DNF 20%
Well, this was a major disappointment.
I knew almost instantly that I wasn't going to gel with this book and its a shame as the blurb itself held such promise.
The writing here was full of flowery prose and just felt really pretentious like it was trying to showcase its higher intelligence but instead actually managed to turn me off so completely.
I read for enjoyment and sadly this was just too much like hard work, in fact, it was a complete and utter slog.
I didn't have a bloody clue what it was going on about half of the time and the world-building well there was none this just dropped you into the narrative and left you to drown.
There were no explanations for the world I found myself inhabiting, it was like I'd skipped half the book and was constantly playing some sort of catch-up.
I still gave this till the 20% mark before throwing in the towel but if I'm honest I wanted to stop reading this that much sooner.
In conclusion, this was overly wordy, confusing and far too pretentious for me.
I voluntary reviewed a copy of Monstrous Heart.

This was one of my anticipated reads of the year so when I was approved to review it, I was ecstatic! Sea, ships, pirates and forbidden romance, what more could I possibly want? It would seem, a lot more than what I got!

Arden is a strong, independent and sassy female lead, who is ready to challenge all boundaries set for females!

However, I found several annoyances within this book. One being that there were w few sentences throughout which had words missing. This made me stop and feel like I had to try to make sense of what had been said. Secondly, I found the use of vulgar language and phrases, unnecessary at times. There was also one phrase in particular that I felt was almost mocking the topic of rape, as though within the author's created sailor community, it was a normal thing to happen to women. I am sure this wasn't intended but it did mean that I recoiled from the book quite a bit. I was also completely underwhelmed with the ending as I felt we had such a huge build up to it and it was over within a couple of chapters.

I found Chalice to be a complete sweetheart and hilarious at the most inappropriate of times. When annotating the physical copy of this book, she was the cause for my smiles throughout.

Overall, this was not the book I was expecting it to be but it is a great read if you are looking for adventure, fast paced action and town politics.

Monstrous Heart by Claire McKenna is intriguing Gothic fantasy, filled with magic, danger both on land and out at sea. It’s a debut novel classic Gothic literature such as Wuthering Heights, Northanger Abbey and The Bloody Chamber.

<b>I received a copy of this book through NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. All thoughts and opinions expressed here are my own.

Rating: 3.5/5 🌟🌟🌟

Genre: General Fiction (Adult), Sci-Fi & Fantasy

Page count: 400

Publication date: 31st March 2020

Trigger warnings: violence, blood, mature themes, sex, mentions of abuse and sexual assault, near death experiences, animal/magical animal death, misogyny, patriarchy,


Book blurb from Netgalley:</b>

A sensational debut novel perfect for fans of Naomi Novik and Aliette de Bodard. This is gothic, epic, romantic fantasy at it’s very best; a tale of magic, intrigue on dangerous waters and a love story for the ages.

Arden Beacon arrives in the salt-swept port of Vigil with a job to do. Tasked with using the magic in her blood to keep the lighthouse burning, she needs to prove herself worthy of her family name and her ancestors’ profession.

But the coastline Arden must keep alight – battered by a sea teeming with colossal, ancient beasts – is far from the cultured, urban world she knows. It is a place of secrets, rumours and tight-lipped expectations of a woman’s place. More than anyone, the town folk whisper about Arden’s neighbour, Jonah Riven, the hunter of leviathans. They say he murdered his wife. They say he is as much a monster as his prey.
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Firstly, I’m just going to say that I hope that the publishers put trigger and/or content warnings on or in this book somewhere. Because if not I will be disappointed. I think that this book needs it for the amount of times it mentions rape alone. If you have any problems with rape, assault, manipulation at all you will be comfortable with this book. There were many times that I was disgusted by this book. It’s defiently a dark book, and really shows stuff that people (mostly men in this story) will do and say if they think they can get away with it. There’s a pretty strong power unbalance in this patriarchal society and there’s lots of misogyny to go with it.

I did think that it was very interesting to read about Arden coming to live in a small coastal town that has very different ideals and way of life to what she grew up north in a major city. Arden was taught to have an open mind whereas the people of Vigil, that she now finds herself surround by, are filled with prejudice and preconceived notions and superstitions about everything are nearly the complete opposite.

I suppose you could say that Arden represents modern morality and thinking and a younger generation, while the people of Vigil represent a older mindset of a past generation that is unwilling to change. (If I was still studying English Literature I would maybe write a paper about it.)

I do feel like this is a very good Gothic book. It’s very atmospheric. There’s a lot of wild landscape that reminds me a bit of Wuthering Heights by Emily Bronte. There’s a brooding wild anti-hero leading male and a strong, independent woman that’s caught up in this wild mysterious place. It definitely had a lot of classic Gothic literature tropes, imagery and symbolism going on. That I think that a lot of classic/Gothic literature lovers will enjoy.

I might not have gotten “epic” out of this book but I sure did get Gothic, fantasy and romance.

Something that really irked me about this book was that it expects you to just know stuff about the world, society and people that live in. There isn’t even any simple off-hand explanations. E.g. “the Eugenics Society, the powerful body that controls who can marry who and can have children with who”. There really needed to be more explanation as to what things were. There were so many specific words thrown around that it was very difficult to understand it even within context. It wasn’t until I was about 40% through this book that I had a pretty solid idea of what most things were. But sometimes the characters would come out with a new phrase that would leave me a little befuddled. Usually some technical term that was a different classification for a different ability, but there then wouldn’t be any other explanation or indication as to what that ability would be.

I would say that this book isn’t a fast read. The pacing of this book is pretty slow. I did think that it helped me to get to grips with the world and the characters though. But the slow nature of this book did mean that the bigger plot didn’t really go into full swing until I was 50% in. By this point it felt like everything had finally finished setting up and was going somewhere.

It’s no longer just about Arden tending to her lighthouse, worrying over her attraction to her neighbour Mr Riven and whether or not she should let Mr Justinian fuck her. Even though she doesn’t want and is overall repulsed by him. There’s defiently some major rapey vibes that come off of this man. He’s already tried once during his first visit to Arden’s lighthouse, where she almost drowned just to get away from him. He also tries to use his power and authority to get in her pants as well. Mr Justinian is very gross, greasy and overall vomit inducing character.

Him, his mother (who is complaisant in trying to get Arden in his bed and married to the man), Mr Harrow, Mr Lindsay and Bellis Harrow/Riven are my least favourite characters in this book.

Arden is pretty obsessed with sex, and the complete lack of it she’s having, after she’s been living with only another woman as company. She gets pretty sexually frustrated for a good portion of the book. Even contemplates sleeping with Mr Justinian, with a “let’s get on with it” attitude. Until she realises just how utterly repulsed she is by him and almost ends up drowning to get away from him.

I remember yelling at Arden as I read her thinking about having sex with him. I remember thinking “if this happens I am going to be so disappointed in you Arden you absolute idiot”. Especially as Mr Justinian tried to force himself on her not once but twice.

I did expect the romance to begin earlier in the book between Arden and Jonah Riven. But it didn’t really begin until a little over halfway through. Jonah was introduced very early on in the book, literally on the first page, and Arden was told about all the horrors that supposedly surrounded him. Arden doesn’t fully believe these tall tales and when she discovers that he is her only neighbour out by the lighthouse she decides to ignore all of the warnings of his brutality and still be friendly towards him. Which pushes events into motion Arden couldn’t have seen coming.

I liked Arden and Jonah’s relationship but I do feel like they threw themselves into things after the book got to about 60-70%. When Arden nearly died, again. There’s a bit of despair about the two of them being together, which makes it’s feel a bit more dramatic. But I felt like there wasn’t enough development of their relationship for me to feel 100% convinced that they were madly in love. It felt like there was a lot of passion and the start of a budding relationship.

This book is split up into three parts; Book One: Vigil, Book Two: The Lion, and Book Three: Blood. The first part was very much about establishing the world, introducing the characters and trying to set up the plot. As I said before the world building could have been improved on. There were a lot of things left unexplained throughout the entire book. The categorises for the different blood magic types wasn’t never truly explained. Some of them were halfheartedly explained and even then I don’t think you would understand what they were unless you read the whole book. Because it’s kind of spreadout throughout the whole of the book and never has a moment that goes “this is what this is” and you can be like okay now I understand what that is.

I think that the world building is probably the biggest let down in this book. That and how long it takes for the story to really emerge. I think that the first part could have been shortened, characters could have been introduced quicker, and things should have been explained better. It wasn’t until the second part that the plot actually emerged. Because up until then the book felt like it was meandering and didn’t really know where it wanted to go. Until suddenly things began to happen, and mysteries, danger and some romance emerged.

I feel like the best way to sum up this book is Book One: Introduction and Some World Building, Book Two: the Plot Emerges and So Does Jonah’s Butt, Book Three: Plot But Make It Dramatic With Lots of Sexy Times, Even When They Might Be About to All Die.

After Arden and Jonah had sex for the first time it felt like it just never stopped. Which happened mostly in Book Three. I was happy when Arden admitted that she was too sore for another around, they got dress and went and dealt with the situation that was happening.

Even though there was quiet a bit of sex in this book I was fine with it. Until they decide to have sex to basically ignore the fact that they were all about to maybe die or be captured. At that point I felt like it was a bit dumb and pointless.

The Eugenics Society and the Lions I found really fascinating. Because all these rules and regulations controlled anyone who were gifted. And it could also impacted their families either positively or negatively. For instance a family could be sterilised or forbidden to marry and have children if one of their members was tested and found to have a power/dangerous gift. So as not to pass it on. Usually this was if they had “shadows” aka a secondary gift hidden that is separate from a more common power like fire. Which the Beacon’s, Arden’s family, have.

They also control who can and can’t marry if they have any power. You have to ask permission to marry someone and they can very easily say no. But that doesn’t always stop people from having children with a partner that isn’t “approved of” by the Eugenic Society. Basically they either allow “useful and safe” talents to be bred or for “dangerous and un-useful” talents to bred out of a family line/being stopped it completely by ending that line.

The Lions are interesting because they basically enforce all of it and controlled pretty much everything. They are hidden pretty much everywhere. Are super powerful and can either destroy you or elevate you to unimaginable heights. Even though they work behind the scenes, everyone knows about them even if they don’t know who they are. I really liked how much they impacted and moved along the story without you really realising it. You don’t really know who they are in the book, all that what they want, and what they’ve done until the last few chapters.

Overall, I enjoyed this book. I did think that it had a very slow start and that it was almost like a fantasy slice-of-life for a good portion of. Which I enjoyed reading about. It had it’s weak points; mostly with the world building (which I’ve seen a lot of other people talk about in the reviews), the slow pace, and the fact that I couldn’t tell what historical period it was meant to be based off of. I would say that it’s probably based off of parts of the Victorian and/or Edwardian periods. But that is just a guess.

But there were also a lot of really good and entertaining parts. I found the Eugenics Society and the Lions to be really interesting. Especially with how those rules and origination controlled and impacted everyone. And how much they influence the story without really being there.

I really liked how Arden’s arc went through this book. She starts off being a woman that wants her own lighthouse, to just get on with her job until they find someone to replace and she can go home with a full guild membership. To then become a woman that decides that she no longer cares for the rules that have controlled her life for so long and she will do what she can for someone she cares for. Literally leaving it all behind her.

Also, Chalice was my favourite character. She was just brilliant and I wish that there had been more of her.

I would recommend this book if you like Adult Historical(-ish) Fantasy. I think that if you like the Outlander series (books and/or TV series) you’d probably like this book. Or if you like Gothic literature classics like: Wuthering Heights, Nothanger Abbey, Jane Eyre, Rebecca, The Woman in White, The Bloody Chamber, etc.

I hope that you enjoyed reading my review of Monstrous Heart by Claire McKenna, and that it either convinced you to read this book or not. I hope that you’re staying home, staying safe and reading a lot. Until next time, bye for now.

I didn’t really understand what was going on with this story. The writing was very flowery but I didn’t really know what was being said! The world building was insufficient and the main character was annoying. The blurb for this book made the story sound very special but unfortunately this book wasn’t for me. Many thanks to Netgalley for an arc of this book.

My thanks to HarperCollins HarperVoyager for an eARC via NetGalley of ‘Monstrous Heart’ by Claire McKenna in exchange for an honest review.

I quickly fell in love with this Gothic fantasy that is set in a world where the seas contain monsters, including kraken and plesiosaurs. As it was already published when I began reading, I bought its ebook and audiobook combination for an immersive experience.

Arden Beacon arrives at the port of Vigil as its new lightmistress tasked with using the magic in her blood to keep its lighthouse burning. Arden has come to fill the position left vacant by her uncle Jorgen’s death. She is seeking to prove herself worthy of her family’s name and this ancestral profession. Arden has also inherited her uncle’s assistant, Chalice Quarry.

She is quickly warned by everyone about her new neighbour, Jonah Riven, a hunter of leviathans. It is said that he murdered his wife, Bellis, and is a monster himself.

Claire McKenna has created an incredibly rich world with an Edwardian, steampunk ambiance. There isn’t a great deal of exposition about this society though I found her approach organic and had no difficulties in feeling a sense of connection with the characters and setting.

I quickly grew very fond of Arden and Chalice and loved their banter. Both are strong women in a male-dominated society. While Arden has come to Vigil from a busy port city; Chalice is “what the signallers called a stormbride, for only the stoutest among them could survive the hard weather ... Such folk were married to the storm”.

I have a deep love of the sea and sea-lore, so this world with its fantastical sea creatures and lore of the Deepwater King, the old religion of the Sainted Isles, suited me completely.

I felt that the romance aspect was handled well with Arden’s connection with Jonah Riven developing at a satisfying pace. He was very prickly with her and did not seek her out. There was a bit of a Beauty and the Beast resonance between them. No spoilers though. In addition, Arden and Chalice are mature women, not ingenues, and are comfortable with their sexualities.

On a side note, its cover design by Andrew Davis is exquisite. I am adding this to my collection of recent fantasy novels that reference the rich lore of the sea and shore.

Overall, I found Claire McKenna’s writing rich and lyrical. It is certainly a world that I want to spend more time in and so was delighted to read on her website: “The sequel has been completed and I am now at work on Book 3.” I can hardly wait!

Scanning other reviews of ‘Monstrous Heart’, it appears to be something of a Marmite book. I am firmly in the ‘love’ category of readers.

I have no idea how to write this review and after I’d finished reading Monstrous Heart, I really didn’t know how to rate it either.

If I could summarise it one sentence I would say, ‘I liked this book but was also disappointed by it.’
I like metaphors so let's start there.

Imagine you’ve been set up on blind date. Your matchmaker has done the ‘sell’ and you’re pretty convinced going in that while you may not end up marrying them, you’re at least going to have a good time and maybe even want to see them again.

They turn up and something’s just ever so slightly off. Your friend described them as gothic. They are but the gothic style is more of the steampunk variety. Not as initially described perhaps, but still not bad. They’re epic she told you, they’re romantic, they are fantasy.

Well.... yes, but also.... no.

It’s like if your date said they’d be wearing a tie but the tie was a dicky bow. It’s not technically wrong but it’s still not really right.

If this book were a blind date, they would talk to you as though you’d already met them and had a million conversations beforehand. But you haven’t. You don’t know what they’re talking about, they keep referencing people they know as if you should also know them.

It’s also only half way through the date that it actually even feels like a date. They spent the majority of the first half talking about their life or being weirdly, mentally absent. Then, at the half way mark they suddenly switch into ‘date mode’ and it starts to go well.

But, just when you’re really getting into it because hey, they have depth, they tell you that they have to cut the date short but they’d happily finish telling you the now interesting story on date two.

You’re confused. Did you like them? Yes, but this wasn’t a fantastic date. You want to see them again but mainly because you feel that this meet up was an intro to who they are and not actually them at all.

Metaphors my darlings, is the easiest way I can describe my feelings for this story because I liked it, I really did, but at the same time there were so many problems.

This is a romantic fantasy but the balance never quite feels right.

The romance is strangely absent in the first half. It's hinted at but never fully explored until the 50% mark where it suddenly goes from non-existent to intense in the blink of an eye. I didn’t mind the stepping up of the romance (after all I was promised romance) but the build-up could have been smoother.

If the romance starts off cool and ends up an inferno then the fantasy components were in full flame from page one.

This is a complex world where some people have special properties in their blood that allow them to perform blood magic at certain strengths and with differing abilities.

Our main character, Arden has relatively weak blood magic which can keep small fires burning. Other characters have stronger blood magic with greater consequences.

Those with blood magic are required to go through testing and abide by certain rules including who they can marry and have children with, all in order to keep the blood lines ‘pure.’ Most people in this universe accept those with blood magic as people who just have something extra and valuable.

Some people view those with blood magic as sinful or dangerous and there are also those who would view some blood magic properties as very useful indeed....

Sounds simple right? Wrong. It took me almost 300 pages to understand that's what was happening. You are most welcome to my simple summary.

The first half of this book was about character introduction (I actually really liked the characters so that’s not a bad thing) and exposition/ world building. Except the problem with the world building is that its assumed that you already know every single thing there is to know about this world including all the terms they use and their meanings as well as geography and history.

This isn't done particularly well and I think may be the books greatest detriment.

The complexities and ranging viewpoints towards blood magic users could actually add great depth to the story but it really only comes into play – once again – after that half way mark.

I started really getting into it though; I liked the characters, I finally understood the world, I enjoyed the writing and the romance was getting rather saucy but I kept thinking, ‘there’s a lot to wrap up in this suddenly fast paced plot and we’re really near the end’.

That’s when the biggest disappointment came and that’s when I realized why I felt the pacing was off.

The first half of this story was build-up and the story itself didn't really start until half way through when there were twists and turns and action sequence after action sequence with new plot-lines being introduced with no hope of resolution.

That’s because they were never intended to be resolved. Because this is book one.

ARGH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

At no point did this come across as anything other than a standalone. There is nothing, nothing, on any author or publisher website that indicates that this is the first of a series, or duology or whatever it is intended to be. I don’t even know what it’s intended to be!

Suddenly why the structure of the story was set out like this made sense but this is my biggest pet peeve – when it’s not made clear that something is not a standalone story.

It could have been a standalone story; it probably should have been a standalone story. If it had been rewritten succinctly there’s no reason why it couldn’t be.

Am I tempted to read the second book? Yes, actually I am. Like I said, I did like this and there is potential with the story to continue but I would say it needs editing to be far less confusing in terms of the world building and really publishers, it needs to be highlighted that this isn’t a standalone otherwise you're not being fair to the readers or the author.

Arden is sent to man the lighthouse at Vigil. She has the talents to do it but it's going to be a tougher job than she thinks. She soon meets her neighbour Mr Riven who has a dark and tortured history but does he live up to the rumours and what really happened to his wife.

I really wanted to like this and the premise of the story sounded really good but I'm sorry to say it just didn't deliver. The plot was confusing and didn't flow well. Theres lots of terms and abilities in this that just aren't explained enough for me to truly understand the world. Even understanding exactly who Arden is wasnt very clear. The writing was good but sadly this isn't the book for me.

I fell in love with Arden and the style of writing since the first pages and I couldn't put it down till the end.
The book grows up slowly on you and, even if it's a bit slow at times, I couldn't help loving this mix of steampunk and other genres.
The world building is amazing, not easy to get into, but I was fascinated.
I loved the well thought characters and the plot.
I look forward to reading other books by Ms McKenna.
I think it's one of those book you can love or hate. I loved it.
Many thanks to the publisher and Netgalley for this ARC, all opinions are mine.

Alas, lost interest in this one. Fascinating concept but nearly every review I have read says the characters fall flat and the plot and world-building doesn't do enough to pick it up. I have so many more exciting looking ARCs to get through so I'm afraid this one I'll be letting go. (Meant to click on the "I will not be providing feedback" option but unfortunately the option disappeared after I moved on).

Unfortunately I had to DNF this book. I'm not sure if it is due to my mental state at the minute, but I just couldn't get absorbed in the story of the writing style. I'll perhaps try to read it again in the future, but it's a DNF for now.

The coastline Arden must keep alight – battered by a sea teeming with colossal, ancient beasts – is far from the cultured, urban world she knows. It is a place of secrets, rumours and tight-lipped expectations of a woman’s place. More than anyone, the town folk whisper about Arden’s neighbour, Jonah Riven, the hunter of leviathans. They say he murdered his wife. They say he is as much a monster as his prey.

This book fell sort for me, it went in for to long worth nothing exciting happening. And that didn't happen till the last third and even then it was over to quickly !

I can see why this book is rather a 'marmite' read. As I enjoy fantasy, steam-punk and gothic literature it worked for me as some adventurous escapism.
It's a creative story of a world that uses Blood Magic, and our protagonist, Arden Beacon is given the job to keep the lighthouse burning; it also her duty as part of her family ancestry. The coastline is straight from the world of steampunk, and the main beast, of course, is the Kraken. Monsters lurk, but we soon find that it's the human acts of monstrosity that dominate the story.
The idea of 'mad, bad and dangerous to know' gothic character comes in the form of Arden's neighbour: Jonah Riven. This is a dark element to Arden's arrival to the lighthouse, but also builds in the themes of appearance and reality. These confusions add some tension into the story, as well as building the plot.
Overall, I enjoyed reading this. There's a great female friendship, a lust-filled relationship with Arden and Riven, and many monsters lurking on both land and at sea.
An entertaining steampunk fantasy adventure!

I am sorry to say that I did not enjoy this book. From the first pages you are thrown into a fantasy world with its own creatures, governance, hierarchy, traditions and language and offered no explanation for how and why this world operates in the way it does. I have no problem with books that respect the intelligence of the reader and allows them to piece things together themselves but this book doesn't even give you enough information to do that which made for a frustrating reading experience.
I believe the world of this book could be fascinating and perfect for a gothic fantasy story but the execution of the world building and plot was a real let down. Sorry I did not enjoy this more but thank you to Harper Collins and Netgalley for the ARC.

I wasn't overly enamoured with this book, if I'm honest. It was adequate, but, despite seeming so promising the inconsistent feeling of worldbuilding and the stuff that happened during the book just left me feeling like nothing was really outstanding to any degree.

I appear to be in the minority but I rather loved this gothic romantic historical-feel fantasy. There are lighthouses lit by magical flames, prehistoric sea creatures still populating the oceans, mysterious islands that aren't featured on any known maps and a secret eugenics society policing family bloodlines and magical aptitudes.

It had a lovely melancholic Bronte vibe going on, but I can see why it hasn't appealed to some. It is a little over-written in places, slightly flowery perhaps, although I don't usually mind that and soon got used to it (there are a few places where this jars somewhat, and the odd typo in my advanced proof copy). Nothing is info-dumped or made obvious either, there is world-building and hints of how the magic works, but it is subtly built in throughout the novel. Therein lies part of the problem I guess... a lot of the more recent fantasy novels (YA, adult and the cross-overs) are usually more accessible 'easy-reads' whereas 'Monstrous Heart' reminded me more of the older fantasy novels I read as a teenager, such as those by Tanith Lee, and the more literary Angela Carter and Ursula Le Guin.

I enjoyed how most of the characters were portrayed, and especially liked the female friendship between the main character Arden and her colleague Chalice, and I quite liked the brooding, albeit obvious, romance with the sea monster-hunting neighbour with a bad reputation. I wasn't particularly keen on the villains of the novel, they felt a little cliched and caricature like. There's also quite a lot left unresolved at the end, for some reason I was expecting more closure, and I hope I don't have to wait too long for a sequel...

(ARC provided by publisher via NetGalley)

This is an excellent debut, and I’m going to be keeping an eye out for Claire’s next books.

It’s quite a dark book, romantic, magic and atmospheric. I don’t do well with “blood”, so I did have to skip one section, which also turned out to be a pretty vital part of the story..but I got the jist of what happened! I just felt queasy so I had to!

For me, it was evident from more or less the start where the story was going with Arden and Jonah, but that didn’t detract me from the story.

I think I’d like to read a prequel to this...as I feel like the Lion’s bit was lacking a bit for me personally.

My thanks to Netgalley and HarperCollins for the advance copy.

I fell in love with the cover and the premise for this book, the summary made it sound like everything I was looking for. Unfortunately, the execution let it down in this case, and I was not swept away by the story. I very much enjoyed the use of language, and the writing style and there were places where the atmosphere were fantastic, but despite that, I did struggle to finish this one.

2.5/5

This was, unfortunately, quite a confusing novel when it came to worldbuilding. There's no explanation of countries, the world, or the layout of anything, and it took me over ten percent into it, to figure out the name of the world was Fiction only to then realize I misunderstood the use of Fiction as a world and that it was a country, opposite of one of Lyonne but there was also a Manhattan and talks of Genghis Khan and Christianity. Then there were cars and even sedans but there were phonographs.

Nothing was clear, not the powers, the government, the secret orders and in the end I gave up on understanding the world and tried to focus on the story.

I did like the MC, Arden, quite a lot and I did like Riven. So at least I was able to ignore other things to delve into their story. It was a decent love story, and the characters were definitely intriguing. Overall I would read another book if this is a series, but, I really had a hard time getting over the worldbuilding.

I will admit to rereading this book about three times before fully being submitted into it. It's beautifully written, and the words create beautiful imagery, but I'll admit I had to look a few words up! This book really feels like an adult treasure Island, a mix of HP Lovecraft and a smattering of Hitchcock all into one. The ending killed me and I'm desperate to continue on with the story of Arden. Claire McKenna's work has pulled me in like the fabled Kraken and I'm now bereft to know the fate of the characters lives. I would urge anyone to try and persevere with this book. Once your mind clicks to the writing style you will fall in love.

I like a gothic novel. I've loved reading novels like Wakenhyrst, Melmoth and The Binding to name a few recent ones. I also love a classic gothic romance - mystery ex-wife, Jane Eyre/Rebecca vibes? Yes please. Fantasy magic systems based on blood? Sure. I just didn't expect this book to try to do all of those things, whilst not managing to follow through on all of these ideas well.

Now, this was an oddly tricky one to read. The story was a little all over the place, and there were considerable inconsistencies in the way the characters were treated, not to mention sexual aggression used as a character trait. But what caused me the biggest issue when reading this was the sheer number of proofing errors. I expect a few in an ARC but at times it made it genuinely hard to tell what was the author's writing style, and what was just poor editing ... so, assuming that these will be edited and correct out in the final version, let's focus on the story instead.

Arden has a weak version of a blood skill that allows her to light flames using her own blood, which is particularly useful for lighting lamps and managing lighthouses. There are a number of other blood skills - it's not really explained how many there are, or how they are actually useful, but they seem to be something to be both feared and admired. And there's a Eugenics Society dedicated to keeping the bloodlines pure.

And yet there seems to be early electricity in this world? Presumably making those with this fire blood skill increasingly useless? Why does this Eugenics Society allow this? And who is the Lion Order and what is their involvement? They seem to be pulling puppet strings that they don't even know about?

The women in this world are all addressed as 'Mx.', suggesting some kind of non-binary form of address, yet the men are still called Mr or Master. And despite this non-binary, there is a very clear and derogatory attitude towards women. Although they can take on jobs, such as Harbourmistress, whore, stormbride and airship pilot, the protagonist is constantly pressed upon to take a suitable husband for her genetic line. And whilst Arden seems to have some sexual agency, as long as she doesn't marry outside of her class or have children, her 'stormbride' has had her fallopian tubes removed?? AND THEN the main character is sexually assaulted a number of times, complains about this and it's summarily dismissed. There is such a lack of consistency around sexuality and sexual attitudes ...

I did like the context of the novel - great place names, interesting geography and excellent undersea creatures - kraken, pleisiosaur and the like - alongside a (confusing and not altogether clearly-explained) magic system. Yet Vigil seemed to be some kind of backward and filthy village, particularly in comparison to where Arden has come from.

There were excellent glimmers throughout the novel that made it worth persevering. The first meeting between Arden and Jonah in town, the time when she pulled herself out of the sea just wearing gold silk underwear (?!) - they were all well-written and the dialogue and pacing was good ... but it seemed like some sections had been reworked and the rest had been fluffed through. 

Also, a large portion of the plot revolved around Jonah and his relationship with his wife, Bellis. It initially seems as though he is a monster, sexually depraved and very likely to rape his new neighbour (Arden) in her sleep. (Always a turn-on for a woman ...), or at least everyone Arden speaks to in Vigil says so. Then, once she realises that maybe Bellis wasn't everything that she seemed, or that everything about Jonah wasn't as the town of Vigil might think, then she found people who had always believed the best in Jonah.
Instead, it felt that the characters of Heathcliffe and Mr Rochester had all been smushed into Jonah to try and make him more attractive. Both intimidating and gentlemanly?

Unfortunately all the hot mess aspects of the book detracted from what has the potential to be a genuinely imaginative, gothic, broody and interesting novel. Reading Monstrous Heart was like walking through rooms in a house that has both been abandoned and beautifully restored. Some areas were plush and lively, others were confusing an bare. I really hope that all of these kinks are ironed out by the time it's published ...

I received an ARC of this book from NetGalley and the publisher in exchange for an honest review.