Thank you NetGalley for giving me the chance to read this book ahead of time in exchange for a review. It didn't disappoint! Must read!!

Tamar has no other option than to let her estranged mother move in with her after her mother is evicted from a senior care facility. As Tamar tries to unearth secrets from her past, her mother’s irritating antics increase, making Tamar suspect something supernatural is afoot.

The novel nicely touches on the horrors of aging, the need for parental love, and the isolation that comes when people do not believe another’s truth.

My favorite parts of the book were the way the elements of Tamar’s Jewish faith were incorporated and the relationship dynamics between Tamar and her favored sister Lovey. Lovey, who has moved with her family to the westcoast can only provide remote support, had quite a different upbringing than Tamar and enjoys a different relationship with their mother. The mother’s antics both when Tamar was a child and those shown in real-time are shocking and profoundly disturbing.

I liked how Tamar is an active protagonist, as she searches for a way of handing her situation despite being trapped since as continues to be unable to find a facility who will admit her mother. The ending, while working well with the intricacies of the plot, felt a bit abrupt to me as I would have liked an epilogue.

BITTER IS THE HEART makes a great addition to haunting/possession sub-genre of horror.

I voluntarily read and reviewed an advanced copy of this book. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

Thanks to Crooked Lane Books, an imprint of The Quick Brown Fox & Company LLC., for providing an Advance Reader Copy via NetGalley.

This was too slow for me and I found myself getting antsy to know what was gonna happen, it took too long to get interesting. Creepy at points but not scary in a way that I liked. Not sure what I expected but it wasn’t this, I think I just didnt really click with the author’s writing.

Thanks to NetGalley for this ARC in exchange of an honest review.

First of all, I have to say that the format was not “nice” to read. Either on the Kindle or through Netgalley itself. Paragraphs were made weird and words were separated strangely etc. It's a real shame because that made the reading experience a bit unpleasant.

But I really enjoyed the writing style of the author. It was good and easy to read.

It's been a long time since I've read another book that I found scary. And this one scared me so much.. So be careful; Don't read that Book alone in the dark :p

Great atmosphere and great story.I finished it in two sittings because it was so exciting!

Thoroughly enjoyed this medium paced read that focuses on a mother daughter relationship. If you think you know what this is…you don’t 😂. This is a horror read but not what you envision horror, the horror aspects in this book are good though. The way the author wrote the dark toxic heavy feel that was within this book was 🤌🏼.

I feel as though this is a book that readers either love and vibe with or can’t get on board with. I personally enjoyed the entirety of this book. Please read triggers before going into this book. I will always be a Mina fan!!! Nexxxxttt!

Thank you @netgalley and @crookedlanebooks for the arc in exchange for my honest review.

Whilst beautifully written and having potential to be an excellent read this book was not for me (at the present time anyway).

Score is based on eadability

I really enjoyed this! Did you have a crazy relationship with your mother? You’ll probably get a thrill out of this as well. Pretty fast paced and enjoyable. I totally ate it up.

Thanks to NetGalley and Crooked Lane for this ARC! This will be out in September!

Thank you NetGalley for the ebook in exchange for an honest review.

This was too slow for me and I found myself getting antsy to know what was gonna happen, it took too long to get interesting. Creepy at points but not scary in a way that I liked. Not sure what I expected but it wasn’t this, I think I just didnt really click with the author’s writing.

Thank you for providing me with this arc. This was my first ever book by this author and sadly, I am disappointed. It fell flat and if this wasn’t an arc sent to me I probably would’ve dnf’d. I didn’t find it scary at any point but I do feel this authors writing is not just for me. The idea of the book was excellent but I just didn’t find it was executed properly. So sorry for not enjoying!

If you’re looking for true horror, this isn’t what you think it is. The book was a slow go, but picked up pace towards the end. I still found it hard to be engaged. The characters are damaged and dark which draws in the horror. The is generational abuse and Judaism gives it an interesting take. It does have the slow, steady burn of you like that. I just like to be engaged from the start. But I do appreciate being able to read and review. The book was still interesting.

Bitter is the Heart is an okay read. It wasn’t the most scary, but it is in the horror genre for sure. The characters, such as Tamar, Ruth, and such were well though out. They had flaws, damage, and good things about them. I saw growth in the novel. This book was very dark. It is a possession novel, but more than the average possession novel because the typical methods you see in those classic movies didn’t work. I knew something was going on, especially with Tamar’s mother Ruth. The author did great at slowly pacing the book, while keeping me at the edge of my seat.

This deals much more with child abuse and neglect than I thought it would. Much less a thriller. For that reason, it was not for me.

Thank you so much to NetGalley and the publisher for providing me with an ARC to review

2 stars!

I sadly didn't have a great time with this one. The opening was FANTASTIC! What a way to open the story and I have to agree with what I saw others post after reading this. The last 50 pages really were the best thing about this for me sadly
Obviously this book didn't hit it for me but it will definitely be a great read for someone else!

So I’ve seen some reviews complaining that this isn’t scary. No, it’s not. But horror doesn’t need to be scary. It can be disturbing and this one is all kinds of disturbing!

The characters in this book are dark and damaged. You won’t have anyone to truly root for – but the story is fascinating and creepy and kind of hopeless and it fits a certain kind of mood.

I loved the Judaism aspects of this one as well. It brought something different and intriguing.

I would read the author again in a heartbeat.

• ARC via Publisher

Wow is all I have to say!! I loved the Jewish aspect of this book. You don’t really see that a lot and it was really intriguing, and I learned A LOT from it! This book definitely is one to get. Well written, descriptive, and kept me guessing as to what the heck was going on! I loved the older character perspective, which is something you don’t see a lot. Overall great book, will have you question EVERYTHING, and keep you up at night to finish! Thank you NetGalley for this ARC!

OOOO I loved this book so much. I literally devoured it. There's something about mother/daughter relationships and horror that gets into my dreams and under my skin. I literally cannot get this book out of my head. I don't want to spoil too much but it will definitely have you creeped out. The atmosphere is excellent, heavy and full of dread. The dynamic between the MC and her mother is raw, and feels real. Anyone who has a toxic mother will relate, and will feel heavy emotions with this one. Read it, experience it, it's so worth it.

I went in on this blind. The cover, title and author were enough to make me interested.

From the very first chapter I knew I’d enjoy it. The whole book had a lingering sense of unease. It reminds me of movies like Hereditary. Lots of slow moments that end in big shocks.

Tamar was a complex character in some regard. I had a hard time really getting a sense of her true personality. But maybe that’s how we all are. She seemed to want two different lives. One where everything was in order and another where she burned it to the ground with her actions.

Overall I really liked the book and would read more from the author. I think horror fans will enjoy it. The author included a playlist at the end and I love that! Thanks to NetGalley, Mina Hardy, and Crooked Lane Books. I have written this review voluntarily.

After waking up to find her mother, Ruth, had somehow escaped her assisted living facility and is standing in her bedroom, Tamar's childhood traumas come back to threaten her. Tamar had left her childhood home when she was eighteen, following her mother physically attacking her after years of mental and emotional abuse, and without Lovey, the 'favorite' child around, Ruth is falling back into her old habits... but who would believe that an old dementia patient is harming her middle-aged daughter?

'Bitter Is The Heart' is a book with a strong premise, an incredible ending, a great exploration of Judaism and generational abuse... all marred by its abysmal pacing. The opening scene is a great hook, and the last fifty pages make it hard to put down, but there's a lot of dawdling in the middle. The abuse that Ruth inflicts on Tamar is horrific, particularly due to Ruth being manipulative and sneaky, but Tamar continuously not suspecting her mother's interference makes some revelations more frustrating than scary. For example, early on in the book, Ruth takes Tamar's phone and blocks her sister's number. Tamar finds this out and unblocks her. About halfway through the book, Tamar is frustrated that she's not getting any messages from her sister, her childhood boyfriend, or other assisted living facilities that she reached out to... but she doesn't check her phone's block list until her ex-boyfriend gets a new phone number and asks about it. It seems weird for this to happen twice, and for Tamar to not suspect anything, even with her substance abuse issues.

I'm not Jewish, so I can't speak for the depictions of Judaism here, but it's cool to have a possession story where Christianity is ineffective. While I was a little disappointed that the twist was supernatural, it never tried to erase or excuse Ruth's abuse, which I appreciated. Tamar's feelings for her are complicated, understandably so, and the themes of Jewish Forgiveness make the ending incredibly compelling. There aren't nearly enough books with middle-aged women as protagonists either, and I'm always happy to read one about a woman who doesn't want children.

My final rating is 3.5, so I'm going to split the difference on websites and give it a 4* on NetGalley and a 3* on GoodReads.

Thank you @netgalley for the ARC of Bitter is the Heart by Mina Hardy. This book is a slow and steady burn that is uncomfortable. It will resonate with anyone who has a complicated relationship with their mother. I liked how the author combined a ghost story with toxic parenting and family dynamics. I also liked how she incorporated her Jewish religion into the story and the characters.

Tamar’s mother is supposed to be in an assisted living facility when she shows up uninvited inside Tamar’s home. Tamar is estranged from her mother and her sister Lovey is the golden child. Since Lovey has moved away, Tamar is tasked with taking care of her mother. Strange things start to happen and Tamar also has to face her childhood and her relationship with her mother.

This story follows a chilling and disturbing relationship between a mother and daughter. Tamar left home at eighteen after suffering years of abuse from her mother. She has now returned and has found herself in a situation where she is left to care for her mother, now frail and elderly. However, creepy things start to happen...

This book was very slow begin with and took a long time to build. Personally I found it a little too slow and was left wanting a little more horror, as it was quite reserved. This book was more based around generational abuse and the relationship between mother and daughter, with a bit of horror thrown in at the end. Although I was left wanting a little more, I really enjoyed the storyline and the last 50 pages were brilliant and really kept me engaged! However, as for the rest of the book it was a little to slow paced for me.

Thank you to NetGalley and Crooked Lane Books for giving me the opportunity to read this book.