1.5 stars- thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for this Arc!
I'm not sure how to feel about this book. I think the idea was very good, but it wasn't well executed.

First off, up until Abigail saw the fairy, the book was really quite boring. Everything moved very slowly, but after that happened, everything moved too fast. It was too clean of an ending, probably because the book would have had to be longer for the ending to be good. Another thing I didn't like about the writing was the style of it. It's very choppy and confusing. It definitely gets better as the book goes on, but for the first good part of the book, the style made it harder to get through because i kept losing interest and also having to go back and remember who different characters were. Also, it wasn't always consistent- I specifically remember one part of the book where Hattie has this long paragraph, and she speaks on the same level that Jo was, but the rest of the book she was written to come off as a young child who didn't have much schooling and wasn't very eloquent. There were a lot of things like that and just a lot of plot holes in general.

Another thing that annoyed me was Jo, which made it much harder to read the book because she's the main character. She was just really bratty and spoiled, and also had some takes that just made me uncomfortable ("paranoid schizo state", "dark-skinned, Hispanic looking. He could be from anywhere. He might even be an Arab", etc). There was honestly no character in this book I liked.

One thing that I think was good is that there were a few plot twists that I didn't guess, like her why her mom had to go when she was pregnant, and things like that.

Thank you NetGalley for providing me with an eARC of this novel.

First of all, this cover is stunning. The summary sounded so intriguing, and I didn't hate this book. I also didn't really love it though. I felt like this was very middle of the road for me. It was a pretty quick and easy read. I liked the idea of the story, but it didn't quite deliver for me. I found myself a little confused about what was happening throughout the story. Overall this is probably one that won't be super memorable for me, but I am happy that I read it.

The Cherished has an interesting and intriguing plot. It has all the bones for a good thrilling story. However, I did end up DNFing it. I found that the writing was uneven. It seemed to have the kind of voice that was not yet mature enough for a young adult novel, which led to me not really caring about the main character in this story. I was also surprised with the insensitive content displayed in this book that didn't really seem like it served any kind of purpose or reflection of the character. It was off putting.

I hope this book finds the right readers for it. Unfortunately, it just wasn't for me.

Thank you to Netgalley and HarperTeen for the advanced copy for review.

2.5/5

The Cherished is a fast-paced, creepy YA horror book for fans of House of Hollow! I thought the first half of this book was the strongest - I was very drawn to the story and didn’t want to put it down. Around 50% when the “twist” was revealed, it started to slow down and the story dragged a bit all the way until the end.

Overall, I thought the premise was interesting, but I needed something more for this book to really land for me. I enjoyed the creepy vibes/atmosphere, but I don’t think the story itself was strong enough.

DNF @5%

What the actual f*ck is this book?? I didn't even make it through two chapters and the number of racially insensitive (at the very least), fatphobic, ableist lines with terrible takes on mental health pregnancy and more is WILD in a YA book coming out in 2023. And so far, the writing isn't great either. It's choppy and makes odd choices at times with tense usage. And maybe the plot ends up doing something interesting with the horror elements, but I won't be able to tell you because I'm not wading through anymore of this garbage to get there. Other reviews get into details of some of the specific things said, but I can tell you I could make a lengthy list and I only read a tiny fraction of this book. I recieved a copy of this book for review via NetGalley, all opinions are my own.

I teach in a middle school and The Cherished would be a great novel for my students to read. Patricia Ward writes from the heart. The Cherished is a compelling coming-of-age story that follows a young woman as she navigates a tense yet loving relationship with her mother and the equally complex issues of identity, race, and class. The story is enriched by supernatural elements, which are seamlessly woven into the narrative.

Ms. Ward is no stranger to exploring issues of fraught identity and painfully and elegantly articulating complex relationships between family. I searched out The Cherished because I was blown away by a book of hers titled, The Bullet Collection. A literary memoir about growing up in Lebanon during the civil war.

In The Cherished, as in The Bullet Collection, Ms. Ward uses language that is pristine and beautiful. Jo, the main character, facing insomnia and depressive moments is described as follows:


"She empties her mind as much as she can, hollowing out the dark spaces, emptying, breathing, but there are always thoughts floating by in the darkness, like the squirming lines under a microscope slide. They never stop. They are the basic proof of life, these mismatched errant images and words. No matter how still she lies, no matter how black her clothing, how filmy and gauzy and soft (clothes of a long-dead person, lying in stillness, in darkness), the thoughts come."

Later in the book:

"The trees sway against the sky, too. The world never ceases motion. She might be still as stone, but everything in the world outside flutters, sways, shivers. Perhaps that’s what always frightens her from falling asleep, the knowing that when she lies unconscious, helpless, there is ceaseless motion all about. Life, continuing without her, changing, moving. "

The Cherished begins in the affluent suburbs of Boston and ends in rural Vermont. In another instance of inspired prose, the author describes Tom, who Jo meets in Vermont:

"He looks like a thing grown from this earth, a living gnarl of bone and flesh born from dirt and rock. His big hands haul things—stumps, logs—as if they have no weight at all. He chopped down the tree he’s sitting on, and pounded and baked the bread she eats in the morning, and slit the necks of the chickens in the freezer. Everything in this place has been touched by his hand, at one time or another. Sitting on his stump to stare across the meadow, he looks like the overseer of this land. Way more than she could ever be. . ."

The Cherished is an inspired novel that will resonate with anyone who has struggled to find purpose or grappled with complex relationships.

As I wrote, The Cherished would be an exciting novel for my students to read. Additionally, I could use it to introduce my more advanced readers to literary fiction by suggesting, if they liked Cherished, they should read The Bullet Collection.

I found this very difficult to read. The grammar, the storyline, characters were all over the place. Love the book cover but the story did not match.

Rating: 🌟🌟

The idea of Fairies we have based on stories we have come across as kids are the small mythical creatures with wings and magical wands. But what if their attitude changes from happy and friendly to ferocious without warning if they are somehow offended? That’s the idea Patricia Ward explores in her debut effort “The Cherished”.

Kudos to the author for exploring a relatively new theme in the fantastical genre(at least to me). Young Jo inherits her grandmother’s ancestral house, the source of her nightmares and childhood visions with her father. Accompanied by her mother, Jo decides to take a trip up to the house in an attempt to sell it, though unwillingly. The mysterious caretakers of the property, Tom and Hattie, warn Jo against selling the property and unveiling an “underworld” but as things go in such stories, the other world is unlocked and all hell is unfurled. Can Jo understand the mystery behind her visions and close the “door” forms the rest of the story.

The book gave me a bit of “Locke and Key” vibes but unfortunately the pacing was a major negative for me. Half of the book is wasted setting up the plot and the mother daughter relationship was a bit confusing. The book would have worked wonders if it was a 100 pages less in length but that’s just my opinion. The synthetic audiobook, though helped in pushing along the length of the book, was devoid of any emotional connect- another negative for me. But hoping for the actual human rendition to enhance the experience.

A very unique attempt but misses the mark for me. Thank you Netgalley, Harper Collins and Patricia Ward for an advanced copy in exchange for my honest review.

#NetGalley #TheCherished

This book was wild. I thought the writing was great and I loved, loved, loved the concept (I won’t spoil!). But though, I did have some issues with the beings as the villains of the story, but that was my own personal preference. I did find the first half of the book quite slow and didn’t pull me in, but once I pushed myself through, and everything started to pick up, I thought it was really really good!

I would like to thank NetGalley and the publisher for an advanced copy of this book.

Unfortunately, me and this book didn't hit it off as much as I wanted after seeing that cover. The main cause this book didn't work for me was the writing style. I can see why other individuals might adore this book but it just wasn’t cup of tea.

Thank you to NetGalley for an ARC copy of this book. I found it enjoyable but not unique. It also read a little younger than I would prefer.

DNF'd at 43%.

I enjoy a handful of YA, but the narrative voice for this felt middle-grade while still exploring YA themes. Additionally, there are some problematic representations of schizophrenia, and so I won't be recommending this to my followers.

I trudged through this one, it took me two weeks to finish it. While I loved the cover (it's absolutely gorgeous!) and thought it had potential, the execution just wasn’t there for me.

I felt like the beginning of the story droned on and on, and I found the main character to be incredibly annoying and grossly immature for the first half of the book. The second half she's a completely different person which didn't make much sense to me either. There were also several excerpts from old letters that added nothing to the story line and didn't really give you any insight. It was just extra fluff that I could have done without.

The synopsis and cover initially sold me on the story. It's labeled as horror, but it wasn't horror - not even with it being YA. I think if you enjoy YA fantasy, this would be more appropriate.

With all that being said, it wasn't to the point where I felt I needed to DNF it and while the ending was rushed, it was still okay to me. Many thanks to the author, Harperteen and NetGalley for my review copy. The Cherished will be available 4/18.

Thanks for the ARC netgalley!

Unfortunate DNF! Just couldn't really get into the writing style of this... Maybe I'll give it another try at a future date, but how it was written felt too jumbled up (may also be me at the time!)

The Cherished was a bit outside my normal reading comfort zone, but I'm glad I requested it, because I ended up enjoying it more than I expected! The pacing was a bit slow in the beginning, but I felt like it paid off as the creepy, horror aspects of the story picked up. I tend to enjoy stories about dangerous faeries, and that definitely played a part in my enjoyment of this book. For those who like YA horror, I would definitely recommend The Cherished.

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

When I hear a "visceral horror thriller" I expect it to be...well, thrilling. The pacing was slow, there is so much of this story that could have been cut down... "In the vein is Midsommar" but it didn't feel like that at all, just creepy house and creepy man.... The writing was... interesting. It is chalk full of really long run-on sentences. Lots of unnecessary descriptions and then at times blunt and not adding to the story at all.. The characters just felt so meh as well..

I really liked the premise of this story. The execution was overall good, but I think the story moved a little slow for me. I also didn’t find the main characters as complex as I would have liked. The story though, was still compelling and interesting. If you like the genre, I would recommend the book!

I enjoyed the premise of this story and appreciated the way the mother-daughter relationship is written. It's messy and complicated and it makes the history of the story feel real. I also thought the story voice fit the book nicely. That said, the mystery reveals were nothing too exciting, and there were things that didn't makes sense to me even after everything was revealed. I wish there had been some explanation for why Jo had to be the one to complete the important task.

This book really seemed like something I would love. A teen girl that doesn't quite fit in, a haunted house, and a mysterious inheritance. That's the perfect combination. However, this book was a let down. The writing style made it difficult to read sink in and keep reading. It also just didn't like a horror book.

The Cherished has an interesting premise, but the writing and story fall a bit flat. The story follows Jo, who has just inherited her paternal grandmother’s old house. Jo, who has an extremely contentious relationship with her mother, has few memories of her schizophrenic father, and is intrigued by the idea of living where he grew up. Things spiral quickly out of control when she realizes that all is not as it seems.

While the book starts off well enough, the writing quickly becomes tiring and annoying, which makes the story drag. Jo and Abigail both have potential as characters, but never seem fully fleshed out. The fantasy element is fun, though, but not enough to save the book.