It took me a bit to get into the book, but once I did, I thoroughly enjoyed the journey it took me on. I can't wait to see what this author has instore for us next!

First of all thank you to NetGalley and D. S. McColgan for this ARC and beautiful reading experience.

I really loved the overall setting and atmosphere. This book was written really well where I felt like I was a part of the story. The imagery was wonderful and the character development was really well put together.

This is a fantasy romance with vampires and all three blend so well together. It’s definitely a slow burn but perfectly set up to make me want to keep reading the series.

I can’t wait for the next book in this series since this book was mostly building the story I’m excited for where it’s taking us.

A Tale of Something new has the potential to be the start of an incredible series, the plot of this book sounded amazing. Being an old tale of love and monsters, I found the potential right on top, however I felt like something was missing.

This is a well written book with an enjoyable plot that felt easy to follow. We have an amazing setting that feels cozy and while the beginning was slow, it gets to the right after the introduction to the fantasy elements of the story. I felt like the ending was a bit rushed and I wish we had a bigger world building.

Overall, it was a nice and interesting read and I think it will be better to a younger audience. It certainly has the potential to be a great series.

Thank you, NetGalley & the publisher, for approving me to read this arc and write this review.

Thank you so much to NetGalley for providing this arc.

The premise of this book intrigued me so much and the cover is gorgeous but sadly it fell terribly flat :(
I didn't enjoy my time with the characters. Some tropes just don't vibe with me and this book contained them..
Giving it 2 Stars. Sorry to the author, this just wasn't for me!

This book has the potential to be a really incredible series. We follow Liliana as she meets a stranger in the woods and nurses him back to health, all whilst trying to uncover a mysterious secret about him. A Tale of Something New is a very well written book with the plot being enjoyable and easy to follow. The setting is absolutely adorable and creates a really cozy and welcoming environment, This wasn't my favourite story with the plot line being a trope that I don't particularly enjoy but it was still a worthwhile read and whilst the book moves very quickly, it sets up perfectly for the next book in the series.

I did not enjoy the first 20 percent of the book I read, I found the typos and the way this was written to be very off putting.

I love the plot and tropes the book was advertised with all my heart but unfortunately I didn't enjoy reading it too much. The writing style was very repetetive and the story went on super slow (I'm one for fast paced books). I didn't find a way to connect with the characters as well, which made it hard for me to read.

Thanks to NetGalley for providing the ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review.
The writing style of this book was not for me. It felt very flat, repetitive, and slow. I know who milked the cows and what other farm chores everybody did for every day of the first half of the book. Most of the first 40% of the book felt like lists of farm chores written in choppy sentences. By the time the plot finally started to happen I didn't feel that attached to any characters. The personalities didn't really come through for me, and the plot moved too slowly to hold my interest.

I feel like this book needs some more time to be reworked.
The pacing was all over the place. The first half moved at such a slow pace then when the fantasy elements were introduced, the story hit turbo, then slowed down again.
We didn't see anything fantasy-related until halfway through the book. When the vampires were introduced, no one was overly surprised, like they knew about vampires, why was the audience not introduced at an earlier point? I wish the vampires, or tales of vampires were introduced much earlier to keep us from wondering “Is this a fantasy book?”. The grandmother could have easily spoken of myths and legends to create this fantasy world.
The story ended very abruptly; I wish we had much more world-building. It’s clear these vampires are different than the common vampires, what makes them different? Why was El able to hide that he was a vampire for so long? What is their leadership built like? Why are others trying to capture Liliana? What has El been up to? I feel like some of these should have been answered in book 1.

There was an opportunity to build a wonderful story but this missed the mark.

I was hoping I would like this more. The first half was very promising in terms of it being a cute village romance with some underlying plot/mystery to keep it interesting. Unfortunately it was downhill from there. The rabies plot introduced never really panned out. They added a heavy supernatural element that didn’t pan out much either. The story felt incomplete and rather like 3 different books that were spliced together. It has some promising elements to it but I would’ve recommended some heavy edits and rewriting before sending for publication.

A huge thank you to NetGalley for the free copy in exchange for an honest review!

I thought this book was a quick and easy read for someone putting their feelers out to romantasy. I thought the plot was interesting to keep me reading, as there was a lot of twists featured. However I did not like some of the dialogue (I'm picky with dialogue). I am curious where the next book will take us, and what is in store for our FMC.

Review posted on Goodreads (3/14/2024)
TikTok review to be posted (3/20/24)
Instagram review to be posted (3/20/2024)

Thanks to NetGalley for providing me with an advanced electronic copy of this book!

Overall this book was all right. It's got a very slow build until anything interesting happens (around the 45% mark), then slows down again until around 70%, but even the action in the end fell short for me. It's majority filler that could have been removed to advance the story a little further into the planned plot instead of ending where it did. It all just felt very drawn out.

The FMC is described as being 22, however, her dialogue and thoughts read more like she is a little girl for the first third of the book. I'm curious about the potential of the relationship between the FMC and MMC, and I feel as though it should have been explored more in this book instead of waiting on future books in the planned series. It didn't give me enough to be interested to see where it goes from here.

This digital ARC was obtainable via NetGalley for an honest review!

This was an interesting read. "A Tale of Something New" leans towards a young adult audience in my opinion. Around 46% of the novel, the plot thickens. I wish there was more romance. I didn't enjoy certain tropes in this book, but I definitely see the potential!

Very interesting take on a monster story. I thought the imagery and descriptions were beautiful and cozy but there were a lot of sections that were slow or repetitive. Once we got to the castle, I was expecting a bit more action but it fell a little short.

I did think the FMC and MMC were great and I loved seeing their relationship develop. I also really liked the FMC's family, they're lovely and adorable.

Overall, I am intrigued to see what happens next.

Thank you to netgalley and the author for the eARC in exchange for my honest review.

the first half of this book was so good. i was drawn in, i was curious as to what was going on with El, his recovery, the missing people, and the relationship between El and Lilliana. i was so excited to keep reading to figure everything out.

but when it's revealed who El is, the story completely deep dives into a drawn out telling of what's going on with Liliana. i think it was necessary to follow Liliana's story but for the majority of the back half of the book? it just seemed really drawn out and i only kept reading because i assumed El would come back at some point.

then she gets kidnapped to the castle, its all very interesting until she gets to the castle and again.... nothing. days of her doing nothing, El not visiting her? that doesn't make sense. not for that long. again, it seemed drawn out. then she plans her great escape which was again interesting but frustrating since the book was ending in just a couple short chapters.

El and Liliana finally reconnect but there's just nothing there. we can't tell how he's feeling. she barely discussed how she was feeling. at least give me a juicy fight, something!!!! it's just all fairly vague in the back half of the book. at the end there's a mention of El struggling with getting her up the stairs and i had to assume its because she has her own blood all over her and he doesn't want to hurt her. but that's me assuming, its not clear at all what's going on.

the ending was underwhelming. for the last 40% being about the marriage and Lilliana's new life, we should've gotten at least an extra hundred pages of what's going on at the castle and what's going on with El. there's so much unanswered that it kinda is lacking a plot. we never get to figure out why El ended up where he was in the forest and why people are after him or Lilliana. and to me, that feels like the main plot.

overall, i really really did enjoy the first half of this. and because there was so much that was left unanswered, i'd be interested in reading the next book just to see if it goes in better direction with more detail, answers, and romance.

Thank you so much to D.S. McColgan and Victory Editing for providing this eARC for review consideration via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

Thanks to NetGalley for providing me with an electronic copy of this book in exchange for a review!

Overall, I found this to be an enjoyable read! The two halves of this book felt incredibly different, but connected through the trauma that our fmc experiences at about that point. The first half read like a slice-of-life story, where we followed our fmc through her life as a farmer's daughter and the marriage expectations placed on her. The second half of the book is a story of survival and how far a mother would go to protect her child.

I found the matter-of-fact writing style to be a downside to this. I usually prefer more descriptive, flowery language. This may have something do to with the translation of this work (which I believe was written originally in German) so I'm suspicious that some of that writing style I enjoy may have gotten muddled between the two.

I feel as if I have just read two different books. I was hooked from the very beginning and it got my attention for sure. I couldn't really figure out where the story was going until a bit over halfway through the book, and then it sort of became obvious from there. I saw I feel as if I read two different books in one because the first 3/4 of the novel feels as if it is in a completely different world than the last 1/4 of the book.
In my opinion, there could be a bit more substance to this book. After finishing it, it kind of feels like the author is just using this whole story to gear up for a second book, so I found myself rushing to finish it because I was feeling a bit impatient. I think there could have been a bit more romance between El and Liliana, especially while he was staying with her family. Instead I was just really confused by their relationship and couldn't tell how he was feeling or even how she felt at times.
The parts where she marries Peter and has Annie feel a bit drawn out. I think this could have been shortened or maybe even cut completely so we get more time with Liliana on her journey and then in the castle towards the end.
On a positive note, I read this book pretty fast and wanted to know what happened next! So the story has somethin that was a bit addictive for me and I wanted to know more. I would potentially read a second book if there was a bit more to the romance and if some of the questions were answered: Who is El? What's his attachment to Liliana? Why was he half dead in the forest at the beginning? What is going to happen to Liliana's family? Is Annie half vampire?

I was thoroughly intrigued by the premise of this debut novel and had high hopes for it as I dove in, which unfortunately were not met.

From the beginning, the writing made it hard to be drawn in with the characters and their world. It was a bit dry and statement-heavy, rather than descriptive and insightful as you'd want a "romantasy" to be as the author is transporting your imagination to a made-up world. I appreciated the characters and the ideas behind the story, and while I think this book has a lot of potential to be a unique story in an overloaded "romantasy" genre, this wasn’t the right read for me.

Thank you NetGalley, A Tale of LTD, and D.S. McColgan for the arc. All opinions are my own and honest.

A Tale of Something New by D.S McColgan is the epitome of "well I did not see that coming!" and I really should have guessed from the title!

I don't usually gel with 3rd person pov, but in this case it worked and I zipped through. It's not my usual jam in respect of the tropes but that doesn't detract from the fact that it was a quick, fun read with just the right blend of romance and fantasy. The character development and world-building was on point for the first in a series and I am pretty sure it will do well

Thank you to Netgalley, A Tale Of Ltd and the author D. S. McColgan for this ARC. My review is left voluntaily and all opinions are my own

I liked the premise of this novel and the relationship between El and Lil. However the novel felt like it was missing some detail and it made me struggle to get invested. The chapters read very factually and there was little inner monologue or scenery descriptions, which made the plot rely heavily on actions and dialogue.