A dark fairytale of betrayal and revenge, I found this story of a woman’s retaliation and obsession to be beautifully written and completely chilling.
The concept alone is unsettling -Lucy discovers her husband has cheated on her, and they agree that she can hurt him three times... but he won’t know it’s coming. Tackling themes of motherhood, retribution and the myth of the Harpy, Lucy deals with trauma both past and present, slowly losing her grip on reality. Original, poetic and visceral, I was disturbed but couldn’t put it down. Loved it. And that cover! Just Gorgeous.....

Having struggled somewhat with Hunter's debut novel, The End We Start From, I probably was not the best audience for this, her second novel. But there were positive early reviews so I decided to give it a go anyway as the plot sounded intriguing.

The premise - a woman finds out her husband is cheating on her, and they subsequently agree that she can harm him three times to even the score.

This might've worked better as a short story but it felt slightly prolonged as a novel. I struggle with fiction which is meandering and vague, and this book fell into both categories. Not for me!

This is a difficult book to review. It is super short, and the author packs every moment of this book with development that will make your head swoon at times. You cannot miss a word or sentence or you very likely miss something.

Jake and Lucy are married with 2 kids. When the book opens Lucy finds out her husband is having an affair with another woman. This is the setup for what is to come. When Lucy confronts Jake, he gives all the staple responses that you expect, which Lucy quickly notices. As you would expect things are quite terse with them. After an minor incident Jake texts Lucy and says she can get revenge on him three times and then this needs to be forgotten.

This is where we get to the crux of this story. Immediately Lucy delivers her first act of revenge, and boy is she is satisfied. As the story develops , Lucy continues to spiral downward knowing of her husband’s infidelity. I won’t say much more because the end of the book is quite a surprise.

Why I find this hard to review, is the “fairy tale” element. To mix these elements confused me at times. The style goes back and forth a lot and I really had to take stock of what exactly was going on. The author does a wonderful job describing what is like to learn to live with this awful relationship altering news, but when you add these other elements it just changes the dynamic of the entire book and I am not sure I liked it.

The form is original, but I feel this will work for some and other people will be turned off by the style. The good news it is extremely short and moves incredibly fast, so I think it worth giving a try. I would love to hear more feedback from other readers once this book makes it into the world.

Thank you NetGalley and Grove Press for an Advanced Reader’s Copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

I REALLY wanted to like this book. Based solely on the synopsis from NetGalley, it looked super good and interesting. However, I had a hard time keeping my interest. But I did like some of the turns the story took. The main character was likable to me, in a way that an unlikable character shouldn't be. I sort of loved her. The story is decent, and the writing/descriptions were good. But overall, I felt okay about the story.

I am not usually a fan of the cheating husband trope so I wasn't sure how much this book was going to suit me! It lacked a little bit of clarity I would've appreciated but Hunter weaves together a story about revenge & obsession.

We first meet Lucy in the monotony of her life. She has taken over the role of all the domestic tasks while her husband has the ability to focus on his work. Lucy soon discovers that Jake, her husband, has been having an affair with one of his coworkers. As they grapple with how to move on Jake suggests that she hurt him three times and that they will be even.

As Lucy begins to hurt Jake she realizes how much joy it brings her to cause him this much pain. It brings up her memories of her childhood obsession with the harpy.

Overall, I did enjoy this story! I do have a soft spot for morally grey women and Lucy definitely fits right in.

Mannnnnnnn, I wanted this to match it's glorious cover. Instead, I have a rather boring story of infidelity with an extremely unlikeable lead. Lucy is boring and complains and complains and complains. Yes, the ideal of turning INTO a bird - the magical realism is juuuuuust starting but instead - it just tried WAY too hard to be 'literary'.

Eh...

Thanks to NetGalley and the publishers for the opportunity to read and review this book.

This was very dark, and different. The story of a woman and her reaction to her husband's affair. The writing is excellent. The story was interesting but sort of off putting to me, which may well be intentional.

<i><b>"I asked my mother what a harpy was, and she told me: they punish men for the things they do."</b></i>

Lucy is a happily married woman raising two sons with her husband, Jake up until the day she receives a phone call from a man informing her that her husband has been having an affair with his wife, Vanessa. Her world shattered; she informs Jake that she knows. He says he is sorry; he says it was only sex, he claims it is over. But the couple agree that Lucy can hurt him three times to make up for the pain he has caused.

<i><b>"You can hurt me back. Three times - then we'll be even?"</b></i>

But will they be even? Will this make Lucy feel better? Will it make things, right? Will this push one of them over the edge?

Lucy has always been intrigued by Harpies. Now she has a chance to be like one. To make a man pay for what he has done. Everyone thinks they know what they would do in certain situations but when it actually happens....Lucy is fragile, and her mental state begins to be changing, she begins to become more like a harpy and less like herself.

Will you feel sorry for anyone in this book? Her husband annoyed me when he pointed out that a man at their holiday party would never cheat because he was so into the woman he was dating...was that his not so subtle way of telling Lucy that he was not into her. That he preferred a more mature and sophisticated woman???

This book has a familiar premise: a cheating spouse gets exposed. But the writing in this was absorbing and I found myself having a hard time putting this down. Some will be uncomfortable with the physically harming someone to make things right. I viewed this as her embodying the harpy and becoming a shadow of her former self.

I found this book to be beautifully written - not to mention the intriguing cover! The writing sucked me in, and I was captivated. I enjoyed the pacing and being able to get into Lucy's head as the story is told from her POV.

This book is intriguing, simmering, captivating and hard to put down.

<i>.<b>"But the picture I remembered best was the harpies, dark shadows, birds with women's faces, who came down to torture the unicorn, to make him suffer."</b></i>


Thank you to Grove Atlantic/Grove Press and NetGalley who provided me with a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review. All the thoughts and opinions are my own.

This book was awful. A spouse cheats and to make up for it gives his wife 3 opportunities to hurt him back. She does, and then from there the book gets odd. I didn't like it at all and regret that I wasted 2 hours of my life on it. Will not be reading more by this author.

The writing in this book was lyrical, which I enjoyed. Overall the story of the book and even the narration was quite dark. I was intrigued by the premise and I liked the way the myth of the harpy was woven it, but it wasn’t a book I really enjoyed reading that much. I can see that this will really resonate with a certain type of reader, but it wasn’t exactly to my taste.

The Harpy tells the story of Lucy, a woman punishing her husband after he has an affair. The description tells us it’s part fairy tale and I’ve also heard this described as magical realism, but I think that’s a stretch.

I wouldn’t say it was compelling, but I found this to be a quick, easy read; so I’m finding it difficult to rate. There’s not a lot to it. Perhaps there’s a little more under the surface: that in punishing her husband Lucy is punishing her father and all men, yet also becoming her father; that she’s punishing herself for being bored with her humdrum life. Or perhaps I’m trying to force more meaning.

Lucy has always been fascinated with the harpy and we learn snatches of information about the creature as the book progresses and it works to show the parallel of Lucy as the punishing harpy but I don’t think that any of the mythology really bleeds into the story.

What almost ruined the book for me was the ending. I’m not averse to an ambiguous ending, in fact, I feel fairly certain about what happened. However, what I didn’t like was how the book suddenly seems to take a departure, for the last 5% or so, from everything that’s gone before. Perhaps this is where the magical realism came in? I found it very confusing and disorienting.

Even though my first reaction on finishing was to take away a star for the ending, after a little reflection, it’s a low 3 stars from me.

Thank you #NetGalley and #GroveAtlantic for this ARC.

I really wanted to like this book. The premise sounded promising and it has a beautiful cover. However, that’s about all I enjoyed about this book. Maybe it was just the prose style, but at no point did I find this book interesting or wanted to know more. I can power through a not so great story, I could not power through this.

Adultery is not a particularly exciting topic for me to read about, but upon reading the synopsis I was very intrigued. I was expecting more of a thrill in The Harpy. Instead I received a surreal drama - enjoyable, but not what I signed up for.

Thank you to NetGalley and Grove Atlantic for providing me with this unsettling ARC. In exchange I offer my unbiased review.

It only took a few pages of The Harpy before I easily recognized author Megan Hunter’s poetic and dreamy prose and tone. Like her previous novella, this story centers around motherhood and marriage and the traumas, disappointments and complications from those Institutions. Lucy discovers her husband’s infidelity, leading to her breaking point. The discovery sets off a course of revenge and the memory of her troubled childhood. This is a page turner but in an uncomfortable, unsettling way. It’s hard to sympathize with either Lucy or Jake but one can share the experiences of discontent and disappointment.
The ambiguous ending will probably divide readers, however in this instance, I thought it was suitable. The cover art is exceptional and the introduction of the mythical Harpy is an interesting diversion to Lucy’s transformation.
It’s a rather quick read and one that would make for a wonderful bookclub discussion.

Not exactly my type of book. Had a hard time finishing this. the writing was better than the story. Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher!

Thanks to Netgalley for the ARC of this book. What an incredibly moving story. Tells the transformation a woman goes through as she deals with stresses in her marriage and life. Is it supernatural? In her mind? Metaphorical? It's all left up to the reader to decide. I loved this book.

3.5 stars.

The writing in this book is beautiful and wonderful and poetic. The premise is interesting and weird and I really like weird books. There is a merging of reality with a not quite fully explained magical realism element as the protagonist slowly becomes merged with the mythological harpy. It was an intriguing book and I did like the read, but the execution just left me a little lacking and I wasn't able to be gripped by the movement of the story. I didn't connect well enough with the characters to really care what happened in the end.

The Harpy is a short novel with a fairly well-moving plot. Written from Lucy's point of view, the narration is fairly unreliable...a tactic that can either work wonderfully or fail miserably for me depending on the way it is executed. For me, I thought this actually worked well. She's a strange bird (pun slightly intended) from the beginning and boy does it just go downhill from there. Once Jake's affair is revealed, there is a fairly rapid progression of Lucy's mental decline and the book quickly began to feel primarily like something highly psychopathic. Again, not necessarily a bad thing, but in Lucy's case...it just didn't sit right for me.

Lucy was, in fact, probably my primary obstacle to REALLY enjoying this book. Her unreliability and, really unlikability, played fine for me, but she also didn't feel fully cohesive. This was a disorienting issue that pulled me out of the book a bit. It was like having two completely separate protagonists merged into one being. And while merging the original Lucy with the character of the harpy IS done, that is not what I'm referring to here. I'm talking about two completely separate characters, as if the book was written using two different (and somewhat oppositional) identities and then, rather than selecting one, the author just combined them.

One of these personalities was a sympathetic character going through a difficult life situation, infidelity. I could identify with this part of Lucy, and these portions of the plot flew by and pulled me in. There was some promise that there could be a progression through the issues and character development (or at least an interesting journey) along the way. The other half of Lucy was just fantastically unhappy in all ways and didn't seem to have a smidge of hope. Lucy appears to be overly unfulfilled and resentful from the beginning, which made it a little harder for me to connect with her emotions and her attempt to grapple with her husband's infidelity. Basically, she just felt like an unsavable trainwreck from the start. I didn't care about this part of her character as I didn't see her going anywhere and it ultimately removed my ability to be fully immersed in the plot. Had this portion of her been removed as an additional conflict, I think she would have been much more believable and relatable.

All that being said, this STILL was a decent read with fantastic writing. I wouldn't mind checking out more of Hunter's work in the future.

* Disclaimer: I received a copy of this novel from the publisher in exchange for an honest review. *

Thank you to the author, Grove Atlantic and NetGalley, for an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

The premise of this book intrigued me, and the amazing cover art did its part, I was hooked. The book is beautifully written, and rapidly takes a dark turn - but unfortunately it doesn't deliver. The couple at the center of the story is obviously unhappy, each individually and there doesn't seem to be much holding them together as a couple either. Most of the book is Lucy, the wife, rambling on - increasingly disjointedly - about her unhappiness and the stresses she feels motherhood has placed upon her. The ending was... what?! Annoying and as a whole unsatisfying, particularly because I had such high hopes.

A book I had seen and instantly wanted to read. Thank you Grove Atlantic for my copy to review
The Harpy is a deeply unsettling read whilst totally addictive.
The story of Jake and Lucy whom when she discovers her husband's affair, the agreement is made she can hurt him three times and afterwards they will be even.
The story is written in prose that is beautiful but also haunting and at times purposely long in places. There is the current story and recollections of Lucy's past.
This book is hard to review as I've struggled with the ending. It felt incoherent from the rest of the story. I'm aware it's reader interpretation but I personally wanted more clarity.
This is a book that will stay with me for a long time.

Lucy's husband, Jake, is cheating on her. When she finds out, they decide to stay together but come to a special agreement.
Lucy is to hurt Jake three times to even the score.

It was a fairly enjoyable book, but it wasn't exactly what I expected.
What I mistakenly thought would be a thriller was more of a study of Lucy's emotions. However, the writing flowed smoothly, and I was pretty invested in the story.
The ending, unfortunately, was inconclusive and left me unsatisfied, thus 2 stars only.