I want to start by thanking NetGalley and Little, Brown Book Group UK / Orbit Books for providing a digital arc in exchange for an honest review.

This Vicious Hunger was such a gorgeous gothic horror that could have been so much stronger with a bit more world building and a stronger voice behind the main character Thora. A closeted lesbian who is mourning the deaths of her father and her husband and is given a chance at freedom through academic study under an eccentric and strange botanist is such an interesting premise. The world of poisons and the horror of invention in a very rigid world is an amazing setting. Yet I kept wishing we had more proof of her ambitions, more emotion behind her complicated relationship with her father and reasons to actually trust her new mentor. Almost immediately in the novel you’re presented with their strict rituals around death, along with its preferential treatment towards men and its cruelness towards women, but that seems to be the only slight difference between our world and theirs; this could just be highlighting gendered mourning practices in our history but it’s an opportunity to build more strangeness in this strange world. As well, decisions Thora makes feel already decided before she gets to them which I felt took away from each twist and shock.

This book was beautifully written and the descriptions almost poetic, however as a whole the story fell short due to its extreme repetition and very slow pacing.
This book could so easily have been at least 100 pages less, if not 200 and still captured the essence of the story.
At points I felt truly bored reading over the same scenarios again and again, first of conversations with Leo, then with Olea. Perhaps that was the point to immerse myself in the story, experiencing the boredom as Thora perhaps did in the endless repetition as the poison and obsession took over.

All that aside, I really did enjoy the story in itself, and the mysteries of the garden and the Pettacia's research as the narrative unfolded. Everything was so beautifully told and I did find myself wanting to know the end result. That end result again however was largely disappointing and inconclusive. We're left to our own imagination as to what happens which after 512 pages feels extremely unsatistfying - much like the constant hunger Thora describes throughout almost the entire story.
This is an interesting topic, beautifully written amd wonderfully gothic, but it is a slog to get through.

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for offering me this e-arc in exchange for an honest review.

A young woman enters a prestigious university only to find herself ensnared by a mysterious young woman in a poison garden. Atmospheric, moody and wonderfully gothic, the novel plays on different types of oppression, women’s place in society, and obsession. Perfect for fans of V.E. Scwab, it’s a fun, eerie, horror crossover that will keep you engaged to the bitter end.

This book was unfortunately disappointing and ultimately quite frustrating, because it had promise, but ended up falling far short. The main positive about this book was the writing style, which I did enjoy reading. But that’s really the only positive I can think of, though it did have a large enough impact on my reading experience that I am rounding my 2.5 star score up (for goodreads and netgalley). While I wouldn’t say that the book truly succeeds in creating a gothic atmosphere, it does still manage to impart the eerie and lonely nature of Thora’s existence quite well.

Now to the not so good things. Really my biggest issue is the ending, which does not feel like an ending. I completely understand that whether or not you like open endings is up to personal preference, but I honestly can’t see anyone, even someone who loves open endings, being content with this. Because this ‘ending’ feels like it’s supposed to go right before the actual ending. Like the author ran out of time and decided «eh, good enough» and just handed in the manuscript sans-ending.

The characters were one of the more frustrating parts of the book, because they are actually interesting and layered, but then their story doesn’t really go anywhere. Look at the protagonist, Thora, for instance; she grew up somewhat isolated from the normal world, as a result of being an undertaker’s daughter and having lost her mother early in her life. Her father married her off to a seedy man because he was dying (something that he only told Thora about shortly before his death), since a woman couldn’t really survive alone in their society and the guy was the only man who would take Thora, unappealing as she is. A few weeks after their wedding, her abusive husband dies and her in laws just want to get rid of her, so they shuffle her off on some professor of botany at the local university who offered to take her under their wing - even though women are not usually allowed to get a university education. Thora quickly realises that there is something strange about her new mentor’s work, but she’s unwilling to say anything about it because this position is her last resort, and without it she would have nowhere left to go. Like, that is absolutely a great constellation of circumstances to make a fascinating character, but again the deeply unsatisfying ending just makes it all seem pointless.

The romance between Thora and Olea is also just very disappointing. The character of Olea also starts with an intriguing basis to her character, but more and more she just starts becoming annoying and repetitive. There is some chemistry between Olea and Thora in the first half of the book, only for it to completely disappear by the halfway mark, even though their romance is the axis which this whole story orbits around.

In general there are just a lot of weird author choices throughout the book. Like, why are all of the names Italian (Petaccia, Niccolo, Leonardo, Elianto), but then the protagonist’s name is Thora Grieve???? Why is this set in a fictional, albeit vaguely Italian-inspired, world, yet the characters reference figures from Greek mythology and smallpox? Who thought «speak in the plain fucking common tongue» sounded good? Why is this tagged as adult fiction but reads as YA all the way through, except for the sex scenes maybe. So yeah. Quite disappointed.

Thank you NetGalley for the ARC in return for an honest review.

Firstly, I haven’t read May’s first novel so had no expectations other than the blurb. I love a bit of gothic horror and mixed with the sapphic romance I was intrigued.

The narrative was beautifully written in places with some gorgeous turns of phrase and great scene setting - though i felt the time period (if there was one) was too ambiguous and sometimes the language used felt anachronistic with the setting.

It got a little slow after half way and the narrative repetitive between Thora and Olea. The end was abrupt and felt lacklustre. Is there a second book…the ending suggests there might be but I’m not sure.

I will read May’s other novels but this one didn’t quite hit the mark for me. I’d possibly go 3.5 stars for the writing style made it an easy read.

The premise of this sounded amazing, but I was just bored honestly. The characters were unlikeable, and the story was just too slow unfortunately.

3.75
After the sudden death of her husband only a couple weeks into their marriage, Thora unexpectedly gets an offer from a friends of her late father. She gets to study botany at a university.
At said university Thora meets Olea a myterious women who comes out at night to tend the plants in a locked garden.
I really liked this book eventhough the pacing was a little weird especially around the middle, but the ending was fantastic.
The world building is pretty non existent I know that this book is set in the past, I know that women dont have many rights, but other than that I dont know anything.
The prose was really good, but the word ‚fuck‘ was used so often both by characters and the narrator that it kinda threw me out of my immersion a bit, since I associate it more with books set in a world that is a bit more modern.

Where do I start with this review. Quite honestly I wish I had DNF’d this book at 25% like I wanted to. If this wasn’t as ARC, I absolutely would have done but I pushed through because I hate to DNF an ARC. Sadly it was not worth it.

Let me start with a positive. This was full of lush, dark prose and the setting of a poisonous secret garden was intriguing, beautiful and eerie at times. Perfect for a gothic fantasy.

But for me, that was the only positive and even that became a negative as the pacing was incredibly slow. The lush, descriptive prose became excessive and repetitive which made me want to bypass pages that, in my opinion, added nothing of value to the story.

I think my biggest issue, other than the pacing, was the characters. I didn’t like any of them. Now that was possibly what the author wanted as they are described as ‘morally grey women’ but that doesn’t mean you should feel indifferent towards them, which I often did. I wasn’t invested in them and therefore I wasn’t interested in their story. I thought things might pick up when we met the mysterious Olea but whilst my interest was mildly peaked for a chapter or two, it didn’t last.

Overall this book was just not for me. I was bored and didn’t look forward to picking it back up anytime I’d put it down which is usually my sign to call it a day and read something else. Plus the ending was abrupt and such a disappointment.

If you don’t mind a slow pace story which is heavy on descriptive, scientific and botanical language with morally grey characters and an element of sapphic yearning and infatuation then you might enjoy this one.

TW:
- Talk of suicide
- Murder
- Domestic abuse
- Animal testing
- Disordered eating
- Poisoning

2 ⭐️⭐️

Thank you to NetGalley, the author and the publisher (Little Brown Book Group UK) for providing a copy of the book for review. All opinions are my own and provided willingly.

Gothic, sapphic, Dark academia. I loved the premise of this book however I found the pacing very slow and struggled to get into the story. I enjoyed the use of botany but feel like focusing on one plant and its uses would have worked better. I enjoyed the slow burn but felt like the characters kept arguing repeatedly over the same things and were quite immature.
Overall I enjoyed the setting and faster paced ending.

Thank you NetGalley and publisher for a copy of this Arc.

The atm0sphere was spot on, really liked that, buttttt the pacing was either too fast or too slow, most of the characters did not seem fleshed out properly so I never got to be truly emotionally invested. The themes and premise were good, but it needed a bit more substance to truly deliver.
I am gutted as I had such high hopes for this one

I read Francesca's debut Wild and Wicked Things 3 years ago and loved it, so when I found out she was releasing a new novel I was all over it.

Francesca writes beautifully, using rich and evocative language to build a world full of lush, botanical, greenery and gothic charm.
This Vicious Hunger is a slow burn in all senses. There's a slow build up of world building, a sort of medical mystery to unravel and a romance, albeit a rather toxic (in more ways than one) romance. Thora had complex character development - an independent, strong minded woman, in a time that still didn't accept women as anything more than some man's wife, who wanted more from life, wanted knowledge, wanted to be known in her own rights.

Some reviewers have talked about the repetition as a negative thing but I felt this fit the narrative of the slow dissent into madness caused by the poison. The animalistic and carnal reaction both to sex and anything outside the garden added to the horror element and furthered the madness.

Some have also spoken on the ending, I agree that it felt a little abrupt but I can't help but feel Francesca has left it open on purpose. Maybe for a potential sequel? And if not, well, we as readers have an imagination.

Overall, I thoroughly enjoyed this decadent, gothic horror.

I had hoped to be fully captivated by This Vicious Hunger, and while parts of me were—especially the lush gothic atmosphere and intoxicating twists—the book ultimately didn’t land as strongly as I’d like.
What worked for me: The world-building is sensual and richly rendered, particularl
Where it fell short: The pacing is deeply uneven. The intense atmospheric build-up often drags into sluggish stretches between relevant plot developments. Character development is limited. Thora shows occasional hints of change, such as self-reflection on a “past self,” but lacking earlier context, it never resonates. Olea and other players remain flat and under-explored, leaving emotional arcs unanchored.Conversations feel overly repetitive, with characters cycling through the same arguments day-to-day. There’s persistent tension and sex, but very little conversation, evolution, or resolution to their dynamics.
The ending—while surprising—felt abrupt and underdeveloped. After investing in the build-up, it comes to a halt without proper resolution.

Overall Verdict:
I appreciated the gothic writing style and haunting premise. The themes of obsession and botanical mystique are compelling. Unfortunately, the uneven pacing, repetitive dialogue, shallow character arcs, and abrupt ending left me feeling unfulfilled. The book had the potential to be a captivating dark fantasy, but struggled to fully deliver

Unfortunately this felt repetitive which was quite frustrating to be honest.

I couldn't connect to any characters, I feel I should have connected with the main character but the story lacked what it needed for that

I found this book to be super repetitive and a little boring in places. It took a long time for the story to get going, then when it finally got going it just … ends. The ending isn’t really a proper ending, it just stops? I’m giving it 3 stars because there were things I found interesting but overall the book just feels a bit unfinished.

3.5 rounded up.

Thank you so much to NetGalley and the publisher for this eARC! My first one! This generosity did not affect my review 🫶

There’s a lot I like about this book and a lot of things it does well. I think it has the potential to be someone’s favourite, unfortunately it’s just not mine! And a lot of that is to do with the slow pacing and repetitive nature this book has.

I loved the atmosphere and feeling this book creates, it is tense and deliberate, a lot of interesting metaphors about hunger and desire. Toxic themes are intertwined throughout the book, represented in both the plants and relationships.

I struggled to connect with the main character, Thora, I felt she was a bit flat, and the world building left a lot to be desired.

The writing itself is beautiful! Gothic horror, laced with dark academia and a sapphic romance. There is lots to love!

Gothic academia with poison botany? Yes please!
This started out promising, orphaned daughter of an undertaker, feminist trapped in a man's world, the rare opportunity to study at a university. Then within a week of her studies it all just went awry. Nothing really happened that felt it was given significance. Any plot or revelation was smothered by the increasingly unlikeable fmc's thoughts, whinging and repetitive inner monologue and actions. The creepy reveals fell flat, the pacing was off, 60% in felt like a wash, rinse, repeat slog and the rest a manically frenzied sex and toxic relationship how to. The surprise conclusion was not concluded, just dropped and abandoned really.
There were some nice gothic vibes and the poison garden descriptions were lush, these aspects I did enjoy. The plot also had so much promise, but for me it just got swallowed up by the frustrating mc and her lack of growth.
Thanks to Little Brown Book Group UK and Netgalley for the arc opportunity, all thoughts are my own and left voluntarily.

Plot- or character-driven? N/A
Strong character development? N/A
Loveable characters? N/A
Diverse cast of characters? N/A
Flaws of characters a main focus? N/A

2.25 STARS

Unfortunately I ended up putting this one down and could not convince myself to continue with it 😥 reading this felt like trying to get through thick sludge. At times the true gothic vibes were present but it was pretty inconsistent which kinda ruined it for me and I was so so so looking forward to this book.

I am intrigued to see what Francesca May releases in the future just based on vibes of This Vicious Hunger but I don't see myself picking this up anytime soon. I may give it another go once released.

Thankyou to Francesca May, Little Brown Book Group and NetGalley for an ARC of This Vicious Hunger.

2.5/5⭐️
unfortunately I’m not sure this one was for me. Described as a gothic dark academia filled with the study of botany and sapphic romance - by this alone I was completely drawn in and very optimistic. I adore dark academia and gothic settings.

However, it became very repetitious - I believe some parts of the turmoil of Thora’s thoughts were relevant to the story although there wasn’t much growth from the thoughts - the dialogue between the characters became the same few lines. It made the reading experience quite slow.

A lot of the descriptions broadcasted vivid imagery, it illustrated a beautiful gothic whimsical picture of flower threaded horror. All encapsulated in the poisonous secret garden, this i very much enjoyed. Granted, it did capture the allure of mystery and there were many components to the book that were intriguing however to me didn’t feel they all fit together which gave a lack of connecting with the story.

We have an unreliable narrator although the revelation didn’t seem to have the effect I think it should have. The ending seemed to almost cut off mid sentence?

Overall, I believe it captured the allure and mystery but felt it was missing a lot of parts to keep the story interesting by replacing what could have with the repetitious dialogue and thoughts.

Thank you to NetGalley and Little brown book group | orbit for the opportunity to read this arc.

Thank you to NetGalley and Little, Brown Book Group UK/ Orbit for a free e-ARC of 'This Vicious Hunger' by Francesca May.

The book follows Thora, the daughter of an undertaker, trying to adjust to her new life after both her father and her newly betrothed husband die shortly after one another - finding herself completely alone. 'This Vicious Hunger' appears to be set at some point in the fictional past, where women are only expected to be wives and mothers. Luckily, Thora is offered an opportunity to work under an old friend of her father - a botanist at a university. Many mysteries begin to unfold after she stumbles upon a strange garden and the ethereal woman who appears to live there.

'This Vicious Hunger' was such an enjoyable gothic queer read - which seem to be my favourite at the moment! It is such an interesting commentary on the complexities of freedom as a woman, especially queer women, in the time the book is set. It seems that no matter how hard Thora tries, she remains caged in one way or another. There were so many twists and turns and I was completely hooked.

I only have a minimal number of criticisms - I spent 4 hours straight into the night finishing the latter half of this book as I was so gripped! The first is that I would have liked a little more worldbuilding around where the characters in the world are based (this may be my fantasy bias showing), but there were many times I was wondering where this was set and more about the context of this, then realising it was a fictional place, but other than the context of the time, there wasn't much else to go off of. There were also some phrases and words that felt a little too overused throughout the book for my liking. Lastly, without spoilers, poor Leo really got the brunt of a lot of things throughout the story!

Thanks to Netgalley and to the Publisher for the chance of reading this ARC.

I picked up “This Vicious Hunger” because of its captivating blurb - a gothic sapphic dark academia that looked perfect for Summerween, and for a reader like me who was in dire need of an edgy reading.

This Vicious Hunger follows Thora’s new life at the university; a widow and an orphan in a world where women are considered less than human, she gets the opportunity to study with one of the most renowned botanists, a privileged freedom girls are seldom granted. Under the guidance of Dr. Petaccia, Thora’s future seems bright. That is, until she discovers a poisonous garden and a mysterious girl with a mysterious illness trapped within its walls.

I really wanted to like This Vicious Hunger, with its lush prose and dark premises that are both elements I truly love in a book - I rarely read dark academia books or gothic novels, so this one felt perfect to approach both genres. And it was perfect until it wasn’t.
It is difficult to talk about the perks of this book, because they happen to come hand in hand with its flaws: the lush prose I mentioned before, with its flowery vocabulary, conveys a slow, repetitive pacing; the unapologetically dark characters act within the boundaries of a pointless plot; the complex worldbuilding is so complex that I found It hard to understand the basic connections between actions and consequences.

TVH is long, repetitive and feels almost clueless. Do you know that part of the blurb where it says that Thora wants to find a cure for the mysterious girl’s illness? Well, that decision takes place at around 60% of the novel - before that, we get the same scenes over and over: Thora meets with Olea by the garden’s gate; Thora is starving; Thora eats and argues with her friend Leonardo; Leo tells her she is different; Thora snaps and says unpleasant things; Thora abhors Dr. Petaccia’s work; Thora decides she wants to quit; Thora doesn’t quit; repeat.
Then, for the remaining 40% something pseudo-scientific happens (which I won’t explain to avoid spoilers) and Thora and Olea start acting on basic instincts and having the same conversation all over again - Olea wants to leave; Olea doesn’t want to leave; Thora snaps at Olea (for the record, Thora snaps a lot); they accuse each other of being manipulative; they have make-up sex; repeat. All with the promise they would find a cure for Olea’s illness and a purpose to Dr. Petaccia’s research.

And then? The ending is an open ending, which I would not mind in general, if it weren’t for the fact that this book solves nothing at all. All in all, I gave it 2.5 stars - again, the prose was good, the idea excellent, but in the end what we got was an unpleasant protagonist we are supposed to like and a romance that was nothing but unnecessary for a toxic couple we are supposed to ship.