Anderson has created an atmospheric and richly unique story with The Unmothers.

I always enjoy a story centered around a town that is very clearly hiding a secret or two. What Marshall, our main character, is sent to investigate sounds like something that walked out of The X-Files. A horse giving birth to a human baby? What the what?

Admittedly, I was on the fence about this one given how strange the plot is, but I found that Anderson was able to craft a story that felt very human. All of the characters in the book felt real and had backstories the reader wanted to know more about. I loved watching them interact and getting deeper into their connections to one another while finding out their secrets.

I listened to this one over audio and for whatever reason found the alternating narratives slightly hard to keep track of in regards to what was happening in each of the plots. In addition, once the details of the true folklore aspects for this story came to light, I found myself confused a time or two on what was happening and who was involved.

Despite my issues, I stayed with this one all the way through to the satisfying ending.

I would recommend this one for fans of folklore and mystery. I know that it’s categorized as horror, but I wouldn’t necessarily qualify it for that genre.

THE UNMOTHERS
Leslie J. Anderson

The premise of THE UNMOTHERS had me intrigued and silently asking myself wild questions in anticipation of what the novel would hold. In my fantasies, it was a brash 30 COINS in book form. In reality, it was shy and standoffish. It wasn’t at all what I was looking for. It wasn’t close to what I wanted. It was something far less exciting and felt a little like wasting time.

Marshall is a journalist, still reeling from her husband’s death. She is sent to a small town in the middle of nowhere to investigate a story weirder than fiction. In a barn, on the outskirts of town, a horse has given birth to a baby boy.

As unbelievable as the story is she is immediately drawn in by the inhabitants of the town and the legends that are larger than life. We follow along as she uncovers a shocking secret that has been kept hidden by the townsfolk for many years.

The cover reminded me of Gretchen Felker-Martin’s MANHUNT. In which men are hunted, their organs harvested, no longer able to do the damage they do. The premise was similar to 30 COINS or 30 MONEDAS. The Spanish-language TV show where deep in the heart of Spain a cow gives birth to a human infant. Which causes ripples in the framework of religion for one priest, leading him to question his faith in the pursuit of things that cross between, the gates of hell and the gates of heaven.

THE UNMOTHERS was neither like the book the cover emulates nor like the show its reminiscent of. It was like a fire that never really got started. A road that dead ends. It felt immature and lacked the feeling of completion. The characters were half formulated, the storyline, half realized.

I read it a couple different times. Once at the beginning of summer and then again in late November. Both reading experiences were lackluster and felt much like a complete waste of time.

With how many books I know you have on your TBR waiting to be read., I recommend you skip this one. Watch the TV show instead.

Thanks to Netgalley, Quirk Books, and Libro.FM for the advanced copies!

THE UNMOTHERS…⭐️⭐️

3.5 stars

**Thank you to NetGalley for this ARC in exchange for an honest review.**

Basics
Authors: she/her (US)
Genre: fiction, folk horror
Setting: small town, USA
Themes: female bodies, motherhood, carrying, female rage, feminism, horses
Mood: grief-stricken, secretive, scared

Mood-Setting Quote: "Today, however, the anger was giving way, in inches, to fear."

New Parenthood Quote: "His brain was still screaming a little, but in another room."

Pros
+ possibly-true urban legend about horses giving birth to human babies
+ forest folk horror elements
+ this is for all the horse girlies out there who like folk horror 🐎
+ I really liked the characters which were more developed, such as Ros and Emma.
+ The writing style is extremely readable and the pacing is quite good. I couldn't put it down.
+ I love that we start with "horses giving birth to human babies?!?" then go to "ohhh it's drugs and poverty" then the author laughs and tells us we have no idea what is truly happening.

Cons
- The cliche jaded journalist (aka unlikeable) MC pov was really weak. I would've much preferred it to be from Ros and Emma for the majority. I simply didn't care about the MC, which is not a good sign.
- way too many unimportant/underdeveloped povs
- the villain was way too black and white
- the end was, regrettably, very predictable

TW: death of a spouse, unintended loss of a pregnancy, intended loss of a pregnancy, pregnancy, school bullying, murder, animal death, grief, poverty, generational/inherited trauma

This started off strong, but the pace did slow down after about 30%. This is a unique horror story. A journalist from the city comes out to a small town to track an obscure story about a horse birthing a human baby.

Thanks to Quirk Books and Leslie J. Anderson for the chance to read ‘The Unmothers’! The first half of the book really didn’t do it for me but the last half was much more gripping. I did find myself worrying about the characters towards the end, which is always a good sign!

Want a book dripping with dread? This book was iconic !! Full of folk lore and drenched in dread! This is an edge of your seat ride full of that tension you need from a story like this !! Highly recommend 5 star read !

A deep dark secret in a town that seems otherwise idyllic, with a wildly urgent beating heart...loved this. Urgent and necessary and GOOD.

Genuinely interesting folk horror vibes with great pacing towards the reveal. The main character isn't the most memorable or compelling but the story has strong enough legs to stand on.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for allowing me to read and review an advanced copy of this novel.

I loved this one. One of my favorites for this year so far. A wonderful mix of folk horror, small town monsters and generational trauma.

So many great characters that were so likable but flawed. Marshall was a strong female protagonist. An outsider to the small town, she came fighting her own demons. She got swept up in the hysteria and lore surrounding the town. I also loved Roswell; a teen dad trying to do his best to raise a baby, while the monster in the woods stalks them.

For fans of folk horror, small town conspiracy and monsters.

Where to begin with this one? This literary fiction take on folk horror offered an original and strange premise. Filled with beautiful and evocative prose, it is clear that the author is a master at capturing a mood. I loved the descriptive passages of the town and the eerie atmosphere that was created. The unique premise held a lot of potential. The problem I had with this book is that it simply took way to long to really get going and by the time it did, I was starting to lose interest. The problem with this book is that not a lot happens which seems weird for a book with such a great idea at its core. Also, for a novel promoted as folk horror there is very little horror here. I found little to fear. I love a beautifully written book, but I love a great story more and while this book was heavy on the first it was lacking in the latter and that was a bit of a problem for me. Not bad but not what I hoped it would be. Thank you to @netgalley and @quirkbooks for an e arc.

Unfortunately, this book didn't work for me. Way too many POVs and a sluggish pace made it feel like an uphill battle to care about the well-crafted mystery. I like quirky and I especially love a small town Appalachian inspired folk horror. But this was just too scattered to be a cohesive story.

Thank you NetGalley, Leslie J. Anderson, and Quirk books for the ARC!

Man I had high expectations for this one! As some of you may know, I hate horses. I also know I'm not alone in this because when you think about it, horses are really and truly frightening creatures. That's why I was ultimately disappointed to find out there was a severe lack of scary horses in this book.
The premise seemed intriguing enough, a reporter travels to a small town famous for breeding horses to investigate a likely sensationalized story about a horse giving birth to a human baby. It started out strong with this lead, but ultimately petered out into a different kind of mystery that I didn't find nearly as enjoyable. It also leans heavily into marketing itself as "folk horror"- but I wouldn't say that's quite correct. There is a legend and ritual associated with the town, but the big bad folk monster seemed like an afterthought, not something truly fleshed out that adds to the richness of the town's mythology.
Additionally, the multiple POVs made me not care about any of the characters. It's a pretty short book, but I think we have something like 10 different POVs. As a result, I couldn't connect with any of the characters because we kept jumpin around. Had we just stuck to Marshall's POV, I think it could've been more emotionally effective.
I did like the premise and the message overall because it's obviously a metaphor for abortion as an option for women in this town- especially when it comes to teen pregnancy, poverty and drug abuse, and the tolls that pregnancy takes on the body. Oddly enough, I feel like the messages were either too heavy handed, or went over my head completely. None of them really stuck the landing for me in a way that was both understandable and satisfying. It was simultaneously all over the place giving me whiplash and boring at the same time.

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for providing an eb00k copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

This book started off with a bang and I was so excited to see where it was headed. Unfortunately it didn't lead where I was hoping it was going. The story just started falling a little flat and by the time it picked up again, it didn't; cohere together, like it was missing an ingredient. This made the story feel unbelievable. I did enjoy the ending so the story was redeemed a little. But overall it was just okay.
I have no doubt this book will have it's audience.. It's just not me.

This was just ok for ke. I was hoping for more horror and less crime procedural, and I think there were too many POVs. But the writing was good, and I’m interested to see what else the author writes!

A fantastic slow burn folk horror novel. It wasn’t what I was expecting (horse horror?) and I loved it! Anderson’s writing is beautiful, atmospheric and it absolutely blew me away! Thank you Netgalley for the ebook!

My first spooky season read!

The Unmothers is a psychological, folk horror that follows a reporter, Marshall, who while grieving the recent death of her husband has been sent to a small town to cover a story of a horse that has supposedly given birth to a human baby. Weird, right? While she's there, she uncovers the small town's dark secrets and something sinister that lurks in the forest.

The Unmothers delivers a truly unsettling, eerie atmosphere throughout the book where you're never quite sure what's real, who to believe, and what lurks in the woods. While it sits under the horror genre (specifically 'horse horror' if that's a thing?!), it definitely sways towards a mystery thriller as the narrative also follows a string of murders in the town.

Before reading it, I purely expected it to be all spooky folk horror vibes, BUT I didn't expect it to touch upon the lack of reproductive healthcare, the opioid epidemic, poverty in small rural America, dealing with grief, and a strong feminist outcome that I had a such a visceral response to in the epilogue.

There were parts of it that reminded me of Gillian Flynn's Sharp Objects and I would implore anyone that enjoyed Sharp Objects to pick this up too! There are also A LOT of horses so if you're a horse person who loves horror, this book is for you!

Thank you to NetGalley and Quirk Books for the e-copy of this in exchange for an honest review.

All in all, I liked this. There were a few instances were the pacing was off and the reveals which felt like they were supposed to be surprising got little more than a ‘huh’ from me but I loved the concept. It was such an interesting premise and could have been really creepy and unsettling with a little more focus on the setting and the pacing - the main thing that shines through is the author’s love for and familiarity with horses, it really feels like what could be a new genre of ‘horse girl horror fiction’. For me, the themes of body autonomy could have been explored a lot more throughout instead of taped onto the tail end of the narrative - but on the whole it was an enjoyable and mildly unsettling read.

Rural folk horror horse creature story. Couldn’t put it down! My one little criticism is that while the vibe is spooky horror I wish there had been more of the creature. I wanted things to get scarier and creepier and even weirder! Still, really enjoyed.

This book is eerie, atmospheric, and creepy, and it messes with your perception of what is real. This book is folk horror at its finest.