I love saints writing - it’s so comforting and familiar I could read her work all day.
This was no exception, however it still took me well past half way through to get into the book.
I love the idea of this book - old Scottish family house, fae bargains, lost family, secrets and romance. I love Nicola and Finley - they felt fleshed out and had great interactions with everyone. As the book progressed I really enjoyed delving into Eileen’s complexities. Adam was a disappointment I’m afraid to say - so repetitive and stale. Being a main character he was too unlikeable for me.
I think at least half of this book is sex. I don’t mind if it makes sense but most of it felt like it was unnecessary. There wasn’t enough plot for me even in the second half. It only got interesting to me in the last couple of chapters.
I really wanted to love this book - I think I’ll still give book 2 a go I’m interested to see where Adam will go and how the other three will progress.

this was probably the biggest surprise i’ve had whilst reading. as someone who’s never read erotica, and isn’t a fan of smut, primarily because i find it unrealistic and cringe (in most cases but not all) this was so refreshing. this really didn’t have as much sex as people were describing it to have but make sure to check trigger warnings!!
i so quickly fell in love with all the characters. each one of them had a certain charm about them that made them so loveable, while still having their own unique faults. i really enjoyed being in each of their heads and reading their thoughts on one another.
the characters really carried everything through this book for me, the plot wasn’t very prevalent apart from near the end and i’d understand why that might be an issue for some so take that into account, but i really didn’t mind it taking a back seat and spending all our time with the characters and their interactions with eachother. quite literally, everyone being bi was a treat.
the setting also really immersed me in this gloomy story of being stuck together in the middle of nowhere, perfect gothic vibes and the spooky dark fae were interesting and i’m so excited to find out more in the next books.
thank you netgalley for sending me this arc!

No os voy a mentir, este libro no me ha gustado nada. Lo cogí pensando que su dosis en fantasía iba a ser mayor (aún sabiendo que el thriller no es mi tipo de libro), pero para nada me esperaba esto. Para mí este libro es un thriller erótico con nada de fantasía y más bien poca trama o misterior.
Para empezar, nos encontramos con Adam, el cual junto con Nicola, se ven arrastrados hasta Craigmar para descubrir la verdad sobre las historias del abuelo fallecido de Adam. Hasta ahí muy bien, de hecho estaba bastante enganchada.
La atmósfera desde el inicio te envuelve y te dan ganas de leer más mientras vas descubriendo a más personajes y sus distintos papeles y secretos dentro de la historia. Sin embargo el tono de esta se vuelve más erótico y menos misterioso. Y con esto me refiero a que ahora, tras las primeras 120-150 páginas del libro el objetivo de los personajes principales, en este caso Adam, ya no es el inicial, ya no es conocer las historias de su abuelo; sino conocer a Eileen (la dueña de la casa) y sus secretos. Que en principio no lo veo mal, llama la atención y Eileen es un personaje que me ha gustado muchísimo, pero la historia a partir de ahí me pierde el sentido.
Me he comido casi 500 páginas de libro para que lo único relacionado realmente con la trama principal sea el epílogo (y algún que otro inuendo que hacía Eileen aquí y allá cuando narraba ella-realmente los caps más interesantes sin ninguna duda).
Aunque bueno, no todo es malo. Como ya he dicho Eileen es un personaje muy característico, uno que de verdad para mí tiene una evolución durante el libro, nos va mostrando distintas facetas de su ser y gracias a ello nosotros podemos cambiar la perspectiva de este.! El resto, sin embargo, no me parece que hayan estado a la altura, son bastante planos y la verdad es que no muestran ningún cambio más allá de la exploración de sus características sexuales y a qué se sienten atraídos.
Y, como ya he dicho, el libro tiene alto contenido sexual, ese thriller erótico del que hablaba... No os voy a mentir, la autora narra muy bien y la verdad es que las escenas tienen alta tensión durante todo el libro y la química entre los personajes es muy buena. Si este fuera un libro no calificado como thriller, si no erótico, no pondría niguna pega, sin embargo sobrabran bastantes esenas que no aportaban nada al libro salvo un conocimiento mayor entre los personajes.
Este ha sido el primer libro de la autora que he leído y, aunque no creo que vaya a ser el último, si saca una segunda parte del libro espero que tenga en cuenta más aspectos de la trama principal:)

Thank you NetGalley and little brown book group uk for a digital arc of this book for an honest review.

So first off I wasn’t expecting this book to be what I stepped into.

Who knew S.T Gibson was into kink, open door and bdsm.

I really enjoyed this book , mainly for the folklore , dark faeries , portals in small ponds , a deep beautiful cave , a stolen loved one .

Ancient deals made by humans and fae almost feel like a trick Eileen and Finlay have secrets and tempting their visitors into believing them about the fae and being intimate with them both letting their guards down to ask the question at the end .

Iron protects you from the fae, make a tithe or an offering might keep them at bay .

Nicola and Adam resolve unspoken desires when they see the other with Eileen and Finley.

Wanting to know what happened to his grandfather and why he left craigmar will leave him shocked and saddened by the truth.

Nicola is damaged likeable than the other three but wants to be charge but also made to bend.

I’d recommend this book to dark romance readers and anyone who likes folk tales myths and legends . It has an eerie creeping strangeness to this book that sucks you in. Feel like it could have had more depth and a little more information about the fae maybe a chapter or even epilogue could have had just a bit more it left me going 🤔. Still wanting more.

I feel as though the potential in this book was more than what this book delivered. The faeries and folklore aspect was great and the set up of being stranded in a gothic house with generational curse haunting this family you suddenly have to live with was amazing but i just didn't get the interconnected romance at all. I feel as though it was just so forced and too 'played up'. A lot of the times i was cringing at those scenes and didn't mind the romances amongst one another. If Adam and Nicole's romance was just brewing throughout the book for example but the fact they were all 'pining' after one another and constantly commenting on it had me honestly rolling my eyes. Just really didn't work for me but could be a personal preference thing. I really wanted to like this one but sadly just didn't hit. The story fell felt, the characters didn't feel believable or realistic but i do still think S T Gibson has a beautiful way with words.

This was a gripping read that was hard to put down. It is absolutely soaking in atmosphere. We have an isolated manor in Scotland, with just two residents, grounds with strange apparitions. We follow two American friends as they travel to Scotland to investigate a mystery from one of their deceased grandparents. They find themselves welcomed by the ‘lord’ and invited to stay while they investigate the grandfather’s history with the house.

The atmosphere was my favourite thing about this book, it was sensational. I could picture the house and the grounds so clearly. It was a wonderful choice of setting. I also loved the folklore that was woven through this. There was some real peril seeping through this story and a constant sense of ‘what’s out there?’

There’s a lot of spice in this book, there’s a real sense of exploration of human limits, relationships, boundaries. People aren’t always nice or kind, there are agendas in play and secrets people don’t want revealed.

I found this compelling, a deeply atmospheric and fascinating read. I read an eARC of this book on NetGalley so thank you to the author and the publisher.

Book Review: Savage Blooms by S.T. Gibson

Thanks to NetGalley and Little, Brown Book Group UK | Orbit for the ARC of Savage Blooms by S.T. Gibson.

The book gets 2.25 stars from me.

This book was not what I expected. I apparently did not consciously read the header, but from the description I did not get that it’s an erotic fantasy.

I did enjoy the world setting, queer characters and openness about kinks.

Like I wrote, I thought this book was going in a different direction and the main plot being the fantasy and mystery. The parts we got were eerie, I did like them and wanted to read more in that direction. I was kinda bummed that erotica was the main topic. I think it would have worked better if the erotica was the subplot and maybe a bonus scene at the end. It felt to me like it lost/lacked it’s focus and plot, so I feel like the author could have balanced it better.

The ending did make me wonder about the next book, but I don’t feel like the erotica setting works, so I’m not sure if I will continue reading the series.

The ARC definitely had some mistakes, but that will probably be fixed in the released version.

In the end its was an Ok book, but I would have liked the focus being on the fantasy and mystery. I’m still interested to look into the authors other works though.

really enjoyed this book, it was a quick read and kept me captivated the whole time! First evert S.T Gibson book and I hope to continue to read more of their titles. It is quite romance and erotica heavy, so just a forewarning for people maybe looking for more plot.

I was not pulled in as much as this authors other books, specifically the ones with vampires.
I liked the mysterious atmosphere, but we have a "miscommunication' trope (people have been liking each other but *dont wanna ruin the friendship* and then they all got horny pretty fast. Not the most attractive prospect in a book tbh, at least for me.
So i had to dnf. As soon as everyone got horny I lost interest. All the mystery seemed im second place and I personally dont care for the horniness. Idk. Im sorry.

Thank you so much Netgalley and Little, Brown Book Group UK/Orbit for accepting my request to read and review a highly anticipated 2025 read I have been so looking forward to.

I saw the tags fantasy, gothic, queer, adult romance, erotic and knew this book would absolutely be up my alley and I was so right. Savage Blooms was so much more than I ever could have expected and exactly what I hope all gothic romantic books could be.

This book felt like A Study in Drowning mixed with A Lesson in Thorns, and I ate it up. Read this book in less than 24 hours but could have EASILY and HAPPILY read it in one sitting had I not had work *cries*

A bunch of very horny gays isolated in a spooky mansion by the sea, with strange things going on around them? PERFECTION.

This book primarily follows the perspectives of Adam and Nicola, who travel to the remote Craigmar manor in the Scottish Highlands to understand better the life of Adam's beloved and recently deceased grandfather, who told whimsical stories of the Estate. Adam and Nicola make acquaintances with the captivating and gorgeous Androgenous Estate Lord, Eileen, and the broody dominant groundskeeper, Finley. When a storm hits, Adam and Nicola spend the night, and are convinced to stay even longer upon making discoveries about Adam's grandfather's past.

While I loved the smut, loved the kink, I also loved the slow unfolding of the mysteries of Craigmar and Eileen's families secrets. I am so intrigued to know how book 2 goes after that ending!

Highly recommend this book, my fav of S T Gibson so far.

Look, I’ve had my eye on this book for a while. I loved Evocation, and the premise of this sounded insane. Fae? Yes. Crumbling Scottish manor? YES. Messy love interests? Y.E.S. The gothic kink vibes were there, but the fantasy? Barely. The fae exist but don’t really matter, the relationships sometimes tiptoe into unnecessary adoption adjacent weirdness, and the plot is slow until the final couple chapters goes full on chaos mode. Fun, spicy, and entertaining, but not groundbreaking. That said, I’m curious to see where book two goes. Hopefully the fantasy and plot kick in as this series has some real potential to grow into something great.

Thank you NetGalley & Orbit for an ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review.

Savage Blooms is everything I hope for in a gothic fantasy: lush, intoxicating, unsettling, and utterly irresistible. S.T. Gibson’s prose is as sharp as it is seductive, painting Craigmar not just as a crumbling Scottish manor but as a living, breathing presence that ensnares both characters and reader alike.

The story thrums with tension, caught between desire and danger, love and obsession, freedom and captivity. Adam, Nicola, Eileen, and Finley are messy, flawed, magnetic, and completely compelling. Their entanglements are laced with power, lust, and secrets, and the multiple POVs let us peel back layer after layer of unreliable truths. By the end, I felt as bewitched as the characters themselves.

This is erotica, yes, but it is also much more: a gothic fairytale about legacy, curses, and the hunger to be truly seen. The fae elements are threaded in with just enough mystery to leave you aching for what is still hidden. And that cliffhanger is deliciously cruel.

Dark, decadent, and gorgeously written, Savage Blooms is the perfect book to sink into on a stormy autumn night. A triumph of atmosphere, character, and sensuality.

#savageblooms #netgalley
4⭐️

This was a whimsical, magical, dark, sexy, seductive and secretive dive into the gothic erotic fantasy of Craigmar house and its mysterious inhabitants, hidden away in the Scottish highlands … how can one refuse?

I love S.T.Gibson’s writing and this is another perfect example of why. The pacing and mystery keep you wanting to keep turning the page and the multiple POVs added a lot of depth and strength to the story. The characters are flawed and at moments unlikely, but seeing them through the eyes of the people around them with their own internal monologue really allowed them to become part of the story.

The storyline is sultry and sexy, and explores the depths of human connection. The ending was full of suspense, and how’s me excited to see how this story develops next.

A perfect autumn read! Or for anyone who’s a lil spooky at heart 🖤

Thanks to NetGalley and Little, Brown book group for access to this arc!

2.5 stars, rounded down to 2.

I have read Evocation, Odd Spirits and An Education in Malice by the author before this, and I had high expectation going in, as I enjoyed every one of these (with Evocation being one of my favorite books from last year). However this one just wasn't for me.

I did like the gothic atmosphere and I really liked Nicola as a character. However I feel like there was basically no plot, nothing really happened in this book. While there definitely are some sex scenes, I also wouldn't say that this book is just straight up porn. Most of it is literally just nothing happening. I get that that's setting the atmosphere and aesthetic, but a little more substance would have been needed in my opinion. It made me feel uneasy how toxic some of these relationships were (especially Finley and Eileen). I also wasn't really comfortable with the whole siblings-to-lovers plotline. I get that the characters weren't meant to be likeable but I like it, when they have at least some redeeming qualities (like my baby David in Evocation). Also Adam was really boring.

Overall this just wasn't for me.

Seductive and secretive, SAVAGE BLOOMS is a delicious, gothic-tinged erotic fantasy, with searing character dynamics and indulgent escapism. I loved the outright erotic and sultry storyline, and can’t wait to see how the story unfolds.


NOTE FOR THE PUBLISHERS:
Sláinte is the Irish spelling, not Scottish, which I think would be Slàinte (the accent marks point in different directions on the ‘a’). Irish and Scots Gaelic are two different languages.

And, ‘lord’ in Scotland is more usually referred to as ‘laird’. Not sure if the choice to call Eileen ‘Lord’ and not ‘Laird’ was purposeful, but as she and her family are Scottish, I'm just noting.

“What if I told you there really is something magical about Craigmar, this house, these lands? What if I told you there was something old out there, so old most people have forgotten the proper name for it?”

First let me start by saying that I loved Savage Blooms for so many reasons, the way it draws you in gently and has you asking questions later. It perfectly encapsulates erotic suspense. The suspicion, the mind games, the hidden history of the manor. If this is how the first book in a trilogy starts we are certainly in for a treat with the next two books.

Savage Blooms is a deliciously succulent, hauntingly gothic, twisted tale of generational curses, erotic yearning, sexual curiosity, ravishing intimacy and shameless self indulgence.

The book harnesses lust through heavy lidded eyes, it captures tension with a glance, and shows us what it means to desire to be undone, devoured and known at the same time. It explores a more traditional take on the ‘darker’ side of Fae lore, and the delicate interwoven web between the world above and the below. The hidden history of the manor is murky, the atmospherics are dark and you can’t help but get sucked into the dynamics that unfold between the characters I still believe that Craigmar and the Estate itself has a much darker role at play here, and that it actually might be more sentient than we first realise. Particularly, in how it influences characters emotions and lustrous states. I’m excited to see how this will unfold in the future books.

Through multiple POVs, we meet our characters: Eileen, Lord of the manor bound to the estate at Craigmar due to a generational curse; Finely, Eileen’s devoted confidant who carries his own host of burdened torment; Adam, searching to uncover his grandfathers hidden family history; and Nicole, Adam’s best friend, who’s come along for the ride and also experiences her own self discoveries on the way. The characters are flawed, messy, and all have the ability to be unreliable narrators, whether it’s twisting the truth or omitting it and it’s what I loved best about them.

I loved that we got a glimpse of Adam’s grandfather’s Pov in this book. I wasn’t expecting it but those chapters truly are lore chapters in this book and it was such a clever way to go about it. The cliffhanger had me swiping my kindle begging for another page. What do you mean there isn’t ANOTHER page. What do you MEAN we are leaving it like that?! Urgh. Damn it.

Finely the man that you are! (I’m still thinking about THAT scene, if you know you know!)

Savage Blooms will be out in October, and I absolutely cannot wait for other people to read this. It’s honestly a perfect book to enter autumn with.

3.5/5 stars

erotica is not something that i usually read but if s.t. gibson writes it? you best believe i WILL read it. this book was very much character driven and the plot wasn't something that was the main focus of the book. i needed more details about the faeries and their lore but sadly i didn't get much. i actually thought this book was a standalone and that is why the ending had me going ??? but then i found out that it's a trilogy and everything started making sense. the prose is not what i am usually accustomed to from s.t. gibson and i don't think i mind it that much. the dynamics between the four characters had me intrigued from the very beginning. i have never quite read a book like this before and if nothing else, s.t. gibson sure knows how to keep your attention because lord could i not stop reading. seated for book 2🙏🏻

Oh, gothic stories are BACK.

I’m always immediately sucked in to everything S.T. Gibson writes and this was no exception. I adored the development of this story with both the overarching plot alongside the relationships. Gibson never shies away from picking apart the depths of desire and it is always a pleasure to experience!
A true gothic story with all the complexities and secrets all the classics bring. The pacing did maybe feel a little off but I cannot wait for this story to continue. The story is about to expand so much more and I am so here for it!

Let me start this review by saying that i LOVE Saint Gibson, i love her writing and her books. Above all, A Dowry of Blood, a book so perfect and deep that struck me so hard after years and years of mediocre novels about vampires. That said, i've always appreciated her writing journey and liked all her novels up to now, some more than others, but i was craving for a more lyrical writing that i know she's more than capable of, after some attempts that were very enjoyable but with a very different writing style.

That said, my bad, i've approached Savage blooms after reading a review that stated 'all sex and no plot'. My bad, because I postponed this book for a couple of weeks after that. I picked it up after slapping myself because 'ehi it's a review, just ONE review. Give it a try' and obviously i was quite surprised by the outcome, both posively and not so much.
First of all, this book is not porn without a plot. Well, the plot is a huge problem here but let's proceed step by step.
There are some things that works very well in this book, others that would have needed a different approach? More depht? More time and editing?
The writing is quite captivating, full of lush and great images, perfect for the atmosphere, the mood and the themes of the book. At the same time, there are pieces of the book that feels very rushed and not so coherent.
The plot is my biggest issue. It's there but is easily forgotten from one chapter to another. The hyperfocus of the characters' relational dynamics confines the bigger story so much on the background that when it comes back it feels quite weird. Not organic. Not as thought as it was compared to A dowry of blood. I know that this is labelled as 'erotica' but it could have been a GREAT erotica book with a GREAT compelling background story.
The mystery itself has some interesting kicks that could have been approached in a different pace and by keeping up with the 'haunting' mood that would have made it brilliant. To my bad, i didn't have enough elements to fully grasp the Camelot comparisons and felt too rushed to be believable (and trust me, that could have been the bone structure of the story, it only needed more time and more depth to develope).
The pace and te rhythm are inconsistent, so there are very engaging and dynamic portions, and then something very flat and dragged.
I see this book as a story and concepts with a lot of potential that could have been incredibly amazing, but maybe they were rushed to publishing and couldnt really reach the maximum potential. Still, it was fun to read!

This one’s tricky. The writing was exceptional like we are used to from Gibson, it’s lyrical and beautiful, drawing you into the story. Let’s talk about that last one; I enjoyed the magical aspect of it and wished we had seen more of it however I do know that it’s supposed to be a trilogy so it makes sense that in the first book we kind of really get into the characters and who they are. I am very excited I got to read this one because I have been a Gibson fan ever since ADOB. I can’t wait for the next book because that cliffhanger was crazy!
I rated this one 3,75 ⭐️