Just Like Mother

By: Anne Heltzel

Narrated by: Elizabeth Evans

Length: 10 hrs and 30 mins

Publisher's summary

Rosemary's Baby meets The Return in Just Like Mother, Anne Heltzel's suspenseful modern gothic debut.

A girl would be such a blessing...

The last time Maeve saw her cousin was the night she escaped the cult they were raised in. For the past two decades, Maeve has worked hard to build a normal life in New York City, where she keeps everything—and everyone—at a safe distance. No dwelling in the past.

When Andrea suddenly reappears, Maeve regains the only true friend she’s ever had. Soon she’s spending more time at Andrea’s remote Catskills estate than in her own cramped apartment. Maeve doesn’t even mind that her cousin’s wealthy work friends clearly disapprove of her single lifestyle. After all, Andrea has made her fortune in the fertility industry—baby fever comes with the territory.

The more Maeve immerses herself in Andrea’s world, the more disconnected she feels from her life back in the city, and the cousins’ increasing attachment triggers memories Maeve has fought hard to bury. But confronting the terrors of her childhood may be the only way for Maeve to transcend the nightmare still to come…

Spine-chilling and sharp, Just Like Mother is a modern gothic from a fresh new voice in horror.

A Macmillan Audio production from Tor Nightfire.

©2022 Anne Heltzel (P)2022 Macmillan Audio

Narrator > Story

Elizabeth does a great job narrating this book. The story is okay, a bit predictable. I enjoyed it overall.

The stuff of Nightmares

"Rosemary's Baby meets The Return" might be an overstatement. Twisted but more than a bit predictable.

Narrator's sing-song voice was actually distracting for me.

Fell short of horror for me.

I did not see that coming!

I found the book mostly predictable but I couldn't stop listening. The end was a total surprise for me though! Warning: graphic sexual scenes, rape, and violence.

Cult of Motherhood

Eerie, yet understandable. The author frames the passion of motherhood, into a cult that absolutely every childbearing woman should be clamoring to get into. I know mothers like this, and as someone who has chosen not to be, I absolutely LOVED it.

I don't know

It was good but it was like hearing a story from my mom and wanting to rush her to get to the end of what she's trying to convey.
It's not a bad book but honestly it's not what I thought it would have been.

One of the best twisted books I’ve read in a long time

I typically only go for twisted and hard to figure out plots, and while I was able to predict a few the whole time I was just screaming for the narrator to put it together. And then it just got crazier and crazier. Well done! Also the ending was chef kiss!!

Genius Cult read

Cult read is pure and utter genius!

Stars: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Narration:🎤🎤🎤🎤🎤
Writing: ✒️✒️✒️✒️✒️
Details: 🖤🖤🖤🖤🖤
Characters:🧡🧡🧡🧡🧡
Horror: 💀💀💀💀💀

The writing style is pure genius!
Author Brilliant!
Plot is pure and utterly delightful!

The story as a whole is a classic twist on a cult. The Mothers Collective are evil geniuses trying to grow a collective unit to overtake the world with females. Mave is a pure broken woman struggling to walk through life eliminating her past trauma. Mav connects with her Cousin from the collective and is determined to grow a family she never had. Mav unknowingly enters a twist of fate she never wanted to go back to.

The writing style is beautifully done. This was my first Anne Haltzel book. She is an evil genius in her writing and the spiderweb of plot she created. I enjoyed this book not only for the story and plot but for the writing. It was easy to follow and had a deep connection and an array of character development. I will forever recommend this book.

2024 On to the next!

Really good page turning book

Worth your credit. Good horror book, I wish I would have read it around Halloween!

Topical, Decent, Predictable

First off, I am a woman with a phobia of pregnancy who does not want children and in the wake of certain supreme court decisions being leaked this book is topical and the horror seemed curated specifically for me. It is an interesting listen for any modern woman trying to navigate her own ideas of bodily autonomy in a society that seems to want to reclaim more and more control over her. This, along with certain literary decisions which were highly effective in creating scenes of surreal horror kept me entranced through out the entire book.

However, it is predictable to the extent I found myself frustrated with the main character's decisions because spotting the machinations behind them was so obvious. Additionally a lot of the dialogue was awkward and stiff and hard to swallow at times.

If you are looking for an entertaining casual listen I recommend the book. If you are looking for plot twists or impressive prose this might not be the book for you. (Also, I was not expecting the amount of eroticism in the book. I didn't mind it and it wasn't poorly written or anything, but my boyfriend doesn't believe me that I wasn't listening to a romance novel. So if that's not what you like, this might also not be the best book for you.

Unpredictable!

This book kept me on my toes. loved the voice audio, super suspenseful, and unpredictable. I'm a happy ending lover so I really really hope there's another book!