Review by ++sunni++ -- Like My Mother Before Me

++sunni++ · Post by **++sunni++** » 28 Feb 2021, 21:07

[Following is a volunteer review of "Like My Mother Before Me" by Naley Gonzalez.]

2 out of 4 stars

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NB – this review contains spoilers.

I rate this book a 2 out of 4..

The title and cover art are magnificent and there really is nothing to critique on that front. 10/10.

The plot has a lot of potential, in my opinion. It is, in theory, a super mysterious story where the reader will continuously wonder about the main characters mental state and family history, but for me it is ruined by the length of the book. I like reading and I don`t mind long books, however this book doesn`t need to be this long. In the format I read the book, there are nearly 800 pages. Out of all those pages, maybe 400 were necessary to the plot and character development in the story. The rest is just empty space. And nothing is more boring than empty space in a story. Multiple chapters could and should have been cut out, it would have made the story better in my opinion. There is no point having 4 chapters where nothing new happens and the main character keeps thinking the same thing over and over again. It becomes tedious and takes the attention away from the actual plot.

The other reason I rate this 2 out of 4, is the villain. It really annoys me as a reader that we don`t get to know the backstory to the “villain” in this story. A villain/conflict is essential to every story or it would just be a book about a girl going to high school, and yet, we don`t really get to know anything interesting about our villain. There is just randomly a demon living in their house, but we don`t get to know why the demon chose Veronica or who the demon was when he was alive. Who is this demon and why is he haunting this residence? There are two psychic witches in this story and still none of them can explain to the reader why this demon hasn’t crossed over to the other side. Not one of them can tell us why this particular soul is staying behind. Is he a soldier killed in action wanting to watch over his family? Is he a power-hungry man who can`t except that he`s dead? Is he a fisherman whose boat sunk in a storm and the reason he is staying behind is because he is trying to figure out what happened to his son who was also on the boat? We don`t get to know. He is just a demon and that bothers me as a reader. I`m to curious to not know who this demon actually is. A villain needs a motivation for him to be interesting!

In my personal opinion, this is not a bad book. If you like books that are kind of slow, plot-wise, and where there is a great deal of focus on mental health, you should definitely read this book. Though it is not my favorite book and I had quite a lot of criticism, I in no way regret reading it! So, to all the people who like fantasy/mental health/teenage drama books, and who also has a tad bit more patience than me, I absolutely recommend reading this book!

Love, ++sunni++.

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Like My Mother Before Me
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