Maeve was rescued from a cult when she was just a child. Since then she has dreamed of reuniting with her cousin, Andrea. They had a special bond back then and Maeve has been looking to find her for years. Maeve uploads her DNA to all the sites and is thrilled when she's finally matched with Andrea. They are reunited and Maeve is thrilled. But something seems off and Maeve can't quite figure out what.

This was the creepiest book I've read in awhile. The author does a great job of building a feeling of dread. You know something bad is going to happen to Maeve, you just don't know what or when. However, Maeve makes so decisions that the reader probably would not in her situation. I found myself mumbling about her terrible judge of character throughout the story, but I couldn't put it down.

If you enjoy a good gothic type horror story check this book out. It definitely reminded me of stories like the Wife Upstairs and We Have Always Lived in the Castle.

This book was absolutely horrifying. Before I get into the review I will say that rape is mentioned in the book and does happen on page while the character is unaware. The characters in this book are difficult to like, aside from the MC but for me, this book turned my stomach, gave me goosebumps and will probably give me nightmares.

Just Like Mother is the well written story of Maeve and Andrea. Two girls who were born and raised in the Mother Collective, a cult of fanatical woman and motherhood. They were rescued as young children and have been out of touch until Maeve happens to do a DNA test and finds her.

From there, Andrea is a fixture in her life with her perfect family of her, her husband, their successful, well, Andrea's successful business. And then there's Emily, the face of the business while Andrea handles the workings. And the workings include lifelike baby robots.

Maeve works at a publishing house, has a casual f-buddy relationship with a stoner bartender named Ryan and alopecia. She doesn't have a family.

When Andrea comes back into her life, it's apparent she'll do anything to keep her there. It's like she's not really herself unless Andrea is there.

We find out about the cult and their background throughout the story and it's dark. The way people, men were treated and what we find out about the cult. It's very much "women are powerful because they can have babies. That's their vocation, their divine duty."

The book does touch on the fact that that's transphobic and ignores the fact that there are people who can't have children and those who simply don't want them. It's very much anti feminist. And those are the character's words.

I won't spoil anything but it is a good book, if not a heavy read given the current political climate around reproductive right's and how the fight for them can end up transphobic.

This book messed with my head. It made me nauseous. And it was well written.

Giving this book five stars feels weird because it was a good book, well written, and made me wildly uncomfortable. So do with that what you will.

I will say, that if you have issues around pregnancy, forced birth, rape, don't read this book. Always protect your peace and mental health first.

I received this eARC from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. Thanks to them and the publisher.

Review- 4.5
Maeve grew up in a cult with her cousin Andrea called The Mother Collective. They escaped at ages 8 and 11 but their memories still haunt them. Maeve was adopted and Andrea was forced into foster care. The two reconnect after taking DNA tests on the same website and immediately hit it off. As things start going wrong in Maeve’s personal life, Andrea offers to take her into her home. The more time Maeve spends with Andrea, the more things appear to be off.
I have loved horror movies for as long as I can remember and I’ve finally started reading the horror genre. Holy cow, this horror novel did not disappoint. This book was pretty fast-paced and I could not put it down. This has a quiet a few triggering scenes and things get really weird as the story moves along. The creepy factor in this book sent chills down my spine several times. I would compare the reading experience to that of watching a scary movie. You know things are creepy but you can’t help but continue. The ending was absolutely 🤯 and not something I expected at all but I think was fitting ending for this book.
Thank you Tor Nightfire & NetGalley for a digital copy to review.

Maeve has escaped the cult called the Mothers when she was 8 years old. She lives in a small apartment and works at a publishing company. When the cult was caught by the law, Maeve and her friend Andrea were separated living in different foster homes. Just when Maeve thought she would never see Andrea, she gets an email from the DNA test sample group (hoping she would find Andrea). Saying hey found someone related to her — maybe a cousin. Andrea decides to write and find out who it is. Andrea responds with happiness and wants to meet. Andrea meets her in a cafe for breakfast. They tel each other what happened since they last saw each other. Andrea is wealthy due to her company that she created. She asks Maeve to visit er at her home in the Catskills. Maeve agrees to do that. After Maeve has been there for a while, she is raped by Andrea’s us and. Andrea becomes pregnant with twins. The longer she is with Andrea, the more memories from her life in he cult reappear making her more uncomfortable. Will Maeve be able to leave Andrea’s home? Will she be able to get anyone to help her?

The author builds an ominous atmosphere throughout the story. It is a creepy novel. Maeve’s tenacity and trauma kept me invested in her story to the end. It is truly a horror story that includes some violence.

4ish stars! This was creepy. I quite enjoyed how this was written full of little teases. You know something is off from the beginning. Later on, even though the reveal seems predictable, there were points when you thought the truth would be revealed and then it wasn't. It seems almost unbelievable that the main character could be so oblivious, and at points it's annoying, but in the spirit of the story, she's blinded by her need for family and connection.
The story offers good brain food for some feminist discussions. The desire for motherhood, motherhood from a cisgendered lense, men's role in family, etc. think there was opportunity for this to be even more terrifying if we learned more about the motherhood cult. Other than reproducing, what is the why driving people to this cult?

Just Like Mother was one of the better books I've read in a while! It is apparently the adult debut by new to me author Anne Heltzel. This is one of those books that I was drawn into by the cover (yes I judged a book by its cover and this one certainly delivered! ) I loved how it was told in alternating past/present time periods. I would just love to have learned more about the cult The Mother Collective that Maeve and Andrea grew up in -I was really intrigued with that part of the book. - perhaps that could be a prequel or something someday. Fast forward to present day where Maeve and Andrea reunite when they have found one another via a DNA test. Things are not exactly as they seem with Andrea -she is playing some mind games with Maeve and it takes Maeve a little while to figure this out. Overall Heltzel has delivered a really creepy book! Are there some things in it that are a bit unbelievable - sure! Just go with it though - its overall a great book.

The voice didn't work for me. There were a lot of easy clichés in the writing that most readers would process as appropriate for this casual conversational narrative style, but to me they interrupted my reading flow. Things like "My fingers went cold and my head swam," for instance, stop me cold. Most readers skip over these kinds of sentences as if they were 'beats,' but to my way of reading, it makes it hard to focus on the story, kind of like reading something through a window pane covered in frost. I will not be sending this on to Goodreads or posting it elsewhere because this is not a review, but just a declaration of "not for me."

I chose this book based on the creepy doll face alone. Muwahahahahahaha! Just Like Mother is marketed as horror, and it is definitely in the psychological horror genre but is also a great choice for thriller lovers who often shy away from the gore of traditional horror. Seriously, ladies, you NEED to read this fabulous book written with us in mind (bonus: can use for the book set in a nonpatriarchal society PopSugar challenge prompt!).

Following two timelines of cousins raised in The Mother Collective, a feminist cult in rural Vermont, who meet again in adulthood, Just Like Mother explores a lot of heavy topics: feminism, women's empowerment, fertility choices, grief, family, and what money can buy. It makes you ask, "How far would you go for your family or your daughter?" and "Can you ever escape your past?" Anne Heltzel has written a fast-paced, read in one sitting, psychological masterpiece. There is one particular jaw-drop scene that I would rank up there with SK's hobbling scene in Misery... no further details as you just have to experience it.! And THAT ENDING!!!! Perfectly done! Anne Heltzel has written a book that will stay with me a very long time! READ THIS BOOK!!!

Thank you to NetGally and Tor/Nightfire for the opportunity to read and review this ARC.

Full review to come on Goodreads and Amazon. Thank you to the publisher, author, and NetGalley for a review copy.

I'm not a fan of pure horror/gory/slasher murder type movies/books, but I do love a good mystery, thriller horror story and this one kept me reading! It was eerie and mysterious even though sometimes the plot was predictable, the way to get there was uncertain enough, that I was compelled to keep reading to find out! The book begins by describing Maeve and her cousin Andrea's dysfunctional and traumatic childhoods in a dystopian, matriarchal cult. The both escape to try to reassemble their lives, as "normal" adults, when they. meet up again 25 years later. Maeve felt stuck in life and was astounded at how successful Andrea had become. What is the secret to Andrea's success? Maeve will soon find out... I wish there would have been a bit more resolution for the beginning--information about who the original Mothers were and how it began. I also would have liked an ending that felt more complete and resolved. I truly enjoyed this book (would love an adaptation for Netflix or HBO or HULU!) and look forward to reading the author's future works.

Just Like Mother follows the life long journey of a woman and her cousin after 'escaping' a cult as children. It contains talk of infertility and does include some other darker themes and topics. As far as holding my attention went, it lost me for a minute about a third of the way in as it started getting repetitive when it came to the way our main protagonist viewed the people in her life - from the cousin she reconnected with to the man she was sort of semi-dating to the coworkers that just sort of maybe liked her on a good day. Once a few things were revealed, the book grabbed my attention again and I was able to finish strong the story of a woman named Maeve.

First thank you to Netgalley and Macmillan/Tor for this advance readers copy!

This book was sick. That’s in a good way. How horrifying to be caught up in this situation our main character Maeve ends up in! This ending shook me to my core. Creepy!!!

The book was a bit predictable and just would not have worked if the characters had been more well rounded and thought out.

This book is creepy, slimy, and made me so mad in parts I was grinding my teeth. Art of all kinds is meant to elicit emotions, and this book certainly did a good job of that. The only thing I thought this book didn’t do a good job of was surprising me in any way. It was very predictable. Does that mean it wasn’t entertaining, a total page-turner, creep-tastic, and I don’t recommend it? No way! I totally recommend it, it entertained the heck out of me, I couldn’t put it down, and it was so freaking creepy. I mean… dude. It was creepy in more than one way too. And downright slimy and deceitful too.

I described this book to my mom and sister as “[insert famous actress’ famous lifestyle company’ meets Rosemary’s Baby but with no demons]”, and that about sums it up. It’s maybe a touch deeper than that when you get to all the deeper themes, but that’s the basic gist of the book. It’s in those overlying themes where you get the creepiness and some of the sliminess, but it’s in the deeper themes where you get most of the sliminess, deceit, and those parts that made me so mad I was grinding my teeth.

This book, in essence, is about all the ways in which women deceive and wrong other women. How we judge each other in a million different ways, even if we don’t ever say what we’re thinking. How we, as women, say we love all women, but question if we really do: some still venerate the mother and the virgin but look down on any woman who is neither. We say we love all women, but does that include the nonbinary, the transexual, the gender fluid, or anyone else whose gender identity might not have always come with the “parts”? When do we count a woman a traitor? Do we even have the right to call any woman a traitor at all? Or are we all just trying to survive being a woman altogether?

There’s also a subtle and unforgiving streak in this book about how our worries regarding men are still valid, no matter that in this book it’s the women you need to watch out for. It’s not a huge part of the book, but it matters.

I don’t even know how to describe the creepy scenes and stuff that happens in this book. Let’s just say Heltzel knows how to paint a picture with her words. She knows how to stage a scene with vivid sentences and haunting details. Some of those scenes are stuck in my head, and they probably won’t come out for a while.

Thanks to NetGalley, Macmillan-Tor/Forge, and Tor Nightfire for early access to this book in exchange for fair and honest review.

This is one of the most twisted books I’ve read in a long time. It feels weird to give it 4 stars when the act of reading it was so uncomfortable, but once I got into it it was hard to put down.

We follow Maeve as she reunites with a cousin she was separated from when the compound of the cult they were raised in was raided. Maeve has a lot of trauma, obviously, and trusting people is difficult for her. Through out we get flashbacks to her time at the compound and the things that happened to her there. Content Warnings: Rape, Self Harm, Loss of a child, also implied child abuse, graphic violence

I don’t really want to say much more about the plot then that because there’s enough foreshadowing that I think readers will see the end long before Maeve does, though it’s done with enough tension and suspension to carry the book forward.

The writing is fine. There are a couple of sex scenes I didn’t need, the dialogue felt stiff and kind of awkward in places. But for the most part it was fine and didn’t detract too much from the book.

I think the biggest thing about this book is how timely it is. It was harrowing to read with everything going on In the US surrounding Roe V. Wade. It felt very much like a less subtle metaphor for that, though I could be reading too much into it.

Otherwise- if cult-horror is your thing, this would absolutely be one to check out. Thank you to Tor Nightfire and NetGalley for the eARC.

I was really excited to read this novel as it seemed to be in my genre of favorite reads. Unfortunately, there were a lot of things about this book that went beyond disturbing for me. I am a huge fan of horror and psychological thrillers, but the abuse, rape and imprisonment was a little too much for me.

I love a good cult story and JUST LIKE MOTHER delivered on a whole new creepy level! If you think the cover is unsettling, just wait until you start reading!

From the beginning I thought I knew where this story was okay to lead me, but I was completely wrong. Heltzel took my expectations and blew them out of the water. This book reads like a season of American Horror Story with all of the jaw dropping revelations and weird twists you can’t get enough of as you watch. There’s something not right about all of the characters you meet, but just what is it? JUST LIKE MOTHER’s premise is impossible for me to talk about in great detail without giving too much away. What I will say is that if you enjoy cults, stories set in remote locations, and being completely creeped out, this one's for you!

I highly suggest taking a look at the trigger warnings listed on Storygraph because there are a lot of tough topics covered in this book.

A huge thank you to Tor Nightfire for my gifted copy!

In her debut adult novel, Anne Heltzel layers on the creepy atmosphere while poking at society's obsession with motherhood. She draws Maeve as such a traumatized and vulnerable character, keeping everyone at a distance to protect herself. We can't help but want her to get a win after her childhood in a matriarchal cult known as the Mother Collective, from which she fled. Her escape incited a raid of the Mothers' compound and effectively separated Maeve from her closest friend and cousin, Andrea. Years later, she and Andrea reconnect at a time when her adoptive father has died, her adoptive mother is in memory care, and she is let go from her job. Rich, successful, and charismatic Andrea becomes Maeve's only lifeline at a time of desperation. As their new relationship develops, Maeve comes up against old fears. Turns out, she can't get around them. She's got to go through them. So do we.
[Thanks to Tor Nightfire and NetGalley for an opportunity to read an advanced reader copy of this book.]

Holy $#!% !!! That was unexpected.
I think I may be obsessed with this book, but I’m still trying to process my inner turmoil.
You want creepy, messed up, cultish, post-feminist (maybe?) feminism mixed with horror and completely wild head-shaking moments? #JustLikeMother serves it up.

Not perfect. Some holes. A lot of suspension of disbelief required, but take this one as it is, and go in knowing as little as possible. Pick it up, but don’t say I didn’t warn you about some seriously effed up stuff. All the trigger and content warnings.

Thank you to MacMillan Tor-Forge and Netgalley for providing me with access to an ARC of Just Like Mother in exchange for my fair and honest review.

The prologue got my attention! It's obvious there is a commune where the majority are women. The women are all called 'Mother' by the children. The two main children are Andrea and Maeve, where Andrea is the favored. Andrea and Maeve are best friends with a few years that separate them.

There is a male child, simply referred to as Boy. Maeve is quite taken with him and tried to care for him. It is one night that Maeve defies the Mothers and flees.

Maeve grew up in a normal home under foster care, she still pines for her cousin, Andrea, and constantly searches for her online. It is years later that on a whim, Mae does a DNA test and makes a connection with Andrea.

Andrea is a successful businesswoman with her own company called New Life making lifelike dolls for women. It's not long before Mae becomes enmeshed in Andrea's life and finds that she needs Andrea.

Maeve was always told that she was a bad apple, but little does Mae know that being bad is actually good for her.

This was a creepy story, but I found it entertaining! I'd say it falls more into being a thriller than
a horror story. The ending was a complete surprise and I didn't expect that.

I received an ARC from NetGalley via Macmillan-Tor/Forge and I voluntarily reviewed this book.