Thank you Tor Nightfire, #partner, for the advanced e-copy of Just Like Mother in exchange for my honest review. I borrowed the audiobook from the library.
Publisher: Tor Nightfire / Macmillan Audio
Published: May 17, 2022
Summary:
A girl would be such a blessing…
The last time Maeve saw her cousin was the night she escaped the cult they were raised in. For the past two decades, Maeve has worked hard to build a normal life in New York City, where she keeps everything—and everyone—at a safe distance.
When Andrea suddenly reappears, Maeve regains the only true friend she’s ever had. Soon she’s spending more time at Andrea’s remote Catskills estate than in her own cramped apartment. Maeve doesn’t even mind that her cousin’s wealthy work friends clearly disapprove of her single lifestyle. After all, Andrea has made her fortune in the fertility industry—baby fever comes with the territory.
The more Maeve immerses herself in Andrea’s world, the more disconnected she feels from her life back in the city; and the cousins’ increasing attachment triggers memories Maeve has fought hard to bury. But confronting the terrors of her childhood may be the only way for Maeve to transcend the nightmare still to come…
My thoughts:
I’m not going to lie…what first attracted me to this book is the cover! It’s just so dang creepy that I couldn’t resist! And then to find out it’s about cults and motherhood! Yes, please!!!
This book is all kinds of weird…but in a way that you just can’t stop reading. Once I started, I was hooked and had to see how it was all going to play out and boy was it good! This is another horror novel that pleasantly surprised me, so while there aren’t a ton of twists, like I am used to with my thrillers, I still found myself on edge with the sense of dread that builds ever so slowly. I loved that way the story is told, moving back and forth in time from the present to the past as it helped to fill in some of the pieces to the story.
There are some interesting themes that are brought up in the story which would make it a good bookclub book if you bookclub can handle this type of book. Themes surrounding motherhood in general, and then going even deeper such as whether we have the right to choose if we want to have children are woven into the story and I found it to definitely give me pause as I was reading.
This book really took me by surprise by how much I ended up liking it.
Audio thoughts:
I thought this was great on audio and the narrator, Elizabeth Evans, really did a great job bringing the story to life. Her pacing and intonation were spot on.
