A stark and haunting retelling of the Irish fable “The Snow, The Crow, and The Blood,” this dark fantasy follows Queen Riona, whose daughter’s life compels her into a pact with the ominous Lord of Death. As she navigates the shadowy realm of the sídhe to reclaim legendary artifacts, she’s caught between saving her child and sacrificing Éire itself. Vivid folklore, raw emotion, and a fiercely flawed heroine make this a gripping tale of maternal love and moral reckoning.

Spoiler Below:





Be warned, this is a SloooOoOoOw Burn romance, which I didn't mind since the writing is very lush. And it may, or may not end in a HEA ending which may or may not be a dealbreaker for some?

Unseen by Christy Healy is a beautiful and heartbreaking take on the old Irish legend of "The Snow, The Crow and the Blood" and while it is apparently book two in an ongoing series, in my opinion it works perfectly well as a stand alone, as I read it without having read the earlier book and did not feel lost at any point. As someone familiar with Irish mythology and legend I always appreciate seeing it woven into a story, especially when it is done as well as it has been here, but again I think there is enough explanation built into the storytelling to make it work even for those with no knowledge of the subject.
The book has a dual timeline structure, where we follow the main character Riona both as a child and as an adult. Since childhood Riona has experienced more than her share of loss, from siblings and best friends to her beloved grandparents, the grandparents who raised her on stories of her past as part of a family descended from the gods, an ancestry that explains the magic that still runs in her veins and makes her irresistible to the Lord of Death. Despite being warned of the dangers of tangling with this mysterious lord, when her young daughter falls ill Riona seeks him out and makes a desperate bargain to save her life at great personal cost, but can she trust the Lord of Death to keep his word?
This is truly a magical book, filled with lyrical storytelling that meanders and winds its way from past to present and back again, and I was very happy to go along on the journey. The pacing is definitely on the slower side which might put some people off, but personally I liked being able to savour the vividly descriptive writing. There is a romance in the book, but it is slow and sweet and gentle with no on page spice and I thought it added another dimension to the difficult decisions faced by Riona. The ending might be one of the most powerful and beautiful I have read in a long time, but it is also one of the saddest, so reader be warned!
I read and reviewed an ARC courtesy of NetGalley and the publisher, all opinions are my own.

DNF @ 25%.

I'm not sure the writing style is for me. That's not to say it's bad, in fact, the author is able to conjure up wonderful imagery through her writing. But for some reason, it's just not doing it for me.

While I appreciate the attempt to incorporate cultural elements, there are lots of Irish names and terminology that is confusing me. There's a (multiple page) pronunciation guide at the back but it's really difficult to flick between that and what I'm reading on kindle. Not only does it pull me out of the story each time which makes it difficult to immerse myself in again.

The jumping between timelines usually doesn't confuse me, but we have jumping between timelines AND plot points of the story so there's a lot to juggle here. I understand what the author is trying to achieve with having a place that it outside of time but I feel it just didn't hit the mark.

I have zero investment in any of the characters and at this point of the story I'd expect something to have happened.

Also this book is too slow paced for my liking - I didn't realise this was a slow paced book going in, and I am more of a medium to fast paced reader.

I'm sure fans of slower paced books steeped in Irish folklore and history would thoroughly enjoy this book, but unfortunately it's just not for me.

Before reading Unseen I had not heard of the Irish fable ‘The Snow, The Crow, and The Blood’ but I am always interested in exploring folklore and fables. Retellings can sometimes fall flat and not live up to the expectation, however I enjoyed this a lot.

I liked the balance of plot and romance as the romance didn't overpower the plot but it instead enhances the narrative. The characters are well written and I really felt the moral complexity of her choices, especially when it comes to protecting those she loves. The nonlinear timeline and dual pov worked well with the past, present and in between.

I did not know this was the second book in the series but it reads very well as a standalone.

Thanks to NetGalley, Pen & Paper, LLC and Christy Healy for the advance copy of this story in exchange for an honest review.

This book is beautifully written with a lyrical and descriptive style, the world building is effective and complex and is done very well.

Unfortunately for me the story didn't hit, i felt the pacing was a bit slow and honestly i didn't really find any of the characters likeable and i am very character driven so that didn't work for me. I love the premise of how far a mothers love will take her to save her child, i was ready for a wonderful emotional rollercoaster but it never quite happened.

I do feel like there are so many positives, so i am positive that others will love this book.

I did not realize this was a second book but the nonetheless I think 🤔 it gave an okay idea of book one. The writing was good, the pacing was a little off. It was in the middle that just felt like it was dragged out. The concept was great 😊 how far a mother’s love will go for their child. The romance felt a little bit flat I would have liked a little more emotional depth to make it more interesting. Over all I enjoyed the book. I feel the author will just keep getting better and I look forward to reading her next book.

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Unseen is a haunting, lyrical dark fantasy that beautifully reimagines Irish folklore with a gothic, fairy-tale edge. Christy Healy weaves a lush and emotionally charged story about love, sacrifice, and the cost of power. Riona Ó Conchúir is a fierce, heartbroken queen whose journey into the shadow realm of the sídhe is filled with danger, ancient magic, and a slow-burning tension with death itself.

The atmosphere is rich and immersive—every scene feels like it’s dripping with myth and meaning. Fans of For the Throne and Vespertine will appreciate the morally complex heroine, the aching prose, and the blurred line between devotion and damnation. While the pacing wavers slightly in the second act, the emotional stakes remain high throughout, building to a powerful, bittersweet conclusion.

Dark, romantic, and steeped in Celtic lore, Unseen is a mesmerizing tale of a mother’s love and the terrible bargains we make to protect it.

This was a beautifully dark and atmospheric retelling that completely pulled me in. Before reading, I wasn’t familiar with the Irish fable The Snow, The Crow, and the Blood, but this adaptation brought it to life in such a vivid and compelling way.

The pacing is sharp and focused—no unnecessary fluff—which made it easy to stay immersed. The writing is rich in detail without being overwhelming, and the characters felt so tangible, it was easy to picture them as the story unfolded.

What I especially appreciated was the balance: there’s a touch of romance and spice, but it never overshadows the plot. Instead, it enhances the mood and stakes without stealing the spotlight.

Retellings can sometimes feel hollow or predictable, but this one absolutely delivered. The author has created something fresh, haunting, and thoroughly engaging.

Thank you NetGalley and Pen & Paper, LLC for the ARC!

At this point, I am approximately 30% into the book and cannot confirm if I'll be able to finish the book prior to the August publication date. I am so excited at the premise of diving headfirst into Irish/Gaelic folklore and with a new voice to the genre. However, there are a few editorial changes that I think are crucial in order for this book to get the attention it deserves.

There is no likable, nor interesting character at 30% into the story. Normally a book can survive with a dreaded main character, but only if there is enough invested with the reader to further the plot along. My recommendation would be to continue with the opening scene with Conor and Riona. However, the first dozen chapters should stay within the same timeline; whether that is Riona in Death's Realm or her as a child. The alternating chapters will provide a wonderful juxtaposition later on in the story, but right now Riona is painted as a spoilt, powerful child and the most interesting character is Conor. The Lord of Death isn't even interesting because he's portrayed as a lust addled stalker who has spent a millennial tormenting innocent women in the hopes he finds the reincarnated dame of his afterlife.

At this point, I'd rather read an academic volume on the folklore rather than invest more time with Riona. I had so much hope for this story and while the latter half of the book could be incredible -- there is nothing keeping me in the story. I need the author to decide if she was Riona to somehow be a hero in this story or if she's going to own her own dark power. Her and Conor's child is a non-entity and while great motivation for Riona's choices, everything is just SO SLOW. I know a lot of the pieces, but they're not being strung together and my patience was only willing to progress to the 30% mark.

Thank you Pen & paper, and NetGalley for this E-ARC.

First, I will say this - there are a lot of pros and cons for this book, but there are more pros than cons so go read it.

Pros- magical world building. Based off Snow White (don’t see too much of that). Irish folklore. The characters were charactering and boy did some of them not disappoint.

Cons- just way too long and a bit repetitive. There were scenes where you’d get chunks of perspective and you got the full story more than once but from both characters.

The time skipping got confusing at first but then it got easier to track in the later half of the book. Overall a solid 4 star book.

Special thanks to NetGalley and the author for providing me with an e-arc in exchange for an honest review. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

Thoughts:
This unfortunately did not work for me 😭😭 This has a really strong start, but the further along in the book I got, the less I started to care about the characters and the relationship between Riona and Connor. I will give this another chance with the audiobook, but as right now, this did not work for me 😭

+ Rating:
I really wanted to love this book-the premise sounded so promising-but unfortunately, it didn't quite land for me. The writing style wasn't to my taste, and I struggled to connect with the characters. I know every reader's experience is different, and I can absolutely see how others might enjoy this slow-burn pacing with emotional themes but for me this didn't hit the mark.
That said, reading is super personal, and I know this could be exactly someone else's cup of tea.
Even though it wasn't for me, I appreciate the author's creativity and the effort that went into the story especially with her personal attachment.
Just because I didn't vibe with it doesn't mean others won't! If you enjoy other romantasy Books this might still be worth checking out.

What a beautiful, unforgettable novel. Christy Healy is a master of heart-rending, heart-healing words. Perfect.

Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for letting me read this early.....wow!!! I really loved this one. Gorgeously written with really complex characters and a unique plot. All the Irish myths were new to me and really helped it stand out and the ending absolutely had me crying. This was a fantastic read!

★★☆☆☆ — Pretty prose, but not enough substance to hold my attention

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the opportunity to review Unseen.

This was a book I really wanted to like. The premise had a potential. A dark myth inspired tale about a mother’s desperate bargain with death, set in a magical version of Ireland. There were moments I enjoyed: the atmosphere was good, the mythology was interesting at times, and the prose could be genuinely beautiful. I particularly liked Riona’s childhood sections, which carried far more emotional weight than the present-day timeline.

Unfortunately, the novel didn’t quite work for me overall. The pacing felt sluggish and often meandering, and despite how pretty the writing could be, it didn’t manage to keep me engaged. I kept putting the book down and fought not to DNF it.

On a more technical note, the lack of research stood out to me. The protagonist’s name, Riona Ó Conchúir, is linguistically incorrect. "Ó” is a patronymic used for men. For a woman, the correct form would be “ní,” so her name should have been Riona ní Conchúir. Similarly, the inclusion of a character named Rozlyn was anachronistic given that the letter Z didn’t exist in the Irish alphabet until the late 20th century. If a book leans into Irish naming conventions and mythology (and even uses Éire in the title), those details matter. They don’t need to be 100% historically accurate in a fantasy context, but this was essentially called queens of Ireland so...

I think a tighter edit would have helped, as well as more research. There’s a good story in here, but it’s buried under too much repetition and a lack of forward momentum.

• I received an ARC for this book from Netgalley and the publisher in exchange for my honest review and I appreciate both your work and commitment to this project. The following opinion is my own and holds no major spoilers. •

• Unseen
• Christy Healy
• Rating: 2/5

One thing about me is that I hate being wrong and so when I started reading this book and I was sure it’d turn into a favorite only to be a disappointment, it really ruined my day.

Unseen is, by the lack of a better word in my vocabulary, a mess. It’s like when you get into an antiquary and there's so much stuff crowded and thrown everywhere that you get super excited at first and then slowly overwhelmed to the point you just wanna leave to stop getting so much random information you didn’t ask for. I have the feeling the author had so many ideas but didn’t wanna stick primarily to any of them and because of that it turned into a confusion of subplots.

This reading was confusing, frustrating and boring. It reads like a first draft for some reason where you have an idea to start writing and then the thing turns into something else and you have no patience to go back and edit it.

This book was sold to me about a mother that’s after her child, and we see this right away in the first few pages. The theme was there and then it was gone.The story goes astray to the point the child isn’t even mentioned for more than half of the book. The “antagonist” that was supposed to be almost like another main protagonist felt like a remix of personalities with no charisma and a dull reason to connect with the FMC.

There’s two timelines in this book, past and present, where the main character is shown both into her childhood/teenage years and now in her adult era. The past timeline is slow and boring and there’s so much repeated information that it almost felt like a filler of some sort while the present timeline takes more than half of the book to get anywhere at all.

I almost DNF this book, but out of respect for those who conceded to me this ARC I pushed my way through sheer willpower. It wasn’t fun at all. I really hope this was better edited into a more cohesive and sturdy story because it has a lot of potential.

I definitely judged this book by its cover, and am I glad I did! While this is not something I"d generally read, I found myself really enjoying it. The mixture of timelines. the emotional depth of the characters, and the folklore all came together to create a masterful story that left my heart aching, but ultimately satisfied, at the end. This is personally a very difficult topic for me to read about, and I think Christy Healy explored it with tact and finesse. The writing was beautiful, the characters were complete, and the pacing was wonderful. I wasn't aware that this was part of a series and feel that the story stands well on its own.

Thank you to Pen & Paper, LLC and Netgalley for this ARC in exchange for my honest and unbiased review.

The writing wasn't exactly my cup of tea but the characters and plot definitely were. This book was dark, emotional and I really was intrigued, despite it taking longer than normal to complete.

4 stars… ✨

Unseen by Christy Healy is a beautifully written, emotionally resonant retelling rooted deeply in Irish mythology. The story of Riona and Conor is both tragic and moving, filled with sacrifice, love, and resilience in the face of otherworldly forces. Healy masterfully weaves folklore—especially the tale of Donn, the lord of death—into a narrative that balances myth and emotion with lyrical, immersive prose. The non-linear storytelling enhances the depth of Riona’s journey, letting the reader feel the weight of her losses and the strength behind her choices. Though occasionally dense in mythological detail, the novel remains accessible and compelling, offering readers a quiet yet powerful epic. Fans of folkloric fantasy and emotionally grounded narratives will should pick up Unseen! A great read.

4.5 rounded down.

This story surprised me. The beginning was a bit slow, even though I actually really enjoyed the flip flopping timelines (usually that's not my thing). But the way it all came together?? Absolutely incredible. I'm obsessed with that ending.

Also, the Irish mythology and vibes were delightful too!