I really enjoyed this thriller and had not read anything quite like it before. As a woman who is not interested in having children, the horror of having decisions made for our body without our consent was not lost on me. I am looking forward to reading more by Anne Heltzel in the future!

Mommy Dearest



Have you ever gotten so excited by a book cover that you couldn’t wait to read it?
This cover is chef's kiss! It is so freaking creepy I could barely contain myself! Add the fact that I have over 70 porcelain dolls in my bedroom, this book was a beautiful combination for everything I love.

This book follows two cousins who are separated when they are younger and through a DNA test website are brought back into each other’s lives after over 20 years. What follows is some pretty creepy stuff.
This book gives you small glimpses into the cousin's past to show you basically why they are the way they are in the present. I felt the main character Maeve was so strong! I loved when she talked about why she didn't want to have children and embraced the fact that all women do not have to give birth to be valuable, or an asset to society. I think people are allowed to go on their own adventures. Maeve was only a child when she stood up to the "Mothers" who were basically in a cult-like entity where birthing more girls was their mission in life. So yea even with all her "issues" she kept that stuff together and knew what she wanted out of life. She is my favorite kind of protagonist. The way the story ended was nice and not what I was expecting. I really felt it was wrapped up with a creepy little bow at the end.

Maeve escaped from a cult twenty years ago. Now, she lives in New York City, and lives a quiet life. After all these years, she is reunited with her cousin Andrea. Maeve spends more and more time with Andrea and her friends, which triggers memories in Maeve. Unfortunately, Maeve may be in too deep with Andrea to escape again.

Just Like Mother combines mystery and horror elements. Tense and atmospheric. The story did have some holes in it, but it was still an entertaining novel.

I received a digital copy of this book from the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

Are you sure you cannot judge a book by its cover? Because this cover is extra creepy and so is this book. Our MC is a bit on the naive side, which is somewhat off-putting, but the concept kept me reading. I'll look forward to more from this author.

Many thanks to the author, publisher, and NetGalley for sharing this book with me. All thoughts are my own.

This was a no from me. I just did not enjoy it at all. I only made it 100 pages in and had to DNF it. It was a little to creepy for me

This book kept me turning the pages but I was so frustrated with Maeve’s character. Unbelievably fucking stupid, she looked at every red flag like a charging bull. I had just read the last housewife before this novel and the main character made the same stupid decisions. It’s frustrating to read from someone’s point of view that is so oblivious. That being said, this was a fun, dark and somewhat creepy novel. I would check out other books this author writes. Thank you Netgalley for the opportunity to read this book.

The last time Maeve saw her cousin was the night she escaped the cult.

I decided I needed this book based entirely on the awesome & creepy cover and I can confirm the guts fully match the skin. So cleverly twisted & thrilling - I read it in one sitting. Maeve is a complex, lovely, and sharp main character. She’s also naive as hell which can be grating on the nerves of the reader but it worked very well in the story here. Lots of relevant and witty commentary on the many kinds of motherhood here. Also, ghouls, cult stuff. You can’t go wrong with cult stuff. You just can’t.

I tore through this book. Boy was it dark though! Should have known from the cover that it was CREEPY! I loved the cutly moms and it was such a unique idea! Can’t wait to read her again!

Well. This book is terrifying.

Maybe it's just that it touches on a subject (i.e. the cult of motherhood) that pushes all my buttons, but this was a genuinely upsetting, disturbing book (and I mean that as a compliment, or course). Where other books I've read this year have creeped me out, Just Like Mother had me honestly wishing I could disinfect my brain. I think the best recommendation I can offer is that I had to go watch hours of cartoons before I could go to bed because there was no way I was getting through the night without nightmares otherwise.

Part of why Just Like Mother worked so well for me (read: terrified me) is because of how brutally it intersects with our current timeline re: not just reproductive rights but, again, this cult of motherhood where even so called "progressive" women willingly reduce themselves and other uterus having folks to nothing better than baby makers by trying to couch the act of giving birth into some pseudo-spiritual experience of giving life that makes us basically holy?

Hold on, I think I just threw up in my mouth a little. And clearly Heltzel agrees, because this book is nothing if not a takedown of that kind of rhetoric, which is not only aggressively anti-women (while being sold as feminist) but also deeply transphobic in its singular idea of womanhood. My heart was in my throat (and so was my stomach) the entire time, particularly as someone with 0 interest in childbirth now living in a world that's increasingly anti-choice/pro-birth.

All this to say that if you're looking for a work of sociocritical horror that will make your skin crawl, particularly related to reproductive rights, I highly recommend Just Like Mother. But make sure you buckle up, folks, because oof, it's a rough one.

I read this book over a month ago but couldn't put a review into words other than WHAT THE ACTUAL FUCK?!?! This book 🫠😩 if you've read it, you know.

I can't remember the last time a book had me so stressed out and feeling absolute unease and such an overwhelming sense of dread. The entire time you KNEW Maeve, the main character, was going to experience the absolute worst, but you had no idea how or when. This book took over my LIFE while reading it and it was an immediate five ⭐

The story follows Maeve as she reconnects with her cousin, Andrea. Both women were born into and raised in a cult — The Mother Collective — and haven't seen each other since the night the cult was infiltrated. The two are thrilled to reconnect as adults, but something is off.

Andrea has made a fortune in the fertility industry, and invented weird AI babies that gave me the CREEPS!! I hated every minute they were mentioned. She also REALLY wants a baby of her own, and keeps trying to guilt Maeve into helping her 🚩🚩🚩

There's an incredible amount of manipulation, unreliable narration, tension, overall BAD VIBES, and a disgusting sense of pride and importance placed on the concept of motherhood. As a child-free adult woman I was SCREAMING.

The plot is incredibly dark, and it's a unique take on a domestic gothic thriller. Trigger warnings galore, so please take care of yourself before/during reading it.

Just Like Mother is a thriller novel about the danger of cults and groupthink, how danger can always be hiding in plain sight. I love books that are based around cults, and this one was really interesting to me. It takes a different route than cult books typically do, but I really enjoyed the ride that this book took me on. If you're a fan of books about cults and books with twists and turns, this one is for you!

I wanted to read this book because I thought it would be right in my wheelhouse. However, I couldn't finish it. The writing didn't grab me at all.

This book was OK. It was a bit slow getting started. I did like the character development but the story was not one that i liked very much. It was hard to finish. The story was just too predictible.

Very overdue review so for that I apologize. I finished this book a long time ago, in April to be exact. And still to this day I am not entirely sure what I read!

What first grabbed my attention was that it was a book about cults. Anything about those, I am game for. Give me all of them! But what kept me turning the pages on my Kindle was the story between Andrea and Maeve. Because not only was this a crazy cult, but it was also two sisters who were extremely hurt and experienced a common bond with their betrayal from each other.

Andrea clearly has issues. She was firmly set in her brainwashing and had no desire to think or see otherwise. Maeve was entirely too trusting. She knew what kind of family they both came from but to continue to go back each and every time when red flags were going off left and right was just annoying. The whole doll thing was really creepy but I love that it brought a creep factor that went beyond just the cult being the center of the horror. I really liked that the author included a backstory as the book progressed. It left us wanting more cause we had to see how far this went! I love quick reads with short chapters which this was. But the unlikeable characters is ultimately why I rate it a 3/5 stars.

I was hooked on this book from the very first page! It was fast paced and I could not put it down. I loved all the twists and turns it took me on!

As a woman, once you reach a certain age it seems like the world becomes an endless barrage of “when are you going to have kids,” or “your biological clock is ticking – time is running out.” It’s super annoying. Just Like Mother takes the annoyance of the reality that most people view women as breeding machines and can’t imagine them not wanting to be drowning in squalling children and takes it to an even darker, more horrifying place.

Take that ‘slapping you in the face with the need to have babies’ mentality and add a bit of culty-devotion to the notion (I hate myself for that). Now in addition to that, how about a splash of Gilead? Are you terrified yet? What if I added the possibility of robo-babies?

See, I knew I’d get you. That’s an impossibly frightening combination of baby/bodily autonomy nightmare fuel. Especially when taken in conjunction with the never-ending “but are women actually people” debate here in America, and I don’t think I even wanted to exist for like a week after finishing Just Like Mother.

But despite what sounds like a ringing non-endorsement, I honestly loved it. See, I find it cathartic to read things that are terrifying because it’s safe in a book. No matter how bad things get, they’re still just make believe (for now). And Just Like Mother is scary. Make no mistakes – it’s messed up. But…it’s also beautifully written, ultimately cathartic, and just a lot of pulse-pounding fun.

It’s a pointed examination of the damaging effects of forced motherhood, religious extremism, and societal pressures that women face to be little more than breeding machines. It even touches on a bit of the problematic nature of #girlboss culture. And I think that right now, in the current political climate in America (religious extremism masquerading as politics), it’s a pretty timely read.

*this review goes live on my website 11/30/2022*

This one is tough to review because I liked it yet didn’t at the same time?

I enjoyed the cult aspect, but wish we saw more of it than the tiny glimpses/flashbacks from Maeve. But I also understand that the story was more about the cult’s affect on Maeve and Andrea/their psyches.

That leads me to Andrea and her whole deal, which I did find interesting. I do not want to be a mother, and the idea of having kids makes me want to vomit. But there are lots of people out there who do want kids and can’t have them for whatever reason, or have lost a child, and such grief potentially could lead to extremism, particularly if someone was already brainwashed by a cult. All of that playing out was fine, but then the author maybe tried to go too big at the end? I wasn’t very satisfied by the last twist(s).

I will say, though, that it was so cringey listening to Andrea and her friends’ nonsense about womanhood and how women’s biggest strength comes from giving birth. I appreciated that the author challenged this at the end, especially mentioning that this line of thinking excludes trans women.

I guess I’m frustrated because a lot of things were pretty obvious, so when Maeve completely ignored them or didn’t even seem to catch them, it wasn’t totally believable. I almost feel like this could have been more interesting with Andrea’s POV included, because Maeve was a bit boring throughout most of the story.

CW: child loss, rape, torture, abduction, gore, cults

I very much enjoyed reading this! The writing was strong and the story was enjoyable. I recommend it.

This book was a little slow to start, but once I got to chapter 3 I was hooked. I have always found cult mentality interesting, so of course I would pick this book up. It is based on a fictitious cult of The Mothers who do not value males at all. The point of view jumps from snippets of Mauve’s childhood in the cult where you know something tragic occurred on her 8th birthday to present day where 33 year old Mauve finds one of her cousins and fellow child of the cult through a DNA testing website. Not much more I can say without giving anything away. This is a book that you will not want to put down… it is twisted and keeps you guessing who you can actually trust.

I really wanted to like this cult themed thriller about cousins who ended up escaping and then their lives many years later. I felt that we didn't really get too much of the cult aspect but just enough that we knew the girls were really mentally abused by the "mothers" of the cult and how it affected their lives growing up. At times this book was very disturbing, so I would consider looking up trigger warnings before reading. I was very intrigued with the author's writing style and I am interested to see what the author will write next. Thank you to NetGalley, the author, and the publisher for the chance to read and review this book early.