𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐦𝐨𝐧𝐤𝐞𝐲 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐰𝐨𝐥𝐟 𝐬𝐭𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐚𝐭 𝐚𝐭𝐭𝐞𝐧𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧. 𝐀𝐧𝐝 𝐈 𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐧𝐤, 𝐰𝐡𝐲 𝐬𝐭𝐚𝐫𝐯𝐞 𝐞𝐢𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐫 𝐰𝐡𝐞𝐧 𝐈 𝐜𝐚𝐧 𝐟𝐞𝐞𝐝 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐦 𝐛𝐨𝐭𝐡?

Hailed as the female 𝑨𝒎𝒆𝒓𝒊𝒄𝒂𝒏 𝑷𝒔𝒚𝒄𝒉𝒐, this was one of the most bizarre, delightful books I've read lately and is packed full of juxtapositions that shouldn't have worked but did.

Maeve spends her days in sunny Los Angeles working at the 'happiest place on earth' as a princess that children clamor to and adore. By night she walks the Sunset Strip, going to seedy bars and quietly seething with misanthropic rage. But when her best friend's brother moves to town, Maeve finds herself inexplicably drawn to him, and despite her reservations, she dons a new persona...one that's out for blood.

I adored Maeve's black sense of humor, and I found myself highlighting several passages while reading, all the while asking myself how in the world could I connect with a character such as Maeve? I think she represented female empowerment (not that I want to go on a murder spree) someone who was unapologetically herself. Thank you to NetGalley and Tor Nightfire for the early read. This book will publish June 6, 2023.

Normally, I have some pithy one-word wrap-up for the book I’m reviewing, but I got nothin' regarding this one. I don’t think you write a book like this expecting everyone to love it, so that’s what’s coming.

The first third of the novel is excellent. The prose is engaging, and I was immediately hooked on the Wednesday-Addams-on-steroids character and mix of dark humour. I wasn’t as keen on the copious descriptions of LA - a city I have never been to and have no desire to visit - but there weren’t too many of them. Maeve was a great balance of demented and understandable. Her life is interesting and intriguing. The author has a fantastic style that is visceral and detailed but moves at a great clip. Honestly, the first third had me hooked.

Unfortunately, I started to lose interest once she started going gah-gah over the guy mentioned in the blurb (it kind of drifts into a Dark Romance at this part), and then the last third just went so off-the-rails and included so much shock value gore it grew tedious. Maeve in the first third isn’t a sympathetic character, but she’s at least an interesting weirdo. But when the book got really rapey and torturey and included so many sex scenes (I don't mind sex scenes at all, but I prefer a slow-burn romance), I was no longer invested in her story. The end twist was also very predictable. It's a horror novel, but it's not scary.

Likewise, while Maeve is very intriguing at the start, we never really learn the “why” about a few things. Why does she love her job? Why is she so dependent on Kate’s friendship? I also thought the concept - how she’s a Disney princess during the day but a dark and edgy woman in the evening - wasn’t fleshed out enough to be making any sort of commentary.

If you enjoy really dark novels with lots of gore and sexual content, you will enjoy this (no judgment from me!), but I think I’m done with these edgy books as they seem to be disappointing me as of late. It could be that in my old age, I’ve softened a bit. When I was 21, I probably would have loved this book, but because in the last near-twenty years I’ve read so many awful things in real life, and especially at my old job where I worked in criminal case law, shock value horror just serves to make me disheartened today. Now, if these things were happening in the novel for a social critique or an allegory of a systemic problem in society, it would have worked better for me. But to have these things happen to innocent people, not as a form of justice against someone awful or to make a statement, rubbed me the wrong way. No one who receives violence in this novel deserves it, even remotely so.

As such, a novel about a woman murdering people or harming them in disgusting ways, but with no real “downfall” or “comeuppance” moment (I guess you could argue the ending was such, but I would hardly call that “justice”) makes me wonder who are we to be rooting for in this novel? What is it trying to say? American Psycho, which this has been compared to, was gory too, but it was a comment on corporate culture in comparing the quest for greed and status with homicidal sociopathy. I think the only reason Maeve Fly is being compared to American Psycho (a book I find overblown, by the way) is that she’s someone you wouldn’t expect to be a serial killer, just like Bateman was at the time of publication. Back when American Psycho first came out, part of the resonance behind it was the idea that a serial killer isn’t just some weirdo but could be someone “successful.” We don’t have that bias anymore.

Another idea I had was that the novel might simply be showing a woman serial killer who is just born bad. This is an increasing trend in media right now, that we have women killers or evil women who haven’t been “turned” bad by trauma, but who are just naturally evil. This rise is a response to, perhaps, how many male killers we have in media who haven’t needed to be “corrupted” by anything. Up until recently, there was this latent idea in society that women were inherently good-which is a form of sexism-and having just plain evil women in books and movies today is an attempt to disprove that notion. If that is the purpose of the book, then it definitely hits that mark on that front, though I don’t think that idea is strong enough to carry the entire novel and the torture and rape aspects of it.

I do love things that are subversive and push the envelope but perhaps I just prefer it to be more subtle? As I’ve said, I think the author has definitely talent with their prose and descriptions, so perhaps I’ll check out another of hers in the future.

Loved this crazy ride of a novel! Maeve Fly is almost a dual personality. She spends her days as an ice princess at the Happiest Place on Earth, and her nights prowling the Sunset Strip, giving into her basest desires. Maeve starts to think she can have it all when she meets Gideon, her best friend's brother, but her firing and beloved grandmother's death, descends her into madness at an alarming rate. I can see where the comparison to Patrick Bateman might come from, but Maeve is by far smarter and more sinister. Just fair warning: there is A LOT of graphic description of sex and violence. But somehow, you end up admiring Maeve just anyway. There's a refreshing honesty to her craziness. I wish this had been longer.

*Special thanks to NetGalley and Tor Nightfire for this e-arc.*

I had a blast reading this one! ( not sure want this says about me 😂) Being inside Maeve's head was very reminiscent to being inside Patrick Bateman's head in American Psycho but way less boring in my opinion. I loved the satire, and L.A vibes atmosphere, and all the music references. While this book is about a woman working as a Disney princess at Disneyland - it is not for the fate of heart. There are many graphic/disturbing scenes of sexual violence that was shocking at moments even for a seasoned horror reader. I know some scenes will stay in mind for awhile 😨Maeve is a terrible, evil person but I really liked her as a character 🤷🏻‍♀️😂 her love for Lester the cat sold me! 5 bleeding stars!

I think fans of American Psycho and those L.A vibes will enjoy this one!

It’s been a while since I’ve been this caught up in a story - no TV, no scrolling, and excited that my plans were cancelled so I could keep reading. I tore through it in a day - I couldn’t put it down!

Maeve Fly was funny, completely unhinged at times, gory and disgusting (I don’t think I’ll look at eggs the same way for a while), with unapologetically savage, barbaric, and unlikeable women who I never really disliked, and a WILD and pulse-pounding ending!!

The writing was crisp, intentional and propulsive, pulling me in immediately and not letting go until the very last page. It was one of the most entertaining books I’ve read all year. And my mind is blown that it’s a debut.

This was a love note of a novel to all the messy, upsetting, disturbing stories I love. It was everything I wanted it to be and more. There are so many horror novels that claim to be "the next American Psycho" but this is the only one to ever actually live up to that promise. I swear to god I could ramble about how amazing this novel is until the end of time.

Maeve absolutely will become the newest horror icon and I look forward to her legacy as a character. C.J. Leede is undoubtedly an author to keep an eye on.

Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for the ARC of this book.

I am not sure where to begin or where to rate this book. I am not sure WTF I just read, but I think I liked it. Just be aware of trigger warnings because although it did bother me, it may be problematic for other readers. If you are not squeamish and like odd books, this one may be for you. 3.5 stars!

The masks people wear. Maeve might appear to be a princess at the happiest place on Earth, but the truth is she's a dark and twisted individual, at times a killer. This is a warped trip into the life of a psychopath who is truly losing it as her world crumbles around her. Graphic in terms of both explicate sex and violence, if you're like me you may find parts of this quite hard to stomach, but like a massive pileup on the highway you'll feel compelled to keep reading if only to discover just how twisted things can get. Disturbing and yet compelling. Thanks so much to Tor Publishing Group, Tor Nightfire and NetGalley for allowing me access to an ARC of Maeve Fly.

“Life is fleeting and meaningless and crying to be seized from behind and fucked into obscurity.”

I went into Maeve Fly knowing very little, but the connection to American Psycho made me very interested. I love books with terrible main characters, and I’m not sure what this says about me, but I had a certain connection with Maeve that made this story all the more enjoyable.

Maeve Fly is the granddaughter of famous actress Tallulah Fly. They started to get to know each other in Maeve’s adult years, once she left behind her family for a life change. She plays an icy princess at a very popular theme park, but there’s something hidden inside her basement that makes her more villain than protagonist.

She lives a very solitary life, especially now that Tallulah has been in a coma for a while now. She has one friend, Kate, with lots of potential and she expects to lose her sooner than later. When Kate’s brother Gideon enters the picture, she gets an itch to change the way she’s been living.

This book was predictable, to me at least, but that didn’t really make it any less enjoyable. I loved Maeve’s internal dialogue and loved learning about the different ways she ticked. I definitely commend Leede for Maeve’s portrayal.

This is a dark story. There are plenty of content warnings (listed below), but there’s also some humor involved. It really is reminiscent of American Psycho without being any kind of ripoff or retelling. Maeve is her own story.

CW for violence, blood, torture, sexual assault, rape (on page), body horror, gore, death, sexual violence, body shaming, bullying, and racism

Maeve Fly was immediately added to my #tbr after I saw it described as "For fans of My Heart is a Chainsaw". Like Chainsaw was a love letter to slashers, Maeve Fly is a love letter to LA and the misanthropes of classic literature.

"I have never understood, and still do not understand the notion that a woman must first endure a victimhood of some sort-- abandonment, abuse, oppression of the patriarchy-- to be monstrous."

This novel was full of surprises. It's one of the few to gross me out in one moment and feel sad for our sadistic MC the next. CJ Leede painted a visceral picture, making Maeve our tour guide through the macabre history of Hollywood and her viewpoints on society.

There was a timeless feel to the story. Ever so slowly, we watch as Maeve confronts events that disrupt her carefully curated routine. Which consists of being a princess performer, frequenting bars, reading, and partaking in a murder or two. And if the image of a bloody, psychotic princess doesn't make you immediately pre-order this I don't know what will.

"How silly of us, to think we must do in shadow what men do in the light. What they have always done."

You should prepare yourself for a blood-soaked ride from beginning to end. Leede holds no punches and leaves very little to the imagination. It's brutal, disturbed, and not easily forgotten.

I wasn’t entirely sure what to expect with this one, but the premise sounded intriguing! It was an ok read for me, with parts that I loved and other parts that I found slow and tedious to get through. What I did like was the connection Maeve had with her grandmother, her love for the culture of LA, obsession with all things Halloween, and her control over “the wolf”. I think most people will probably find this story very unique and enjoyable, just didn’t quite hit the mark for me.

TW: sexual assault, sexism, animal death, bullying, gory scenes, language, drinking, sex workers, scat, urolagnia, domestic abuse, violence, dying family member, racism, classism, rape

*****SPOILERS*****
About the book:By day, Maeve Fly works at the happiest place in the world as every child’s favorite ice princess. By the neon night glow of the Sunset Strip, Maeve haunts the dive bars with a drink in one hand and a book in the other, imitating her misanthropic literary heroes. But when Gideon Green - her best friend’s brother - moves to town, he awakens something dangerous within her, and the world she knows suddenly shifts beneath her feet. Untethered, Maeve ditches her discontented act and tries on a new persona. A bolder, bloodier one, inspired by the pages of American Psycho. Step aside Patrick Bateman, it’s Maeve’s turn with the knife
Release Date:
Genre: Horror
Pages: 288
Rating: ⭐

What I Liked:
1. Oh that cover

What I Didn't Like:
1. Starts to feel like an obsession to Story of the Eye
2. Not what it advertised for
3. Not like every girl vibes
4. Maeve
5. 50 mentions of Halloween
6. 37 uses of wolf/14 uses of wolves

Overall Thoughts:
My kind of debauchery soils not only my body and my thoughts, but also . . . the vast starry universe, which merely serves as a backdrop. —GEORGES BATAILLE, STORY OF THE EYE
A quote from the Story of the Eye, a book I hated and was totally messed up 👀.

Is it weird that shortly before reading this book I had acquired Story of the Eye from the library, read it, and hated it. This book feels like one huge obsession of that book so much so that it reads to me like a school report from some teenagers excitement of stumbling onto this book and now it's their whole identity.

This book tries to be over the top extreme but is more dialog than actual shocking things. Yeah, some stuff happen - she poops and pees into a man's mouth but that just seems so random. Even the death scenes are off screen and we just back up with after she's committed the crime and cleaning up. There's another scene where Maeve is threatening to use a curling iron on a girl and turn it on but then that fizzes out and it doesn't happen. What a let down.

It just feels like there are times when the author takes us to the edge of the cliff only to push us back before we fall off. Take us for a leap dear author and don't hold yourself back.

I hated all the characters. Pretentious annoying young people with a main character that thinks she's one of a kind special. Manic pixie girl.

Final Thoughts:
Something is just missing from this book for me. It feels like you're going to get more but like I said before the author holds back. The sex is tame.

I hated Maeve. Maeve is painted as this hardcore woman but she tries way too hard to be cool, weird, and edgy. She causes her own terrible life and then acts bitter against others blaming them for all her stuff. She's not cool. She's annoying. She's the most LA self centered character. She is one of those basic girls that obsessed with Halloween in August. Starbucks pumpkin spice latte in July. So yay to the author that for getting that down.

This book tries so hard to be other books. It reminds me of when you hang out with a girl whose parents don't pay attention to her so she's out to get attention doing all the bad stuff but the bad stuff is just surface level bad.

I think this is a good first start for the author.

The book just takes this weird turn away from what the book says it's about. It paints itself as this story about a Disney princess type that is moonlighting as a killer.

Ends in some kind of Psycho Norman Bates being told what to do through her grandmother. Is any part of this book original?

Recommend For:
• American psycho
• Story of the Eye
• Manic pixie girl lovers

This book was completely unexpected and darkly magnificent. The plot and intricacies of the mind and surroundings are deftly handled and brutally explored. The twists were successful not because of shock value of the reveal but because of what wasn’t there; the subtlety of an unexplored avenue and the absence of the expected. This somewhat gory, very graphic and sometimes horrific tale is truly fantastic. I can’t wait to read what the author comes up with next!

Brilliant. A very strange, unsettling, and horrifying read that has just the right amount of quirkiness.

Maeve is a princess in a theme park. Think an ice queen and mouse ears. She loves her job. Her best friend Kate is an aspiring actress, and just as Kate lands the role of a lifetime, her brother Gideon moves to town and takes an immediate interest in Maeve.

Maeve has some odd quirks, and she knows she is different. Living by the rules from different edgy books that speak to her inner and real self, about how to be an outlier. Her grandmother, a once famous starlet, showed her how to get through life by observing and hiding her inner demons, but too soon, she went into a coma.

All of these things culminate and come crashing into Maeve just as she loses her job, and in a way, this allows her to let out what most don't see her true nature.

This has so many levels.... distrust, loneliness, that Hollywood vibe bordering on what's real and what's not. And then comes the gore!

I really loved this. I loved the whole construction of this story, the buildup making the ending even more impacting. I think this belongs on the same shelf as American Psycho and Fight Club.

Out June 6, 2023!

Thank you, Netgalley and Publisher, for this Arc!

Content warning for blood, gore, and body horror.

Maeve Fly accomplished exactly what it sets out to do. It is disturbing, horrible, and thought-provoking - a true train wreck that I couldn't put down. What Maeve Fly might lack in plot or character development it makes up for in atmosphere. We are in LA, it's Halloween, we're visiting the "happiest place on Earth" theme park, and we are seeing everything through the eyes of our deeply unhinged main character. It turns the serial killer stereotype around, gives it a princess dress, and explores what's going on inside the monster. It's Chuck Palahniuk meets Disney Princess meets the goriest horror movie you've ever seen. Overall I enjoyed the pacing and writing. There is one plot hole that is bothering me and a few instances where I questioned whether the story felt "believable." At some points, it seemed a little extreme just to prove a point, but the story is extreme by design and you don't want to believe anything in this story could be believable - that's kind of the nature of horror!

Give it a try if: you love graphic gory horror, you want a creepy Halloween read that doesn't hold back, or you are looking for a novel that explores the dark side of LA and Disney.
Skip it if: you are disturbed by graphic descriptions of body gore/horror, SA, murder, torture, or drugs.
If you are looking for a book with any diversity.

would recommend to a friend with extreme caution

I did not enjoy this book very much. I almost did not finish it, but I made myself keep reading until the end. I thought based on the cover in the synopsis, I would enjoy it, but I guess it was not the book for me.

I didn't really enjoy this. I definitely thought there were interesting moments, but it felt like so much of this book explored this weird....sort of Disney adult mentality, within a character that thinks they're somehow better than everyone around them and does things without any sort of consequence. I almost felt like this book was a satirical commentary but...I'm not sure if it is, because I never got a very definitive feeling one way or the other.
I was just not a fan of the sexual content or the many types of violence, though I thought the commentary and exploration of feminine rage was really interesting. This book was sort of a car crash that I couldn't look away from. Did I read this quickly? Yes. Was I pretty engaged throughout even though I wasn't a fan of the content? Yes. Did I like the book? No...? I don't know. I wanted to know what happened next/finish the story, but I didn't necessarily enjoy it.

I don't know what else to say about this other than WOW.

What a delightfully disturbing novel. The main character was well fleshed out, with quite a demented and skewed view on society. I appreciated the character development and time spent during the first 20% of the book that took me on a journey through Maeve's unhinged mind. I can see where some may be less inclined to read this due to how much time is spent simply getting to the action. In in my opinion, this look into Maeve's convoluted views of society were the best parts of the story.

I am no stranger to violence and splatterpunk stories. I appreciate that Leede did not write the most intense parts in an overly fetishized way, nor did she necessarily make it the main focus of the story. I can't wait to see what Leede has in store for us next.

4/5 stars.
Huge thank you to Netgalley for an ARC of this novel.

I cannot tell if this book is satire or not. I desperately hope that it is supposed to be, but unfortunately I can’t tell.
Either way, this book is effectively just American Psycho if our main character was an insufferable, hypersexual Disney adult millennial with a superiority complex and way too much money and no consequences for anything she does. I have a lot of other opinions on this book, but they mainly involve spoilers, so I would prefer not to share them yet.
Something very important is to check content warnings, because this book contains a lot of violence of every single type that exists under the sun that can happen to white rich people in Los Angeles. Lots of torture, lots of equally painful sexual content. The book itself, and our main character markets this under the idea of feminine rage, but personally I believe this goes a bit beyond it.
However, I was practically glued to the screen that I read the book on the entire time. I can truly only describe the way I felt like staring at roadkill on the side of the highway as a child, because it may have been disgusting, but I could not look away, I wanted to know what would happen next. Despite that, I don't think I can rate this book much higher than I did

Wow, Maeve Fly! I base my opinions of books on two questions: did it shock me and will I think about this book for years to come? Check and Check!! This was an amazingly, disturbing, wonderful book of horror that shocked me in a good way. I wasn't able to guess the ending. I will be thinking about this book for a long time. It caused me to cringe, yet pulled at my heart strings. Maeve is such a complex character. I hope we will get to join Maeve in other books.