I revived an ARC of Hemlock in exchange for my honest review.

Hemlock to me had to much potential, but at the end of the day fell a little short for me. But I think it’s just because I was assuming this book was going to be darker and more mature than it was.

To me this book read more as a contemporary with the magic being very secondary.

The world building was great and I loved the folklore legend that was woven in throughout the book.

I think this book would be great for a younger audience, I felt a little too old reading it. And mostly for a book about a necromancy school there wasn’t much necromancy happening so I was a little sad about that.

Overall it was a decent read, and I think it’ll get better with the series as far as the magic goes. But it was a fun quick read.

The premise of this book was very intriguing. We have Rook, the rare human born with necromancer powers. She's able to not only give life, but also take it away. But that's pretty much all we know. Do everyone's powers work the same? Is the being brought back to life controlled by the necromancer? Apparently not if we consider Bitter Bat... Then we're introduced to the town of Hemlock and the variety of magical beings that reside there. We get a quick glimpse into what is possible, but that's it. There is no real detail about the residents or their world. And the "big reveal" at the end was entirely predictable from the knee scrape kitchen scene.

Overall, this felt like a very basic first draft. There is no character development, the pacing is off, and we were introduced to ideas that never feel fully formed. I think this story has a lot of potential, but in its current state is just bare bones. While it was a very quick read at 230 pages according to goodreads, it felt more like a prequel novella than an actual introduction to a series.

Hemlock is such an interesting and unique book! The worldbuilding is SO cool. It takes all of those elements of YA books that we love and intertwines them into one really cool story!
This was definitely written for a younger audience so I struggled to connect with the main character a little bit, but I still thought she was so independent and cute. It was cool to see her try to grow into herself and figure out who she is.
The romance was a little confusing. It was very instant and there wasn't much development.
I do wish there was a little more background and development of the side characters. The characters were all so unique and they all had very clear personalities which I really liked. I just wish I got to know who and why they are a little better!
For such a short story, there was a lot accomplished. It's very fast-paced and easy to read! I am curious to see what's to come next! Especially after that crazy cliffhanger!

I was drawn to this book by both the premise and the cover. “Every five hundred years, humanity bears a child who has unlimited power over life and death.” This hooked me along with the idea of a magical school and necromancy.
However, it fell flat for me in almost everything. Firstly, I don’t think I am the target audience for the book. The cover and description made me think it would be an older YA. But it reads as a very young YA paranormal fantasy. Saying that, I think a lot of young teenagers would enjoy this.
I only read 48% of this book and stopped reading. Nothing had happened in the plot, and the main character Rook didn’t seem to have any agency or motivation. It was just her going along with the flow.
In the first half of this book there weren’t enough fantasy or magic elements to keep me interested. They talked about magic a lot, but it wasn’t put into action and we didn’t see much first hand.
I had trouble with the setting, often feeling like the scenes had white room syndrome. I didn’t get any images in my head of where the scenes were taking place, and this made it very hard for me to read.
Some characters were interesting, I liked her roommate and the cat Bitter Bat. The intro to people in the school reminded me a little of the magic school in Sabrina (the tv show).
In the end this book was not for me. But I think others may enjoy this easy-to-read style of writing and paranormal teenage drama.

I seriously wanted to love this story. The cover is absolutely gorgeous and the synopsis had so much potential for it to be amazing, but the insides did not match the outsides and it fell flat in a lot of ways for me. This is supposed to be a book about necromancers which is what intrigued me from the get go, and yet its barely in the book at all and it takes a backseat to the drama amongst the characters. Amidst the necromancers, we learn that there are also witches, warlocks, werewolves, fae and vampires as well as other mythical creatures. I would've liked to have been given an explanation about these types of creatures and why they were at Hemlock Academy.

I did like the premise of the school and the idea that upon finishing school you are sent to a place based on your blood and I thought Bitter Bat the cat was pretty awesome. I just feel that there could have been so much more to this story!! I appreciate that it's part of a series but I don't think much happened in terms of plot. To be completely honest I was confused about what the plot even was, and even more confused at the end of the book when something finally happened. However, the plot twist was predictable and I guessed right away what was going to happen as there was an over mention of vampires throughout the story.

Overall, the premise of the story had a lot of potential but the execution fell flat for me. I feel sad that I didn't enjoy this as much as I thought I would.

I. am. frustrated.
Hemlock had a lot going for it: super cute cover, necromancy, the tag line of "Every five hundred years humanity bears a child who has unlimited power over life and death. And now she's a teenager." which sounded so cool to me but after now having read the book, I feel like I wasted my time.
For one thing nothing happens! I read 230 pages according to Goodreads and yet nothing happened! It felt like this was the weirdly paced opening to a story instead of the first instalment to a series.
Other factors that contribute to my frustration include: the lowkey insta love, the fact that barely anything was explained and when it finally was it wasn't explained well, the pacing.
A cute cover, a cool idea but a book that left me annoyed with the outcome.

If you are looking for some angsty teens in a hate to love to love to hate can destroy the world if they get together type of situation this is your book. This is the kind of book I call popcorn you consume all of it in one sitting and you don't feel guilty and just want more. I will keep my eye out for more Rue Volley books this is going to be a great read especially come October and the spooky season! Enjoy

I loved the premise of this title, I enjoyed the characters and the setting, but I found it hard to read.

The language used, made it feel clunky, which made it feel like a chore to read, it was something tou have to work at, not glide through.

That being said, out protagonist is fantastic, deep and complex.

I tried really hard wit this book and I just couldn't get into it. It read really weird and couldn't keep my attention

ARC supplied by NetGalley.

I don't read a lot of paranormal stuff. But I do love Twilight and Harry Potter - and this mentioned one and parts reminded me of the other. I was drawn in mostly by the cover with the promise of romance. This felt much more like fanfiction/a "long" short story than an actual book to me. The world was interesting but not described enough in depth for me to picture it or get invested in it. I'm not sure what the age range is for this - YA? But it actually felt kind of younger to me. Once I started imagining it as a book meant for middle school grade instead of teens/adults I liked it a lot more. The storyline with Emma Green was cool but underdeveloped. Pretty much all of it was underdeveloped. I'm giving it 3 stars because I think it genuinely had a lot of potential.

I received this ARC in exchange for my honest review

This cover is beautiful and that is what drew me in to begin with and then the synopsis sounded like a book that I would enjoy.

Well...this book just was not for me, maybe it will be for someone else, but I just couldn't get into it at all.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publishers for the eARC that I received in exchange for a fair and honest review.

This book was just meh for me. It wasn't a bad story and the plot flowed well, but the writing was very under grade level for the audience and just very unnatural feeling. I did like Rook (and is it weird that I really loved the name?) as a character and thought it was compelling, which is why I said that while I wouldn't adopt it, I would recommend it to certain readers, particularly reluctant or struggling high school readers.

This is a story about forbidden love.

This was a really sweet little story, that I really enjoyed reading. I think it's perfect for junior high/early high school readers, and it's something I would recommend to youth in the 11-14 range. I would have liked to see more action/magic, and less of a focus on romance, but that's just a personal reading presence and not a statement about the quality of the book. 3.5 stars, rounded to 4.

Thank you Negalley & Victory Editing for the e-Arc. My review will be posted on Goodreads, and will remain posted indefinitely.

I think if you haven’t already read a lot of the magic school/ necromancy fantasy type fiction, you’ll enjoy this more than I did. It’s a great concept and while the tropes are well worn, if they’re presented in a new light then they’re original and gripping. Unfortunately this just didn’t happen for me here. This was younger YA than I anticipated and it lacked the charm and whimsy I prefer from that end of the genre. The plot and pacing were good, the MC engaging enough but the writing was a little patchy, at least for me. A good idea but the execution didn’t really work imo.

This story plays on the old magic school theme. I grabbed this one because of the cover that I just fell in love with. The biggest issue with this one was the writing. I wanted to love it but it just didn't work out. I think this one would be a great book for those who are moving from high middle grade stories to younger young adult ones.

We follow Rook Dagger as she navigates leaving the safety of her house and her mom to come to the elusive Hemlock academy. This is unlike other schools, the academy is for Necromancers who are trained to join one of the seven kingdoms upon graduation. Rook is thrusted into a new life, seeing things she has never seen before such as cyclops or mermaids and explores new emotions she has never felt before, like love.

As she enters a new world, she feels drawn to towards the nightshade kingdom and the legend of Emma Green. Rook sympathizes for the kingdom who is similar to herself, the sole human, an outsider in this new world.

I really enjoyed learning about the history of necromancy and the world building Volley does. I also liked the juxtaposition she does with the tale of Emma Green an rook. As I read, I was as fascinated with this tale as much as Rook was. The author did a great job intertwining the two stories together and using it for foreshadowing.

I did wish the the story was longer and some of the magical aspects of the story was more developed. I enjoyed the love story but it would have benefited from it being longer. The story also contained many of the YA tropes, which could be a plus or a negative depending on the read. I did think the ending was also a bit abrupt but it did leaving me want to read the next book. I think any readers of paranormal romance and YA would enjoy this book.

I received this book from Netgalley for exchange of my honest review.

Hemlock by Rue Volley is a really unique, fun read for Young Adults. I was lucky to read an ARC of the novel from NetGalley. I really enjoyed the story line as presented. There were some things I really loved about this book and some things that irked me. The story is about Rook Dagger, a 15 year old burgeoning necromancer (born to human parents), who goes to a magical boarding school to learn how to control her powers and quickly gets in over head.

Pros:

Interesting/Unique concept – I like the concept (beyond the normal forbidden teen love) with various groupings of supernatural all going to boarding school together with eventual placement into the worlds of magic.

Fun characters – The characters that are fleshed out are believable. There’s a lot of syntax and behavior that is completely teenage and even adult behavior that wouldn’t be out of place in a normal life.

Introspective Teen perspective – While Dagger goes through a lot of teen angst, she at least is observant and thinks about the why’s of people and their actions. I appreciate this because frequently I feel teens are written and just confused and keep doing stupid things without thinking because hormones. I think this also plays to this character’s upbringing, being secluded with her mother, so she is probably a little more introspective than others her age.

Playlist – I have seen this concept in a few books lately. I like the idea that you can put music on or at least familiarize yourself with the themes/feelings of a novel by reading or playing the songs that vibe with the story.

Cons:

Story pace is choppy – Story beings with a vaguely dreamlike slow beginning, then it jumps all over and speeds out of control. As a result, I’m left with a lot of questions about how we as the reader are getting to the end of the book (which of course is a kinda cliffhanger).

Gaps in story – This goes hand in hand with the choppy pace. There’s all this detail at the beginning placed into what are non-pivotal scenes, then the story speeds up and there’s no information for why these gaps are happening. Flow of the story feels off. There are also things clearly referenced in the book that we aren’t told about yet, so it makes you feel like you’ve missed something, but it is just because the author is blatantly foreshadowing about something that will become important past book 1.

Tunnel Vision – The author created a world I’d like to know about, then zeroes in on the love story and the whole thing gets a little predictable from there on. I just felt like while the writing was great, there’s just so much backdrop, backgrounds, details set up that get literally forgotten. Felt unbalanced.

Beginning of series – This is clearly book 1 of a series, so the author leaves you with an unfinished story.

Included other works – 20% of the pages in this book have nothing to do with the story. There’s introductory chapters of 2 additional books, which seems weird. I wouldn’t want to pay for an intro chapter, I’d prefer more of the original story.

Rook is a necromancer born to human parents, because of this she gets sent to Hemlock Academy to learn how to control her powers. While there she meets G and there’s instant chemistry. (Think of it like Bella from Twilight has Harry Potter-esque powers and falls into an enemies to lovers type crush/romance)

Overall it wasn’t too bad, took me a hot minute to warm up to Rook and like her. The story is a little too far on the younger side of YA, but cute.

15-year-old Rook is a necromancer born to human parents. Rook has spent her life nestled safely away with her parents until the time comes when she must harness her power over life and death. She is sent to Hemlock Academy where she’s to learn how to manage her gift. Rook has extraordinary abilities but is having a wee bit of trouble keeping the balance between the giving and the taking of life. When she meets G Gianni, it is forbidden love at it’s finest <SIGH>

I loved the atmosphere at Hemlock academy, all sorts of shenanigans happen there but what can you expect when you’ve got a melting pot of supernatural kids learning to master their abilities? There’s some really interesting folklore surrounding the Academy and Rook finds that she has more in common with the sadly doomed love story of Emma Green. I enjoyed the quick pace of the story and the characters are well developed. The one downfall was that at times the writing style felt a bit rushed, especially the ending but it gives me something to look forward to with the next book.

This is a really fun Young Adult PNR and I’m looking forward to the next in the series. Thank you to Rue Volley for providing me with a DRC in exchange for my honest review.
3.5 rounded up to 4

Thank you to NetGalley for providing me with a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.
I had a hard time getting through this one. The writing was more juvenile than I expected and made it hard to relate to the main character. It was a good though but the execution didn’t live up to it.