Humorous and truly entertaining, this books made me realise that not all books have to be depressing, and that comedy and fun is a trait many authors forget to include or just avoid. This one did it well enough and I'm sure that regardless of who's picking it up in a bookstore, they'll have a great time and enjoy it✨️

What if you were guaranteed happiness? By a man in a green robe? He would take care of you. You just have to drink the tea and take the pill. Glinda refuses to allow her family fall apart but don’t be fooled she herself is a piece of work! I could not get away from this book. When I was reading I was thinking about this book. The characters are dynamic and wild. I found myself frustrated and wanting to scream at them, then laughing and crying with them. Completely absorbed into this family dynamic.

This book was laugh-out-loud funny and still very suspenseful. The bonds between the friends and family members, their witticisms, and their human failings provide texture that elevates this book above much of the thriller genre.

Thanks to #NetGalley and publishers for an #ARC of #ItsNotACult.
Spoiler alert, it is a cult. One that Glenda has to try to fight pretty much alone.
I found this book quite a hard read a times, I was expecting a lighter book and it was a lot more serious than I was looking for. I read it, and while I'm glad for reading it, it wouldn't be a book I could see myself rereading.

I began this book thinking it was to be a mostly saterical , comedic look at a daughter trying to extract her mom from the grips of a cult and its manipulative, conning leader. There are funny conversations,easpecially at the beginnning of the book, however,there is much more that happens to these characters which includes tears and heartbreak. I just wasn't anticipating the conflict that unfolded but overall I understand the reason behind the conflict, which was well done.
Overall,this was a good, fairly quick read with enough movement in the storyline to keep the reader engaged.
Thanks to Netgalley and Alove press for the acess to this ARC.

I picked this book because of the title and the cover. The description looked interesting as well..

However, once I started reading it, I was disappointed. There was a lot going on at the same time, the characters were giving ME anxiety through their existential crisis.

The plot itself was good but I think it could have been cleaned up more.

I couldn't finish reading it, I quit half way and I even tried skimming through the pages...

Thank you NetGalley and Alcove Press for giving me the opportunity to read this!

Poor Glinda, this girl just can’t catch a break. I really like this read! It had a crazed cult leader, love, murder, family chaos, Bigfoot, what more could you want.

This book just didn’t work for me. The plot seemed unrealistic and the characters boring and not quite interesting enough for me to care about them. A big disappointment.

I wanted to love this. I have a weird fascination with cults and will read just about any book and watch any documentary about them. This book just didn’t do it for me. Everything felt so jumbled and messy, and I contemplated DNFing a few times, but I managed to stick it out. I’m disappointed because I felt the book had promise but needed to be wrangled in a little.

Thanks to Alcove Press and Netgalley for the e-ARC in exchange for an honest review!

First of all, this is probably somewhere closer to a 2.5? I... did want to like this book. I really did. But it was such a mediocre clusterfuck, in terms of plot and characterization. I'm generally an advocate for unlikeable characters, and I saw what this book was trying to do with the protag, but the writing just felt off the mark and unsteady. The protag was unlikeable, in a way that was incredibly unenjoyable, and while I saw the emotional arc that she was meant to go on regarding her ways of absolving herself of blame and never seeing herself as the bad guy, it just.... didn't hit the landing for me.

I think I wanted this book to be more surreal and more funny as a result. The comp for it was Mona Awad's work, so maybe I went in with high expectations, but the style of writing felt out of sync with the absurdities of the plot. It's a book that has good bones— I just felt that the meat of the book didn't live up to those bones.

I received this ebook ARC from Alcove Press via NetGalley for free in exchange for an honest review.

This was a story that had a lot of promise, but no real action started until about 70% a f the way through. A lot of character building, and some things weren’t necessary. The last 10% of the book dragged out after everything was “all said and done”. However, I did t really like the storyline, I just wish the climax and the cult action happened sooner.
The main character has a very negative outlook on themselves and stays this way throughout the whole story, even when they help save the day.

I gave this 3 stars because it did drag our for the first half of the book and the ending dragged out as well. The in between was great.

This was a great novel! Sarcasm us the authors first language and I couldn't read this one quick enough! A very quirky odd family, a bizarre religion and a hell of a lot of growing up. I laughed along with the characters as well as felt their pain.
Thank you to the author, publisher and NetGalley for the ARC.

This book is very chaotic but it has a fantastic hot mess, interesting sibling relationships, and a cult leader who is a really creepy villain.

I loved Glinda because she is one of the hottest messes I’ve read about. She has no job prospects, doesn’t know how to trust people, keeps failing at everything she does. And yet she keeps going. She is a super frustrating character at times, but you just have to love her.

The sibling relationships are interesting. West is frustrated at Glinda, and she refuses to give her the time of day. Dorothy is estranged after an accident made her feel unwelcome with her family. And when they all try to reconcile they just end up fighting again. Is that frustrating? Absolutely, and yet siblings are frustrating. I just feel like this book actually captures how much love and anger can exist in the same relationship.

Glinda (like the good witch) feels responsible for everything and so takes on the blame and the need to fix it when things go badly. Her mom is part of a cult and the cult leader is now trying to take over her family home. Her sister West is also concerned but is too young to do much, and her sister Dorothy is estranged from the family. She has to do what she can to protect her family from Arlon, the cult leader.

This book was exactly what I was hoping for. It was charming, with a compelling narrative style, and a story that made me want to keep reading.

Did not finish past first chapter. The writing style felt more akin to young adult novels than adult fiction.

I was expecting a slightly more serious book, but I enjoyed this funny and somewhat irreverent take on a cult and dysfunctional family relationships.

Written to flow and with a great pace, a must read for anyone who would like a different take on this subject.

I loved this take on such an intense topic. The character driven plot and the atmosphere was incredible. I can’t wait for what’s next to come from the author.

"It's Not a Cult" by Lauren Danhof is a book that I really wanted to love. I found the tone to be right up my alley, along with all the right ingredients for a perfect self-aware dark tragicomedy a la "Mailman". And even after finishing it, I'm not sure what to think; do I love this absurd, hyper-modern romp? I should. But something left me cold. As if I had read a first draft and loved the ideas, excited for the finished product.

Unfortunately, however, this is it. A bit shallow in the end, a touch one-dimensional and underwhelming. I can't say that I didn't have a good enough time reading the book, but I was hoping for something more polished. The quality of the writing is poor and shallow, often reading like a YA novel. It's a shame, because I like the ideas. While it's not a book that I'd quickly recommend or stock at my bookstore, I'm looking forward with eager anticipation to whatever else Lauren Danhof puts out, in the hopes that she'll finally get it right.

Thanks to NetGalley, the publisher, and the author for the digital advance copy of the book in exchange for my honest opinion.

I really, really, really wanted to like this book, but I just couldn’t get into it. I read the entirety of the book, but there were several parts where I honestly wanted to just stop reading it all together.
The writing style wasn’t my favorite and the storyline just seemed boring. It felt a little dragged on as well.

It's Not a Cult pushes the limits of the narrator that is unreliable in sanity, motives, and likability. Glinda and twin sister Dorothy (yes, that reference!) have been at odds since their father passed away. Glinda can't handle anyone else leaving her, so she tries to break up Dorothy and her bigfoot-chasing boyfriend James. Now, Glinda is still at home with younger sister West and their mom; who has become deeper and deeper involved with the titularly disputed cult, and its leader Arlon. Glinda tries getting help from her Renaissance Fair-like dunk tank partner, Troy, and then pushes him away because of her mixed feelings about his crush on her.

As things with the religious group escalate with Arlon saying he's going to marry their mom and turn their house into a compound, Glinda gets desperate and Troy takes her and stowaway West in search of Dorothy. After a tumultuous few days unable to reconnect with her sister or convince her of the urgency or need for them to get involved, Glinda heads back on her own. With nowhere else to turn, she tries to convince Arlon she wants to join in order to get back to her mom. He locks and the group do their best to brainwash and drug her to the point that she's questioning herself, and lures her into some escalating showdowns.

It's Not a Cult is a vivid depiction of pushing the limits of determination and sanity to stand up for those you love -- whether they can handle it or not. There are very quirky characters that push logic to the limits to entertain.