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3.47 AVERAGE
3.47 AVERAGE
Thank you to Page Street Kids and Edelweiss for the arc in exchange for an honest review!
Y'all, I was so hyped for this book. It seemed made for me: a cover illustrated by C.J. Merwild, a queer gothic werewolf story, a retelling of The Mysteries of Udolpho. And, to be clear, this book does have all of those things! It's just a solidly middling book for a number of reasons, which is truly a real shame.
After being told that his options are either to marry a woman or be committed to an asylum and lose his inheritance after the death of his parents, Emile flees his overbearing aunt and finds himself in disguise as a servant in the mansion of Count Montoni. But his life isn't easy; not only does he have to stay in hiding until his eighteenth birthday, but weird happenings keep occurring around the mansion. First, he finds a severed hand on the property, which draws the ire of the head of the household. Then, Emile gains the attentions of both Bram, the local physician's son, and Henri, Montoni's nephew - whom he is tasked with helping through a strange sickness every full moon. Things go from bad to worse when Emile finds a body on the property as his aunt comes to collect him; Count Montoni forces them all to flee to the isolated Udolpho Castle, where they are all trapped with the curse that haunts the family.
I struggled with how to rate this book. The plot itself is actually a genuinely interesting one that keeps you guessing from the beginning. I think, with a more deft hand, it could have been a great story. The setting is atmospheric and haunting and truly does deliver on the promise of a creepy gothic mystery. In particular, the descriptions of Udolpho Castle are pulse-poundingly eerie, especially after the relative calm of the first half of the book. Even the reveal of the werewolves and their surrounding mythology is unique and well done. I've read a lot of werewolf books, and this brought new and interesting pieces to the lore, from their original curse to their extreme healing capabilities. Count Montoni made for a good villain; he was evil in a very realistic way, succeeding in humanizing all of the other characters around him without seeming like an over the top-type bad guy. The secondary characters - Blanche, Annette, and Ludovico - are all fun and interesting, too! It's a shame we don't get to hear more about them throughout the course of the story. The pieces were all there to make this a solidly good book.
On the other hand, where this story fell short was in the writing of the other characters, sadly. While Emile as a lead was interesting and tenacious and likeable, the author seemed to resort to a lot of tell-don't-show when it came to Emile's feelings, especially when it came to his interests in Bram and Henri. I was never able to buy into the idea that he really cared for either of these men because the description wasn't there. It all felt very... mechanical and simplistic. Henri never quite redeems himself as a character or a love interest, partially because of that simplistic writing of feelings and partially because he's just so damn set on making himself unlikable and then being sad about his being unlikable. Bram is more interesting, but gets removed from the plot for a solid 50% of the story only to be shoehorned back in at the end for a twist that comes out of nowhere (and makes zero sense for the characters).
Also, there was so much weird filler, especially at the beginning. So many descriptions of spiders, for no reason. So many spiders. Why so many spiders? Put some of the spiders back.
So, overall, a very middle of the road book that had the potential for more. I think Ferraro has the potential for great growth here and I look forward to seeing what he does next.
Y'all, I was so hyped for this book. It seemed made for me: a cover illustrated by C.J. Merwild, a queer gothic werewolf story, a retelling of The Mysteries of Udolpho. And, to be clear, this book does have all of those things! It's just a solidly middling book for a number of reasons, which is truly a real shame.
After being told that his options are either to marry a woman or be committed to an asylum and lose his inheritance after the death of his parents, Emile flees his overbearing aunt and finds himself in disguise as a servant in the mansion of Count Montoni. But his life isn't easy; not only does he have to stay in hiding until his eighteenth birthday, but weird happenings keep occurring around the mansion. First, he finds a severed hand on the property, which draws the ire of the head of the household. Then, Emile gains the attentions of both Bram, the local physician's son, and Henri, Montoni's nephew - whom he is tasked with helping through a strange sickness every full moon. Things go from bad to worse when Emile finds a body on the property as his aunt comes to collect him; Count Montoni forces them all to flee to the isolated Udolpho Castle, where they are all trapped with the curse that haunts the family.
I struggled with how to rate this book. The plot itself is actually a genuinely interesting one that keeps you guessing from the beginning. I think, with a more deft hand, it could have been a great story. The setting is atmospheric and haunting and truly does deliver on the promise of a creepy gothic mystery. In particular, the descriptions of Udolpho Castle are pulse-poundingly eerie, especially after the relative calm of the first half of the book. Even the reveal of the werewolves and their surrounding mythology is unique and well done. I've read a lot of werewolf books, and this brought new and interesting pieces to the lore, from their original curse to their extreme healing capabilities. Count Montoni made for a good villain; he was evil in a very realistic way, succeeding in humanizing all of the other characters around him without seeming like an over the top-type bad guy. The secondary characters - Blanche, Annette, and Ludovico - are all fun and interesting, too! It's a shame we don't get to hear more about them throughout the course of the story. The pieces were all there to make this a solidly good book.
On the other hand, where this story fell short was in the writing of the other characters, sadly. While Emile as a lead was interesting and tenacious and likeable, the author seemed to resort to a lot of tell-don't-show when it came to Emile's feelings, especially when it came to his interests in Bram and Henri. I was never able to buy into the idea that he really cared for either of these men because the description wasn't there. It all felt very... mechanical and simplistic. Henri never quite redeems himself as a character or a love interest, partially because of that simplistic writing of feelings and partially because he's just so damn set on making himself unlikable and then being sad about his being unlikable. Bram is more interesting, but gets removed from the plot for a solid 50% of the story only to be shoehorned back in at the end for a twist that comes out of nowhere (and makes zero sense for the characters).
Also, there was so much weird filler, especially at the beginning. So many descriptions of spiders, for no reason. So many spiders. Why so many spiders? Put some of the spiders back.
So, overall, a very middle of the road book that had the potential for more. I think Ferraro has the potential for great growth here and I look forward to seeing what he does next.
adventurous
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
2.5 stars rounded down - What an absolutely peculiar read. The pacing was absolutely god awful. It would have been a 1 star read if not for the last act. I felt like NOTHING happened for the first 250 pages. I absolutely would have dnf’d it this had not been my book club’s book of the month.
HOWEVER - the last act was so much fun. It was WEIRD! Hello head on a spike that come back to life!!! And the love triangle ends in a throuple?! I had so much fun with the last 80 pages of this book and I wish the first three acts had been a similar experience. The fact that the word “werewolf” is not used until page 250 is absolutely ridiculous. It is so blatantly obvious that Henri and Co are werewolves that the book would have been so much better if this had been embraced much earlier. OR if it had been better concealed from the reader.
I cannot stand Henri. He’s manipulative, whiny, and a BAD person. Bram was the obvious choice, but unfortunately there would not have been a novel if Emile had chosen him from the get-go. He had no faults which wouldn’t have been interesting. The only good thing that Henri did was write to Bram to save Emile. I felt like this somewhat redeemed him, but I could not get passed how god awful he was.
Also the aunt’s lowkey redemption came out of nowhere.
Overall, a weird novel that I would not recommend. Disappointing but i’m very excited to dive into discussing this with my book club tomorrow.
HOWEVER - the last act was so much fun. It was WEIRD! Hello head on a spike that come back to life!!! And the love triangle ends in a throuple?! I had so much fun with the last 80 pages of this book and I wish the first three acts had been a similar experience. The fact that the word “werewolf” is not used until page 250 is absolutely ridiculous. It is so blatantly obvious that Henri and Co are werewolves that the book would have been so much better if this had been embraced much earlier. OR if it had been better concealed from the reader.
I cannot stand Henri. He’s manipulative, whiny, and a BAD person. Bram was the obvious choice, but unfortunately there would not have been a novel if Emile had chosen him from the get-go. He had no faults which wouldn’t have been interesting. The only good thing that Henri did was write to Bram to save Emile. I felt like this somewhat redeemed him, but I could not get passed how god awful he was.
Also the aunt’s lowkey redemption came out of nowhere.
Overall, a weird novel that I would not recommend. Disappointing but i’m very excited to dive into discussing this with my book club tomorrow.
I enjoyed the story. Even tho again the synopsis pretty much tells you everything about the story. And everything else is just filler.
I would have also liked just a little more about the ending and the mother because it just felt a little rushed just like 59 more pages lol
I would have also liked just a little more about the ending and the mother because it just felt a little rushed just like 59 more pages lol
adventurous
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
I enjoyed it overall, and it has enough redeeming qualities that even though it’s only a 3 for me, I’d recommend it to others!
There are a couple of things I enjoyed about this. First of all, the love triangle being an actual triangle at the end and not ending in some heart torn choice. GOOD YES THANK YOU! The plot I thought was engaging even if I saw a few things coming I was still invested in the outcome. Some additions to the traditional werewolf lore were interesting and appreciated! The characters were all very distinct, I never doubted a characters actions, they were all believable and the characters all behaved independent of each other and had unique personality and clear motivations.
However, I felt like the friendships were so much more intricately fleshed out than the supposed love interests. Don’t get me wrong, I love Bram, and I believed the character growth of Henri enough to be satisfied with their throuple energy, but Emile’s banter with Annette and Blanch and even Ludovico I thought was so much stronger than the very tentative “love” between the triad, especially since that triad doesn’t form until the very end. I don’t agree with some other people who said they didn’t see the triad coming though, I definitely saw hints of it from the very beginning and felt very vindicated towards the end. I know some people are upset about Emiles decision to marry Blanch, but I think he explains very clearly that his biggest obstacle with that path is the fact that it’s the uncle who’s forcing him to do it. Knowing that Blanch already has someone in mind to share her life and fall in love with means that they both get to be happy in that marriage without harm to one another.
My main issue with the story is that I feel that Emile lacks agency for about 87% of the book. So many things just /happen/ to him and he reacts to those things but it’s not until they’re at the castle that we really see him actually acting on things. Like yes he ran away from home but we didn’t see him do that he’d already done it when we met him. And yes he followed the candle in the mausoleum but he wasn’t already investigating that he just happened to be walking past a window. He does very little when his aunt shows up and it’s really not until the castle that we see him taking his investigation seriously. Because if that lack of agency his swings between Bram and Henri can sometimes feel a little forced, because we don’t see him committing to anything we just see him making the most of the moment. It also affects the pacing, which, yeah I agree with whoever said that the werewolf reveal came too late, I feel like him finding out about that earlier could have pushed his investigative arc a little further. This also falls into the common trope of “we’re together now and that’s the end of the book,” so I do hope it turns out to be a duology where we can explore the polyamory because honestly that was the most exciting part to me and that’s exactly the part that’s missing in all poly literature!!!
My only other issue with the plot is so silly, but am I the only one who thought the spiders were going to be important??? Anyone??? No???
I will say that part of the reason it’s a 3 and not a 4 for me is simply the fact that I as a reader don’t like gore/body horror, and there’s a significant amount of that in this book. I understand it’s part of the genre and I definitely knew what I was getting into when I started it, that’s no one’s fault, just personal taste.
There are a couple of things I enjoyed about this. First of all, the love triangle being an actual triangle at the end and not ending in some heart torn choice. GOOD YES THANK YOU! The plot I thought was engaging even if I saw a few things coming I was still invested in the outcome. Some additions to the traditional werewolf lore were interesting and appreciated! The characters were all very distinct, I never doubted a characters actions, they were all believable and the characters all behaved independent of each other and had unique personality and clear motivations.
However, I felt like the friendships were so much more intricately fleshed out than the supposed love interests. Don’t get me wrong, I love Bram, and I believed the character growth of Henri enough to be satisfied with their throuple energy, but Emile’s banter with Annette and Blanch and even Ludovico I thought was so much stronger than the very tentative “love” between the triad, especially since that triad doesn’t form until the very end. I don’t agree with some other people who said they didn’t see the triad coming though, I definitely saw hints of it from the very beginning and felt very vindicated towards the end. I know some people are upset about Emiles decision to marry Blanch, but I think he explains very clearly that his biggest obstacle with that path is the fact that it’s the uncle who’s forcing him to do it. Knowing that Blanch already has someone in mind to share her life and fall in love with means that they both get to be happy in that marriage without harm to one another.
My main issue with the story is that I feel that Emile lacks agency for about 87% of the book. So many things just /happen/ to him and he reacts to those things but it’s not until they’re at the castle that we really see him actually acting on things. Like yes he ran away from home but we didn’t see him do that he’d already done it when we met him. And yes he followed the candle in the mausoleum but he wasn’t already investigating that he just happened to be walking past a window. He does very little when his aunt shows up and it’s really not until the castle that we see him taking his investigation seriously. Because if that lack of agency his swings between Bram and Henri can sometimes feel a little forced, because we don’t see him committing to anything we just see him making the most of the moment. It also affects the pacing, which, yeah I agree with whoever said that the werewolf reveal came too late, I feel like him finding out about that earlier could have pushed his investigative arc a little further. This also falls into the common trope of “we’re together now and that’s the end of the book,” so I do hope it turns out to be a duology where we can explore the polyamory because honestly that was the most exciting part to me and that’s exactly the part that’s missing in all poly literature!!!
My only other issue with the plot is so silly, but am I the only one who thought the spiders were going to be important??? Anyone??? No???
I will say that part of the reason it’s a 3 and not a 4 for me is simply the fact that I as a reader don’t like gore/body horror, and there’s a significant amount of that in this book. I understand it’s part of the genre and I definitely knew what I was getting into when I started it, that’s no one’s fault, just personal taste.
3.5 stars for the story
5 stars for the audio
I needed more pining and romance
Loved the gothic feel though
5 stars for the audio
I needed more pining and romance
Loved the gothic feel though
adventurous
dark
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
