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A review by mayajade1701
Just Like Home by Sarah Gailey
dark
tense
medium-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
3.5
I have loved the other two books by Sarah Gailey that I have read - Magic for Liars & Echo Wife.
I love how she mixes the supernatural into her writing without being directly horror or sci-fi.
However I would classify this book as Horror. It was much darker than I imagined - and frankly at times difficult for me to even read.
I like the message the author put at the beginning and the end of the book particularly - and I think I just wanted to like the story a lot more than I did.
I didn't particularly LIKE the main character Vera - and I think maybe some of the story dragged on too long for me. There is so much leading up to the last few chapters that is pretty slow - I think it could have been edited down a bit. Because when the action / plot is moving it is very engaging.
I love/hate the trope this book used of switching between present and past JUST as something was getting interesting or about to be revealed - but I do know that it is effective and it did keep me reading.
While the ending was slightly predictable it felt a bit rushed and there were some elements that didn't quite make sense to me still.
I definitely resonated more with the author's afterword / acknowledgments than with the last chapter. In fact I usually take photos of quotes that resonate with me and the only pictures I have of this book are the first page into and that last page. And this quote, which really struck me as I ready it while flying back from a visit to my home town which is much the same as Vera describes hers.
"The town of Marion had changed in the way that all things change, but it was the same town that Vera had left behind so many years before. Main Street was long and straight and featured a combination of small businesses and doomed franchises. When Vera was young, there franchises had been geared toward paint-your-own porcelain and Tex-Mex cuisine. Now they were cupcake shops and places where middle aged women could drink too sweet wine while they all tried to reproduce the same painting. the specifics had shifted, but the feel of the place was the same. "
I love how she mixes the supernatural into her writing without being directly horror or sci-fi.
However I would classify this book as Horror. It was much darker than I imagined - and frankly at times difficult for me to even read.
I like the message the author put at the beginning and the end of the book particularly - and I think I just wanted to like the story a lot more than I did.
I didn't particularly LIKE the main character Vera - and I think maybe some of the story dragged on too long for me. There is so much leading up to the last few chapters that is pretty slow - I think it could have been edited down a bit. Because when the action / plot is moving it is very engaging.
I love/hate the trope this book used of switching between present and past JUST as something was getting interesting or about to be revealed - but I do know that it is effective and it did keep me reading.
While the ending was slightly predictable it felt a bit rushed and there were some elements that didn't quite make sense to me still.
I definitely resonated more with the author's afterword / acknowledgments than with the last chapter. In fact I usually take photos of quotes that resonate with me and the only pictures I have of this book are the first page into and that last page. And this quote, which really struck me as I ready it while flying back from a visit to my home town which is much the same as Vera describes hers.
"The town of Marion had changed in the way that all things change, but it was the same town that Vera had left behind so many years before. Main Street was long and straight and featured a combination of small businesses and doomed franchises. When Vera was young, there franchises had been geared toward paint-your-own porcelain and Tex-Mex cuisine. Now they were cupcake shops and places where middle aged women could drink too sweet wine while they all tried to reproduce the same painting. the specifics had shifted, but the feel of the place was the same. "
Content Warnings
Graphic: Violence and Gore