ceruleanseas's review
dark
emotional
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
Content Warnings
Graphic: Blood, Bullying, Death, Emotional abuse, Mental illness, Terminal illness, Torture, Violence, Abandonment, Child abuse, Death of parent, Domestic abuse, Grief, Injury/Injury detail, and Murder
alarrabee's review against another edition
dark
emotional
mysterious
sad
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.25
Content Warnings
Graphic: Injury/Injury detail, Blood, Death, Death of parent, Emotional abuse, Gore, Grief, and Terminal illness
Moderate: Abandonment, Mental illness, Child abuse, Murder, Torture, and Violence
Minor: Body horror, Bullying, Domestic abuse, and Physical abuse
ohhthehorrors's review
dark
mysterious
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Grief, Emotional abuse, Death of parent, Death, Domestic abuse, Gore, Gaslighting, Blood, Body horror, Injury/Injury detail, Mental illness, Toxic relationship, Violence, and Murder
ashlyluvsyellow's review
dark
emotional
mysterious
reflective
sad
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
A nice mystery/thriller that had me wondering what was actually going on.
Really liked the ending and would recommend anyone who likes to be a little on edge while reading it.
Really liked the ending and would recommend anyone who likes to be a little on edge while reading it.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death and Blood
Moderate: Domestic abuse
d0lly's review
challenging
dark
emotional
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Violence, Confinement, Domestic abuse, Gore, Death, Torture, Body horror, and Murder
al_owl's review
dark
emotional
mysterious
slow-paced
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
3.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death of parent, Blood, Child abuse, Chronic illness, Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Gore, Grief, Mental illness, Murder, Physical abuse, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Torture, Toxic relationship, Violence, and Vomit
cateyeschloe's review
dark
emotional
mysterious
reflective
sad
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
5.0
This book is like a chilling, horrific nightmare come to life. And I mean that in the best way possible.
The writing is outstanding, and the author does a fantastic job of communicating what visceral dread, fear, and terror feel like in an all-too-real way.
I also have to applaud Gailey (they/them) for the absolutely WRECKING descriptions of body horror they include in this book - both in general and especially in the nightmares.
Just Like Home is absolutely the best book I’ve read when seeking tension and edge-of-your-seat mystery.
Before reading, I was wary of the somewhat tropey “woman who had troubled childhood returns to her childhood home and drama unfolds” plot device, but this book took that idea and bolted with it in directions I never saw coming.
Gailey’s writing style is fluid, deep, and beautiful. Over and over again, they call back to passing comments, ideas, or thoughts from the first hundred pages of the novel, and those touches explode with new meaning and metaphor in a stunning way.
At one point after our MC, Vera, injures herself, Vera’s mother is intentionally too harsh in the way that she cares for Vera’s wounds - causing unnecessary additional pain - and yet she is still simultaneously showing care for Vera - a rarity in and of itself and something that is treasured. This statement follows:
The writing is outstanding, and the author does a fantastic job of communicating what visceral dread, fear, and terror feel like in an all-too-real way.
I also have to applaud Gailey (they/them) for the absolutely WRECKING descriptions of body horror they include in this book - both in general and especially in the nightmares.
Just Like Home is absolutely the best book I’ve read when seeking tension and edge-of-your-seat mystery.
Before reading, I was wary of the somewhat tropey “woman who had troubled childhood returns to her childhood home and drama unfolds” plot device, but this book took that idea and bolted with it in directions I never saw coming.
Gailey’s writing style is fluid, deep, and beautiful. Over and over again, they call back to passing comments, ideas, or thoughts from the first hundred pages of the novel, and those touches explode with new meaning and metaphor in a stunning way.
At one point after our MC, Vera, injures herself, Vera’s mother is intentionally too harsh in the way that she cares for Vera’s wounds - causing unnecessary additional pain - and yet she is still simultaneously showing care for Vera - a rarity in and of itself and something that is treasured. This statement follows:
“Maybe, Vera thinks, this is just what love is like.”
The concepts of love and family and what it means to be “good” and what it truly means to love are a constant throughout the story.
Nearing the end, this novel feels truly unhinged and I started to wonder if I could depend on Vera to be a reliable narrator given what I was reading. Nothing is held back and Gailey does a phenomenal job of leaning into the disturbing, the unsettling, and the concepts of what reality can look like.
If I could give this book more than five stars, I would.
I absolutely will be adding this book to my personal collection and genuinely can’t wait to read it again.
This book absolutely comes with trigger warnings, so feel free to check those out if you’d like the heads up!
Spoiler
“She needed them to be two different creatures.
“The mother and the monster.”
Wow. Just wow.
I had to put the book down for a few moments when I got to this line.
If you’ve ever lived with someone, especially a parent, who you felt held a semblance of a monster, then you can relate to this quote.
Gailey did an immaculate job of summarizing the gut-wrenching need for your parent to not truly be the monster that terrifies you, that haunts you.
“It was wearing Daphne, and it was Daphne, and Vera couldn’t think how to delineate the two of them in her mind.”
“It had always been inside Daphne and this was why Daphne had never ever felt like a mother was supposed to feel.”
God, this part is heartbreaking. Vera has a desperate need to make real the idea that, if she cannot separate mother and monster, then it must be the monster’s fault for why her mother abused her, why her mother hated her, why she was always met with vitriol and disdain. It was the monster’s fault, right? Beyond her mother’s control. She would have chosen to act differently if she hadn’t been plagued by this secondary force.
Which makes it all the more heartbreaking to realize that The Creature wearing Daphne was never the monster at all.
To realize that The Creature was trying to soften and silence Daphne’s violence and hate.
To realize that Daphne was a monster all on her own.
I’ll end with what I feel is one of the most impactful quotes from the book, at least for me.
“He didn’t know how to shelter us from all the hurt that was waiting, because he thought that hurt was the shape of love.”
This is such a brutally accurate look into what it’s like living with abuse. If being hurt by your loved ones is all you’ve ever known, then it’s very easy to believe that’s what love looks like and that’s how it’s expressed.
It takes a lot to realize that maybe there’s another way.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Blood, Murder, Terminal illness, Torture, Injury/Injury detail, Mental illness, Physical abuse, Toxic relationship, Emotional abuse, Grief, Domestic abuse, Body horror, Child abuse, Gore, Violence, and Death
Moderate: Death of parent and Panic attacks/disorders
Minor: Confinement, Kidnapping, and Vomit
qteabeans's review
challenging
dark
emotional
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
A powerfully spooky read. This is my first haunted house book and it seemed a excellent choice for the genre. Sarah Gailey explored
Spoiler
what it is like to live in a home with abuse without feeling like they'd ripped a page out their diary for the reader.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Child abuse, Emotional abuse, Domestic abuse, and Murder
Minor: Death of parent
shoffschwelle's review
dark
emotional
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
Not my usual wheelhouse as I'm not a horror fan, but it kept to more thriller characteristics and a surprising amount of focus on her relationship with her dying mother and remembering her father who has passed. I've been hearing about Sarah Gailey for a while and she delivered, even in a genre I normally shy away from, showing her skill as a writer. Definitely picking up others of her books.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Panic attacks/disorders, Blood, and Murder
Moderate: Toxic relationship, Violence, Death of parent, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Child abuse, Death, Gore, Grief, and Murder
Minor: Physical abuse and Torture
Had a hard time ranking the level of all of these. Book description explains that she's coming back to her traumatic childhood home, the home of her now dead serial killer father and the complicated relationship she has with him and her mother. Most descriptions are pretty minor to moderate considering the genre, but it's pervasive. Certain sections ramp up with more detail though. I'm not a fan of horror, gore, body horror, etc. but I could handle this. The emotional relationships and abuse might be even worse in some areas, especially if you have past experience.assesgrass's review
4.5
Just like Home by Sarah Gailey. 4.5/5 ⭐️.
i have so much to say about this.
first, the characters are extremely unlovable for me personally, there’s nothing really about any of them besides the fact that getting loved by a parent even if they’re a horrible person feels a certain way. The characters are meh.
Second, this is very much like a long read in the sense that there’s heavy plot in the like 85% but it’s like dragging on. I was looking forward to Vera’s younger point of views so much i didn’t wanna read about her getting a bed nah i wanted to read about her finding out her dad was a murderer.
third, there’s some gruesome writing involving body horror with children and children having violent thoughts.
near the end it reminded me of that 2006 film “Monster House” but the ending gets left off really abruptly i think, makes me think Vera is gonna take on her fathers traits.
i will add, fuck daphne.
i have so much to say about this.
first, the characters are extremely unlovable for me personally, there’s nothing really about any of them besides the fact that getting loved by a parent even if they’re a horrible person feels a certain way. The characters are meh.
Second, this is very much like a long read in the sense that there’s heavy plot in the like 85% but it’s like dragging on. I was looking forward to Vera’s younger point of views so much i didn’t wanna read about her getting a bed nah i wanted to read about her finding out her dad was a murderer.
third, there’s some gruesome writing involving body horror with children and children having violent thoughts.
near the end it reminded me of that 2006 film “Monster House” but the ending gets left off really abruptly i think, makes me think Vera is gonna take on her fathers traits.
i will add, fuck daphne.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Body horror, Child abuse, Death, Domestic abuse, Toxic relationship, Death of parent, Murder, Toxic friendship, Blood, Gore, Injury/Injury detail, Torture, and Vomit