"Unholy Terrors" plunges readers into a world where holy warriors face off against monstrous vespertine. Everline Blackthorn, a devoted warden, defies orders to investigate eerie omens, uncovering unsettling truths alongside Ravel Severin, a rogue vespertine with his own agenda. Lyndall Clipstone crafts a dark and gripping tale of forbidden love and moral ambiguity, where survival hinges on confronting the darkest depths of one's soul. Despite occasional pacing issues, the novel's intensity and complexity make for an enthralling read, perfect for fans of dark fantasy.

*I received this book as a NetGalley ARC*

Unholy Terrors is a dark and gothic fantasy stand-alone, that I desperately wanted more time with. It wasn't bad, but not my cup of tea. Wonderfully well-written descriptions, but a main character that falls remarkably flat at the beginning of the book. I think the female plain Jane for protagonists has worn me out, but she does get more fleshed out the farther you are in the book. The spacing for the beginning of the book was slower than I'd prefer for a stand-alone, but the mystery behind the main character's backstory and world made up for it. It had a wonderfully uncanny magic system and world. The world is described beautifully. The book is a story about grief and healing. The grief Everline goes through is very well thought out and written, it brings up the question of, "When is a monster a monster? What makes someone a monster?" I think those questions made it all worth it, because this book makes you question a lot of things. "When is an action considered good? Is it still good if it has bad repercussions? What makes something good or bad?" I am always an absolute sucker for a book that makes you questions things.

Unfortunately, this book fell flat for a number of reasons. The writing was well done, but didn't particularly feel unique. In fact, I felt as though I'd read similar writing from several authors before. What didn't help was the story seems to struggle to set itself apart in what is quickly becoming an oversaturated market. While I don't think the book is necessarily bad, in fact, it very much is not, it just simply isn't strong enough to hold its own against a growing subgenre of YA novels.

Regardless I appreciate Macmillian providing me with an eARC.

I would describe Unholy Terrors as a mashup of Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Veronica Mars. Everline is warden sworn to hunt Vespertines to protect humans. However, she breaks her oath after learning secrets about the monsters and continuing to question her mom's disappearance.

The book is dark and bleak. The writing is often poetic in its descriptions, which I loved. However, there were times when it could be overwhelming and I would stumble over it while trying to comprehend what was happening. At times, it moved a little slow but I could not put it down because the story was compelling. I wanted to see where Clipstone was taking me and what secrets were going to be revealed. I enjoyed this one a lot.

This one was good but sadly forgettable. It’s one I would recommend but I wouldn’t really think of it right away. Was interesting but not groundbreaking

3/5 Stars

I had fun with the general story of this book. However, I think this is one of the circumstances where the book feels written for young adults. The writing feels very young and basic. Like I said the story itself was fine but I didn't gain anything from it. It all felt very familiar. I would absolutely say this would be perfect for beginner fantasy readers or any teen/ young adult wanting to get into the genre.

Gothic? Check. Romance? Check. Interesting religiosity? Check. Fun read? Check. Wanting a little more from the book? Check. Fun read, interesting premise and atmospheric. Did I love it? No. Did I enjoy it. Yes.

I adored the Lakesedge duology by Lyndall Clipstone but unfortunately, I didn't love Unholy Terrors as much. The premise was still really good and the writing was still amazing but it just felt short. It took me a while to be captivated by the story as the pacing seemed off. That being said, it was still a solid book.

I’m so disappointed. This book didn’t feel unique at all; it was indiscernible among the other YA books I’ve read recently. The premise was great but the execution was incredibly lackluster. However Clipstone has grown as a writer since her debut; the writing in terms of craft was done well.

Thank you to the publisher for my arc!

I am a huge fan of Lyndall Clipstone, so when Unholy Terrors was announced this was an immediate need. It’s a perfect gothic romance read and I couldn’t get enough.

This was another atmospheric, layered, monstrous romance from Clipstone—I love seeing her characters grapple with their goals, values, and relationships, and this was a wonderfully high-stakes story in which to do so again!

Unholy Terrors took me three months to read. Every time I picked it up it never fully captured my attention. My love for the author’s previous works was the driving force behind me not DNFing this book. The vibes of this book are great but you cannot survive on vibes alone. All of the purple prose in the world can’t save a story with flat characters, weak world building and a flimsy plot. I love Clipstone’s other books but this was a total miss for me.

*Thank you to NetGalley and Macmillan for the eARC

While I enjoyed another book by this author, which is why I requested this one, Unholy Terrors just wasn't for me. The strong friendship between Everline and Lux and the developing relationship between Everline and Briar were positives. I also thought Ravel was an interesting character. I'm not a big romance fan and although it's mentioned in the blurb, I didn't expect it to take up so much of the story. That's just my preference. Some readers enjoy long passages of description, but in this case it distracted me. This one was a miss for me, but it certainly won't keep me from reading future releases by this author.

Unholy Terrors

⭐️⭐️⭐️

Unholy Terrors
Lyndall Clipstone

“I don’t trust him. I need him. He needs me. And it is different. It is worse.”

I really liked the vibe of this book! I was fully in the world presented, but I personally felt like a lot was missing though and some things left me confused.

The three main girl characters… two of which were sisters, I assume both of the sisters were in love with the other female character. You could not tell who was and wasn’t into each other romantically vs. friendship. So many mixed signals and vibes. Just confusing to follow.

I also did not understand Everline jumping straight into the vespertines arms. Where was the build?! It didn’t make sense to me.

I will say the end of the book though was extremely good. This has so much potential, but it was missing a little for me.

Unfortunately, this book wasn't really for me. The premise sounded promising, but the execution was lacking for me. I couldn't get into the story at all, mainly because of the writing style and the fact that I couldn't identify myself with the main character at all. I thought of dnfing it, but decided to persist in the hopes of it getting better. That was not the case, sadly.

This book has so many of the key tropes and plots that make up my ideal read:
- Enemies to Lovers
- Classic horror
- Monsters
- Forbidden Romance
- FMC who just doesn't fit in where she's supposed to
- Found family

Unholy Terrors definitely falls further into Romantacy than Fantasy for a genre with a heavier focus on the romance in the story rather than the fantasy plot points. That's right up the alley for many readers and could be perfect for someone looking to get into fantasy. I personally wish there was a closer focus on the plot rather than just the relationship, but I can't be too mad about it.

Thank you to netgallery and Macmillan Children's Publishing Group for giving me an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

After dearly anticipating this book, promising dark, violent times, I have to say that I was very disappointed.

You’ve made your heroine ‘fierce’, but all she does is get bowled over, bowled over by a monster, half her size, that she’s supposedly been trained to kill her whole life, bowled over by the sudden need to go out to discover her shady origins under an inauspicious blood moon and bowled over by the villain’s poison dark eyes when she ought to be finding out if he ate her one true friend!

I’m tired.

Weak motivation, weak world building (after an amazing start) and weak characterization.

And the author has determined that there are no POC on the windswept moors! Which is fine! I don’t need POCs in books this dull!

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for an eARC in exchange for a honest review.

It took me awhile to get into the story but I did enjoy it. There was some enemies to lovers to enemies to lovers, lgbtq+ rep and necromancy with some vampire elements. I liked the magic system.

Everline has always been a warden, protecting the border, but unlike the other wardens, she doesn't have magic in her blood. One night on patrol, she and her best friend Lux are attacked by a human-like vespertine. When Everline wants to bring the strange creature in for her father, the captain, to see, he punishes her and burns the body. But the next night, another human-like vespertine arrives and spirits away Lux. Now it's up to Everline and her half-sister to venture into the Thousandfold to rescue her, and it will take Everline's bond with the strange creature to do it.

I almost gave this a 4-star rating because I did like the overall vibe of the story, but the worldbuilding was just too weak for me. Almost nothing about the society is revealed; all we know is that there's a wall and monsters trying to get in, as well as some blood-based religion. I also had no real idea what a vespertine was. They sounded a bit like werewolves, but then Ravel comes along and everything about him screamed vampire. Basically, this turned into a vampire romance, where Ravel and Everline bind themselves with a blood truce, but also Ravel has to feed off of her and it gets VERY steamy. The steamy scenes and the bone armor were the strongest aspects of the book for me. I wanted a bit more about Lux and Ever's friendship, although I did enjoy the bonding between Ever and her sister. Overall this is a dark and moody novel that fans of paranormal romance will enjoy.

I hate to review a DNF, but it just wasn't holding my attention. The characters seemed lifeless and overblown at the same time, and after reading 20% of the book, I still wasn't far enough in to see if the plot picked up.