
Member Reviews

Wuthering Heights meets A Scatter of Light in this sapphic gothic novel filled to the brim with spooky trees, hazardous houses and the feeling of the main character slowly losing her grip on reality.
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Have you ever read something and been like: this is beautiful but also deeply, deeply disturbing? Thatโs how I felt reading this book. It was written so unbelievably well, I got the creeps just reading the descriptions. At the beginning of the book, everything is just slightly off-putting. As the story progresses, you begin to really notice that the narrative and the rest donโt fit; the main character is slowly losing the plot. It was done incredibly well.
I also love that the sapphic love is described both as both harsh and pointy, needing and devouring, AND as soft and still. Generally, of course, the main love story is toxic as hell, but itโs a gothic novel, so I expected it. I also really enjoy how both women in the story subverted gender roles and societal expectations placed on them in their own ways. Overall, would recommend!
TW: death, needles, animal death (lamb), gore, drugging
I received a complementary copy of this book. All thoughts and opinions are my own.
Review will be posted on instagram under instagram.com/flybybooks on 31st of May. (Within 2 Months of Publication Date, on Publisher Request) Publisher will be tagged.

Thanks to the publisher Solaris and NetGalley for the ARC of Needfire
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I found this book promising to begin with the story hooked me in and I enjoyed the characters and getting to know them. A slow burn which I found unable to put down . But somewhere through the halfway point I got a bit bored and found myself listening to the โread out loud โ option just to get through it . Nothing exciting enough or horrifying enough to keep my attention . The last few chapters seemed hurried and not convincing enough for me . Apologies to the author but I understand they had problems finishing it. I would sum the book up as a good read if you donโt like your gothic horror to be too horrifying

There is definitely a lot to love about this book! We follow Norah, who in an attempt to escape her crumbling life, seeks out freedom on a desolate edge of the Scottish highlands, marrying a man she barely knows, moving to a decaying house with a suspicious housekeeper, and stumbling into a mystery that she could never have imagined. But in her attempt for freedom, she finds herself more trapped than ever, losing her grip on reality, and becoming wrapped in the strangling vines of secrets that lie beneath the grounds of the Corrain estate.
I really enjoyed the rich, writhing descriptions of the house haunted by its secrets, and the untameable landscape fighting to reclaim its place. The gothic horror eeriness was great, and I felt a real unease, much like Norah, as we slowly uncovered more and more details about the house and its inhabitants. I could barely put it down!
Unfortunately though, I did feel overall a lack ofโฆsomething. Whilst the atmospheric descriptions and eeriness kept me hooked, I was ultimately disappointed by many of the reveals. The mystery I felt wasnโt quite settled by the end and the romance didnโt feel properly developed enough to be totally convincing. Agnes was a hard character to get to grips with at points, despite her huge part to play, and I was just left wanting a little more.
Overall, a good read for fans of twisting gothic stories set in bleak and blustery landscapes, and I do think itโs well worth a read! But perhaps was just lacking a little something for me personally.
Thanks to NetGalley and the publishers for the arc in exchange for an honest review.

The Needfire sounds like the perfect book for me; the book that has it all! Historic, sapphic romance, set in Scotland... I loved the premise of this book.
Unfortunately reading this just did not deliver for me. I found it really difficult to get into and flat, and eventually I had to DNF. :(
Luckily, it seems I am the minority with this book and so many people have loved it and it is very well reviewed on Goodreads!

Thank you to Netgalley and the publishers for this advanced reader's copy and the opportunity to this early. Review has been posted on Waterstones and Goodreads.

This book started very promising for me. Loved the intrigue, the atmosphere, the setting and I could vividly see the characters in the bleak house, full of secrets. Unfortunately, at about 50%, the plot development failed to keep my interest and I scanned through to the end. Thank you to NetGalley for the review copy.

Dark and twisted, this book find us in 1800's Scotland.
After agreeing to a union with the mysterious Lord Barland, Norah is faced with the mysteries and dark corners of Corrain House. Miles away from her native Glasgow, she finds her husband not to appear as he did in their correspondences and looks to find the truth in the quiet darkness her new coastal home brings her.
From dark family history, to accusations of witchcraft and tragedies that laid the land bare there is a lot to learn. Checking trigger warnings before going in may be needed as it may be a hard read for some.
We have gore, vengeance, blackmail and a slow burn sapphic yearning full of distrust and secrets and I loved every second of it. The sapphic burn between Norah and Gunn is tortured but it only made me want to see it develop more.
Overall, I would've loved to see a bit more of the dark backstory between the Gunn/Guinns and the Barland Lords bit this was a satisfying taste of morbidity to sate me for now.

When I saw this book was perfect for fans of Rebecca and The Hacienda I knew I would love it, and, I wasn't wrong I devoured it. I love Gothic fiction and I just couldn't put this one down.
It was full of descriptions that made me feel like I could picture the house and the scenery surrounding the house shrouded in mist.
I loved it and can't wait to read more by the author

I was really intrigued by the blurb and cover of this book, and Iโm always a fan of gothic literature set in the Highlands. The plot starts quite slowly and takes a while to really pick up pace, but is very intriguing once it gets going.
In terms of gothic and horror, there were some genuinely creepy, spine-tingling moments, and I found it hard to put down for the last third or so of the book.
I felt quite unsure about what was actually going on for quite a lot of the book, although the main character is also mostly in the dark so this is understandable, and added to a general sense of unease as I was reading.
The writing was a bit repetitive at times, which I think sometimes worked in showing the remoteness of the house and the bleakness of Norahโs life there, but at other times it took me out of the suspense of the plot.
The romance plot was good, although I think it suffered from quite rushed development of both Norah and Agnesโs characters. Norahโs backstory was a very interesting premise but the length of the book doesnโt really give much chance to properly explore it. I also felt like the book didnโt have chance to do the complexities of Agnesโs character justice, particularly because it is Norahโs perspective we read, so I would like to have seen more of her.
Overall itโs a good, quick gothic read, ideal for anyone who enjoys nature horror, creepy country houses, and remote Scottish Highland settings.

I want to preface this with saying a read a lot of Gothic horror in this same vein. I liked some of the Scottish elements but I just didn't care enough about the characters and I think the horror element could have been strengthened as well. It was just middle of the road in terms of Gothic Horror, or maybe I should take a break from the genre. I did appreciate that the romance was not super explicit, if I wanted that kind of book I would pick something more in the 50 shades of grey genre and not gothic.

A gorgeous gothic treat.
This is a beautifully written gothic novel, set in the Scottish Highlands. I thought the landscape and dour atmosphere of the crumbling house on the cliff were so wonderfully conveyed. The trope of the young woman arriving alone at the darkly forbidding mansion was given a refreshing twist with the initially unexpected element of attraction between the housekeeper and Norah. I wasn't totally persuaded that Norah would marry Alexander, once it became clear her family's debts had been cleared anyway, but this gave enough impetus to the story at first. I did enjoy the sense of growing menace, Norah's deteriorating state of mind and unreliable narration, but it also gave a blurry and dreamlike impression at times that made reading less enjoyable for this reader. However, I loved that the nightmarish history of the Clearances came back to haunt and destroy the aristocratic family home - a satisfying political element here.

Wow. What an amazing, fantastically written story. This is an excellent piece of gothic fiction.
Set in 1890s Scotland, the story follows Norah, who goes to a remote house to be married to a man sheโs only corresponded with by letter. When she gets there, her new husband hardly talks and the housekeeper Agnes is acting suspiciouslyโฆ.everyone has lots of secrets which unfold over the course of the story. The house and local land are spooky and mysterious. The descriptions of the house, sea and landscape are poetic and stunning.
Beautifully gothic, atmospheric with creeping tension this scared the pants off me! I enjoyed the slow start and then fast pace towards the end.
Loved Norah and her development throughout the book. Really enjoyed the resolution too.
Amazing! Thanks to NetGalley and the publishers for the copy to review!

the atmosphere and gothic horror vibes were well done but everything else didn't hit for me. i never connected to the characters or the romance

This book had an impeccable atmosphere, but it was just way too slow for my liking. I struggled from about 10% on, as the plot kinda didn;t move, even though the gothic horror vibes were really good. I had to dnf about 70% through, and have no interest to keep reading, im sorry.

I find it quite difficult to review this book as there were aspects I really liked, and others not so much. Putting on its very gothic best, the novel absolutely oozes atmosphere by the bucket load, and the writers have succeeded with this through some very skilled and beautiful writing. Character-wise however, I really struggled to connect with any of the main characters, especially Agnes, and this is perhaps because of the third person writing which I think always lacks a certain depth because itโs so hard to mentalise the inner workings of the characters. This is turn meant I didnโt really buy into their chemistry either, which I found difficult to believe, and there wasnโt enough evidence in the lead-up to the romance to convince me there was anything between them. The book meandered along, feeling increasingly claustrophobic (again, great writing), but with very little relief by way of any kind of feeling of hope, of personal growth or interpersonal development. I really struggled not to skip through entire sections towards the end, and found myself wanting a finish, rather than being particularly interested in the fate of our protagonists. Nonetheless, itโs a good first novel and a great addition to the genre.

I first heard about this book on Instagram and loved the title, cover and premise of 'what if the second Mrs de Winter fell in love with Mrs Danvers' - right up my street. I don't know if the Mrs Danvers comparison is merited as Agnes is a very different character, but once I got past that I was intrigued by the book's mystery and the developing sapphic relationship. A spooky gothic read for fans of Johanna van Veen and Hester Musson.

This was one of my most anticipated books of the year as a lover of the gothic. Unfortunately I found this a little bit lacking in atmosphere and plot. I did enjoy it but I didnโt love it as much as I thought I was going to. I feel this had a great premise but it didnโt quite hit the mark. Good but a bit of a letdown for me
Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for the arc

A new bride is drawn to her enigmatic housekeeper in this gothic sapphic tale of supernatural magic, the legacies of witches, and repressed longing. An immersive novel that fills the reader with creeping dread through the decadent prose dripping with blood and the darkly horrifying supernatural elements.
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I'm a fan of sapphic fiction and gothic horror so this sounded very appealing. However for me it didn't quite succeed at either. I was really hoping to like it since it was written by friends of a friend.
It seemed to suffer from pacing issues and it took forever to get going. Then the tension never really quite built. There were a few mysterious events but it took til almost the very end of the book for anything really big to happen. The romance part also took aaaaaaages to get going and I felt Norah and Gunn didn't really have great chemistry. I would also have preferred more explicit intimate scenes. These were very 'fade to black' style.
I know this was an uncorrected proof but I had to look up a few Scots words and phrases but was confused by the very American-seeming use of 'on accident' instead of by accident. Also there was one instance of crenulation rather than crenellation. I was most confused by repeated omissions of 'to be' in sentences - eg. "Not least of these was the routine of tending to Alexander who needed groomed, dressed and fed ..." This happened a few times and I couldn't find any information about this being a Scots thing. Lastly at the very end there was a typo which called MacCulloch 'MacCallum'. Hopefully this will be addressed in the published version.
Sadly I found this book rather pedestrian and mediocre, but I feel like it will actually appeal to quite a lot of people who don't want things TOO scary and don't want their romances TOO explicit.

An enjoyable though somewhat slow paced sapphic gothic, with an identifiable MC and an interesting mystery. The suspense is very low key however the setting and atmosphere are very enjoyable. This landed well because I was I was in the mood for something Gothic.