This book is disturbingly twisted. I was tempted to DNF it multiple time, but I was also incredibly fascinated by the story.

Rather, the reason I wanted to DNF it at times is because of the way it made me feel. Parts of this book are downright messed up, and I would argue this book is only appropriate for older YA audiences, if it’s going to be marketed toward that age group at all.

First of all, I want to give a content warning for sexual assault, graphic violence, drug and alcohol use, suicide, non-consensual elements, and early on it’s clear the two foster siblings at the heart of this story are harboring romantic feelings for each other. I have a pretty open mind when it comes to taboo topics in books, and I’ll tell you, the relationship between Josh and Ksenia wasn’t even what made me feel uncomfortable in the first place.

If you saw mention of faeries in the summary and have noted that it’s been compared to The Cruel Prince, I want to preface that the elements of faerie are NOT the crux of this story. Take The Cruel Prince and make the faeries even fiercer, without remorse and only seeking entertainment and you *might* come close to characterizing the faerie elements of this story. Now, take two broken and lost teenagers, who aren’t sure how to survive without each other and put their lives under the thumb of those faeries. Much of this book takes place IN Faerie, though it is never referenced as such and takes some understanding of faerie folklore to realize that is what’s going on.

Furthermore, one of the main characters, Ksenia is vaguely referenced to as genderfluid multiple times, and I really loved her character. But, I felt as though she was continually treated more as thing and a plot device in this story than anything else, and certainly her identifying as non-binary felt as though it wasn’t meant for representation but so that the pieces of this story would fit together better (like I said, it’s only vaguely referenced, as though the author didn’t want to actually say it out loud). 🤔

The idea behind this story is fascinating, though I am disappointed that there weren’t enough consequences for the perpetrators. There is some utterly wrong, unforgivable things that happen in this book. There is one particular character whose obsession with another character takes them across some lines that should never be crossed and I feel as though they only received a slap on the wrist in the end.

This book is well written, with a solid plot, but I am not really sure who I would recommend it to. That’s compounded by this book’s tone putting me into a similarly uncomfortable and weird mood while reading it. I’ll just say this – if you give it a shot, keep an open mind and try to read through to the end if you can! It’s about 2.5 stars for me, but I am rounding it up because it is well written and interesting, if anything else.

I had originally DNF"d this book, but after much consideration I decided to try to finish it. What a huge mistake. I try to be nice with these reviews, but honestly I have zero nice things to say about this book, except that the cover is stunning. I love the style of it and the colors.
This book made me so uncomfortable. It was slow, it was weird, it had a weird story, and the love relationship between the brother and sister made me feel sick. It was just gross. I wouldn't even give this book a one star rating if I could help it.

I didn't like this book. It was dark and creepy. not a horror, but just made me feel uncomfortable.

The more sinister the faeries, the better. Usually. While I loved Porter's prose and appreciated the dark corners that NEVER-CONTENTED THINGS was willing to crawl into, I wasn't comfortable with the romantic element between Ksenia and Joshua and ultimately it turned me away more than anything.

Wasn't the best book I read, didn't quite connect with the characters and their plots, but it was a fun read!

I'm not sure where to begin with this book. It was a bit loopy for me. It follows two main characters, while giving time to two others as well. The main characters are Josh and Ksenia who are foster brother and sister. They have somewhat of a forbidden and unhealthy romance going between them. The two other characters that get time in the book are Lexi and Unselle.

Of all the characters I enjoyed Ksenia the most because she seemed to be a bit more level-headed than the rest. I enjoyed how she tried to work things out on her own, especially when things got out of hand. I loved her sassy attitude. I loved how she understood her feelings weren't the best within the circumstance.

Joshua pissed me off!!! He was a young kid, but he was such a tortured soul. I felt so bad for him. He didn't really understand how to deal with his emotions and love. He allowed the fairies to twist his mind and make him a monster.

The romance between Ksenia and Joshua was a bit weird for me. I get that they were foster siblings, but their romance was completely unhealthy. I've read many books that have played off the forbidden love/incest trope, but this was way too freaky. I think that also adds to the darkness of the fantasy aspect. I was rooting for them at one point, but when Joshua lost himself I was hoping they would separate.

Lexi seems like a chill friend, but also a confused one. Ksenia liked her, but she didn't like her back. I didn't really understand their friendship at all, but I loved how Lexi tried her best to save her.

The fairies are all twisted in this story. I didn't care for them at all, but I loved how the title was incorporated into their being as fairies and never contented with anything in life. I think I loved the Prince the most of the fairies because he was petty and comical.

One thing I enjoyed the most was the beautiful writing. Sarah really pulled me in with her description of each character and the world. I was able to visualize the story and really feel attached to it.

Overall, this was an okay read. A quick one as well.

I'm unsure how to rate this because while my reading experience wasn't necessarily pleasant, I can see the merits of this book. The story follows two foster siblings who are "in love" (something that already makes me uncomfortable, as someone with a sibling) as they go through the trials and tribulations of the fae. The relationships are so deeply twisted, and Ksenia especially (the protagonist) has so much baggage that she has to work through.

I did not enjoy this book, but I can respect it a lot. It touches upon so many ugly emotions and traumas that people suffer from, and the character journeys are cathartic if you can bear to see the book through to the end. I was also thrown off by the writing style and the generally surreal atmosphere that confused me as I read the book.

Ultimately I was happy to see that there was representation of different gender identities and sexual orientations but even that couldn't really save the narrative for me. I ended up finishing the book feeling odd, not sure if I was glad to have read this or if I would've rather not. I also think that the marketing for this book was poorly done, as it ended up seeming like something that would sound like The Cruel Prince but ended up being more of a psychological surreal bildungsroman.

I don’t know how I feel about this book. On one hand I liked how dark it was and on the other hand I thought it was too dark. It was enjoyable enough that I would probably read more from this author in the future.

I love creepy and interesting fae books! I think this book hit the mark on great narration but I was hoping for more worldbuilding. All in all, the treatment of fae was unique and I loved the dedicated relationship between Josh and Ksenia. I'd recommend this book to readers who love found family and fae novels with a twist.

This book did sound very similar to The Cruel Prince but it was nothing like it. I did however enjoy the dark atmosphere of this book. I found the relationships intriguing if not disturbing from time to time.

I'm sorry, I requested this book because I love reading stories about fae, but I couldn't get into it and had to DNF it.

I can really appreciate what this book was trying to do and I do think it's important to read about teens who are messy and going through a tough lot but it just wasn't for me. I like creepy but I just felt more depressed than anything else while reading.

I had high hopes for this one that weren’t entirely fulfilled. It sounded like it was right up my alley but it was a bit slow to get into. I’m sure somebody loves it, it just wasnt exactly for me.

this was really interesting but it wasn't impactful to me. might come back to this book in the future.

DNF

I couldn't get into it.

The writing is bad. The character was bad. The plot made no sense at all and I just couldn't make myself want to read it because of the bad writing. A total disappointment as I was expecting much from it but it was just a let down.

Fairies have always seemed kind of shady to me, and I tend to enjoy books that play up that angle — I mean, here you are immortal, unseen, able to bring about any illusion you can imagine, so what do you do after a few millennia? If you’re the fairies in Never-Contented Things, you toy with humans, and there may never have been two people more full of human issues to toy with than foster siblings Josh and Ksenia. Life has not been easy for either of them, and finding each other after years of bouncing from foster home to foster home has bonded them so closely that they’ve become codependent. When Josh turns to the fairies to guarantee he and Ksenia can stay together forever, they’re both pulled into a dark and dangerous other reality. Josh would give everything he has to stay; Ksenia just wants out. That obviously makes this emotionally tough terrain: Josh and Ksenia need each other, but they also make it impossible for either of them to be free individuals. They trap each other as much as the fairies do, and it’s this realization in the face of their deep love and need that makes this story more complex than the typical fairy tale.

This is a dark, ugly, messy story about people who have been hurt and made bad choices. There are a lot of adult things going on with sex, drugs, and mental health. I wouldn’t hand it off to just any teen reader — it’s a lot. And it’s inconsistent — sometimes it kind of gets sidetracked and wanders off for a while, losing the thread that pulls you forward. But for teens who are interested in dark fairy tales, how gender shapes our sense of self, the deep fear of being really known by another person, and the limits of love, I think this book has some interesting things to say.

This book is so hard to review! I love fantasy books about fairies but I'm not usually a fan of when the faeries are not friendly. The relationship between the two main characters is hard to swallow and I can see how it turns people off. As a foster child myself I actually relate to relationship myself but I can see others having an issue with it.

The story explores the relationship and the intense codependency between the characters in a way that kept me reading and rooting for each of them in completely different ways.

I would recommend this story but I would have to be careful who I recommended it to as I know a lot of people will not understand the important aspects of the story and won't be able to see past it.

I love a good story set in Faerie, but this one didn't pull me in as much as I would've liked. I believe I needed a bit more world-building and understanding of this particular version of Faerie and the Faeries that reside in it. I felt I was just shoved into this weird world like and felt as lost as Kezzer did throughout the first quarter of the book. Some may like this writing style it just wasn’t for me. It was quite confusing and I found my mind wandering while trying to read. I tried to push through and made it about 20-25% of the way through before I had to, unfortunately, DNF this title.

A solid YA novel that was a good purchase for my library. Students have read and enjoyed it, and I purchased it because of this review copy.

Ok I have tried to get into this author before, I love the way she writes. Her prose is magical and haunting. But there was some very weird shit in here and ultimately I was just too uncomfortable to finish. Very disappointed. I probably won't try anything from this author again. Not for me.