This light-hearted take on Mary Shelley's Frankenstein introduces Victor Frankenstein's sister Angelika, and her efforts to create a partner for herself after assisting her brother (with little or no recognition from him) in his work to reanimate and "improve" on a human being. The story introduces the Frankensteins as rich heirs to their parent's estate which enables them to spend all their time and effort in the laboratory without concern about costs. When both his and her efforts are successful, there is a contrast in how the two of them interact with the results. Angelika is positively influenced by how her creature (Will) reacts to the world and people around him and it's hard to say who grows more during the course of the story--Angelika or Will.. The reader finds themself rooting for the characters and satisfied with the way the story end.s.

Interesting premise and a bit weird overall, but I love spooky season, so I was down for it. I'm sad to say that it was only okay. AFMHM didn't have that signature Sally Thorne spark with flashy, unexpected adjectives and such. The characters didn't feel full bodied--they weren't bad and there was definitely character growth, but overall they didn't jump off the page like many of Thorne's other characters. Maybe that's just the nature of 3rd person omnipresent.

The plot. So...it felt meandering--which I happen to like, so I'm not complaining about that personally, but I think most people would be questioning where the heck the story was going. It was like a day in the life without a real overarching goal that reached beyond finding out about Will's identity. I guess what I'm saying is that it felt like it was missing direction.

Angelika and Victor are on a mission to reanimate the perfect husband for Angelika.
I've heard other people describe the first couple chapters as just cringey and....that really is the best word to describe them.
The first few chapters spend an awful lot of time talking about how well endowed the potential husbands are, and it's just an awkward conversation to read between siblings.
After that it's not near as cringey and is actually kind of hard to out down.

✨ARC Review✨

It’s no secret that I loved The Hating Game, and spooky season is my favorite time of year, so I was super excited when I heard about this book, but it was very disappointing. When I heard this described as a reimagining of Frankenstein I was intrigued. However, I think I went in having certain expectations, which is my own fault.

Angelika and her brother Victor felt like their characters lacked in being fleshed out, and the creation of Will felt like a continuous circle. I mean that in the sense of he is created for the purpose of being Angelika’s husband but he wants nothing of the sort initially. He is conflicted between mind and body and it’s a continuous battle of being bored while we finally get to the point.

✨Rating✨
⭐️⭐️⭐️/5 (more like 2.5)

A special thank you to NetGalley and Avon Books for this eARC!

Being a fan of Sally Thorne's, and monster/paranormal romance, I decided to pick this one up. I really wanted to like it more, but it was just kinda weird, overall.

If you can get past the cringey-ness of the first handful of chapters, it gets better and it is A LOT of cringe. Siblings should not be involved that much in knowing about each other sex lives. Angelika is choosing a cadaver to be reanimated into her husband and her brother, THE Victor Frankenstein, tells her the cadaver isn't endowed enough for her, a virgin? It's just weird y'all.

I still can appreciate the writing and am still a fan of Thorne's. Once I go into it, I didn't want to stop reading it, so there is that. I did end up enjoying most of the later part of the book. It just took a bit to get there.

Thank you to NetGalley and Avon and Harper Voyager. I voluntarily read an early copy of this book.

3.5 Stars

This is the third Sally Thorne book I have read. I DNF this one at about 50%. I was cringing so much. Not for me at all. I might consider getting the audio from the library once it’s out but probably not…

Oh Sally Thorne, how I wanted to love this so much. I was the #1 fan of The Hating Game. It was all I could think about back in 2019 when I read it. Unfortunately that has been the only Sally Thorne I have really enjoyed. When I read this synopsis I was SO excited. I love all things spooky and a little outrageous, without being downright scary. Unfortunately, I think that this took outrageous to a whole new level and I spend 90% of this book rolling my eyes and cringing. I think a lot of my disconnect was just the fact that I didn’t find the humor very humorous. That is a tricky thing because everyone’s sense of humor varies so much and I think it is a hard thing for an author to really nail. It just wasn’t something I enjoyed very much, but I totally wish I had. I will be interested to see what others think of this book and if maybe it is just a me thing. I do think it would be a great book to read in the fall closer to Halloween. It just missed the mark for me.

Sally Thorne excels at writing YA romance. THE HATING GAME is a perfect example of that. ANGELIKA FRANKENSTEIN MAKES HER MATCH is no traditional love story, however. Starring a cast of characters easy to hate, an absolutely ridiculous plot and featuring themes of redemption and oddball romance, the book is Thorne’s latest. And it is as far from THE HATING GAME that it can get.

MC Angelika is a perfectly unlikeable, difficult character to root for, whose brother, Victor, and love interest, Will, are somehow even worse. The story starts with Angelika and Victor finding Will in a morgue, after which they mold him into Angelika’s ‘perfect man’ and successfully reanimate him in their at-home lab, somehow bringing him back to life. But Will, as they call him, has no memories of his life before death, and Angelika, who wants a husband, isn’t the most honest with him about his origin on their operating table, but begins to fall for Will, who is determined to learn more about his past. And so begins their unlikely courtship, and sets the bizarre tone of the story.

I can possibly see some people looking for an unusual hook liking this kind of book, but ANGELIKA FRANKENSTEIN MAKES HER MATCH wasn't for me. Very rarely do I give up on a book without finishing it, and yet I couldn’t muster up the interest to see this story through to the end. The biggest drawback was the characters themselves — it’s very difficult for me to stay invested in a plot if the people it’s built around are one-dimensional and impossible to empathize with. That’s pretty immediately the case with Angelika, Victor and Will, which discouraged me from continuing past the first few chapters. I also didn’t love the storytelling techniques deployed here, which was really surprising, since I’m usually a fan of Thorne’s style.

If you’ve read THE HATING GAME and are looking for more of that from Thorne, might be best to skip this one. ANGELIKA FRANKENSTEIN MAKES HER MATCH is in a league of its own. And in this case, that’s not a compliment.

Sally Thorne writes great romance. The Hating Game is one of my faves, and while she didn't fully recreate that magic with 99 Percent Mine and Second First Impressions, I thoroughly enjoyed those books, too. This was not the case with Angelika Frankenstein Makes Her Match. It still has those Sally Thorne elements of good pacing, fun banter, and spicy scenes... but paired up with this Frankenstein concept, I found it odd. It just wasn't for me. If you love Sally Thorne and are up for a wacky concept, you might feel differently!

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for the eARC, in exchange for my honest review.

I have mixed feelings about this book. I still think The Hating Game is the best Sally Thorne has written, but it was nice to see her branch out into a different style with this novel. I found the gothic setting intriguing, and the banter between the siblings Victor and Angelika humorous and addicting. Those two are certainly not short on personality. My issue stems from the instalove (and there is a LOT of instalove in this book) between Angelika and Will. There's really not much pushing their romance forward except for the fact that Angelika created Will and therefore that established a bond between them. So while I appreciate the premise, it fell short on the actual delivery.

I will still recommend this to Sally Thorne fans, as I feel this is a refreshing take on her usual romance.

Many thanks to the publisher and Netgalley for this arc!

All Angelika Frankenstein wants is to find true love. She’s lonely and feeling lost in the world. So, of course, being Frankenstein's sister, she decides to ditch the regular way to find a suitor, and builds her own true love.



This book, to say it plainly, was BONKERS. It was a wild ride from the beginning to the end. I loved Sally Thorne’s writing and the character of Victor. Victor was probably the best thing about this book. Also- the mystery aspect of this book was fascinating and intriguing.

However, there was a lot of chaos in this book. And the insta-love trope was just plain cringe.

If you liked her other books, this might be a very different pace from what you are used to, but I think it is a fun journey to go on.

Thank you to NetGalley and Avon Books for the ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Thank you to Avon and Harper Voyager for the ARC, in exchange for an honest review.

I gave up on this one 35% through. I thought the jokes between all the characters were great, Sally Thorne really does great banter. Unfortunately, the pacing of the two main characters’ interactions was too weird to overlook. Angelika, horny as all hell, literally falls in love with a body and then reanimates it. From there it only got weirder as she continues obsessing over him, while he seems to just be okay with her. Overall there was way too much insta-love, one-sided attraction, and will-they-won’t-they for me.

Also, I simply could not get passed the fact that Will’s reanimated body does not begin to look like a normal living human body (at least until 35% through)… so Angelika is out here horny over a corpse that can talk…and idk straight people seem like a bit much here.

⭐️ Unable to finish due to sexual content
🌶🌶🌶🌶🌶 multiple graphic open-door sex scenes

Thank you Avon and Harper Voyager and NetGalley for the e-ARC.

This book is genuinely, fantastically nuts, and I adored every single second of it! Jelly is the lonely, horny, enterprising heroine of my heart, Will is the most adorable love interest to ever grace a book, Belladonna gave me P&P 2005 flashbacks and deserves all the apples, Lizzie and Victor had me dying laughing every time the came on screen, and then there’s the plot, which is deliciously bonkers and utterly unique! Love, love, love, LOOOOOOOOVE ❤️

Angelika Frankenstein Makes Her Match- Sally Thorne

Releases: September 6, 2022

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

I just want to get this out of the way: Sally Thorne really wanted to let us know this dude had a giant 🍆 LOL okay jokes aside I absolutely devoured each page like a bag of hot Cheetos. I laughed and cried I cried I’m not gonna lie. Tim burton vibes with a smidge of Stephen king 🖤 Angelika Frankenstein is my fav MC she’s so confident & intelligent that her energy truly transcends! (IYKYK) I want more weird romances like this 🤣🤣

This was bananas. It was totally different from any Sally Thorne I've read before. Our heroine, Angelika Frankenstein, is Victor Frankenstein's equally brilliant sister, who has been working alongside her brother to create her perfect husband. Literally. She stitches together a bunch of parts from different male cadavers that she finds attractive and manages to bring this specimen to life. Will, as she names him, can't remember anything about who he was or what his life was like, and though he's attracted to Angelika, he doesn't feel right about proposing to her without his memories. Also, while all this is going on, Victor's creation has escaped and is running amok across the countryside terrifying people. I had some weird feelings about this. It was an interesting premise, but I was getting pretty stuck on unexplored issues of consent. Like, this guy did not consent to coming back to life, and none of the people whose parts were used did either. I thought the portrayal of Angelika was interesting - she has found no potential suitor who meets her expectations, and is frequently described as silly, odd, etc. But mostly she just seems lonely and a bit socially awkward. I did enjoy reading this but it was odd and I felt like there was a lack of exploration of important concepts.

Maybe I'm just in the minority but I had a problem with the premise from the start. Angelika reanimates her creation and basically tells him that she owns him and he has no control. I'm probably being extra sensitive these days but thinking about the loss of control over one's own personal body just strikes a bad chord with me. Angelika comes off as whiney and selfish the whole book and I am a fan of "difficult" heroines. Sorry, Sally. This just isn't the book for me.

I tried with this one. I loved Sally Thorne's other books and was super excited about a quirky historical romance, but the ick factor was too much for me. The prose itself felt a little clunky and was difficult to read, too.

I usually love Sally Thorne and I was expecting this to be a fun, quirky read and this was just not it. I get authors wanting to branch out and write something different but sometimes I wish they would just stick with the old adage, if it isn't broke, don't fix it.

This got to be a little too icky for me. I thought this would be fun and quirky, but it weird to the point of being gross. I guess I thought I was going in to something a bit different than what this actually is. Also, I didn't like the power dynamic between the love interests and the moral implications of the reveal.

Altogether, this was disappointing because I've loved all of Thorne's previous work.