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emilyreads15's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? N/A
- Flaws of characters a main focus? N/A
5.0
I randomly just decided to start this book one day, since I had recently gotten it in a giveaway and oh my gosh. I just didn’t expect this at all. Tbh it’s been so long since I read the synopsis, so I kinda just went in blind.
It was just the most interesting plot I’ve ever read. To start off the story is a creepy retelling of The Brother’s Grimm fairytale, ‘The Twelve Dancing Princesses.’ We read the story from Annaleigh’s pov and she is the 6th born of the 12 girls. Since I’m not too familiar with the fairytale, I didn’t know what to expect so ofc I looked up the original and it was already crazy itself. But the author took this twisted story and twisted it even more. I had no clue this book had horror elements to I was so shook while reading it.
On top of this, the author is a phenomenal writer. Like the level of writing and planning it takes to write a book like this is insane. So I definitely applaud her on that. There were so many twists and turns and I just kept being surprised. While I had my suspicions, I truly didn’t know who to trust and at times I didn’t even trust Annaleigh even though I was reading from her perspective. This book truly took gaslighting to another level.
Overall I really enjoyed this read! At times the world building lost me a little bit. Also because there were so many sisters, I sometimes lost track and often couldn’t remember what they were supposed to look like. Some of the characters also got on my nerves *cough* Camille and Morella 👀 *cough*. However, I still really loved the book and in the end I definitely recommend this read. It was truly unlike anything I’ve ever read before!
Read this book if you want some mysterious fantasy gothic vibes with a little bit of horror.
I also recommend this book to anyone who loves Belladonna by Adalyn Grace.
Graphic: Body horror, Gaslighting, Violence, Emotional abuse, Blood, and Death
Minor: Death of parent, Murder, Suicidal thoughts, Alcohol, and Animal death
mizzy406's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? N/A
3.5
Graphic: Blood, Body horror, Grief, Injury/Injury detail, Miscarriage, Pregnancy, and Schizophrenia/Psychosis
Moderate: Fire/Fire injury
Minor: Alcohol, Death of parent, War, and Vomit
sappix's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.75
Graphic: Gore and Murder
Minor: Suicide, Addiction, Alcohol, Alcoholism, and Emotional abuse
Childbirth should be on the list.alyvia_jeane's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.25
Graphic: Death, Death of parent, Miscarriage, and Child death
Moderate: Fire/Fire injury, Alcohol, Suicide, Blood, Murder, Animal death, Grief, and Pregnancy
It kept me guessing and wanting more. I was just as confused as the main character and that is hard to do. Didn’t guess the end but omg that was crazy!! Loved the atmosphere and imagery. Verity is my new baby and poor fisher/Hanna! Is that a spoiler? Nah. Was worried I wouldn’t like this but definitely wrong. Not a 5 star bc there was a little thing that happened that I didn’t like. But otherwise great.spookysierra's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
5.0
Look. I don't typically write reviews unless a book is amazing or truly terrible.
This book is fantastic.
Going in, I knew it was going to be a retelling of the 12 Dancing Princesses, but I wasn't sure how closely it was going to follow the fairytale. I also didn't realize this book was going to be a spooky murder mystery. Because I went into this not realizing the full scope of the book's premise, the beginning was kind of slow for me; HOWEVER, as soon as I started to realize there was more to this than just a group of girls wandering off into the forest to dance the night away, with dashing young men I. WAS. IN.
My assessment of the book went from a 3 to a 4 immediately and before I was 75% through the book, I could just feel that I was going to rate this 5 stars
This book had me mistrusting EVERY. SINGLE. CHARACTER. I would go back and forth on some, I would second guess everything everyone was saying. This book is masterful.
Graphic: Violence, Murder, Medical trauma, Child death, Pregnancy, Miscarriage, Mental illness, Death of parent, Vomit, Injury/Injury detail, Alcoholism, Grief, Fire/Fire injury, Blood, Alcohol, Death, Body horror, and Schizophrenia/Psychosis
Moderate: Suicide and Terminal illness
tays_books's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
2.5
Graphic: Body horror, Child death, Blood, Death, Gaslighting, Pregnancy, Mental illness, Grief, Murder, Suicidal thoughts, and Violence
Moderate: Alcohol, Alcoholism, Suicide, Injury/Injury detail, Fire/Fire injury, Animal death, Death of parent, Self harm, and Miscarriage
Minor: Domestic abuse, Vomit, Rape, Infidelity, Sexual content, and Adult/minor relationship
carrasreadsandthings's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
Graphic: Death, Gore, Grief, Vomit, Injury/Injury detail, Murder, Blood, Fire/Fire injury, Death of parent, and Child death
Moderate: Alcohol, Classism, and Fire/Fire injury
piperclover's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
2.75
I'm not sure how to rate this. This book is not for me. I am not the demographic that should be reading this and I wish I knew that going into the book but unfortunately I didn't realize that until over 35% of the way through. Its definitely creepy, grotesque, and spooky alright. The last 25% really unravels and picks up speed but the first 75% are not boring by any means.
There's quite a few things that bothered me in this but a lot of that was just that this has a lot of genre/tropes I don't like so those gripes are excused by that- like Victorian era sexism. There are 3 things though that I did dislike regardless. (1) You never really find out how long ago most people died or how old some characters are which left me a little confused at the nature of certain relationships or details of the plot. (2) I also really dislike the resolution/the why this curse is happening. It's such a cheap and trite reason and I'm just so tired of everything boiling down to
All of that being said, I did enjoy large portions of this and I enjoyed even some of the horror aspects because I found them entertaining and intriguing. It's just that horror and Victorian era are some of my least favorite genres and mixed with the 3 issues above, I just don't think I can rate it very high. The narrator was amazing though
Graphic: Death, Pregnancy, Blood, Death of parent, Fire/Fire injury, Child death, Gaslighting, and Grief
Moderate: Alcohol and Body horror
Minor: Suicidal thoughts, Infidelity, and Suicide
mysterymom40's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.25
Graphic: Pregnancy, Blood, Gore, and Body horror
Moderate: Sexual content, Murder, Toxic relationship, Death of parent, Death, Sexual harassment, Grief, Emotional abuse, Animal cruelty, Alcohol, Medical content, and Gaslighting
Minor: Misogyny
slvt4b00ks's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
5.0
Graphic: Alcoholism, Stalking, Injury/Injury detail, Infidelity, Grief, Death, Body horror, Suicide, Pregnancy, Medical content, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Miscarriage, Fire/Fire injury, Death of parent, Classism, Blood, Animal death, Alcohol, Murder, Mental illness, Medical trauma, Gore, Chronic illness, and Child death