Not gonna lie, I was probably turned off this book from about 20 pages in, when I had to read the line She fell and never hit the ground. The goblins carried her crowd-surf style. because no one deserves to have to read a line that bad.

But I continued. And discovered just how much of a mess this book was. Firstly, for all that it was a fantasy book, there was actually not that much world-building in terms of the goblins. Later on, you found out how they got to be there, and the deal they had with Kit's family, but felt a little light. Come to think of it, most aspects of the book felt like that. There didn't feel to be too much in the way of characterisation or plot, and I was actually pretty bored for the most part.

Then I got to the mess that was Grady and Skye's relationship. First of all, Skye chooses Grady as her mate, so she doesn't have to choose a goblin. Does Grady get a say in this? No. Does Grady even know Skye before she comes up to him in the woods and snogs him? No. Does all this seem a dubiously consensual premise for a relationship? Absolutely.

Basically now, throughout their relationship, Grady is being influenced by the goblin's magic. Which means, what he might think he feels for Skye is actually a product of the magic. And Skye knows this. But does she try stay away from him, limit the damage, maybe stop him being involved? Nope. She instead takes him to a place where the magic is stronger, and has sex with him. In a situation in which he cannot give his consent because the magic is making him want to do it. Hence why I did not like their relationship. Kit and Livy's was somewhat better, although it did seem rushed, and to be quite frank, absolutely pointless. Do all the characters need to be paired up in relationships? Apparently yes.

What was good about the book was that it did have Grady and Skye have a discussion about all they'd done while under the goblins' spell. But I'd appreciate the attempt more if it had actually felt a serious one. They ended up deciding that they did genuinely have feelings for each other, although how they could have known that when they'd only known each other while under the spell defeats me. Maybe they should have tried to get to know each other anew, because that to me would make more sense. Either way, that relationship was the main reason I didn't like this book, despite the promise of the initial premise.

The theatre group I sometimes write for often does plays that involve magic, fairytales and so forth. One thing that I always make sure I do is never to have characters do anything remotely romantic when under a spell. Putting a love spell on a character and having them moon constantly over the other? Fine. Actually having both those characters under a spell and sleeping with each other…less fine. It’s why I’ve never been 100% sold on the ending of Midsummer Night’s Dream it just doesn’t sit right with me.

So in this book as soon as two characters under a goblin curse began doing the do (I’m an adult) I instantly got pretty uncomfortable. Now I know they’re both under the curse and I can see all the places where Molly Ringle is trying to make this ‘ok’ but really no one is consenting in that business and I didn’t really want to read it.

But I don’t want to bang on about it because I think it’s one of those things that could cause unnecessary controversy. I also don’t want to put down the good elements of this book. The idea of the goblins and the liaison with the human world was well thought out. I’d love to see some artwork of the goblins from this book as the descriptions of them are evocative and captured my imagination. There’s also a great underlying plot when you pull back a bit of the romance.

So yes, this book is not a total bust. In fact, if you took out those parts that just didn’t sit right with me it would be a decent book. If you expanded more on the goblins and less on the humans this would (in my opinion) be a great book. But it isn’t my book and I think lovers of paranormal romances might be a bit happier with this than I am. Just. People under magic spells can’t consent. And that’s complicated.

My rating: 3/5 stars (I would put two but that felt overly harsh to everything else that I did like about the book)

If you do want to see what I’m talking about, The Goblins of Bellwater releases on the first of October so you can order it now through your preferred means of book-grabbing.

By the way, I received a free digital advanced review copy of this book in exchange for an honest review, all opinions are my own.

How I stumbled across The Goblins of Bellwater: The cover caught my eye, and then the summary won my heart. There seems to be three types of books I gravitate towards: the historical fiction novels centered around heartbreaking events, the fun-and-cute-yet-thoughtful contemporaries, and the fantasies that take place in a whole 'nother world. By "whole 'nother world," I mean I want to be able to take a deep whiff of the book and smell the rotting skin of each hideous creature. The Goblins of Bellwater by Molly Ringle fits into the last category of course.

From the title, you know that this story is about the under-the-cover creatures who reside in the town of Bellwater. Kit, the poor guy, is trapped under a magical contract, living life as a mechanic who steals gold for a goblin tribe. Also in the town lives Skye, a barista-slash-artist, who is cursed by the goblins for entertainment purposes and has fallen under a depression which disables her from speaking about the curse. When Kit starts dating her sister, Livy, he is unaware that his visiting cousin, Grady, is dragged under Skye's curse. To say the least, things get messy.

The first 5% of the story had me hooked. There's the kind of irony that makes readers slap their forehead and warn, plead, and shout at the characters. The next 10%, however, slowed to make room for the romance. That was like a TV show playing the cliffhanger before cutting to commercial. The romance was cute, surely, but because the relationship happened earlier in the book, it didn't give me enough time to really root for the relationship. I just wanted to know more about the goblins! It was curiosity that kept reading until the story picked up again. Well, that and the gorgeous writing.

I love pretty words, a combination of fairly simple words that make me sigh and want to just lie in bed forever appreciating them. The beautiful imagery and world-building is really worth the praise. One thing I want to note about this world is that it's urban and something I like to call "mod and myth," when fantasy adapts to modern life. I don't see it often in fantasy, and that's one of the characteristics which makes this story special.

Tonight the sky hung pewter gray between the swaying fir branches high above, and on the forest floor the colors were washed out to a greenish black.

While I didn't have much of a chance to root for the characters to get together, I like each of them separately. Between the four of them, they hold a variety of careers and are all down-to-earth and likable. In Livy's case, being an environmental scientist is almost what allows her to a chance to save the others from the goblins. She earns magical help instead of being given magical abilities. Although Livy's journey is a tad cheesy and simplified, it's unique and goes to show that, even if you're not born with such a benefit, you can earn it through kindness (even and especially if it's to the earth).

The ending of the book was a special one for me. It was probably dragged out longer than it should have, but I liked it anyway because it felt like the story was in a sort of limbo. After having gotten to know the characters and see them through their sacrifices, I was proud of them. Four out of five stars.

The Goblins of Bellwater grabbed me from the start and pulled me in automatically. It's been a while since I've finished a book in a day but this was one of them.
The myth and legend that the author was working with was clear, fun, and intriguing. The story followed Kit, Grady, Skye, and Livy. Kit's family has been the liaison with the goblins for generations. When Skye eats the fruit of the goblins and comes under their spell, it's a race against time to save her from becoming a goblin forever.
I appreciated that the book kept to the basic plot, it wasn't convoluted, there were not unnecessary plot tangents, but rather just a well written book.
The one thing that bothered me, and maybe it's just because I'm from the Pacific Northwest, but the amount of times we were reminded that the story was set in the Puget Sound drove me a bit crazy in the beginning. After the first few chapters, we weren't reminded so much but honestly, one or two references are fine, anything more than that, is a bit tedious.
But overall, this was a great, quick, intriguing read. The magical creatures were well written and fun. I liked that there were the goblins who were portrayed as weeds and then the fae which were other magical creatures who had good qualities. It was a nice balance between the two worlds. Overall, I really enjoyed this one.

The Goblins of Bellwater promises us a dark and alluring tale about Goblins. The cover on its own is gorgeous. I was excited to find a book about goblins in such a way to read. Unfortunately that did not quite work out the way I had hoped.

First I’d like to point out this isn’t a badly written book. The writing in itself is engaging and manages to create a dark vibe throughout the book, mostly at the start and the ending. I just wish the middle part had been able to capture the same vibe and this could have been a truly exciting book.

Our story focuses on a foursome, two sisters and two cousins. One of the girls falls victim to a goblins curse and drags one of the guys with her, leaving the other two to work out how to save them. Two girls, two guys. You must have already guessed where this is heading. The romance took over the plot. The whole middle part was more about these four learning about each other than it was about the goblins. And I am sorry to say but with that title I had other expectations.

And it was a shame because there were honestly some very interesting things about the Goblins and Fae that were mentioned nearing the ending that could have woven a great story centered about Bellwater. Instead it focuses in on these four and their romance with in the backdrop a goblin curse.

I did enjoy the ending where one of the girls had to choose a way to save them from the goblins. But even there, there was so much more to expand on that was just casually mentioned along the way. It bothered me a lot. I wanted to know more.

One of the other things that bothered me however was to do with the effects of the goblins curse on Skye. The way it effects her, her sister and those around her call depression. I can see that. However she was ‘depressed’ for maybe a few weeks and her sister seemed to already be expecting quick changes from medication and other things. That rubbed me the wrong way a bit because it doesn’t work that way. Personally I have depression (post partum depression at the moment). I do think the author otherwise tried to sensitively deal with it, but it was a bit too much from the outsiders point of view looking in for me. I do think it is hard to deal with this topic in the context when it is the curse that is affecting Skye like that. Is the curse what makes her ‘depressed’ or is she getting depressed because of the curse and what happened to her?

Even so I did enjoy reading this book in parts. While I might not have fallen in love with any of the characters, they were for the most part a joy to follow throughout. And I do think Molly Ringle is a name I’ll be keeping my eye out on.

The Goblins of Bellwater by Molly Ringle

Star rating: ★★★★ ☆ 4/5 stars

Format: ebook galley

Summary: Kit is the human liaison for a tribe of goblins, an unpleasant job where he must appease them with a monthly tribute of gold. If he comes up short then they start to make dangerous mischief.

Review: I received an advanced copy of this book for free from NetGalley. (Although it is long been out at this point).

This book took me a long time to read but that is in no way a reflection of the story, I was just having a hard time with any reading. The story was actually riveting and as I came out of my funk I read it quickly wanting to devour it.

I really liked this book, I thought the goblins were great, I love malevolent fae. I liked the stipulations of the curse the goblins put on Skye, how they prevented her from talking about the curse and the rest. Skye tries to break it herself by kissing Grady and I thought it was great, of course it didn't work and complicated matters further by cursing him as well. I loved the "local" fae as well and how they interacted.

One thing that bothered me is that Kit and Livy act way older than early twenties, they're more like early thirties in my opinion. It bugged me a bit while reading it because Kit acted like he'd been such an old bachelor and like... He's not even twenty-five, maybe chill dude? The characters just acted way older than their actual age and i kept forgetting that they actually weren't in their thirties.

The relationships were really interesting. I liked how After the curse is broken that Grady and Skye are unsure if they actually have a real relationship or if it was all created by the curse. I liked how they had to figure that out and it wasn't an instant happily ever after deal. That was really nice to see.

Recommendation: I felt this was a great contemporary book about the fae. This year seems to be a good year for goblin stories (see also Wintersong). This isn't YA in my opinion, more NA so that is a cool change too. I'd suggest checking this out if you like fae.

First off, I really enjoyed The Goblins of Bellwater. Ringle does an excellent job at creating an intriguing but sinister supernatural world. After reading so many fantasies where characters enter into intimate relationships with otherworldly characters, it was really refreshing to have these creatures portrayed as wholly different from the humans they manipulate and kidnap. I was less into the human romance in the storyline. I would absolutely read a sequel to this, especially if it explored the dynamics of the goblin/fairy world moreso and the backgrounds of some of the creatures. Excellent read overall!

This is going to be one of the most talked about books for the fall of 2017! I think young adult as well as adult readers would love this book!

I think this book is suffering from lapsed expectations, which are entirely my own fault. I requested this book because I was intrigued by the title and beguiled by the beautiful cover. I'm not sure I even read the description, so I came to this book unaware of just about anything save for the name. As a consequence I read a book that wasn't really to my taste. That doesn't make GOBLINS OF BELLWATER a bad book, but it is not a book for me.

That said, there are things I liked about the book. I thought the settings were fantastically described. The atmosphere was immersive. The familial relationships between Grady and Kit, and Skye and Livy were lovely. I'd absolutely read another, more comprehensive family drama by this author. I absolutely loved the length Livy was willing to go to protect her sister. I think that was very cool. I would read an entire book about these two and the life they've led. (Livy on her own is just wonderful. She earns all three stars by herself.)

The things I did not like, I feel, are part and parcel of paranormal romance--which is not my preferred sub-genre. I wasn't impressed by the insta-love between Skye and Grady. I understand it, given the story, but I didn't care for it. I was also very uncomfortable with their sexual relationship as a result of their circumstances. It didn't feel entirely consensual to me despite the story's best efforts to justify their connection. I didn't like that. I was likewise unmoved by Livy and Kit, though there was a stronger basis for romance for that couple. As for their endings, I can see that they were certainly thoughtfully written which I appreciate despite not being heavily invested in them.

I wanted a better application of goblins, fae, and magic. The setting is ripe for it. The lore certainty offers a solid foundation for a more involved paranormal novel, but we don't quite get that, because the paranormal aspect is only part of the point. This book is a romance with healthy but unevenly applied smatterings of magic, and therein lay its weakness for me. That and the length. Were this book a touch longer, there might have been a better balance of magic and romance to smooth my way. But, again, I acknowledge I wasn't the intended audience for this book.

The book was perfectly serviceable in telling the story it meant to tell. That story was simply not for me. If family relationships, romance and sex with a touch of the dark world of fantasy is your scene, you will love THE GOBLINS OF BELLWATER. Don't miss it!

Thank you to NetGalley, Central Avenue Publishing, and Molly Ringle for allowing me to read this book ahead of publication.

I enjoyed this book but it wasn't what I was expecting. My enjoyment of this book was purely a situation of "it was me, not you" situation because I can definitely see this book having an appeal to those who love light hearted fantasy that doesn't clobber you with romance.

Most people have no idea goblins live in the woods around the small town of Bellwater, Washington. But some are about to find out.

Skye, a young barista and artist, falls victim to a goblin curse in the forest one winter night, rendering her depressed and silenced, unable to speak of what happened. Her older sister, Livy, is at wit’s end trying to understand what’s wrong with her. Local mechanic Kit would know, but he doesn’t talk of such things: he’s the human liaison for the goblin tribe, a job he keeps secret and never wanted, thrust on him by an ancient family contract.

Unaware of what’s happened to Skye, Kit starts dating Livy, trying to keep it casual to protect her from the attention of the goblins. Meanwhile, unbeknownst to Kit, Skye draws his cousin Grady into the spell through an enchanted kiss in the woods, dooming Grady and Skye both to become goblins and disappear from humankind forever.

It’s a midwinter night’s enchantment as Livy, the only one untainted by a spell, sets out to save them on a dangerous magical path of her own. -Goodreads

This story was inspired by Christina Rossetti poem, Goblin Market (which is listed below the review.) Before reading this, you need to know that this is a new adult book. This means that there is sexual content not suggested sexual content but full blown sexual content with characters under the age of 25.

I was immediately sucked into this book. The story of goblins is something I don't touch too much. Its not as if   don't like their story, I guess it isn't as popular within the channels I run through to look for new books but its something I am going to look into. 

Anyway... as I said I was sucked into this book but the intensity I had reading into the beginning died. . . slowly but it died. It wasn't as if the story was not interesting. It was but the author took a little bit too much time of having the characters run around the issue. I felt that the resolution was too easy found and there wasn't enough fight or intensity leading up to the conclusion as there was with the sex scenes. 

I also didn't think there was a enough mythology in the book. I wanted something deeper in the overall story. I wanted more history and color overall in the story. I felt that the focus was too much on the relationships and not on the goblins their story, their end game or anything such as that. The story was fairly straight-forward and I'm not a fan of that. 

Despite the story hitting a slow patch, despite the lack of mythology and color, it provide a quick read and it introduced me to a new author.

2.5 Pickles (for a good foundation)

Modern fairytales seem to be a rising trend and some good stories are coming out of it. This one read much like a traditional fairytale as far as language and sentence structure goes, but it had some original elements like goblins using iPhones and other modern devices. I was finding it rather charming until near the end of the first chapter an F-bomb spoiled it for me.

I'm not a prude or easily shocked, but I had been thinking this would be a lovely story for adults and children alike up to that point and it served no purpose to the story except maybe to add some shock value. Was it worth making it unsuitable for children? I didn't think so until I saw the direction the plot would take.

The story continues in an enchanting style for a while, drawing the reader into the human interactions with the goblins. It takes a sinister turn just as the f-bombing starts again and then a set up for an apparent romance angle.

The significance of the human characters to the goblins all clicks into place by 20% and I started enjoying the original premise, despite the teenage-like relationships. It comes out that the characters are actually in their twenties and becomes decidedly sexual by about a third in, so any thoughts of sharing with children are out the window. I'll give it credit for stopping at 'sensual' rather than turning into graphic erotica, which I hadn't signed on for.

By this time the story has become about the humans and the goblins are left behind. They appear again periodically, but the fairytale atmosphere gives way to a Romance story. Readers of that genre may enjoy this more than I did. It went in a different direction than I expected and my interest waned accordingly.

The writing itself is good so I can't fault it, it just wasn't for me.

“Everyone knew you shouldn’t go biting into fruit offered to you by magical creatures in the woods, even if you’d thought until just five minutes ago that such stories were, you know, only stories.”

This story is a take on the Goblin Market, which is a poem by Christina Rossetti.

I was initially really excited for The Goblins of Bellwater, but found the story rather dull until the last half of the book.

It focuses on four adults, two sisters and two cousins, who are all linked to the goblins in their own way. Things happen and then they split into couples, which was fine at first. There is a heavy focus on romance in the story, but I didn't care for Grady and Skye's romance because it was insta-lust/love at its finest. Yes, they were under a spell, but I think it could have been written better. Liv and Kit's romance was more tolerable, but it wasn't amazing. Props to Ringle for writing about casual sexual relationships in a positive way. Considering this is supposed to be a NA book, I was expecting more steaminess from the sex scenes but they were actually pretty boring and tame.

The goblins and magic were my favorite parts of the story, I just wish they had been present more in the story. When they did appear, they were evil and maniacal just like one would expect goblins to be. This is definitely a darker version of a goblin story.

I didn't really care for any of the characters except for Liv and Skye, mostly Liv though. Her love of the Earth and her sister made her a really interesting character, especially towards the end when she had to go through some major trials.

I really wish that I loved this book, but the romance and slow first half dulled the enjoyment for me. With some cleaning up and fleshing out the story more, I think it could be really good.

Full transparency: I did not finish this book. I DNFed it around 73% but since I read the majority of the book, I did rate it.

Honestly, what killed this book for me was the insta-lust between Skye and Grady. Skye is under a goblin spell but to everyone else, it looks like she is having a mental breakdown and has gone almost completely silent. Instead of trying to help this girl, Grady spends most of his time trying to get in her pants which feels a lot like taking advantage of a situation. Even though Sky has chosen him “as her mate”, it bothers me to think about this character trying to start a relationship with someone who needs help, who had gone almost completely mute, and has suffered some form of trauma. Kit and Livy weren’t much better. Just the way the characters are described was a little weird to me. There was a lot of focus on how many women the male characters had been with and how thin and desirable the female characters were. Not for me.

I received an advance copy of this via Netgalley and Central Avenue Publishing in exchange for an honest review.

I gotta be honest, I was looking forward to this one but it fell flat for me. I wasn't expecting a Wintersong esque clone but this just left me feeling dull.

Most of the book was focused on romance which is well and good and I thought Livy and Kit's relationship was fine but I wasn't here for Skye and Grady's seemingly easy insta-love plot. I just wish this was more fleshed out. It seemed lacking at points, for a book about goblins they didn't seem to be present much. But when they were I would have liked to have read some expansion.

I was grabbed because the description namechecked the poetry of Christina Rosetti, and the chance to explore this story more in-depth was irresistible. I was not expecting the book to have quite so much swooooon, but it was a pleasant surprise, still there was a definite disconnect between the fairy tale and the romance. I'd definitely recommend this for older fans of Holly Black or Rosamund Hodge.

I really wanted to like this book. The summary, the cover... my expectations were high. But from the start, I didn't like any of the human characters at all. Especially once I got to the middle and the relationships started.
The setting was beautiful and the goblin aspect was interesting. I wanted to know everything about Kit's family and the deal with the goblins. But, I didn't like Kit. Or Livy. Or Skye. Or Grady. And Skye/Grady really made me uncomfortable. The characters felt flat - especially Livy and Grady. Skye had some interesting moments, especially in the beginning with the descriptions of her struggling with the Goblin curse.
So, with that said and lovely writing aside, I had to put this away and not finish it.

I loved the Pacific Northwest setting! It was beautiful and eerie and everything I want in a book with goblins and fae.
I really enjoyed the plot and the setup. A man tied to his family's curse with goblins, enslaved to serve for eternity to these evil gremlin-like creatures. Sisters who grew up in the area believing in the monsters unseen in the forest. One sister insnared and the other left to save her.
The plot, tension, and setting really created a magical story. The one thing that took away from it was the relationship with the older sister and the guy tied to his families curse. I feel like it took away from the younger sisters plight and spell she is under.

I've loved Rossetti's poem since I first read it in high school and was interested to see what Molly Ringle would do with it as an inspiration. Overall I really liked the book. The allusions to the poem are very slight, but the bond between two sisters that is the backbone of the poem is there and it works. I would have liked to know more about the goblins, although I liked that Flowerwatch and Redring's stories were wrapped up in the end. There's plenty of romance, which isn't really my thing, but to me this is really more of a good urban fantasy that reminded me a bit of Raymond Feist's underrated Faerie Tale.

I received a copy through Netgalley.

In the Goblin's of Bellwater, sister's Skye and Livy live in Bellwater Washington, Skye is an artist, a budding graphic designer, working in a local coffee shop, her sister Livy works for the Forest Service. As young girls they'd always imagined their local woods contained more than just what you can see with their eyes. The Teenie Tinies they called them as children, and a few fractured memories of smelling wafts of sugar cookies, or coffee while walking through the forests around them. But that couldn't be real right?

Kit Sylvain, knows the dangers of the forest first hand, his own family wrapped into a thousand year curse. Doomed to bring the tribe of Goblins, tributes of gold every month. Or they would begin flexing their powers and messing with the human community. Gold in exchange for the safety of other's.
But this month Kit comes up short. Disdaining himself for the thievery he must commit, his payment comes up one day late.
And the Goblins begin to flex their muscles once again...
And Livy's sister Skye finds herself the newest victim of their curse.

Molly Ringle's Goblins of Bellwater gives you a classic feel of a dark fae curse. And that nothing is ever what it seems, above all listen to the terms of the deal, and never ever go off the path, no matter how tempting it may seem and always respect the elements of nature.
I throughly enjoyed this one! 3.5 stars.