Unfortunately not for me. I got about 40% into this and just really didn't care about it, so I put it down! The writing was atmospheric, but I was overall confused, disoriented and disinterested.

I really liked the Last House on Needless Street by this author but this one is not my thing!

Little Eve is the third book I have read by Catriona Ward, and even though this is her second novel from 2018, it has just been rereleased by Tor Nightfire. Even though it won the Shirley Jackson Award for Best Novel that year, this is also the first American release. The last two novels released by Ward on Nightfire have been good, but I’ve been left a little underwhelmed by them, as if there is a better Catriona Ward novel coming, better than both The Last House on Needless Street and Sundial. I did not know that she had already written and published it.

The novel is a gothic novel, cult novel, and murder mystery wrapped into one. Set in a dilapidated castle, “Uncle” and his companions Alice and Nora have adopted four children, and they worship the Adder. The children spend most of their lives starving, trying not to get punished, and being gaslighted by “Uncle” who says that the Adder is going to come for them, and one of them will be chosen and will inherit the Adder’s powers. Everyone’s life is unhappy, the girls are always trying to escape in one way or another, and eventually things boil over when Inspector Black starts to look into the legality of the things that “Uncle” is doing. There are many layers to this story, and I did find myself reading this for hours at a time, getting engrossed in what might happen next. The tension and sadness between all of the characters is compelling, and I could not help but sympathize for the children who were just trying to be in the good graces of the adults in their lives.

Catriona Ward’s writing is superb, and her characters and settings feel alive. I like most of the story and loved it until the last quarter. I am seeing a pattern in her endings. Ward as a writer who has done the same trick that she has done in all three of the novels that I have read. That trick in the last two made me anticipate it in Little Eve so that by the time of the big reveal, it was already expected. I do not know how many more of her novels I can read if the twisty endings continue to be twisty endings because there really is no longer much surprise in it. I like the ending of Little Eve much better than the previous two, and of the three novels by her I have read, this one is my favorite. The complaint is that the ending of her novels are starting to get predictably unpredictable, like she is not going to use effective twists much longer before the readers grow tired of the gimmick. Even still, it is a pretty entertaining, engaging novel, and the Catriona Ward novel I would recommend most.

I received this as an ARC from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

Another masterpiece from Catriona Ward!

Evelyn (Eve) lives on a remote, wild island of Scotland with Uncle and the others. They worship the adder and await the day of reckoning. Isolated, impoverished, and highly secretive, the“family” lives in a crumbling castle by the sea and are generally avoided by the locals.

Inside the castle, years of gaslighting and abuse give Uncle his powers over the women and children - but a shocking murder on the island leads to unwanted visitors and threatens their way of life. And with newcomers comes new information - information that may be deadly to some and offer freedom to others. Is freedom a price to be paid or a prize to be won? Little Eve has never known anything but the island, the adder, and its power. But questions and doubt may prove to be more powerful.

Catriona award is such a queen of psychological horror. Little Eve shows how an impressionable mind can be so skillfully bound, and how devastating and freeing its unwinding can be. But freedom is first a burden when independent thought has been long discouraged. Life has been cruel to Eve and the others, and cruelty can be learned just as well as obedience.

Probing the heartbreaking and heart-mending lessons of grief, faith, obsession, revenge, and forgiveness, Little Eve is a captivating, disturbing, and emotional work of historical horror, and it’s a 5-star read for me.

Does anyone remember the first book that sent chills up their spine ? Mine was Pretty Girls . If anyone has read it they know Slaughter set the bar for disturbing. Since, I have been chasing that feeling . I was in search of that up all night, can’t sleep, cant breathe, can’t think, kind of feeling and I found it ….

Little Eve

I think i made a subconscious decision to try everything in my power to give myself nightmares for the rest of my life . I can also tell you, I have achieved such goal without evening knowing I set it .

I’m officially terrified .

If you want to know what can scare the crap out of this thrill chasing, suspense lover than roll the dice and pick up your copy of Little Eve. You won’t regret it ….. or will you? 😏

Thank you to NetGalley, the publisher, and the author for the ARC!

~ ~ ~

On the isle of Altnaharra, Uncle and his young acolytes await the coming of Him, the snake from the sea.

~ ~ ~

My mind has been blown by Catriona Ward <b>yet again</b>! I've loved everything by her that I've read so far and had a hunch that this read would be equally fantastic. I'm not exaggerating when I say that this book exceeded all of my expectations. Even though I've been absolutely swamped with college classwork, I found myself sneaking in as much of this read as I could. Every time I had to put it down, the story stayed stuck in my head until I picked it up again.

Additionally, this book has one of the best opening chapters I've ever read. It hooked me right from the beginning, and Ward did a fantastic job building on that intrigue as the plot progressed. This was one of those reads where I found myself completely immersed in the events of the story and desperate to see how it was going to turn out. Unlike the other works I've read by this author, I was able to guess where this book was going, but it didn't make the experience of watching it unfold any less enjoyable, in a messed up kind of way.

When I started this review, I thought about not including a summary of the plot at all. I think that this book is best experienced with as little prior knowledge as possible, which is why I ultimately settled on the single sentence above. I will, however, let you know that this is a cult book. There is murder. There is intrigue. And it's a hell of a ride from start to finish. If any of those things sound enticing to you, you should give this a read.

✨ Review ✨ Little Eve by Catriona Ward;

Oh, man. The twisty, mind-bending queen of horror and confusion is back with Little Eve. This is SUCH a hard book to review because it felt like at least five books in one. I was SHOOK to find that it only had 288 pages. It was a lot to take in. I'm so grateful to have read this with friends who could help me disentangle the many stories within. After a full day processing this, I'm still not sure what happened or what to believe.

First, this book needs a whole lot of content warnings. If you're sensitive to abuse or other traumas, please check out a more complete list before reading. There's a lot of messed up stuff happening here.

There are a lot of thematic undercurrents about good vs. evil, about families and devotion, about how far is too far; but I felt as if it was hard to disentangle all of this through multiple timelines and POVs, untrustworthy narrators, and the twists that this took.

If you read this, this is definitely a perfect book for a buddy read so you can process it together!

⭐️⭐️⭐️
Genre: horror/thriller
Location: Scotland
Pub Date: out now!

Thanks to Tor and #netgalley for an advanced e-copy of this book!

Horrifying, engaging, unique, and darkly gothic as only Catroina Ward can do. The characters are twisted, yet likable, the story engaging and enthralling. This author has permanently moved to my "must read" list.

Catriona Ward is a must read, must buy author for me. This tale doesn’t pull as many punches as Sundial or The Last House on Needless Street. This found family or rather, forced family shifts the villain from cult leader to Little Eve. Of course, Catriona Ward sets the scene perfectly for this gothic chiller. Thanks to NetGalley and Macmillan-Tor/Forge, Tor Nightfire for the ARC.

Many thanks to NetGalley and and Macmillan/Tor Nightfire as well as Ms. Ward for this ARC. It has been my pleasure.
#NetGalley #Macmillan/TorNightfire #CatrionaWard #LittleEve

Delicious!! I expect nothing less from this author. The opening of the book alone gave me the shivers. This is gothic horror at its finest. Ms. Ward has written a clever and twisty story filled to the brim with dread. This is perfect for Halloween.
I don’t want to go into too much detail about the plot so I don’t give too much away.
Off the coast of Scotland is an island where a cult lives. No contact with anyone outside this community is tolerated until one day, an outsider comes and everything changes.
This is a dark novel. It highlights several aspects of cult psychology, which is darkly fascinating, although it makes me feel somewhat guilty to admit it. The members of the “family” vie for favor and attention. The result is dread and tension at its finest.
Catriona Ward has once again blown me away with her wit and creativity.

I loved the gothic vibe of this historical horror thriller: castle set on an isolated island in Scotland, a cultic prophecy of rebirth and the adder, and dark magic performed by a chosen few. All wrapped up in tense atmospheric undertones. But at times, I felt like the story went over my head - a gothic horror literary fiction novel where details matter. I retraced my steps many times and continually asked my buddy readers if we could summarize, so I fully understood the story's nuances.

I enjoyed the themes centered around the cult: power, manipulation, persuasion, strange sense of family with obscure love and devotion found in many cults. But I’m not sure I fully grasped the good vs. evil theme as my fellow buddy readers did. I could only see the evil, so these themes produced some good discussions.

TW: Cult, violence towards animals and abuse

On Altnaharra, a small isle off the coast of Scotland, lives Evelyn with her “family”. They all live under the watchful eye of “Uncle” and his teachings that one day the Adder will come to claim the world and one of them will inherit all his powers. They all want to be the one to claim the power of the Adder but none so much as Eve. One day a shocking murder shakes the small community of the nearby town causing attention to be turned onto Eve and the others threating to expose all that happens at Altnaharra and all its secrets. When Eve meets Inspector Christopher Black it sparks the beginning of the unravelling of all that Eve knew causing her to question everything and reveal the shocking truth of the place, she calls home.

•

I have read two previous books by this author, “The Last House on Needless Street” and “Sundial” and out of the three this one is hands down my favorite. The author does an amazing job of casting this very heavy and dark setting for the story with lots of detail and a way of story telling that is almost mesmerizing. I will warn you though, this one is DARK and is very cult heavy depicting some very graphic violence. I really enjoyed the twist in this one, I didn’t see it coming at all. This gothic Horror was the perfect read for this Halloween season, it gave me goosebumps and kept me on edge throughout. This author is a go-to for me for spooky season because she always absolutely nails the creepy vibes in her books. Right off the bat this story starts off with a disturbingly grisly scene as the story bounces back and forth from the past and present to reveal the truth of what happened one dark and stormy night on the isle of Altnaharra. Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for an eARC of this novel in exchange for my honest review. This title is now available to purchase!

For a dark and spooky fall read this gothic story is the perfect fit for those who crave just a tad of spookiness and horror.

Set in Scotland in the 1920’s, John Bearing comes from a place far away to claim his inheritance on the rocky coast at a castle called Altnaharra. Readers never learn too much about John. He lives at the castle with several women and children who call him Uncle. The people in the nearby village believe that the children were foundlings that he has taken in to raise.

The family has many qualities of a cult or fanatical religious group. Readers will not be certain which of the family members are actually related or how they came to be at Altnaharra. Their way of life was very odd and the uncle controlled almost everything they did.

I must admit, at first this was too dark and creepy for me, but I was curious and kept reading. I’m glad I stayed the course because this turned out to have more twists and layers than I had originally expected.

Readers who are in the mood for a dark, gothic tale will love this one!

Many thanks to NetGalley and Macmillan-Tor/Forge for allowing me to read an advance copy. I am happy to offer my honest review.

If you’ve had the previous pleasure of reading a Catriona Ward novel, you know her ability to create a living world.

Every page of Little Eve breathes. You can smell the briny waves lapping against the lichen covered rocks. You can feel the dampness seeping out of the castle walls. The bite of a snake clamping down on the webbing between your thumb and forefinger, and the poison slithering through your veins.

It’s all atmosphere, and I enjoyed spending time in its pages.

The only problem here is that I’ve read the Last House on Needless Street and Sundial. You can see Ward developing her style and storytelling in these pages, and how far her writing has come since Little Eve’s initial release.

Comparing her novels to each other is maybe not fair. This book is still wonderful! But I expected a more impossibly knotted plot that gets tighter as I pick at it’s ends.

If you’re looking for a dual timeline, super moody cult thriller though you should definitely pick this one up.

Thank you to NetGallet and TorNightfire for a galley of this title.

3.5 stars rounded up.

3.5⭐️

The ambiance! We follow the storyline between Eve and Dinah, both girls that live on the isle of Altnaharra, off the coast of Scotland.

We listen to their lives as they live a life controlled by a man who they love. They will do anything to be seen as more special.

This book is dripping in a convoluted storyline where as the reader you know that what you’re reading may not actually be so…but you can’t quite figure out what’s going on until Ward slowly peels back the curtains. The only way to get there is to keep reading. I love how Ward is able to manipulate the story and slowly reveal what’s really going on. As the reader, by the end it all makes sense and the clues fall right into place.

A bit of horror with a few graphic scenes but it wasn’t too bad. I liked this one more than Sundial. I’m still amazed at her ability to build the world she creates so well in each of her books. I’m ready for the next one!!

Thank you to NetGalley and Macmillan Tor-Forage for the advance ebook.

I should just plan to stay up all night when I start a Catriona Ward book. Her writing pulls me in, and I just can't stop reading! Little Eve was heartbreaking and horrifying and as I was reading, I could feel the pain of what the characters were going through. This is an atmospheric, gothic thriller that is set off the coast of Scotland and will give you chills and keep you reading.

I admit, Little Eve is really not my kind of story. But occasionally, I step outside my comfort zone. Little Eve ended up being that reading challenge.

So, first things first. This book is so well written, that I kept reading despite my discomfort. The author’s style is at once simple and lush, evoking a starkness to the narrative that is rich with disturbing characters and menacing landscapes. This book is very accessible and the plot developed at a pace that prevented me from putting it down.

Ultimately, the things that evil characters do to other characters is what turns me off of this type of novel. It probably seems odd that I am giving a positive review to a book I ultimately did not like, but I know there is an audience for this book and I want them to find it. Fans of gothic horror stories will devour this book and then look for more books by Catriona Ward.

Through Netgalley, the publisher provided a copy of this book. My review is my honest opinion.

I really really enjoyed this. I think Catriona is great at writing horror and I’m now working my way through her other books.

I tore this baby up in a little over a day.

What I loved:
- The gothic setting. Very atmospheric and eerie
- The psychological horror and how it’s fleshed out
- The beginning grabs your attention immediately
- The different ceremonies and how Ward paints the picture

What I didn’t like:
- I did predict the end but still enjoyed how it came to be
- Perhaps more from outside characters and learning more about how others viewed the family
- Many unlikeable characters

Overall, this is a great book and I highly recommend!

4.5/5

I was looking forward to this one after reading Sundial.

Unfortunately, while I love gothic horror and mysticism, this book’s many twists, dips and layered plot left me puzzled as to what I was reading. Often requiring me to read it several times. Perhaps I’m just not in the right reading place to fully appreciate Little Eve. Nevertheless I will continue to look out for Wards future offerings.

Thank you to St Martin’s Press and NetGalley for this digital arc.

I become a massive fan of Catriona Ward. She is a master of the creepy, and queen of the strange.
Little Eve is a book about isolation, and what it can do to the impressionable. There is a strong cult vibe within the story, with old world Pagan rituals thrown in. Things are not always as they seem, which makes the big twist come as a shock.
I envisioned this book in a sepia filter and can see it becoming a movie. I was surprised this is one of Ward's first books and is now getting recognition. It's a brilliant novel that should have been a hit when it was released.

Hole-y sheet ghostman! That’ll teach me to reserve my kindle time to just before my eyelids drop. This book went places I wasn’t expecting…and not just because I didn’t read the synopsis.

If you’re a fan of gothic horror cult reads, then don’t wait until spooky season ends to pick this Shirley Jackson Award-winning novel up.

On the wind-battered isle of Altnaharra, off the coast of Scotland, a group is preparing for the end of the world and a glorious rebirth where the Adder will choose the one most worthy to inherits its powers. Ominous indeed.
Little Eve will do anything to be the chosen one, but when Chief Inspector Black appears to investigate a murder, soon all of Altnaharra’s dark secrets will be revealed.

At the very beginning Catriona Ward throws readers into the heart-thumping depths of the aftermath of a sacred ceremony. Working both backward and forward through time, Ward continues to unlock secrets through multiple perspectives, the thrills and chills only increase, terror mounting, with a climax that will leave you breathless and just might even give you nightmares. It’s atmospheric and twisty and will take you on a heart-wrenching journey through the lives of the little group that lives on Altnaharra.

This book is incredibly dark and even made me tear up a few times, so be sure to check out trigger warnings if you need to.

This was my first novel by Catriona Ward and certainly won’t be my last. Little Eve is a psychological horror-thriller that I won’t soon forget.

Thank you to @tornightfire for the opportunity to read and review this book.