This book gave such creepy gothic vibes, glad it was a YA as was worried I wasn’t going to be able to sleep!
Interesting and enjoyable take on the Frankenstein story. Loved the characters and the deathly vibes they gave. Celeb was actually one of my favourites 😆
Would definitely recommend if you’re a fan of Kalyan Bayron. Great ending too!

this was such a delight to read! that may sound strange with the context of the book but hear me out.
i’m not usually one to read YA but the synopsis of this really had me interested and i was pleasantly surprised with how much this hooked me. one reason i usually don't go for YA is the dialogue being a bit hard to read sometimes but this never had the issue, a lot of the real world references actually made me laugh and the banter between characters felt so real it was hard not to. alongside the characters were really loveable, meka and noah’s relationship was just the sweetest and again felt truly genuine.
the plot was also really strong and griping, but also had depth and some thought provoking points about death and grief.
this was my first time reading a book by this author but i will definitely be reading more.
thank you netgalley for providing me this arc.

I really liked the premise of this story, and had high expectations for this Frankenstein inspired YA novel.

The setting is unique. A funeral home and a mortician’s assistant, dragged into her family business in more ways than one. It was tragic, emotional and in some parts quite profound. I did reflect a lot on what choices I would make, had I been in the same situations.

Unfortunately, the writing didn’t land with me. As much as I wanted to like this story, I couldn’t overlook the plot holes, the predictable characters, and the pacing of the story. I really admire the direction it was intending to go in, it just seems the execution fell a little flat for me.

If you enjoy reading books that are easy to follow, with a tinge of gothic horror, you would absolutely enjoy this!

A fresh spin on Frankenstein that left me on the edge of my seat till the very last page.

Meka comes from a long line of morticians, and at seventeen, she’s just got her mortuary assistant licence. She has a gift for make up and hair that makes the dead look presentable as their family and friends say goodbye. But Meka also had nightmares about her mum dying in a car crash. When strange things start happening in town, and her nightmares start to change, Meka realises everything is connected, and it all leads to a family secret Meka could never have imagined.

While this book is macabre and reads like a classic horror, this book is really about grief and loss. It’s about learning to let go. I came for the macabre, I stayed for the emotions. I absolutely fell in love with Meka and Noah, and my heart broke with hers as she dealt with everything that happened.

If you like your horror with a giant dollop of emotions, this book is definitely for you.

I adore Kalynn Bayron as an author so I was so happy to be given a chance to read this ARC! I found the whole funeral home thing so interesting and that got me hooked right off the back, it’s so nice to read something so different and macabre.

I don’t know too much about the original Frankenstine but honestly that doesn’t matter.
I’m loved the character of Meka, extremely well written and I was routing for her the whole way through. I was super sad when this book ended. One of my favourite reads of the year!

I really enjoyed the gothic vibes of the book also. A 5 star read for me.

I thought this was a good retelling of the frankenstein story - this was a YA take on the monstrous novel.

"Meka is used to death. After all, it's the family business."
This YA retelling showcases death in a comfortable non-scary way whilst still being gruesome and heavily inspired by the macabre. The descriptions, the funeral home and the underlying plot are all great elements to this book. Unfortunately for me, I don't enjoy how young the dialogue read, it was too juvenile for my taste however, some people will enjoy that.

thank you to net galley for giving me the opportunity to read this arc.

Kalynn Bayron writes such amazing characters with interesting "powers"/magical abilities and with this book being inspired by Frankenstein, it had me even more intrigued. She did not disappoint. She had me hooked from the beginning and Meka was a great character to read about, with such a cool setting, in a funeral home and her being a mortician's assistant. Reading about her job was interesting as well as disturbing.

The portrayal of grief was something I found very well written and the action later on in the book had me nervous for her.

If you wish to be scared of someone standing in the dark corners of your room, I recommend reading it at night like I did, if not maybe turn the lights on (it wasn't easy to fall asleep afterwards)

Thank you so much to Netgalley and Bloomsbury for providing me with an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

I learned the hard way not to read this at night. I’m not usually a horror reader but I love Kalynn Bayron’s writing and stepped out of my comfort zone for this story.

This story is eerie and mysterious from the beginning, and you feel like you’re with the main character as she discovers this dark secret her family has held for centuries.

The pacing was slow at times but really picked up to the end as the plot really got going, immersing you in the horror of the plot to the end.

I’m a big fan of this author, I’m a big fan of Frankenstein so this book was a match made in heaven for me. I read an eARC of this book on NetGalley so thank you to the author and the publisher.

This was a particularly good Frankenstein-inspired novel. I don’t want to call it a retelling or reimagining as it really is its own unique story. It does draw on the Frankenstein legend, but it exists as its own tale. It integrates the themes of Frankenstein well into a modern setting, drawing on specific elements of the horror and showing how they might be managed or expressed in present day.

Part of why this works so well is its set in a morticians. Given how so much of the story relates to dead bodies, this created the perfect ambiance as well as providing believable explanations and mitigations for some of the more fantastical elements.

The story unravels well, it does take a while to get to the key action and reveals, but this works. It lets the atmosphere build up gradually, but intensely and gives us plenty of background to help with believability.

This would have been five stars for the quality of writing, great characters, atmosphere, themes but it just lost a bit of momentum towards the end. Otherwise this was a fantastic read and I had a good time with it. One I would read again, and recommend.

Thank you so much to Netgalley and Bloomsbury for providing me with an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Make Me a Monster is a macabre and character-driven YA horror novel inspired by Frankenstein, with themes of grief, consent, and moral ambiguity woven throughout.

I really liked the concept. A girl growing up in a funeral home, learning to live with loss, and slowly uncovering something strange about her and her family. There’s a tender but tragic love story at the core, which the author pointed out has parallels with Dani and Jamie from The Haunting of Bly Manor, and some of those quieter emotional moments really landed.

But overall, I found the pacing uneven, and the writing didn’t fully hold me. Some characters faded away too quickly, and the story never quite built the tension or impact I was hoping for. It had all the right pieces, but they never fully came together for me.

I’m torn on how to rate it, but probably somewhere between 2.5 and 3 stars

3,25 ✨

I want to start this review off by saying that I really like Bayron's writing and that even though the story didn't quite evolve how I had thought it would, I still loved reading it!
The Frankenstein aspect of it all drew me in but I didn't quite expect the way Bayron would take with the story. As said before; the writing and atmosphere were great and I truly enjoyed the setting the story was in. The ending did surprise me and that convinced me to add that 0,25% to my rating!

“There’s a dead body waiting for me at home and I’m excited to see her.”

3.75 ⭐️

One thing this book made me realise is how much I enjoy reading gothic books. The darker suspense, harder storylines and descriptive language are things that appeal to me enormously and that I would very much like to discover more of. And in my search for more character-driven books, this book was right up my alley.

Make Me a Monster is a book inspired by the story of Frankenstein, and where better to set it than in a funeral home? Dark rooms and lots of corpses, this story started off promising!

Unfortunately, I had read the short summary, which already revealed the “tragedy” that awaited me in the story. As a result, the story started off terribly slow for me and everything was extremely predictable. I was never really surprised, so I really recommend starting this story blind. Still, I thoroughly enjoyed the writing style.

A writing style that I lost a bit further into the book, just as some characters disappeared from the story altogether and we got a lot of new name drops that felt a bit underdeveloped to me.

This is an arc read thanks to Netgalley

I really enjoyed reading this, it was incredibly atmospheric and eerie, with some really tender moments regarding grief, but the tone was very light with funny, likeable main characters. I would have liked to see more of the side characters in this as they disappear after a few chapters, and I felt the discovery of the main characters powers / family secrets felt a little underwhelming, but would definitely recommend this to people looking for a fun, and original retelling.

A young woman who works at her family's funeral home comes to realise that her father has been secretly offering customers the chance for immortality after their deaths. She realises that this is all tied up with the shadowy mysterious figures following her every move, and her mother's apparent eternal youth and beauty. When her best friend tragically dies young, and then suddenly reappears she starts to piece everything together.

This is a slow burner to start but this all sets the scene nicely - this is a really effective, smart & thoughtful reworking of some of the themes of Frankenstein with a powerful sense of dread and suspense. Our lead is really one to root for as well as the plot does clever things with the disturbing themes that arise as well as well realised emotions around grief, young love, family and coming into your own power and self identity. Some squeamish aspects with a fair few reanimated corpses popping up but overall really worth a try.

Meka is comfortable with death - after all, she's an assistant at her parents' funeral home, she is used to handling dead bodies and perfecting their makeup. And her boyfriend Noah also seems fine with it. But Meka is having nightmares about her mother's death that she doesn’t understand, and her sleep - but when tragedy strikes it is completely unexpected. Then strangers are following her, and strange things start happening with the dead.

I love Kalynn Bayron's books, and I also love Frankenstein which is the inspiration for elements of this story - but not in the way you think - it's not a retelling, but I love how it takes the idea of Frankenstein's work and spins it into a very original take.

This does get pretty gruesome and macabre - in a good way. It has a comfort with death and dealing with the dead, which is taken to fairly detailed and dark places - but never in a grotesque or unnecessary way. And I wouldn't call it horror - I think it's a story with strong horror elements that likes to walk on the dark side. But I loved this - it builds the suspense and parcels out the reveals in this so well - I'm a big fan of the Vanquishers series from this author, and that similarly is masterful in creating a growing sense of unease and growing dread. I want to be really careful about how much I say because I don't want to spoil anything about the plot. But just trust me it's great, it's about teenagehood - first love, families (Kalynn Bayron always does such a good job of keeping parents involved in the plot of YA books whilst still making it 100% the teens story) and looks at the nature of death, and the price of love. It's the darkest of all her books, and I really loved it.

I love coming-of-age tale with a difference. This was so beautifully written, I was truly invested in the story of a teenage girl growing up in her family's funeral parlour... and then everything changed dramatically! So original, heartfelt and touching, effectively reworking Mary Shelley's book for a modern audience - that I'm sure will love it.

I am a fan of Kalynn and was excited to get an advanced copy of this. However, I did find it difficult to read and didn't enjoy it as much as I have enjoyed her other books. It is a retelling of Frankenstein in a way, but I found it a little unusual and sometimes boring. Not to say that others would not enjoy it, but it is not as high up the ranks as her other books are for me. I did like the characters though, Meka was really likable and relatable at times.

Filling this in because I have to to keep my review scores up :) it's no secret I love this book, in all its creepiness!

4.5/5

I was absolutely cry laughing for the first 30% of this book, and then things turned heartbreaking and spooky. The Frankenstein twist to this story is brilliant, unique and thrilling. It's not often (if at all) that I read books about funeral homes and morticians, death terrifies me but reading this book brought a new insight. YA horror is always incredible in my eyes, this was done brilliantly.

I thought the characters were great, the plot was fun and clever. It kept giving me The Haunted Mansion and The Addams Family vibes which I loved! I read this in collectively about five hours, I couldn't put it down!

This is actually my first read by Kalynn Bayron, I've been eyeing up her books for a while, but this has made me absolutely want to read more of her writing.

Highly recommend. Especially because this comes out at the very end of Sept, major spooky halloween vibes!!

This was a good read, I liked the twist on the Frankenstein story. There were some things I wasn't expecting; like the way it dealt with grief, and the romance side plot, but they were the good kind of unexpected.