While I appreciated the historical aspects of this book, the allusions to the tenant living of the villagers, the placement of this novel in the post WWI period, and the effects of the flu on this population all contributed to a great backdrop for this tale, this book wasn’t quite for me. It was highly plot-driven and the character’s lacked depth, which made the romantic arc between Moira Jean and the lord feel inauthentic. The author was, however, successful in achieving an us vs them dynamic between Moira Jean and her mother (the village healer) and the rest of the town of closed-minded people, like in beauty and the beast.

I did find Moira Jean to be an exceptionally annoying main character. I should have empathized with her, she just experienced a terrible loss and feels aimless, but instead she just appears naive and arrogant in her bargains with the dreamer, rude in her dealings with the townspeople, and petulant to her mother, who is quite literally only trying to help her. It made it hard for me to root for her. I didn’t feel the romance between her and the lord, maybe because he wasn’t humanized enough?

Set in the Scottish highlands in 1919, Moria Jean feels left behind and forgotten in her small village. Her fiancé died of the influenza before he got back from the war and while many of her friends are pairing off and moving away, She is stuck living with her mother in her childhood home. She goes out one night for a bit of fun with some friends and they start to dance around a fire. But fae begin to join in and spirit away her friends, leaving only her to return to the real world. Fearful of what will happen to them if they remain under the hill for too long, Moira Jean begins bargaining with the lord of dreams to get them back, one at a time.

I was provided an arc in exchange for an honest review.

I love it when books play with an intersection between reality and fantasy, and The Thorns Remain does exactly that. The ripple effects of World War I and the Spanish Flu combine with the fae to wreak havoc on Moira Jean's life and on her small Scottish village. But most fascinating to me were the effects of being the only one who knows that the fae are at work.

This book is very much fantasy, but to me, the parts that were the most interesting - and the most stressful - were when Moira Jean was dealing with the impacts of magic while the rest of her village simply... didn't know about it. They look at her with suspicion and fear, and ultimately, distrust that leads to catastrophic consequences. On top of that, Moira Jean and her neighbors are still dealing with the trauma of the late 1910s and the loss of so many of their loved ones to war and illness. These elements made for a heart-wrenching counterbalance to the more magical themes.

The fae element was pretty standard, in my opinion. A fae lord who doesn't understand how humans work, lots of tricksiness, etc. Fae aren't my favorite plot element, and so I was generally neutral to these parts of the story, although there were a few moments of genuine emotion that I enjoyed.

All in all, this book was never going to be my favorite read, but I did find it to be generally satisfying, if a bit of a slog at times.

3.5/5

I was very excited when NetGalley approved my request for an ARC of The Thorns Remain. The cover art is stunning and the premise of this novel was right up my alley but I really struggled to get into it and I don’t see myself finishing it.

The first chapter was so stuffed full of character names and relations and neighbors it was impossible to keep track. It kept me from really connecting with any particular character or from being able to keep track of all of them. Especially when some of the introductions were completely unnecessary. For example, the character Fiona is introduced as “Fiona MacGregor” and a few pages later is the line “Fiona’s mother, Mrs. MacGregor” and a few pages after THAT is the line “Fiona’s brother, Malcolm MacGreggor”. Each character, and every relative of each character, are introduced this way. If you introduce one character by their first and last name the reader will assume their relations surname without being told explicitly what it is. “Fiona’s mother” and “Fiona’s brother, Malcolm” would have sufficed.

This odd roll call way of introducing characters would have been 1/2 as annoying and confusing if there were less of them. But in the first chapter of the novel 18 different characters are either directly introduced, introduced as a relation of a character, or introduced as a member of the community. It’s too much too fast and it leaves the reader feeling disoriented and disconnected from the characters and the story. I might come back to this book at another time but for now I will be DNF’ing.

If you love the Fae then this one is for you! This was a mash up of a few different things that felt like retelling elements to me. But by the end it became all its own story and it was so good. I won't get into it to much because I don't want to give spoilers by accident but this one was so freaking good.

The Thorns Remain by JJA Harwood - 4.5/5

In a village long forgotten by many, a group of friends venture off into the woods to dance, laugh around a fire. Suddenly one dance too many and they are occupied by strange new dancers, the Fae. I love this story. From the story line to characters and the grand adventures between. This is a story that will easily become a repeat read for not only myself but for many others. The Author went above and beyond with this book and I simply adore it.

General Fiction - Romance - Sci Fi & Fantasy
Available for purchase on Amazon, BN, and BookShop.
Thank you NetGalley and Harper 360 for the eARC.

I struggled to get into The Thorns Remain. Truth be told, ended up not finishing it which is hard for me to admit because I dearly wanted to love this one. I might try it again in the future. I will say I am a mood reader so perhaps I just wasn't in the proper headspace for this one. Thank you, NetGalley and JJA Harwood for providing me with an ARC.

The Thorns Remain by JJA Harwood is a unique tale that combines folklore and fairytales with a new set of characters. Moira Jean is an interesting girl who fights for her friends with wit and tenacity. The different descriptions of the fae are so cool and creepy but I really Love the Fae Lord. The Dreamer is aloof and crafty but also seems to have a genuine interest in the human girl. Their back and forth dance is intriguing and I thought the ending was very satisfying. I will say that the townsfolk were terrible though and definitely brought to life how prejudiced and rude people can be when they don't understand something. Overall this was an interesting YA fantasy that I would recommend to people who love classic fae stories and celtic lore.

I love stories that deal with the fae and fair folk. You will enjoy this book if you're a Holly Back and Maggie Stiefvater fan. It was a compelling story, not only because of the magic in it but also the way it humanizes grief and growth in early adulthood. Moria Jean is not a perfect person, but that is what makes her so likable and relatable. I wish the story had more romance, but I was hooked on the fae realm alone. I recommend this book if you're a fan of folklore and fairies.

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

This is not your typical Fae and human book. There are twists and turns as well as the book following different legends throughout the story. The end of the book is what makes this book different from those of the legends. Overall a fun read and if you are a fan of Fae book then I would definitely recommend this one for you.

I'm gonna give this book 3.75 stars. Overall I enjoyed it a lot. I loved the setting, Moira Jean was an entertaining protagonist, and much smarter than I.
The beginning of the book for me was a little on the slower side, and I didn't get engaged until about halfway through. Although when I did get hooked, I was HOOKED. The second half the book was very good and I greatly enjoyed it.
I think I was more satisfied with the ending than I expected, I personally would have caved to The Dreamer. I felt like the pacing was the main issue with the book, sometimes it felt too slow, and other times it felt like it sped past things way quicker than it should have. I also wished it had leaned more into the horror of the Fae, but that might be more personal preference.
I did enjoy the book a lot, and I thank Harper Voyager for the e-ARC.

Personally, I struggled through this book. I had a hard time getting into it. I got around 60 pages in because I wanted to give it chance, but the pace was too slow for me. I also didn't like Moira. She kind of annoyed me.

But please, give this book a shot. Just because I didn't like it doesn't mean that you won't.

The Thorns remain is the second book from J.J.A Harwood that I have read. I enjoyed her previous novel ‘The Shadow in the glass’ so I was looking forward to reading this.
Even though this had an interesting premise. I thought this started really slow and although the protagonist Moira Jean was her aim to save her friends from ‘The Dreamer’ the story kept going off track and describing Scottish folk lore and her relationship with her mother instead. There was also not a lot of background about her friends and why she was so hell bent in saving them. The only part I really liked of this story was the ending and the reasons why ‘The dreamer’ did what he did to Moira Jean thinking that there was a future between them 3 stars from me.

I had a lot of fun reading The Thorns Remain. I'm a sucker for a fairy-bargain and a dark romance. The world building was amazing, just wish I could have stayed in there longer.

This started out as a cover pick but quickly turned into an obsession from the minute I started the first page. I'm pretty confident that this will make it into my top 10 books of 2023.

It hit everything I'm looking for in a light fantasy:
1. Folklore (bonus points for Irish and Scottish)
2. A strong main character that I can get behind
3. Worldbuilding that completely intrigues me

The vibes it gives is dark cottagecore and it's the vibe I'm always on the hunt for. I will have to say though that Moira as our MC was what really hit the spot. She was hard working, caring and someone we, as the reader, could imagine ourselves being. Just this ordinary girl trying to grieve a loss, save her friends and to survive.

If you're into a great fantasy rich with Scottish folklore and amazing world building this is for you.

Fae, folklore, and post-WWI Scotland -- I immediately thought I would love this book. Unfortunately, it never captivated me, and reading it was a slog. The pacing was off, the character development was almost non-existent, and I was even trudging through the climax because it lacked depth. What most disappointed me is that we never got a deep dive into anyone or anything in the story. While the first few pages felt like character name-dumping overload, we never end up learning anything of significance about any of these characters. Furthermore, we learn absolutely NOTHING about the "villains," one of which is only in ONE scene. I hoped the book would improve as I kept reading, but the climax scenes seemed like a mishmash of the author trying to slap in just about anything and everything. While this book wasn't for me, it might appeal to younger readers. Both the writing and characters were quite juvenile, and it read much more YA than I expected.

There were many things I loved about this book. I adored that the main character is the antithesis of the “not like other girls” trope and I loved the world building. The author does a great job giving you enough information to understand the story but keep you guessing and thinking. That being said, It did take me a little longer to “get into” this book than it typically does. It was a little slower paced than I think it needed to be.

Thank you to Harper 360 and NetGalley for the Advanced Reader Copy of this ebook!

JJA Harwood’s The Thorns Remain tells the story of 19-year old Moira Jean, grieving her lost love and struggling with the never-ending daily tasks of farm life in a small Scottish village of small-minded villagers. When she and her friends sneak off one midnight for a dance and drink in the woods, all but Moira Jean are abducted by fairies, and she must make a bargain with a manipulative Fae lord called The Dreamer to rescue her friends from the Land Under the Hill.

The book does a wonderful job of immersing readers in the mindset of Moira Jean. But throughout the story she is haunted by the ghost of a lost future with her first love Angus, treated with coldness and suspicion by her neighbors, and overlooked by her family, making the mind of Moria Jean a depressing place to be. The glum tone pervades, even after she meets a fairy lord, with the constant descriptions of her toiling away at mundane farm tasks alone, and I felt the book struggled with injecting much energy or magic into the plot. There was also little depth to the characters around Moira Jean. Her friends are barely given enough characteristics to tell one from the other before they’re kidnapped, and I had been hoping for at least a little spark with The Dreamer to enliven things, but their interactions only barely hint at any chemistry. The bargains she must make with him to recover her friends feel repetitive by the third round, much less the fourth. I believe this novel could have benefited from being at least a third shorter; when the author finally takes readers to the Land Under the Hill to see the strangeness of the fairy realm near the end of the book, it’s too little too late.

That said, I would still be interested to read what Harwood writes in the future; her writing style could really shine with a more dynamic plot or protagonist.

Love the setting in the Highlands during war time in a small remote self sufficient town. Moira Jean is the only one of her friends who everyone remembers after a night in the forest. The deals she has to make are tricky and I swear I would fail miserably in the same situation. Things I've learned wear iron for protection, make sure to give offerings to the forest, be careful what you trade away, and don't join in the fairy dance. Enjoy!

Thank you @netgalley and @tlcbooktours for the arc for my honest and voluntary review.

Thank you to netgalley and publisher for the ARC. Here is my honest review. I don’t know if I was just in a mood when reading this book, but I wish it was better for me. I loved how whimsical the book was but also felt like i disconnected at some point of the book. The magic system was great for me, and i love the descriptions of the Fae. This book was a back and forth for me. But good.

3.25
This book had such a strong start! I'm a sucker for creepy forests and sinister fae, so I was hooked. Sadly, the plot did not keep the momentum going and I got a bit bored.

The story begins Moira Jean grieving her fiancé but still enjoying a night drinking in the woods with friends. It all goes horribly wrong when the fae join the dance and snatch her friends away. To earn her friends back, she must make a series of deals with the fae lord. This is where things got dull for me as I really wanted the book to lean into the spooky elements and imagery, but it did not. It also is pretty static as most of the book takes place in Moira Jean's village and I really wanted to see more of the fae world than we did.