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3.66 AVERAGE
3.66 AVERAGE
dark
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
Very much Lemony Snicket vibes with a dash of Divine Rivals if you set it in more Dark Academia vibes. I loved how pretty much every character was at least a bit queer and that they all kissed a little sometimes. This is definitely upper YA with some spicy scenes vaguely described. This author is also super good at out of the blue plot twists if that’s your thing. The only thing I had trouble with was placing myself in the setting. The setting was cool and unique (and reminded me of Lemony Snicket) but I had a tricky time understanding the world building as a whole. Took me a bit but I got there by the middle.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Child abuse, Emotional abuse, Physical abuse, Toxic relationship, Toxic friendship
Moderate: Child death, Death, Gaslighting, Classism
Minor: Sexual content, Injury/Injury detail
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
hopeful
inspiring
mysterious
reflective
sad
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
Thank you to NetGalley and Macmillan Children's Publishing Group for providing a complimentary copy of this title for an honest opinion.
Lacrimosa, aka Lark, Arriscane is a young woman who is about to turn 18. Not only is Lark trying to navigate becoming an adult, grieving her dead parents, being expelled from her school, and being rejected by two people she thought to be close to, she has to come to terms with accepting a marriage of convenience to a chthonic god, Therion, in order to save her family and town from financial ruin. As she's being betrothed to Therion, the ceremony is interrupted and now Lark keeps going in and out of the mortal realm. In order to fix this problem, she instates the help of two of her childhood friends, Alistair and Camille Felimath. As the trio take their journey to understand the folklore, Lark starts to fall in love with both Alistair and Camille.
I really enjoyed this one. The writing was so pretty; a little flowery in some places, but not enough to bother me. Lark is a character that has a really good "coming of age" story and her character development was very enjoyable to witness. It hits different when you can see yourself as a character in a book, and I saw myself in Lark. She learns how to stand up for herself and love herself enough to go for what she wants despite what has happened in the past. I liked the religious undertones in this one, specifically relating to the relationship one has with their god (whichever entity you believe in).
The atmosphere of this story came off dark, which I loved. I was confused on what timeframe it was in, or if this world had it's own time system. I felt that the world-building was lacking a little bit. I'm still not too sure how they survive on salt in the salt mines - what is the salt's purpose?
This book gave me Gothikana and Nocticadia vibes, but not as spicy. There is romance in this, but it's not overpowering or too much in your face. If you liked the books I mentioned above and want less spice, this is definitely the read for you!
Lacrimosa, aka Lark, Arriscane is a young woman who is about to turn 18. Not only is Lark trying to navigate becoming an adult, grieving her dead parents, being expelled from her school, and being rejected by two people she thought to be close to, she has to come to terms with accepting a marriage of convenience to a chthonic god, Therion, in order to save her family and town from financial ruin. As she's being betrothed to Therion, the ceremony is interrupted and now Lark keeps going in and out of the mortal realm. In order to fix this problem, she instates the help of two of her childhood friends, Alistair and Camille Felimath. As the trio take their journey to understand the folklore, Lark starts to fall in love with both Alistair and Camille.
I really enjoyed this one. The writing was so pretty; a little flowery in some places, but not enough to bother me. Lark is a character that has a really good "coming of age" story and her character development was very enjoyable to witness. It hits different when you can see yourself as a character in a book, and I saw myself in Lark. She learns how to stand up for herself and love herself enough to go for what she wants despite what has happened in the past. I liked the religious undertones in this one, specifically relating to the relationship one has with their god (whichever entity you believe in).
The atmosphere of this story came off dark, which I loved. I was confused on what timeframe it was in, or if this world had it's own time system. I felt that the world-building was lacking a little bit. I'm still not too sure how they survive on salt in the salt mines - what is the salt's purpose?
This book gave me Gothikana and Nocticadia vibes, but not as spicy. There is romance in this, but it's not overpowering or too much in your face. If you liked the books I mentioned above and want less spice, this is definitely the read for you!
Content Warnings
Moderate: Child abuse, Emotional abuse, Physical abuse, Death of parent, Alcohol
Thank you to Macmillan and NetGalley for providing me with this ARC! All opinions below are my own.
With this being my first Lyndall Clipstone book, I can confidently say this won’t be my last. For enjoyers of Rebecca Ross and Ava Reid, I URGE you to pick up this book asap! The entire book is written almost lyrically, and the vivid descriptions result in easily visualizing the gothic seaside setting and immersing yourself into the story almost immediately.
While some of the pacing with the relationships is a little odd, I didn’t ever have the feeling any of it wasn’t believable. From found family to healing relationships within blood family, and even breaking away from toxic dynamics- this book portrays almost every aspect of human relationships down to their very core. Each and every character has depth that makes them stand out in their own ways, and feel quite real. This fantasy world also normalizes m/m and f/f pairings, which is incredibly refreshing to see in a fantasy period. Given the sensuality of some romantic scenes, I’d definitely say this would be more upper-YA.
Overall, I loved through this book and couldn’t put it down. Truly, this is a wonderful stand-alone with just enough romance, just enough horror, and the right amount of gothic. While the plot seemed somewhat slow at first, it quickly picked up into something I have no regrets reading and wish I could pick up for the first time once again.
With this being my first Lyndall Clipstone book, I can confidently say this won’t be my last. For enjoyers of Rebecca Ross and Ava Reid, I URGE you to pick up this book asap! The entire book is written almost lyrically, and the vivid descriptions result in easily visualizing the gothic seaside setting and immersing yourself into the story almost immediately.
While some of the pacing with the relationships is a little odd, I didn’t ever have the feeling any of it wasn’t believable. From found family to healing relationships within blood family, and even breaking away from toxic dynamics- this book portrays almost every aspect of human relationships down to their very core. Each and every character has depth that makes them stand out in their own ways, and feel quite real. This fantasy world also normalizes m/m and f/f pairings, which is incredibly refreshing to see in a fantasy period. Given the sensuality of some romantic scenes, I’d definitely say this would be more upper-YA.
Overall, I loved through this book and couldn’t put it down. Truly, this is a wonderful stand-alone with just enough romance, just enough horror, and the right amount of gothic. While the plot seemed somewhat slow at first, it quickly picked up into something I have no regrets reading and wish I could pick up for the first time once again.
Thank you to Netgalley and Macmillian Children's Publishing Group for an e-arc copy.
What drew me to this story was the concept of new folklore gods to learn about and seeing how this human-god betrothal went wrong. I was also curious to see how the author showed polyamorous love and relationships.
However, I DNF'd this book at 57% through.
I felt that at 57% I would feel the stakes and worry about what was happening to Lark, but I did not. The plot felt a bit unorganized and I didn't feel entertained. I almost felt bored and when I realized I was 57% of the way through with no lead as to what COULD be the problem in this story - I had to stop.
I think the author had a really great premise, but it didn't keep me engaged.
What drew me to this story was the concept of new folklore gods to learn about and seeing how this human-god betrothal went wrong. I was also curious to see how the author showed polyamorous love and relationships.
However, I DNF'd this book at 57% through.
I felt that at 57% I would feel the stakes and worry about what was happening to Lark, but I did not. The plot felt a bit unorganized and I didn't feel entertained. I almost felt bored and when I realized I was 57% of the way through with no lead as to what COULD be the problem in this story - I had to stop.
I think the author had a really great premise, but it didn't keep me engaged.
dark
emotional
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
this book was highly anticipated by me, the moment i saw the tiktok months ago and i counted down the days for its release. i read this book pretty quickly and u really enjoyed the imagery and world building. overall, it was a lovely book and my first read from this author but something fell flat for me, while reading, i’m still unsure. perhaps the back and forth? overall, i don’t regret waiting and reading this book.
Don’t bother. This book started out so strong with beautiful descriptions of art and the sea but as it kept going it devolved. The characters were weak, the romance, both of them, were weak. Especially Larks relationship with Camille. It was clear the author favored Alistair because he and Lark’s relationship was more developed but still…
The “villain” in this book was such a joke. A salt priest who basically wanted to murder the whole trio to get Therion who he blames for his sister’s death. Not the priests that killed her. Ok.
And the child abuse was so, there’s a weight that a topic like this should have and it felt teen writer adds abuse to spice up storyline. It was very glossed over. Like oh it’s horrible and no one will hurt you again and move on. But yay Camille got to use it to blackmail her father into leaving her alone. So winner winner chicken dinner or something.
Camille should have paralleled Damson and Lark should have been worried she’d hurt her too. She keeps mentioning Camille is alluring and she’s drawn to her. Same thing happened with Damson. Damson stabbed her in the back so it would make sense for Lark to be like “pause, I was also very drawn to Damson and look how that ended.” I think it would have added more tension if Lark was hesitant with her feelings for Camille since she’d been burned by a beautiful, alluring girl before. But she’s just so into Camille and Camille is into her despite them not having talked for 5-10 years???
I could go on and on but this book sucked and I want to be freeeeeee.
And the child abuse was so, there’s a weight that a topic like this should have and it felt teen writer adds abuse to spice up storyline. It was very glossed over. Like oh it’s horrible and no one will hurt you again and move on. But yay Camille got to use it to blackmail her father into leaving her alone. So winner winner chicken dinner or something.
Camille should have paralleled Damson and Lark should have been worried she’d hurt her too. She keeps mentioning Camille is alluring and she’s drawn to her. Same thing happened with Damson. Damson stabbed her in the back so it would make sense for Lark to be like “pause, I was also very drawn to Damson and look how that ended.” I think it would have added more tension if Lark was hesitant with her feelings for Camille since she’d been burned by a beautiful, alluring girl before. But she’s just so into Camille and Camille is into her despite them not having talked for 5-10 years???
I could go on and on but this book sucked and I want to be freeeeeee.
adventurous
reflective
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
This book made me FEEL some things
🦢 🌊 🎀
I saw a blurb that described it as “a romantic folk horror where Saltburn meets The Secret History,” and they spoke no lies. Reading Tenderly, I am devoured felt like walking into a renaissance painting hung in a guilded frame. It was gothic, it was ethereal and I have never wished I was betrothed to a Cthonic swan god so badly (adding this to the list of sentences I never thought I would say). I knew I was going to love it, but it exceeded all of my expectations.
𝑾𝒉𝒂𝒕 𝑰 𝒍𝒐𝒗𝒆𝒅:
♡ m/f/f poly romance
♡ dark academia, cottagecore vibes
♡ she’s betrothed to an ancient God
♡ family secrets, haunted legacies
♡ folk horror atmosphere
**Thank you to Macmillan Children's Publishing Group & Henry Holt and Co. (BYR) for the ARC**
🦢 🌊 🎀
I saw a blurb that described it as “a romantic folk horror where Saltburn meets The Secret History,” and they spoke no lies. Reading Tenderly, I am devoured felt like walking into a renaissance painting hung in a guilded frame. It was gothic, it was ethereal and I have never wished I was betrothed to a Cthonic swan god so badly (adding this to the list of sentences I never thought I would say). I knew I was going to love it, but it exceeded all of my expectations.
𝑾𝒉𝒂𝒕 𝑰 𝒍𝒐𝒗𝒆𝒅:
♡ m/f/f poly romance
♡ dark academia, cottagecore vibes
♡ she’s betrothed to an ancient God
♡ family secrets, haunted legacies
♡ folk horror atmosphere
**Thank you to Macmillan Children's Publishing Group & Henry Holt and Co. (BYR) for the ARC**
adventurous
dark
emotional
mysterious
sad
tense
fast-paced
Loveable characters:
Yes
adventurous
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
N/A
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
dark
emotional
mysterious
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
Aggressively medium