Thank you to NetGalley for providing the unpublished ARC

I want to love this book. The idea is original and the potential is there to be exceptional. I got bogged down with the exchanges between Jo and Abigail, and really any conversations that took place where Jo's mom and her side of the family were concerned. Way too much time spent with them for me. I get why Jo is "sullen" but it could have been explained in a much fuller way. I wanted more time at the farmhouse and more story about Maur and Enzo. The idea of this book is so interesting, but the delivery just didn't keep me interested.

After being absolutely thrilled by Erin Craig’s SMALL FAVORS and entirely unsettled by Krystal Sutherland’s HOUSE OF HOLLOW, I’ve recently gravitated towards more spooky young adult books just like those. Patricia Ward’s THE CHERISHED follows in the steps of its predecessors, while still managing to tell a unique tale that merges past and present in a disorienting way.

What I loved about this book was the ingenuity of the plot and its idiosyncratic cast of characters. MC Jo has inherited land from her recently deceased grandma, who she has had nothing to do with for most of her life. But with the inheritance comes strict instructions around the preservation of the land — and Jo’s role in it all becomes startlingly and horrifyingly clear once she and her mother head to the house she hasn’t seen since she was a little girl.

Ward builds tension using offbeat characters, mysterious journal entries and by sprinkling in repressed memories surfacing before a big reveal. Jo was an interesting enough protagonist; her strained mother-daughter relationship with Abigail added a degree of realism to the story’s thrilling dynamic. Hattie as a side character was just eerie enough while also being likeable and Tom was a perfect background addition to the unsettling ambiance of a house hiding dangerous secrets. The ‘ghosts’ of Gammy and Jo’s dad Enzo, which manifest through flashbacks, also positively boost scene-building.

What I didn’t love was the — many — missing clarifications. This book is riddled with plot holes which is genuinely one of the most frustrating things about it. It doesn’t end on an obvious cliffhanger — thank all that is good and holy —but it does finish with way too much of the story left unexplained.

I suppose still thinking about those open-ended parts a day after finishing the book is, in some ways, a positive thing. But I’d expect it’s also discouraging to any reader doing their utmost to become immersed in a fictional world. Several of those unfinished devices aren’t even teased or alluded to in the ending — leading me to believe that there’s a chance this was intentional, and if this isn’t turned into a series, they’ll never be addressed again. (Hoping that this isn’t the case, because that’d be an actual shame.)

There were also a few noticeable issues in the text — words missing and formatting problems — but as this is an advanced reader copy, and the book isn’t due to publish for some time, these don’t dissuade from the story.

All in all, I can’t say with enthusiasm that I’m positive I’ll return to continue forward with what Ward has crafted in THE CHERISHED. If this ends up being part one of a series, I do hope that the author ties things up more smoothly in the next installment. No matter, as even despite that, I enjoyed this — and I’d bet fellow fans of SMALL FAVORS will, too.

*Thanks to NetGalley and HarperCollins for an ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review.*

This ARC was provided to me via Kindle by #HarperTeen and #NetGalley in exchange for my honest opinion. All thoughts and opinions stated are my own. There are many things that grind my gears about this new YA horror novel. I thought the premise was intriguing, and it gave me Guillermo del Toro vibes, specifically Don't Be Afraid of the Dark.

However, there were passages regarding race and mental health that seriously need to be evaluated before the set publishing date. This is 2022, and there are descriptions that are just unacceptable in my opinion. I believe that the author was trying to demonstrate that these views were from the wealthy white upper crust characters, and was attempting to use that as a way to tell us that these characters are "bad" or "judgmental" but it just didn't work.

I hope that before this book is released to the public, the author applies their own advice from within it's pages: "There's down and dirty work to be done here, necessary work."

I unfortunately couldn’t get through this book. It was very slow paced and didn’t capture my attention. I feel bad, but hopefully someone loves this book, just wasn’t for me.

Honestly had very high expectations on the book as it was listed in the most requested category, I'm not sure if its my exposure to much gruesome and thrilling writings.. I couldn't get back behind this story. As a budding author must say its a nice try. I would look forward for more from this authors work.

This book was good.

It was pretty slow in the beginning and the writing could use a bit of work, but as the book kept going it got better.

I did enjoy all the twists and reveals throughout. I never really knew what was going to happen next.

Even though it took me a bit to get into the book, I would definitely read a sequel book because I want to understand more about this world and the issues in it.

Jo lives with her mom and stepdad and is dissatisfied with their life together. But one day, she receives a letter informing her that she is the sole inheritor of her grandmother’s house and property and that she has some unexplained responsibilities associated with them. There are tenants in the house who set her and her mother on edge, and she begins to get the feeling that the unbelievable stories her father used to tell her may be closer to the truth than anyone thought.

This work leaves a lot to be desired. I like the premise and thought the setting would be interesting, but I didn’t feel that it was executed well. I know this work is an advanced copy and not the final product, but this are an absurd number of negative things that detracted from my reading experience.

Currently, the writing is not engaging. It shifts between short, stilted sentences and long, run-on sentences that take up half a page. There were short excerpts of letters between the chapters that had no explanation and added nothing to the narrative. This book was mostly exposition, and much of it was unnecessary. There were large chunks that were Jo’s repetitive complaining that added nothing to the story other than making me dislike her even more as a protagonist. The author also heavily relied on telling rather than showing, which greatly detracted from the possible immersion in the book. There were also many instances of plot induced stupidity and plot holes that made this work frustrating to read. I’m not going to go in depth into the characters, but there were no likeable/engaging/relatable characters and they all lacked in depth and development.

The pacing of this work was not even. It was just past the 50% mark of the work before we started getting hints at what might be happening, and another chunk before anything actually started to happen. The first half of the book could honestly be trimmed down to just a couple of chapters. The ending was also extremely unsatisfactory.

One of the biggest things I noticed was that the author approached certain topics in an outdated and offensive way. There were many examples of this throughout the work, so I’m just going to list a few. The biggest thing was the way the author handled mental illness and race – near the beginning of the work, without any context, someone is described as being in a “paranoid schizo state” as well as “crazy.” And soon after they’re described as being “dark-skinned, Hispanic looking. He could be from anywhere. He might even be an Arab” and then later describing his physical looks as being “unsourced darkness.” (Sidenote, I believe he was the only character in the work described as being anything other than white.) Whereas another character was described as the “epitome of class” with “long tan legs” and blonde hair. There was also an instance where a character was a little rude and got labeled a Nazi. I’m not going to dive into how absurd it is that these stereotypes and derogatory descriptions are being used in a new Young Adult work, but these things MAJORLY detracted from any enjoyment I may have been able to get from this book.

It was quite honestly a struggle to make it through this book. I’d be willing to reread it and alter my rating if the author made some drastic changes before publication, but for now I don’t recommend that anyone read this book.

1.5 stars for effort
This is the first ARC I didn’t/couldn’t finish. The writing is terrible. I read the first 2 chapters and then skimmed the rest to see if it got better, and it just didn’t. How unfortunate because the premise was so good. Hopefully with a rewrite and some editing it will improve.

I have mixed feelings on this one. The writing was honestly terrible, but also I read an arc a full nine months before the publication date, so I expect the final result will be much better and I’m not letting that affect my review.

My main issue with it is the ending was extremely unsatisfying, and there were so many plot holes. If this was setting up to be a series I’d be fine with it, but it ended like the first book in a series, not like a standalone. Again, as I’m reading it nine months before the pub date and I expect a lot will change (and possibly a sequel be announced?), I’m not really letting that affect my review.

The best thing about this book is that it’s FUN!!! The characters are annoying and the plot doesn’t make a lot of sense and the writing is terrible but golly it was just so fun to read!!! I will overlook a lot of things for a genuinely fun story.

Also, my deepest thanks to Patricia Ward for writing a fun YA book with NO ROMANCE!!!!!! That is a truly rare find and every time I come across one I’m legally required to like it.

(Stopped at chapter 4) I will not be reading anymore. The writing is not good; it’s very choppy, formatting is weird, and stylistic choices make the narrative confusing to read.

There are also some offensive (and just straight up bad) takes in this book that made me uncomfortable to read. I appreciate the publisher and Netgalley for providing me the e-ARC, but I won’t be continuing with this book.

The one star is for the Dead Meat reference and that’s all.

I absolutely refuse to keep reading this after the first chapter.

I’m going to rate it low because I am appalled.

Did no one edit this at all?

“ Someone severely damaged, that’s who. Someone dangerously broken. Plus he was dark skinned, Hispanic looking. He could be from anywhere. He might even be Arab. Who knew what he’d done that he supposedly couldn’t remember.”

HOW DID THIS GET PAST EDITING

Dark skinned? A negative connotation being implied because he is dangerous?

It’s also so offensive to mental health. The loony bin ? Next page, this is used. Schizophrenia is used as a way to imply Jo’s mom was wild for running away with someone with this. My mom is schizophrenic and it isn’t a trend or a fun quip to describe a rebellious trait. This is insanely offensive.