Make Me Better by Sarah Gailey: A hypnotic look at belonging, control, and the cost of transformation

What would you give up to finally belong somewhere—and would you recognize the moment it stopped being your choice? Make Me Better is an unsettling, slow-burn descent into the seductive promise of community, where healing and control blur until they’re indistinguishable. Fans of Wife Shaped Bodies, The Unworthy, or Sorrowland will find something deeply familiar—and deeply disturbing—here.

At the center of the story is Celia, a woman whose longing for connection overrides her sense of self-preservation. She doesn’t just develop crushes—she builds entire imagined lives around men she barely knows. When she recognizes how precarious that pattern is, she redirects that intensity toward the idea of motherhood. A baby, after all, would be hers in a way no one else ever has been. That same vulnerability makes her the perfect target for something like Kindred Cove.

Kindred Cove is introduced as an invitation-only sanctuary: a remote island community promising healing, transformation, and an end to grief. Everything is shared here—resources, responsibilities, even children. Visitors are allowed only once a year for the Salt Festival, and even then, they are carefully selected and closely watched. It doesn’t take long to realize that this is less a retreat and more a controlled ecosystem, both socially and physically.

Gailey builds the setting with a quiet unease that intensifies as the novel unfolds. The island’s ecology is shifting in strange ways, with coral evolving into something unfamiliar, possibly in response to climate change. Yet the residents barely acknowledge it. That omission feels deliberate. The outside world is described in vague, deteriorating terms, leaving readers to question whether the dystopia is literal—or simply how the Cove’s residents choose to frame reality. It raises an uncomfortable question: is the world actually worse beyond the island, or has Kindred Cove just rewritten what “better” looks like?

---

---

The novel’s strongest thread is its exploration of how people become enmeshed in cult dynamics. Gailey doesn’t rely on caricatures or obvious warning signs. Instead, they show how appealing it can be to be seen, valued, and absorbed into something larger than yourself. The Cove offers certainty, belonging, and purpose—things Celia has spent her life chasing. The danger only becomes visible when someone resists or asks questions, and by then, it may already be too late.

Celia’s perspective keeps the tension taut. You’re never entirely sure whether she’ll surrender to the Cove’s ideology or break away from it. That uncertainty is what gives the novel its edge. The manipulation isn’t loud or dramatic—it’s incremental, persuasive, and chillingly effective.

One aspect that didn’t quite land for me was the chapter structure. The numbering resets and disappears in places, creating a disjointed reading experience—especially when switching between devices. While there may be an intentional design behind it, it ultimately felt more distracting than meaningful, pulling focus away from an otherwise immersive narrative.

Even with that structural hiccup, Make Me Better is a compelling and thought-provoking read. It doesn’t just ask whether a place like Kindred Cove is dangerous—it asks why it’s so easy to want what it offers.

At what point do you think belonging crosses the line into control—and do you think Celia recognizes that line when she sees it? Let’s chat in the comments!

An advance reader copy of this book (ARC) was provided to me by the publisher via Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

Related Content

• A conversation with author Sarah Gailey (Reactor)
• Better know an author: Sarah Gailey (LGBTQ Reads)
• How Sarah Gailey became a novelist, despite themself (Publishers Weekly)
• The sweet spot of horror and desire with Sarah Gailey (The Murverse Mothership – Podcast)

Now available in print and on Kindle!

Now that Jack has been forced to reflect on everything he has to lose, he resolves to do better. He’s determined to spend more time at home with his family and repair the relationships that have suffered over the years while he’s been so focused on work. But as Callie’s behavior becomes increasingly bizarre, Jack realizes he has a lot more room to improve than he realized – and it might be too late to save his daughter after all.

For fans of We Need to Talk About Kevin, The Push, and Baby Teeth.