This wasn't terrible... but it wasn't great. The voice was incredibly grating and difficult to follow for long. The pacing felt off, too; quite slow for a YA "horror thriller." I wouldn't say it was much of either tbh. More of a mystery? But I found myself not caring too much about Jo, which is never a good sign. I'd try something else by this author, but this one really wasn't for me.

This had some cool aspects to it and got fairly creepy at one point, but it took a while to get there and the main character didn't carry the story well.

Jo is a sixteen year-old living with a mom she doesn't get along with and a stepdad she doesn't like. I can understand being a teen and struggling with your parent, but Jo came across as whiny and spoiled and it made it difficult to get behind her. Not that Abigail is necessarily so much better, but I could see how she'd seek out a stable relationship after so much turmoil in her previous one.

The pacing is slow for the first two-thirds, there are some hints but I wanted to get to the exciting part. I did enjoy the reveal of what was going on and the beings kind of freaked me out. I wanted more development about this, but it was so late in the story that we didn't have enough time.

The ending was rushed and way too easily dealt with. I don't know that I'd call this horror, more a fantasy with some darker parts. There's a decent story here, but I think it needs more development.

I voluntarily read and reviewed this book. All opinions are my own. Thank you to HarperTeen and NetGalley for the copy.

Josephine Lavoie gets the shock of a lifetime when she finds out that her absent grandmother has passed away - and that she’s been named in her will, inheriting her house and her land. When she arrives at the house, things aren’t quite what they seem. The tenants are odd and she feels and overall sense of dread. As she spends more time in town and around the farm, the memories from her childhood start to come back, making her wonder if her father wasn't as crazy as everyone made him out to be.

This book is compared to the film Midsommar (which I loved) and it does have that same feel of “I know something is off, but I can’t quite place my finger on it.” The story unfolds slowly, leading up to the big reveal of what the mysterious presence is at the farm. While I was sucked into the story and couldn’t stop reading, the suspense didn’t really feel palpable, the stakes didn’t really feel high. I’m not sure what it was about it, but I felt like I should be more anxious than I was while reading (which could be a good or bad thing depending on the person!)

Going into this story, I was worried it would be one that I wouldn’t be able to read while sitting in bed at night as I was expecting a horror/thriller vibe and I’m a big scaredy cat. Thankfully, that was not the case. The book felt a bit more mystery than thriller, though I can see where it was trying to be a thriller. I never once felt on edge or like the characters were in life and death situations, even during the moments when they were in danger.

If you’re looking for a book with a thriller vibe without actually causing you anxiety, this is the book for you. The plot is there, though I felt like it had a lot of untapped potential, and it was (mostly) easy to understand the character and their actions (but it becomes much clearer the deeper you get into the story). It's not a book that I would probably read again, but I would recommend it if it fit the vibe someone asked me about.

Jo inherits a house, its tenants, and its secrets in Patricia Ward's The Cherished. A very promising and engaging premise that, unfortunately, didn't reach its full potential.

The vision of this novel, a teen girl finding herself by discovering her family's legacy, was creative. The fairies were deployed in a unique way. There is, as I said, a lot of potential here, but it would require some substantial adjustments to pacing and character development to fulfill.

The book builds so slowly, with periods of unrelated exposition. After dragging, the plot kicks off about halfway through and then steamrolls over moments and devices that are asking for more details and explanations. Many of the characters are flat, entirely explained by one characteristic. I think part of the issue is that this novel was promoted as horror for fans of Midsommer and that's not the vibe. It's more of a fantasy coming-of-age with some suspense elements. There is also some racist and ableist language that appears, I think, in an effort to build characters, but it creates some discomfort that doesn't drive the plot.

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

DNF @ 5%.

I only finished the first chapter but that was enough to know that I'm not going to read any further. I'm quite positive that if I had read any further that this would have definitely earned a one star.

Here are some passages that helped me come to my decision. I don't know what the page numbers would be because I have an e-arc and they don't really put page numbers in those.

Jo can't remember what happened-just that it was nighttime, and Gammy sounded so frightening, yelling over and over, Get out! Jo got badly hurt and still has ugly scars down her arm; Gammy hit her with a rake by accident, her dad later told her. She can't remember that or anything else, not even when he drove them off in a paranoid schizo state.

The next one was:

"To think she had nothing, literally nothing, to do with us," Abigail rants, "and then she goes and dumps this on us! I'll have to go through her things. My God, that house was crammed with junk like a Turkish bazaar!"

Now, that really had me questioning this book. But this next one was the final straw:

Maureen was bad enough, but Enzo wasn't even her actual son, and his background was a total mystery because he couldn't remember it. Who couldn't remember anything, not even one detail? 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."

That was it. I cannot believe in this day and age of the year 2023 that people think it's okay to write ableist and racist garbage like that. Like what was the point of that? All in the first chapter! No thanks.

e-arc provided by NetGalley

3/5 stars

Thank you Netgalley and Harper Teen for the advanced copy in exchange for an honest review!

The description of the book completely drew me in and I immediately knew I wanted to read this book. However, after starting the book, that is where the excitement ended. I felt like the story just took soo long to get into and it was so slow throughout the entire book. I felt like the writing style just didn’t flow smoothly so it was difficult to get through at times. Overall, I just don’t think that this book was for me and I didn’t really enjoy it much. Hopefully it is one that will work out for other people though!

I really wanted to like this story, it was just a bit lackluster and could not get into the writing style. Sadly, I DNF at 40%.

Yall, I am willing to overlook a lot of things. I can live with horrible editing, misspelled words, run on sentences, whatever, as long as the book is good.

What I cannot overlook is the racism, sexism, and every other phobic/ism that is in this book.

I cannot properly explain what genre this book is other than loosely YA. Its not a horror, its not coming of age, its not really anything.

I cannot say that I recommend this one, because I do not.

A wonderful tale about second chances. I cannot help but feel receiving a house at a young age would make me excited also. If Jo had more life experience, she might have been able to make different choices about her inheritance. She had questions about her father and her grandmother. Plus she had a difficult time with her mother and stepfather. She felt out of place with her mom so when she received news of a house, she was only too happy to travel with her mother to the property. Did she know what was coming, no but she would face her situation and decide what to do. Great atmospheric read.

I'm a sucker when a book is noted to be or have horror elements. The Cherished hit that checkmark and I jumped to request it in any format I could get approved for. I was gifted both digital and synthetic voiced audiobook.

Unfortunately this one wasn't for me. I started with the digital ebook and found the writing style choppy and a bit all over the place. The first few chapters were also very slow. It felt like the author was attempting to build character background but it didn't flow smoothly.

I ended up transitioning to the audio. I didn't have any issues with the synthetic voice but it did take until approximately 65% in before things started to pick up. The characters are not easy to connect too. The author does a good job of creating small town creepy atmosphere as well as uncanny and strange locals. I did enjoy the lore of this small town and what comes out to torment them.

Though this one wasn't for me I do recommend my horror followers check out other reviews. Thank you Harper Audio and Harper Collins for the opportunity to review in exchange for an honest and unbiased review.

feel this story would work better as a screen play for a movie versus a novel. the story overall was ok pacing was off and not sure of the point of the letters in between some chapters, who were they from? that was confusing and inconsistent with no answer as to why there. enjoyed the twist with Tom being a fairy, glad Jo and Abigail got a character redemption.

DNF @ 9%

Let’s start on a lighter note and talk about the writing style. The Cherished feels very juvenile despite its very adult themes. Everything feels very clunky and almost like the entire page is just one long rambling thought.

From the get go the author includes multiple racially insensitive or even out right racist comments. This one about Jo’s dad: “He was dark-skinned, Hispanic looking. He could be from anywhere” was said in the first chapter and the very beginning of the second chapter said “Nana likes throwing Mexican-themed parties. When Jo informed Nana they actually, the caterers aren’t from Mexico, she shrugged and said what did that matter”. I just don’t get what the point of this is? I’m aware that they are fictional characters but I’m pretty sure someone didn’t have a gun to the author's head and threatened to kill them if they didn’t include racism in their book. At no time are comments like these necessary, especially when they do absolutely nothing for the plot.

These characters are absolutely awful, every single one of them. Even Jo our main character has extremely problematic thoughts. The fact that she’s calling her own dad a “schizo” is horrific. The representation of this mental illness is absolutely appalling. Who let this book get past the first draft?

The premise of The Cherished sounds very promising, I love books about changelings, but it was not executed well. Maybe if it wasn’t for all of the racist and insensitive content I could have enjoyed this.

I was really skeptical in the beginning because it was so slow I almost DNF'd it. I'm glad I hung on because the second half was nerve wracking! There were a lot of moments that had me on the edge of my seat with my stomach in knots! I really did like the way this came together and the few little twists sprinkled around. I just really wish the first half was just a tad bit more exciting! Either way, I'll be having nightmares about the fairies!

I hate to not leave positive reviews. I had such high hopes for this book. It’s never fully drew me in and never found myself at any point hurrying to get back reading. Most aspects fell flat. The characters are forgettable and I need felt and connection. I’m sure many may love this one, but it wasn’t for me.

Jo never expected to be placed in her absent grandmother’s will—let alone be left her house, her land, and a letter with mysterious demands. Upon arriving at the inherited property, things are even more strange. The tenants mentioned in the letter are odd, just slightly…off. Jo feels something dark and decrepit in the old shack behind the house. And the things that her father used to talk about, his delusions… Why is Jo starting to believe they might be real? But what Jo fears most is the letter from her grandmother. Because if it’s true, then Jo belongs here, in this strange place. And she has no choice but to stay.

I didn't really know what to expect from this book, as I came into it totally blind. The first few chapters are your typical story with a teen lashing out and a strict mother but as you get deeper into the novel, it takes a creepy weird stance. I was a little confused at some points because I felt like some things were not clear enough. However, I did actually enjoy this and it definitely kept me hooked throughout.

I rated this 3 stars.

This book is rough. The writing is difficult to read because it's choppy and inconsistent. The pacing is super slow. The author also approaches sensitive topics in an outdated way.

2.5⭐️

Jo hasn’t seen her grandmother since she was young and her mentally I’ll father tried to run away with her. But then she receives a letter from a lawyer stating that she had inherited Gammy’s house and the tenants that live there. Gammy was always particular about the house: iron pieces that should never be moved, an old house on the property with a permanently locked door and random messes throughout the house. And nothing had changed since the last time Jo visited the house.

Along with her heavily pregnant mother, Jo returns to the house to clean up before trying to sell it. There she meets Tom, the farm hand that Gammy’s letter said would never belong, and Hattie, a strange girl who acts much younger than she is. They are both determined to follow Gammy’s rules and force them on Jo. They aren’t the only odd people they run into-most of the towns people are very unimpressed by Jo and question if she knows the truth about the house. And then there was the statue in the cemetery that has the name of a person Jo knows is alive. Jo’s family has kept secrets from her and now she has to learn the hard way the history of that house.

The premise of this sounded more interesting than it really was. I was almost instantly out off by the main character’s fatphobic comments about her mother and even more by the gaslighting and manipulation from the mother. While flawed characters are usually interesting to read, this was just a lot.

The writing was also kind of all over the place. There was either short choppy sentences or run on sentences and paragraphs that were hard to follow. At times it felt like the author had a list of adjectives that they needed to check off and just used them wherever (I keep going back to the scrawny, muscular leg). Jo’s opinions changed so wildly and without warning it felt more like her original views were forgotten and then remembered later on.

Thank you Netgalley and HarperCollins for providing this ARC for an honest review.

First, a thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for letting me read an eARC of this book.

Listen, I normally give books more of a chance.. but two pages in, and I can tell this isn't for me. Sorry. The vibes are off, and I have over 1k books on my TBR.

Jo was left a house and a mysterious letter from her absent grandmother. She never expected to receive anything, and the property feels strange once she arrives. The tenants are odd, and there is a dark presence behind the shack behind the house. If this is real, then her father's delusions might not have been delusions after all.

The first half of the book is definitely the normal world: Jo feeling different from her very highbrow and cultured maternal grandparents, and the passive-aggressive country club life she never fits into. She's a teenager that isn't listened to and resents it, so she leaps at the thought of inheriting a place separate from them. She always believed her father had schizophrenia, and that his stories of fairies and their dangers were manifestations of that. It's what she was told and what her mother believed until we find out that it's very real. Fairies had stolen away children, and the portal they use is on her grandmother's property.

Introducing us to this world happens a little at a time, and Jo realizes what it means long before her mother does. She also realizes the real meaning behind her grandmother's letter, the hard but necessary work that has to be done, and what happens to the children that are taken. We see how hard it is, how exhausting and thankless that task is, and know it must be repeated. It's a chilling realization for her and for us, too. There's no easy solution, but it's a thrilling ride to get to the conclusion of the book. I really enjoyed the book, and the odd little Vermont town she must protect.

Unfortunately, me and this book didn't click as much as I hoped after seeing that cover. The main reason this book didn't work for me were the writing. I can see why other people might love this book but it just wasn’t my thing. It's a no from me, and a very unfortunate no at that. Because I LIKED the second half. I rarely like the second half of a book when I don't like the first half. But I liked it. I even loved it. It was creepy and unsettling in all the right ways--basically, everything that the ramping tension and unease of the first half promised. But it wasn't enough to make up for the first half.