This ride is really intense! Uncle, who dominates Altnaharra with an iron grip, is a terrible guy who will not be destabilized. Although the story is difficult to read, the sacrifices these kids make to be pure for the impending reckoning are more than worthwhile in the end.

3.5 stars. The beginning of the book was boring the middle was confusing and the end was okay. At times it was hard to follow as we kept jumping through times. There were also many many times when the audiobook didn't match up with the physical book which means the narrator was probably given an ARC to record from. It's funny, they tell us reviewers not to quote the arcs but they don't even wait until the book is completely edited to have the audiobook created. Just some nitpicky stuff.

I really enjoyed Catriona's book Sundial...but I could not get into this one. It was super confusing and the narrator was really hard to understand... DNF at 40%

This has got to be my favorite Catriona Ward book! I have read all of them from her & this one was a lot more “normal” and easier to follow. It was super interesting the main character & what she was use to growing up around. I also loved the transition into the present of Eve and her living her life out. Definitely recommend this one!

Thank you to NetGalley and Tor Nightfire for access to the audiobook of Little Eve by Catriona Ward in exchange for an honest review.

CW: child abuse, emotional abuse, alcoholism, drug use, disordered eating, mental health, body horror, toxic relationships, infertility, sexual assault, sexual violence, HUGE full list of content and trigger warnings on StoryGraph.

Honestly, I had a really hard time getting into this book. I'm genuinely going to chock that up to the narration. The narration was not bad by any means, it's just that the narrator's voice was so soft and smooth that I found myself not being able to invest in the plot.

I genuinely cannot remember a single thing about this book. I think it would have been a better reading experience for me if I had read it physically and been better able to concentrate.

I loved the narrator for this book; she had the perfect tone and accent for this story. However, I felt lost in what was happening half of the time (more specifically in the beginning) and the atmosphere and setting were what kept me going... and I was happy I did. It was dark, gothic, it has a cult and ritualistic ceremonies.

Thank you to @tornightfire and @macmillan.audio for these #gifted copies.

Disturbingly dark and twisted. Look no further for a horrifyingly traumatic spooky season read. This is the stuff of nightmares.

I’ve come to expect Ward’s books to be masterfully convoluted and steeped in confusion. A mind bending journey through the ominous, if you will.

And this one is no different but to the point that I’m not sure if it was brilliantly executed or total madness and chaos.

Set on an isle off the coast of Scotland, this sinister tale of family and abuse wreaks of true horror. Told through multiple pov, none of which were particularly likeable, I was never quite sure if any could be trusted.

While the atmosphere is strong and the writing is intricately detailed, the content is hard to swallow. Violence. Religion. Domination. Not only is it the stuff of true terror, it actually gave me nightmares.

So why did I continue on? Because as dark as it was, it was also compelling. I couldn’t look away. I needed to know.

I can’t say that I’m sure I feel any more clear after finishing this one. But the amount of time I’ve spent thinking “WHAT did I just read?!” tells me that it was a worthy journey anyway.

I think it’s fair to note that though this book is a new release in the US, it was actually written prior to The House on Needless Street or Sundial. In my assessment, Ward’s writing only gets stronger with time (Sundial is my favorite of hers.), and I’ll be the first to grab her next release.

Shout out to @thats.one.for.the.books and @bookmarked.by.becky
I always enjoy our discussions, but I don’t think I could've managed this book without them! Trust me, you’ll want to read this one with a friend(s).

I partnered the physical and audio copies of this book, and it created a complete experience. With such a complex story, I found the print version necessary for annotation. But the narration by Carolyn Bonnyman was so nuanced and well executed that it shouldn’t be missed.

“It is a lonely thing to be a monster.”

Reading Little Eve reminded me that I shouldn’t ever put off reading a Catriona Ward novel as long as I did this one.

I went into this one mostly blind. I think I read the synopsis once a while before reading. I think that’s the way to go into this one because it made events even more surprising.

I was so focused on the characters and the setting that I didn’t always stop to think where this was going. It was a slow burn that really sucks you into this world that’s dark, gothic, and incredibly unsettling. You’re really kept guessing when it comes to where the story is going and what this group believes.

There were a lot of emotions that surfaced throughout. It was hard not to feel nervous at Eve’s progression and Uncle’s teachings or angry at the treatment Eve and others received.

I recommend listening to this on audio as the narrators were amazing and it’s a really bingeable read. Even if you can guess one of the twists coming, there are still plenty more that will shock you and leave you thinking about Little Eve long after you’ve finished.

I highly recommend sticking with this one; the beginning is a bit confusing with the chosen narrative style. Once you get half way through, it makes more sense. As the mystery unravels I found myself becoming more and more engrossed.

I received an advanced copy. All thoughts are my own.

I absolutely loved the author's previous novels, so I was a bit disappointed with LITTLE EVE, a heart pounding tale of faith and family, with a devastating twist.

I listened to the audiobook format, and had a hard time connecting with the storyline and characters, and this may be a case of "it's me, not the book."

*many thanks to Tor and Macmillan Audio for the gifted copy for review

I struggled with this book a bit, the narrator was kind of annoying and the story seemed like it didn't quite flow. I definitely didn't follow the story as much as I would have liked to. I enjoy Catriona Ward, so I will still read and/or listen to anything she writes.

Thank you so much for the advanced copy of this book. It definitely lived up to its hype. This author has become a must read.

Outside of the village of Loyal is an island called Altnaharra, an island that is home to a strange group of individuals who believe that they can bring about the end of the world and be rebirthed from the sea. The leader of this group is Uncle, with his snake Hercules beside him. Claiming that that the Adder is coming and one of them will inherit it’s powers, Uncle is trying to see who from their numbers will be granted this distinction, and Eve is convinced it will be her, and is willing to do almost anything to make it so. When a ceremony goes deathly wrong the secrets of Altnaharra and the people who live there will be uncovered and no one will be left unscathed. 

What a deliciously twisted novel! I love how Ward started the novel with the end. It was vague enough to leave the reader knowing next to nothing while giving just enough to grab my interests and make me want to read in order to find out how everything ended up how it did. There are a lot of characters but they were pretty easy to keep straight. The symbolism throughout is so meaningful and powerful, adding to the twistedness of the narrative. I liked that there were multiple points of view used to tell the story; I felt it added to my understanding of some of the characters. While I had some correct suspicions about things early on there were still plenty of surprises along the way.

I have mixed feelings about the audiobook. The accent of the narrator, while very fitting to the setting of Little Eve, made it hard to understand at times, and I think that I would have struggled more if I did not have the words in front of me while I listened. The flow and tone was good, but at times the narration seemed a little slow. Bonnyman did a good job of expressing the emotions of the characters.

Not my favorite Catriona Ward. Compared with Sundial, I found this one unwhelming. I do like the concept of a cult through Ward's mind but I found the plot twists super obvious. The way the text was written was often very confusing at times with time periods being jumped paragraph to paragraph.

I have been trying to listen to this audiobook for what seems like months. I appreciate what the author and publisher tried to do by having a voice actor with the proper accent, but the problem is that I cannot understand a word being said. I even have the ebook, and I attempted to follow along, but the narration just ruined the entire book for me. I have no desire to continue, and I am DNFing at 42%.

I won't be posting on my socials as I feel like this is entirely a me thing, and not the book thing. I will post it to Goodreads.

*received for free from netgalley for honest review* took me awhile to get into this one, i would honestly like to reread it because i think i woulld like it more the second time around lol

I really liked The Last House on Needless Street and love a good gothic horror novel, so I was very much looking forward to this one. Alas, it doesn’t really satisfy either comparison.

This is more gory than scary, and the twists feel more forced than natural, a bummer after this very thing was so perfectly executed in Ward’s previous novels. It’s not a true gothic, though some elements of it do meet the subgenre’s tropes. Unfortunately, it was a disappointment atmospherically, which I consider to be the main attraction when it comes to gothic horror.

For me there was just too much icky stuff and not enough plot of solid writing and atmosphere, and it lacks the character-driven feel of Ward’s other work. A lot of others whose taste i frequently agree with liked this one, so perhaps this is all just a preference issue. Still, I had high expectations for this one and felt let down by the product.

If you do decide to read this anyway, I would urge you to stay away from the audiobook edition and read it in print instead. The audio version is barely inteligible to a non-native Scot. Normally I prefer audiobooks be recorded in either the author or the setting’s native accent, but I think there’s a limit to this if the narrator doesn’t have the skill to do this without making it understandable to an audience for whom the publication was made. There’s really no excuse for this because the audio recording tech is so good these days and there are so many great narrators out there who can perform a book using an accent different from the reader’s with great success. That alone didn’t destroy my enjoyment of the book, but it also didn’t help.

Thank you to NetGalley for the advance reader copy of this book. This book is a bit out of my regular genre. Still an interesting read, but if you are used to psychological thrillers, this is different.

“I’m reading a book by Catriona Ward,” I told my horror-story-loving friend.

“Oooohhh,” my friend replied with admiration, “she’s really good!”

Now that I have finished Little Eve, I have to agree that Ward is a gifted writer. Most of this novel takes place on a remote Scottish island, and the descriptions of place and landscape transported me there. I listened to the audiobook, and regularly would go back and listen to a passage over because it just sounded so beautiful and poetic.

The plot takes place between 1917 and 1951, and jumps between times and narrators. We hear different versions of the same story depending on who is narrating, and the full truth does not come out until the very end of the book. My main complaint about Little Eve is that too much information is hidden from us readers, making the plot unnecessarily convoluted and messy. The twist near the end felt gimmicky to me, and it detracted from the story by introducing pointless chaos.

If you are sensitive to reading about the following triggering topics then I recommend you stay away from this novel: Child abuse, animal abuse, eating disorders, sexual abuse, and graphic violence.

Thank you NetGalley, Tor Nightfire, and Macmillan audio for giving me the audiobook in exchange for my honest opinion.

I had high hopes for this but I didn’t enjoy it at all. It was slow and uninteresting. I didn’t care what happened the entire time. Complete miss for me.