Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for an early copy of Dearest by Jacquie Walters.
Based on the description, I really, really wanted to enjoy this book. Sadly, that was not the case. For me, the storyline moved at a snails pace. About 66% into the book, it started to get interesting and then it just got really weird. At 91% I had to force myself to finish. This one was not for me.

Everything that Flora goes through as a new mom is so refreshingly relatable and personally made me feel not alone. Then Flora gets thrown into a nightmare with all of these various horror aspects and the relationship with her own mother. It was a GREAT read with tons of twists, some completely unhinged. Highly recommend for any thriller lover!

Thank you Mulholland Books for the gifted digital ARC.

I am 8.5 months postpartum and thought I would be able to handle this one but 10% in and it's triggering my postpartum anxiety very badly and I unfortunately have to call it quits on this one.

This is absolutely no fault of the author whatsoever (in fact I commend her for writing so perfectly she has encompassed EXACTLY how I felt freshly postpartum). I will not hesitate to read this author again in the future and the only place I will rate this book is NetGalley as I don't feel it's fair to rate books I did not finish!

Trusting your gut is hard as a new parent. For survivors of trauma, “normal” can be so hard to define, right? Add in some post-pregnancy hormones? Flora’s left living a nightmare.

Flora’s reality-checking as a result of sleep deprivation and new-mom self-doubt is deeply relatable and so well drawn. Her vulnerable state compounds our concern for her baby. The baby’s questionable safety cues some serious dread throughout these pages. As the door to examining her own relationship with her mother opens, what’s let in is a dark question of who Flora will be to her baby.

Ah, the new-parent urge to ‘do it right’, ‘heartfelt enough’, or ‘steadfast enough’ while recognizing you may not even have for context for what that means is hard. Doing it all alone as a (temporarily) single parent, harder.

5/5 I loved it!

One of the easiest 5 stars I have given this year. This book is crazy! Jacquie does a great job blending aspects of postpartum into horror. It was at times completely relatable but also equally unhinged and scary.

This book was like five books in one in the best possible way. Every time I thought I knew where it was going it took a crazy and entertaining left turn into a completely different place. Combines hauntings, secret pasts, creepy imaginary friends, possession, paranoia, all into one scary and entertaining thrill ride.

This extremely creepy novel about a tormented first time mother descends into something much more terrifying as it goes on.

Flora loves her baby girl. But with her husband deployed for another two weeks, she finds herself bone tired and depressed. She's seeing things and having thoughts which no mother should have. Doing this on her own is taking a heavy psychological and physical toll.

Flora hasn't spoken to her mother in years but decides to reach out anyway, desperate for help. When her mother shows up with no hesitation, it appears that things might be okay. But, holy hell, they are going to get much worse.

There's a big revelation about her mother about halfway through which is going to change everything. And even after you think you know what's happening, that's going to change as well.

The slow and steady reveals of family secrets shed some light while also raising more questions. What's to be believed? Are the things she's experiencing real or hallucinations? Can she trust herself around her own child?

As this book ramps up to a chilling supernaturally charged ending, events are going to get downright horrifying and nobody is safe.

This novel is fantastic and brings the chills and creeps I like in my horror.. I very highly recommend it.

DEAREST is an absolutely scary and unnerving read. The tension builds throughout and the descriptive scenes throughout - from beetles to breastmilk - place you in the house with Flora. Walters builds in commentary on motherhood and insights into the isolation, despair, and fear that new mothers may feel but then adds in humor throughout to give a break from the horror that is building and building. Readers who enjoyed NESTLINGS and INCIDENTS AROUND THE HOUSE will enjoy DEAREST. Perfectly executed for a debut novel - I really enjoyed this and look forward to what Walters does next. Thank you to Mulholland Books for the advance copy.

Thank you to Netgalley and Mulholland Books for the digital galley in exchange for my honest review.

Readability = 100 I flew through this book in two days and when I was busy, I was thinking about how soon I’d be able to get back to it.

It really reminded me of a season of American Horror Story, in a lot of ways. In tone and content, but also in the way a really promising story will reliably go completely off the rails around the 60% mark.

Dearest tells the story of new mom, Flora, estranged from her own mother, and navigating the difficult process of raising a newborn. Her husband is deployed, and her father and stepmother (who stayed for a few weeks during and directly after the birth) have packed up and headed back to their own home. But it’s okay, because in only a weeks time, her husband will return home.

She is battling an infection caused by breastfeeding, badly sleep deprived, plagued by “baby blues,” and feeling like she is already a failure as a mother. Additionally, signs of postpartum psychosis such as the embodiment of her childhood imaginary friend appear, as well as hearing voices, and losing time. There is nothing she needs more than the guidance of her own mother.

But they haven’t spoken since “the incident” that occured at Flora and Connor’s wedding. “The incident” is built up to be some grand blowout which caused Flora and her mother, Jodi, to fight and become estranged for four years, but when I got to the explanation about the incident, it fell incredibly flat. And left Flora looking more nuts than Jodi, pulling some excuse seemingly out of thin air, saying her mother didn’t smile the whole day, despite one page earlier, saying her mother offered her a sad smile.

And I’m not sure if that was a good choice for the narrative. I think the reader needs higher drama than Jodi just acting bored at a wedding and Flora chewing her out for it. This certainly isn’t a fight that necessitates four years of silence. This is the first time the story lost me, but the writing is so fast paced and readable, it swept me back up.

Jodi may be full of reproach, but along with that comes practicality. She is barbed and seemingly unloving, but she comes the moment she is called and whips the house into shape. Until her presence becomes more of a threat than an assurance. This is where we take a supernatural turn.

I have to admit, the book lost me again at the 60% mark. The twist, if you will. My suspension of disbelief snapped, and despite best efforts, never fully won me back.

I really wanted this descent into madness to be comparable to Mona Awad’s novels, and it came close, but it ended up lacking depth.

The bad:
-no character really had a personality
-a lot of questions went unanswered
-sets itself up to show you a really scathing portrayal of toxic mommy issues but then excuses it because it was caused by outside forces not human failure
-rushed ending

The good:
-very readable
-fast paced
-interesting tie between mommy issues and demonic activity
-great beginning
-great imaginary friend backstory

This book just wasn't for me. I enjoy stories about motherhood (warts and all) but unfortunately, "Dearest" just didn't captivate me. I found the writing style to be grating and rather choppy. The dialogue also seemed a little unbelievable to me. I felt like real people don't talk like this. I really wanted to like this novel more, but overall, I found the plot to be far-fetched and lackluster.

After reading the last sentence, I literally said OUT LOUD “that was so freaking good.” I quite honestly said wtf 100x after finishing part 2. It’s a slow build of ‘something is seriously wrong here’ until about 60% and then it’s off the wall crazy until the end. Walters doesn’t shy away from grossness and gore either. Very vivid writing. The horror scenes were genuinely scary and everything had such a cinematic feel, I could absolutely see this adapted into a TV show or movie. I have nothing bad to say about this. It was a wild journey and I loved every stop. Binged it all in one day because I was dying to see what happened next. Easily one of my faves of the year.

This is a must read if you loved Nestlings by Nat Cassidy, Incidents Around the House by Josh Malerman, or Rosemary’s Baby. Actually, if you just love motherhood (particularly) or parenthood as a theme in horror you gotta read this.

This book was so good and so scary. It delves deep into motherhood, including the ugliness, powerfulness, and awesomeness. The writing is gorgeous. And the twists! At one point (the beginning of Part 3), I actually DMed the author on Instagram, and was like "wtf?!?" Highly recommended!

Dearest is great as a concept and the themes of motherhood and families are the strengths of this book while the horror feels more like you put Rosemary’s Baby and Meet the Parents in a blender.

A debut novel for this author, and, considering that, it was, overall, OK, even though I felt like it all came apart a bit at the end.

Flora is a new mom to Iris and she is struggling. Her husband is deployed and she appears to have no friends, so she cares for her newborn alone, totally isolated. Then her estranged mother shows up. Is she there to help or hurt? Flora isn’t sure she can trust her mother or her own mind.

Not for nothing, but Flora IS a little off, even if it’s just PPD. And then when the husband shows back up, well, let’s just say that Iris may not be getting the best of care from anyone. I would definitely try more books by this author, not bad for a debut. Don’t read this if you’ve just given birth yourself and think you might be losing it. This won’t help.

Flora is a struggling new mom who loves her baby, but needs more help than she's getting. Sleepless nights cause her reality begin to blur and bring up past traumas from her estranged mother. When her mother surprises her with a "helpful" visit, Flora has to fight to keep her grip on reality.

This was wild ride! I enjoyed Flora as a character and it was interesting to read the thoughts of a new mom. I've heard so many women talk about how much they struggle, and unfortunately, people don't seem to take them seriously. I wasn't a fan of Connor, as it seemed obvious that Flora was struggling and he should've tried harder to get her help, but I guess that's also realistic.

The writing style was enjoyable and often humorous, and I loved the fast-paced short chapters. Every scene was so descriptive and made me feel like I was in this book along with Flora. I found the end scenes slightly confusing during the possession part, but other than that, I think this is a really great book.

This was a book that left me saying WTF did I just read, and I'm not sure if that was a good WTF or not, so I am putting this right at the middle with 2.5 stars. There was definitely some unsettling and gory details but it sometimes felt too over the top. There were times when I just had to know what was going to happen next but there were also times where it slowed down for me and I wasn't 100% engaged, although I did read this in one day. The story is definitely a twisty horror and I DID NOT see some of the stuff coming. The biggest thing that wasn't for me was the new mother stuff. I am not a mother and I just didn't care to read about nipple infections and things of that nature. This book deals heavily on postpartum depression and life as a new mother and having to do it on your own. I do think this would be a hard one to read for some moms (especially those who recently became mothers.) If you like horror, paranormal, and struggling mother/baby dynamics, then I would recommend this. I've seen some really great reviews, I just wasn't the exact target audience.

Thank you to NetGalley and Mulholland Books for an ARC in exchange for my honest review.

Where do I even begin? This may be one of my favorite reads so far this year. This novel grabbed me from the beginning and I almost got whiplash from all the twists and turns! I almost threw my kindle multiple times.

I didn't know what was real or who to trust. The chapters were short and super fast paced and the writing made me feel like I was in Flora's head the entire time.

I absolutely loved this book. This is a powerful and horrifying tale of motherhood. It is suspenseful and twisted. It felt like reading the true horrors of new motherhood. The story completely gripped me. I was eager to read more as the mystery was unveiled. The writing is compelling. I didn’t see the twists coming. Some twists just shook me. And that ending was frightening. So many unspeakable and unthinkable things happen. Flora is a new mother. She wasn’t expecting her mother to come when she wrote email to her, but as soon as her mother shows up, things take a dark and dreadful turn and bring out the buried secrets, shocking truth, and unsettling past. All the bizarre stuff and gothic happenings kept me on the edge.
 
The author has truly shown the phases of motherhood and the fears of a new mother while also splattering light on the mental state a mother goes through. The author has also shown the complex bond between a mother and daughter. This is an excellent debut horror. I can’t believe this is a debut.

Many Thanks to the Author and Publisher.

Dearest is two mother-daughter horror stories wrapped up in one delicious package. Our narrator is a new mother whose husband is deployed with the military. She’s totally in love with her baby and she’s trying so hard to be perfect. She knows what it’s like to have an imperfect mother. New motherhood combine with strange occurrences and a renewed relationship…or something…with her own mother along with a strange talisman and the sweet beginnings of motherhood are tainted with paranoia and maybe even insanity. Wicked good!
#netgalley #Dearest

4.5 ⭐️ What a debut! I am always searching for horror books that will creep me out and make me cringe, and Dearest followed through! The story was suspenseful, gross, creepy, and oh so twisty.
I wasn’t sure I could get into a story about a woman who is experiencing post-pardom baby blues since I’ve never had a baby, but Jacquie Walters did a great job setting the scene.
Walters’ writing has been compared to Grady Hendrix, and I can definitely see the similarities when it comes to the grotesque imagery, but this book was not campy/humorous like a lot of Hendrix’s books. There were creepy crawlies, disturbing situations, and surprising turns along the way. I will definitely be buying a hard copy of this book when it releases in September!

Thank you NetGalley and Mulholland Books for the eArc.