https://lynns-books.com/2019/02/25/never-contented-things-by-sarah-porter/
3.5 of 5 stars
Never Contented Things is an unusual book to review in that it is something of a deceptive read. I think from the beautiful eye catching cover and synopsis I was expecting this to be a book of fae courtly intrigue. Something deliciously dark and packed with forbidden fruit. Don’t get me wrong, this is dark, on many levels, but in fact this is more like a coming of age story, a tale of redemption even. It’s a combination of emotional complexity and disturbing reality wrapped up in fae deception and cruelty and the whole thing is itself a metaphor for a young girl coming to terms with who she really is.

This book was nothing at all like I expected. The mesmerising fae play more of a supporting role, they ooze deceit and create horror but their role here is not to provide characters to fall in love with and they remain for the most part on the periphery. The main characters are difficult to read about. They share a somewhat toxic and unhealthy relationship and it genuinely makes reading parts of the story uncomfortable and I definitely experienced a moment or two of thinking I would have to put the book down. I’m glad that I didn’t. This isn’t a fun book or one that makes it easy to wax lyrical about but I think it is a story that will definitely resonate with some readers and it’s also a story with a hopeful message at its core.

So, let’s firstly address what makes this book uncomfortable in parts. Ksenia and Josh are a pair of foster children who have become so emotionally dependent on each other that their relationship has developed in a way that is difficult to read about. Josh, the younger of the two, believes himself in love with Ksenia and Ksenia, although she tries to keep him at arms length, is willing to forgive Josh for anything and to take the blame for any of his faults. To be clear, the two are not blood relatives but there’s still an uncomfortable incestuous feel to their love, more from Josh who also has a manipulative and pushy feel to the way he boxes Ksenia in, pushing his feelings on her when they’re not exactly welcome and she doesn’t know how to rebuff him without losing his love.

Both of them have done the rounds of care before finding themselves together in a family situation. Josh has a more affable nature, he naturally wins hearts and friends. Ksenia is more a closed book. She keeps people out and given her past experiences it’s easy to see why. Josh is the only one who has slipped through her armour and she finds herself in the unfamiliar territory of wanting to protect him. Unfortunately, the foster parents haven’t really taken to Ksenia, they think she’s a bad influence and although they’re going through the adoption of Josh, Ksenia is about to be sent to college – as far away from Josh as possible and this is in fact the catalyst for the whole story. The two are desperate about their future and afraid to be separated and this desperation allows something dark into their lives.

I would say that for the first 20%, maybe even more, of this book I was tempted to stop reading. I found the strangeness that circulates these two characters off putting and I wasn’t really enjoying myself tbh, the writing was very good though and it persuaded me that I needed to find out more. Josh and eventually Ksenia disappear from the ‘real’ world and inhabit a strangely parallel version where it feels like Josh is really losing himself and Ksenia has become numb to the situation, she’s like a puppet just going through the motions. Everything they do in fact is a spectacle for the fae, their life has become a showbox, Trueman-style, to entertain the Prince and his courtiers and of course the fae are never content, they want to draw others into their macabre world.

Now we flip back to the ‘real’ town and the people left behind in the wake of Josh and Ksenia’s tragic disappearance. We make the acquaintance of Lexi and she’s something of a blast of fresh air. She was Josh’s best friend and was always trying to crack Ksenia’s tough-nut exterior to be allowed in to her heart. She never quite succeeded but she also never gave up. Her tenacity eventually leads her to uncover some difficult truths, she finds herself, her family and friends in danger and she responds with strength and intelligence.

On the one side this is a story of changelings and abductions. Of enchantment and strange worlds. Scratch a little deeper and this is more a story of two young people coming to terms with who they are, forgiving themselves and each other for past mistakes and realising that they need to move forward, maybe in ways that they don’t want to accept but ultimately must do so in order to grow up and find a way to stop hurting others.

What I liked about this is the emotional impact, strength of writing and character arc of the main character Ksenia. I think that her story will really resonate with some readers but I think it’s important that people have a real understanding of the nature of this book before picking it up. This is not a fae romance. It doesn’t have fae that you will fall in love with in fact they’re all wickedly cruel and really quite hateful and they’re the perfect embodiment of powerful creatures playing with the lives of humans for entertainment purposes. The fae lend the story it’s horror value showing the true nature of changelings and completely taking any romantic notions that we might hold of them as readers and completely blowing them out of the water.

In terms of criticisms. There is plenty of weirdness going on here. Oddness that I won’t really elaborate on because of spoilers but the sort of thing that could drive readers away. Personally I think this is incredibly creative, mixing elements of fae magic and splintered emotions into something fantastical. I can’t say that I liked Josh, although I think that’s deliberate on the part of the author, but this dislike made me frustrated, I wanted to slap Ksenia for not being more assertive and I wanted to punch him to wake him up! I’m not aggressive, truly I’m not – this book just brought those emotions out in me. I would also say that the description for this book is a bit misleading. In fairness I think I would struggle to come up with a fitting synopsis but I do think the one provided will lead readers down the wrong path a little. I think you could read this on one level, as a strange tale of the fae, doing what they do best, but on another it’s a story of a young girl with a tough past allowing herself to feel love, for herself and for others.

Ultimately this is not the sort of book that you’re probably going to say you loved. It’s not a gushy-romantic-feel good type of read but, mixed in with all the darkness is a story of redemption. I thought it was a good read and in spite of my initial misgivings I have to say I”m glad I read it. I would certainly read more books by this author on the strength of her writing here.

I would also mention TWs in terms of abuse, mentioned rape, abduction.

I received a copy through Netgalley, courtesy of the publishers, for which my thanks. The above is my own opinion.

I thoroughly enjoyed reading this book. I would definitely recommend for anyone that's into darker faerie realm stories.

I am not to sure about this book, but I was a bit dissapointed that we didn't get more information about the Fae. Other than that it was pretty good.

I received an ARC of this book for an honest review.

DNF at 50%

This just isn't my cup of tea. I tried to get over the problems I had with the book but ultimately, it was just too much for me to want to continue reading.

First off, I just couldn't read about the relationship between Ksneia and Josh. It was codependent, sure, but also...disturbing and incest-y. I get that they're foster siblings and that's sort of a The Fosters kind of vibe, but it just wasn't something that I, personally, could keep reading. The relationship was just really odd and I know it's not supposed to be a healthy relationship and whatnot, but regardless, I just couldn't do it.

The story, too, just wasn't something I was into. I found myself yawning and not at all curious as to what was going to happen next. In fact, I kept waiting for something to happen and nothing really did, and so I ended up not really caring about what was going to happen.

Between the characters and the plot, it wasn't a book I found myself that interested in

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/39863312-never-contented-things

Thank you NetGalley and Macmillan-Tor/Forge Tor Teen for an eARC of this book. It did not affect my opinions of this book, which are completely my own.

I unfortunately had to DNF this book at the 50% mark. I honestly was thinking that this would be a book reminiscent of Holly Black's The Cruel Prince, but what I got was something far more sinister and not for me. The plot did not capture my attention, and I was incredibly uncomfortable with Josh and Ksenia's relationship.

I feel like I was sold on a story about the Seelie or Unseelie Court, but this story barely mentions the fae.

2.5☆
ARC received from NetGalley in exchange for a review. All of my opinions are my own, and are in no way affected by the exchange.

Let me start by saying that I am a sucker for reading about taboo relationships. One of my favorite books of all time is All the Ugly and Wonderful Things by Brynn Greenwood which features a romantic relationship between a grown man and a child. It was a very polarizing book but i loved it because it wasnt trying to push you into thinking this is right, it just sort of showed you a well rounded picture. When I read the synopsis for this book and i saw the bit about the undying love for each other, I knew I was going to be getting some psuedo-incest. The two main characters are not blood related but because they refer to each other are brother and sister, I knew it was going to be a polarizing book.

I actually liked the relationship aspect between Josh and Ksenia for the first like 100ish pages but then I couldn't fucking STAND Josh anymore. Initially, he was an outgoing and flamboyant good kid who was hopelessly and unhealthily in love with his foster sister Ksenia. Josh was kind and thoughtful and a pretty decent guy. He ends up doing things that RIP his goodness away from him and turns him into an obsessive, controlling abusive douchebag. (It was kind of around the 120 page mark.) Josh makes choices for Ksenia without discussing them with her and it leaves a bad taste in your mouth. He makes some very bad decisions and while he was not totally in control, he still did things that were unforgivable.

Ksenia, on the other hand, was absolutely wonderful. She is very androgynous and on page is at least bisexual which was neat. I would even go so far to say that she lands somewhere on the ace spectrum. She was a very complex character who is fiercely loyal, to a fault. She continued to coddle and protect Josh WAYYYYYYYYYYY more than she should have. She had some agency issues as well. She would do things for others but never for herself but this was addressed several times throughout the story and there was some real growth between who she was at the start and end of the book.

Lexi was by far my favorite character in this story. She was a Woke Queen and was always well put together and articulate. She stood up for what she believed in and was as extremely good friend to both Josh and Ksenia. She was the main force driving the personal growth in Ksenia however which was a little bit of a bummer but was understandable. Ksenia would not do things for herself but Lexi was there to try to push her to change and think outside of the unhealthy relationship she had with Josh.

My biggest issues with this book was the lack of consent and the marketing. Its listed as a Fae book and technically it is but that term is never used to describe the creatures so theres that. This is definitely going to be a love it or hate it kind of book.

I received this arc in exchange of a honest review from netgalley.

Okay so this is so tough to review solely because I had to DNF this book, why you might ask?
This book is dark which the description and cover art you totally get that and I was really excited for a dark fae story. Now does this have dark faes...yes, but this book is heavy guys. Like kidnapping, sibling (foster so idk not techincally sibling) love interests and just was so hard for me to get into. I think in a different mind set I would really like this book and I'm hoping later on I can come back and reread and update my review. As it stands I'd just be hating the book if I forced myself to finish and that's not what the author wants I'm sure.

So do I recommend this book? Yes if you want a dark fae filled heavy life book otherwise I'd be wary

This is not a book about faeries. Yes, it contains some serious creepy and disturbing faeries, but they feel like more of an extended metaphor. So if you’re jonesing for another fae book after The Wicked King, this is not the book for you. Instead this is a book about being a messed up teen, doing all the wrong things and then finding a way out. I think that’s a really important message. You are supposed to screw up as a teenager, if you never break anything, then you nevber mend – and you become a maladjusted adult. That said, this is a difficult read in places featuring sexual assault, codependancy, incest (is it though? They’re not genetically related)and suicidal ideation. I think those who enjoyed K. Ancrum’s The Wicker King will enjoy this because it also features a cast of queer characters and explores power imbalances and unhealthy teen relationships. And more importantly, coming out on the other side. I was surprised how much I enjoyed this one. Manage your expectations re supernatural forces and dive in.

I wish I liked this book more than I did, but it was extremely hard to get in to and I had to force myself to keep reading even after the halfway mark. I felt that Josh was crudely developed and truthfully, he really just annoyed and frustrated me because of his lack of development in my opinion. In the end, the book did get better, which is why I am giving it 2 stars. Once I hit the 60% mark, it was easier to read and the plot became more interesting and more developed.

I have to begin by stating that Sarah Porter is one of the few writers whose stories will stay with me always. When I noticed that Never-Contented Things, one of my most anticipated 2019 releases, was on NetGalley, I had to request it. I heard about Never-Contented Things sometime last October, and I could not wait to read it. I rated it a 5/5.

A few things that I loved about the story:

The characters. Porter gives multiple POVs throughout the story and it was absolutely engaging. There was one character in particular, who I loved to hate, that I was surprised to get a POV from. And let me tell you, it was great! Each character was so complex and full of life. It felt as if each one of the characters, even the creepy ones, could walk right off the page.

The fairies. Although I mentioned the characters above, I feel like I need to touch base with the fairies in this story. To say the least…they are brutal. They are unlike any fairies that I have ever read about, and I LOVED THEM! Yes, they are creepy, and I felt like they were always lurking around, but they were just the sort of fairies that I have been looking for in a book. YES!

The atmosphere. This is something that I love about Porter’s stories. She creates atmospheres where I’m left in some sort of dream-land/ nightmare and I cannot get enough of it. In this particular story, I was surprised where I was taken. It was beautiful and haunting all at once. I’m not going to lie, reading this story at night left me unsettled.

The ending. The ending was completely unpredictable to me. There are a few things that happen that left me heart-hurt and teary-eyed. Although things went down the way they did, there is a particular character who I ended up feeling sad for. Apart from that, I was happy for a couple of the other characters, but again, underneath it all, things are unsettling.

There is so much that I loved about Never-Contended Things that I would be able to write a story about the story. All in all, Porter wrote another incredible story that is already one of my favorites.

I want a huge fan of this book. The writing was choppy and didn't flow well. If I had paid money for this, I would have asked for a refund. It honestly bored me to tears.

Review can be found on *Milky Way of Books*

So...this was one of the hardest books I have read so far in 2019. At first, I couldn't understand what was happening but quickly everything went down in an epic fashion that left me reeling from fear and also checking under my bed if there is anything staring back at me.

Ksenia (which is a Greek name by the way) and Josh are two orphans fostered in a group home. They love each other with Josh loving his Kezzer more, despite the curious glances, the bullying, and the shit people give them. And when the mysterious Prince and his entourage appear?

Let's just say that everyone gets weirder and weirder.

Parallel worlds, changelings and a murderous Fae that makes Cardan looks like a sweet little kitten. There are POVs which are separated in parts and the emotional turmoil everyone has in here will make you cringe but also roots for them.

And yet despite the eye in the hat, the house and Josh's wrong choices the story is one huge symbolism about finding the power to move on even after tragedy hits. How to learn to lean on your friends and the family you didn't know how easily you could lose.

Sarah Porter's writing is gritty, terrifying and absolutely captures the scope of being human in a monstrous world.

I received an ARC from the publisher and NetGalley in exchange for my honest review.
The first thing that attracted me to this book was the cover and the synopsis.
The book was interesting and intriguing and kept my attention. There were some parts of the book that I didn't care for and had a hard time reading, but overall is was a good book.

I received a copy through NetGalley for review.

Honestly I don't really know where to start with this book.
Its more Alice fell down the rabbit hole into wonderland, than the typical courtly faeries most of us want to read.
Josh and Ksenia and foster siblings (not bio related) who have an unhealthy , borderline obsessive relationship with each other. They're the only ones holding each-other up.
Consumed by the looming threat of being torn apart, Joshua makes an unwitting bargain with the fae so he and "Kezzer"(his annoying childish nickname for his sister) can stay together forever. His love for her is selfish and all consuming, and he drags them into faerie without telling her, essentially so they can play house alone for the rest of time. Except to do so he loses his humanity and love, empathy.

I'm surprised no one else has brought up the fact that Ksenia and Josh essentially have an abusive, controlling relationship. It's completely unhealthy. Josh is shellfish, manipulative. Believing that he's the only one who can understand Ksenia, the only one who can love her properly. He doesn't listen to her wishes to not be intimate together, he isolates her in faery with only himself, and hurts her emotionally if she doesn't play along, he never once givers her a choice.
While Prince and the other fae, screw with his mind and emotions causing him to believe he she desires another. Causing him to take it out on her.
Ksenia at this point is already been a previous victim of abuse by her mother and a survivor of repeated rapes at a former foster home.

Abuse is all she knows and the cycle even with Josh continues.
I'm about 80% finished and I don't think I can continue this, it does appear she gains some insight finally about her situation with Josh, and with herself, finally confronting the parts of herself she shut away. But then throws herself at the next person who shows her kindness. (I'm skimming through)

The writing style is interesting, a bit hard to get through.
Overall it's been a disappointing read, cringey and uncomfortable to get through, and feels not all the way quite thought out.
I loved Vassa in the Night. I was really hoping for more.

So to start with I was ridiculously confused as to what was happening. It seemed like Porter had jumped in mid-narrative and I couldn't quite wrap my head around the unfolding events. Following a disappearance, a reappearance, an accusation of murder, some sprites building a second storey on a single level house and a change of POV, things finally got back on track.

While Prince would seem from the blurb to be the main baddie in everything, I instead feel the title of 'villain' should really go to Unselle, the beautiful abomination with the bitey cloak and immaculate bone structure. She is badarse while manipulating all the people around her because as is the standard, the Fae can't directly harm a human.

There's the usual trick of changelings (but these ones have a twist) and food that makes you stuck but had I purchased this as a cover buy and not read the blurb, I may have been confused as I can't remember them the fact that they are Fae being mentioned anywhere within the novel itself.

While there is changing POV's throughout, they do not take on the usual form of alternating chapters. Instead there are large portions dedicated to the viewpoint of a single character then a change, followed by another large portion seen through the eyes of another narrator. At first I wondered why but after the second narrator was done, I understood that each was given their proper time to encourage the reader to connect.

Porter weaved her story in her usual way so as to incite both a 'oooh I love it reaction' simultaneously with a 'what just happened *frantically flips pages*' coming to a crescendo which was a little predictable but also plucked this readers heartstrings.

Before I say anything else, I feel there are a couple of points that readers should know about NEVER-CONTENTED THINGS:

1. Yes, there is a toxic pseudo-incestuous relationship between Ksenia and Josh. Yes, it is called out for being unhealthy
2. This is a surreal, horror-type story. It is not supposed to be swoony or 'beautiful' or anything you might expect from Holly Black. So yes. It's weird as hell.

The reason why I want to start by pointing this out, is these seem to be people's main reasons for DNF'ing or giving low ratings. Of course, it's far from everyone's cup of tea, but I think it's unfair to judge this book through false standards---the blurb really doesn't give much away.

To cut a long story short, the book follows three POVS (Ksenia, Josh, and Lexi) as they struggle against the cruel games of 'fairies' (though they're never referred to as fairies) after Josh bargains his way into their twisted magical world. And by 'magical world,' I mean a parallel version of their suburbs where everything is, to use the technical term, Very Fucked Up. There are heartless cadavers, blood-thirsty weasel brooches, sentient stairs, and the most vicious fairies I've ever come across. And the relationships were similarly messy, so fair warning, this book deals with all kinds of abuse (including rape). There's also wonderful diversity here, especially in regards to gender nonconformity.

My own issues with the book were mainly to do with confusion and erratic pacing, but it's difficult to address those specifically without spoiling. I appreciated the imagination and lyricism of the writing, especially the weird way the fairies spoke. So my overall review is sort of ambivalent. But if you read this book, make sure you know what you're getting into---and if you love surrealism and nasty fairies and complex relationships, I'd encourage you to give it a go.

I really wanted to like this idea. I've loved fairy type books ever since Melissa Marr and Holly Black entered my world. I knew this wouldn't be the Cruel Prince and that there are other fairy type stories out there, unfortunately the timing of this one in the midst of the success of Holly Black's newest series, I think does it a disservice.

Separating it from the expectations was hard for me. It's just not on the same level as some of the better fairy books I've read and it just didn't have anything that made it click as something special. The characters didn't draw me in. They didn't make me care and mostly I just wanted to get through it.

I hate to say that about any book, but this one was just not for me and if someone asked me for a recommendation I can think of better fairy-type books for them than this one.

Never-Contented Things left me wanting something more. While the writing and descriptions were detailed and interesting the book felt slow for the first half and I was having a hard time connecting with Ksenia. She has had a tough life and it’s left some major scars that she’s trying to cope with the best she can. Ksenia and her adoptive brother, Josh, have a dysfunctional relationship from the start which leads them into this disturbing fairy world.

Throughout the book I kept wanting to learn more about the fairies and their goals but they turned out not to be as much of a focus of the story as the relationship between Ksenia, Josh and their friend Lexi. It was a bit disappointing because beyond those three characters everyone else felt like a part of the background and almost unnecessary.

I really wanted to like this book but unfortunately found myself struggling to get pulled into the world and connecting with the characters.

I just can't seem to get into this book. I really enjoyed Vassa in the Night, but this one is just not connecting with me at all.

Having just finished the copy I received to review from Netgalley, I can say that this book definitely scratched fairy-themed itches and left me a bit dazzled myself by the subtle depth of the story.

I loved the characters, the switching perspectives (in larger chunks of story, not per chapter, which I liked) really made me feel wrapped up in their narratives and voices. I loved that Ksenia was so complex and real - I loved the... well... chaos and mess that was her path through basically any relationship. Focusing on two foster kids added a much-needed grittiness to this genre that's been overrun by 'hot fae kings with brooding brows and messy, sexy hair'.

I'm not sure this book fits easily into a 'fantasy' novel description. It felt a little more like a gothic horror that cast a band of fae as their monsters (and rightfully so!) That's sort of the thing that's stuck with me after the book - how deliciously horrible and thorny these fae were. How inhuman and discordant they were written. With how realistic and refreshingly accurate I felt the human characters were, seeing this darker, messy, brittle sort of fae made them seem realistic too! Like other books were the Disneyfied version of faerie but this is how it'd truly 'go down' should they catch one of us.

All of this said, the book sort of had this strange ramble to it. I never felt like it'd be a DNF sort of story, but I found it sort of swirling and almost fixating a bit on moments that left me a little impatient. It lulled a little around the middle, as many books can do. I did feel like things picked up quickly at the end but were satisfyingly finished (in a not-too-perfect way, as the story requires). A lot of the action is interspersed with moments of deep reflection and memories, which can occasionally stall things out, but honestly, I'm not sure I'd change that. Introspection and dealing with internal demons sort of fueled the resolution of the book.

Overall, this was refreshing and haunting all at once. I loved this new, back-to-the-old-stories sort of book. The mix of modern situations and lifestyles with the darkest of old-school fairy mythology really worked well.