What a wild, bloody ride! This book follows Maeve Fly, a young LA woman who is a Disney princess by day and a sociopath by night. She lives with her grandmother who gave me big Marilyn Monroe/Pam Anderson vibes and her grandmother’s cat- Lester the Cat. We follow Maeve through a depraved breakdown of her psyche revealing her deeply disturbed true self.

This book took me on a journey, I really enjoyed Maeve’s character immediately. The first and last third of the book were my favourites in the way of character development and action. I really liked her inner monologue and I found myself to be frequently entertained by her way of seeing the word. This read is violent, bloody and the ending had my jaw on the floor.

I recommend this book to all extreme horror lovers who are looking for an engaging, short and sick read.

Thank you to Tor Nightfire for this opportunity to read the ARC!

Part horror, part character study, Maeve Fly is a knock out debut. The first part is a look at life through the eyes of Maeve, a character you probably don't want to see much of yourself in, yet are intrigued y her regardless. Some moments you can nod and agree with, and some can make you shift uncomfortably. All will keep you engaged and wanting to know more.
Once the horror really starts, once you read "Hello, Mr. Bateman", you find yourself in a choke hold that you don't want to be released from. Tightening, tightening, until that last final moment where you're suddenly released, gasping for air.
It's over. You're left reeling, wondering what next.
The beginning was good, the middle was steady. The end?
The end was perfection. Especially the last few pages.

The worst thing about this book is the fact that it’s over and I have a Maeve Fly sized hole in my heart. The last 30% was wild. But the last 10%! Omg! Not sure why I feel sad, all things considered. This was dark, depraved, and also, surprisingly, romantic. This is definitely for the hardcore/extreme horror fans. Like, there’s some sick shit going on in this so don’t @ me if you read this and you’re like ‘girl, wtf is wrong is you.’ I really loved Leede’s writing. It was smart, satirical, and actually pretty funny. I loved the connections (intentional or unintentional) to Baudrillard’s Simulacra and Simulation and Freud’s The Uncanny, on top of all the other implicit literature influences. Being inside the mind of a killer/psychopath is one of my favorite horror sub-genres and this hit all the marks, I can’t wait to see what she writes next!

10 Stars⭐️ This book is for all the Goth Queens in a world of Disney Princesses. To the weirdos who exist on the edges. A love letter to LA and quaint dive bars. To year long Halloween parties. Maeve is everything I've ever wanted to be. This book is the story I needed. It's like a theme song playing in my heart. I found myself not wanting the story to end. I stretched it out for as long as possible. This is my protagonist. I want more. All of it. The good, the bad, the gory. Now I'm off to read a classic novel it inspired me to purchase, "Story of the Eye".

Maeve is a professional princess. Every day she dresses up as a certain ice princess and absolutely slays at the amusement park. But that’s not the only place where Maeve slays…

In a Hollywood Hills mansion that she shares with her former-starlet grandmother (who is now comatose), Maeve passes the time in devious ways. Her grandmother taught her how to survive as a predator and blend in, and Maeve needs guidance lately more than ever. She is struggling to keep her inner wolf at bay, and someone is leaving her mysterious offerings around the city. Are they gifts or bait?

LA is Maeve’s playground, and she’s got just enough privilege to get away with whatever the hell she wants. Mostly she just wants to dox people online, drink piña coladas in a dirty bar, and chill with her bff Kate, but a few unexpected events throw Maeve off balance, where she descends (or ascends if you ask Maeve) into her true form - a murderous, twisted villain with one foot in a blood-soaked pool of revenge and another testing the murky waters of a budding romance. Why is it so hard for serial killers to find true love?!

A savage, satirical tribute to Los Angeles, Halloween, and iconic horror villains, Maeve Fly is a delight for horror fanatics. Disgusting and disturbing, yes, but I loved it. I especially appreciated the many informative monologues about Halloween music and the nods to the genre’s worst-of-the-worst villains, like Norman Bates, Patrick Bateman, Bluebeard, and Hannibal Lecter. Maeve outshines them all and she knows it.

This is partially a work of body horror, so if that’s not your thing you REALLY will be upset by this book. But if it is, then step right up to this gory carnival of madness. The sex is as hot and nasty as the fresh blood and the soundtrack is terrific!

Thanks to Tor and NetGalley for the review copy!

3.5 stars
I especially enjoyed Maeve as a character and her descent into darkness. I felt the pacing could have been a little better and the ending could have been expanded. Recommend to all my horror girlies out there. You'll wanna pick this up on June 6!

Wow! I am sending CJ my therapy bill lol This was extreme horror, extreme torture, just extreme everything. There were parts I was actually trying to hide from the words because I couldn’t believe what I was reading! The most disturbing book I’ve read and also somehow still heartbreaking. The ending wrecked me. I wanted so much more for Maeve even if it meant more torture and death. Again this is extreme horror so reader beware but the writing was great and I think it’s safe to say this is the horror book of the year! Thank you so much Netgalley for this advanced copy.

I received an ARC from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

Maybe Fly commits the worst crime a book marketed as depraved and subversive can make, it's a boring read.

Release Date: June 6, 2023
Genre: Extreme Horror
Themes: Quarter life crisis, killer women, extreme gore, slasher, the entertainment biz

The titular Maeve Fly is a 27-year-old on the brink of her quarter-life crisis: Her coworker and best friend is on the edge of stardom, her kindred-spirit grandmother is dying, and someone is leaving strange dolls at Maeve's favorite haunts in Hollywood. In the days leading up to Halloween night, we watch as Maeve slowly - and then all at once - loses the tight grip that holds her life together and gives into the extreme violence that sleeps fitfully within her.

Here's the thing, though: Maeve might be depressed, disgusting, and deranged but she's also somehow, some way, kind of likeable. Her morbid investment in every little thing in her quickly collapsing world, from the wellbeing of her grandmother's cat to the theme park princess job she unironically loves, is tenderized by her snide humor and endless supply of Halloween music trivia. She's not detached or unemotional - if anything, her big feelings about everything seem to be the thing she hates about herself the most. And frankly, all of that just makes what she does to express those feelings even more squirm- inducing to read about.

While only around 250 pages, this novel still manages to pack a very greasy, gorey punch with Maeve's explicitly visceral descent into madness. Gross from beginning to end with a significant portion of the book essentially a montage of graphic violence, this book isn't for the faint of heart, the faint of stomach, or the early horror reader. Instead, it's perfect for readers who thought Mona Awad's "Bunny" or Ottessa Moshfegh's "Eileen" didn't go far enough and should have been set in the glam and grime of LA. Think long and hard, then wait two hours after eating before dipping your toe in this pool.

The verdict: As nauseated as I still am an hour after finishing up this book, there's an excellent chance that Maeve Fly will top my horror list at the end of the year. I know exactly the horror fiend friends I'll recommend it to, and for those looking to fill a hypersexual murderess-shaped hole in their shelf, Maeve Fly will honestly soar.

Huge thanks to NetGalley and Tor Nightfire for sending an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

From literally the first page, the sexism and misandry is far, far, far too much. It "yes all men"s the entire gender, which includes transmen, ace men, aro men, demisexual men, gay men, etc. When people make broad, generalized statements about how all men want to cop a feel, up to and including four year old boys who don't really have the brain capacity to realize breasts can be attractive yet, it feels incredibly dangerous from both a storytelling standpoint and a worldview standpoint. Perhaps the boy may want to feel a breast, but he wouldn't do it out of the sexual attraction the narrator seems to claim (and I'd like to think most decent men would not laugh about their four year old son grabbing a woman's breast). As an AFAB enby, it feels grossly reductive to write about men and the AFAB body this way.
Perhaps the narrator believes all of this for a reason (knowing the premise of the novel, it seems likely), but I'm not willing to wait nearly 300 pages to find out why.

Wow! This book is MESSED UP and I liked it.
No kids or animals were harmed in this book. If you wished the series "You" was a little more messed up, then this book is right up your alley.

I first heard about this novel during a livestream where Stephen Graham Jones praised it as one of his favorite books he’d read lately. Obviously with that kind of praise I highlighted, underlined, and circled it on my tbr list — excited about the day the novel would land in my lap.

Enter my dear friend @jorjorbiiinks and a wonderful care package from @tornightfire

I’m going to state up front that I will not be giving this one a score. I don’t know how I could possibly do that. I had such a visceral reaction to this novel, most good, some eh, but Maeve Fly is a book beyond a traditional scoring system. All of the things I didn’t dig were totally because of my own personal hang ups on style and structure, which I’m not about to knock Leede for.

Maeve Fly is the debut novel from the unhinged and unabashedly fucked up mind of @ceejthemoment and oh boy, is it deranged!

Full of violence, sex, gore, more violence, way more sex, and loads more gore, Maeve Fly unleashes a constant barrage of unsettling imagery and scenarios for you to have alllll sorts of confusing primal reactions to.

This is a novel of extreme horror and it will NOT be for everyone. But for the people it is for, you’ll have a hell of a time.

A twisted and darkly funny debut about a deeply disturbed woman. This is like reading a female version of American Psycho. Thank you NetGalley for providing me with an ARC!

I was deeply submerged in Maeve Fly all weekend— which is a book for anyone that’s a fan of f— up narrators, but especially if you want to watch one unravel.
Unlikable main characters have been a hit lately, though sometimes when I pick up a book, such as Big Swiss, there is something missing for me. A relatability, even though I never intend on going insane myself.
What Maeve Fly succeeds at doing is creating a tender core, or at least the illusion of one, to cushion the very gory blows.
If you want to read about a Halloween-obsessed sociopath, who loves her job as a Disney princess more than anything else…This is the book for you.

Maeve Fly is a love letter to Halloween and old school Hollywood. It’s a whole mood and I’m kind of obsessed with it. By day Maeve is a princess at that happiest theme park on earth, off the clock she haunts dive bars book in hand living her best misanthropic life. But her perfectly crafted world starts to unravel after meeting her best friends brother Gideon. Speaking of that magical theme park Maeve works at, I’m super curious if the author also at one point must have worked for the mouse themselves because the way they describe the parks and park culture is so spot on. The dark humor, the emotion, the tragedy, the killer Halloween track list, I loved everything. It’s also solid horror. When it gets dark it gets really dark, in a fun way. I loved every moment and ordered a physical copy I could highlight and annotate before I was even done reading it, this is a novel I will absolutely revisit again and again. A really killer debut novel, excited for what C.J. Leede will write in the future.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

Transcendentally Sinister! CJ Leede debut is a breath-taking choke leaving you gasping at the gruesome detailing web of Maeve, a deuteragonist, in her own right, living a double life in Los Angeles.

Images such as Princesses and beauty have power and we more often can fall under the spell. For some, it may come at a cost, more deeply rooted or satiated than one can comprehend: leaving you alone in solace.

The story was an elegant waltzing with decomposition and gore. Maeve held no personal desire back, and with the aid of Gideon and grandmother, Tallulah (amazing Tori Amos song, btw) she was wrestling with letting her true 'wolf' free.

There is detailed sex, which I am not shy about, and desires were explored and not shamed. Reading it in a book is like unlocking a private bedroom door, peering in at their 'darkside' and let's be real, I enjoyed the view.

C.J's writing was expository, graphic, and the characters were all well developed. Her tantalizing verbiage had me devouring the pages quicker and quicker as I progressed further into the book. CJ is a writer you want to watch.

This book will surrpise you. Sneak Peek for Maeve Fly is a must!

Thank you NetGalley and Tor Publishing Group!

Maeve lives in Hollywood in a mansion with her comatose grandmother and Lester the Cat. She works at a fictional version of Disneyland where she dresses up as the ice princess (Elsa) and works alongside Kate, her only friend in the world. Maeve has some...unusual habits and hobbies. Her perfectly crafted world is thrown for a loop when Kate's brother Gideon shows up in town.

It's pretty obvious from the cover what kind of story this is. The synopsis is less clear. Maeve is a fan of old school Hollywood horror and all things Halloween. The story begins as Fall approaches and reaches its climax on Halloween. But Maeve is no ordinary scary season fan. She is no ordinary person. She has secrets that are at odds with her daytime persona.

This is not the kind of horror that will make you crawl under the covers or jump at every sound and shadow. It's gory, gross, harsh, and ultra violent with a love story thrown in. It's an ugly world Maeve lives in even though she thinks it's quite beautiful. It's Hollywood from the viewpoint of someone who lives there and knows all the dirty secrets and history, from the inside looking in.

The setting was done really well and I somewhat liked the theme park parts. Everything else was too much for me. The story was what I thought it would be and also not. It's hard for me to be inside the mind of someone like Maeve without seeing any point to all of it. It is a short read but it also drags in a few places. This is not the place to stop and linger.

During her first kill, Maeve reaches for a weapon and I knew what it was before it was revealed. After I was done reading I wanted to scrub my eyes and rinse my brain. Maeve Fly, her real name by the way, is not going to be for every horror fan. It wasn't for me.

Thanks to Netgalley for the chance to read.

Ooooh boy Maeve is one twisted sister. What if a stone cold psychopath also worked as Elsa at DisneyLand? That’s kind of the main gist of Maeve Fly, and we follow her slow untethering as she tries to maintain control in her relationships and the devastating after effects when she loses that control. I’m going to warn everyone upfront, the final third of this book is so brutal. Maeve isn’t a good person, and we follow her POV for the whole book so if you don’t like unlikeable protagonists this won’t be for you. If you’re easily squeamish, also not for you. But I’ve kind of been looking for a more extreme horror lately, and I like to be surprised. And there is definitely some surprising stuff here. It’s a quick read, and if you’re okay with more extreme psychological/physical horror, then I would recommend. Not for the faint of heart!!

My review will be posted on my instagram @boozehoundbookclub closer to the pub date

WOW this sure was a doozy of a book! Had to put it down and read something else a couple of times despite its relatively short length because it was just so intensely disturbing. I wish there had been more story happening within the park, but that's my only criticism. Much like Samantha Kolesnik's Waif, this made me feel like someone was punching my brain and I loved it.

Not what I was expecting. I thought about DNFing all the way through the first 70% of the book. Glad I didn't because I actually really enjoyed the last 30%.

I really don't like first person pov. It makes the character seem boring and narcissistic.

This did not seem like extreme horror to me, but maybe I have just been desensitized by all of the extreme horror that I have read and watched in my life...lol! There just wasn't anything shocking or horrifying about it to me. And most of the things that others are considering "shocking and horrifying" doesn't really happen in real time. It is mentioned in passing after or as a threat before, but the author shied away from the present, from actually doing anything on the page. It all just felt very tedious until that last 30%.