I adore Sally Thorne's books. The Hating Game is one of the few hyped romances that I agree with. Second First Impressions was pure. And 99 Percent Mine was a standard romcom with good writing. So imagine my disappointment when Angelika Frankenstein Makes Her Match fell so flat.

I'm all for a dark romance, but only if it's self aware enough to not condone it's fuckery. This novel didn't do that. It seemed like the author actually found the concept of this story.. romantic? I'm always saying that if you can't gender bend a story without it becoming creepy then you ought not to write it. Think about it. Imagine this being written by a male author about a male character who wanted to make his perfect match using only a corpse that meets his standards. But, oh wait, the chest on her isn't big enough so he decides to cut off a different, bigger, pair of breasts and replace them. Then continuously declare his love for this man-made woman, despite her repeatedly saying no and asking to leave to find out about her past.... pretty creepy, right? Just change genders and replace boobs with a penius and that is the plot for Angelika Frankenstein Makes Her Match.

The concept for this story was interesting, but the execution let it down. There were a billion ways to make this into a believable hate-to-love story of angst and regret, but Thorne didn't do any of them. I liked the writing so I'm not giving it a bleak 1 star but it was very close to being one.

How incredibly odd. A little spicy, a little spooky, and entirely unpredictable. Starts a bit slow, but is very readable.

Certainly one of those books that will work for some and not others. An unexpected read, all around!

Thank you to NetGalley & the publisher for providing an eARC for review.

This book was... strange. I can't say I've ever wished for Frankenstein fan fiction on my shelf, but here it is! Angelika Frankenstein is desperate for love, which leads her to the morgue with her brother to build her own suitor. However, her new presumptive beau is keener on finding out his past than on bedding Angelika.
Sally Thorne is a popular writer for good reason, and the dialogue is intriguing and very funny at times. However, there's a lot of plot to this book, and it often got confusing as more characters were introduced to the story. The middle sags a bit. And for me, it was often hard to get past the weirdness. But I commend Thorne for taking a risk on such an odd idea.

This was such a fun and unique read and full of Sally Thorne's signature wit! While the relationship between Victor and Anjelika was a little bit odd at times, you are definitely rooting for the siblings by the end.

Angelika Frankenstein is beautiful, brilliant, and very, very weird. Tired of waiting for a suitor who will respect her for who she is, quirks and all, she decides to quite literally make her one true love. You know, Frankenstein style. But when her handsome miracle beau (carefully selected with, ahem, a generous appendage and all) wakes up on her lab table, he is determined to ignore their heart pounding chemistry and nearly alchemical connection until he recovers from his amnesia and knows for sure who he is. Taking the name Will, the barely-alive would-be-lovers set out to discover who he is, but as their search brings them closer together–and introduces another potential suitor into the mix–Angelika’s perspective on her own identity and purpose starts to shift. Angelika may have made her dream match, but it is her match who will be the making of her.

I was utterly and completely charmed by this kooky, funny, and surprisingly swoony retelling of Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein. I’ve read the source material many times, which I think heightened my enjoyment of this zany historical science fiction rom com but is definitely not necessary for understanding the plot. Angelika and Will have fantastic chemistry together–pun absolutely intended–and I loved both the tension and deep connection between them and the way Will in particular struggles to find a balance between his head, his heart, and his…um other body parts. Angelika has so much growth in this story as well, something that Will brings out of her and everyone in the Frankenstein household, as she learns to be less self-centered and to bring more than just Will back to life. I finished this a few weeks ago and the more I think about it, the more I like it–it's just such a weird and charming book and I already want to re-read it. Perfect for the spooky season!

Fun fact: The creepy setting of Blackthorn Manor is based on Sally Thorne’s real life dollhouse (!!!!!) and I’ve literally never loved a factoid more.

✨BOOK REVIEW✨
Angelika Frankenstein Makes Her Match
By Sally Thorne

This book was cute! It was a little predictable at times, but I feel that happens with many Romantic Comedies for me!

There were definitely some funny parts in this one, and the relationship banter between Angelika and Victor was hilarious.

I did have some struggles with Will in this book, but I don’t feel like that took away from the story.

It was a cute and cozy read, and a nice play on the classic Frankenstein story! Perfect for curling up with a cup of warm Pumpkin spice, and this spooky seasonal read🎃

Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️✨💫/5 (3.75)

QOTD: What are the top traits you look for in a partner?

Mine would have to be honesty, communication, and they need to know how to laugh!

Thanks to @harpercollinsca and @netgalley for this ARC I received in exchange for my honest review.
#angelikafrankensteinmakeshermatch #harpercollinscanada #hccinfluencers #netgalley #netgalleyreads #netgalleyreviewer #bookreview #bookrecommendation #spookyseason

How do I begin with talking about this very disappointing book??? I was really looking forward to it but I am not sure if this was supposed to be a comedy, a satire, a historical romance? It's based off of Frankenstein and while the original novel explored themes of "playing god" or going against nature and what makes a monster...this "romance" uses the ick of making a man including choosing a c@ck and then throwing in the man was originally a priest as just some of the bat sh@t crazy in this novel. The man "Will" complains of pain and misery and of not wanting the h whatsoever and the desperate h who had to make a man keeps persisting in trying to make this poor guy like her. It's just a train wreck of a novel and I can't even touch the surface of this nonsense.

This was... weird? And honestly a lot of the time I spent reading it I was uncomfortable. There is something so gross about Angelika making her perfect man, and then kind of forcing him to love her? Like the constant discussion of his penis was gross and creepy. He constantly expressed his uninterest and determination to find his old life but is also torn because Angelika gave him life so he feels like he owes her something? Even tho he didn't ask to be raised from the dead!?
Honestly, so much about their relationship was gross. Angelika was pretty much the worst and the side characters were 100x more interesting than her.
BUT even they weren't interesting enough to take away from how GROSS the premise of this book was. Creepy and gross and not in a fun spooky Halloween way.

I loved this book! I’ve never read the original Frankenstein but I know the concept. This book had me chuckling and falling in love with the characters from the beginning. I loved watching Angelika better herself and start to help more people around her. As she became better so did those she loved and those who she opened her circle too. The smut was minimal pretty much fade to black but the storyline and plot made up for the missing smut. Absolutely adored this book.

Well this was indeed a thing I have read. I'm sad to say that my journey with Sally Thorne comes to an end here. We started out so so high with The Hating Game and I'm shocked this is by the same author.

I want to start by saying I was so pumped when I heard about this book and shared it with a ton of people because I was expecting it to be awesome. I overshot myself by a lot unfortunately. I found it a little awkward that she was cruising the morgue to find a dude with a good sized undercarriage and that set the tone from there.  We’re all agreeing to suspend disbelief but reanimating dead folks to make them your boyfriend/husband is maybe the not the most ethical thing ever?

His new, well, undercarriage, really liked her and was referenced a whole lot right at the start. She wanted to keep his unremembered past from him as well which feels vaguely sketchy. There’s a running gag that the ding dong they sewed onto him really likes her and his brain and OG parts do not. So he has a visible erection like a lot. Just standing around with an awkward guest that isn’t his.

I found that the religious undertones of this were a bit much. He's telling her she's not a great person through the entire book and she spends the time alternating between doing things out of shame to look better in his eyes and begging him to sleep with her. It just felt really predatory and gross.

Thank you to Netgalley and Harper Audio for a copy in exchange for an honest review. My opinions are my own.

Well this was.....odd. I genuinely don't have any words. This is a great time of year to read a strange book like this but it was not for me!

This was so different from what I was anticipating. I was anticipating a Sally Thorne rom-com with gothic elements, but this book was much more fantastical and a little bit uncomfortable to read. But I definitely liked it and I think you just have to read it and see.

It's very quirky and a bit weird, but the only way I can describe it is unexpected.

Thank you to NetGalley and Avon and Harper Voyager for providing the ARC.

DNF 20%

I can't with this book.

I could look past the "build a husband" plot. It's certainly not the worst thing I've read, and I coukd definitely see where, if there was enough camp, it would be okay. However, this book made me so uncomfortable in the first 20% that I cannot justify finishing it.

Not sure if it was due to the egregious penis/boner talk in the first few chapters, the fact that "Will" very much retains his faculties as a human being, including knowledge that he had a past life, the fact that his doesn't have full control over this strange new body, and it is discussed through a lens of "I know he wants me, but his head gets in the way" as opposed to the unnatural reason he is there, or the fact that Angelika thought that he would love her and be happy about the fact that she "saved" him from the second she resurrected him. Perhaps it's all of that. All I know is that there is a level of uncomfortable that I'm willing to deal with, and I just can't get behind romanticizing Frankenstein.

This is disappointing, to say the least. I feel like Thorne killed it with The Hating Game, but everything she has released since then has been subpar. And then this. As much as I love The Hating Game, I don't know if I want to continue reading her works. This has left such a bad taste in my mouth.

I loved this book! It was so imaginative and clever! Sally Thorne is one of my all-time favorite authors, and I'm constantly amazed at how she just gets better and better!

This book was… weird? But kind of addicting. I don’t really know how to feel about this book. It was so strange and that is the most I can say

I had to sit on this review for quite a while because this book was so... interesting. I love Sally Thorne so much, but this book was absolutely absurd (in a good way... I think?).

From the very start of the book, I was left absolutely befuddled. I had no idea where she was going! And this feeling continued on and on and on...

This is the story of Angelika Frankenstein, Victor's rich, spoiled, romantic little sister who helps him with, of course, his other-worldly science experiments. From Victor, she gets the genius idea to create her own husband by... stitching him together out of corpses' body parts.

When her new husband awakens, Angelika is madly in love with him. Naming him Will, she is hopeful he will feel that same attraction. Unfortunately, upon waking, Will realizes that he cannot form a relationship with her before finding out who he is and whether he has a family out there grieving for him.

This premise (as wild as it was) was so sweet. Both Angelika and Will feel so deeply for one another, but they cannot act upon it until Will's quest is finished. The introduction and inclusion of Christopher's character was definitely my least favorite part of the book, especially since he seems to be the embodiment of everything Will isn't and can never be. The love triangle was forced and unnecessary.

Despite this book being my least favorite from Sally Thorne, it was still so enjoyable and unputdownable. It will not stop me from immediately picking up whatever she writes next!

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for a copy of this book in exchange for my honest review.

It’s while assisting her brother in his ground-breaking experiment that Angelika Frankenstein realizes she might have to answer to all her love problems. When she creates her own handsome scientific suitor, she tries her hardest build their chemistry. However he is more interested in learning about himself. Angelika helps Will but when she meets someone new she starts to wonder if true love can’t be masterminded in a laboratory.

From the author of the romance classic The Hating Game - Sally Thorne is back with “witty banter, a sexy, toe-curling romance, and voice that pirouettes off the page.”

I wanted to love this book but it just didn’t hit the mark for me. It started out wild (in a little blue aliens way, but with less spice) and funny but then it really slowed down for me about halfway. I really liked all of the characters in this book-the people, the reanimated men, and even Belladonna the pig! There were many moments that made me laugh out loud! But I felt like the pining got monotonous and the religious aspects were unexpected and felt out of place. The twist on the Frankenstein story was fun, and I did feel like it was fitting for the season!

Thanks to NetGalley and Avon and Harper Voyager Books for an advanced digital copy of this book in exchange for my honest review.

This book was just not it for me.

I just couldn’t really click with Angelika. Her personality seemed too flighty for me to find much to connect or empathize with. A lot of her emotional episodes happened too quickly to really acknowledge or they lasted too long and I grew bored. Thorne wanted the reader to see that Will helped Angelika think of more than herself but she never truly seemed to change throughout the book. If anything, it just felt like an act so that Will thought she was a better person and would fall in love with her. I just didn’t really connect with Angelika so it was hard for me to connect with the story.

Will was an okay character… kind of bland to be honest. He was very hot and cold with Angelika and that dynamic grew old quickly. I did think that Victor and Lizzie were hilarious, both individually and as a couple. Victor’s relationship with Angelika was unlike my relationship with my brother in many ways but I still recognized that sibling bond and loved it.

A big drawback of this book was my lack of interest in the romance. This book is marketed as a romance and is definitely written like that, but I just couldn’t get behind the concept of Angelika making a man out of dead body parts, reanimating him, and then falling in love with him. I just kept picturing dead skin, with that greyish blue tint, and I couldn’t see it. That, combined with Will’s blandness, made it difficult for me to see him and an intriguing love interest. Because the romance between the two is the largest part of the plot I was left feeling unfulfilled and bored most of the time.

The thing that I liked about Angelika was what she represented. She was an intelligent woman who knew what she wanted and went after it with everything she had. She didn’t really care what people thought of her and focused more on herself. Sure, sometimes that ventured more into selfishness, but I think we as women need to feel comfortable with looking out for ourselves and doing what’s best for us, so I really did like that aspect of her personality. She was witty and held her own throughout the book and I respected that, even though I found the way she was written to be kind of annoying.

I enjoyed the setting of the book greatly. I loved the sprawling manor grounds with the gargoyle-clad manor and adorable little cottages, apple orchard and woods, and second creature on the prowl. There’s just something about a setting in which characters must travel by horseback or carriage that I find so wonderful, I can never get enough of it.

This book just really didn’t click with me. I couldn’t get past my dislike of most of the characters and lack of interest in the plot. There are certain mysteries and characters that I enjoyed but overall I just wanted the book to be over as I was reading. I was so excited to read this book but unfortunately it just wasn’t meant for me.

I didn't finish this book. I didn't like the characters, the writing, or the plot. It was a weird mishmash trying to be funny (and failing), trying to be historically accurate (who knows) and was just overall very ugh.