in a house.. What if a home was more then wood and plaster and pipes what if the memories and the blood took on a life of its own... What if your home your safe place became the place of nightmares, the place everyone fears..

Just like home... Where the ghosts of the past haunt the halls and the sins of the guilty will not be forgotten. Where houses Breathe and Monsters never sleep.

Dysfunctional parent/child relationships? Check.
Things that go bump in the night? Check.
A serial killer father? Well that was a box I didn't even know I had the option of checking before this, but I'm into it. Check.

It's hard to say too much about this book without spoiling something, and the less you know going into this one the more fun you'll have with it. It gave me everything I wanted and more, I couldn't put it down. It scared the pants off of me at some points, but I also found it so morbidly endearing at times. Sarah Gailey really knows how to describe innate fear and the various dark emotions that accompany fear. I was especially impressed by the ending and how things came together. I never would have guessed the twist, but it was perfect and I felt so satisfied with it.

Just Like Home is such an interesting look at the people we love who are monsters and the monsters we love who are people. Who is who in this book? That's up to you to decide.

Thanks so so much to Tor/Forge and NetGalley for an eGalley of this book in exchange for my honest thoughts. I absolutely loved it.

Just Like Home started off pretty strong with the story being told from the POV of the main character, Vera. Sarah Gailey did an amazing job in describing the fear and angst that Vera felt with every little incidents. It felt visceral and genuine. But most of the focus was on Vera's feelings plus a glimpse into her past. Overall, the pace of the story was agonizingly slow. I enjoyed the plot twist at the end, it reminded me a lot of Babadook and Monster House. There were some inconsistences in the plot that bugged me a little bit. Overall, it was a slow burn with a fresh take on thriller.

Thank you NetGalley for the ARC in exchange of a honest review.

Rated 3 stars for my enjoyment of this book, but I think it could be a 4 or 5 star read for the right reader. Just Like Home is a haunted house story about Vera, whose father was serial killer, coming home to help her estranged (and dying) mother. I really enjoyed the parts of the book that explored the Crowder's family relationships. The creepy house stuff was well-written, but less interesting. The last section of this book was a wild ride full of very weird and horrible surprises. Recommended for supernatural horror fans.

I love paranormal horror and this is a strong creepy story. The first half of this started a little slow as there was a lot of ground to cover on the modern timeline and past timeline. I enjoy a multilayered protagonist with flaws and Vera was no exception. I would have preferred a little more information about her interview with the writer as it was referenced a lot but never really addressed. The second half was much stronger and was genuinely scary at times.