I purchased this book for my 3 high school libraries. It’s been well received by those who like gothic/suspense. I was expecting the book to be scarier.

Every reader would love to spend a day in their favorite book. To waltz with the prince, battle a dragon or learn magical spells. Adelle and Connieget that chance but the book they love may not be what they expect. The book of Living Spells has a unique premise but does not deliver on it. The beginning lures the reader in to hope that they will get a first hand account on what it would be like to be transported into their favorite book. But once the characters are there, the plot focuses more on the secondary characters of the beloved book. There isn't much participation in the novel they love. The main characters of the book with in a book are shallow and derive from their cannon characteristics.

Ultimately, this book wasn't for me -- I was accidentally spoiled about the "monster" / theming of the book, and honestly if I had known I wouldn't have picked it up, as it isn't really my thing. Nevertheless, I tried out the first few chapters and then skimmed through the rest to see if the ending made a difference, but unfortunately it's not the book I was expecting it to be.

This has an attention grabbing cover and synopsis but the story itself did not keep my interest and I unfortunately DNF's this one.

I could not finish this book. I struggled. I’m not sure what I expected but this was not it. I got about 70% read, and at this point I have zero desire to find out what happens.

Adele and Connie get transported into their favorite Victorian novel. But all is not as it seems. There’s a mysterious void that is taking the lives of civilians in Boston. There are a lot of twists and turns. The story isn’t bad. It just wasn’t hitting the spot for me, but I’m sure I’d have students who would love it, and I’ve read enough to be able to recommend it to them.

Madeleine Roux's THE BOOK OF LIVING SECRETS was creepy and delightful! And gross!! In other words, everything a good Lovecraft-inspired horror book should be.

This was a fun book and concept, but ultimately wasn't for me. It didn't hold my interest enough to suck me in.

The concept of getting sucked into your favorite novel is a fun one, and Adelle and Connie were two great main characters. The horror/H.P. Lovecraft aspect was unexpected, and I found the story to be helped, but YA fans of horror will likely appreciate this book.

Loved the idea behind this book - book loving best friends that get transported into their favourite book? AMAZING. Them finding out things aren’t like they expected? Funny and totally loved this twist. As the story progresses, things get a bit weird, which given this is a YA horror fantasy, is not so unexpected. However, these oddities are rather left unexplained and created plot holes. Not sure if there’s a sequel in the works but I hope so, or else I will be left with a lot of questions. Overall, an interesting read.

Rating: 3.5 stars/5
There are romantic elements but no real spice.
CW: some violence/the allusion of

A huge thanks to HCC Frenzy, Harper Collins Canada and Netgalley for the arc to review. All opinions are my own.

I had the opportunity to get a glimpse of this book during my HCC Winter Preview session and immediately requested a copy to read and review.

Let's start with the visual and talk about this cover. It is absolutely gorgeous and screams seaside witchcraft with a touch of gothic drama - right up my alley! I had thoughts of spooky occurrences on a Victorian coastal estate mixed with seances, ouija board parlor games and hauntings that lead to a death... or two. I was hoping to dive into the morbid obsessions of the Victorian era.

When first starting the book, the reader is introduced to a snippet of a story that seems gothic in nature; however, a few pages in it's revealed that the book is set in present-time amid high school angst and the escape from reality by reading historical love-triangle romances. Not that this is a bad thing, but it definitely didn't match the picture in my head that the cover made me think of.

The setting of the book is split between two places: present day Boston and book-focused Victorian Boston. At the start, the girls are ensconced in normal high school rituals of homecoming, finding a date, hiding their true selves and remaining friends despite their stark differences. The one thing that unites them is the love of Moira, a novel that features lavish balls, attractive men, and the customs and secrets of a bygone era; however, when they are pulled into the book in a ritual that they didn't believe would work, they are confronted with a much different rendition of their beloved characters and stories.

The author does a good job at writing about the typical secrets of teenagers, as well as highlighting the largely patriarchal society of Boston at the turn of the century. There is LGBT representation through Connie, as she struggles to come out in her attractions to other girls and eventually learns where she stands in her affections. Despite the majority of the novel being based in a male-dominated society, there is strength in how the girls battle their conflicts and become the more prepared characters amid the men involved in the story.

I particularly liked the Lovecraftian overtone throughout the then-Boston narrative. I have always been a fan of gothic horror, where creatures from an unknown dimension or creation wreck havoc on the story. It was also interesting to see the development between the Moira the girls know and love and how their experiences in the book are so drastically different.

One thing that struck me as odd was that this book was targeted for Young Adults - there were a lot of times that if felt more of a Middle Grade novel. I do note that the two main characters are in high school, which would cater to a YA focus, but much of the romance and action are kept at a level which would make it suitable for younger readers, provided they are okay with some of the creepier vibes.

There are a lot of mentions to pop-culture throughout the novel, as the girls work to navigate their present-day experiences while stuck in a Victorian setting. There were some references that were made incorrectly, such as the misspelling of names of integral sci-fi characters they refer to in their discussions.

There were also small moments where punctuation and grammatical errors were spotted throughout that caused slight distraction for me. Some of the dialogue between same-time characters felt stilted (ie Victorian to Victorian characters). I do recognize the modern vs historical speech between the girls and the Moira subjects would be odd anyways, due to the bridge of experiences between them.

Overall, it's a decent read. There were some questions of character motivations that seemed strange for me, but without going into detail as to not spoil the book for others, I'll leave that up to other readers to determine for themselves.

Unfortunately, this book was not for me. While I enjoyed Roux's books in her House of Furies series, I did not quite take to this as I did those. I do not feel this is appropriate for young adult audiences.

I don't usually like horror that is Lovecraftian, but I liked this story for what it is. Going into a favorite book only for it to turn horrifying is such a great concept, and it was well crafted. I don't think I would personally read it again, but I know other fans of horror that would really enjoy this book! I'll be recommending this book for other fans of the horror genre, especially fans of Lovecraft.

"Split the world, coiled and curled, the curtain torn, the Old One born."

Adelle is disappointed when her best friend Connie changes her mind about going to the Sadie Hawkins dance. But she does agree to spend the evening instead at the Witch's Eye Emporium, where they are frequent visitors. The owner, Mr. Straven, invited Adelle for a full-moon after-hours event and told her he'd like to try a spell - a spell that will send the girls into their favorite book, Moira. They find themselves the only ones at the occult shop, aside from Straven and the ever-present mysterious man in the corner, and with a few items arranged around the book and words spoken, it is done.

The sixteen year olds find themselves in the world of Moira - in one moment from present day Boston to the same city in 1885. They know the book front to back, the story of privileged Moira, engaged to Kincaid but in love with the lowborn painter Severin Sylvain. But there are some things here that definitely weren't mentioned in the book - tears in reality through which they can see only void and hear whispers, monsters, cultists in robes and masks. Worse yet, the friends are separated. Connie finds herself captured by the bicycle-riding gang, the Penny-Farthings. She convinces them that she was a cultist, but wants to join them. Adelle, on the other hand, finds herself struck by the carriage of Moira's best friend. Orla takes her in and explains some of the goings-on in this nightmare version of the story she loves as they head to a party at Moira's estate. Can the friends locate one another and gather everything they need to reverse the spell before they find themselves walking into the sea as so many others did?

This was enjoyable enough - I do like a sprinkle of cosmic horror, and books about books. I had some trouble getting into this book, but I can't pinpoint why. Maybe the writing style just wasn't my jam, maybe the plot was a bit too predictable. Some of the chapters started with bits of the text from Moira, which made some nice short interludes (and clearly wouldn't be the sort of book I would be obsessed with, but to each their own). The very end felt like it would be a post-credits scene in a Marvel movie, which is fun. I haven't yet read anything else by Madeleine Roux, but I'm guessing folks who like her other works will like this as well. I would also tell people to give it a go if they like these falling-into-books / characters-coming-out-of-books premises (Inkheart, The Eyre Affair). I would put it more in a fantasy / adventure category than horror, but if folks like a sprinkle of Lovecraft, this gives some of that as well.

Thank you to HarperCollins and NetGalley for the eARC. The Book of Living Secrets came out earlier this month, March 8th.

Book of living secrets tour stop! 🤩 Seriously though how gorgeous is this cover.
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This might have been the most random book I have literally ever read guys 🤣 hold up while I explain.
We start with two high school students, and one of them is into witchy stuff. So we start off a little occult, little bit witchy in modern time. Then they get sucked into thier favourite book - which is… wait for it… historical romance?! So now the book is basically a historical romance novel, with major Bridgerton vibes. But then cue the villains of the story, who are Old Western Gunslingers?! And finally throw in some major horror fantasy vibes with monsters and curses (I’m talking Cthulhu guys!!)
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Seriously guys it was a WILD ride.
I do want to say this book is classified as YA - but I think it was a young YA for anyone wondering.
It also has some great LGBTQ rep which was wonderful!
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Here’s the actual synopsis in case you’re interested:

No matter how different best friends Adelle and Connie are, one thing they’ve always had in common is their love of a little-known gothic romance novel called Moira. So when the girls are tempted by a mysterious man to enter the world of the book, they hardly suspect it will work. But suddenly they are in the world of Moira, living among characters they’ve obsessed about for years.
Except…all is not how they remembered it. The world has been turned upside down: The lavish balls and star-crossed love affairs are now interlaced with unspeakable horrors. The girls realize that something dark is lurking behind their foray into fiction—and they will have to rewrite their own arcs if they hope to escape this nightmare with their lives.

Unfortunately, I am going to have to DNF this book. Not because I am not enjoying it, but I keep experiencing technical problems. It keeps removing me from the places that I left off and also will randomly just to different chapters while I am reading. Going from chapter 5 to chapter 16 to chapter 22. I do not know what is going on, I have not experienced this with any other book on Netgalley. It could be the book, the app, my phone, etc.

If you’re looking for a dark fairytale that is also a light read, this book is a good way to go.

This has drawn some semi-understandable comparisons to The Hazel Wood, which makes sense in spirit, though this is much less dark and not quite as compelling.

But it’s still a great story in its own right, with two terrific protagonists, a fun book-within-a-book premise, and enough originality to keep you guessing.

I love that this was set in Boston (a hugely underused fiction setting in my opinion, especially for fantasy), and I loved the olot’s fantastical collision of campy gothic romance and horror lite.

I was really excited to read this and honestly, I was a bit disappointed. I really wanted to love it, but I just didn’t. The premise was very interesting and I’ve always loved this type of story but it wasn’t executed as well as I’d hoped.

My heart was never really with the story it took me a very long to get into. I did start getting more invested in the story at around 60% through, but that’s definitely too late. If I wasn’t the type of person that doesn’t like to leave books unfinished, and also if I wasn’t reviewing this, I probably wouldn’t have bothered finishing it. Not that the writing was bad, it just that it wasn’t executed in the most exciting way.

If I’m being completely honest the mystery was not gripping enough to actually hold my attention. This could be partially down to the slump I currently find myself in, but I can’t help but wonder if forcing myself to finish this made it worse.

It was interesting that the characters were different than Adelle and Connie’s initial opinions. This leads to my next point of really liking that the romance heroine, Moira, was revealed to be flawed and unhinged. When I first wrote that note I was only about halfway through and I didn’t realise to what extent she actually was unhinged at that point. It would have made for a boring story if she was actually perfect.

I really enjoyed the budding relationship between Connie and Missi but it developed way too late. It would have been nice to see their “relationship” bloom a little earlier to see if it would have affected the story’s events in some way.

One part I found absolutely baffling was just how well and calmly these Victorian people took the news of Connie and Adelle being from “the future”. Missi was the only character to really question it, everyone else just went along with it. I actually would have loved to have at least one of them finding out they are a book character, especially Moira. It would have been pure chaos and I would have loved it.

This review is definitely a little all over the place and I honestly cannot tell how I feel about The Book of Living Secrets. I didn’t hate it, but I didn’t love it. I’m feeling quite neutral towards it. There were some points that were great and really interesting, but a lot of it fell flat. Which I am quite sad about.

Maybe if I had read this at a time when I am really enjoying reading my opinions may be different, but unfortunately, that is not the case.

Imagine this: You have the opportunity to enter the world of a book you are completely enamored with. Would you do it? What if you weren't sure if the world you were going into was exactly the same as the one in the book? That's what happens in The Book of Living Secrets. It is SO good. I couldn't put it down! I would absolutely recommend this book if you are a fan of gothic horror. It might also make you think twice about wanting to be part of your favorite book.

This was an intriguing plot, but unfortunately one that was hard to keep my interest. I’ve enjoy many of Roux’s other novels but this one did not spark as much interest.

Connie and Adelle are two best friends who are obsessed with this book called Moira. Moria is a gothic romance novel about a girl who falls in love with a poor boy, despite what her family wants for her. When a spooky curio shop owner gives the girls an opportunity to experience Moira for themselves, they, of course jump at it. However, once deep in Moria, they find that the story is not at all like they remember it.

I want to say right here and now that the three stars of my review are entirely for Orla Beevers. Adelle and Connie felt flat to me, and don't even get me started on the boring other characters. However, Orla was the one character in this story with a genuine and enjoyable personality. I'd love to be friends with Orla Beevers. In fact, I would have really appreciated an entire story about Orla Beevers. In addition to the characters, I feel like Roux missed a real opportunity to make a sapphic Lovecraftian horror. (Wouldn't that have been a punch in this face to him?) Instead, we have a book where not much exciting happens to some not very interesting characters. It was a great premise, but not executed in the best way.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publishers for this ARC, but unfortunately I didn't enjoy this as much as I thought I would.