I just couldn’t get into this book. It had such promise but it just dragged out for me. I fell for the cover immediately and wanted to love the story.

It took me way too long to get into this one and unfortunately there was no pay out for me as I still did not enjoy the book.

Thoughts

This book took me a while to get into, for good reason. While I really did love the second half once I got there, it wasn't enough to erase my unfortunate first impression. My feelings on this book are... complicated.

Pros
Air of Foreboding: The one thing I do love about the opening chapters of this book is the building sort of tension and suspense for the readers. Something feels off. Something feels wrong, but it's hard to pinpoint what. And that sense of foreboding is a great thing to have. Something is coming, and while you can't be quite sure what that something is, you'll be at the edge of your seat, hackles raised, as you wait.

Mundane: Patricia Ward does an excellent job of mingling horror elements and uncanny bits of fantasy with perfectly mundane life. Lawyers and realtors exist alongside unsettling foundling children and eerie loners. It's always refreshing to read a fantasy set in the real world--horrifying and fantastical but also concrete and real. Being trapped in the mundane alongside these unsettling bits of the Uncanny only made the whole story that much more unsettling.

Classic Fae: Sarah J. Maas and her fae can move aside! These aren't handsome, ethereal, and strangely rugged faeries. These fae are much more traditional than that. They're gruesome and irritating little interdimensional beings. They'll kidnap your kids, spoil your milk, and eat all your candy. They'll definitely be laughing at you from their unseen realm, and they're not afraid to get their hands dirty (in a lot of senses). These are classic faeries, and Ward doesn't hold back on their antics--or their grisly (if necessary) end.


Cons
Family: Jo's family is... absolutely horrible. And not in a "I just don't like them" way. The snide comments and attitudes aren't just needling. They hold undercurrents of racism... that aren't always undercurrents. They're quite horrible to Jo, but beyond that, the attitude displayed toward mental health is really quite damaging. I don't think we're meant to like Jo's stepfamily necessarily, but I also don't think we're meant to dislike them. And when bigots don't get their comeuppance, I just... can't get on board. It was uncomfortable to read not because it was challenging backwards ways of thinking but because this book wasn't challenging those thoughts.

Dull Writing: Something happens. And then something else happens. And then something happens after that. The writing here is particularly flat and unvaried. Though the foreboding is real, the excitement for what's to come really isn't. It's hard to get invested in a book that reads so... flat.

Unfortunate Verbiage: This builds off my first critique, though that one was relegated to Jo's relatives. This one relates to Jo herself. Such casual usage of words like "Nazi" and "schizo" feel off for this character, this age. Not only are they not really relevant to any situation where Jo applies them (and therefore uncomfortable to read), but they don't really fit her character. Her character is young, and this book is supposedly set in our own age. Gen Z is nothing if not zealous in their endeavor to respect others and keep language inoffensive... so it doesn't feel like Jo would so casually use these words in any except the most accurate contexts. It just feels wrong.


Rating
⭐⭐⭐⭐
4/10

Fans of Liselle Sambury's Delicious Monsters will enjoy this new unsettling inherited home. Those who loved Graham Joyce's Some Kind of Fairy Tale will enjoy the goosebump-inducing fae of this story.

Liked:
The cover
The premise
The relationship between Jo and her mother seemed realistic
My favorite part was that it finally ended

Disliked:
The pacing and the writing were both a hot mess. Not to be confused with the hot fun garbage that I sometimes enjoy. This was the kind of mess you can’t clean, you just gotta shut the door and never go there again
The writing would bounce between short & choppy to long winded run-on sentences
Pointless derogatory, racist, and offensive language
Jo felt a lot younger than 16
The weird excerpts in between some of the chapters were never really explained

Thank you to @Netgalley and @harpercollinsch for providing me with an ARC in exchange for my honest review.

Posted to Instagram: 03/31/23
Posted to Goodreads: 03/31/23

The sheer amount of racially insensitive (at the very least), fatphobic, ableist lines with more just terrible takes is so incredibly disappointing. No thank you.

The cover of The Cherished is what immediately drew me in. I love fairytale and folklore horror, but knowing this is YA, I went in with expectations of it being tame.

I agree with the other reviewers that there is some problematic dialog, that I really hope is removed before being published. It's 2023, casually calling someone Nazi, or schizo is not okay. The racist, elitist attitudes of Jo's family is so off-putting. But my main problem was with Jo herself. She's moody, rude, negative, spoiled, and bratty. She comes off so incredibly childish, you'd expect her to be ~13, not someone who just got their learner's permit. Her character was pretty unbearable, and almost made me DNF.

Buuut I'm really glad I stuck with it, because I really enjoyed the last 2/3 of the book. The writing is a bit clunky, and the ending felt a bit rushed, but I really loved the concept and Jo and Abigail actually grew on me. It's a fun read, and I'd recommend it to people who aren't quick to DNF.

Thank you to NetGalley and HarperTeen for providing the e-ARC in exchange for an honest review.

This book is pretty solid. The plot is well-written and really engaging. It’s an interesting take on fairies, and decently scary and suspenseful. I did feel like it had a lot of build up, but the ending felt rushed and disjointed. The characters were well-written and enjoyable. Overall, I really liked this book, and I would recommend it, especially to people looking for something a little less intense or fans of YA.

I wanted to give this book a chance, and was compelled by the introduction and the relationship between the main character, her mother, and her stepfather. I also liked how the main character talked and thought like a teenager, rather than a youthful adult. However, I simply could not get past the blatantly racist descriptions of the main character and her father, who was Hispanic. A lot of the descriptions used are incredibly outdated and reflect a lack of thoughtfulness on the part of the author. The mental health representation is also incredibly poor - I really do not like horror elements that rely on schizophrenia to start with, and the language used to talk about the disorder is also highly insensitive - e.g. "paranoid schizo state”.

The Cherished is a new twist on the haunted house (haunted farm?) genre, a slow burn story that creates a real sense of menace without being needlessly gory. There are some genuinely creepy characters, but also a lovely underlying message about family and how we don't always understand why certain people act the way they do. Best of all, the heroine Jo does not have a cheesy, forced romantic storyline! (FYI, although some reviews refer to "problematic" content, there's only one small section where a character makes a dismissive reference about appearance, and that character is a snobby old lady, i.e. the comments are meant to show that she's a terrible person.)

*I received an advance copy from the publisher in exchange for an honest review*

This had the most amazing premise, but damn I was really let down. The mental illness representation was handled really badly and in a very out of date way, as well as some racist comments that just came out of nowhere. On top of this, it was not really horror - this is a YA fantasy through and through. Overall, a very big disappointment.

While I wasn't crazy about this book, it may be a favorite of someone else. It had a good plot and concept but could have been better executed. The beginning of the book starts off strong and you are instantly engaged. but somehow the book could not keep the momentum in the middle half and begin to lag. I really like the fairy concept, and felt it was very unique. I also liked the development of the characters and how their relationship developed over the course of the book. Another thing I loved is the showcasing of strength and bravery. of such a young female character. This will speak to many young girls who are looking for strength and bravery to overcome their fears. I think this would be a good read for YA and teens who like mystery and horror.


Thanks to NetGalley and Harper Collins for this ARC for an honest review.

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

I will say that I only read the first 4% of this one before quitting out. The prose felt awkward and stilted. The word choice was not ideal to say the least. The main character's father has schizophrenia and brown skin. The author chose this as an opportunity to use derogatory language about both--hard pass for me.

I was excited by the plot description, but I couldn't get around the language/prose style.

When Joe finds out her grandma left her her home a place Joe had only visited once that she could recall the memories she had were good ones except when she thinks about the memory of leaving. When her stepdad Robert decide before even discussing it with her mom Abigail or Joe that they’re going to sell the house. Unfortunately her verbally abusive mother Abigail who is also heavily pregnant with the inbert(which is what Joe calls the baby short for embryo and Robert Junior) that yes they will sell it in she it’s going to go down to clean out the house Joe insists she’s going to go as well and after a little finagling Abigail agrees. The closer they get to the house the more Joe’s memories come flooding through but after they arrive and meet the residents that her grandma clearly stated in the will must stay in the Home there a little weirded out and Joe is taken aback when she notices Tom has the same strain scars on his arms bed she has on hers but quickly dispels it is just a coincidence after all there’s no way grandma also accidentally got him with the rake as well. Although Joe and Abigail think Tom and Hattie are strange the longer they’re there the more it seems Joe has a lot more in common with them then she thought. This is a very strange story I love yeah horror stories and I think Patricia Ward did a great job creating tension and an overall spooky feeling it is a definite solid four star read I know other reviewer‘s had made mention of fat shaming which I know the mom was verbally abusive but she’s just a character in it you’re so sensitive that bothers you maybe you should steer clear of horror books I just don’t understand these people who want to read horror but get offended by things of the character say… They’re just characters in a book I mean get over yourself. That’s so aggravating anyway I thoroughly enjoyed this book and highly recommend it and would definitely read more from Patricia Ward in the future I couldn’t wait to read this book and was not disappointed I received it from NetGalley and the publisher but I am leaving this review voluntarily please forgive any mistakes as I am blind and dictate my review.

The Cherished was so unexpected. Jo has been left a house by her grandmother.. her father’s mother. Her father, who was schizophrenic and told strange stories to Jo as a child. The letter mentions tenants, who turn out to be even stranger. Jo and her mother visit to get the house ready to sell, but once there, memories start to return to Jo of her time there. Weird things happen. Are said. Things that make Jo think maybe her dad wasn’t so wrong. And maybe, she belongs there.

Jo's family life has never been easy, and now that she's been given the family's home in her grandmother's will, it will not be easier. Her very pregnant mother is not the kindest, especially regarding Jo's late father and grandmother. That's not to mention that Jo can't remember what happened at the house to have given her scars on her arm to this day. When the current tenants of the house turn out to be strange characters, Jo starts to uncover the truth about the house and her past.

While I was intrigued by the premise and the cover, this book needed a lot more work in several areas.

First and most importantly, there were several instances of outdated, offensive language used by the main character that is never challenged by the narrative. Someone is referred to as being in a "paranoid schizo state," a woman is called a "Nazi baker" after committing the crime of talking to someone else instead of the main character, and the language around Jo's non-white father's appearance was derogatory. This is not a historical fiction where the main character gets their viewpoint challenged, this is a modern story. It is a wonder that this book is being published by a big publisher but this language has gotten through into a nearly finished copy.

Even without the offensive language, the story itself was unengaging, poorly organized, relied on cliche, and did not execute on its premise. A switch to a first-person perspective could have made Jo relate more to the audience. There were a lot of redundancies in the interactions between her and the other characters. The lack of questions she asks about the ridiculous stuff going on around her was infuriating. The characters were stock and did not feel like they had much depth to them. There were several examples of the author being too on the nose, like having Jo listen to "Money, Money, Money" and then thinking about her mother's consumerism. The pacing was very unbalanced, with the majority of the book having nothing happen.

The only thing that I thought was interesting was that the supernatural element was a different type than I expected - fairies instead of ghosts/hauntings. But even with that, there is not a horror element like the book pitched itself to have. It compares itself to Midsommar (a movie I love), but I can't think of anything that the two had in common - in the plot, characters, stakes, pacing, etc.

Overall, this book really was a letdown. Most importantly, I would like the publishers at HarperTeen to seriously consider what sort of language they will allow to be published in their books.

The cover of The Cherished instantly pulled me in. It generates this dreamy feeling of a memory that our main character can’t seem to shake about an event from her childhood. Jo can recollect memories of her father taking her to visit her grandma, but these memories are slightly tinged with something sinister that she can’t quite put her finger on. When she receives the news that she inherited her grandma’s home, more and more of these memories begin to resurface.

I found this book to be slower paced than most books that I am drawn to. If I gave it an official pace, it would be slow-medium. The story was enjoyable but was impeded a bit by pacing. When reading the synopsis comparing this novel to Midsommar I was hooked. However, I did not find it to be comparable at all. It did however perpetuate the stereotype that small town residents are not intelligent and nefarious..

Thank you to Netgalley and Harper Collins for granting me an e-ARC in exchange for an honest review.

I received a copy of this from NetGalley in return for an honest review. I actually ended up DNFing at 50% because I tried so hard to get through this. The writing was odd and difficult to read. I really wanted to like this book because it promished dark horror, but when I read it was for fans of Wilder Girls, which I also DNFed, I should have known. There was ZERO horror in this book. Basically the creepiest thing was the tenants which were weird. I'm not sure if it actually displayed horror aspects later on, but if it's a horror book, it should be included in the first 50%. Another thing that absolutely turned me off of this book was the main character, Jo. She came off very whiny and unappreciative. I really wanted more horror aspects as the plot itself was rather boring.

Thank you to NetGalley for an eARC in exchange for an honest review.

I really wanted to love this book because I loved the cover art so much but, unfortunately that was not the case. The idea of the story was intriguing and interesting but not executed correctly, in my opinion. I found myself lost in the story and confused as to what was going on throughout the whole book. The writing was choppy and made the story line not flow how it should.

"For fans of White Smoke, The Hazel Wood, and Wilder Girls comes an original, hypnotizing horror thriller in the vein of Midsommar, as one girl inherits a mysterious house from her estranged grandmother - and a letter with sinister instructions.

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 love menacing inheritances, I hate Midsommar.

The Cherished is a fast-paced, YA horror book that really delivers on the creeps. The novel was very creepy. The first half of the book had me completely hooked and I just had to keep turning pages until I found out what happens next. But, when we get to the midpoint of the book and the twist happens, the pace started to slow down and while still creepy, wasn't nearly as strong as the first half.

Overall, I thought the premise was interesting, and the creeps were top notch. I wish the second half/ending would have landed a little butter, but I enjoyed the creepy vibes/atmosphere enough for a four stars.