Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

This book wasn't horror. Maybe to people who are 100% new to the horror genre, this would be creepy, maybe. Maybe. If they can get past the stilted prose and unlikable main character.

Now, don't get me wrong. I love an unlikable MC. But Jo is unlikable in the way that she's a spoiled rich girl who is written in a way that makes you want to slap her. Mail is gross? Chores are unbearable? Hey, you're well off, maybe just hire a crew to fix the house and then a housecleaner? Like...?

The fairies weren't horror enough, the story wasn't spooky, and Jo was just a brat.

Two stars.

The good stuff: This book is about 16-year-old Jo who inherits a house in Vermont from her estranged grandmother, Gammy Maureen. This house holds memories of a traumatic past Jo struggles to recall. After what seems like a somewhat normal beginning to the story we walk into basically a nightmare situation. This was a very atmospheric detailed story with such a creepy vibe. This plot line was unlike anything that I have read before and it was an interesting concept. I think the fantasy aspect plays perfectly into the YA audience I assume this book was intended for.
The bad stuff: This book for me had no real redeeming characters. Perhaps it is my age and the fact that I was reading about a 16-year-old and that is how they act, but the MC for me just was really unlikeable. The pacing of this book was off for me with not a lot of stuff happening and then all the sudden it was over too quickly, and it was a lot of waiting for stuff to Let's also discuss the elephant in the room I noticed that the author approached certain topics in an outdated and offensive way. I think that mental health & body image topics are extremely important and if they are to be included in a story should be discussed in a different manner.
I did receive an ARC so perhaps some of this will be addressed and fixed in the released version so fingers crossed. I once again thank NetGalley, the author Patricia Ward and HarperCollins for giving me a chance to read, review, and give my honest opinion.

This book is extremely problematic and needs an entire reworking. The plot does not make sense and is all over the place. It is full of hateful rhetoric and harmful - full of fatphobic, ableist, and awful takes on mental health. Do better.

The Cherished is a story full of creepy atmospheric descriptions, suspense, and generations spanning mystery. What starts out as a relatively normal story of a young girl with a strange inheritance becomes something much more sinister and sad. The slow build-up to the end helps build tension. I also like how the ending remains a bit open ended, answering just enough to satisfy the reader's curiosity while still leaving some questions unanswered.
I do wish there was more about the other townspeople in the story. Most of the development came at the end when it felt too late. But the history of the town and their involvement in what takes place (trying to keep this vague to avoid spoilers) was one of the most interesting parts.
The Cherished is a quick, easy read for those looking for something to fill a rainy weekend.

The Cherished is a horror thriller novel by Patricia Ward that was released in 2023. The story follows Jo, a 16-year-old girl who inherits a mysterious house from her estranged grandmother. When Jo arrives at the house, she begins to experience strange and disturbing events. She soon learns that her grandmother was involved in a dark and dangerous cult, and that Jo may be the only one who can stop it.

The Cherished is a fast-paced and suspenseful read that will keep you on the edge of your seat. Ward does an excellent job of creating a sense of dread and foreboding, and the characters are well-developed and relatable. The novel is also full of twists and turns that will keep you guessing until the very end.

If you are a fan of horror thrillers, then I highly recommend The Cherished. It is a well-written and engaging novel that will stay with you long after you finish reading it.

I really tried to enjoy this but just wasn’t able to. There are comments that are racially insensitive and I’m hoping they were removed before being published. Besides that, the pacing is really off and nothing really seems to happen until over 50% in. Then the events at the end are rushed through. This story has an interesting premise but overall it just wasn’t for me. Thank you NetGalley and Harper Collins Children’s Books for the arc.

After trying my hardest, this was another one that I couldn't vibe with. Some of this didn't make since and I kept having to go back and try to make sense. I've seen other talk about the racial remarks made, and I tend to agree. So this was a no for me.

This horrifying tale will leave your heart racing long after the story has ended. Aimed towards young adult readers, as an adult, I was properly spooked by the end.

The cherished is misleading based upon the synopsis and the comps. It starts off with a gothic set up-a young girl inherits the land and house of a grandmother she doesn’t know that well. There is a letter from the grandmother with instructions to care for a young tenant in her home. The home is atmospheric and the young tenant is odd. Jos father also has a history of delusions leading him to be estranged from her as well. However, as jo tries to unravel the past, she comes to question whether her father was delusional at all-what if his fantasy world was not a fantasy? It is at about the halfway point I lost interest as it moved more into dark fantasy territory. I feel like if the synopsis and comps were more accurate, I would have had a different experience, as it was well-.written and paced. The plot just wasn’t for me!

Thanks to the publisher for providing the arc via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

DNF @ 10%

Holy god this was... something. From using "schizo state" to refer to a schizophrenic episode, to referring to non-white people in demeaning ways but calling white characters as "the epitome of class... honey hair...", to fatphobic remarks, to absolutely nonsensical writing, this book is a big no. I can't see it getting much better as it goes on.

Let's be honest, I picked this book solely on the cover. Loved this creepy, buggy cover and then after reading the synopsis I knew this could be a book for me. I do enjoy YA horror a lot. It can be disturbing without being too weird.

I didn't love this one. There were just some elements that didn't work for me, plus there are a lot of disturbing language that shouldn't be in books at this age of time, including racist and ableist commentary (very early on, but then it is not constant through out the book). If you manage to look past it and still would read the book, keep on reading.

I really liked the premise, a girl inherits a house from her grandmother. There are some bad memories there, including a weird night with her what looks like mentally disturbed dad. Even though she would rather keep the house, and move away from her mom and stepdad, her parents make the decision to sell it. There's a whole creepy vibe, of "you must keep it in the family", weird residents on the property, and some reverence from the whole little town for her grandmother and her family. The characters are not likeable in my opinion. There's a whole not enough communication trope going on, that would have solved so many problems if people just talked.

I don't want to tell the rest of the story, because that will give away the secret of the house. But the plot kind of fell apart from me with how the inheritance works, etc. There are some holes in there, that just don't make any sense.

I don't think I'll remember this book past this week. It wasn't memorable, and the "bad" kind of overshadowed the whole cool plot.

Thank you to netgalley and the publisher for my review copy, all opinions are my own.

Based on the reviews I'd seen on Goodreads, I was ready to be positively appalled by this book. But... I really have no idea what the hate is about? I mean, it's not my new favorite or anything, but nor does it have me outraged either. I will say, there were a few moments where I was like "wait are you really using this very racially insensitive term in 2023?" and I agree, that is not acceptable. But it was also one or two instances, and I really am holding out hope that they get edited out of the final version. Someone read it and let me know. Or I will use this as an excuse to shuffle over to B&N to check for myself, even better!

What I Liked:

►The concept was actually pretty interesting. There are a lot of questions that the reader is going to want the answer to, from the start. Why's Grandma leaving Jo this house? Why was she being so extra about it? Why is Jo's family so against it? Intriguing, right?

►I was definitely invested enough to want to know what was happening. Frankly, I wanted to know what this place was all about! Not just the house, but the whole town seemed iffy, and I definitely wanted to know why!

►I liked that family dynamics were very much at play. I loved that we were being let in on both deep-seated family secrets from years gone by as well as dealing with the relationship that Jo currently had with her mom.

►It's fast paced and quite readable. I mean look, it's short and sweet, and the mystery is pretty compelling, so. I am always here for a book like that.

What I Struggled With:

►I felt no connection to the main character. I mean, this is fairly self-explanatory, yes? I didn't really dislike Jo or anything, she was fine. She just... didn't have a huge effect on me one way or another? It was almost like I was being told about her, but I wasn't really getting the emotions behind that. I think had it been told in first person, some of that could have been resolved. But alas.

►It required a pretty sizable suspension of disbelief. This is likely at least partly on me, because I am not always so good with the supernatural/paranormal, but if you are more able to "go with it" than I am, this may be less of an issue for you.

►The aforementioned insensitive comments. Again, this one kind of speaks for itself. See above.

Bottom Line: It's not without issues, but it is also a pretty fun and entertaining mystery/thriller.

I struggled with this book, but I did manage to finish it so partial credit is deserved.

Unfortunately for me, this story doesn't really pick up until about 75% into it, and by that point, it was too late to find anything redeeming in the characters. The mother-daughter relationship in this is horribly toxic, and the fact that the daughter's therapist hasn't called them in for a family session or ten means he isn't doing his job.

On top of that, there's some racism present. This is largely used to set Jo apart from her mom's family, but it's still in questionable taste in my opinion.

What really bothers me, though, is the way schizophrenia is portrayed in this book, as if a character suddenly being able to see what they thought were another person's delusions makes it okay to dehumanize them. There are also some horribly ableist things said about two other characters, Tom and Hattie, and while I get that this is part of the main character's growth, it just isn't pleasant to read.

The main takeaway here is that this book takes too long to get to the interesting parts, and by then the characters are more annoying than deserving of sympathy. The excitement is too little too late, and it's rushed on top of that. Not the book for me.

Nothing about this situation feels right to Jo. She has somehow been left her grandmother’s house, but more than that, she has been left a letter that scares her with its implications.

This book has an overarching sense of dread that is really powerful. It’s definitely not a light read, but it’s a well-written suspenseful one, and one I recommend.

I've tried three times to read this now but I just couldn't continue. I understand that it's an ARC and it hasn't been finalized yet but I truly had a hard time reading on with the errors and it felt incomplete. I usually could look past this but unfortunately, not this one. I had high hopes for this book because of what I read in the synopsis but I'm really sorry. It's not for me.

Thank you for giving me the opportunity to read this book!

A girl inherits her estranged grandmother's house and finds herself involved in a sinister mystery.
This book certainly had an amazing potential, but it didn't quite get to where it should have.
The characters were a little hard to connect to, and I didn't really like any of them. The pacing was a bit off, and at times it seemed like not much was going on. Adittionally, I would have liked it more if the fairies were developed in more depth —they might as well have been haunted toys or dogs with rabies and it would've had the same effect. On the positive side, I really liked the atmospheric way in which the creepy little town and its mysterious inhabitants were built throughout the story, as well as the way the suspense was kept throughout most of the story.
If you like mystery/thrillers, as well as surreal creatures, you could give this one a try.
I’d like to thank NetGalley and the publisher for providing me an ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review.

Creepy Horror Fairytale?

I enjoyed the concept of the story. It was a new creepiness that doesn't feel like the same old over done concepts.

The characters were a bit annoying. All of them. I was more interested in the dog vs some of the characters.
Some chapters are way to long. The ending felt to rushed compared to the first half of the book that dragged on.

I recieved this eArc from Netgalley for an honest review.

The Cherished unfortunately did not resonate with me as much as I had hoped, despite being drawn in by its captivating cover. The primary reason for my lack of connection with this book was the writing style. While I understand that others may find it appealing, it simply did not align with my personal preferences.

When Jo’s estranged grandmother dies and shockingly leaves Jo her house and working farm in Vermont, with a vague letter telling Jo she has “necessary work” there, Jo will be pulled into a dark and unexpected world. The Cherished is a horror, fantasy about family responsibilities.

Jo’s father passed away two years ago, and now her gammy has died as well, something she only learns about because she receives a letter from her lawyer telling her she has inherited the family farm. Jo hasn’t been back to the farm since she was eight years old, a trip that ended in her gammy attacking her with a rake and her father kidnapping her, which leads him to an arrest and a schizophrenia diagnosis. Now, as Jo and her mother head to the farm to get a jump on preparations to sell it, Jo will have to fast her past and the murky memories she has of that fateful night. What she learns will change everything.

While the plot was intriguing and enjoyable, it was brought down by stilted writing and the horrendous characters. Jo’s family is over the top villainous. The people living in the Vermont town are unreasonable, expecting Jo to pick up where her grandmother left off, but not giving her any information about what it is she is supposed to do. And then they look down on her for not somehow reading all of their minds! I even found Jo to be pretty awful, with an all about me attitude that doesn’t do her any favors in this story, it simply makes her look stubborn and like she is being defiant just for the sake of going against her mother and others.

The Cherished is made even worse by its extremely problematic depictions/views of mental illness. Jo’s father is diagnosed with schizophrenia (though it is clear that he likely never actually had any mental illness) and Jo’s family, her mother especially, constantly talk about how his mother drove him crazy. Big, big, big misrepresentation of how mental illness works. And general language surrounding mental illness, is just not what you want to see in a book like this. Especially since depicting Jo’s struggle with her memories and feelings from her traumatic past could have made this book an exceptional example or relatable novel for someone with similar struggles, but instead it’s one I would never recommend to someone suffering from mental illness.

The ending was a bit of a let down as well. I’m wondering if Ward is hoping for a sequel, as even though all the conflicts in the story were resolved, it still felt unfinished. I wish it was better, because I love the idea of the dark fae and one family’s responsibility to keep them away, but I just can’t recommend this one. The promising plot was overtaken by unpleasant writing, unlikable characters, and problematic representation.

I have been trying to read this book for months. I keep starting, finding I just cannot connect to it on any level, and then putting it down. Now the pub date is upon us and I have given it one last try. And I just can’t. The writing is not good or engaging, the story is disjointed and by the end of chapter 6 I am finding this book to be a chore.

The characters are uninteresting and I truly have no idea what’s even happening here. I have also attempted the audio but I have been given the voice galley and, because I’m struggling to follow along with the story anyway, I find it just impossible.

Thank you anyway, though, to Netaglley, HaperCollins Children’s Books, Harper Audio, and the author for the ARC and ALC in exchange for an honest review.