Dearest by Jacquie Walters is a 304 page novel published by Mulholland Books (Hachette) in 2024.

Genre:

Horror

Opening Line:

When Flora wakes, her mouth is so dry that the inside of her cheeks are stuck to her teeth.

My Thoughts:

Flora’s military husband is deployed when she gives birth to their first child, Iris. By the time the baby is three weeks old, Flora is suffering from infected nipples on top of the sleep deprivation and the concerns about her fitness as a mother – she could really use some help. Somewhat desperate, she reaches out to her mother, who she hasn’t spoken with in four years. Jody shows up to help, but will Flora regret it?

This book started out really strong for me. Much of this horror novel is spent wondering, “Is there something nefarious going on, or is it postpartum psychosis?” Toward the end things went off the rails a bit, and though I still overall enjoyed it, I wasn’t completely satisfied with all of our answers. At one point burning the birth tusk was a bad thing we didn’t want to happen, why all of a sudden is it our goal? That is just one question I was left with, but overall I’d say this was still a 4.5 star read for me.

I listened to this on audio, and it’s narrated by the author herself. She has a nice voice and doesn’t do cringey things with it when speaking the dialogue of different characters, BUT the way she chose to say some things was really odd to me. Like, the parts of character’s lines she chose to emphasize, where she paused a bit too long – if I had read those lines of dialogue they would have come across perfect for the situation, but the way she chose to read them aloud was how no one would actually speak.