TW: Gaslighting, toxic parent relationship, kidnapping, language

*****SPOILERS*****
About the book:Jo never expected to be placed in her absent grandmother’s will—let alone be left her house, her land, and a letter with mysterious demands.

Upon arriving at the inherited property, things are even more strange.

The tenants mentioned in the letter are odd, just slightly…off. Jo feels something dark and decrepit in the old shack behind the house. And the things that her father used to talk about, his delusions… Why is Jo starting to believe they might be real?

But what Jo fears most is the letter from her grandmother. Because if it’s true, then Jo belongs here, in this strange place. And she has no choice but to stay.
Release Date: April 18th, 2023
Genre: YA Fantasy
Pages: 336
Rating: ⭐ ⭐ ⭐

What I Liked:
1. The plot seemed mysterious
2. Reference to Abba 🥰

What I Didn't Like:
1. The tone of the book is so dry
2. Jo comes off whiny and spoiled
3. It just seemed to easy at the ending - rushed

Overall Thoughts:
It's so odd that some books you can tell it's a YA and some you think it could be adult, unfortunately with this book it reads YA in an annoying whiny way. When I first started this book I assumed that Jo was supposed to be older and perhaps not so well off but right within the beginning Jo got on my nerves. They are pretty well off financially. Jo complains that she can't have the house even though she hasn't known about it or cared about that grandmother at all. Jo just got on my nerves as this spoiled rich person.

There is a part where she complains because she has to go through the mail and says it's gross. The mails on the table how is it gross? Also why haven't the parents gone through it?? Who doesn't look through their mail??

Nothing feels like it happens. If you love books where chores are talked about then this is the book for you.

I liked that there wasn't some forced romantic romance between characters that wasn't needed.

There were some surprises along the way that I didn't expect. Like her father being one of the taken away children or why they pushed her mother to leave when she was pregnant.

Final Thoughts:
Okay so I don't think this book is as bad as people are saying from my perspective. Yes, there are some issues with this book but I was curious to find out the mystery behind the fairies. The problem is that it's labeled as horror when it's not. There is ZERO horror in this book. This is 100% fantasy.

The writing is choppy. There's lots of run on sentences. Thought and plots that feel like what's the point. The book takes a while to get started with too much focus on her home life and complaining to each other, her step-father, and townspeople about selling the house.

I didn't hate this book. I think its a meh okay book but I'll probably forget it by next year. I'd like to see what else the author can do in the future.

Recommend For:
• Fairies
• Novella's
• Mysterious towns
• Stories with mystery houses left to family member

Thanks to Harper teen and Netgalley for this advanced copy of the book. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

I was in the mood for a horror/fantasy novel and I have to say that this did the trick. Although it wasn't perfect, I found that the storyline was pretty interesting and it had enough suspense to fall into the horror category. there definitely needed to be more details in the characters as most were fairly bland. The other beings (fairies) were very much a mystery that I could never fully picture or comprehend. Although I would definitely pick up another book by this author, I would do so with caution and the expectation of something more.

I received this book as automated audiobook for review. I enjoyed the story. I wish there was more depth to the characters. I feel like the characters and the plot just skimmed the surface. There was not a lot of emotion involved but I realize that might have to do with the AI reading the story to me. I might listen to it again as a narrated audio.

I picked up this book because was promised YA horror story, hunted house and FAIRY.
The concept of the book is interesting, but I didn’t like the execution. Beginning of the story was okay, then it went downhill, and I started feeling that the plot doesn’t make sense and I lost interest.
I didn’t get the horror elements as expected; the atmosphere built at the beginning was okay, then it was lost. The characters were not interesting, somehow enjoying.
Maybe it happened because of the audiobook, and if I read the physical book the things would be different.
Thank you NetGalley for the free audiobook.

The writing in this was chopping but i did enjoy it. And liked the setting and the plot and characters as well. And really thougjt this could be a favorite but the writing wasnt all there

The Cherished is the story of a teen who inherits her grandmother's farm. A sinister letter is given to her written by her grandmother and she doesn't know what to think. It's a fast paced gripping tale of a girl who comes into her own, finds belonging, and faces the troubles of the town that have been goingon for generations. This was a fantastic read for those who like YA horror and fantasy.

I could not get into this book. The narrator was so robotic and I just could not get over that. I wish I would have read this book instead of listening to it. Because it has hard for me to keep up with what was going on.

At the beginning of this book, I thought it had great intentions and a strong start. Once the fairies got introduced, I quickly lost interest. I thought then it started to drag and I didn’t find it interesting.

DNF 33% into the audio version of the book.

While the premise of THE CHERISHED was interesting, I just couldn't get into it. The first third of the book is extremely slow, and not much has happened -- and reading other reviews, it sounds like pacing continues to be an issue. There is a lot of exposition and backstory, which bogged the story down a lot.

I also didn't like any of the characters, which isn't a problem in and of itself; the bigger issue is that none of them were interesting. Jo, the main character, has spent most of the book to this point either complaining about her mother (Abigail) and stepfather, or ruminating on family history. I think Jo has potential to be interesting, as one of the early chapters has her manipulating Abigail into taking her to the house. It would've been nice to see some more of that spark from Jo.

Thank you to HarperTeen for providing a review copy.

Good characters and story. Good narration. Thanks to Netgalley for the opportunity to read this book.

A new spin on a fairy meets human world novel. When a girl inherits her dad's family home she discovers a different world of fairies that she must now keep separate so that humans don't get harmed. But when the worlds merge she might fight to separate them again and fight for herself, her friends, and her family.

The main character (what’s her name, I couldn’t even tell ya) was VERY young. She was supposed to be 16, but I don’t know- she seemed much younger to me. Especially at the beginning and by the time it was apparent that she was indeed a 16 year old, I just couldn’t believe it. I had that first impression in my mind and I never lost it.

I don’t even honestly remember what happened in this book (and I read it yesterday) it’s all just blurred together: what I do remember is that there’s fairies and her grandmother may have felt guilty about them? I think? Not a very compelling story and definitely not one that’s overly interesting

To preface this I read the ebook arc and I wasn't the biggest fan but I wanted to listen to the audiobook to see if maybe it would have been better that way. Because thats happened before for me. But this audiobook doesn't have an actual person reading it. Its just an AI like Siri. So it was painful to listen to

This is an interesting story and could be a great read. However, it's slow to start. I was nearly halfway through the book before anything exciting began to happen. I did appreciate that Jo didn't try to do everything on her own like characters in other YA books. She actually confided in her mother despite their difference of opinions and asked for help. There did seem to be some antiquated descriptions about race and mental illness.

I wanted to like this; it had potential, but the story just wasn't well written and confusing to read.

This work leaves a lot to be desired. I know that this was an ARC for the audiobook and I have a difficult time with the narrator, but that certainly did not help with the story and the amount of emotion that was to go o on in this book. That aside, I was very curious and interested about the premise. But when reading, the way the writing style changed constantly from short and stilted to long winded and run-on, I wasn't sure if this was supposed to be reflective of the character and we had an unreliable narrator on our ands or not. Honestly, it was a struggle to get through this book and it is not one I would recommend to patrons.

I realize there's still a while before final publication, but I just can't. The writing is terrible, the pacing is jagged and uneven, and quite frankly not a single character was likeable. I got to around 30% and just couldn't convince myself to pick it up again. Jo is whiney even for a teenager and couldn't stand her.

I'd say this deserves a TW for abusive-type behaviour as well. While I don't recall Abigail actually physically harming any of the characters (at least up until the part I got to), it is described over and over and over how she throws things and screams at people for no reason, just because she's "pregnant and hormonal." Her husband just deals with things being thrown at him and gets "makeup snuggles" when she chills out. It made me super uncomfortable every time it happened.

Would not recommend this book right now, but maybe there will be some major overhaul before the final publication. Though unless Abigail's behaviour changes, I honestly won't recommend this book at all.
I got this ARC as an audio through NetGalley.

I received an e-arc of this audiobook from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

I thought this was a very cute, if dark story about a girl with a destiny to guard a portal between our world and the Fae world. This story is also about a young girl discovering who she is and who her father was. I would call this a coming of age story with fairies. The ending is bitter sweet; I wish that the portal could be maintained in a more humane way. If I decide to revisit this book it will definitely be in print not as an audiobook because this book is very short and I feel like I have missed moments while listening that I wouldn’t have had I read it.

I feel like there have been a lot of young adult southern gothic horror/thrillers coming out this year that involve a young girl as the main character. I'm not complaining! I did, however think that this story was pretty unique and terrifying! Definitely worth the read.

Thank you, NetGalley and HarperTeen, for offering me an e-audiobook of this work in exchange for my honest review.

Jo is the sole inheritor of her late grandmother’s estate. Her grandmother also included specific care instructions for the grounds that are quite strange. This narrative is about being estranged from one’s family, searching for belonging, the mystery surrounding Jo’s memories of her father and his death, and the fae. It takes a long, long time before this story begins to pick up and make sense. A large factor that contributed to this was the writing style and the characterization of Jo. She seems to be sanctimonious and judgmental of her family and that forced her to feel estranged from them. It is partly Jo’s own doing. It was frustrating to not want to shake some sense into this character. I found myself not able to care or pay attention to the story too much after I realized this.

Overall, I think The Cherished is okay. I personally wouldn’t place it in the horror genre, but I think that just deals with my subjective opinions of horror.