Your Blood, My Bones

by Kelly Andrew, Jesse Vilinsky (Narrator), Pete Cross (Narrator)

A seductively twisted romance about loyalty, fate, the lengths we go to hide the darkest parts of ourselves . . . and the people who love those parts most of all.

Wyatt Westlock has one plan for the farmhouse she's just inherited -- to burn it to the ground. But during her final walkthrough of her childhood home, she makes a shocking discovery in the basement -- Peter, the boy she once considered her best friend, strung up in chains and left for dead.

Unbeknownst to Wyatt, Peter has suffered hundreds of ritualistic deaths on her family's property. Semi-immortal, Peter never remains dead for long, but he can't really live, either. Not while he's bound to the farm, locked in a cycle of grisly deaths and painful rebirths. There's only one way for him to break free. He needs to end the Westlock line.

He needs to kill Wyatt.

With Wyatt's parents gone, the spells protecting the property have begun to unravel, and dark, ancient forces gather in the nearby forest. The only way for Wyatt to repair the wards is to work with Peter -- the one person who knows how to harness her volatile magic. But how can she trust a boy who's sworn an oath to destroy her? When the past turns up to haunt them in the most unexpected way, they are forced to rely on one another to survive, or else tear each other apart.

Genres: Fantasy, Horror, Romance, Young Adult, Paranormal, Gothic, Fiction

13 pages, Audiobook

First published April 2, 2024

Reviews

[Reads With Rachel · Rating 5 out of 5]

“Dully, she wondered if this was what heartbreak felt like—looking into the eyes of someone she’d spent her whole life memorizing and finding nothing recognizable left over in their depths.”

This book had me bawling my eyes out at one o'clock in the morning. The pain of that ending is something I will never get over. But WOW what an experience. The writing is just phenomenal. I hang on Kelly Andrew's every word in this. Not only her ability to set a visual scene, but to create unsettling and creeping dread you feel in your very bones. But where it really took my breath away was her ability to write and convey and express feelings that I would never have had the language to articulate. Just absolutely immaculate.

Also there is a cult.
Video review:
https://youtu.be/Ns-atMW-v58?si=joh_s...

[Kelly Andrew · Rating 5 out of 5]

I'm not all that active on Goodreads, but I've noticed some early reader editions of Your Blood, My Bones have begun to trickle out into the world. As such, I figured it was as good a time as any to pop on and write a little note.

First of all, hello. I'm glad you're here. I've been especially excited to share this particular book with readers. I always tell people that I wrote The Whispering Dark to be a mashup of all the things I love best about books, and that's true. I did. But if TWD was the book of my head, then Your Blood, My Bones is the book of my heart. I poured a lot of it into the pages.

That being said, any story that comes from the heart is bound to get a little raw in the telling. Wyatt and Pedyr's story has strong elements of horror, which means there are quite a few potential trigger warnings. I've listed them below, in case anyone is curious prior to diving in.

(I know there are those who view trigger warnings as spoilers, so if that's you, I advise you to scroll no further)

-Animal death (not pets)
-Blood
-Allusions to violence / abuse
-Poisoning
-Cults
-Bones / skeletons
-Allusions to sexual assault
-Paranormal activity
-Elements of body horror
-Mild gore
-Insects / Spiders
-Mild depictions of torture

[Nilufer Ozmekik · Rating 4 out of 5]

"Your Blood, My Bones" by Kelly Andrew is a remarkable journey into an unparalleled narrative experience that leaves an indelible mark on the reader. This novel transcends the boundaries of traditional storytelling by blending genres like romance, suspense, and supernatural horror into an intricate tapestry that keeps you enthralled from the very first page.

Kelly Andrew's prose is nothing short of a revelation. It's as if she has woven a spell with her words, making it nearly impossible to skip even a single sentence. Her descriptions are rich and evocative, painting a vivid picture of the world she has created. With a deft hand, Andrew perfectly balances suspense and supernatural elements to create an atmosphere that's both chilling and exhilarating.

At its core, the novel is a character-driven story, and Andrew has created three compelling protagonists who are the beating heart of the narrative. Wyatt Westlock, Peter, and James are exquisitely developed characters with intricate backstories and deeply relatable struggles. Their relationships and inner conflicts are beautifully crafted, pulling you deeper into their lives with each page.

The setting and world-building in "Your Blood, My Bones" are so immersive that they become integral characters in the story. Reading this book at night may have you instinctively reaching for extra light switches to dispel the eerie ambiance that lingers. Andrew's talent for creating a palpable sense of dread is nothing short of masterful.

While the romance in the story is a slow burn, it's one that will ignite your emotions. The connection between Wyatt and Peter is not explicit, but the emotional depth and intensity of their relationship will have you awash in feelings. It's a romance that's as much about anticipation and tension as it is about love.

What truly sets this novel apart is its unparalleled uniqueness. The plot is a rich tapestry of mystery and supernatural elements that are expertly interwoven. As you read, you'll find yourself on an extraordinary journey, one that defies conventions and explores narrative territory that's both fresh and exciting. Andrew's ability to blend romance, suspense, and supernatural horror while keeping the narrative innovative is a testament to her storytelling brilliance.

Overall, "Your Blood, My Bones" is a literary gem that you won't want to miss. It's a book that will leave you breathless, on the edge of your seat, and reluctant to part with its haunting characters and mesmerizing story. You'll find it impossible not to sing its praises, and its influence will linger in your thoughts for an extended period. This debut novel is a literary masterpiece that redefines genre-defying storytelling, and Kelly Andrew is undoubtedly an author to watch.

Many thanks to NetGalley and Scholastic Press for sharing this gripping novel's digital reviewer copy with me in exchange my honest thoughts.

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[✨⚡ Kelcey (felinebooktrovert) ✨ · Rating 4 out of 5]

"This was always going to end," he told her.
"Not like this," she eked out. "You were supposed to go home."
"It's okay." He pressed his lips to her eyelids, one after the other. His kisses were wet with her tears. "Wyatt, it's okay. I was already home."

This was CRAZY!

This ended up being a little more horror than my usual reads, but it was wrapped up in a lot of mystery, so it wasn't too bad.

I really enjoyed the relationship between Peter and Wyatt and watching it develop, although it was pretty easy to see that Peter always had feelings for her and only let his hatred fester in the years he was alone.

And in my humble opinion, the ending was bullshit but also seemed to be left open to interpretation? Who knows, but overall this was a very entertaining read.

I also did not realize that there is technically a predecessor to this book but I think they're both considered standalones. I may read the first one 🤔 and I think another one is being set up too.

Thank you to NetGalley and Scholastic for this arc in exchange for an honest review!

[Cindy Pham]

love the writing and how character-driven the story is!

[Kira Speake]

I would read Kelly Andrew’s grocery list

[Jess · Rating 1 out of 5]

1/5 Stars

TL;DR - A cliched, nonsensical, bland-as-stale-oatmeal book that gave nothing and actually took from me personally. Capital-H Hated this book.

Big thanks to Scholastic and NetGalley for providing the ARC for this book in exchange for an honest review!

***Trigger Warnings for: illness and death of a parent, torture, vivisection, murder of a child, child abuse, gore, stabbing, drowning, spiders, vomiting, poisoning, and the death of a pet.***

‘Your Blood, My Bones’ by Kelly Andrew is the story of Wyatt Westlock, 18, who inherits her childhood home after the sudden death of her father. She returns to Willow Heath to burn the old farmhouse to the ground and move on with her life, but she finds her childhood friend, Pedyr ‘Peter’ Criafol, chained up in the basement, starting a series of events that threaten the fate of the whole world. We get 2 POVs, one from Wyatt and one from Peter.

I hated this. I beyond hated this. This book made me so mad with its nonsense that I legitimately had to just go to bed halfway through reading it because it sucked all of the energy and joy out of me. This review is a lot messier than I normally like to put out, but I just cannot be bothered to sink any more time to edit it to the point where it makes sense - and you know what, neither did the author of this book, apparently.

The writing is bad, on every level, in every way. It’s bland, it’s repetitive, it’s graceless, from a sentence level to the overall plot and execution. It’s so damn heavy-handed - everything is over-explained and repeated again and again, and yet, it makes no sense ultimately. Nothing but transparent “foreshadowing” and convenient little “coincidences” apropos of nothing, so the author can handwave like “Ooh, look how deep I am, isn’t this so deep, this deep thing I just said deeply?” No, ma’am, you’re not, stop it.

(Seriously, I cannot stress enough how everything in this book happens so conveniently at just the right moment, either for cheap exposition or to save the day so the characters don’t have to actually do any work. It’s maddening.)

The dialog is so superfluous and mind-numbing. I would say 75% of what the characters say is either a repeat of what they’ve already said, or just completely unnecessary in terms of moving the story along or conveying relevant information. Or it’s pure info dump. There is no in between. On top of that, a lot of times the characters don’t talk like normal people, they talk in flowery language that takes me out of the story because all I can hear is the author going “Oooh, this sounds so cool, to hell with the fact that no one talks like this ever in the history of talking!” Just, infuriatingly bad.

(Also, for a book where everyone talks so goddamn much, so many of the characters’ problems could either be solved or would be completely non-existent if these two idiots would just have a fucking conversation instead of swallowing their words for the sake of “angst”.)

Wyatt is probably the worst FMC I’ve read in a very long time. She’s so infuriatingly stupid at every turn, she is bland, she is a crayon drawing of a woman made on beige tissue paper. She’s also SO SPECIAL - she can do decay magic, she can do flower magic, she can do weather magic, she can stop time and reanimate the dead, but SHE CAN’T CRY and that makes her SAD. Take every FMC from every terrible YA urban fantasy you’ve ever read, smoosh them together and bake at 350 degrees for 30 minutes, then throw it in the dumpster out back and set it on fire, and it will STILL be a better character than Wyatt Westlock. She’s also just a bitch, with zero empathy for the man she’s supposedly been in love with for her whole life - and I don’t mean she’s sarcastic or cold, she’s just straight-up MEAN to Peter. One of her first interactions with him is to not only not try to free him from being chained up in the basement for, like, months, but to also explicitly state she knows he’s starving down there and then DO NOTHING, when she doesn’t know that he’s immortal and will come back to life when he starves to death. But the narrative paints her as this good girl doing her best to be good for goodness’ sake, that Peter goes ahead and falls in love with anyway! The fuck?

(Yes, I’m angry that I had to read this book with my own eyes, how can you tell?)

Peter was no better. Normally he would be instantly my type of fictional guy - the sad, supernatural boy with a tortured past - but he’s such an angry, toxic edgelord that I couldn’t stand him, and Wyatt was so infuriatingly dumb on top of being the special perfect object of Peter’s (undeserved) attention that I was really hoping the beast or the giant spider in the woods would eat them both so I could be done with the book. And for all his bluster, Peter turns from “I’m going to kill you” to a protective, whiny puppy really quick, like, basically instantly, except of course he can’t tell her or show feelings or god forbid have a conversation about all the shit that’s happening, because angsty boy is angsty and the whole plot would fall apart if they just talked to each other for two minutes. I’m really not the intended audience for “angry man breaks shit and doesn’t communicate vital information the FMC has a right to know and is also obsessed with her even though she’s cruel to him and has all the personality of a lump of soggy newspaper”, but if you are, you’ll probably love him.

(Side bar, the dude seems remarkably chill for someone murdered over and over, then left in a basement to starve to death over and over. All he got from it was like, anger and broodiness, not actual trauma. Just another sign of lazy, shallow writing.)

The plot is next to nonexistent, and has more holes than Swiss cheese. I have PAGES of notes keeping track of everything that’s either not explained or contradicts itself repeatedly, too much to even try to condense into a coherent list. All I can say is that this reads like a first draft that the author never went back through to fix all the inconsistencies, and that I have to wonder who the beta readers were for this, if they even exist, because there’s no way any self-respecting beta reader or other literary professional could look at this and think it was ready to publish. It’s a nonsensical mess, the likes of which I’ve honestly never encountered in my 14+ years of professional literary work.

(This book as billed as gothic horror, and it’s not. A house in the woods that they literally leave with zero consequences does not a gothic horror make. There’s no plot, there’s no vibes, there’s just the same tropes you’ve seen in 100+ other paranormal romances with no substance connecting them. There’s barely any “eldritch” creatures, either, and the ones that are there show up intermittently and only to foist on some faux tension that is easily resolved almost immediately.)

The ending is complete nonsense. Nothing is explained, and all of the big, “emotional” things that are supposed to dominate the climax are just…there. I never cared about these characters, so I don’t care what happens to them, and that made the whole climax and ending a laborious slog (the whole book was, let’s be real) with zero impact or payoff. I felt nothing closing this book but relief that I would never again have to harm myself with its painfully lackluster everything.

Final Thoughts:

This was so, so bad. I cannot understand how this got to the ARC stage as-is. Deleting from my Kindle immediately.

[✨Julie✨ · Rating 4 out of 5]

If you love a book but you hate the ending, can you still love a book?

This book broke my heart 💔 and I am really struggling with how to properly rate and review it. Overall this was an excellent read and a really well crafted story. The paranormal elements were well explained and hauntingly tragic. I don’t tend to enjoy the horror genre but with elements of mystery and romance mixed in, there was a little something for everyone.

I think I would recommend this book but with the caveat that it may cause emotional damage. I was not prepared! 🥺

3.5 stars rounded up

________________________________________________

The gothic/horror genre isn’t typically my cup of tea, but something about this book calls to me. Maybe this will be the one to change my mind. 🌱🖤✨

[disz · Rating 2 out of 5]

⭐️ 2.5 stars

I'm very intrigued by the description because it's dark and magical, but after reading it, I didn't feel satisfied or even enjoy the book. I'm not gonna lie, in the first chapter, I was kind of into the plot, but then there were too many unanswered questions about it, which made me lose interest. The main problem with this book was the dark magic and the dangerous creatures inside, but their origins weren't explained. Why is this place the center of the problem? And about the witches, there wasn't much explanation, which frustrated me because everything felt lacking in detail.

The characters aren't anything great. The fmc is so ignorant and acts weak, she literally always "don't cry"-ing as if she's the most fragile human in the world. Yes, I have a lot of hate for her. The two mmcs are similar, but at least I like James more than Pedyr. The way he always tries not to answer her questions and hides, but then he leaves her with another question, makes it unclear what he wants at some points (oh wait, I know, he wants her, duh). The romance between the supposed main love interests is so dull like there's no tension or chemistry between them.

The ending was supposed to be kind of gloomy, but due to the lack of plot, I don't feel anything about it. Just after finishing, I feel relieved and move on to other books. Honestly, I'm so sad that I didn't enjoy this book because I was really anticipating reading it since I didn't like the author's debut novel. However, in this situation, I've come to the conclusion that her books are not to my taste at all. I do hope others will love and like this book, and maybe it really fits other readers who want some dark, eerie fantasy with magic, beasts, friendship, and a little romance.

[Billie's Not So Secret Diary · Rating 2 out of 5]

Your Blood, My Bones
by Kelly Andrew
YA Horror Urban
NetGalley ARC
Scholastic
Pub Date: Apr. 2 2024
Ages: 16+

Inheriting the farmstead after her father dies, Wyatt Westlock goes back to the farmhouse to burn it down. Even though she vowed not to, childhood memories draw her inside, and in the basement, tied in chains hangs her childhood best friend, Peter.

Not believing his luck, Peter is both shocked and relieved to see Wyatt, because her death will release him from the semi-immortal life he's been suffering at the hands of her family over the years as they ritually kill him in different ways to appease the monster that lurks in the woods.


The story opening with Wyatt standing outside the farmhouse with a jug of gas immediately grabbed my attention, and I could relate to the draw of wanting to explore her childhood home one last time, but sadly there's no explanation as to why she hated the house so much. Sure there are hints here and there, but nothing in the entire book gives a concrete reason why she wants to burn it down. If the only reason was because of (spoiler), it is lame, because she was old enough to run away.

But finding Peter hanging in the basement didn't seem as if it shocked her that much. I would be freaking out if I found my childhood best friend hanging in my dad's basement, trying a little harder to free them. Stuff like this created a MC who was an immature child instead of an eighteen-year-old young woman. Worse, the author got in over their heads by giving Wyatt a magic too complex for them to explain in the story. Even finishing the book I still don't know how the girl's magic works.

And with the major foreshadowing, I had the story figured out within the first quarter, so it wasn't surprising when things happened and that made for a boring read.

Descriptions were great, but sometimes there was rambling that didn't really have much to do with the story, other than introduce a character or two that had no other reason to be there. And some of the characters' backstories weren't flushed out (having two names; I get why one did but not another) and that created inconsistencies with the characters' personalities. Plus there were side plots that were started but not finished.

This could be a really good story if the writing is tightened up: Condinse or remove the unnecessary rambling/side plots and explain the magic system, both Wyatt's, Peter's, James', and the wood's, along with the creatures who live there. And what happened to the spider?

Creative, but didn't reach the level it could have.

2 Stars

[Christina (stinarinareads) · Rating 4 out of 5]

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for giving me the opportunity to read ahead of release for an honest review!

3.75✨
🌶️No spice (some kissing)

This is a gothic-horror-dark-fantasy-romance in the YA variety. Kind of out of my wheelhouse, but the cover and blurb had me intrigued. I did like it, but this one is actually pretty hard for me to review.

I had really, probably unfairly high expectations and/or hopes for this novel, and while there were definite successes and it is certainly a good book overall, I just don’t think it hit all the marks it set for itself. And this doesn’t make it a bad book; the writing is actually pretty close to faultless, editorial wise, and the haunting visage that Andrew spins with their words sets a truly gothic and unsettling scene. This also isn’t a happy book, really in any way. Maybe some hopefulness, if you squint for some type of message, but overall, it’s just really sad and sorrowful, which leads me to believe this was the full intention of the author. I would recommend this book, for readers who love a bittersweet tale that's mostly bitter, and for a glimpse at the horrors of man, and the choices people have to make to survive, or keep the ones they love alive. So there are very very deep messages here at play, and it's all intertwined.

There’s a lot of speak of the power of three, or the core three characters, Wyatt, Peter, and James, and while I loved the glimpses into their past to further develop their relationships, I would’ve loved to have seen the true bond of them more plainly laid out physically, rather than in disjointed throwbacks. I wanted to truly feel that power of three, the magic, and love, and hate, and fear, and loss, and EVERYTHING between them three, and it scratched the surface, but just that. I wanted my emotions to be crawling out of my chest, and they were in terms of the treatment of the characters, and all the horrors, especially Peter, has had to endure, and I would’ve loved to see that mirrored in the intimate emotions of love, happiness, bittersweetness, confusion, uncertainty, etc between the three characters. Because the setting, and the writing, and the weaving of the dark tone was so masterfully done, I was expecting the character work to just take this for a homerun, and I think the character work is where this ultimately fell short, for me.

The ending also felt a little abrupt, as did the introduction of more secondary characters towards the end of the novel. Having the entire focus on the main trio would’ve tightened this up, made it so much more targeted and direct and impactful, I think. Reading this book certainly made me feel things as I read, the writing is wonderfully haunting, but I wish I was left with more of an impression, left with a last bite of the book apple, to chew on and ponder when the last page closed, and I didn’t get that. The immersion ended the moment the book was closed. But it was certainly engaging while I was immersed!

But for her writing ability alone, plus this being very early in their publishing career (I believe), Kelly Andrew is surely an author to watch, and I’ll keep an eye out for her future works!

To all my romance readers who love their guaranteed HEAs: This is not a HEA by any means. Protect your hearts if needed!

[h i n d · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book. Oh my God
I have nothing coherent to say
It is now part of the core books that constitute my personality

The characters were probably my favourite part
We have a Peter/Hook/Wendy dynamic and I was eating it up. When she said slow burn she meant ittt, I wish we got more romance. I was absolutely obsessed.
There was also a semi Persephone vibe going on and idk how to explain it without spoiling but ugh so good

As usual, super atmospheric and gorgeous writing just like her debut. I was screaming crying kicking my feet when I realized we got a The Whispering Dark cameo

I need to reread it. Kelly Andrew is definitely an auto-buy author for me

[Salima || salimateez · Rating 5 out of 5]

No one speak to me/ neither i nor he deserved this

UPDATE: Ok it's been a couple days so let's see if I can make this coherent :)

This. Book. Was absolutely phenomenal. I'm once again blown away by Kelly's writing- I'm trying to articulate this in a way that gives enough credit to it but alas, I am not a writer so this review is going to hinge on hopes and dreams and vibes.
I went into this book with a vague idea of what it's about- a trio, something in the woods, and that's literally it. And- yes we did get this- but it was SO much more. Why was I there at the end kinda grieving the loss of Willow Heath...... like hello????? 300 pages is all it took to stitch these characters and this place into my heart and make it feel oh so real (it was much less than that, I knew this book was going to become part of my personality after just the first chapter but I digress).

Anyways- the writing: wowowowowoow!! wow!!! From the forest, to the monsters lurking between its branches, to the complicated relationship she had with her dad ;her relationship to each of the boys (and them as a trio), to nature and her abilities- the writing was consistently lovely and horrifying all at once. It wrapped the tenderness of their first kiss in the anxious inevitability of their situation, and ribboned it off with the backdrop of the home that was also a grave for who they were and could have been. The way we say goodbye to different characters than we were introduced to when the story began- the amount of development, and untangling of long buried feelings, the dynamics shifting and evolving as the characters do- I'm feeling very big feelings right now. I love how their relationship (between each character and as a group) always felt slightly edged- even when they were bantering, or reminiscing, or having soft moments, it always felt like they were toeing the line of complete collapse. Like they're always just seconds away from disaster. It made for a desperately claustrophobic but also gut wrenchingly tender dynamic where they literally were the best and worst of and for each other. The way they're each trying to dissect who the other really is based on who they remember them being and who they're facing rn- the way these feelings were articulated makes me want to throw up (in a good way). OH AND THE PETER PAN INFLUENCES?!!!!!! No because she didn't just eat these up- she devoured!!!!! Their thing being him climbing up through her window and asking her to tell him a story?????? Just falling asleep listening to her talk????? When I say I bawled- and then when that came full circle because of course it did, when he asks her for a story and the happy ending is just them seeing the age of old and grey....*screams into the void*

“I thought maybe I could take some of the weight for you. I thought that, in spite of everything, we could kick our way out of this together. But it’s too heavy, Peter. You’re too heavy. You’re drowning me.” The way this line has me so unbelievably GAGGED!!

"He didn’t know how to tell her that she wouldn’t find a thing—didn’t know how to explain that all his hurts were packed inside, festering where no one else could see." - no one knows how I sobbed.

"But she couldn’t take another minute of lying there alone, her insides rotting. She wanted to be held." And she's honestly so real for this.

The characters- now, where do I even start with this :') It's interesting because you go into a book expecting to like the main characters and dislike the villain and yet here I am, deadlocked in a grey are where I love them and also think they probably could've lived very fulfilling lives if they had never met.
"The slipshod stitching on Peter’s abdomen was raw and angry. It matched her own, the scarring on her belly gone pink with scabs. It matched James, too, his torso pieced together like patchwork. They were the same, inside and out."
James thinking of them as belonging to him- pocketing them along with a stolen lighter and handfuls of sweets. This? Is most definitely not a healthy way to think of your friends and YET I found myself wanting to sob because all he wanted was something that was all his to take care of and find joy in-no strings attached. So yes it's slightly twisted and not healthy but he was also very much ready to and some may say he really did protect them with his life. Wyatt- my fave girl. She really was fighting for her life this whole book- growing up thinking that all she did was make things rot and ruin, and still gripping to her dreams with both sticky hands because she didn't want to be that- she wanted her happy ending and she wanted it with her friends. Head in the clouds and heart on her sleeve- I love her so much. And yes she was petulant at times, and needs therapy desperately, but she really just wanted to be happy and not have to stress about real life, and if that isn't reasonable idk what is. And Pedyr- my love, "...the little lost boy of Willow Heath. Pale and quiet as a ghost. Underfoot in a house stuffed full of strangers, never quite sure which of them he belonged to. If he belonged to anyone at all, or if he’d just appeared one day, small and angry and rooting through the kitchen cabinets." I COULD SOB! I DID SOB!!! A LOT!! (I had to rehydrate at the end of this book lmao I am not okay). The way he just wanted to go home? Just wanted A home???? He just wanted to hug his mum again and not be treated like a specimen? He just wanted to see past 18???? LIKE?!!!!! WHAT DID HE DO TO DESERVE THIS???? Honestly, bro shutting down whenever there's confrontation is so me, and tbh I could say things about his problem solving skills and communication or lack thereof but I'm not going to because he can do no wrong.
"A marble boy, mired in his own personal mausoleum. Her starved god. Her secret saint. Her killer. His hands were balled in trembling fists. A single tear tracked down the side of his face. He let it fall." AND WHAT IF I WAS NEVER OKAY AGAIN?!!!!
My point? who knows- but these characters are so complicated, so REAL, so very human that you can't help but love them and root for them even when one of them isn't himself and the other wants to murder his first love. They're working on it. It was so clearly a group who were thrown together by awful circumstance and forced to survive with and despite each other.
"The three of them grew together after that. It was impossible not to. They sprouted up much in the way trees did—first alongside one another, and then twined all together, their branches entangled.....Inosculation, where the trunks of multiple trees grew so close together that they grafted into one. That was them, he’d thought....He, Peter, and Wyatt, their roots so intricately knotted that none of them could tell where one of them ended and the other began."

The horror was of course- SO GOOD!! So creepy, so awful, but never in a corny way???? Like- just the mimic banging on the door over and over again had my stomach turning and we didn't even see the thing when it was doing that.
"She grappled for her cell phone in her pocket, flicking on the flashlight and raising it in front of her. A face lit silver mere inches from her own. It peered at her out of a keenly humanoid stare, its smile split from ear to ear. With a scream, she dropped her phone." So simply, but so effective- I'm not a horror reader but when it's a Kelly Andrew book I absolutely am. The descriptions of Wyatt's abilities was also so so so stunning - I freaking love how vivid they were, how they linked to her emotions - it was such a joy to read those scenes. That the natural manifestation of her emotions didn't always feel perfectly in line with what she was feeling which is such a fab little detail because it just adds another layer of complication into an already immensely complicated emotional stew that is these three characters.

I don't have a separate point here I just wanted to have this quote in my review because are we joking-
"She thought of him out in the hen yard, naming all the chickens. The way the goat followed him from room to room, chewing at his sleeves. The way he’d sharpened himself into something cruel, to hide the fact that all he wanted was someplace soft to land." Like- He literally just wanted a peaceful little life and I'm bawling again teehee

I also wouldn't be me if I didn't take a second to discuss how completely ruined this romance has left my poor, fragile heart.
Exhibits A through H:

"He didn’t hate her. He loved her so much that it was like holding his heart outside of his body.” I'd like to know what I did to deserve this kind of suffering-

"He felt her presence like a bruise, as though she’d been beaten into his bones."

"He tasted like tragedy."

'“I’ll follow you. If you leave, I’ll come after you."........He felt like he was being cracked open. Ribs split, his chest scooped hollow. He’d been pulled apart in so many ways, snapped and broken at the whims of men. None of it felt like this.'

"He would never forget the look in her eyes, even when all that was left was darkness. Even when the world burned."

“Horrible,” he agreed. “Beautiful. Perfect.” - this line- yeah this one really got me- LORD

"Loving Peter had always felt a little bit like poking at a bruise. Impossible to stop, even when it hurt. But nothing had ever hurt quite as badly as this—kissing him at the world’s end, surrounded by a living monument to all their wasted time."- I'm crying again LMAO

"Dahlia, you'll be okay." girl- she might be BUT I WILL NEVER BE AGAIN

Idk how she - and this is really the only appropriate word I can think of for how they make me feel- makes her romances sO viscerally gut wrenching like?? Not even joking anymore when I say I feel SICK lol,, Need I say more..?? no. ok,

ANYWAYS- onto more joyous things- the TWD cameo in this one was actually everything I deserved after this heartbreak- I also love how strategically it was placed in the timeline like here have this gem go giggle and kick your feet and cry happy tears oop no there goes your emotional equilibrium forever :D Like she really knew I would need all the emotional fortitude I could GET to prepare me for the last 1/3 of this book lmao - but it was so good to see my parents still alive and kicking- the "Lane is dating her sleep paralysis demon" line made me CACKLE- I really do love them with all my heart- the way his whole demeanour softened and he smiled when he called her Wednesday??? I might recover from this after all (I won't).

To conclude- I seriously haven't felt this gutted since I read Clockwork Princess back in 2020 (its been 4 years and I wish I was exaggerating when I say I cannot read any scene that mentioned Will without bursting into tears to this day) and that is honestly- standing ovation because I'm a crybaby but I also get over things super fast and I do not see myself moving past this for a very long time. I loved this book, I loved the story, I literally cannot think of a single thing I would change or wished was different. It's the perfect book. It did what it needed to do and I'm honestly so grateful 1) to miss Kelly for writing it and gifting us with it but also 2) to whoever it was at gollancz that decided yeah we gotta publish this in the UK - I am forever in your debt :')

I'll hold this book very very close to my heart <3

P.S. I will literally (I'm so serious) never recover from "He smiled ruefully. 'Side by side?' 'Old and grey.'" This feels like when Noah Kahan said I wanna love you till we're food for the worms to eat, till our fingers decompose, keep my hand in yours- yeah, that's- I'm gonna go cry again. THE FACT THAT THIS WAS THE HAPPY STORY HE ASKED FOR?!!!! Goodbye I can't-

P.P.S. this is so random but the description "taller than a man. narrower than a root." has stuck in my brain and it's terrifying a I freaking love it (I also hate it bc tHERE's an image lmao).


Thank you Gollancz and NetGalley UK for this proof copy!

[RMA · Rating 2 out of 5]

Real rating - 2.5 but I rounded it up purely for the writing style and the atmosphere.

Well. I don't exactly know where to begin.

While reading the first 60% of the book, I was sure this was going to be a five star read. The premise is incredibly gripping and very unique and it was only enhanced by the writing. Kelly Andrew is a wordsmith, she paints sceneries and atmospheres so WELL I could feel myself on that farm.

The last 40% though? What the hell was that? Throughout the entire book we are either in Wyatt or Pedyr's shoes. But in both perspectives, the author consistently gives out sentences and "foreshadowing" and by the end, there is still no satisfying conclusion. We are given bread crumb after bread crumb and I STILL HAVE SO MANY UNANSWERED QUESTIONS!!!!

Characters:
Wyatt Westlock III: I was indifferent to her honestly but then I began to hate her and her stupid decisions. She consistently put herself in harm's way after being repeatedly warned and it was only because of her pride that she didn't want to listen. Her sudden shift from wanting to help Pedyr and then refusing to let James die and for what? It did not make any sense at all.

Don't even get me started on her magical abilities. They are INCREDIBLY cool but they were put in this book as an afterthought. These powers should have been central to her character and yet? It made guest appearances.

Pedyr: Sweetie, I love you, but you should have remained a stone-cold killer. I don't know why you turned into a simp by chapter 3, but he had so so so so so so much potential to be a manipulative scumbag, something that would have WORKED and made so much sense here but instead we get a r/im14andthisisdeep version of an immortal being. I am UPSET.

Atmosphere: 10/10.
Writing Style: 9/10.

These two ^^ were the only reason I continued reading. The book was well-written, I just hoped there was a plot to go with it. But to be honest, the fact this was set in the real world in the 21st century kinda jarred me. Why? Go the full mile and let this book be in the middle ages. Also WHY IS IT JUST WILLOW HEATH THAT HAS THESE "DARK WOODS" WHAT ABOUT THE REST OF THE WORLD? (I'm so angry at this wasted potential of a gem 😮‍💨)

Plot: Where is it??? The book focused too heavily on the consequences of some Actions but we never got to understand the backstories or the events leading up to said consequences. As a result, the plot felt half-finished and the author was going off of vibes alone. That wouldn't have been so bad had there not been random encounters and monsters and other cryptids popping every other page "demanding" something from the protagonists. The book ended and I still didn't understand who the bone warden is? who are the guildsmen? what caused the tear in the sky? Where did the Beast and the other creatures come from? What exactly do they want? These are core questions that must be answered to better understand the story but unfortunately, that was never explored.

Logic/relationships:
Apart from the plot holes, something that really irked me is the sudden shift in Pedyr. He loathed Wyatt because she "left" him? This would have hit really hard had they actually loved each other in childhood, but those scenes always made them seem like reluctant allies who never really trusted each other. It made it difficult to understand why Wyatt even loved him in the first place.

Overall, I'm pretty angry. The book had a lot of potential, a very promising and unique premise, and a strong start. But with mystery books like this, there is a fine balance the author must strike between foreshadowing and then giving us answers; the balance here was non-existent. I had a lot of questions and most of them were unanswered. The thing that drives each character was missing and it was vital that we as readers understand it in the context of this story but it felt a lot like "trust the process" and then feeling utter betrayal. This book's saving grace was the writing so if you want to read a book for Vibes, this is a great choice.

[nikki | ཐི༏ཋྀ​​݁ ₊ ݁ . · Rating 4 out of 5]

He didn’t want to tell her that most curses looked like gifts, at the start.

an eerie folkesque horror, complete with ritualistic sacrifice, childhood besties reuniting, and eldritch monsters crawling in from the woods. wyatt returns to her summer childhood home ready to be rid of it, but quickly discovers that everything wasn't as it seemed in her memories.

They’d dreamed together. They’d fought together. And eventually—reluctantly—they’d grown together.

Dully, she wondered if this was what heartbreak felt like—looking into the eyes of someone she’d spent her whole life memorizing and finding nothing recognizable left over in their depths.

the creepy atmosphere always kept me on my toes as i tried to piece together wyatt, pedyr, and james's past. i could easily see this as a slow-paced but totally unnerving A24 film. the elements of nature used in such vivid imagery are just perfect for it. the tenuous dynamics between the trio keep you guessing as to what each one actually wants, what they're going to do, and where their loyalties really lie.

“I don’t think there’s a word,” James said slowly, “for what the three of us were to one another back then.”

“The way he'd sharpened himself into something cruel, to hide the fact that all he wanted was someplace soft to land.”

i especially loved the cameo of the gang back from the whispering dark, so i rec reading that first if you can. i didn't love this one as much as TWD, but mostly bc i prefer dark academia vibes to folk horror.

overall, i really enjoyed this, it's perfect for the spooky season, and i was definitely tearing up at the end.

“You can’t run from the things you fear. Instead, invite them to your table. Sit with them awhile. Look them in the eye. You will find they are not as big as they seem, and you are not as small as you think.”

He’d never needed to go home. Home had been right here in front of him.
_________________________

apparently i might be a little emotionally damaged after this one, pray for me 🙏

[Christy · Rating 1 out of 5]

Yikes.

Where to start??? First of all, the story itself is just a mess. There's the vaguest inclination of a plot, but by golly, you'll have trouble finding more than the bare bones of it under all the superfluous descriptions. Kelly Andrew will have you read an incredibly detailed account of Wyatt walking from one room of the house to another, but then never tell you precisely what Wyatt does to Bryant(?) I can't even remember his name. I just know he calls her a bitch in her memories and he ends up in the hospital. Wyatt hates her childhood home, but they never actually explain why. You just know she hates it because she shows up to torch the place and keeps mentioning that she hates it. Despite having apparently her best memories there. I don't know. A whole lot of nothing is described, but the important points are not.

Wyatt is insufferable. She tells herself not to cry every ten pages, and has the maturity of a ten year old. Which I guess works in her favor in this one specific case at the end because her magic is tied to her emotions that she doesn't know how to control. Oh, and of course, she's SO special and has this ultra rare magic that changes everything.

For some reason, I'm supposed to believe she and Peter are in love with each other. Despite this, Wyatt finds him chained in her basement and does NOTHING to help him. She notes that he looks gaunt and starving, and does she do anything about it? NO! He says one rude thing to her, and she literally leaves him to rot (her own words). Like damn, I guess true love can wait after all, not to mention, Wyatt has the moral backbone of an eclair. If she loves him so much, she should've at least TRIED to free him at some point. Or you know, feed him, or do anything to try and help at all. At one point, she takes food down there and drops it on the floor where he can't reach it. She's complicit in his torture, and she never shows any sort of regret over this. He only gets freed when her emotions get out of control and she unwittingly frees him with her magic. Peter's also kind of a dickhead, but we're not going to waste time on that. I mean, the guy's been tortured and ritualistically killed for the past century- doesn't really seem like the kind of thing that makes people nice.

James is the most interesting out of the trio, and he's also a douche (in a more lovable way). But he makes no sense either!!! He's somehow aged with Peter and Wyatt despite the fact he's been dead the past five years. Like if he was an illusion, sure, I could buy that. But the monster is literally piloting his corpse. And he gets brought back to life at the end just because???? HOW DOES THAT WORK KELLY??!?! I WANT TO KNOW!!! Dead man comes back to life and just???? continues on like nothing happened the past five years???? Yeah, okay, we can't explain any of that but we have to know precisely what kind of chickens are on the farm.

This only took two leisurely days to read, and it still felt like a huge waste of time.

[Maria Clara · Rating 4 out of 5]

¿HAY ALGO MÁS ATRAYENTE QUE UN ROMANCE RETORCIDO Y CRUEL😏?

OSCURIDAD
SANGRE
HUESOS
SACRIFICIOS
MALDICIONES
BRUJAS
Y DEMONIOS…

Es más, esta historia está plagada de recodos oscuros y lúgubres, de escaleras que crujen y puertas que se cierran solas; de bosques tenebrosos y primitivos en los que perderse para siempre y de cementerios repletos de huesos sin nombre…😱

Y eso no es todo, porque sus personajes son grises, negros, tiznados de miedos, inseguridades y muerte… En sus corazones anidan secretos inconfesables, pero también el poder de la amistad y del amor🔥.

Todo esto sin mencionar la pincelada de terror que sobrevuela entre sus páginas y que te mantendrá en suspense hasta haber cerrado el libro🤭!

SERES ESCALOFRIANTES
TRAICIONES INNOMBLABLES
Y UN AMOR CAPAZ DE ROMPER LAS CADENAS MÁS FUERTES!

[Books_and_Crafts · Rating 5 out of 5]

What a wild ride.

I understand that this is incredibly niche and will not be for everyone but I thoroughly enjoyed this. It scratched a very specific itch I’ve had for a long time for something dark, spooky, a little creepy and a crazy story.

It has similar vibes to starling house but creepier. Where starling house has paranormal elements, this has cryptid/eldritch horror. It was haunting of hill house without the family drama. It was wholly unique and different yet familiar in ways that mattered.

There’s also a small romantic plot!

I loved it.

[Magdalena (magdal21) · Rating 2 out of 5]

I was initially excited about this book because the synopsis seemed like something I would enjoy. However, while the premise was intriguing, the execution fell short. The narrative was overly detailed, yet I still found myself lacking crucial information about the characters' backgrounds and the magic system. Despite the seemingly high stakes, the story unfolded at a sluggish pace, which I attribute to the sloppy worldbuilding. Additionally, there were several intriguing subplots that remained unresolved, contributing to a chaotic narrative. The ending was so lackluster that I had to push myself to finish it, hoping for some excitement that (sadly) never materialized.

[christina · Rating 3 out of 5]

Honestly though if I want no plot just vibes magical realism I’ll read Maggie Stiefvater, at least the characters will be developed and have clear motivations. This book had a lot of potential but it needed more work on that back half. From the reviews on the author’s other book it sounds like this is an improvement so maybe the next book will have fixed some of the pacing and connective tissue problems.

Wendy Wyatt has been called back to her childhood home after the sudden totally not suspicious death of her estranged father, having inherited the New England farmstead on the edge of the eldritch woods where she spent her summers. (Wyatt: “yeah I remember dad had all these weird friends in creepy robes but idk I never really gave it much thought.“ girl what do you mean??) She intends to burn it down, because that’s a reasonable response to like, bad memories or whatever. I personally would maybe try to sell it, but go off. She decides to pause on the arson to take a quick peek inside after some well timed flashbacks of her childhood boyfriends, James and Peter, and the night she was forced to leave the farm for good with her mother. She hears a voice from the basement and follows it down there, I assume because she’s never seen a horror movie in her life, and she finds Peter, shirtless and emaciated and strung up in weird tree manacles. I would have preferred a bunch of tubs of legos, tbh.

Peter (Pedyr, in his own POV) informs Wyatt that they’re in big trouble, Scoob, because the wards are weakening and now a giant spider and various other old beings are hungry for her blood so if she just lets him out of his chains he can help her train up her magic. Wyatt’s like magic haha that would be crazy if I had magic I definitely don’t though I definitely didn’t drown some guy from my past that I have nightmares about.

Instead of releasing Peter immediately or offering him water and food or you know literally anything she’s like hang on I gotta facetime my mom really quick so she can fill me in on Survivor and discovers there’s no cell service. That doesn’t stop the landline on the wall from ringing with a call from James, full of cryptic advice and promises to arrive soon with help, and through spooky static tells her she has to get out of there because Peter will kill her! Conveniently Unfortunately, Wyatt can’t just leave the obviously evil and dangerous farmstead (and abandon Peter, which is her plan) because her shitty truck she borrowed won’t start!

Wyatt confronts (still chained up) Peter about the whole “are you really planning to kill me” conundrum, and learns Peter is immortal due to a deal with a demon (the unnamed beast), and has spent lifetimes being ritually sacrificed to strengthen the wards at Willow Heath. The wards are in place to prevent any number of unnamed cryptids and eldritch horrors from coming through where the veil is thin because they’re so high up in the mountains something something. He’s super over all the dying painfully and coming back to life, but he can get a ticket back to his world and his mom if he kills Wyatt, the beast pinky promised! Peter tried to kill her when they were kids but oops, he liked having friends too much and chickened out. After some initial bickering and hurt feelings that he was gonna kill her all along, they form an uneasy truce because we need to have our forced proximity for the romance to develop.

For a while I thought this would be four stars. It’s a very loose Peter Pan retelling, and there are some clever references to Peter climbing through the window, Wyatt telling him stories, his shadow, Wyatt and Peter’s first kiss, James’ “hooked smile” (get it) and his love of petty larceny. But really, this could have been aged up. Thank god they’re legal adults but this would have been better as an actual adult book where the author could lean into the toxic romantic three way relationship that was more text than subtext. The first half of this book is mature, atmospheric horror YA. I was genuinely very creeped out at points. There were some obvious plot holes but I was enjoying the vibes (and the unsubtle “we’re all in love with each other” undertones) so I could overlook them. The writing style is clearly aping Stiefvater (though I think less successfully) and the prose could have used some tightening up, but generally I’m a bit more lenient on lofty descriptions in gothic books.

At around 60% though, things go off the rails. Side characters appear out of nowhere and I was like “this feels like when a television show does a back door pilot or a crossover episode for a show I’ve never seen.” I checked the author’s GR profile to confirm my suspicion and yes, it’s because the characters are from the author’s other book. So it really feels like the story gets highjacked and these characters come out of nowhere. Things continue to go downhill from there. Worldbuilding that felt mysterious turns half-baked when you realize oh, we’re just not explaining things or answering questions. The majority of the relationship building between all three characters is done in flashbacks, and not enough is done in the present. There’s no real magic system, and not much exploration into Peter’s backstory or his immortality deal. Plot holes and nonsensical actions continue piling up. So much time is spent on alluding to a very traumatic incident in Wyatt’s past and it’s never fully explained. She does something to someone with her magic that is so horrible (on accident?? it’s unclear) that it should definitely have involved a police investigation, and we never learn what triggered it. The flashback descriptions surrounding it seem to be implying sexual assault but it’s so vague it pisses me off. You can imply without being unclear.

And listen, when it comes to magical realism I can suspend my disbelief and hand wave plot holes and sail along even when I don’t know half of what is going on. If the prose is right and the characters are lovable and the payoff is good I’ll cry anyway. (The Raven Boys you will always be famous.) I don’t even mind a bittersweet ending if it feels narratively satisfying. I picked up that it was going to be tragic early on, and I think if this had been an adult book (with a better back half) it would have fit but as YA I just don’t think it works here. I say this after just recently finishing Where the Dark Stands Still, which has similar themes (immortality deal with a demon, creepy forest needs a warden, forced proximity in a house) and a bittersweet ending but there it felt inevitable. Not only is this ending a downer, it didn’t seem like it had to be that way. I’ve already had to suspend my disbelief so much and accept a lot of plot contrivances, people have survived lethal injuries and infections that should have killed them, and you’re telling me that’s the ending we’re going with? Flop.

[Veronica ☽◯☾ · Rating 5 out of 5]

➵ 4.5 ⭐️

I should've listened to everyone who already read an advance copy and said this book ripped out their heart

ma'am, HOWDAREYOU

Kelly, u can expect my therapy bill in the mail in 3-5 business days

A marble boy, mired in his own personal mausoleum. Her starved god. Her secret saint. Her killer.

It's been weeks since I finished this and I'm still not over it.

Your Blood, My Bones was beautiful, tragic, haunting and utterly gut wrenching.
As always, Kelly Andrew's prose is gorgeous. Once I started I couldn't put this down, even reread the first chapter several times because I just loved the way she set everything up - the characters and their pasts, their relationships, the tension, the angst, the magic, I couldn't get enough.

The feel in her chest was that of stitches ripped clean. There, beneath her bones, was a wound she thought she'd healed.

I love Wyatt, Pedyr and James so much, my heart broke for each more than once. Kelly has created such nuanced, well fleshed out characters with complex relationships that had me hooked right away.
The romance is one of the things that broke me and that's all I'm gonna say.

He withdrew his hand, flexing out his fingers as if it hurt him to touch her. She hoped it did. She hoped it shattered him the way it shattered her.

I absolutely adore the fact that YBMB is in the same universe as The Whispering Dark. I almost cried when we got reunited with Lane, Colton and McKenzie—I missed them so much.
And here I'm going to mention that reading TWD will definitely give a better understanding of the magic system, you won't be lost without that knowledge of course but I strongly encourage reading TWD first.

I don't know what else to say because I don't wanna give away too much but I just want to mention that Your Blood, My Bones is what I expected Together We Rot to be more or less. but where TWR was lacking, YBMB more than made up for it.

"There's a Welsh word I learned in school," said James. "Hiraeth. There's no direct translation for it in the English language, but it means a deep longing for a home you can never return to."

If you love exquisite prose, dark fantasy, friends-turned enemies-turned lovers, creepy vibes, magic with body horror and small town setting you should definitely read this.
I'll read anything Kelly Andrew writes.

eternal gratitude to Netgalley and the publisher for the ARC
all quotes are from an advance copy and may differ in the final publication

[Ashley · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.5⭐
"Wyatt, it's okay. I was already home." STOPPPPP this broke me!!!!

Was this my favorite book ever? No. I did think it was slightly slow at times.. BUT I did enjoy the overall storyline!

Also the ending broke me!!!

[Starr ❇✌❇ · Rating 4 out of 5]

I received an ARC from Edelweiss
TW: knife violence & murder, self inflicted injury, death of animals, mentioned drowning, mentioned death/torture of a child
4.2

LEMME TELL YA.
I really enjoyed the vibes of this book. While remaining unique and 100% its own thing, it also felt like it had a cool mix of The Raven Boys and Ghost Wood Song, which if you know me, you know I will go feral for- and if you're a fan of all encompassing friendships, magic woods, folk horror, and murder, then you will too!

I also love so much the way in which immortality and romance with an immortal is handled. The immortality is a brutal, bloody thing. The immortality is a boon, knife sharp, a wish someone else had that still keeps you pinned like a bug. The immortality leaves behind a grime of who you were, while refusing to let you remember all that you've been.
From a romance perspective, having an immortal love interest is always kind of tricky. I, personally, am suspect of any teen-appearing immortal who is mentally an adult (and usually a senior citizen). So I think it was such a good move on Andrew's part, to have have Peter's mind hold on to just enough from his prior lives to be hurt by them, but his only actual childhood be growing up with Wyatt.
The idea of finally getting to live, finally being allowed to grow into more than a small, weak child meant for the slaughter, and knowing it's because of this girl, your whole world- and knowing that this girl is the only thing that makes them think that you're worth leaving alive, and that it will only last so long. The complex emotions of these characters are so raw, and layered!

I also, like in TRC, love the friend group. I love these sticky handed children growing up with summers together, and the ominous cast Wyatt's life with them is given when she find out exactly what was going on. I love how they are all a part of each other, even if they had different plans, different reasons for forming their unbreakable group. It's messy, and a little dangerous, maybe toxic in places, but it's everything anyway.
I do love the vibe, but I also did find myself hoping for some polyam rep as I was reading, and I'd still have loved to see that- but that's also a mark of a well written, impossible to look away from or separate kind of group.

A mark of a great, well written story is how many time I had to go "and it's still going???". There were so many points where another book would have stopped, or begun its quick descent to the finale. But Your Blood, My Bones just keeps going, and you never really know where it's going to land! I respect that so much!

I'm a little on the fence about the ending, personally. I might have come away with even more positive feeling as a whole had it been different, but at the same time having consequences does make the whole thing feel more earned. A magical kiss cure all is nice in fairytales, but rarely gives a novel the heft it deserves.

The only real places I have any complaints, are the few places things felt less thought out and more hand waved for the genre. The beginning sets up "enemies-to-lovers" in a way that feels forced, not because of the actual dynamics or plot of the story itself, but because it's abrupt and unnuanced feeling as a set up. But I'd also have really liked more explanation of what exactly happened with the widow, or shown a clear effect from it, because it may have given the third act more of a clear push instead of feeling sudden and more by rote as an "ending section" than continuation of the story.

Pre-review comments below
SEMI-IMMORTAL CHILDHOOD FRIEND WHO HAS DIED HUNDREDS OF RITUALISTIC DEATHS????????????????????????????????????????

[Tasha Metzler · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book was dark and different. I am trying to state my reaction without giving away any spoilers! This book had me hooked and I was dying to know how it would all wrap up. I guess I shouldn’t be too surprised by the twists and how it ended. However, I will admit it gutted me. Left me sad with tears and a little unsettled.

“For anyone who has ever left a part of themselves behind”.

[Hannah (The Curiouser & Curiouser) · Rating 1 out of 5]

I was in a constant state of wtf this whole book.

I've finished this, and I still have no idea what the plot really was or how it made any sense. There's a house and woods around it, and the woods have monsters/demons in it that are only held at bay due to Westlock blood and some magic and the bones of Peter, the immortal.

The magic and sacrificial stuff was wonky at best. Even though at some points Wyatt is trying to learn how to do magic, not much training ever happens--Wyatt just knows how to do everything, even the stuff she's never trained for or was having trouble with until that moment. No real work goes into any of it.

The immortal stuff with Peter didn't make sense to me. He can't die, yet some rich white dudes keep sacrificing him for his bones. I still don't understand how that works. And why did the Beast pick Peter to make immortal?? Just because Peter died and was there?? I guess??

Wyatt made me want to scream. She finds Peter chained up in the basement of her childhood home, and Peter straight-up tells her that he wants to kill her so the Beast will leave him alone and he can finally be reunited with his family.

And what does Wyatt do? She tells Peter she's missed him and that she wants him close.

GiRl . . . Can you please get it together.

I would imagine the sane response to finding out there's super creepy shit happening and your childhood friend is immortal and wants to kill you in order to break his curse would be to . . . oh, I don't know . . . not stay close to that person.

The monsters in the woods didn't really even have much page time. They pop up here and there, try to be creepy, and then that's really it. Much more time was dedicated to Wyatt telling Peter she loves him so so so much.

Seriously. That's the whole book.

And the ending . . . I still don't understand what really happening. It was like poof . . . Everything is okay now because MAGIC.

It was unsatisfactory, to say the least. Which makes it so much worse since the synopsis had so much potential.

[Mylynn · Rating 5 out of 5]

Do you want emotional damage? This is the book for you.

This book is gonna be on my mind for a while. It's been days since I finished it, and I want to reread it because I love a book that hurts me.

I loved the storyline progression in this book, how we get little flashbacks and reveals of the past but we're always left wondering and wanting more. This book made me feel greedy, jumping at every crumb Kelly Andrew gave us. The relationship between three childhood friends: Wyatt, Peter, and James was so interesting and I loved this trio. The angst and tension between all of them was perfect to me.

The plot and pacing felt really good to me, and there wasn't a point where I was ever bored with this book. I also felt like there was really no wasted space, which is so refreshing. This is labeled as fantasy and horror and romance, but it's not like anything I've ever read in any of those genres.

It's so hard to put into words why I loved this book so much, but it really was SO good, and so painful, and so beautifully written. If you read this please feel free to yell in my DMs about it.

[M.K. · Rating 5 out of 5]

I have only read a very early version of this book, but it was already fabulous. The ending made me sob. Strap in, friends.

[rose ❀ · Rating 2 out of 5]

356 pages later and i still don’t care for the characters but happy ending ig. umm she loved a boy and then SPOILER ALERT‼️🚨 when he dies shes like oh well i guess i never knew him enough to love him

[Sam · Rating 3 out of 5]

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

My Selling Pitch:
A Peter Pan retelling but make it New England cryptid horror with a writing style that feels like the love child of Leigh Bardugo and Maggie Stiefvater with none of the finishing bite. You’re gonna hate the ending.

Pre-reading:
Based on the fact that this is a YA magical realism book, I think I’m going to hate it. But like she’s a book box pick, and I like to be a current girly. Maybe she’ll surprise me. You never know.

Thick of it:
Opening with liefer to mean rather in a YA is WILD behavior.

liefer

It’s the way I didn’t know what a jerrican was until very recently, and I am 26 years old.

Oh no, a cat book. (It was not. I'm just traumatized.)

Prediction: the boys are ghosts (Girl, basically.)

Chantry

I went into this book with a bad attitude. It’s well written. I’m interested.

Her tears were useless? Please tell me girlypop has not been raped. I’m tired, publishing industry. I’m real tired.

Camphor

There’s some serious vocab in this book.

Atkins

It reminds me of Starling House.

God, I wanna be toxic. I hope this is a love triangle.

Raven Boysy

Thaumaturgy

This is eerie. Good job, YA.

Oh, I’m so in on this enemies to lovers. Fucking absolutely.

Thank you, god, for making them 18 and adults.

Susurrus

New England supremacy

There's something a little Alex Sterny about it too.

I love a deal with a devil. Please make the demon monster sexy. (…honestly- I know, I know. Samantha, jail.)

Oh girl, I’m so interested.

Frozen watermelon is terrible.

Oh no, did girlypop get raped at a house party? Y’all I’m tired. Everything I pick up is rape. I’m so tired. (It’s not on page. We’re safe.)

Does she think she’s a monster because she turned her would-be rapist into like a mushroom or something because I swear to god. (Girl, basically.)

I don’t think I’ve ever felt so genuinely threatened by a YA book. Or like at least not in a long, long time.

Here’s the thing: James and Peter-both incredibly privileged white boy names. I am confusing them so much. I feel like James should be the blonde and Peter should be the British one. I don’t know why. I just do. Why couldn’t you make his name like Johnny or something farmy and make it easy on me? (Because it’s a Peter Pan retelling and editing Sam has just made the connection to James Hook. I’m an idiot.)

Don’t tell me he’s got a knot inside of him. I’ve read Bride.

Oh wait, I get it. Lost boy Peter. That makes so much sense. That’ll help me keep them straight. (And somehow I still didn’t pick up on James Hook until I finished the book.)

This audiobook narrator is a 10 out of 10. He’s selling it. This man’s creepy. I haven’t been freaked out by a YA in years.

Could we have our first good book of the year? (Yeah, yeah I jinxed myself. I know.)

How could they just leave a little boy out in the Maine winter? What the heck? If you’re cold, they’re cold. Bring your demons inside. Are you kidding? New England loves a demon.

Oh, homeboy’s got them mommy issues. I’m afraid lol

Oh, so her dad wasn’t willing to kill the little demon child, but he was willing to abuse him for years and years. That makes sense.

That sounds like a threesome right there, Bestie. (There are so many of these types of lines in this book, and it's such a tease.)

Detritus sin

That was so effective at warping what was a sweet childhood memory into something oh so sinister. Well done.

antimacassars

Hear me out: not a lot of time is passing for the actual plot of the story, but it still feels like a very fast paced book.

finial

I feel like she and Peter are obviously gonna get together, so is James the beast? (I nail books, guys.)

architrave

lally column

Didn’t Peter say the phone goes to nowhere? I’m so sus of the phone and James. (And for good reason, girl.)

I can’t believe we’re only 20%. I feel like I’ve read so much.

I absolutely love cauliflower, but since when is hash cauliflower a thing in farmstead Maine?

Goddammit, girlypop definitely got attempted raped. I don’t wanna read that. (And you don't have to.)

If her dad is dead, and Peter was in the basement, who was taking care of the animals? (She’s got a lot of plot holes, gal pals.)

This book is wild. I am live laugh loving.

Is James in the unmarked grave? (Yuuup.)

Oh my god, I’m totally right. James is dead.

Oh. I understand the title now. Wow, this is dark. Good job.

This is very Leigh Bardugo and also Maggie Stievater.

agita

This book makes me so nervous. It’s so good at it. It’s so well-paced.

Oh, they’re ~flirting~

Everyone in all these books always knows how to resuscitate people. I don’t know how to do that. I could not do that in an emergency. I’ve been trained, like at least more than once. I cannot.

Why does her dad have so many of her mom‘s clothes lying around the house if she hasn’t been there in over five years? (Plot hole)

Oh, it’s working. I like them. I like this dialogue. I like this book. (I really thought.)

If your man tells you he’s going to kill you in real life, run away so fast. If it happens in a book, you should probably get married.

This book doesn’t read like YA. With the way that the characters act, I feel like they could be in their 20s, and then we could do with a little more romance, a little more smutty aesthetic. But like at least they’re legal adults this time around. I’m very thankful for that. I just would prefer a mental picture of a 20-something-year-old farmboy shirtless and cutting wood rather than an 18-year-old, and even then I’m just like that is a baby. That is a child. I’m so fucking old.

He does keep saying she’s dead already, so what if they’re red-herring me and she’s dead in the forest? But like I’m pretty sure it’s James dead in the forest.

Who stocked the house with food? I know she said there wasn’t much, but how was there anything edible? (Plot hole.)

Why is he doing yard work? What does it matter? (Plot hole.)

Oh no, they specifically brought up that cats go away to die. Oh no, the cat’s gonna die, and the demon’s gonna get it. Oh no. (Not quite.)

rancor

Between the narrator's whispering and the descriptions for this book, it’s so creepy. It’s doing so well.

It’s the way I was fully convinced this book was getting ready to end, and we’re not even halfway. Gimmie the fucking love triangle. I’m gonna live laugh love, baby. (It's the way I read these reactions back to edit them and like you can hear the joy in some of them and then watch it die 🫠)

James Campbell is the love child of Gansey and Darlington.

Throuple, Throuple, Throuple

I hate when books drag out characters’ #TragicBackstories especially when it's rape.

Title drop

calcareous

politesse

tremolo

Shoat

Where they getting all these beds?

I don’t like that the monsters are all essentially the same monster just like wearing someone else’s face.

The inaction is also getting to me. Like they’re all just resigned to being in the house. We’re getting a lot of the same conversations over and over again. And like the answers to the withheld/unfinished conversations because secrets seem very obvious. Also, how do these bitches keep falling asleep? I’d be piss my pants scared. I couldn't sleep in this!

I know the solution isn’t gonna be all of them in a devil’s threesome because this is a YA, but like why notttttt. I've been so good. I've finished so many books I didn't want to.

Ossified

These boys are allergic to shirts. What is this, Twilight?

Necropolis

Did I mention that this book is an Arthurian legend book too, and I still haven’t read King Arthur?

Oh god, she's a spider, isn't she? (Yup.)

Camphoraceous

This is the most successful YA horror that I’ve read. It’s more successful than a lot of the adult horror that I’ve read.

A girl who could rattle the dead is very Alex Stern and I think SJM has a rattle the stars line.

Here’s the thing: I just want the rapist ex hallucination to be all you did this! and have miss girlypop spin around and be like and I’d do it again, bitch. (This doesn’t happen, and that is a crime.)

Part three has absolutely lost me. (It’s the beginning of the end for my enjoyment.)

I like the British spawn of Satan.

This back half is losing me.

You married into it, bitch. You had to know your boyfriend was doing human sacrifice using little boys long before you got pregnant. Don’t act all innocent. What do you mean?

Her mom sucks.

I feel like this book is pretty plot holey, but I was willing to suspend disbelief for the vibes, but now we’re really falling apart.

dehiscence

palimpsest

Why even bother to keep James’ death a secret then? Like that’s so dumb. You didn’t even kill him.

Peter, ya ain’t killed anyone, so I’m glad you think you’re this bloodthirsty little fuck. You’ve literally killed no one.

They like keep building up girlypop’s #tragicbackstory, and it’s literally just gonna be that her high school boyfriend tried to rape her so she drowned him with some plants. (Unconfirmed but like what else would it be.)

Let it be forgotten? I don’t think so. I think you should suffer consequences for your actions of torturing a little boy.

Oh, we’ll ride it. (Samantha, jail.)

So if you know you die in the dress, why not just get rid of the dress and then you can’t die? (Literally so dumb.)

Don’t have sex while she’s got a gaping chest wound. Come on.

hassock

I was like why do these characters feel like cameos and it’s because they are. They’re the characters from her first book.

We went from Ninth House’s deliciously gory darkness to like firmly YA in this back half, and I’m not enjoying it.

This book needed an edit with more structure.

This is the climax of the novel, and I’m bored.

Guys, just share

What do you mean they only brought enough for eight hours? Come on now. Also, how is the man supposed to sleep? He’s supposed to wake up and puff on an inhaler every two hours? That’s not livable.

No one thought to use a splash of the alcohol to sterilize the needle after we just went to the hospital for not using a sterilized needle? OK.

That’s not kitty. (That is kitty. You were so wrong, Samantha.)

miasma

The book: they’re just friends
All the Kindle Girlies: they’re boyfriends

The author: haha get it. Didn’t you take innocent childhood baths with your friends?
All the Kindle Girlies: they all need to smash

Why is she still in this stupid dress? Everyone needs to be in fucking athletic wear for this shit. We’re not facing down Satan in a Coachella fit. Come on.

I genuinely can’t tell if the author is being horny or if it’s all accidentally horny.

heddle

laconic

Just make out, you losers

inosculated

Detritus sin again

Why let them go? I hate YA books. Kill the villains for ffs.

This had damn well better not be how it ends.

tracery

That’s how it ends! How garbage! What

Literally all book: he’s gonna die
Sam: pfft no he’s not
Peter: dies
Sam: surprised Pikachu face

Well, that’s how you spit in the face of a four-star opener and get it to the point where I’m like I hate this ending so much it’s two stars.

I’m sitting here like what do you mean that’s the ending? What do you mean?

Oh, I’m pissed.

Give me fewer plants, more throuple.

Everyone’s so blasé about it too. What do you mean?

Jesus fuck I can’t wait to see that insurance audit.

Post-reading:
You ever have an ending wreck your experience with a book and now you’re like how do I rate this fairly?

The first half of this book is an atmospheric four-star read similar to Leigh Bardugo’s Ninth House and Maggie Stiefvater’s The Raven Boys.

And then it absolutely falls apart.

Let’s talk about the good things first because when we get to the bad, I’m gonna start getting ranty.

The first half of this reads like an incredibly mature YA. It’ll give you a serious vocab workout. It is loosely a Peter Pan retelling, and all those references were so fun. He climbs in her window for stories, she kinda gets drowned by mermaids, he can’t grow up, he’s got mommy issues, his bestie James is a klepto-one might even call him a pirate.

What I applaud this book most for is that it was genuinely creepy. I listened to the audiobook for this and the narrators absolutely killed it. There will always be something chilling about going out into the New England woods and getting a good dose of psychological horror while you face down a mimicry monster. There’s gore. There’s bugs. The author’s writing is so visual, so it plays like a movie in your head while it touches on these horror movie clichés. It’s a good ass time. I wanted more. I think the first half of this is so well-paced. I think the story unspools in a way where you’re constantly going what the fuck is going on? I have to keep reading to find out what’s happening.

And this cast absolutely oozes chemistry. They have snappy banter. I bought the romance instantly.

And now let’s get into what I didn’t like. The fact that that cast isn’t a throuple is a crime. An absolute crime. You can probably blame the book’s YA rating for that. You can also blame the fact that I am a horny bitch for why I’m considering it a sin.

The pacing grinds to a halt in the back half of this book. We really lose the plot.

The audience has cousin side characters just dropped on them that they have no chance of connecting with or recognizing unless they’ve read the author’s first book. The main character’s mother’s behavior makes absolutely no sense. How are you just abandoning your teenage daughter to fight a hell beast? You don’t wanna at least chaperone? How are you cool with your daughter touring inherited property by her lonesome?

The world-building goes from being delightfully mysterious to outright sloppy because you realize that you’re not going to get any answers to the questions that the world poses. There’s no real magic system in place. The main character is overpowered and has no rules regarding her magic. You’re forced to just go along with it for the vibes if you want to have any chance at enjoying this book. The monsters feel incredibly threatening at first, and then they all feel exactly the same. Every single monster’s power is creating an illusion. That’s lame. Give me some variety.

It flat out doesn’t make sense that Jamie’s body would be healed, even if the beast demon leaves him. Also, how did it age him up? He died at age 14. How is he 19 years old now? Do you mean to say he aged in hell? Because if you can age in hell, couldn’t you age to death in hell? And what comes after you die a second time?

The book has so many plot holes like that. It doesn’t make any sense that girlypop is able to find a wardrobe on the farm. Who stocked that pantry? Who cared for those animals? Because it wasn’t Peter. He was trapped in the basement.

The book spends a lot of time talking about a triggering incident for the main character, but then never gives us confirmation about what actually happened. It felt like a cheap way to sidestep rape. Which then leads to another plot hole. How are the police just chill not investigating girlypop if something happened to her ex-boyfriend? In fact, police and authority figures seem to be completely absent from this world. How on earth could they show up at the hospital with a gaping chest wound and be released the same day? The paperwork alone would take you hours, and there’s no way they wouldn’t put every single one of these characters on a psychiatric hold.

And listen, when it comes to these magical realism books, I will suspend my disbelief if there’s gonna be payoff. This book doesn’t satisfy. I hated the ending. I don’t like that Peter died. Or at least died for good. It seems like the characters give up too easily. There’s been so many death loopholes. You’re telling me you couldn’t find one more so that our romance could last? And sure maybe it fits the Peter Pan retelling if he dies, but we’re already taking a lot of liberties with the story. You can give your YA readers the happy ending.

But instead, all these characters are so blasé and resigned to the ending. It doesn’t even wrap up nicely. How are you gonna explain this fire to the insurance audit? What about the dead bodies absolutely littering the property? You can’t tell me the fire’s gonna take care of that, and you can’t tell me they’re gonna burn down 65 fucking acres in Maine and no one‘s gonna notice. In this economy?

This book just had so much potential, and I think that’s why it’s so frustrating. I was enjoying it so much when I picked it up. And then the back half soured me on it to the point that I almost don’t wanna recommend it. I would give the author another shot. Her writing style reminds me of Bardugo and Stiefvater, who I love. It’s also a very similar book to Starling House, but I hated that one too. I think it shares a lot of the same flaws.

I just think this book tried to do too much, too fast, and too sloppily. She could’ve used another year to cook. It needed to be refined to focus on what was working for it. The horror aspects and the ensemble’s chemistry were carrying this book. The ending disrespects all of that.

I think if you like YA horror, then you should give this a shot. And then, if the ending pisses you off too, you can come to the comments and commiserate.

Who should read this:
Peter Pan Retelling fans
Magical Realism fans
YA horror fans
Stiefvater fans
Bardugo fans
Starling House fans

Do I want to reread this:
No, it pissed me off

Similar books:
* The Raven Boys by Maggie Stiefvater-magical realism, found family, one of my besties is dead, no plot just vibes
* Ninth House by Leigh Bardugo-dark academia, magical realism, my boyfriend’s a demon
* Starling House by Alix E. Harrow-nearly the same book, YA magical realism, Alice retelling, gothic romance, my boyfriend’s going to sacrifice himself to a demon like a dumbass
* Threads That Bind by Kika Hatzopoulou-dystopian urban fantasy, YA romance, I’m cursed to kill my boyfriend
* Godly Heathens by H. E. Edgmon-queer YA magical realism, displaced gods
* The Book of Love by Kelly Link-ensemble cast, magical realism, demons want to kill my sister
* The Familiar by Leigh Bardugo-historical magical realism, my boyfriend’s a demon
* Masters of Death by Olivie Blake-ensemble cast, urban fantasy, romantic, my boyfriend made a deal with a demon
* The Unmaking of June Farrow by Adrienne Young-cozy historical thriller, magical families making everything way harder than it needs to be
* Ink Blood Sister Scribe by Emma Torzs-ensemble cast, magical realism, family drama
* The Last Tale of the Flower Bride by Roshani Chokshi-gothic romance, no plot just vibes
* Where Darkness Blooms by Andrea Hannah-YA midwest gothic, magical realism, family drama, plant horror

[Booksblabbering || Cait❣️ · Rating 2 out of 5]

So, I read this straight after The Whispering Dark and I had very similar feelings.🖤🍂
My complaints are probably magnified because of this double whammy.

Intoxicating, filled with betrayal, and dark.

We open with Wyatt wanting to burn down her home only to find her childhood best friend chained in the basement.
Turns out Peter is semi-immortal and his deaths and rebirths have been feeding Wyatt’s family’s magic.
Oh, and there’s monsters in the forest.

It felt like a lot happened, but nothing truly did. There were too many nebulous details, too much yearning and wasted, repetitive declarations.

This was definitely creepier than The Whispering Dark, but again, I wish we knew more about the world and the ‘magic’.

We’re told they are desperately in love, but we are never shown. I did not buy into the romance or any of the relationships. I just knew we were meant to think it was all tragic. And it was. But I wanted to feel it.

Also, why is the heroine’s main trait saying ‘don’t cry’?

I think the author nails atmospheric writing, but needs a stronger plot and execution.

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