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Make Me Better
Sarah Gailey's MAKE ME BETTER is an eerily seductive look at the desire for community connection and self-improvement---and the darkest places inside us all. Urgent and yet timeless, this read is perfect for fans of Shirley Jackson, Ari Aster, and Patricia Highsmith.
An exclusive invitation.
A remote island infamous for its miraculous ecology.
A once-in-a-lifetime chance to fix everything that's broken.
But sometimes growth requires sacrifice....
WELCOME TO KINDRED COVE.
Celia is so tired of being alone. All she wants is to have a family—to belong to someone. That's why she's going to Kindred Cove for the annual Salt Festival held by the secluded community that lives there. They promise that healing is possible. They promise that transformation is inevitable. There is no grief at Kindred Cove, because there is no suffering. Nothing is ever lost.
Celia knows that, at that mysterious island surrounded by that impossible, ever-growing reef -- she will find herself.
She’s ready to be healed. She’s ready to be transformed.
She's ready to believe.
At the Publisher's request, this title is being sold without Digital Rights Management Software (DRM) applied.
An exclusive invitation.
A remote island infamous for its miraculous ecology.
A once-in-a-lifetime chance to fix everything that's broken.
But sometimes growth requires sacrifice....
WELCOME TO KINDRED COVE.
Celia is so tired of being alone. All she wants is to have a family—to belong to someone. That's why she's going to Kindred Cove for the annual Salt Festival held by the secluded community that lives there. They promise that healing is possible. They promise that transformation is inevitable. There is no grief at Kindred Cove, because there is no suffering. Nothing is ever lost.
Celia knows that, at that mysterious island surrounded by that impossible, ever-growing reef -- she will find herself.
She’s ready to be healed. She’s ready to be transformed.
She's ready to believe.
At the Publisher's request, this title is being sold without Digital Rights Management Software (DRM) applied.
432 pages, Kindle Edition
First published May 12, 2026
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May 14, 2026
I too would join a cult if a hot lesbian whispered sweet-nothings into my ear
July 9, 2026
**2.5-stars**
Make Me Better mainly follows a woman named Celia. She's struggling in her life. All she wants is a family, and no matter what she does, it's not happening for her.
Seeking a way to make things better, Celia signs up for something called the Salt Festival, set on an island within the remote community of Kindred Cove. She buys their promise that healing is possible, even for her.
We follow Celia as she arrives at the island and starts to learn what the Salt Festival is all about. The individuals involved in the Festival are all provided lodgings and daily activities to help them to grow and heal.
In addition to Celia in the present timeline, we also get various other perspectives at numerous other periods in time, from months ago, to years ago, of people living at Kindred Cove. It's a lot to wrap your head around.
At the start of the novel, I was very intrigued by the mysterious tone. I always find Gailey's writing easy to get into and this was no exception. Unfortunately, the further I got into it, the more it lost my interest and attention.
The story has an interesting premise; Celia, traveling to an island to participate in the Salt Festival that she believes will heal all her woes. I could get behind that. I was ready to find out what her journey was going to be there.
The direction of the story does get pretty f*ed up, NGL, but not in a gruesome, or gory way, just in the truth of what it's all about. Celia loses herself so deeply, IMO, in such a short amount of time, which honestly makes me sad. I know it's possible, but still it's sad to think about. This type of thing probably happens more than we'd like to imagine.
The construction of the story is what I struggled with the most. The time jumps, how random they felt, it made it hard to connect with the story.
I constantly felt like I was getting pushed out of it, and had to actively work to recenter myself in the narrative. It just wasn't an enjoyable experience. I read for escape and relaxation, and for me, this was not relaxing.
I listened to the audiobook, which has the fabulous Xe Sands as narrator. I love their narration. They've done quite a few of Gailey's novels, so that felt right. While the narration was well done, I feel like the story may have been better served had there been multiple narrators to help make the time periods and perspectives more distinct.
It was really difficult via audio to keep track of where you were in time and who you were following due to the single-person narration, IMO.
However, with all of this being said, just because it didn't work for me, doesn't mean it won't work for you. I'm positive there are Readers out there who are going to be able to relate to Celia's story, and better track the rest of what is going on, than I could.
Thank you to the publisher, Tor and Macmillan Audio, for providing me with copies to read and review. I always look forward to Gailey's new releases. Their creativity and confidence to take risks are things I admire.
While this one wasn't exactly my cup of tea, I'm still glad I gave it shot. You don't know until you try!
Make Me Better mainly follows a woman named Celia. She's struggling in her life. All she wants is a family, and no matter what she does, it's not happening for her.
Seeking a way to make things better, Celia signs up for something called the Salt Festival, set on an island within the remote community of Kindred Cove. She buys their promise that healing is possible, even for her.
We follow Celia as she arrives at the island and starts to learn what the Salt Festival is all about. The individuals involved in the Festival are all provided lodgings and daily activities to help them to grow and heal.
In addition to Celia in the present timeline, we also get various other perspectives at numerous other periods in time, from months ago, to years ago, of people living at Kindred Cove. It's a lot to wrap your head around.
At the start of the novel, I was very intrigued by the mysterious tone. I always find Gailey's writing easy to get into and this was no exception. Unfortunately, the further I got into it, the more it lost my interest and attention.
The story has an interesting premise; Celia, traveling to an island to participate in the Salt Festival that she believes will heal all her woes. I could get behind that. I was ready to find out what her journey was going to be there.
The direction of the story does get pretty f*ed up, NGL, but not in a gruesome, or gory way, just in the truth of what it's all about. Celia loses herself so deeply, IMO, in such a short amount of time, which honestly makes me sad. I know it's possible, but still it's sad to think about. This type of thing probably happens more than we'd like to imagine.
The construction of the story is what I struggled with the most. The time jumps, how random they felt, it made it hard to connect with the story.
I constantly felt like I was getting pushed out of it, and had to actively work to recenter myself in the narrative. It just wasn't an enjoyable experience. I read for escape and relaxation, and for me, this was not relaxing.
I listened to the audiobook, which has the fabulous Xe Sands as narrator. I love their narration. They've done quite a few of Gailey's novels, so that felt right. While the narration was well done, I feel like the story may have been better served had there been multiple narrators to help make the time periods and perspectives more distinct.
It was really difficult via audio to keep track of where you were in time and who you were following due to the single-person narration, IMO.
However, with all of this being said, just because it didn't work for me, doesn't mean it won't work for you. I'm positive there are Readers out there who are going to be able to relate to Celia's story, and better track the rest of what is going on, than I could.
Thank you to the publisher, Tor and Macmillan Audio, for providing me with copies to read and review. I always look forward to Gailey's new releases. Their creativity and confidence to take risks are things I admire.
While this one wasn't exactly my cup of tea, I'm still glad I gave it shot. You don't know until you try!
Review of advance copy received from Publisher
3.0 Stars
This is a familiar cult story that felt very reminiscent of the popular horror movie, Midsommar. This is generally an enjoyable story but it didn't feel particularly new or innovative. I hoped to see this story subvert tropes or surprise but instead it was a very familiar story that I couldn't help compare to the other media that has come before.
Disclaimer I received a copy of this book from the publisher.
This is a familiar cult story that felt very reminiscent of the popular horror movie, Midsommar. This is generally an enjoyable story but it didn't feel particularly new or innovative. I hoped to see this story subvert tropes or surprise but instead it was a very familiar story that I couldn't help compare to the other media that has come before.
Disclaimer I received a copy of this book from the publisher.
Review of advance copy received from NetGalley
Many thanks to Macmillan Audio for an Advanced Copy in exchange for an honest review
★ 2.22 stars ★
Before I give my review, which will be mostly negative, I want to stress that this was 100% a me issue. It's not you, book, it's me. Well, it's also your publisher who did a bad job making it clear what this book is.
And that, dear reader, is what I'd like to do because both the cover and the somewhat vague synopsis make this novel seem like it's going to be a sci-fi, horror, creepy novel about pursuing wellness to into dark depths of terror....
It was not that, which is why this book didn't work for me. It's a VERY slow burn novel that focuses heavily, if not almost entirely on the cult and the characters. This book is very character driven, providing us several POVs across several different points in time that it switches back and forth between liberally
For a reader who has a good attention span and goes into this book expecting a book that takes a while to get going and that must be chewed on, I think this will be an enjoyable read.
I am not that reader.
I like when things blow up and people get stabbed. I like drama and sex. I am a simple man. For the most part, I like to read cheap, easy reads.
All this is to say, this was a very unpleasant experience for me (I would've DNF-ed @ 20% if it wasn't a netgalley copy... i refuse to compromise my review ratio) but that was very much a personal thing. I definitely think that the right reader will go into this with the right expectations and really enjoy it.
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this title is what i whisper to my SSRI every time i take it
★ 2.22 stars ★
Before I give my review, which will be mostly negative, I want to stress that this was 100% a me issue. It's not you, book, it's me. Well, it's also your publisher who did a bad job making it clear what this book is.
And that, dear reader, is what I'd like to do because both the cover and the somewhat vague synopsis make this novel seem like it's going to be a sci-fi, horror, creepy novel about pursuing wellness to into dark depths of terror....
It was not that, which is why this book didn't work for me. It's a VERY slow burn novel that focuses heavily, if not almost entirely on the cult and the characters. This book is very character driven, providing us several POVs across several different points in time that it switches back and forth between liberally
For a reader who has a good attention span and goes into this book expecting a book that takes a while to get going and that must be chewed on, I think this will be an enjoyable read.
I am not that reader.
I like when things blow up and people get stabbed. I like drama and sex. I am a simple man. For the most part, I like to read cheap, easy reads.
All this is to say, this was a very unpleasant experience for me (I would've DNF-ed @ 20% if it wasn't a netgalley copy... i refuse to compromise my review ratio) but that was very much a personal thing. I definitely think that the right reader will go into this with the right expectations and really enjoy it.
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this title is what i whisper to my SSRI every time i take it
June 23, 2026
3.75 ⭐️ A solid addition to Gaileys other work.
At this point she’s an automatic read for me & I was glad I picked this up. However I didn’t connect to this as viscerally as I had some of her other books. Really pay attention to the trigger warnings for this one.
Gailey does an excellent job of living inside a protagonist that’s easy to gaslight, manipulate and reprogram. While the character felt true to life I also had a very hard time wanting to live in her world. She’s so removed from her own life that I felt held at arms length at all times.
The backstory on the island unfolded predictably but felt just right. You saw what was coming, knew it had to happen & Gailey created massive tension by feeding you drips & drags until the end.
Trigger Warning: Cult Dynamics, Coercive Control, Psychological Manipulation, Miscarriage, & Violence.
At this point she’s an automatic read for me & I was glad I picked this up. However I didn’t connect to this as viscerally as I had some of her other books. Really pay attention to the trigger warnings for this one.
Gailey does an excellent job of living inside a protagonist that’s easy to gaslight, manipulate and reprogram. While the character felt true to life I also had a very hard time wanting to live in her world. She’s so removed from her own life that I felt held at arms length at all times.
The backstory on the island unfolded predictably but felt just right. You saw what was coming, knew it had to happen & Gailey created massive tension by feeding you drips & drags until the end.
Trigger Warning: Cult Dynamics, Coercive Control, Psychological Manipulation, Miscarriage, & Violence.
June 26, 2026
I have one more Netgalley audio to finish and then I think I have to call it quits on any and all ARC’s for a long while, if not forever. If it weren’t for the fact that I was reading this book for a Netgalley review, I would’ve definitely dnf’d it because finishing it felt like a chore. I’ve read Gailey’s books Just Like Home and Spread Me and enjoyed them but this one was a drag.
It is a story about a woman named Celia who chooses to deal with her grief by escaping to a festival/retreat that claims it will change her life. And it does, so I guess, good for her! Who doesn’t want to live on an island with weird people who never wear shoes and seem to have no privacy? Where they take all of your personal belongings and lock them up. Where the babies belong to all, and where people seem to disappear but also never truly leave?
Me, that's who! But I’m not Celia and this is her story. She is a broken, lonely soul when she arrives and seems willing to accept anything in order to find a community. She’s clearly the perfect mark for this community. The story follows Celia and her mentor/roomie/islander Easy as the book leads up to the big Salt Day of celebration. As the book moves along, we get flashbacks of Celia’s life, Easy’s life, and too many other inconsequential people on the island’s life and this is a bit of a problem. Just as things are getting semi-interesting the book switches around to another meandering POV or timeline and this becomes sometimes confusing, often exhausting and ruins the momentum for me. I reached a point ¼ of the way in where I just didn’t care where any of it was leading and ultimately where it led wasn’t anywhere I wasn’t expecting it to go.
The narration by Xe Sands also didn’t work well for me here. There were too many characters, imo, for one person to handle and this narrator had a tendency to sort of drift off a little mid-sentence and sometimes pose a sentence as a question. The tone also added to the depressive/sad atmosphere of the story which was likely purposeful but it’s difficult to immerse yourself in it for 13 hours. If you do the audio you might want to spread it out over a week or so instead of listening to it for hours on end as I did.
I’m sad to say I can only give this audio a two. I don’t believe in posting only the five stars so unfriend/unfollow me for your own sanity if you must. I found it plodding and boring, the pace frightfully slow, the characters bland and all of the jumping around hurt my head. I did have to know all of the secrets so that kept me going but in the end the secrets weren’t worth all of the effort.
It is a story about a woman named Celia who chooses to deal with her grief by escaping to a festival/retreat that claims it will change her life. And it does, so I guess, good for her! Who doesn’t want to live on an island with weird people who never wear shoes and seem to have no privacy? Where they take all of your personal belongings and lock them up. Where the babies belong to all, and where people seem to disappear but also never truly leave?
Me, that's who! But I’m not Celia and this is her story. She is a broken, lonely soul when she arrives and seems willing to accept anything in order to find a community. She’s clearly the perfect mark for this community. The story follows Celia and her mentor/roomie/islander Easy as the book leads up to the big Salt Day of celebration. As the book moves along, we get flashbacks of Celia’s life, Easy’s life, and too many other inconsequential people on the island’s life and this is a bit of a problem. Just as things are getting semi-interesting the book switches around to another meandering POV or timeline and this becomes sometimes confusing, often exhausting and ruins the momentum for me. I reached a point ¼ of the way in where I just didn’t care where any of it was leading and ultimately where it led wasn’t anywhere I wasn’t expecting it to go.
The narration by Xe Sands also didn’t work well for me here. There were too many characters, imo, for one person to handle and this narrator had a tendency to sort of drift off a little mid-sentence and sometimes pose a sentence as a question. The tone also added to the depressive/sad atmosphere of the story which was likely purposeful but it’s difficult to immerse yourself in it for 13 hours. If you do the audio you might want to spread it out over a week or so instead of listening to it for hours on end as I did.
I’m sad to say I can only give this audio a two. I don’t believe in posting only the five stars so unfriend/unfollow me for your own sanity if you must. I found it plodding and boring, the pace frightfully slow, the characters bland and all of the jumping around hurt my head. I did have to know all of the secrets so that kept me going but in the end the secrets weren’t worth all of the effort.
Read
May 25, 2026A weird island with cult vibes is at the center of this slow-burn thriller/light horror. A woman dealing with infertility hopes that the magic of the island can help her, but instead she is slowly drawn into the dark secrets that the island hides...
This jumps around a lot in terms of perspectives and timeline, very slowly building to an ending that is kind of what you expect by that point in the book. I do, however, like creepy cult vibes and dark secrets so I enjoyed the read. The narrator for the audiobook was not my favorite though and I might have done better with a different narrator. I received an audio review copy via Netgalley, all opinions are my own.
This jumps around a lot in terms of perspectives and timeline, very slowly building to an ending that is kind of what you expect by that point in the book. I do, however, like creepy cult vibes and dark secrets so I enjoyed the read. The narrator for the audiobook was not my favorite though and I might have done better with a different narrator. I received an audio review copy via Netgalley, all opinions are my own.
March 31, 2026
So we have an island inhabited by a community of people that stays disconnected from the world and rely on only each other. Except for one week of the year when they host “the salt festival” and allow selected applicants to visit and “learn their ways.”
The premise of this is great. I always love a cult-ish aspect and this was a take on it I haven’t read yet. The book starts out almost immediately by introducing you to the island and the residents. All of the characters are very well thought out and well written, especially among the residents.
I had some issues with the pacing. This is a bit longer than your typical horror and really not a lot happens until the very end. It’s a lot of getting to know the characters and the setting, which I appreciate, but I just felt like it was lacking more compelling reasons to continue reading (I did finish it anyway)
The ending wasn’t bad, but I think by the time that we got to that point there weren’t really any surprises. The emotions were definitely high and more tense due to the horror that is the cult, but it just took awhile to get there. In my opinion this book felt very anticlimactic. For the amount of time I spent reading this book I was hoping for more payoff.
Thank you to Tor for the eARC via NetGalley
The premise of this is great. I always love a cult-ish aspect and this was a take on it I haven’t read yet. The book starts out almost immediately by introducing you to the island and the residents. All of the characters are very well thought out and well written, especially among the residents.
I had some issues with the pacing. This is a bit longer than your typical horror and really not a lot happens until the very end. It’s a lot of getting to know the characters and the setting, which I appreciate, but I just felt like it was lacking more compelling reasons to continue reading (I did finish it anyway)
The ending wasn’t bad, but I think by the time that we got to that point there weren’t really any surprises. The emotions were definitely high and more tense due to the horror that is the cult, but it just took awhile to get there. In my opinion this book felt very anticlimactic. For the amount of time I spent reading this book I was hoping for more payoff.
Thank you to Tor for the eARC via NetGalley
May 12, 2026
Celia is grieving a loss, and through a support group, she learns about a wellness retreat that she hopes will help her to heal. When she arrives, there is some conflicting information on whether visitors have ever been allowed to remain. If they have not stayed on, where exactly did they go? Because some former guests have never returned home.
I was expecting more of a folk horror than what I got out of this book. This is more a story of cult-like behavior and how someone like Celia, with her past trauma and desperation to belong somewhere, could be ripe for conversion.
There are many points of view and several timelines that bounced around too much for my taste. It was very slow going for not a whole lot of payoff at the end.
You may enjoy it more than I did, but this book was just not for me.
My thanks to Tor Books for the paperback.
I was expecting more of a folk horror than what I got out of this book. This is more a story of cult-like behavior and how someone like Celia, with her past trauma and desperation to belong somewhere, could be ripe for conversion.
There are many points of view and several timelines that bounced around too much for my taste. It was very slow going for not a whole lot of payoff at the end.
You may enjoy it more than I did, but this book was just not for me.
My thanks to Tor Books for the paperback.
Did Not Finish
April 4, 2026dnf @ 41%
I was hating this from pretty much the start, but this is an arc so I wanted to give it a good go. I probably would have dnf'd at like 15% if it were not. I told myself to get to 40%, and I made it at 41%. I never started liking it any more.
This book is clearly written in anticipation of a limited series adaptation. All this jumping around would not feel so out of place in a tv show with a lot of moving parts, but this is a book. It's so ridiculously slow and long that I got this far in without anything really happening. There are too many pov's (who even are some of you??), too many time jumps, way too long, and too little happening.
Thank you to Tor, Sarah Gailey, and NetGalley for an early copy.
I was hating this from pretty much the start, but this is an arc so I wanted to give it a good go. I probably would have dnf'd at like 15% if it were not. I told myself to get to 40%, and I made it at 41%. I never started liking it any more.
This book is clearly written in anticipation of a limited series adaptation. All this jumping around would not feel so out of place in a tv show with a lot of moving parts, but this is a book. It's so ridiculously slow and long that I got this far in without anything really happening. There are too many pov's (who even are some of you??), too many time jumps, way too long, and too little happening.
Thank you to Tor, Sarah Gailey, and NetGalley for an early copy.
February 12, 2026
This novel immediately felt foreboding and eerie. It wastes no time taking you to the isolated island where Celia is hoping to experience another way of life and be transformed by their beliefs, erasing her grief and making her into a more confident person. The characters have a lot going on, both internally and with each other. Their dynamics are complicated and take a while to figure out, (if you manage to figure them out at all.) Gailey clearly knew these people well, and that’s admirable. I was locked in at first, but I admit that as the story stretched on my attention waned a bit.
The constant switches in POV didn’t help. I was confused, in the beginning, about exactly what was going on with the backstory and how the characters related to each other. There were also steps back and forth between the past and present, in various increments. That made my head spin a bit and remained an issue throughout the read.
Celia’s story was the most interesting to me by far, and every time I got truly invested the chapter would switch to a different timeframe and a new POV. I did grow frustrated with this after a while. I kind of felt like the book was edging me, but not in a fun way.
I also had trouble following some of the dialogue, especially the things that Easy said. But I figured it was probably manipulative cult stuff that was over my head. I hated pretty much all of these people. It was easy to understand why Celia ended up in this situation and she was definitely sympathetic, but all the members of the Cove were awful. I also don’t fully understand what their deal was. Their values were fairly clear through dialogue and action, but as far as why the Cove was founded and what their greater purpose was? I still couldn’t tell you.
I know that Midsommar comparisons get thrown around for a lot of books now, but there is a part of this one that feels like a direct homage to Midsommar. This book has its unsettling moments for sure, but they were pretty spread out. It was interesting to see brainwashing techniques at work. (Gailey did the research.) And for the record, my theory about their salt source turned out to be correct.
This book is very well written, and it seems to have so many layers that I may have missed a few things. But I think I might be done with stories about cults in general. I’m tired of reading about frustrating mob behavior and people suffering as a result of it. I did appreciate the afterword quite a bit.
The best book I’ve read by Gailey so far is still “Spread Me.”
I’m rating this 3.5 stars. There was one horrific set piece near the end that I absolutely loved, and I wanted more of that. Gailey writes books that are very complex and no two stories are similar to each other. She’s also good at body horror! (There wasn’t enough of it to suit me in this one.) I will continue to read her work.
Thank you to Netgalley and to the Publisher for this ARC in exchange for an honest review! All opinions are my own.
Biggest TW: *Loss of pregnancy (graphic), Harm to children.
The constant switches in POV didn’t help. I was confused, in the beginning, about exactly what was going on with the backstory and how the characters related to each other. There were also steps back and forth between the past and present, in various increments. That made my head spin a bit and remained an issue throughout the read.
Celia’s story was the most interesting to me by far, and every time I got truly invested the chapter would switch to a different timeframe and a new POV. I did grow frustrated with this after a while. I kind of felt like the book was edging me, but not in a fun way.
I also had trouble following some of the dialogue, especially the things that Easy said. But I figured it was probably manipulative cult stuff that was over my head. I hated pretty much all of these people. It was easy to understand why Celia ended up in this situation and she was definitely sympathetic, but all the members of the Cove were awful. I also don’t fully understand what their deal was. Their values were fairly clear through dialogue and action, but as far as why the Cove was founded and what their greater purpose was? I still couldn’t tell you.
I know that Midsommar comparisons get thrown around for a lot of books now, but there is a part of this one that feels like a direct homage to Midsommar. This book has its unsettling moments for sure, but they were pretty spread out. It was interesting to see brainwashing techniques at work. (Gailey did the research.) And for the record, my theory about their salt source turned out to be correct.
This book is very well written, and it seems to have so many layers that I may have missed a few things. But I think I might be done with stories about cults in general. I’m tired of reading about frustrating mob behavior and people suffering as a result of it. I did appreciate the afterword quite a bit.
The best book I’ve read by Gailey so far is still “Spread Me.”
I’m rating this 3.5 stars. There was one horrific set piece near the end that I absolutely loved, and I wanted more of that. Gailey writes books that are very complex and no two stories are similar to each other. She’s also good at body horror! (There wasn’t enough of it to suit me in this one.) I will continue to read her work.
Thank you to Netgalley and to the Publisher for this ARC in exchange for an honest review! All opinions are my own.
Biggest TW: *Loss of pregnancy (graphic), Harm to children.
April 22, 2026
Thank you to Tor Publishing Group for providing this ARC for review consideration via NetGalley. All opinions are my own.
Make Me Better by Sarah Gailey is an atmospheric, wellness retreat based horror story. It becomes clear very early on in the story that the intentional community isolated on an island in Lake Vetiver is much more sinister than it appears, but it’s is only as the book goes on that you get the full extent of how and why. Make Me Better poses the question of what we’re willing to overlook in searching for self improvement. When you’re desperate to feel better, more connected, what can you explain away?
This book is somewhat different than a lot of the other offerings in the horror novel space. Rather than a tense, twisting story that relies slightly on shock, the pretense of this story is pretty evident from the beginning. Make Me Better is like a seeing a video of a natural disaster. You know exactly how it’s going to end, and yet there’s something strangely and sickly compelling about watching it unfold. It’s high control cult and the main character is a deeply vulnerable, desperate person. The writing is on the wall (or the page). That being said, I found that story was pretty compelling even without some great crescendo and some relatively predictable beats.
One of the things that I think Gailey does best is the character vignettes of some of the side players. While it can be a little confusing jumping from timeline to timeline, the actual characterizations are striking. Harvey is deeply traumatized and harbors great grief, which he struggles to conform to the community standards. Easy, once a screw up compared unfavorably to Adelaide, relishes the cruelty and rigidity that comes with her own power. Edith, a cofounder and deep adherent to the community standards secretly harbors her own act of rebellion.
Each of these characters shows how dangerous a high control group can be. Those born outside the group are damaged or in search of something profound, and those born in the community don’t know a way of life without rigid rules. It’s clear from these character based chapters how hypocritical the laws can be, and how they’re weaponized for the empowerment of some.
The only qualm that I had was that I felt like the book showed all its cards too early. While I really enjoyed the slow and very agonizing way Celia falls into the hands of the cult, ignoring all of the red flags, it did mean that the ending did fall a little bit flat.
Symbolically, I understood the ending, but felt that if some other details hadn’t been shared so early that it would have had more emotional impact.
I would recommend this to someone who doesn’t mind a more slow paced, inevitable kind of horror story. It would also be good for anyone who’s enjoyed the movies Midsommar or The Wicker Man. 4/10, please don’t joint a cult.
Make Me Better by Sarah Gailey is an atmospheric, wellness retreat based horror story. It becomes clear very early on in the story that the intentional community isolated on an island in Lake Vetiver is much more sinister than it appears, but it’s is only as the book goes on that you get the full extent of how and why. Make Me Better poses the question of what we’re willing to overlook in searching for self improvement. When you’re desperate to feel better, more connected, what can you explain away?
This book is somewhat different than a lot of the other offerings in the horror novel space. Rather than a tense, twisting story that relies slightly on shock, the pretense of this story is pretty evident from the beginning. Make Me Better is like a seeing a video of a natural disaster. You know exactly how it’s going to end, and yet there’s something strangely and sickly compelling about watching it unfold. It’s high control cult and the main character is a deeply vulnerable, desperate person. The writing is on the wall (or the page). That being said, I found that story was pretty compelling even without some great crescendo and some relatively predictable beats.
One of the things that I think Gailey does best is the character vignettes of some of the side players. While it can be a little confusing jumping from timeline to timeline, the actual characterizations are striking. Harvey is deeply traumatized and harbors great grief, which he struggles to conform to the community standards. Easy, once a screw up compared unfavorably to Adelaide, relishes the cruelty and rigidity that comes with her own power. Edith, a cofounder and deep adherent to the community standards secretly harbors her own act of rebellion.
Each of these characters shows how dangerous a high control group can be. Those born outside the group are damaged or in search of something profound, and those born in the community don’t know a way of life without rigid rules. It’s clear from these character based chapters how hypocritical the laws can be, and how they’re weaponized for the empowerment of some.
The only qualm that I had was that I felt like the book showed all its cards too early. While I really enjoyed the slow and very agonizing way Celia falls into the hands of the cult, ignoring all of the red flags, it did mean that the ending did fall a little bit flat.
Symbolically, I understood the ending, but felt that if some other details hadn’t been shared so early that it would have had more emotional impact.
I would recommend this to someone who doesn’t mind a more slow paced, inevitable kind of horror story. It would also be good for anyone who’s enjoyed the movies Midsommar or The Wicker Man. 4/10, please don’t joint a cult.
July 2, 2026
A self-help island that offers rejuvenating waters and special drinks, honey, and food. Celia is there to "fix" herself. She doesn't want to want everything so bad anymore. She doesn't want to be so sad about the things she's experienced anymore. But she's also looking for a friend who went to the island and didn't come back.
Interesting idea but a story that I struggled to stay drawn into. The timeline jumps back and forth and I kept losing the when/where/and who I was listening to, as it wove from one person's story to another. I think if this had just been the story of the island and the sisters, I would have loved it so much more. As it was, though, it felt long and drawn out. There were so many shocking parts but they were bogged down in details.
I also struggled with the narrator on the audio. She's breathy, warbles her voice and makes every character sound scared and trembling, even when the story doesn't match. It's the second story I've struggled with this narrator so I think it's safe to say it's a me problem.
If you like cult stories - about how easily you can fall into one and how dark they can get, then you might give this one a try!
A huge thank you to the author and publisher for providing an e-ARC via Netgalley. This does not affect my opinion regarding the book.
Interesting idea but a story that I struggled to stay drawn into. The timeline jumps back and forth and I kept losing the when/where/and who I was listening to, as it wove from one person's story to another. I think if this had just been the story of the island and the sisters, I would have loved it so much more. As it was, though, it felt long and drawn out. There were so many shocking parts but they were bogged down in details.
I also struggled with the narrator on the audio. She's breathy, warbles her voice and makes every character sound scared and trembling, even when the story doesn't match. It's the second story I've struggled with this narrator so I think it's safe to say it's a me problem.
If you like cult stories - about how easily you can fall into one and how dark they can get, then you might give this one a try!
A huge thank you to the author and publisher for providing an e-ARC via Netgalley. This does not affect my opinion regarding the book.
May 31, 2026
I had tried multiple times to come back to this audiobook, and failed to engage each time. The narrator, Xe Sands, has done a perfectly competent and thoughtful presentation of the novel, but otherwise there wasn't anything to keep me interested in Celia's story in Sarah Gailey's Make Me Better. I managed to finish it with the speed cranked way up, but only to satisfy myself that there wasn't an intriguing and redemptive part down the line. I didn't miss much.
I'm not a religious person, and find cults to be particularly curious things. Never understanding the lure of culty self-help offerings or the desperation of people to connect to something bigger. However, you turn that weirdness into a horror story, that those who are supposed to help are "evil" and doing awful things to gain followers, and count me 100% TOTALLY IN for the insane ride. That's what I thought I was getting in this book, but it did not hit the mark. Not enough happened and waiting for action or horror to happen was tedious.
I wish the marketing for this book had been more truthful -- or honestly, just more forthcoming -- with regard to what I was getting. We were promised a "compulsively listenable" and eerie horror novel, but instead it was slow and only vaguely creepy. I don't fault the book, but rather the people who put it out there and misrepresented it.
I'm not a religious person, and find cults to be particularly curious things. Never understanding the lure of culty self-help offerings or the desperation of people to connect to something bigger. However, you turn that weirdness into a horror story, that those who are supposed to help are "evil" and doing awful things to gain followers, and count me 100% TOTALLY IN for the insane ride. That's what I thought I was getting in this book, but it did not hit the mark. Not enough happened and waiting for action or horror to happen was tedious.
I wish the marketing for this book had been more truthful -- or honestly, just more forthcoming -- with regard to what I was getting. We were promised a "compulsively listenable" and eerie horror novel, but instead it was slow and only vaguely creepy. I don't fault the book, but rather the people who put it out there and misrepresented it.
May 11, 2026
Got an arc through Libro.FM 4.5/5
Man.
I haven’t read a Gailey book since Magic for Liars but I really liked that one and what a book to return with. I finished this late last night and I’m glad I took some time to sit with it because it gave me time to think on it and the more I think the more it makes me sad. In a good way though, because the horror in this horror novel is very obvious: midsommar ass cult shenanigans, evil coral, etc, but when you think about it longer you realized how many people have to have failed so many of the characters for them to feel like this is where they belonged. FFs I had to stop in the middle of the grocery store when I realized that Edith would’ve been 16 “married” to someone in seminary school like girl you should’ve been doing math homework.
That sadness is what makes the underrated horror all the more sinister, because they all legitimately believe THIS is the better option.
For a book that jumps around in time as much as this does I think I would’ve liked another few vectors on “Dad” and the founding of the cult, but overall a solidly disturbing story.
Man.
I haven’t read a Gailey book since Magic for Liars but I really liked that one and what a book to return with. I finished this late last night and I’m glad I took some time to sit with it because it gave me time to think on it and the more I think the more it makes me sad. In a good way though, because the horror in this horror novel is very obvious: midsommar ass cult shenanigans, evil coral, etc, but when you think about it longer you realized how many people have to have failed so many of the characters for them to feel like this is where they belonged. FFs I had to stop in the middle of the grocery store when I realized that Edith would’ve been 16 “married” to someone in seminary school like girl you should’ve been doing math homework.
That sadness is what makes the underrated horror all the more sinister, because they all legitimately believe THIS is the better option.
For a book that jumps around in time as much as this does I think I would’ve liked another few vectors on “Dad” and the founding of the cult, but overall a solidly disturbing story.
June 4, 2026
Make Me Better is, unfortunately, an example of a book with a deliciously creepy and compelling concept that fails in its execution. I came for the creepy cult vibes, I left feeling confused, bored, and unfulfilled.
The book is about Celia, who is struggling in her life in a variety of ways. In her quest for meaning and belonging, she travels to Kindred Cove for the Salt Festival hosted every year by the secluded community who lives on the island. After the Salt Festival, her hosts promise she will be not just healed, but completely transformed and part of something greater than herself. Suffering doesn’t exist on Kindred Cove, and neither does grief, because the residents believe nothing is ever truly lost.
Sarah Gailey’s writing is moody and atmospheric; you immediately get a sense of isolation and disquiet, a feeling that something isn’t quite right at Kindred Cove. Xe Sands’ narration enhances those feelings immensely; Xe is one of my favorite audiobook performers because her narration is always so intense and emotionally charged. I honestly think that if I hadn’t been so sucked in by Xe’s narration, I would have put this one aside early on.
Make Me Better is mis-marketed as horror. Although there are some decidedly unnerving elements of the cult that come into play, this feels more like a slow-burn character study than the vibey folk horror I was expecting. It delves into the psychology of cults, exploring the type of people who might be primed for recruitment and how they are preyed upon, the tactics leaders use to seize and maintain control, the gaslighting and brainwashing. And that’s all fascinating, but what I didn’t find fascinating were the characters themselves, or the way the book is structured.
There are multiple points-of-view – way more than there need to be – which allows for less page time with each character, resulting in a lack of emotional connection with them. Along with the switching POVs, there are also abrupt timeline shifts, so the reader is forced to constantly keep track of where we are in time and who we’re with. It was so confusing, and after a while it became exhausting. Perhaps multiple narrators would’ve been a better choice for a structure like this, but I’m still not sure it would’ve worked for me overall. The entire book felt erratic and simultaneously way, way too long.
Make Me Better didn’t make me better in any way, unfortunately. Thank you to Macmillan Audio for the complimentary listening opportunity.
The book is about Celia, who is struggling in her life in a variety of ways. In her quest for meaning and belonging, she travels to Kindred Cove for the Salt Festival hosted every year by the secluded community who lives on the island. After the Salt Festival, her hosts promise she will be not just healed, but completely transformed and part of something greater than herself. Suffering doesn’t exist on Kindred Cove, and neither does grief, because the residents believe nothing is ever truly lost.
Sarah Gailey’s writing is moody and atmospheric; you immediately get a sense of isolation and disquiet, a feeling that something isn’t quite right at Kindred Cove. Xe Sands’ narration enhances those feelings immensely; Xe is one of my favorite audiobook performers because her narration is always so intense and emotionally charged. I honestly think that if I hadn’t been so sucked in by Xe’s narration, I would have put this one aside early on.
Make Me Better is mis-marketed as horror. Although there are some decidedly unnerving elements of the cult that come into play, this feels more like a slow-burn character study than the vibey folk horror I was expecting. It delves into the psychology of cults, exploring the type of people who might be primed for recruitment and how they are preyed upon, the tactics leaders use to seize and maintain control, the gaslighting and brainwashing. And that’s all fascinating, but what I didn’t find fascinating were the characters themselves, or the way the book is structured.
There are multiple points-of-view – way more than there need to be – which allows for less page time with each character, resulting in a lack of emotional connection with them. Along with the switching POVs, there are also abrupt timeline shifts, so the reader is forced to constantly keep track of where we are in time and who we’re with. It was so confusing, and after a while it became exhausting. Perhaps multiple narrators would’ve been a better choice for a structure like this, but I’m still not sure it would’ve worked for me overall. The entire book felt erratic and simultaneously way, way too long.
Make Me Better didn’t make me better in any way, unfortunately. Thank you to Macmillan Audio for the complimentary listening opportunity.
May 29, 2026
Rounding up, because when I wasn’t reading this book, I was thinking about the next time I could read this book. Big fan of weird cult stories, and this one worked for me. I definitely felt the Midsommar vibes in this community, and I could practically taste salt every time I opened this book.
Some of the time jumps were a little hard to follow, especially if I fell asleep reading and came back to the book later.
Some of the time jumps were a little hard to follow, especially if I fell asleep reading and came back to the book later.
May 23, 2026
One of my anticipated new releases for this year. In Make Me Better, Celia signs up to join a festival in a secretive and insular community in hopes that they will heal her crushing loneliness and grief for her infertility. As Celia submerges into the world of Kindred Cove, she begins to realize that something is wrong—but does it matter if they offer her a home?
Make Me Better is a horror novel, but not one that relies on shocking reveals. From very early on, it's obvious that Kindred Cove is a cult, and there's something wrong with the lake water. With the horror elements made plain, most of the real tension is in watching Kindred Cove's young leader Easy slowly manipulate Celia, using Celia's attraction and starvation for attention against her. It's about the slow tragedy of watching Celia gradually become somebody who will ignore the evidence of her own eyes in exchange for the approval of the community. Not to mention the group's concerning ideas about pregnancy and childraising, a topic that's already deeply fraught for Celia... The community of Kindred Cove is fleshed out through multiple perspective chapters from other members, including former golden child Adelaide, grimly observant Edith, and grieving Caleb. Giving the other characters a chance to speak made it clear that many of these people were once victims like Celia. I enjoyed the overall effect of the novel, but I think the plot could have been tighter. Ultimately, I question if this was a book that needed to be five hundred pages long...
Make Me Better is a horror novel, but not one that relies on shocking reveals. From very early on, it's obvious that Kindred Cove is a cult, and there's something wrong with the lake water. With the horror elements made plain, most of the real tension is in watching Kindred Cove's young leader Easy slowly manipulate Celia, using Celia's attraction and starvation for attention against her. It's about the slow tragedy of watching Celia gradually become somebody who will ignore the evidence of her own eyes in exchange for the approval of the community. Not to mention the group's concerning ideas about pregnancy and childraising, a topic that's already deeply fraught for Celia... The community of Kindred Cove is fleshed out through multiple perspective chapters from other members, including former golden child Adelaide, grimly observant Edith, and grieving Caleb. Giving the other characters a chance to speak made it clear that many of these people were once victims like Celia. I enjoyed the overall effect of the novel, but I think the plot could have been tighter. Ultimately, I question if this was a book that needed to be five hundred pages long...
July 7, 2026
I wasn't entirely sure what to expect going into this audiobook, but the premise immediately caught my attention. An isolated community, a mysterious festival and cult vibes? Sign me up.
The story follows Celia, who is struggling with loneliness, wants so bad a family and is looking for a place where she finally feels like she belongs. Hoping to find healing, she travels to Kindred Cove to attend the annual Salt Festival, hosted by a secluded community that promises transformation and a new beginning.
If you've followed my reviews for a while, you'll know that I read books about cults. I'm always curious to find more about what draws people in, what are they searching for and how these communities manage to make people feel like they've finally found a home. I thought this book explored that aspect quite well. It was easy to understand why Celia felt seen and accepted, even if I personally thought she embraced their beliefs a little too quickly.
I also liked that we got glimpses into the perspectives of several members of the community. At times, though, I felt there were a few too many POVs, and it occasionally became a little overwhelming to keep track of everyone.
As for the horror label, I personally wouldn't really call this horror. For me, it leaned much more toward psychological suspense, focusing on manipulation, belonging and the unsettling atmosphere surrounding the cult.
My biggest issue, surprisingly, was the audiobook itself. I usually have fantastic experiences with Macmillan Audio productions, but for some reason this one just didn't work for me. I'm not entirely sure whether it was the narration, the overall audio production, or simply that I struggled to connect with the story in this format.
Overall, this wasn't a bad book by any means. It simply never fully clicked with me, despite having a premise I normally enjoy.
⭐️⭐️⭐️
Thank you to NetGalley and Macmillan Audio for the opportunity to listen to and review this audiobook.
https://turnthepagewithana.blogspot.c...
The story follows Celia, who is struggling with loneliness, wants so bad a family and is looking for a place where she finally feels like she belongs. Hoping to find healing, she travels to Kindred Cove to attend the annual Salt Festival, hosted by a secluded community that promises transformation and a new beginning.
If you've followed my reviews for a while, you'll know that I read books about cults. I'm always curious to find more about what draws people in, what are they searching for and how these communities manage to make people feel like they've finally found a home. I thought this book explored that aspect quite well. It was easy to understand why Celia felt seen and accepted, even if I personally thought she embraced their beliefs a little too quickly.
I also liked that we got glimpses into the perspectives of several members of the community. At times, though, I felt there were a few too many POVs, and it occasionally became a little overwhelming to keep track of everyone.
As for the horror label, I personally wouldn't really call this horror. For me, it leaned much more toward psychological suspense, focusing on manipulation, belonging and the unsettling atmosphere surrounding the cult.
My biggest issue, surprisingly, was the audiobook itself. I usually have fantastic experiences with Macmillan Audio productions, but for some reason this one just didn't work for me. I'm not entirely sure whether it was the narration, the overall audio production, or simply that I struggled to connect with the story in this format.
Overall, this wasn't a bad book by any means. It simply never fully clicked with me, despite having a premise I normally enjoy.
⭐️⭐️⭐️
Thank you to NetGalley and Macmillan Audio for the opportunity to listen to and review this audiobook.
https://turnthepagewithana.blogspot.c...
July 12, 2026
Love the narrator not the story. 2.4 🌟
July 8, 2026
actual rating: 2.5/5 stars
read for the tarot readathon 2026: 2 of pentacles (read a book where the character faces a big decision)
review to come.
read for the tarot readathon 2026: 2 of pentacles (read a book where the character faces a big decision)
review to come.
June 9, 2026
I am sure I have said this before: every Sarah Gailey book is a slightly different experience. I never know quite what I’ll get. All of their books blend science fiction, horror, and contemporary fiction in such unique amounts. I actually would have a hard time pointing you to a favourite—
Spread Me
appears to be the winner, simply by dint of the five stars it received from me at the start of this year, yet that might have been shock. I think Sarah Gailey is one of those rare authors where I love their writing more than I love any one of their individual books, if that makes sense. Make Me Better is no exception. Gailey explores cult dynamics while also digging into this idea of belonging to something greater than oneself that was so central to Spread Me (though the two, as far as I can tell, are not related).
Celia is grieving, and she wants the pain to stop. She signs up for the Salt Festival, an annual excursion by invitation to a reclusive island, Kindred Cove, whose inhabitants live a simple life. Celia met someone from there, and she’s hoping to reconnect with her and find … something. Healing. Wholeness. Yet as the week of the Salt Festival continues, peppered with copious flashbacks to years and even decades prior for history on Kindred Cove’s founding, it’s quickly apparent there is a lot more simmering beneath the surface of this secluded sandbar on a lake whose waters and reefs defy analysis.
Right from the start, this book screams “cult shit.” If the blurb from the inimitable Courtney Summers, author of The Project , wasn’t sufficient, the very beginning where Celia and the gang have to give up all their phones and personal belongings upon arrival should ring some alarm bells. Then people start to vanish, but Celia just gets told they are “in another group” that day. And Celia keeps trying to duck her minder, only to stumble across weird stuff that, yeah, screams cult. This is Grade A thriller movie fuel.
The flashbacks further enhance this atmosphere. As Celia’s story continues in the present, Gailey takes us into the past of many of the island’s inhabitants. Some of their stories take place on the mainland, where we see who they were before they moved to Kindred Cove. Hovering in the background, presence always felt yet never actually seen on the page, is Dad. He’s the mysterious founder of this cult, and I love how we never meet him. It’s always just, “Dad did this,” “Dad said that,” and through these references Gailey establishes the absolute chokehold this man had over his followers. One question I was left with after reading was whether Dad knew about, even understood, the nature of the island/lake before he established the cult there, or if it was just a happy accident.
I won’t go into many details about the island, the lake, and the mysterious reef, for that would be telling. Suffice it to say, the science fictional parts of this story are extremely subtle—more so even than in Just Like Home up until the final quarter of the book, where they get ever-so-slightly more prominent. Like, if you are someone who reads thrillers about cults yet doesn’t want to read science fiction, you would still enjoy this book.
At first I was disappointed these speculative aspects were so subtle. It feels like you can excise them and the book would largely be the same. Yet my suspicion is Gailey wants to draw attention to the liminal space in which cults operate. Every cult is built on a myth, a Big Lie if you will, that relies in a belief on transcendence beyond our humanity. Some of those myths are built off existing religions. Some of these myths are spun, out of whole cloth, and then cloaked in pseudoreligious or spiritual trappings. In the case of Make Me Better, the speculative aspects of the story reify that transcendence in a way that emphasizes both the horror and the depth of the desperation Celia feels.
Which brings me, of course, to our protagonist. Privileged basic bitch Celia. Make Me Better is a masterclass in tone if only because Gailey comes sooooo close to making this novel a smirking satire of privileged white women, yet they firmly remain on the other side of the line. Yes, we are supposed to sympathize with Celia—because that is the point of this book’s exploration of cult shit. Unlike so many of the other characters we learn about through flashbacks, Celia is not particularly down on her luck. Cults go after privileged people, people with money, as evidenced by the Audrey subplot, because that is how they sustain themselves. Just because you are successful doesn’t make you immune. Is Celia more amenable to falling for cult shit because she’s a Stanley-cup-toting, yoga-attending, MLM groupie? (Some of those descriptors are accurate.) Sure. Is her idea about having a child to fix all her problems completely laughably incorrect to someone like me, a single aroace woman who is childfree by choice? Yes.
But fundamentally, Celia goes to Kindred Cove because she feels broken. She has played by the rules all her life, followed the dictates of patriarchy and capitalism, tried to be an entrepreneur and tried her best to find a man and make a baby and do everything else a good girl ought to do—and it has brought her nothing but misery and desolation. So of course she’s going to run off and join a cult. It makes perfect sense, and it makes Celia an excellent protagonist. She’s gullible enough to go to Kindred Cove and generally accept what Early and the others feed her—yet she is also driven and suspicious enough to poke around, question, tug at the fraying tapestry that is the Cove’s security and secrets.
There’s so much I could discuss about the Cove. How the room in the Old House made me think of the Box from that DS9 episode where Sisko and O’Brien crash on the agrarian throwback cult planet. How the abysmal treatment of Jesse made me want to defend her at all costs. How life within the cult has reshaped some people so completely they view casual murder as justified. But what I really want to focus on is how much the cult gets right. For example, children on Kindred Cove aren’t raised by their parents. The nuclear family has been dismantled, and children are a community concern. Now, I am not advocating that we get rid of families—nor is Gailey—but it’s a great example of how cult propaganda is often founded upon legitimate discontent with our society. Celia wants a family of her own, wants to belong somewhere, and that hasn’t happened for her. So she has come to a place that radically challenges her very idea of what it means to be a family, to belong. And outside of a cult, I think this is good. As a queer person who, again, won’t be starting a family of my own in any traditional sense, I think the idea that we should challenge Eurocentric views on childrearing and social units is fundamentally sound. The cult, however, takes it way too far.
And that’s the rub, as they say. Wouldn’t it be paradise if … except it’s not. The fraying edges of Kindred Cove creep into every chapter, from the near-constant reminders of the island’s precarious food situation to the unshocking revelations about William’s off-island proclivities and activities when he does a supply run or deals with nosy researchers. I’d say no cult is truly stable, but it might actually be more accurate to say no society is truly stable, and one of a cult’s biggest problems is it tries to craft a fully functioning society in microcosm from a bunch of randos it has cobbled together. The difficulty level to achieve stability skyrockets, so it isn’t that surprising when a cult implodes.
Yet for all that Gailey explores these tantalizing ideas about cult behaviour, the dissolution of familial ties in favour of communal and collective ones, the weird and messed up crime and punishment of this island, Make Me Better always comes back to Celia. This really is her story, all other appearances aside, and Gailey grounds that in the final chapters. Celia makes a choice. I won’t spoil it. I’ll come back to this review next year, having forgotten the ending, and curse myself—but I think it is … interesting. Not surprising, especially given how Spread Me ends—I think Gailey enjoys delivering us into discomfort.
Wow, will you look at that? I’ve talked myself into giving this book four stars. I was originally going to give it three, but I can’t really think of much I want to say in terms of serious critique. It’s missing a little something for me personally to give it a five-star read, but this is as solid a Gailey book as I have read so far, and I highly recommend.
Originally posted on Kara.Reviews.
Celia is grieving, and she wants the pain to stop. She signs up for the Salt Festival, an annual excursion by invitation to a reclusive island, Kindred Cove, whose inhabitants live a simple life. Celia met someone from there, and she’s hoping to reconnect with her and find … something. Healing. Wholeness. Yet as the week of the Salt Festival continues, peppered with copious flashbacks to years and even decades prior for history on Kindred Cove’s founding, it’s quickly apparent there is a lot more simmering beneath the surface of this secluded sandbar on a lake whose waters and reefs defy analysis.
Right from the start, this book screams “cult shit.” If the blurb from the inimitable Courtney Summers, author of The Project , wasn’t sufficient, the very beginning where Celia and the gang have to give up all their phones and personal belongings upon arrival should ring some alarm bells. Then people start to vanish, but Celia just gets told they are “in another group” that day. And Celia keeps trying to duck her minder, only to stumble across weird stuff that, yeah, screams cult. This is Grade A thriller movie fuel.
The flashbacks further enhance this atmosphere. As Celia’s story continues in the present, Gailey takes us into the past of many of the island’s inhabitants. Some of their stories take place on the mainland, where we see who they were before they moved to Kindred Cove. Hovering in the background, presence always felt yet never actually seen on the page, is Dad. He’s the mysterious founder of this cult, and I love how we never meet him. It’s always just, “Dad did this,” “Dad said that,” and through these references Gailey establishes the absolute chokehold this man had over his followers. One question I was left with after reading was whether Dad knew about, even understood, the nature of the island/lake before he established the cult there, or if it was just a happy accident.
I won’t go into many details about the island, the lake, and the mysterious reef, for that would be telling. Suffice it to say, the science fictional parts of this story are extremely subtle—more so even than in Just Like Home up until the final quarter of the book, where they get ever-so-slightly more prominent. Like, if you are someone who reads thrillers about cults yet doesn’t want to read science fiction, you would still enjoy this book.
At first I was disappointed these speculative aspects were so subtle. It feels like you can excise them and the book would largely be the same. Yet my suspicion is Gailey wants to draw attention to the liminal space in which cults operate. Every cult is built on a myth, a Big Lie if you will, that relies in a belief on transcendence beyond our humanity. Some of those myths are built off existing religions. Some of these myths are spun, out of whole cloth, and then cloaked in pseudoreligious or spiritual trappings. In the case of Make Me Better, the speculative aspects of the story reify that transcendence in a way that emphasizes both the horror and the depth of the desperation Celia feels.
Which brings me, of course, to our protagonist. Privileged basic bitch Celia. Make Me Better is a masterclass in tone if only because Gailey comes sooooo close to making this novel a smirking satire of privileged white women, yet they firmly remain on the other side of the line. Yes, we are supposed to sympathize with Celia—because that is the point of this book’s exploration of cult shit. Unlike so many of the other characters we learn about through flashbacks, Celia is not particularly down on her luck. Cults go after privileged people, people with money, as evidenced by the Audrey subplot, because that is how they sustain themselves. Just because you are successful doesn’t make you immune. Is Celia more amenable to falling for cult shit because she’s a Stanley-cup-toting, yoga-attending, MLM groupie? (Some of those descriptors are accurate.) Sure. Is her idea about having a child to fix all her problems completely laughably incorrect to someone like me, a single aroace woman who is childfree by choice? Yes.
But fundamentally, Celia goes to Kindred Cove because she feels broken. She has played by the rules all her life, followed the dictates of patriarchy and capitalism, tried to be an entrepreneur and tried her best to find a man and make a baby and do everything else a good girl ought to do—and it has brought her nothing but misery and desolation. So of course she’s going to run off and join a cult. It makes perfect sense, and it makes Celia an excellent protagonist. She’s gullible enough to go to Kindred Cove and generally accept what Early and the others feed her—yet she is also driven and suspicious enough to poke around, question, tug at the fraying tapestry that is the Cove’s security and secrets.
There’s so much I could discuss about the Cove. How the room in the Old House made me think of the Box from that DS9 episode where Sisko and O’Brien crash on the agrarian throwback cult planet. How the abysmal treatment of Jesse made me want to defend her at all costs. How life within the cult has reshaped some people so completely they view casual murder as justified. But what I really want to focus on is how much the cult gets right. For example, children on Kindred Cove aren’t raised by their parents. The nuclear family has been dismantled, and children are a community concern. Now, I am not advocating that we get rid of families—nor is Gailey—but it’s a great example of how cult propaganda is often founded upon legitimate discontent with our society. Celia wants a family of her own, wants to belong somewhere, and that hasn’t happened for her. So she has come to a place that radically challenges her very idea of what it means to be a family, to belong. And outside of a cult, I think this is good. As a queer person who, again, won’t be starting a family of my own in any traditional sense, I think the idea that we should challenge Eurocentric views on childrearing and social units is fundamentally sound. The cult, however, takes it way too far.
And that’s the rub, as they say. Wouldn’t it be paradise if … except it’s not. The fraying edges of Kindred Cove creep into every chapter, from the near-constant reminders of the island’s precarious food situation to the unshocking revelations about William’s off-island proclivities and activities when he does a supply run or deals with nosy researchers. I’d say no cult is truly stable, but it might actually be more accurate to say no society is truly stable, and one of a cult’s biggest problems is it tries to craft a fully functioning society in microcosm from a bunch of randos it has cobbled together. The difficulty level to achieve stability skyrockets, so it isn’t that surprising when a cult implodes.
Yet for all that Gailey explores these tantalizing ideas about cult behaviour, the dissolution of familial ties in favour of communal and collective ones, the weird and messed up crime and punishment of this island, Make Me Better always comes back to Celia. This really is her story, all other appearances aside, and Gailey grounds that in the final chapters. Celia makes a choice. I won’t spoil it. I’ll come back to this review next year, having forgotten the ending, and curse myself—but I think it is … interesting. Not surprising, especially given how Spread Me ends—I think Gailey enjoys delivering us into discomfort.
Wow, will you look at that? I’ve talked myself into giving this book four stars. I was originally going to give it three, but I can’t really think of much I want to say in terms of serious critique. It’s missing a little something for me personally to give it a five-star read, but this is as solid a Gailey book as I have read so far, and I highly recommend.
Originally posted on Kara.Reviews.
May 28, 2026
I loved this culty horror book! The characters felt so real and tangible, and I think Gailey really nailed the manipulative dialogue- Easy was a character that you wanted to love but knew you probably shouldn’t.
I could relate to and sympathize with Celia even as I had a few moments of frustration with her. The authors note at the end made me feel even deeper for Celia too- selfless, good people are the ones easiest to manipulate, it’s true!
The story is told slowly, with chapters changing narrators and timelines frequently. I found it hard to keep track of it all at times, but I think that was intentional? It certainly added to the sense of confusion, which is probably needed in order to manipulate someone, and I think this book was trying to work its manipulation on me!
Ultimately I enjoyed that there were so many different threads at work because it also gave a greater sense of the community. Reading this from the eyes of one narrator would have been a disservice to the story. The only thing I will say is that I’m still a little lost at the founding of it all- maybe I just missed that part?
Overall glad I read this and would recommend to anyone interested! I will definitely be recommending this book all summer. My only critique is a bit of slow pacing and confusion, but again that may have been purposeful!
I could relate to and sympathize with Celia even as I had a few moments of frustration with her. The authors note at the end made me feel even deeper for Celia too- selfless, good people are the ones easiest to manipulate, it’s true!
The story is told slowly, with chapters changing narrators and timelines frequently. I found it hard to keep track of it all at times, but I think that was intentional? It certainly added to the sense of confusion, which is probably needed in order to manipulate someone, and I think this book was trying to work its manipulation on me!
Ultimately I enjoyed that there were so many different threads at work because it also gave a greater sense of the community. Reading this from the eyes of one narrator would have been a disservice to the story. The only thing I will say is that I’m still a little lost at the founding of it all- maybe I just missed that part?
Overall glad I read this and would recommend to anyone interested! I will definitely be recommending this book all summer. My only critique is a bit of slow pacing and confusion, but again that may have been purposeful!
June 2, 2026
3.5 stars
This is a story about grief and ultimately, how people deal with it. The characters in this book definitely don’t handle grief in healthy ways. We have this pseudo-cult living on an island in the name of community, but their way of life is incredibly bleak.
We get the POVs of several of the island’s residents, but honestly, I think there were too many at times. I wasn’t interested in everyone’s personal history and found myself much more invested in the main character and what happened to her friend.
The ending surprised me and I liked the direction it took. Sometimes you just have to give in to the delusion. Overall, the pacing felt a bit slow, but I was genuinely interested in seeing where the story would go.
This is a story about grief and ultimately, how people deal with it. The characters in this book definitely don’t handle grief in healthy ways. We have this pseudo-cult living on an island in the name of community, but their way of life is incredibly bleak.
We get the POVs of several of the island’s residents, but honestly, I think there were too many at times. I wasn’t interested in everyone’s personal history and found myself much more invested in the main character and what happened to her friend.
The ending surprised me and I liked the direction it took. Sometimes you just have to give in to the delusion. Overall, the pacing felt a bit slow, but I was genuinely interested in seeing where the story would go.
May 24, 2026
4.75 stars
I thought this was a brilliant culty read.
https://www.tiktok.com/t/ZTBF8fHVE/
I thought this was a brilliant culty read.
https://www.tiktok.com/t/ZTBF8fHVE/
June 2, 2026
Celia can't get over her grief of being unable to have a baby or to forge quality relationships when she meets Adelaide at a support group. She learns of this small community living on an island in a lake known for their special salt. Once a year the secluded group allows a few select visitors to attend their Salt Festival and be healed. Celia believes this may be her one chance to get well. But visitors mysteriously vanish, she sees Adelaide but always just beyond her reach, and there's something wrong with the ever growing reef beneath the waters. Will Celia be cleansed, or is she in more peril than she realizes?
This is my third book of Sarah Gailey's, and once again I enjoyed her prose and story concepts. But while I really liked the fact that in Spread Me she kept it short and on point, this book had me wavering back and forth from wanting to see how it turned out to being totally over how clunky and off pace it would get. The general plot was terrific, the likening of it to movies like The Wicker Man and Midsommar are apt, but the narrative had major flaws.
For one thing, the book gave the impression it was mainly about Celia. She was a hard character to root for as she was so empty and bereft of herself. And the story is only partly about her, as there are numerous island characters whose stories are constantly bouncing back and forth between. Plus, there were way too many interludes and bounces back to the past, anywhere from three months to 30 years, usually coming right when something crucial was about to happen in the current timeline, making them feel like jarring speed bumps. And the vast majority of drops to the past adding nothing important to the overall narrative except more pages to bog down the story. Generously calling this 3* mainly because the story hidden beneath the padding was actually interesting.
This is my third book of Sarah Gailey's, and once again I enjoyed her prose and story concepts. But while I really liked the fact that in Spread Me she kept it short and on point, this book had me wavering back and forth from wanting to see how it turned out to being totally over how clunky and off pace it would get. The general plot was terrific, the likening of it to movies like The Wicker Man and Midsommar are apt, but the narrative had major flaws.
For one thing, the book gave the impression it was mainly about Celia. She was a hard character to root for as she was so empty and bereft of herself. And the story is only partly about her, as there are numerous island characters whose stories are constantly bouncing back and forth between. Plus, there were way too many interludes and bounces back to the past, anywhere from three months to 30 years, usually coming right when something crucial was about to happen in the current timeline, making them feel like jarring speed bumps. And the vast majority of drops to the past adding nothing important to the overall narrative except more pages to bog down the story. Generously calling this 3* mainly because the story hidden beneath the padding was actually interesting.
Did Not Finish
May 5, 2026DNF at 45%. I generally love cult stories and with the isolated island setting the story sounded right up my alley. Unfortunately I found myself really struggling to follow along with what was happening and maintain interest in the story. I didn't really enjoy the audio narration, and with so many characters plus alternating time lines to follow.... I just wasn't enjoying myself. Honestly, I've listened to a few audiobooks with this narrator and have had issues with all of them. I think I need to just steer clear at this point. I feel bad saying that but her voice and style just doesn't work for me. I am curious to try this again at some point though because Ive read a few other Sarah Gailey books and loved them, but it will need to be read with my eyes.
Thanks so much to netgalley and the publishers for access to an alc. Truly appreciated!
Thanks so much to netgalley and the publishers for access to an alc. Truly appreciated!
May 1, 2026
This is my bread and butter!!!!
Make Me Better is creepy, immersive, and completely addictive.
A remote island. A cult-like community. A promise to “fix” everything broken in you.
I was ALL IN.
Kindred Cove, the Salt Festival, the reef, the unsettling sense of belonging…I loved every piece of it. And the whole time, I felt both drawn in and slightly repulsed. Which is exactly what I want from a book like this.
Please give me more books that make me this uncomfortable!
Thank you NetGalley and Macmillan Audio for the chance to listen to this title in exchange for my honest review.
Make Me Better is creepy, immersive, and completely addictive.
A remote island. A cult-like community. A promise to “fix” everything broken in you.
I was ALL IN.
Kindred Cove, the Salt Festival, the reef, the unsettling sense of belonging…I loved every piece of it. And the whole time, I felt both drawn in and slightly repulsed. Which is exactly what I want from a book like this.
Please give me more books that make me this uncomfortable!
Thank you NetGalley and Macmillan Audio for the chance to listen to this title in exchange for my honest review.
May 15, 2026
Following several miscarriages with no family and few friends to support her, Celia goes to Kindred Cove in search of the healing they promise and the community described to her by one of its inhabitants. The path to healing is not straight, and the community of Kindred Cove begin to lead her down a mysterious path, assuring her that at the end she will finally be able to see herself.
I've only read one other book by Sarah Gailey, and if Spread Me didn't teach me to prepare for some truly weird stuff in their books, this one did. Strong Midsommar vibes but it is definitely a different situations since Kindred Cove was created within the last few generations. It's also only vaguely alluded to, but I'm pretty sure this book takes place in the near future which is kind of interesting especially considering it's not a big part of the story. I always think it's a mark of good writing and character development when the protagonist is making kind of wild decisions but you can't feel mad at them because you understand all the motivation behind it. I can't fault Celia for selling her soul for community because I would do the same in her place. There are some really great bone-chilling scene and interesting dynamics at play for sure.
My only critique is that there are just a lot of characters and flashbacks and it's honestly very difficult to keep straight. I couldn't confidently tell you what Caleb and Harvey's narrative arcs were and mixing up characters in different timelines also meant even in the present timeline I was picturing them as a wildly different age from what they were.
All in all, a great take on cult horror! I love the crazy stuff Gailey is doing and I look forward to their next release!
Thank you to Sarah Gailey and Tor Books for this ARC in exchange for my full, honest review!
Happy reading!
I've only read one other book by Sarah Gailey, and if Spread Me didn't teach me to prepare for some truly weird stuff in their books, this one did. Strong Midsommar vibes but it is definitely a different situations since Kindred Cove was created within the last few generations. It's also only vaguely alluded to, but I'm pretty sure this book takes place in the near future which is kind of interesting especially considering it's not a big part of the story. I always think it's a mark of good writing and character development when the protagonist is making kind of wild decisions but you can't feel mad at them because you understand all the motivation behind it. I can't fault Celia for selling her soul for community because I would do the same in her place. There are some really great bone-chilling scene and interesting dynamics at play for sure.
My only critique is that there are just a lot of characters and flashbacks and it's honestly very difficult to keep straight. I couldn't confidently tell you what Caleb and Harvey's narrative arcs were and mixing up characters in different timelines also meant even in the present timeline I was picturing them as a wildly different age from what they were.
All in all, a great take on cult horror! I love the crazy stuff Gailey is doing and I look forward to their next release!
Thank you to Sarah Gailey and Tor Books for this ARC in exchange for my full, honest review!
Happy reading!
May 15, 2026
(rounded up from 2.5)
Unfortunately my least favorite Sarah Gailey book so far (normally I love them). This is slow moving and barely horror, and the focus is mainly on this cult and its members who are hard to keep track of and even harder to care about because they are simply not very interesting. The reveals will be exactly what anyone familiar with the genre would have guessed the second there starts to be a hint of mystery, which is disappointing. I can absolutely understand why many reviewers simply DNF'd this one at less than halfway through because I was this close to doing the same but persisted. It does get better, but only slightly so overall I was disappointed.
Unfortunately my least favorite Sarah Gailey book so far (normally I love them). This is slow moving and barely horror, and the focus is mainly on this cult and its members who are hard to keep track of and even harder to care about because they are simply not very interesting. The reveals will be exactly what anyone familiar with the genre would have guessed the second there starts to be a hint of mystery, which is disappointing. I can absolutely understand why many reviewers simply DNF'd this one at less than halfway through because I was this close to doing the same but persisted. It does get better, but only slightly so overall I was disappointed.
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