I tried to get into this book as the description and premise are right up my alley, but I just couldn't settle into it. I believe this is much more about my life than the book itself. I am rating the portion I managed to read.

Honestly, I’m struggling a bit with this review because I really wanted to love this one. I went in mostly blind, drawn in by the title and cover, and all I really knew was that it was a gothic tale about a girl who binds herself to a god to save her home and brothers from ruin. An incredible premise.

The first half really worked for me. The slow pace felt intentional, and there were some genuinely beautiful moments in the writing. But somewhere along the way, it lost its footing. The plot felt rushed, the gothic horror elements never quite took hold, and I was left wanting so much more from the god character he barely felt present. I also couldn’t get my head around the romance, especially the elements involving siblings, it just didn’t sit right with me.

Overall, it had real potential, and I’m sad it didn’t quite work for me.

Tenderly I Am Devoured is a lush, atmospheric gothic romance steeped in salt, shadows and dangerous bargains. Lacrimosa Arriscane returns home in disgrace after being expelled from her elite boarding school, only to find her family teetering on the brink of ruin. In a desperate bid to save them, she agrees to a marriage of convenience with Therion, the chthonic god worshipped by her isolated coastal town.

When the betrothal goes terribly wrong and Lark begins to fade from the mortal realm, her only chance for survival lies with Alastair Felimath, her brilliant and arrogant first heartbreak, and his magnetic sister Camille. Drawn into their intoxicating world, Lark becomes entangled in a fervent romance and a dangerous ritual that could restore her bond with Therion. Instead, they awaken something far darker, setting in motion a chain of events that threatens to destroy both god and mortal.

Lyndall Clipstone weaves a tale that is as intoxicating as it is perilous, balancing sea-soaked folklore with a deeply sensual and haunting love story. This is a book of longing and ruin, where passion and danger walk hand in hand, and where the heart’s desires are as treacherous as the tides.

Read more at The Secret Book Review.

🌊🦢 Tenderly, I am Devoured 🦢🌊

Lyndall Clipstone

⭐️⭐️⭐️

Tenderly, I am Devoured follows Lacrimosa Arriscane, who, upon returning from a prestigious boarding school in disgrace, finds her family’s finance in disarray. Willing to do anything to save them, she makes a deal with a chthonic demon. But when the betrothal isn’t anything like she imagined, and she begins to be pulled from the mortal realm, she has to seek help from her neighbours (and her family’s creditors) the Felimaths. Alastair, the broody and brilliant boy who was Lark’s first heartbreak, and Camille, her oldest friend.

Firstly, let me state what seems to be contentious issue from the Goodreads reviews… I didn’t love the romance in this. I thought it would have worked much better if it wasn’t a love triangle situation between Camille, Alastair and Lark. Another thing that irritated me was that Lark was pretty much in love with everybody in this book – another two characters called Therion and Damson, included. Plot-wise, it was meandering and slow and occasionally, the flashbacks to Lark’s days at school in the city felt defunct and didn’t really add much to the story. The prose was beautiful though, and the gothic atmosphere was alluring and decadent.

The bacchanalia was ever-so-slightly underwhelming – I was expecting full-on Secret History level of weirdness – and I think this was a missed opportunity. Its desolate coastal towns meets folklore, god worshipping and ritualistic sacrifices. There were a few elements I didn’t love, but a gothic horror will never be a total miss from me. I loved some of the themes that were heavily explored – love, grief, abuse, gods and magic. The coastal setting was also amazing and intoxicating; can we start a petition for more sea-based fantasies? I felt like I could physically taste the salt.

Do you like gothic horror? Let me know some of your favourites!

Thank you to @bonnierbooks and @netgalley for the digital arc!

Amazing vibes and story. The author's advertising of it was on POINT! Overall I highly enjoyed it, I just think the characters and plot could have been slightly more developed.

Unfortunately this was a DNF for me, perhaps it is my current mood or it just wasn't for me but I couldn't seem to care about the characters and the writing didn't click with me.
Due to if being a DNF, I don't think I can give a fair and full review.

Lyndall Clipstone has been on my radar for some time now. Last year, I read Unholy Terrors and saw the author's potential so I am especially excited to see how she has continued to hone her craft this time around. I first discovered this author and novel through some random Goodreads list I was scrolling and since then (24th April 2024), I have been patiently awaiting this book's release.

I read it, and whilst I do think the author's craft has improved since writing Unholy Terrors, I still felt that the same thing was missing. The plot felt like it happened to the main character rather than something she participated in; when she did, it was either a carefully planned move that the reader learned about earlier, or it was somewhat predictable.

However, the prose is beautifully stunning. Clipstone truly writers flower threaded horror and no one else in the industry has the style she does. Her blend of romantasy tropes with gothic influence and just the right amount of horror is something hard to perfect yet Clipstone does it so effortlessly perfect. Her worldbuilding and settings are vivid oil paintings that you can swim amongst the pain strokes of.

Furthermore, I would like to see this author try her hand at more adult themed romantasy. I think it would suit her writing style extremely well.

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You should read this if you liked:
-- A Study in Drowing by Ava Reid
-- Wilder Girls by Rory Wilder
-- A Far Wilder Magic by Allison Saft

Everything about this synopsis and cover called to me and I’ve been excited about it since it landed on my Kindle so DNFing after only a couple of chapters was pretty devastating.

The setting should have been vivid and evocative but it was barely there; Lark was lacklustre; and having just come out of a reading slump, I wasn’t prepared to push through it just because. I’m gutted as it had so much promise!

This was a rich little gothic romance and I devoured it. Tenderly 😌

We’ve got:

🥀 a weepy boarding school girl with a dramatic name and even more dramatic choices
🥀a coastal town worshipping a CHTHONIC SEA GOD
🥀a failed demon engagement
🥀and two beautifully unhinged siblings with flirtation, folklore, and secrets oozing from their bones

Honestly, the atmosphere was giving crumbling estates, fevered rituals, whispered mythologies, and ocean-soaked yearning. It was like drowning in a velvet curtain. And I loved how the queer rep and poly dynamics weren’t made into a thing - they just were. Fluid, strange, sensual, and very we’re-all-somehow-in-love-but-also-cursed✨

BUT. Lark girlie are you okay?? Because you cried every 4.5 pages and I felt like I was trapped in an endless loop of “eyes brimming with tears.” Like girl, I love your haunted self but please drink some water and lie down.

The ending felt a little anticlimactic for a book full of gods, rituals, and secret hunger. I needed a touch more oomph at the finish line but all in all it was an enjoyable read.

Final thoughts:
Come for the chthonic demon fiancé, stay for the bisexual yearning, emotional chaos, and the kind of Gothic prose that makes you want to light a candle and cry into the sea. Weird, beautiful, a little too moist but in a ✨vibes✨ way.

Lyndall Clipstone consistently releases great books and you can feel that she poured everything into them. Her social media also provides insight into her writing process and you can see her immersive way of finding inspiration for her work. I witnessed her process for Tenderly I am Devoured, including her mood boards, and vibe reels that teased the mood she was aiming for.
After finishing this book, I felt frustrated. I really did not like it. The characters were annoying, the romance was not my cup of tea and by the end it gave me the ick. I had high hopes for this story after seeing Clipstone’s social media posts about it.
Lacrimosa returns hope to her older brothers following her expulsion from her boarding school. As well as this she discovers her family business is in trouble and her brothers owe money to the Felimath family, and they are demanding repayment as soon as possible.
Lark is determined to do everything she can to help her family, even convene with the gods and offer herself to the God Therimon.
Alastair Felimath is in charge of retrieving payment from Lark’s family. The pair, including Alatstair’s sister Camille have a long history built from a childhood friendship. As the three work to save Lark from marriage to Therion and their father who is ruthless with his children, a strange (to me) relationship blossoms. At the beginning, I believed Lark and Alastair were the main romantic pair of the novel. That was until Lark kissed Camille. Now, I normally enjoy a poly relationship. It is deep and varies between the individuals involved. In this case it is between two siblings and Lark. I felt super uncomfortable reading about Camille explaining how her and her brother are not possessive and are happy to share a lover (separately, but still felt icky). As soon as this happened, the story felt tainted.
Unfortunately for me, I didn’t like this book. It had promise with the setting and plot but as soon as the relationship was established, it was off the rails for me.
I still have Unholy Terrors from Clipstone to read on my tbr so hopefully it’ll redeem my experience with her work.
Thank you for the eARC!

I was so incredibly excited for tenderly I am devoured!! this book is perfect for those who love both dark academia and cottage core vibes.

I found I struggled a lot when connecting to the characters. I didn’t really care what happened to them or how things turned out.

the setting was absolutely one of my top things about tenderly I am devoured. it was perfectly gothic but also small seaside town-esque.

the romance was really interesting. I haven't read anything similar to it before, and found it quite refreshing. I think I need to read more books with poly romances!!

Thank you to NetGalley and Lyndall Clipstone for allowing me to read an early access of this book.

There are elements of lies, betrayal, romance, love triangle, lovers to enemies to lover and violence in this gothic story of friends and a god. A cosy and mysterious story that has you hooked.

The story is interesting, it keeps you wanting to know more there are details that have a shock factor and makes you feel for the characters. The fact that the events that entail around them are constantly leaving you invested in what is going on and why.

The world building and descriptions make this feel so romanticised, it gave me a withering heights feel. You can almost taste and smell the sea just from the description.

Really love the cover.

This was such a brilliant page turner. Fantasy fans will love it. The story was very well written and such a brilliant page turner that I kept reading until the end. Also the author's writing can transport you to another place which can make you forget that you are reading. I also loved the great mix of characters. I highly recommend it and I look forward to reading more by the author.

I was excited about the premise for this book, and while the beginning was intriguing, I found I lost interest around a third of the way through. The setting was great. I loved the coastal windswept cliffs, the sprawling gothic mansion, the dark academia vibe of the school. The prose was generally well written, I just found it took a long time to get anywhere. She married a god that we knew very little about, then suddenly he vanished. There seemed to be no element of threat, or longing, no sense of danger, or anticipation and then she was making friends with the kids she had known for ages. I wanted to love it. It just fell a little flat for me.

This was riveting and very beautifully written.

I loved just about everything about this book. I loved the plot and how well balanced it was, it was neither too big or too small, too overly complicated, and it was well paced and balanced with all the other threads in the novel.

I loved the setting, Clipstone is really good at setting the scenes. The imagery is so vivid. The isolated nature of the houses, the cave, and the lush scenery made for a really transportive read. I felt like I was there, or like I’ve been there before.

I loved the characters! I did like the romance too, but I did find the relationship between the three of them a little weird. While nothing happened between the siblings, it was strictly Lark involved with them both, I couldn’t help but find it a little weird.

I wish we got a little more fleshing out of Larks relationship with her brothers, with Therion, and we re-visited her time at school a bit more (I was particularly hoping some characters would get their comeuppance at the end). While the latter was more of a desire of mine, I think the former two would have given the book more emotional stakes and depth. It was so sad we had all these God(s), yet hardly even got to explore it at all!

Overall though, this book surprised me and I really did like it.

Thanks to NetGalley for providing an advanced digital copy in exchange for an honest review!

3 Stars!

I really enjoyed the atmospheric writing, Verse felt so dreamy and I could really picture the beautiful scenery which I usually struggle with. I loved the idea of a polyamorous relationship as I haven't read about that before. To me it was a little odd that it was with siblings (nothing happens between them).

The concept was really intriguing however it did miss the mark for me. I wasn't invested or feel connected to the romance, especially with Camille, to me it felt forced. To me, none of the relationships were fully fleshed out.

I wanted more from Therion, I was so excited about Lark going to his world and when that fell through I was a bit disappointed.

Overall, it was a fun time and I really enjoyed Clipstone's writing. I would be interested to see what she comes out with next.

This is tough for me to rate and talk about because on the one hand I was really intrigued by the premise and at times found the story to be compelling and beautiful, but unfortunately most of the time I was just bored. I found the character’s actions and motivations to be inconsistent and didn’t really feel any chemistry between the MC and either of the love interests. A lot of plot points felt unbelievable and super overdramatic which really took me out of the story overall. It’s a shame because I wanted to love this but unfortunately I think it just wasn’t meant for me.

Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for providing an eARC of Tenderly, I Am Devoured by Lyndall Clipstone.

To save her family’s salt mine, Lark makes a desperate pact with a chthonic god, agreeing to become his bride. But as ancient forces stir and secrets rise, her once-close schoolmates—Alastair and Camille Felimath—return, colliding with the unraveling threads of Lark’s already fragile life.

Tenderly, I Am Devoured is a salt-soaked, emotional YA folk-horror fantasy that drips with atmosphere. The tone is haunting and ethereal, with unsettling chthonic elements that evoke an eerie, otherworldly dread. Clipstone has a talent for crafting environments that are both lush and deeply isolating—perfectly suiting the story’s haunting themes.

Lark’s complex relationships with both Alastair and Camille were beautifully written. Though never directly addressed, the bisexual and polyamorous representation felt seamlessly woven into the fairytale-like narrative, adding depth to the emotional stakes and enhancing the dreamlike tone of the novel.

The world, while fantasy-adjacent, grounds its magic in mythic, folkloric roots that feel ancient and strange in all the right ways. The folk-horror elements stand out the most—delivering a story that feels like it’s always just on the edge of unraveling.

Fans of Saltburn, A Study in Drowning, and Midsommar will find something to love in this dark, lyrical tale. Tenderly, I Am Devoured is a standout addition to the folk horror genre and a gripping, shadowy read for YA audiences looking for something more unsettling and emotionally charged.

Thank you to NetGalley and the author for the ARC.

It felt like Clipstone saw the winter version of me and said, “Here’s this yearning, light, gothic romance for your summer.” And I absolutely adored it.

Tenderly, I am Devoured is laced with folklore and longing. The prose is lyrical and slow, like being gently pulled under a calm body of water. The romantic dynamic was tender and taboo, but it never felt forced—just honest and aching.

Lark (Lacrimosa) our fmc is a soft albeit wild character. She is caught between who she was and who she’s becoming. Her grief, love, and betrayal are all tangled up, and it’s only when she lets herself feel it all that she starts to surface.

The ending was beautiful, and this whole book was haunting, and exactly what I needed. I could see myself sat at a lake with some elderflower fizz, reading this book.

Overall 4.5 star!

Tenderly I Am Devoured was such an enchanting read. I adored the writing style that instantly entrapped me in the tale and wouldn’t let go. The plot and pacing were fantastic and unique but what really stood out for me was the characters. I quickly became attached to them and their stories. Lavishly written and beautifully executed this is a wonderful gothic romance that I think any reader, despite their favoured genre will enjoy reading.
As always thank you to Bonnier Books for the advanced copy to review, my reviews are always honest and freely given.