Reviews with content warning for Blood - Just Like Home

Kind of disappointed. I thought it was going to be more mysterious and exciting, but the suspense was greater than the reality of what happened. The ending is more confusing than clarifying.

I hate when books read like realistic fiction then end up having a sci-fi twist at the end. Also, I think the author should have foreshadowed less and communicated more about Vera’s past. It would have made the book more interesting along the journey. Only the last 50 pages were “interesting” and it wasn’t interesting enough to get me to recommend the book.

Questions left unanswered:

- Was Francis’s compulsion for murder driven by Daphne?
- Why didn’t the house reveal itself sooner?
- Will Vera continue killing people?

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s4r41d's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional mysterious sad tense medium-paced

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

3.75

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princessraya's review against another edition

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dark mysterious tense medium-paced

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

3.0

This book was not what I expected, and unfortunately not in a good way. There were things I liked, but the ending really fell flat and it was more paranormal than I thought it would be based on the description. Didn’t hate it but it felt like something was missing.

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alek_n's review against another edition

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dark mysterious tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

i just know vera would love monster by eminem ft. rihanna

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jhbandcats's review against another edition

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challenging dark mysterious tense fast-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

3.0

I know this was a labor of love by Sarah Gailey so I *really* wanted to like it. I did not like it at all.

I see that a lot of people have said the book was character-driven. I felt Vera was such an unreliable narrator that I couldn’t trust any personality or character she presented. I therefore felt the plot was more important.

I was so-so on the book till that wild ending. It was so over the top that it ruined what had come before. I felt the strongest parts were about the peephole, Vera’s relationship with her father, and the mystery of how much her father knew / approved of her using the peephole. I felt the supernatural parts were the weakest and I found James the artist to be more of an annoying diversion than anything really integral to the story.

Minor quibbles re editing: there is a lot of emphasis on there being no locks on the bedroom and bathroom doors but there’s a comment, “The door was locked.” It’s also clear that it’s the middle of a hot and humid summer, but the A/C is on high making it cold inside. Vera says, “I would have turned the heat up….” The artist lives in the shed some distance from the house yet he tells Vera, “I hear you in the night sometimes.” Finally, I got really tired of the phrase, ”the house her father had built.”

I am really sorry I didn’t like this because I’ve read almost all Gailey’s books and have enjoyed them all.

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