This story already starts out odd, what with having a serial killer for a father and a distant mother, but the author takes you deep into the life inside the walls of this house and introduces you to a horror you didn't expect. Sometimes, the safest place to be is inside the haunted house.

Thank you for the publisher for a free E-book I’m exchange for an honest review, This book is such a RIDEEE.
Creepy house ✔️
Wild family drama ✔️
Cryptic like creature ✔️

This books has a lot of twist and turn and overall a creepy story. If you are the fan of things that go bump in the night this is the book for you!

Sarah Gailey the queen of the unexpected and weird. A modern day haunting of hill house. Thank you to Tor for the gifted ARC my honest review.

✨ Review ✨ Just Like Home by Sarah Gailey; Narrated by Xe Sands

Vera comes home to Crowder House, the house she grew up in and that her father built, because her mother is dying. She clearly has a lot of feelings about returning home -- messy familial relationships, unease about the house, and some great traumas from her past. The book weaves and winds through Vera's past and present as she comes to terms with the ghosts of this house and the great horrors she's faced within.

This was delightfully creepy -- my favorite kind of horror, where it hovers on the edge of reality with a creepy gothic house looming large. I really enjoyed listening to it, and flew through it. The story unraveled at just the right pace, and it made me feel the feels alongside frustration. If you like gothic-style horror, check this one out!

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Genre: horror light, gothic, mystery/thriller
Location: the Crowder House (small town somewhere)
Pub Date: out now

Read this if you like:
⭕️ messy family relationships
⭕️ creepy gothic houses with weird mysteries within
⭕️ monsters that lurk in the dark
⭕️ horror light

Thanks to Tor Books, MacMillan Audio, and #netgalley for an advanced e-copy of this book!

I love a good horror novel mixed with some familial drama, so this was one of my most anticipated releases of the year. Unfortunately for me, however, it fell a bit flat. I was under the impression that this story would revolve around the fact that her father was a serial killer - I didn’t expect it to be paranormal. If I had known that going in, I may have enjoyed it a lot more.

With the synopsis I was so excited for this one. A creepy house? Check please! But, this ultimately fell pretty flat for me. I felt as though Gailey was trying to hard to mash things together. It felt too much like a true crime podcast which is incredibly overdone at this day in age. All around the book was pretty solid, but again, wasn’t my cup of tea.

What a ride, this was much different then I had expected, it was full of twists and had an odd ending. I thought the pace was a bit slow , great possibilities but didn't work for me.

3 stars

I asked some friends for "bad mom" book recommendations to ~deal with my own trauma via fiction~ (lol), and among the titles given to me was this one. I'd read Sarah Gailey's UPRIGHT WOMEN WANTED earlier this year and really enjoyed it, despite the fact that it's not at all in my typical genre wheelhouse, so I was really excited to check this horror-y title out - horror definitely <i>is</i> my typical genre, & THE BOOK IS PINK!!

I went into this knowing nothing beyond that the mom "sort of sucked", and I think that's the best way to do it honestly. The lack of knowledge kept me on the edge of my seat, unable to gain solid footing, flipping the pages trying to fully flesh out a story being delivered to me in deliciously -and agonizingly - slow little bits.

The atmosphere here feels very southern gothic - dark and spooky for sure, but with a cloyingly sweetness not unlike lemonade on a humid summer day. I loved the way the house was described, and I was surprised at how much I enjoyed the relationship between Vera and her father - however unorthodox it or he may have been.

The full ending reveal GOT ME! I won't say too much about it because I don't want to spoil it, but I really loved how wild and intense things got, and how the story developed. It was weird and gross and fun and I just loved it, so good.

This has definitely solidified the author as a must-buy from me moving forward -- I don't even care what the genre is, because they've shown that they're able to handle whatever they do perfectly. I already have THE ECHO WIFE on my shelf, waiting to be read soon!

Just Like Home is eerie from beginning to end. There's a sense of suspense and tension immediately to try to figure out what her dad did. Not only that, but the chapters which are these past flashbacks have a sense of memories and childlike naivety. The ways in which we believe the best of our parents, believe what they tell us about how the world works. But as readers who see these memories for the rose tinted visions they are, can sense the sinister, the off putting, the tension.

And that's my main impression of Just Like Home. It's about the things that can happen and we wouldn't know the things we don't want to see. The lies we accept. All combined with this feeling of knowing that someone isn't who we thought. If there's one thing you take away from this book review, just know you could cut the suspense in Just Like Home with a knife. It feels tangible like something that rips itself off the pages and sits in a room with you, looming.

Thank you so much for my ARC! I was so intrigued by the premise of this book! It was a true slow burn, and the details were amazing, especially about the character of the house! There was a lot of development and dialogue to create this horrific book. There was a lot of symbolism throughout the book and I enjoyed the dynamic between the daughter and parents. Overall, a good read!

This feels like the author was trying to mix the Haunting of Hill House, a true crime podcast and the 2006 kids movie Monster House.

The atmosphere was appropriately creepy, as is Vera's back story in general. But some of the current day things and twist didn't work as well.

Gailey is a talented author, bringing to life... a house. Only in horror can you read this and be like "doesn't fully make sense, but I'm into it."
Anyway, Just Like Home follows Vera going back to the house her father built, and the house that she's stayed away from, for years, until her sick mother calls her back.

I loved the little tidbits of information we're fed throughout the book to eventually give us the big picture of what happened in Vera's past. We're given lots of spine chills, suspense, a bit of gore, and questioning the sanity of those in the book. Horror perfection!

This was just.. a no from me. I struggled and ended up skimming around to the end, and I think I was just not the right reader for this one. Shame, as I've enjoyed the author's previous books.

A very creepy horror story that has an excellent twist. This book really made my skin crawl and I got to a point where I would only read it during the day.

The perfect thriller with an ending that left me absolutely mind blown. If you’re looking for a book with a happy ending, then I don’t think this is the book for you!

I really enjoyed this!
We’re following a serial killer’s daughter as she returns to her childhood home, after many years away, to help her ailing mother. Once back, she begins experiencing weird things and in her search for answers, old secrets come to light.
The writing style was definitely a favorite aspect of this story, I found it very atmospheric and foreboding.
Also, I appreciated this different take on the ‘serial killer’s daughter’ troupe, it explored how at odds her perspective of her father was in comparison to what he was found guilty of.
I believe the main twist is something readers could find polarizing, either they’ll really love it or really hate it.
I had a great time reading Just Like Home and I am very excited to see what Sarah Gailey does next!

4 stars...
What a wonderful deeply creepy book, I loved the atmospheric writing within this one and the way the house almost took you and didn't give you back.
The two main characters where intriguing and the story throughout of her father and what he did to the town just added another layer of darkness.
Really enjoyed this

Thank you for approving me for my first ARC! I was honored to have this book as my first official ARC back in May. I would probably rate this book about 3.5 stars even though below I marked it as 3. I liked the creepy vibes of the Crowder house and I bet this would be a great read for Halloween/spooky season. I was sufficiently creeped out by the Crowder house and this story! However, the first half or so of the book was pretty slow for me and I often have a hard time getting into books that are slow paced. That being said, the last half of the book I did enjoy more and felt much more invested in the characters and the plot line. Overall, it was a good book but I’m rating it 3 stars instead of 4 for the slower beginning that I had a hard time getting in to. I definitely still would like to read more from this author, as I read The Echo Wife last year and loved it!

Thank you so much to the publisher for approving me of an eARC of Just Like Home by Sarah Gailey! This story was deeply dark and very haunting. There is nothing better than a Haunted House story that creeps into your bones while you read it. I could only read this one during the day and when my housemates were home! The house in this story truly felt alive and as if it had an ancient soul.

I personally enjoy a slow paced horror story because it builds up the tension and the horror just in time for everything to snap and come together in the end. The main character Vera was also a character I loved to read about and watch her thought process through the story. The story was slow but it never felt TOO slow. The pacing was very thought out and achieved exactly what it needed to!

Unfortunately, I have been locked out of my netgalley account for a few months and was not able to see which books I had on my list, in order to properly read and review. I do apologize and am doing a 3 for neutral. Will update once I’m able to obtain a copy and read!