ARC Review: FRAGILE ANIMALS by Genevieve Jagger, published by 404 Ink

What a gorgeous, ethereal book this is. The premise really piqued my attention (as did the beautiful cover!) so I wanted to give it a go. I was not expecting to like it as much as I do. The plot is unconventional (for me), with a non-linear narrative; it took me a while to get used to, but it actually made me pay a lot of attention. The characters are plenty endearing; Genevieve Jagger really spent a lot of time fleshing them out. There is plenty of dialogue regarding the characters' past relationship struggles, and an equal amount of introspection about religion and spirituality. This is contemporary gothic horror meets "Cruel Intentions" with a dash of vampire romance. 10/10, will read again!

Once again, thank you to NetGalley for my free ARC to read and review!

Like so many unloved children, Noelle is desperately attached to the one who loves her least: her mother. A strictly Catholic mother, who brings her up in a retrograde and restrictive environment, filling her with complexes about sexuality and then disappears from her life by running away, no less, with the parish priest. Noelle's journey to free herself from the looming maternal figure is harsh and painful, masterfully rendered by the author through the girl's encounter with a vampire who, metaphorically, after inducing her to open up, sucking her blood extracts from her all the cobwebs and constraints of the past, allowing her to truly become herself.
A very enjoyable read indeed, although there are a few too many elements.

oh, this was delightful. 5/5 stars.

this book follows Noelle, a poet who takes a trip to an isle in Scotland to focus on writing her next poetry book. while there, she meets a man named Moses who claims to be a vampire. the two end up exchanging memories and stories as Noelle does some soul-searching.

the atmosphere:
this was AMAZING. the rainy, foggy, kind of generally spooky nature of the isle came through so well. every time Noelle took a walk somewhere in the town, it felt so… desolate? i’m not sure exactly the word to describe it, but it was incredibly atmospheric. this combined with the descriptions of Noelle being in the church in her past came together for some fascinating vibes.

the writing:
i LOVED this writing. it was flowery, but not overly so, and the author has a really lovely way of speaking that drew me in. she was able to convey the characters emotions in such a real and raw way. if you like writing that leans more towards poetry at times, this book is for you.

the characters:
noelle: what an interesting woman. her struggles with her catholic upbringing, her relationship with her parents, her self-destructive sexual habits; it all came through so clearly. this is a woman that has done some pretty shitty things but has also been through some pretty shitty things, and there was never a moment where i wasn’t able to at least empathize with her. the intense catholic guilt she feels pervades the entire book in a fascinating way.

moses: what a weird little guy. reading the synopsis, i expected him to be a typical sexy vampire. instead, what we got was a pretty dirty, ugly, and kinda just generally gross guy who may or may not be a vampire. i also expected him to be more prominent in the story, when in reality he is just kind of a vessel for Noelle to do something self-exploring. i would NOT call this a romance, and i was happy about how it all played out.

the plot:
technically, not a lot happens here. noelle goes to this isle, talks to some people, attempts to write, walks around, and thinks about her past. this is very character driven rather than plot driven. however, the events of her past are so interesting that i did not mind the lack of plot at all. i was so engaged with everything happening with her the whole time. seeing the events of her past unfold and come together, especially with some later reveals, was incredibly satisfying.

i LOVED that she referred to her mother as “She” or “Her,” never “mother.” the uppercase used on the words really helped with the "growing up catholic" themes here and also helped show how distant Noelle was from her mother, seeing her as some sort of otherworldly being.

there were quite a few typos/errors in this edition, which i am hoping will be cleaned up by the time of publication. they were not bad enough to take me out of the story, thankfully.

overall, this book was unlike any i’ve other read before. it has been several days since i finished it and i honestly cannot stop thinking about it. the authors writing style and ability to show these characters emotions has made me positive that i will read anything she puts out in the future.

thanks to netgalley for a copy in exchange for an honest review!

Noelle retreats from the big city of Edinburgh, where she cleans hotel rooms, to a small island village bed & breakfast run by an odd woman with a penchant for all things pink. Noelle is hoping for inspiration - she's stalled in writing her second collection of poetry.

Fragile Animals starts slowly, building a mood. Jagger conjures the remoteness of the island, the harsh weather, the creaky house. Her prose is rich, and the dark passages visceral.

As Noelle befriends Moses, the other lodger, a taxidermist and supposed vampire, the pace accelerates. Moses and Noelle take long walks and talk about their pasts. We get to know Noelle and what precipitated her escape to the island. Her backstory of being raised in a strict catholic household while her mother was carrying on a blatant affair... was just devastating, and a nail-biter, hysterical and profane.

It's hard to wrap this one up. It was very dark, there's a lot of body talk, the characters don't act in (what we'd perceive to be) their best interests. The weirdness won't work for everybody but I was hooked.

My thanks to NetGalley and 404 Ink for the ARC. Fragile Animals was published in April.

Ok this was good. A very interesting way of writing (in a good way) The main character and story existed more in her mind than in the world She kinda leaves footprints in the snow outside your house and retreats into the woods never to be seen by a human eye (3.5)

When I first read the premise of this book I wasn’t sure if it was just too weird for me. An ex-Catholic woman moves to remote Scotland and falls in love with a vampire?

While I love horror, I’m not a huge fan of the supernatural. But this book isn’t like that at all.

It’s a gorgeous, dark and atmospheric character study. Is it a romance? Maybe. Is one of the characters a vampire? Well, yes. But the vampiric nature is secondary to everything else.

It’s about people and small towns and gossip and how who we love and what we do shape us and mould us and how we deal with our mistakes.

I loved it.

Unfortunately, this book wasn't for me. I was drawn in by the premise, I found the plot to be alluring and although several parts of the story were incredibly clever and well-written, a lot of the novel didn't live up to what I expected.

I understand the version of the story I was sent may have been unedited, but aside from the spelling and grammatical errors I could overlook, I found a lot of the syntax and language to be very confusing and often couldn't understand what she was trying to say.

I do think this has a lot of potential, as a Scottish person I found the description of the settings evoked the senses deeply and there were a lot of beautifully detailed points but convoluted language made me struggle to complete this book.

I would consider returning to this novel after it's published or other novels published by the author in future.

This novel just simply didn’t work for me. The prose is overly florid in a way that I found insufferable, and coupled with the slow pace I found this to be an utter slog to get through. Genevieve Jagger isn’t a bad writer by any stretch, her style just grates on me in a way I can’t quite articulate. There’s an audience for this, but it’s not me.

I loved the premise of this book - ex-catholic woman hooks up with man who claims to be a vampire, but not the kind you'd imagine.

Loved it! The setting of the Scottish Highlands just adds such a beautiful atmosphere to this moody and sumptuously written book.

If you like purple prose, this one is definitely for you.

This was a difficult read for me. I started it on March 25 and finished (well, DNF'd it at around 60%) it on May 8. I read 5 novellas, 1 short story collection, 2 manga, 2 graphic novels, 1 short story, and 6 novels in the meantime. Suffice to say, I was dreading reading this one. The atmosphere, the purple prose, the subject matter, everything just felt so suffocating (maybe that's the point) to me. On paper, this looks like my dream novel, down to its beautiful cover it's perfect. I couldn't really get into it no matter how hard I tried. I would have hoped to have finished it before its release but alas, I just couldn't. It felt like it was incredibly overwritten and incredibly dull.

Thank you to Net Galley for providing me with this ARC and the publisher who generously allowed me to read it before its release, I wish I had liked it because it feels awful putting a bad review for a book that I was highly anticipating and looking forward to read.

The premise of this, specifically, 'There, she meets a man who claims to be a vampire, and a relationship blooms between them based solely on confession' - GRIPPED me by the neck and compelled me to try for nab an ARC. And I'm damn well happy I did.
I will say this right now, the writing of this, GOOD GOD. The way Genevieve Jagger wrote some scenes, the details, the emotion, the metaphors, JUST THE WAY I found some quotes and lines I will happily try to remember for as long as I can.

what a cool, moody lil book. was thrilled to get this arc (i love love love a book with vampires) and it did not disappoint! i’m also loving seeing booktok/bookstagram talk about this one now that its out.

this was one of my most anticipated reads of the year and i am so grateful to have received an earc! Fragile Animals is about Noelle who is haunted by her religious past then travels to the Isle of Bute and meets a vampire. the writing is so atmospheric and i really regret not being in scotland on a foggy morning reading this! such a cool story and def recommend all pickinig it up!

There's a sort of filmy, greasy, sticky ugliness to this book and its characters that just coats you as soon as you read the first line. The narrator is intensely pessimistic; her view of everything, from her accommodations in the Isle of Bute to her future love interest, is one of extreme skepticism bordering on disgust. In a revolution of sexy vampires intent on keeping their vampirism a secret, Moses is neither, and to someone who is accustomed to the sexy creature of the night tropes, it makes him all the more unsettling.

Literary vampire novels are my bread and butter. I absolutely adore them and when I say I devoured this, I am not kidding. For a debut novel this had such a vibrant voice, every character felt like they were somebody I could meet in person walking down the street. Everything, down to the bare bones, felt Real. This story had such a potency, that there being a fantastical element just made sense, natural even. The flash back and forwards to the past and present was done seamlessly, I was eager for every new page.

I am very much looking forward to what this author has in store for next time, I'm on the edge of my seat in anticipation.

I received this ARC from NetGalley and 404 Ink in exchange for a free and honest review.

I really enjoyed this book, it follows our protagonist Noelle; who travels to the Isle of Bute in hopes of overcoming her writers block (she is a poet). While there she meets a vampire and through this relationship they begin to reminisce about their past relationships. The book tackled a lot of topics, such as; religion, sexuality, self-worth and toxic family dynamics, I especially liked the section the discussion of conflict between religion and sexual identity (due to her mum's infidelity and knowing people that are part of LGBTQ community). Overall, very well written and engaging. Would highly recommend.

Oh my gosh, guess what? Vampires are back, and this book is everything! It delves into deep themes like religious trauma, repression, and the lingering sorrow of the living in such a beautiful, heart-touching way.

This was exactly the kind of weird girl fiction I've been trying to find all year so far.

Literally blinding. I devoured it, Noelle is such a compelling voice, and the prose is striking, grotesque and raw in its honesty to her character. I strongly adore a character who does unforgivable things and views themselves in such a disparaging way, there's something so honest and relatable about their portrayal. The non-perspective characters are similarly compelling and unique and put across the themes of the book brilliantly. This book is utterly unique within its field and it shows its hand perfectly.

I will be thinking about this book for a long time.

“Sometimes the lie is more honest than the truth.”

Genevieve Jagger’s new book introduces Noelle, an ex-catholic woman who has been struggling with family trauma from her upbringing leaves it all behind to work as a hotel cleaner on the Isle of Bute. This will give her a chance to work on her writing. Here she meets a man who claims he is a vampire. A strange relationship begins between them both and Noelle finds herself facing troubles from her past and coming to terms with her own sexuality.

This was not the kind of vampire story I expected. There is a lot to unpack with the main character Noelle and her past trauma. Through this supposed vampire she revisit those dark times and almost surprisingly to herself she accepts her past and present for what it is.

There was a build up to something bizarre but not one you would expect. The stories between these two characters were vast and at times disturbing. Witnessing their relationship did feel like you were waiting for the penny to drop at any moment.

The reader does embark on an emotional journey with Noelle and thats what was different about this vampire novel.

careful if you're a former catholic with mommy issues! but this book was gorgeous and haunting. it's a character-drive, self-reflective book and I really enjoyed it.