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Heartsick
A large creepy estate, mysterious twin brothers, family secrets, a diabolical invention known as the bone machine, and a young girl who is not at all human.
Meet the Westwoods: a father whose inventions often create death and despair, his twin sons who are not above experimenting on the servants, and the daughter whose existence no one is supposed to acknowledge. A sudden infestation of ghastly creatures into their foreboding plantation home causes them to hire a lethiferist, someone who kills supernatural monsters. The problem is that newly-hired Rue, who like all her kind was born without a heart, is a supernatural monster. She's also too short, too young, and too compassionate for the job. Compassionate toward her fellow monsters, that is; not toward humans...on whom she occasionally feeds.
Heartsick is a modern gothic tale full of thrills and chills and, ultimately, redemption.
Author's note: This is a standalone novel.
Meet the Westwoods: a father whose inventions often create death and despair, his twin sons who are not above experimenting on the servants, and the daughter whose existence no one is supposed to acknowledge. A sudden infestation of ghastly creatures into their foreboding plantation home causes them to hire a lethiferist, someone who kills supernatural monsters. The problem is that newly-hired Rue, who like all her kind was born without a heart, is a supernatural monster. She's also too short, too young, and too compassionate for the job. Compassionate toward her fellow monsters, that is; not toward humans...on whom she occasionally feeds.
Heartsick is a modern gothic tale full of thrills and chills and, ultimately, redemption.
Author's note: This is a standalone novel.
- GenresHorrorYoung Adult
216 pages, Paperback
First published March 24, 2018
16 people are currently reading
218 people want to read
About the author
Dia Reeves
13 books681 followersI was born. I did some stuff. What do you want from me?
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Displaying 1 - 18 of 18 reviews
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December 16, 2021I guess I’m hiding this entire review for some minor spoilers because I don’t know how to do anything else.
Where to start. I had a lot of fun reading this book. The main character Rue is charming in her strangeness and very likable. The world itself is cool, though with less creepy/eerie vibes then I expected and the creatures we meet pose diverse challenges for our MC. I do think it would have been good to see some of the creatures expounded on more, many of them just barely showed up on page, while most of our ever-present characters were all human.
The writing itself could have benefitted from some tightening up. The prose was often effective, but very sparse, and we relied heavily on dialogue. This made the book very readable but there were definitely points where I felt like, no I would actually like to know more. That being said, the timing of certain lines and dialogues was used effectively. Also, the tone of this book is quite funny in it’s irreverence, which is always a plus for me.
BUT
I have a couple issues with this book. 1) I was promised weird, which like yea okay, but most of the strangeness was weird (derogatory). Because we’re in a town where it’s well established that weird things happen, the actual phenomenon doesn’t feel weird as it’s being read. What does feel weird is the main character sleeping with two twin brothers at the same time (On multiple occasions). This entire subplot made me very uncomfortable (expounded by the fact that the twins were 17 and the main character was said to be 17 in human years but also shown to have sexual encounters with adult characters). There were lots of things about the twins that are clearly meant to be intentionally uncomfortable, but this aspect felt a lot like fulfillment of a borderline fucked up fantasy (with sex off page for plausible deniability).
Related: I see no reason these characters shouldn’t have been a bit older. Them being the age they were didn’t add anything. On a surface level considering the relationship dynamics them being kids makes sense, but like they coulda been 20, it woulda been fine.
The other thing is I disliked the direction the author chose to go with Rue’s family. Won’t get into it spoiler wise, but for a book that to me seems to be at it’s heart a dissection of family and belonging, these characters, Rue’s sister in particular were somewhat wasted. Similarly, Westwood’s ultimate ending was slightly underwhelming. Not due to content, the scene itself simply felt rushed.
Where to start. I had a lot of fun reading this book. The main character Rue is charming in her strangeness and very likable. The world itself is cool, though with less creepy/eerie vibes then I expected and the creatures we meet pose diverse challenges for our MC. I do think it would have been good to see some of the creatures expounded on more, many of them just barely showed up on page, while most of our ever-present characters were all human.
The writing itself could have benefitted from some tightening up. The prose was often effective, but very sparse, and we relied heavily on dialogue. This made the book very readable but there were definitely points where I felt like, no I would actually like to know more. That being said, the timing of certain lines and dialogues was used effectively. Also, the tone of this book is quite funny in it’s irreverence, which is always a plus for me.
BUT
I have a couple issues with this book. 1) I was promised weird, which like yea okay, but most of the strangeness was weird (derogatory). Because we’re in a town where it’s well established that weird things happen, the actual phenomenon doesn’t feel weird as it’s being read. What does feel weird is the main character sleeping with two twin brothers at the same time (On multiple occasions). This entire subplot made me very uncomfortable (expounded by the fact that the twins were 17 and the main character was said to be 17 in human years but also shown to have sexual encounters with adult characters). There were lots of things about the twins that are clearly meant to be intentionally uncomfortable, but this aspect felt a lot like fulfillment of a borderline fucked up fantasy (with sex off page for plausible deniability).
Related: I see no reason these characters shouldn’t have been a bit older. Them being the age they were didn’t add anything. On a surface level considering the relationship dynamics them being kids makes sense, but like they coulda been 20, it woulda been fine.
The other thing is I disliked the direction the author chose to go with Rue’s family. Won’t get into it spoiler wise, but for a book that to me seems to be at it’s heart a dissection of family and belonging, these characters, Rue’s sister in particular were somewhat wasted. Similarly, Westwood’s ultimate ending was slightly underwhelming. Not due to content, the scene itself simply felt rushed.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
February 13, 2022
Is this what Alice felt when she fell down the rabbit hole?
This book was a lot.
A lot of strange things. A lot of good things. A lot of dismembered bodies and heads mounted on walls. A lot of broken people trying to find out what love is. Plus polyamory.
World building, characters, writing all A++++
As weird and horrifying this little town is...I kinda want to live there ????
Definitely Recommended Reading & I would 100% read again.
(Note to Author: Krissy and Peppermint were definitely my favorite characters )
Tags: Best of KU, Land of Gods and Monsters, Freaky Happenings, Kickass Female Characters, Dexter’s Laboratory, Grief, Violence, Character Death, Portals to Other Worlds, Mind blown
12/02/22
Edit: I can’t believe 2018 me put this as definitely recommended! Yes, it’s still delightfully weird, and if you like strange, alien creatures and a small town feel, this might be the sort of thing you’d like but there are so many things that raised my eyebrows while reading this.
The trigger warning is a bit spoilery, but still read.
TW: child abuse; sexual activity bw adult and minor, the FMC has a sexual relationship with twins, character death, body horror, snakes, cannibalism.
This book was a lot.
A lot of strange things. A lot of good things. A lot of dismembered bodies and heads mounted on walls. A lot of broken people trying to find out what love is. Plus polyamory.
World building, characters, writing all A++++
As weird and horrifying this little town is...I kinda want to live there ????
Definitely Recommended Reading & I would 100% read again.
(Note to Author: Krissy and Peppermint were definitely my favorite characters )
Tags: Best of KU, Land of Gods and Monsters, Freaky Happenings, Kickass Female Characters, Dexter’s Laboratory, Grief, Violence, Character Death, Portals to Other Worlds, Mind blown
12/02/22
Edit: I can’t believe 2018 me put this as definitely recommended! Yes, it’s still delightfully weird, and if you like strange, alien creatures and a small town feel, this might be the sort of thing you’d like but there are so many things that raised my eyebrows while reading this.
The trigger warning is a bit spoilery, but still read.
TW: child abuse; sexual activity bw adult and minor, the FMC has a sexual relationship with twins, character death, body horror, snakes, cannibalism.
April 7, 2018
It's good to see Dia Reeves writing again, I was always so amazed by her writing skill, and she doesn't disappoint. Heartsick is the third novel of the Portero universe - and if anyone was a fan of this weird town, they will love this book the same.
It's a morbid, grotesque, bloody, violent tale of love. Simply perfect.
It's a morbid, grotesque, bloody, violent tale of love. Simply perfect.
October 21, 2018
One of the most interesting and intense journeys into "the dark side", at a personal level narrative. I have ever read. A great work of fiction> I loved it!!!!!
February 4, 2025
Getting your heart’s desire never makes you happy like you think it will.
Folks, this is my honest attempt at a review of Dia Reeves' "Heartsick", a book I had no expectations outlined before I started and am still not 100% what I read now that I'm finished! I think I've done my reading experience - and the author and her work - justice and have no qualms about my 4 1/2 star rating. But I'm still in a bit of a whirl at the moment after closing things down. Maybe I'm having my own blackouts to help "heal" somehow from this experience… Or more importantly, perhaps I need to hire my own lethiferist like Rue - the non-human heartless who has escaped her family who live "in the dark park, that section of the Piney Woods that Porterenes rarely visited and, if they did, rarely escaped". I wonder if she has anyone she could recommend. And no, google, I don't mean lethiferous! Though I guess they are related since the latter is defined as an archaic way of saying "lethal". Which Rue definitely is if and when she wants to be!
It was silly to expect guarantees, especially from something as oily and slippery as life.
Anyway, what a weird, weird world this weird, weird book took me to! I have to confess that I didn't realize until a few moments ago - when I was reading other reviews to try and help me describe my own experience - that this Universe (?) that holds the town of Portero, a town overrun with monsters, has appeared in other books before this. Still, even in hindsight, I don't know how much help reading those would be - I still can't rightly tell from the descriptives how much is similar or what exactly. But just know if you're diving into this, well, the water isn't going to be very clear and you may run into some pretty strange and unique beast scat along the way. Mixed metaphors be damned!
The only thing that stands between us and oblivion is luck.
I don't even know how much of the promo blurb that is provided I really would sign off on, that is, if it were up to me. OK, sure it's a modern gothic tale, definitely. Which is to say, if by modern gothic we mean putting "Alice's Adventures in Wonderland" by Lewis Carroll along with Mary Shelley's "Frankenstein" in a blender and hitting frappé. I might also be tempted to toss in some other tome as well for flavoring. Initially, I was thinking about maybe "Poor Things" by Alasdair Gray but the book was dreadful (so bad in fact, I've yet to see the movie!). I don't know, perhaps Rose Szabo's "What Big Teeth" to get the YA taste just right? Maybe a pinch of the original Charles Addams' renderings of "The Addams Family" just, well, because? You know, for a little extra fresh "creepy monsters" flavoring?
Emotional trauma. If it’s not one thing, it’s a penis.
So now that we have our delicious,um… mush ready for consumption, you'll probably also understand why I have a few issues with "classifying" this tale, even though that's obviously irrelevant if you enjoy it like I did. It's mostly fantasy and/or urban fantasy I think. But I'll be damned if it resembles any book I've ever read. Sure, I guess you could also say it qualifies for a check next to horror - the risk of unravelling the universe can't just be ignored you know. And when the "gentleman" of the house might kill anyone and everyone at any second just because, well… Furthermore, there's definitely a tinge of YA-ness about it and I'm going to check the scifi box, too, just to be safe! But mostly it just is. Full of cool monsters including puking Buddhas and sentient rose bushes and imps and giants that make a right mess of things. But that's to be expected in Texas, no? Bigger, better, beastier?
Love means never killing the people you really like.
Well, I don't know what else I can add to this. Sort of a "stream of consciousness" review for a book that might even be accused of a bit of the same. When it's all said and done, the story itself felt like I was travelling through time a bit but again, I can only underline that I really enjoyed it. Sure, the dialogue didn't always make it totally clear who was talking to whom at any given moment. And I'll never be a fan of tiny, short chapters. Plus, one thing I'm really wondering is where do we go to find out more details about some of the less elucidated players in this strange drama including the Mayor (is she really a GOD who, obviously, knows many things and is hundreds of years old?). But we'll see. For now, it's time to smile about the experience, pat the cover like I like to do (or my Kindle as the case may be) and move on to the next mind-boggling experience! Enjoy!
Folks, this is my honest attempt at a review of Dia Reeves' "Heartsick", a book I had no expectations outlined before I started and am still not 100% what I read now that I'm finished! I think I've done my reading experience - and the author and her work - justice and have no qualms about my 4 1/2 star rating. But I'm still in a bit of a whirl at the moment after closing things down. Maybe I'm having my own blackouts to help "heal" somehow from this experience… Or more importantly, perhaps I need to hire my own lethiferist like Rue - the non-human heartless who has escaped her family who live "in the dark park, that section of the Piney Woods that Porterenes rarely visited and, if they did, rarely escaped". I wonder if she has anyone she could recommend. And no, google, I don't mean lethiferous! Though I guess they are related since the latter is defined as an archaic way of saying "lethal". Which Rue definitely is if and when she wants to be!
It was silly to expect guarantees, especially from something as oily and slippery as life.
Anyway, what a weird, weird world this weird, weird book took me to! I have to confess that I didn't realize until a few moments ago - when I was reading other reviews to try and help me describe my own experience - that this Universe (?) that holds the town of Portero, a town overrun with monsters, has appeared in other books before this. Still, even in hindsight, I don't know how much help reading those would be - I still can't rightly tell from the descriptives how much is similar or what exactly. But just know if you're diving into this, well, the water isn't going to be very clear and you may run into some pretty strange and unique beast scat along the way. Mixed metaphors be damned!
The only thing that stands between us and oblivion is luck.
I don't even know how much of the promo blurb that is provided I really would sign off on, that is, if it were up to me. OK, sure it's a modern gothic tale, definitely. Which is to say, if by modern gothic we mean putting "Alice's Adventures in Wonderland" by Lewis Carroll along with Mary Shelley's "Frankenstein" in a blender and hitting frappé. I might also be tempted to toss in some other tome as well for flavoring. Initially, I was thinking about maybe "Poor Things" by Alasdair Gray but the book was dreadful (so bad in fact, I've yet to see the movie!). I don't know, perhaps Rose Szabo's "What Big Teeth" to get the YA taste just right? Maybe a pinch of the original Charles Addams' renderings of "The Addams Family" just, well, because? You know, for a little extra fresh "creepy monsters" flavoring?
Emotional trauma. If it’s not one thing, it’s a penis.
So now that we have our delicious,um… mush ready for consumption, you'll probably also understand why I have a few issues with "classifying" this tale, even though that's obviously irrelevant if you enjoy it like I did. It's mostly fantasy and/or urban fantasy I think. But I'll be damned if it resembles any book I've ever read. Sure, I guess you could also say it qualifies for a check next to horror - the risk of unravelling the universe can't just be ignored you know. And when the "gentleman" of the house might kill anyone and everyone at any second just because, well… Furthermore, there's definitely a tinge of YA-ness about it and I'm going to check the scifi box, too, just to be safe! But mostly it just is. Full of cool monsters including puking Buddhas and sentient rose bushes and imps and giants that make a right mess of things. But that's to be expected in Texas, no? Bigger, better, beastier?
Love means never killing the people you really like.
Well, I don't know what else I can add to this. Sort of a "stream of consciousness" review for a book that might even be accused of a bit of the same. When it's all said and done, the story itself felt like I was travelling through time a bit but again, I can only underline that I really enjoyed it. Sure, the dialogue didn't always make it totally clear who was talking to whom at any given moment. And I'll never be a fan of tiny, short chapters. Plus, one thing I'm really wondering is where do we go to find out more details about some of the less elucidated players in this strange drama including the Mayor (is she really a GOD who, obviously, knows many things and is hundreds of years old?). But we'll see. For now, it's time to smile about the experience, pat the cover like I like to do (or my Kindle as the case may be) and move on to the next mind-boggling experience! Enjoy!
August 7, 2025
I want to start this by saying I am a Dia Reeves fan. I've heard some say that they think she is a little too erratic or weird, but that's exactly what I love about her. Her books are fast-paced, plotty and fun, and her worlds are dark and Tim Burton-esque. She is weird and she owns it.
However, sadly, Heartsick has been my least favorite of her books so far. Slice of Cherry might be one of my favorites, but everything that makes me love it -- the slightly erratic plot, the zany characters, the unique and unusual worldbuilding -- is either absent or done poorly in Heartsick.
Typically, I think Reeves writes strong characters. But I did not feel as strongly for Rue as I did for Kit or Fancy in Slice of Cherry, and I feel that is partly because the characters in this book did not act, in my opinion, the way a normal person might act in certain situations, or did not react to certain things that I thought warranted a reaction. And while that may be part of the charm of Reeves' characters -- after all, they are supposed to be strange, being from Portero and all -- it often made it hard to tell when something was supposed to be significant or a crucial story beat, because of the characters' lack of reaction. It also made the characters seem somehow insubstantial. There were times in this book where a character would see/notice something seemingly important but had little to no reaction, making me think that it was a minor detail insignificant to the larger story, only for it to be brought back up later in a way that showed it is actually quite pivotal to the story. It gave me whiplash a little, having to page back and forth to reread scenes that I had thought were silly and fleeting only to realize later it was supposed to be a larger moment, and that I may have missed things. Conversely, there were many scenes where I thought something that happened was a huge deal, only for the characters to brush over it and never mention it again. As you can imagine, this unreliability made it very hard for me to get into the story or connect with the characters.
The worldbuilding was a little too erratic for me (if I'm being completely honest, this may be a problem with her books as a whole, as all of the books set in Portero have this flaw -- but I think her strong characters and plots in books like Slice of Cherry and Bleeding Violet make it a little more tolerable, whereas in Heartsick the lack of those things really make it stand out in a bad way). It kind of seems like things were made up on the fly and written in without much editing to make it fit the larger story or world.
Stanton and Sterling's characters made little sense to me. They are all over the place. It got to the point where I could not differentiate them from one another -- and I'll acknowledge that that may well have been the point, as they are twins and have pieces of each other's souls (or something), but as a reader it did not feel intentional and just felt like poor character development for both. That thing I was talking about when I said, "characters do not react the way I think normal people would react"? They are the most glaring examples of this. I could not bring myself to understand or even like these characters no matter how hard I tried, and that's with leaving out the very strange, incestuous, throuple-thing they have going on with Rue.
It does not feel like there is an overarching plot. I could recount the plots of Slice of Cherry and Bleeding Violet with accuracy, even though they get a little wacky, but this book is (once again) just all over the place. There are too many moving pieces and the pieces don't even align. It feels more like Rue and the Twins and the Little Sister whose name escapes me at this moment do silly little things together, and then Rue has family problems, and then the dad does something weird with his bone machine, and they do it all again next scene.
I wanted to like it a lot more. I never get so specific with star ratings, but my true rating is probably 2.5 stars, or maybe 2.7. I'm rounding up to 3 because Goodreads doesn't let you select half-stars for ratings and also because Reeves is a talented writer and I thoroughly enjoy her writing style and her unabashed weirdness, but this book needs work. It feels like something that maybe could have been saved by a few rounds of beta-reading and editing.
However, sadly, Heartsick has been my least favorite of her books so far. Slice of Cherry might be one of my favorites, but everything that makes me love it -- the slightly erratic plot, the zany characters, the unique and unusual worldbuilding -- is either absent or done poorly in Heartsick.
Typically, I think Reeves writes strong characters. But I did not feel as strongly for Rue as I did for Kit or Fancy in Slice of Cherry, and I feel that is partly because the characters in this book did not act, in my opinion, the way a normal person might act in certain situations, or did not react to certain things that I thought warranted a reaction. And while that may be part of the charm of Reeves' characters -- after all, they are supposed to be strange, being from Portero and all -- it often made it hard to tell when something was supposed to be significant or a crucial story beat, because of the characters' lack of reaction. It also made the characters seem somehow insubstantial. There were times in this book where a character would see/notice something seemingly important but had little to no reaction, making me think that it was a minor detail insignificant to the larger story, only for it to be brought back up later in a way that showed it is actually quite pivotal to the story. It gave me whiplash a little, having to page back and forth to reread scenes that I had thought were silly and fleeting only to realize later it was supposed to be a larger moment, and that I may have missed things. Conversely, there were many scenes where I thought something that happened was a huge deal, only for the characters to brush over it and never mention it again. As you can imagine, this unreliability made it very hard for me to get into the story or connect with the characters.
The worldbuilding was a little too erratic for me (if I'm being completely honest, this may be a problem with her books as a whole, as all of the books set in Portero have this flaw -- but I think her strong characters and plots in books like Slice of Cherry and Bleeding Violet make it a little more tolerable, whereas in Heartsick the lack of those things really make it stand out in a bad way). It kind of seems like things were made up on the fly and written in without much editing to make it fit the larger story or world.
Stanton and Sterling's characters made little sense to me. They are all over the place. It got to the point where I could not differentiate them from one another -- and I'll acknowledge that that may well have been the point, as they are twins and have pieces of each other's souls (or something), but as a reader it did not feel intentional and just felt like poor character development for both. That thing I was talking about when I said, "characters do not react the way I think normal people would react"? They are the most glaring examples of this. I could not bring myself to understand or even like these characters no matter how hard I tried, and that's with leaving out the very strange, incestuous, throuple-thing they have going on with Rue.
It does not feel like there is an overarching plot. I could recount the plots of Slice of Cherry and Bleeding Violet with accuracy, even though they get a little wacky, but this book is (once again) just all over the place. There are too many moving pieces and the pieces don't even align. It feels more like Rue and the Twins and the Little Sister whose name escapes me at this moment do silly little things together, and then Rue has family problems, and then the dad does something weird with his bone machine, and they do it all again next scene.
I wanted to like it a lot more. I never get so specific with star ratings, but my true rating is probably 2.5 stars, or maybe 2.7. I'm rounding up to 3 because Goodreads doesn't let you select half-stars for ratings and also because Reeves is a talented writer and I thoroughly enjoy her writing style and her unabashed weirdness, but this book needs work. It feels like something that maybe could have been saved by a few rounds of beta-reading and editing.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
May 14, 2020
3.5 stars.
I liked the concept and setting, but something about the way it was written kept throwing me off. It seemed like it was mostly dialogue with not enough description of the scene or what was happening. I often was confused as to who was actually talking, and felt like I missed a sentence or a page though I hadn't. I wonder if I should've read her other books first to be more at home in Portero before being introduced to it in this story. That said, I'm definitely still going to read the other Portero books and find out more about this crazy town.
I liked the concept and setting, but something about the way it was written kept throwing me off. It seemed like it was mostly dialogue with not enough description of the scene or what was happening. I often was confused as to who was actually talking, and felt like I missed a sentence or a page though I hadn't. I wonder if I should've read her other books first to be more at home in Portero before being introduced to it in this story. That said, I'm definitely still going to read the other Portero books and find out more about this crazy town.
February 20, 2023
I'm beginning to notice that I love the world and the vibe of Reeves' Portero novels, but not especially the plots. While the sheer weirdness of it all was appreciated, much of the novel felt aimless, and the characters became less and less likable as the novel went on. I wish that Reeves had gotten a chance to explore more of this world, as with a little more polishing something very special could have grown from this fertile soil.
November 17, 2023
This is such a bizarre, gory world, surreal and simultaneously heartwarming, and I adore it. I do recommend reading the first Portero books before this one - not required, but it helps the world building make more sense. Dialogue-heavy, there were times when I wanted a little more description about what was going on, but I thoroughly adored this Daliesque nightmare about love and family.
March 20, 2021
Dia Reeves' world is very strange and takes some getting used. Things happen in small sentences that you might miss if you are fast reader (guilty). Despite having to start this book over twice, the heartwarming, gory tale of finding your family was worth the effort.
September 8, 2023
It wasn’t really for me. It took too much thinking but I KNOW it’s a good book because it was so confusing and surreal and original but ultimately made sense and was well though out. Artfully done just too abstract for my simple brain to make out.
August 28, 2019
She’s weird and not for everyone but I just love The world(s) Dia Reeves has created!
February 26, 2024
Grotesque and charming at the same time. ♥️🫀
September 25, 2025
Surreal, whimsical, and weird!
May 11, 2018
Loved it! It's good to be back in the twisted town of Portero - where anything can, and will, happen.
Beautiful, bloody and brutal. And utterly charming and funny in it's own weird way.
Beautiful, bloody and brutal. And utterly charming and funny in it's own weird way.
April 4, 2019
This was the weirdest book I have ever read, but I really enjoyed it. It's hard to explain what exactly made my love it so much, because of the sheer weirdness. It's gory, which isn't something I usually like, but in this case I didn't really mind it.
December 10, 2019
2.5 stars
Displaying 1 - 18 of 18 reviews