I received an ARC of this novel from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

A woman returns to her childhood home to reconnect with her mother with whom she had a struggling relationship.

Psychologica horror/suspense about mothers and daughters? Oh this was made for me! I felt so tense while reading it. The story really kept me on my toes.

Oooh this was a fun writing style to read, and a treat. The stylistic way of writing made it both even more in the “horror” genre than originally anticipated. The story told was not linear and that made it at first hard to convey but definitely won me over. I think the reader was meant to feel erratic and uncertain.

Marlene… and Darlene (lol) were fascinating. The visions were captivating but lengthy and took your attention for a time. The inclusion and description of their life in Blackwood and Marlene returning with so many mentions of “Mother of God” and the “Virgin” tied it to Acadian religious towns that would still have many Mary statues. I also felt so much of that came from the horror Marlene felt having to carry the same sense of Darlene’s visions and spiritual connection.

Thank you NetGalley for the ARC!

Mother of God is a haunting novel that moves like a fever dream through the rawest corners of memory, grief, and maternal love. Sara Peters takes what could be a familiar story of estrangement and return, and transforms it into something stranger and far more unsettling—a collision of the paranormal and the deeply personal.

Marlene’s gift (or curse) of visions ties her to her mother in ways that feel both miraculous and suffocating, and Peters uses this supernatural thread not for spectacle, but as a means of exploring the psychic weight of family bonds. The writing is visceral, lyrical, and unafraid to wander into the surreal, pulling the reader across the lonely highways of Canada and into the claustrophobic rooms of the past. The result is a book that feels part gothic, part psychological thriller, and wholly original.

This isn’t a safe read—it brims with unease, with the sense that love can nurture but also destroy. Mother of God lingers in the mind, less like a story you’ve read and more like a vision you’ve survived.

Marlene is returning to her childhood home at her mother’s request but when she makes it back her mother is nothing but consistent. Best read in one shot so the timeline is wrapped up since Marlene’s grief can be hard to follow as she processes her childhood and the toxicity it spewed into her adult life. A mother casts a shadow over her daughter but her daughter sits in it as shade.

Thank you NetGalley for the arc!

oh! this one was such an unexpected treat, I absolutely devoured it. the writing style was pretty experimental and hard to follow at times (it hopped around a little and felt pretty fever-dream-y) but also so beautiful and poetic and heart-wrenching. it was v dark and a little creepy at times, but not horror at all imo.

I loved the themes it explored -- life and death and motherhood and trauma. some trigger warnings for sure as the subject matter is a Lot but I just loved it and also really loved Marlene, even though she was such a tragic little weirdo. I wanted to hug her. I thought this was a super unique read about the ghosts we carry around with us, the way we haunt ourselves, the devotion and intensity that can exist between mother and daughter. just a really special lil book!

I was instantly drawn in by the writing, both beautiful and experimental. There was excellent description and some Canadian nostalgia as someone who grew up in a small town.

It was much darker, and more raw than I initially anticipated. At times I couldn’t tell where exactly in the timeline things were happening, or even if they were real, making it difficult to understand exactly what was going on. Marlene’s grief felt very real in this way, but sometimes her ‘visions’ and lengthy descriptions of Darlene muddled what I think I was supposed to be getting. The horror aspects though… while psychological, the body horror was also very, very real.

A confusing, but interesting and emotional read tackling some important subjects.

Thank you to NetGalley and Penguin Random House Canada for the ARC!

Title: Mother of God
Author: Sara Peters
Genre: Literary Fiction (is Literary Fever Dream a genre?)
FFO: Fever Dream by Samantha Schweblin; The Eyes of My Mother (film)
Rating: 3/5 stars (saved by the back-half)

Those looking for a literary psychological horror may be disappointed, and I would recommend going in with expectations of literary ramblings leaving you wondering what is real and what is not, and at times, truly questioning your sense of sanity. A tale of grief that slowly unravels (very slowly) into a sad, depraved tale of gaining closure. If you want fast, plot-driven books, I would not recommend this title. If you're more interested in the flow of writing, interestingly crafted prose, this will be more up your alley. Truly, the final 50%(ish) of this book elevated it to my 3-star rating, while I was comfortably sitting at 2-stars for the first half, fearful of it fully derailing. If you start this and feel bogged down by it, I recommend seeing it through and the length of the book should help with that motivation. (Just north of 200 pages)