I couldn't get through this title. It ended up not being for me, but I hope it finds a hope with other readers.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the ARC.

Incredibly interesting synopsis. Very intriguing gothic horror novel with suspense thrown in. Not the biggest fan of the story being told in second person POV.

Anyone who knows me is aware that I have a weird penchant for antique taxidermy so I jumped at the chance to read this. This was an eerie story of obsession from a writer I’ve not come across before, but will look out for in the future. My expectations were the feel of a historical novel with something a little spooky about it and I wasn’t disappointed. Dipping in and out of the past, Scarlett addresses her lover Henry, who is hoping to my find a foothold in this niche world of taxidermy. I loved these forays into the past, as it allows us to witness a tale of obsession and the macabre in the tradition of gothic fiction - one of my favourite genres. There’s that strange effect of feeling you are reading a Victorian novel instead of a contemporary story.

Hall’s writing feels haunting and sets a dark, forbidding tone. Although it’s a second person narration it feels very personal.There’s a sense of foreboding and I kept wondering about the veracity of Scarlett’s story. Would Henry tell us a different tale? Despite it’s potential unreliability, I felt drawn in by the story and I simply couldn’t guess how all this would play out. I think it is so compelling because there’s it’s such a narrow focus. The writer is echoing that feel of obsession.

Scarlett and Henry’s relationship was very fast moving, with them moving in almost immediately and getting married very soon after. She becomes involved in his career and suggests he try something different; chopping and changing animal parts to create totally new creatures. To say Scarlett is obsessed would be an understatement really, not with Henry, but with his taxidermy. It’s very unhealthy, but when we hear about Scarlett’s twin brother Rhett and the death of her parents her interest in the parts of bodies starts sense, but it’s sense of a very disturbed kind. Some readers might feel sorry for her and I did understand how certain events might have overwhelmed her psyche. I found it very satisfying to get so deep under a character’s skin. The twist that comes is an unexpected, but does make sense.

This is a slow story so if you’re looking for fast thrill rides this isn’t the book for you, but that said it’s strangely satisfying. Dark, twisted and very unique, the atmosphere of the novel will stay with you long after the final page is turned.

I would rate this 3.25 out of 5 stars.

This was such an interesting book!

The writing was both beautiful and strange and the atmosphere was incredible - so creepy and unsettling!

I thought the ending of this book was amazing but it did leave me with some unanswered questions(view spoiler).

This is a really different read that I recommend checking out if you're looking for something really different with great gothic vibes.

This weird and dark novel will make you cringe and make you feel very out of place after reading it lol.

First things first, wow. This is a very completely different type of horror I haven’t encountered. Gives me the Frankenstein type of vibes. Second thing is, WTH.

I found this novel disturbing when realizing what happened tot he main character Scarlett. She obviously loves this taxidermist and it’s very weird disturbing type of love. I think she loved him for the what he did for a living. Well he’s odd and so is she so that makes them the perfect couple lol.

The novel really goes on on how she explains his love for him and it kind of felt repetitive in my opinion. However, something was keeping me from continuing with this book. Something was haunting her and it wasn’t giving her any peace of mind.

Despite her obsessively talking her love for Henry, this book was good. It had some dark and creepy elements and of course it was kinda hard to envision such creatures. If you like weird and dark sh*t this book is it for you lol. I give it 4 out of 5 stars because it definitely creeped the heck out of me but not totally for me to give 5 lol

I tried for so long but this just isnt my cup of tea. I liked the concept but not the result. The writing was very good though

What can i possibly say about this book? It's weird, page-turning, uncomfortable, scandalous, and odd. This non-fiction delves into taboos, poetry, obsession, love, jealously, horror and taxidermy. I highly highly recommend this book especially if you like to feel uncomfortable in obsessions and taboos. I won't write more about it here as, as I discovered, no spoilers really make this book. I really like this author and cant wait for her next story.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for an EARC of the book in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own.

So so magical and surprising, I loved this book. The story was so well written with characters you can't help but dream about. Of course the location is pure perfection as well.

I hate that I ended up not finishing The Taxidermist's Lover. I'm sure there are readers who will absolutely love this story though.
One thing I wasn't really a fan of is the point of view. This whole story feels more like a love letter than an actual story. So this kind of threw me off. I ended up getting about halfway so I'm not sure if the story gets better but on top of the POV I found the book a little bit slow with some gross things added to it. I get it..it's a horror story. The gross things about the story didn't bother me so much but more or less just how the story is written.
On top of that, I didn't exactly like the main character. It's understandable readers aren't going to like all of the characters in a book but there aren't very many characters, to begin with. So it would have been nice to have one redeemable character and not one that has a weird obsession with her husband and her brother. Her relationship with her twin brother is just weird but maybe it's just me!

Oh my god? This is such a hard book to rate. It started out so confusing, but got clearer the more I read, then more confusing, and then it all became a mess, and the ending... wow. I thought I'd take a bit longer reading, but the last 30% of the book just flows so well and fast I couldn't stop.

It's a very eerie and strange story, with Scarlett's relationship with the much older taxidermist Henry moving from a "love affair" to creating weird creatures and hearing them and us finding out more information about her past and her twin Rhett... It's also so good - Polly Hall's writing feels very lyrical, and the only times I felt the 2nd person narrative (we read as Henry, reading Scarlett's thoughts) got awkward was during the sex scenes. Not enough to throw me off, but still, surprising.

"Love transcends all. Doesn't it? Even death."

I couldn't get a good grasp on where this took place until the second half, when we see more of the external issues going on in Scarlett's life, since it's very much an internal narrative, all from her perspective on things, but I don't think it made me enjoy the story any less.

"I wanted to become something else even then, to be noticed, to be transformed by a higher will."

I quite enjoyed it, and at times it made me think of Mary Shelley's Frankenstein, with topics about mixing up different beings and creating life/death and all that; and reminded me a bit of Olga Tokarczuk's Drive Your Plow Over the Bones of the Dead, with all the focus on the animals, even if mostly for taxidermy.

That being said, the descriptions are not light at all - there are detailed moments where Scarlett talks about the dead animals, the things Henry does for his job, and other more specific grotesque themes that show up in the book.

This book is good if you are looking for something that sort of toes the line of horror but never really crosses into the realm of it. It is eerie, creepy, and dark. The 1800s Gothic vibes are strong and the nod to Frankenstein didn’t go unnoticed. It was just a little shy of being a good read for me, but it was enjoyable nonetheless!

There was much to enjoy here, but I found I couldn't connect with it. I'd read more from this author in the future though.

First off - I'm in LOVE with that oddly sensual cover. And it totally fits this book.

This is a horrifically romantic(yes I used those words together LOL)novel. It has a rich gothic feel but be warned that this novel requires some patience (it's well worth it)due to the slow poetic tone that fits this novel beautifully.

I was fascinated by the taxidermy plot and adored both Scarlett and Henry.

While I saw the twist at the end, it was still brilliant.

If you are looking for your horror with a strange, eerie vibe then I highly recommend this novel

An ARC was provided to me by NetGalley and the publisher in exchange for an honest review.

This description of this book reeled me in, but I couldn't finish it. I found the writing to be dull and tedious, and the story seemed to be going nowhere. Maybe it's because I've seen plenty of taxidermy mash-ups, but I don't find that horrifying, so if that's supposed to be what creates a macabre and horror-like mood it's missing the mark for me. Without the darkness and creepy vibe that particular plot element is supposed to provide, it's nothing more than the story of a woman obsessed with several different men, and that's a story that has been done and overdone.

I've seen a few comparisons to The Yellow Wallpaper, but there's no comparison. This book doesn't even come close.

These characters and relationships are so well-formed and believable, it only adds to the growing horror. A beautiful exploration of obsessive love, guilt, and the terrors that await those that adulterate nature's design.

This weird and dark novel will make you cringe and make you feel very out of place after reading it lol.

First things first, wow. This is a very completely different type of horror I haven’t encountered. Gives me the Frankenstein type of vibes. Second thing is, WTH.

I found this novel disturbing when realizing what happened tot he main character Scarlett. She obviously loves this taxidermist and it’s very weird disturbing type of love. I think she loved him for the what he did for a living. Well he’s odd and so is she so that makes them the perfect couple lol.

The novel really goes on on how she explains his love for him and it kind of felt repetitive in my opinion. However, something was keeping me from continuing with this book. Something was haunting her and it wasn’t giving her any peace of mind.

Despite her obsessively talking her love for Henry, this book was good. It had some dark and creepy elements and of course it was kinda hard to envision such creatures. If you like weird and dark sh*t this book is it for you lol. I give it 4 out of 5 stars because it definitely creeped the heck out of me but not totally for me to give 5 lol 😂

I got an ARC of this book.

I don’t even know where to start with this book. This is the sort of gothic that has always appealed to me. Everything moves in this slow and deliberate pace, but things are clearly not right the whole time. The way the characters interact, the narration, everything has to be so precise to be a gothic that actually works for me.

This book is not scary, but it is horrifying. There is such a pull between the characters that never really was healthy. No matter the characters, when they interacted, everything was just so always off and I was nervous. This book made me nervous. The characters are pretty flat and not all that interesting alone. What makes them interesting is their connections to others. I couldn’t care less who the characters were, what mattered was what they meant to each other.

The slow descent into madness felt like it was going to be Yellow Wallpaper, but it went in a totally different direction than I thought it would. The ending was drastically different than I was imagining. I expected it to be very much “nothing is wrong here, you are the issue” sort of thing or even her going so far as to burn the house down trying to save the souls. There is a lot of forshadowing towards both what I imagined and what really happened. The ending felt so perfect that I can’t even be grumpy that I picked the wrong path.

The story does take a while to read. I would read a chunk and put it down for hours, but then pick it up wondering why I ever put it down. It is easy to read just a small part and be fully immersed in the world. There are just so many details that my head is swimming with it all. I am just oddly fascinated by this book. I have no idea why. I can’t stand taxidermy. It makes my skin crawl and my heart hurt. Why is a book about a taxidermist something that holds my attention?

I love macabre stuff in my book. I love a good horror story or a good goth novel. This book - was wonderful. Well, it's wonderful for anyone who doesn't mind the MCs going slighty off the grid over time and can the odd gruesomeness in a book. For me, someone who absolutely adores gory stuff, it was perfect.
The title was enchanting enough for me - I mean, a taxidermist? I had to sign up for this one.
And I was not disappointed. It's magical. It's gory. It's macabre. And the ending was so amazing, I almost cried in happiness, The ending was so gruesome, so out of this world, so perfectly tabooish - how could I not love it?
The only issue I had - and the only thing that makes me cut a star, because this book was really well written and thrilling - was the rape. Yes, there is a rape scene in this book and it's really off. If you happen to be triggered by that, please be aware. That was the only thing I did not like about that book.
The rest however - from beginning to the very magificent end - was perfect. I would more than happily buy this book for myself and technically a very selected group of my friends who are about as macabre in their reading preferences as me.
I always feel a bit off for liking these kind of stories. But I am also very happy that people write stories like that because otherwise, I'd have nothing to read anymore...

I received a free copy by Netgalley and the publishers and I am extremely grateful for that, because I enjoyed this book a great deal.

This book piqued my interest in many ways - the title, cover, synopsis, and then the writing style. I had mixed feelings once I started reading it, but I loved the way the story was told - like the Scarlett was speaking directly to the reader. That also made it all the more uncomfortable during the many sex scenes that are scattered throughout the story. The sex was super cringey to read and I don't think it really added anything to the story besides making it weird. While I did enjoy this book, I already knew where it was going. I didn't foresee all of the plot twists, but I did have a good idea of how it was going to end.

Aside from the cringey sex, I'd say my only other negatives were that the characters are not fully developed - Rhett seems to be a stereotypical roaming playboy, Henry is the hulking and mysterious manly man, and Scarlett is the weird girl who needs to be owned by someone. I would have liked to know more about Rhett and Scarlett's relationship since that was never fully discussed and I'd also like to know more about Henry besides the fact that he's big, hairy, and possessive.

Overall, I enjoyed reading this and will recommend it to anyone looking for an easy-to-read gothic horror story.

I received a copy of this book through NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

This is a wonderfully atmospheric novel. Dark passion, secrets, and intrigue play out against the beguiling backdrop of rural Somerset in England. Luscious prose and gothic tension create an irresistible, macabre tale that lingers long after the final page has been turned.