Reviews with content warning for Child death - What Kind of Mother

Your next weird gothic folk horror read!

SYNOPSIS:

"After striking out on her own as a teen mom, Madi Price is forced to return to her hometown of Brandywine, Virginia, with her seventeen-year-old daughter. With nothing to her name, she scrapes together a living as a palm reader at the local farmers market.

It’s there that she connects with old high school flame Henry McCabe, now a reclusive local fisherman whose infant son, Skyler, went missing five years ago. Everyone in town is sure Skyler is dead, but when Madi reads Henry’s palm, she’s haunted by strange and disturbing visions that suggest otherwise. As she follows the thread of these visions, Madi discovers a terrifying nightmare waiting at the center of the labyrinth—and it’s coming for everyone she holds dear."

MY THOUGHTS:

- My mind was ALL OVER the place when I finished this book 🤯 I was in awe and also like thinking WTF!

- Beautifully written and captivating story about the physical and metaphorical loss of a child (so BIG content warning)

- Talking content warnings, there's also some body gore stuff, which ads to the plot, but is not for everyone

- Simultaneously unsettling and gripping! It starts out with a slow burn, then a third in you are like WHAAAAAATTT!

- Inspired by old fairytales/folklore gives this books very gothic horror vibes

- This is my first book by this author and definitely not my last. And in the meantime this book will sit with me for a long while.

Content Warnings

childdeirdre's review

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dark emotional sad medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.0

Content Warnings

pezfilledcookies's review against another edition

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dark emotional sad medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Loveable characters? No

4.0

I honestly can’t tell how much I liked this book. It’s in a weird in between where I can’t stop thinking about it, but I’m not sure if it’s for positive or negative reasons. But I’m still thinking about it…

Content Warnings

kkalicky94's review

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dark mysterious fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

"Take my hand..."

When Madi moves back to her home town and reluctantly gives up custody of her daughter to give her a better life, she reconnects with Henry, who she never thought she'd see again. The two are drawn to each other for a higher purpose—figuring out what happened to Henry's son five years ago. They're in this together, for better or for worse, and the answer might just be something only a mother could love...

Okay, so this book was so surprising and unexpected—in a good way! I like to go into books blind, but at a certain point I had to go read the synopsis because I was confused about where the book was heading. I read it, confirmed it with what I was reading, then promptly threw it all out the window because, what the hell just happened?! This book was so much more than I expected, and I loved it all! This was just the right amount of creepy, mystery, and body horror for me to fly through it in giant sections each time I sat down to read it. I thoroughly enjoyed the plot, characters, dialogue, and content. I can't wait to read more from Clay! 🦀🦀🦀🦀🦀

Content Warnings