Not my cup of tea!

The concept is interesting and definitely have potential, and shout out for the designer of this cover, it's so gorgeous and attractive. But it just did not worked for me.

I was expecting more depth to the story, and some of the topics were just not well addressed. I missed character development, and the instant love was a bit annoying for me. The misogyni on it was killing me slowly, I almost DNF this book so many times.

Marionette is a horror novella with a touch of erotica.

“Marionette” was set in the 1800s Paris. The clothes, venues, and overall environment gave me Moulin Rouge vibes. The cover art sets the tone for this period.

Cece, the main character, is a lifelong erotic dancer. She agrees to take part in a mysterious show by one of the most powerful men, Monsieur Rossignol. What could go wrong?! 😆.

Meanwhile, George is a young man who arrived in Paris to pursue on his art. His dad instructs him to stay away from women and focus on his art. Women are a distraction! So, George falls in love with the first beautiful woman he sees. The rest of the tale follows George on his mission to save his love interest.

Marionette was my first Gothic erotic horror story. It was an experience. The story was told in multiple points of view. The author transitioned well between the characters. The story flowed smoothly.

As this was a horror novella, I was expecting more depth to the story. There was not enough depth to it. It almost felt like the story was skimming the surface. The book tackled some serious sexual topics like rape and molestation. Since this was a horror novella, I was expecting that the dark topics would have been addressed better as part of the story.

Additionally, this story had a few plot holes which really affected continuity. I don’t want to go into these because they are spoilers.

The story flowed at a good pace and had a predictable ending. I did love the story as a whole. I like Antonia’s character. Furthermore, I loved watching George fight for his true love. “Marionette” was a fun, short read.

This novella takes place in Paris where our main character Cece, involved in a life of exotic dancing and erotic encounters agrees to take part in a mysterious show by one of the most powerful men in the industry, Monsieur Rossignol. It is there she falls under hypnosis and her body taken over by a malevolent spirit.

This is categorised as 'horror', 'erotica' and 'sci-fi/fantasy' and I have to say this story hits all of these boxes with ease - but should ONLY be considered a combination of these, not any of them independent. This is not a love story romantic or even sometimes particularly sexy kind of erotica, it's not your standard horror as it involves quite a bit of depraved thought (and generally is quite tame at some points compared to what could have happened) and generally would fall within 'paranormal' if I would categorise it within a sub-genre.

It gave a very bourlesque/Moulin Rouge kind of vibe, set in what I believe was 1800's and everything to do with sexuality was normally behind closed doors, only for this environment to allow for a freedom which society at large looked down upon.

This was an enjoyable read if you're a lover of horror and less-than-normal stories, but I certainly wouldn't recommend to those who want to read a normal erotica book! It didn't go as far into the creepy and depraved side as I had expected it to which is not something I expected to have a complaint about, but some of the content could have been more violent/weird given the vibe the book was going. In some ways, I feel this book had the perfect context within which a lot could have been done, which led to some missed opportunities.

IMPORTANT: trigger warnings are dubious consent (on a few occassions), mutilation, death, references to suicide, violence

I actually would like to read this author's other works in future as I think the way she thinks and writes is very interesting, in some ways I hope their confidence to go as far as it feels they wanted to go is achieved.

NOTE: I did not have access to the illustrations on my download so I am only reviewing the storyline as written without a single visual accompanying it - my apologies, not sure why the download didn't include them but it appears to be a common issue.

I received a complimentary copy of this novella courtesy of Brigids Gate Press LLC via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review, which I leave voluntarily.

I thought this would be darker, but not really. There were some spooky aspects, but they were quickly resolved in the story's scope. I was expecting to be scared, but really this was just a mystery that was resolved.

Struggled to connect with this book. Concept was great, cover is gorgeous but something was missing for me.

Interesting concept (sexy possession by ghost), but subpar execution (none of the characters have any brain cells left). Add to that the surface-level research on the historical setting and society, and you have created an environment hostile to any eroticism I might have perceived.

I really feel like the content warnings should be placed in the beginning of the book because a lot of the content can be triggering. Other than that I enjoyed the idea of the story, but I feel like it could have been better extended and elaborated, it felt very choppy.

This book was a little weird for me and I’m usually the biggest trailer for our weird but I did like it. I’m not sure I have a fully formed opinion on the story, but I didn’t like them. Thank you for the opportunity to read this book.

this novella was certainly... interesting. it wasn't <i>bad</i> but it also wasn't good

things i liked
-this cover is insanely gorgeous
-the title grips you from the beginning and paired with the cover you know what to expect
-the plot idea!- old school Paris romance with horror elements: seances, possession, manipulation
-the slow transition <spoiler>from Cece to Selena as you realize what's happening with the necklace</spoiler>
-there is some great imagery
-quick and interesting read

things i didn't like
-3rd party dual POV left me feeling no true connection to any of the characters
-no character development (i know it's a novella but come on, give me <i>something</i>
-insta-love for people who didn't even really ever meet??
-i felt lost when it came to why these characters thought they were in "love"

DNF’d at 51% I honestly could have DNF’d MUCH sooner but I tried to power through but it’s just so awful. This book is so misogynistic and I really don’t appreciate the sexualisation of sapphic relationships. Also, there was no need for that man’s perspective, everytime I read his thoughts I wanted to punch him in the face

TW/CW (not a complete list as I didn’t read the whole book) - Blood; Cussing; Death of a loved one (past); Mind Control; Misogyny; Nudity; Prostitution; Sex; Suicide (briefly mentioned)

I really didn't expect how much I liked this book! The length was perfect, which I didn't expect as I thought initially that the concept would be better suited to a longer novel but nope! A great read with interesting characters and descriptions.

Thanks NetGalley and Brigids Gate Press for a copy of the eARC in exchange for an honest review!

The reasons why I decided to read this novel are definitely the gorgeous cover and the intriguing plot.
After I read it I can tell you that it was worth it.
The story is weird (in a good way) and kept me entertained the whole time.

The book is narrated from three different points of view! Initially I was afraid it would be confusing but it is absolutely not the case. The author was very good at developing the story through the characters!

The only thing that didn't convince me 100% was the too predictable ending. Being an extravagant story I was expecting something more.

i was really really excited to read this when i saw it on Netgalley. I've read plenty of dark books but nothing like this!

the premise of the book was really interesting and i was hooked in from the first page. like i didn't expect whatever this was.🤭

but the thing that put me off was the underdevelopment of the characters. esp cece's character! i can understand george's character being bland (he can take his yt man savior complex somewhere else💀) but i was really disappointed by cece and her selena's characters being written like this. they were just not ENOUGH yk??

anyways this was still a fun short read!

ARC received from Netgalley and author/publisher in exchange for an honest review. Opinions expressed are my own and have not been influenced in any way.

Marionette is a horror novella with a little side of erotica and a whole lot of insta-love.

George is a young man, freshly arrived in Paris to work on his art. His dad instructs him to stay away from women. Focus on your work! Women are nothing but a seductive distraction! So what does George go and do? He falls head over heels in LOVE with the first beautiful woman he sees and finds himself embroiled in an unimaginable scenario and spends the rest of the story wanting to save his true love. Oh George you poor besotted fool. You really should’ve listened to dad on this one, lol.

If you’ve read a few of my reviews you might know that the insta-love trope drives me a bit ahhh! but it’s only because I’ve read a million romances that use this instant connection in lieu of a well-developed relationship. It bugs the hell out of me (usually) in a romance because the developing romance is the entire reason I’m there. Anyhow, it’s here but because this is a horror novella I was able to let George and his intense feelings slide a bit even though I can’t deny that every one of his declarations of love made me cringe down to my very toes.

His love is dancer Cece but alas Rossignol, the Prince of Debauchery, takes an interest in her as well and no one can say no to the Prince of Debauchery (and why would you?) so George is immediately in way over his head but wait because it gets worse for George and for Cece! During a dark and strange command performance at a party Rossignol hosts, something odd happens to Cece and I can’t tell you what it is without spoilers but it’s disturbing and leads to sexy times that are mostly dub/non-con so get ready to run if that’s not your thing.

I liked this book but it would’ve been even better had a few things been fleshed out a bit more. There isn’t a lot of room to get to know the characters or feel for their plight because things happen so quickly. With that said, I enjoyed reading it and there were some moments that I absolutely adored and one moment of violence that was such a pleasure to read. I’ll definitely check out future work written by this author.

Sadly, not for me. A short, mildly erotic, somewhat slow paced story. Didn't relate to any of the characters or particularly care about what happened to them...

Big thanks to Antonia Ward and Netgalley for the eARC in exchange for a review.

Cece came to the big city to escape the humdrum life of small town poverty. She very quickly becomes a highly sought-after star with invites to all the right places and charming glances from all the right men. At least until one of those men brings her on stage for a more unique performance than Cece expects.
Suddenly under the control of another, Cece's dream of fame and fortune might not be hers to have.

There was a lot of oddly placed parts to the story and some with no resolution. It's a pretty dark story, combining several triggering topics.

I don't know why I was expecting this to be a graphic novel, but for some reason I was. I think the cover gives off that definite vibe. Still, I won't judge the book on my failing. Instead, I will say this story felt a little rushed. I think it would have been better a little longer, and that the erotica tag is a bit of a stretch. I've read more sex in regular romance novels, so this was definitely more in the horror genre for me.

This was an interesting, short, spicy, read. The storyline made sense, the characters were easy to distinguish, and it was definitely spicy.

In this saucy erotic horror, we follow Cece, a sex worker turned performer in old Paris, as she gets invited to perform in a séance, Cece’s body ends up being possessed by an entity and sexual insanity explodes.

I quite enjoyed the premise of this novella. We see a woman, who is very sex positive, lose control of her body and how she deals with that. My favorite part, though, is the prologue. I had to laugh at the last line and it made me excited to read on.

Received a copy from NetGalley in exchange for my review.

It’s like Moulin Rouge if Satine got possessed by a horny & murderous ghost! Sitting at ~100 pages, this novella is a fast paced story about possession and revenge and the lengths a man might go to in order to save his beloved.

CW: suicide mention, violence, mutilation, dubcon

[arc review - all opinions are my own]