Minnie's Fiction Addiction

👀 First impressions:
From the very first page, Dearest had me hooked. The premise of a new mother grappling with exhaustion, self-doubt, and the sudden return of her estranged mother is already heavy with tension, but Jacquie Walters takes it further, twisting the domestic into something chilling and strange. The combination of new motherhood and horror feels natural here, after all, there’s something inherently unsettling about sleep deprivation, vulnerability, and the pressure to hold everything together. Walters doesn’t just tap into those fears; she digs beneath them.

✅ What I Liked:
What impressed me most was Walters’ ability to capture the realities of motherhood in all its rawness. Flora’s emotional unraveling is vividly drawn, blurring the line between psychological and supernatural in a way that makes you question what’s real and what’s imagined. The atmosphere is suffocating at times, with ordinary household spaces taking on an eerie, almost hostile quality. Walters also brings real weight to the relationship between Flora and her mother. The intergenerational scars and unspoken resentments are laid bare, turning the novel into not just a horror story but also an exploration of legacy, identity, and how damage ripples through families.

The writing itself is taut and immersive, carrying you along with a rhythm that mirrors Flora’s spiralling state of mind. Walters doesn’t shy away from difficult themes, and that bravery is part of what makes the book so affecting. It’s horror, yes, but it’s also a raw meditation on what it means to be stretched past your limits.

❎ What I didn’t Like:
There were moments where the intensity felt a little too sharp, particularly in the more visceral body horror. Those passages sometimes pulled me out of the story when I would have preferred to linger on the psychological dread and emotional core. The supernatural elements, too, occasionally felt uneven, with shifts between inner turmoil and external threat that could have blended more seamlessly. Still, even in these moments, Walters’ ambition is clear, and the risks she takes give the novel its unique

📚 Why You Should Read This Book:
If you want a horror novel that does more than scare, Dearest is for you. It’s a story that blends the raw realities of motherhood with gothic unease, creating a narrative that’s as emotionally resonant as it is unsettling. This is horror with something to say, and Walters’ debut makes her a voice worth paying attention to.

💭 Final Thoughts:
Dearest is a haunting, ambitious novel that will stay with me for a long time. It doesn’t always get the balance perfect, but its willingness to push boundaries, to blend the visceral with the emotional, makes it stand out. Jacquie Walters has written a book that unsettles not just because of what lurks in the shadows, but because of the truths it reveals about family, love, and the fragile line between strength and collapse.

🛍️ Where to buy
To buy your own copy click HERE and HERE

Final Rating ★★★★ – Raw, unsettling, and unforgettable