Thank you netgalley for making my year by supplying me with this arc.

Omg I am reeling after this absolute journey.

To say I devoured this book is an absolute understatement. I read this in less than 24 hours and the urge to call in sick to work so I could live in the world a little bit longer.

ST Gibson is an absolute force and displayed her talent throughout this book.

As a polyamorous queer kinky girl, representation is few and far between, especially in books and fantasy worlds. Gibson is an absolute expert in somehow writing erotica that captures the heart of consent in this book that I think makes the experience safe and sane while exploring content matter that might otherwise be unsettling for readers with a different lived experience.

This book is sumptuous and rich, and so appetising that you can’t help but sink your teeth into it. However, the book bites you right back (and you will thank it for the honour).

Finley, Nicola, Eileen and Adam are complex characters who are richly realised. Somehow ST Gibson manages to fit tangled but individual relationships between all the pairings together into a cohesive book which also somehow manages to have an excellent and compelling plot underscoring the romance and erotic moments.

Her influences are tangible yet not a copy, somehow rocky horror with thornchapel and wuthering heights somehow manage to work cohesively, and ST Gibson somehow made their love child into something unique with its own lore and beating heart.

Bravo. Thank you. More gothic erotica please. I need the next instalment immediately.

For me, Savage Blooms pretty much delivered on everything S. T. Gibson promised it would. I absolutely adored the gothic Scottish setting and, as a Scottish person, I was delighted to see some proper scheming/scary faeries like from the tales I grew up with (I think this is where the Cruel Prince comp comes from).

I found this novel to focus largely on communication and connection, and as suggested by its marketing, it does this largely through erotica. I think S. T. Gibson has a real talent for writing erotic scenes and I love reading a book where you can tell the author had a lot of fun writing it. I loved how real and flawed these characters felt. I related to them, I questioned their decisions, I empathised with them, and more! S. T. Gibson has really shown herself to be an incredible character-driven writer between The Summoner's Circle series and Savage Blooms. I appreciate the way we are always supplied with seemingly minute details about characters' personalities, as it really adds a lot of depth and complexity to their interpersonal relations. Some of these characters really were giving Wuthering Heights level toxicity and high drama - I ate it up!

My main wish was for some padding out for the building of chemistry between the characters - it was there, but it could have been heightened even more. I do realise this is only book one in the series, and I am very hopeful for these connections deepening in the next instalment. My other minor critique is the modern references/brands (e.g. T. J. Maxx) - this is something that irks me in The Summoner's Circle but because of the gothic setting it took me out a bit more in Savage Blooms.

I don't think this book will be everyone's cup of tea, but overall I had an amazing time with it and will definitely continue with the series!

I read this in one sitting. I absolutely adored this so much. It felt like it was personally singing to me; melting into my bones and encapsulating some really hidden desires. Saint strikes again; this time with a tenderness that really took my breath away.

From my perspective, I would say to all those going in to not see this so much as a fantasy, but more of an in-depth character study. Yes, there are fantasy elements (faeries are indeed alive and well here), but this story really explores relationships fantastically. There are so many deep feelings here; some that won’t even really be uncovered until the next instalment, and my heart ached tremendously.

Adam is in love with his best friend, Nicola, but isn’t going to say anything and so instead invites her to Scotland with him to figure out his grandfather’s past. In doing so, they find themselves in the home of an eccentric aristocrat, Eileen, and her groundskeeper, Finley. Things quickly become more than they appear the longer they stay with them; quick looks turn to hunger, brief touches turn to longing, and I end up throwing my kindle across the room.

This was so fucking erotic. I knew going into it would be erotic, but I still wasn’t quite prepared. I would advise readers to see the list of content warnings, as there is some CNC that might be a bit much for some, and maybe.. incest? I didn’t really see it that way, but just putting it out there in case. Every relationship was explored, we got m/f, f/f, m/m, m/m/f, f/m/f/m, etc etc. I could have read SO MUCH MORE. The way Saint went about it was so good though; so much communication and consent and just made me feel gooey. If you want a lot of exploration of kink, sexual desires, and polyamory, this was beautiful.

The characters all felt very fleshed out with their own goals and reasons for doing things, as well as how they react to each relationship; Finley being a big one here. I absolutely want to crush him to my chest— even though I don’t know all the details, I know that he will make me sob in this trilogy, I just know it. Nicola was the voice of reason in this book, I think, especially with her suspicions of the scenario and the manor owners, but she was also so interesting in that she knew who she was, what she wanted, and what she would do to get it. Eileen had me feeling so sorry for her, but also made me so angry, and I just wanted her to be happy but also I kind of hate her but in a good way? And Adam….. yearning is so intense.

This story is so hot. It has so many twists. I’m so excited to read more and find out more of the fantasy fae elements, especially with THAT ending.

Thank you so much to Netgalley and Orbit for the eArc in exchange for an honest review.

This is a spoiler free review, assuming you have a basic understanding on what this book is about based on the summary or the author’s Instagram. If you want to be completely blind going into this, don’t read ahead.

Two American best friends travel to Scotland to uncover a mystery. They do try and investigate but mostly they just have a lot of sex with the two people they meet in a mysterious old manor house.

Adam’s grandfather told him spooky stories growing up and now he’s looking for answers. Adam spends the book with a constant boner over everything and anything.

Nicola is his best friend, and is probably the only person in this book with any sense of logic or reason. She is suspicious of everything that’s going on but ignores most of the warning signs because she wants to fuck everyone so badly.

Eileen is aloof and very erotic and loves being pinned down and hurt during sex. Even though she’s a sub, she spends most of this book controlling everyone around her.

Finley is a brooding Scottish man who spends a lot of his time being cranky and sexy and making everyone around him very horny.

This book has very heavy kink themes. It’s handled in a very consensual and respectful way, with negotiated safe words and careful communication.

They all want to fuck each other all the time while being very jealous of the other people who want to fuck each other all the time which leads to some pretty toxic situations. But there are also sweet moments of being happy for each other so that’s nice.

Between the riding crops, group sex, role play games, and lots of drinking, there is an actual plot in this book and it’s BRILLIANT. I was so intrigued the whole time I was reading this and couldn’t wait to get to the next little clue that was fed to me along the way. Honestly I’d happily read a book just about this plot without all the smut. However, it was pretty good smut too.

I would have liked more gay sex, as they are all clearly bisexual. Though in the authors defence, I can’t imagine how hard and time consuming it is to write each character with THREE different romances while also trying to progress the plot. Trying to give every character time with each other, and also in various combinations and groups, so that everyone has sex with each other in fairly equal amounts, would be very difficult to balance. I’m hoping in the sequel there will be more gay sex scenes!

Overall, I adored this book. The cliffhanger at the end had me ready to throw it at a wall because I can’t believe the book isn’t even out yet so it will likely be YEARS until I find out what happens next.

TLDR: if you’re into lots of polyamorous sex and kink, with a sprinkling of mystery and supernatural intrigue, this is the book for you.

TRIGGER WARNINGS BELOW CONTAIN MILD SPOILERS:

The CNC scene between Nicola and Finley might be a bit triggering for some people as there are a lot of descriptions of Nicola running away and trying to fight him off, which can feel very real and off putting. But her inner monologue assures you that she’s very into this so keep that in mind if you find it distressing.

I’ll also give a trigger warning for kind of incest. They’re not blood related, but it might still be confronting so tread carefully if incest is a trigger for you.

Not nearly as gothic and erotic as it was pitched as. Very thin on plot and the way the Scottish were portrayed leaned far too much into worn out stereotypes.

Complicated feelings about this bad boy.

As a certified Gothic Fiction hater, I was actually loving the gothic elements in this, I love the big spooky house in the countryside and how the supernatural interlinks with it and the whole backstory to it. And lord knows I foam at the mouth to read literally anything S.T. Gibson writes, there's beautifully chaotic characters and messy dynamics which was also clear in this.

I think the biggest issue is that this isn't as fleshed out as her other novels. Summoners Circle went straight into it, characters were 3D and the plot was there, where as this just didn't follow the same pattern. I think the biggest downfall is how good her other books are that this just doesn't quite hit the mark.

HOWEVER, I could also fully and entirely see that this is an introductory with this being a trilogy so I'm not going to pass too much of a judgement. It was enjoyable, I read it in a couple of hours and it was fun. Going off vibes, this was good. Going off my lit degree, I couldn't have written it but maybe it could take a little tweaking.

Thank you to Netgalley and Little Brown for this eARC!

Thanks to NetGalley and Little, Brown Book Group UK for the arc!

🌟🌟✨️/5

S. T. Gibson calls this book p*rn with plot and for better or for worse, that's exactly what this is. Despite erotica totally not being my thing, I was eager to read this not only because:
A. It's S. T. Gibson, duh
B. I was lured in with the promise of exquisite prose, delicious gothic atmosphere, and multiple toxic romantic relationships.
Unfortunately, this turned of to be my second disappointing Gibson book of the year.

Some things to know before digging in:
● This has a loooooong list of content warnings which you can check out on the author's instagram. I hope they get inculded in the final copies. Don't overlook CWs for any of Gibson's works, especially this one.
● This is primarily a character-driven gothic romance (I wouldn't call this romantasy) and the fantasy aspect is not quite prominent in the first book, but will definitely get expanded upon in upcoming installments.
● This features insta lust, but not insta love. The characters are horny allll the time and desire occupies centre stage in their minds very often.

Here's what I liked about the book:
● Despite being a pretty short read, Gibson balanced the four POVs well. The story is mostly told through Adam and Nicola's POVs. Eileen and Finley's chapters are less as they hold a lot of secrets. I found the personalities of all protagonists well- established.
● The smut isn't all bad. Since this is an erotic romance, these scenes are meant to contribute towards character development. Many of them did just that. Themes of power dynamics were well written.
● I appreciate how the characters explicitly acknowledge consent.This is especially important when things get...intense.
● Barring the romantasy ones, the fae are such compelling creatures to read about. I love reading books about creepy faeries, unlike the sexy ones.


Things that didn't work for me:
● S. T. Gibson promised a return to the gorgeous and decadent prose 'A Dowry of Blood' had, and she...did not deliver, unfortunately. Except for the prologue and epilogue, the prose was quite bland, with neither the lushness of 'A Dowry of Blood' nor the autumnal crispness of 'An Education in Malice'.
● I can see why many readers are raving about the atmosphere, but it too fell flat for me. I'd have gobbled this up if it had been my first gothic novel but at this point I've read several books with absolutely magnificent atmosphere and aesthetics because of which my standards are very high. I understand that the setting is modern, but books like 'The Last Tale of the Flower Bride' balance a modern setting and dialogue with the dreaminess of a gothic manor so well.
● I wanted to see more of the faeries and their magic. Their lore was somewhat lacking in 'Savage Blooms', but we'll definitely get to see more of them in books 2 and 3. This is just a personal preference and I was disappointed only because I went in with the wrong expectations. (I was here mostly for the fantasy, not the romance).
● A short book like this would've been a very quick read but the was slow. The characters would talk about faeries or escape from danger only to jump right into sex.

This is my least favorite S. T. Gibson novel yet. However, I loved the epilogue and the part of me that loves Gibson's previous works wants me to continue the series. I hope to see more magic in book 2.

Thank you to Netgalley and Little Brown Book Group/Orbit for sending me a copy of this arc.

This is yet another disappointing read from S.T Gibson. Prior to this I had read Ascension and found it to be an awful book with lacklustre writing and plot. For this one the prose is significantly stronger with writing that was quick to read, but it was not the same as A Dowry of Blood, and had zero plot at all.

Savage Blooms is book with very little plot and a hell of a lot of porn. Every chapter had smut within, which makes sense for a more erotic novel but it meant the story and actual character development was pushed to the side so these four grown adults can sort out their issues through sex. So much sex. They immediately were in love and attracted to one another and never took a breather between their sessions, it was the main focus for the book instead of the gothic nature of the home and the fae. If we had built up to these sessions rather than throw it all in at once I would have cared more, but instead everyone was just fucking all over the house instead of worrying about the dangers outside.

The epilogue was honestly the strongest part of the whole book and the only bit where the plot came in, but I know I won’t continue the series so in the end it didn’t even matter.

It’s disappointing as I adored S.T. Gibson’s more vampire focused books, so I wonder is she better at creating a story that already exists compared to her own narratives. Aka fanfiction.

thank you netgalley for the arc! unfortunately, i came to this book with too high expectations and chasing a high i haven’t been able to get from s.t.gibson’s work post “dowry”. for a novel promoted as steamy and full of fae folklore, all i got was bland, repetitive prose, and new-speak cringe dialogue. the lack of plot armor or rhyme or reason really showed at the very end with eileen’s “grand reveal” on how she intended to save herself and the house. the ending felt like a looney tunes skit, you could even hear the “yoooink” sound when [redacted] fell through [redacted].

i obviously didn’t read “savage blooms” for the plot but even pwp has some redeeming qualities. here? there was nothing likable about the characters, they were unfleshed cliches walking around. individually and as couples/group they had as much charisma and chemistry as a wet paper towel slapped against the crumbling walls of plot & world building. the book is marketed as a plethora of kink and exploring bdsm but all the scenes were so heteronormative and vanilla. the execution was poor and had too much porn logic, instead of sexy we got cringe, and everyone being horny for each other from day one because reasons. at one point when a character went to interact with another, i was 99.99% sure there will be fingering, and guess what, reader? there was. so much fingering…i didn’t expect to be queerbaited by an s.t.gibson book but here we are. this was a swingers’ sloppy night out (with a dash of family curses and yet another big house run by two people, and zero hired help, okay). the cast is repeatedly revealed to be bi/queer but has almost nothing to show for it.

wish saint had invested more in setting the mood and premise, making the house a character (like you know, following the gothic blueprint), added feelings of dread and confinement, made eileen and finley creepy but charismatic hosts with a secret agenda, not whatever this was. i wish i could rate it more than 1 star but alas.

3.5 stars rounded down to 3.

As a big fan of S. T. Gibson’s Summoner’s Circle series, I was extremely excited to get an early copy of this, so much so that I started it the same day I got approved on Netgalley. But unfortunately this one didn’t really hit for me and I was a bit disappointed…

My main problem was that both the characters and the plot felt bland. It’s especially frustrating when I KNOW the author can write so much better and I just wish this had been through a few more rounds of developmental edits before being published.

The plot itself (what little there was) was really interesting as well… I’m a sucker for a crumbling Manor House tucked away in the bleary countryside with magic bleeding into it. I adore wicked, fairytale-esque fae who may or may not be trying to murder the MC’s. But the plot was so light touch and seemed more focused on trying to shove together romantic pairings any which way the quartet of main characters would have them. I just really wanted more plot and more world building to balance out the smut that oftentimes, just felt shoe-horned in.

The ending however slapped and I wish that had happened about halfway through so I could have read about what happens next because it felt like something interesting had finally happened.

So yeah, bland plot and characters, with smut that felt shoe-horned in. Overall, it was fun, I enjoyed myself but I wouldn’t rush to pick this one up.

Thank you Little, Brown Book Group UK for the arc!

Sadly this book was a dnf for me. 2 stars because I absolutely loved the setting and the vibes! A gothic mansion in the remote Scottish countryside where wicked and evil faeries hide in the underground waiting for their time to overtake the land - right up my alley! I even enjoyed the characters, especially the mysterious vibes around the owner of the mansion and her groundskeeper.
Sadly it’s mostly p*rn with a plot, too little plot for my liking, and I could probably have tolerated that if the relationship between the characters wouldn’t have been insta lust. Worse insta love. Between all the character pairings individually. For me it felt lazy and unbelievable, and made me so annoyed I put the books down.

This book? Immaculate, give me 14 of em. Gibson has a range and God damn does it work.
Savage blooms was 100% 🔥 and needs to be on everyone's shelf.