This story felt like it dragged on & on with a FMC that was so annoying that I couldn't find a quality about her that a liked about her. The story wasn't cohesive I felt I was jerked around & couldn't find my footing. The books & authors this book was compared to are unjust because the story in this book was super shallow and not engaging like 1000 of other books with similar stories.

I'm hoping that 2nd book is leaps and bounds better than this one.

I received this as an ARC from Netgalley.

I received and arc copy of this book from NetGalley. Thank you to Flame tree press for allowing me to read this book.
The start of the book reminded me of little women with the family dynamic. I enjoyed leaning about Verve’s world and I thought the world building was great. I liked that she was more like a normal woman and not instantly falling for her captor. I do feel that the descriptions of the fae could be better as I struggled to imagine how they looked Dacre gave me the creeps from the start so I had a feeling he wasn’t the main love interest.
The second part of the book was good but I would have liked to see more interaction with Fenn and how she came to have feelings for him. One minute she was trying to get close to him to steal the blade and the next day she was sleeping with him without us understanding her change of heart. Especially when she has been so proper throughout the whole book.
I will definitely be looking out for the second book in the series and looking for more books from the author in the future.

The concept is interesting, but the execution didn’t land. First of all, I’m amazed that Little Women isn’t even mentioned in the blurb, considering this begins by presenting as a near retelling. The magic of the March sisters is missing, though. Jo isn’t amazing because she’s “not like other girls,” she’s amazing as a unique individual, as are the rest of the March girls. The setup doesn’t transfer over to the rest of the story, either, leaving a vaguely Jo-like girl in a plot that has nothing resembling Little Women. The writing style is fine, in that it isn’t grating in any way. The pacing was off, though, with too little happening for long stretches and then a hurried leap in plot.

The characterization was okay on a surface level, but I don’t feel any tension or chemistry between any of the characters. “Fae fall in love fast” is not an excuse for having no illustration of what anyone is feeling or how they got there. Even the “love” scene ended in an extremely abrupt closed door. I found the concept of the world interesting, but the world-building was as muzzy as the rest. It sounds like I disliked this, and I didn’t - I just didn’t feel much of anything. With so many fantasy romances out there, I’m unlikely to continue this series.

I received an ARC from the publisher and NetGalley and I am voluntarily leaving a review.

Thank you to both NetGalley and Flame Tree Press for allowing me a copy of this E-ARC in exchange for an honest review!

After seeing the length of this book I was sure it was going to be a quick read and it definitely didn’t was just not in a good way.

Our novel starts immediately with our main character, Verve, learning about the existence of the Fae and the danger soon to pose to her family her world. The final nail is hit when her father dies of mysterious circumstances she however, knows to be foul play.

Soon, Verve is kidnapped by a disguised Fae and sent to their land for unknown reasons. Hurt, locked away and worried of her family’s wellbeing, Verve struggles to survive in this strange estate where the rooms don’t make sense the people are rude.

With talk of her role in a prophecy as well as a supposed dangerous rogue Fae hunting her, Verve is more than confused by her captors intentions.

Though I did enjoy the premise of this book it’s a one and done kind of plot. I did enjoy how Verve was written with qualities I admired but the plot was too face paced for me. All of a sudden things are bad and then more bad but then they’re fine and oh my god I love you!

All of the loose threads are snipped by the end leaving nothing to be excited about in the next book. Villains defeated, family secured, married. What’s left?

All considered I rated this book 2.5 stars.

I've really enjoyed this book, I absolutely love Verve. She is a brilliantly feisty young woman who very much won't let anyone control her if she can have any say in it. I've loved watching how she's developed throughout the book, and look forward to reading more of the series.
I liked learning about the Fae and all the different little bits of world-building that I got to discover as I read. I'm really glad that she did end up with Fenn, the speed with which she trusted him was a little quick (especially after just having another Fae attempt to drown her) and the whole Fae fall-in-love fast thing was a little too fast for me. But I did like their banter with each other and the way he dealt with her temper made me smile at times.
I defiantly enjoyed the writing style, I practically lost hours reading this book, barely noticing the time and I have no regrets about that. I will be keeping an eye out for the rest of the series and I think I may just investigate more books by this author, I have a feeling I will most defiantly enjoy them. Oh, and that cover is just so beautiful!

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for providing me with an arc in exchange for an honest review.

I wish I had better news to report, but this was so painfully dull that I DnF'd it roughly 20% of the way through. I didn't feel like this book offered anything new and I did not care about the characters at all.

Thank you to NetGalley and Flame Tree Press for providing me a digital advanced copy in exchange for an honest review.

This book missed every mark for me The pacing was extremely off and the plot was unclear. The tone for every character felt similar and void of individual personalities. The only thing that separated Verve was her supposed temper. Her temper only made her seem juvenile.

This story eluded to a love triangle. None of these characters had any chemistry and every moment felt forced. The situation seemed to be similar to another very popular series and it was not executed well. The romance portion was underwhelming.

Her fathers death seemed to hold importance, and the resolution of this was not determined. If it was, I missed it. The ending was rushed and seemed overly simplified for how complex things were implied to be with no clear resolution or any answers explained. I was disappointed.

This novel was written from only Verve’s perspective, which caused a lot of confusion regarding what was happening, the world, the magic system and their laws. This book could have benefited from the perspectives of one of both of the MMC as well as the MFC. This would have given readers more insight and understanding as to why things were happening.

The ending is set up for a sequel, but I can not see myself reading it. With more plot and character development I think this could have been a good story.

Thank you to Random Things Book Tours and Flame Tree Press for my arc.

This is a fantasy novel filled with fae and romance its moee romance with a inkling of fantasy. Following Verve to another world which seems sudden and unknown why the book is split into two parts and the frist part in slow burn and it very descriptive. This is the first book in the series so with the upcoming books I feel we will learn about more of the connections of both worlds .
Although there was a lot of action towards the end, it seemed a little hurried and almost deflating. I'm hoping the remainder of the series include some formidable foes and spectacular battles.

I am sorry to say that I was disappointed by this one! It had such potential and the premise was *calling* to me, but the execution was just not successful.

I found Verity to be overly childish (though she is aged and supposedly characterized as an adult) and when your entire plot hinges on a character being annoying and petulant, it just doesn't follow through. Unless you're counting on having some serious character development - which this just didn't have.

Brittle just didn't live up to it's potential, which is disappointing. It tried to hard to be the next ACOTAR, and didn't really spend enough time learning to become its own story.

I want to preface this review by saying even if I didn't enjoy this book, this may be someone else's favorite and that it is all about opinion and how individuals responded to it. Thanks.

This book had me teetering on the edge of DNF territory, which I rarely do. But, well, I just pushed on and slightly regret it, because was there even a plot to this story? I'm so upset with this story, as I never feel this way after reading something. Just empty. I try not to be mean when leaving reviews, but reviews are about honesty, so here I go.

Everything about this book was confusing and didn't make sense when put together. The worldbuilding was nonexistent; you had the realm and the human realm and these Hawthorne trees acting like a bouncer for the two. And that's where the world-building ended. There should have been some building upon that.

Characters... where are thou depth and development? Our two main dudes waltz in like they missed the memo about being the show's stars. And then we've got our leading lady, the MFC. She's on a journey, but it's more of a leisurely stroll through a garden of confusion. She's got this one trick – she's "not like other girls" – and she pulls it out of her hat like a magician with a limited repertoire. What an annoying pick-me girl.

This book was so anticlimactic and confusing, from the magic system and plot down to the characters. Man. I really don't want to keep going on, but I did not like this book.

I was given an ARC of this title in exchange for my honest review.

BRITTLE by Beth Overmyer is a historical romance with faeries, magic, and hot fae galore.

Verve just wants to support her family with her writing. But when her father shows up in the middle of the night, raving about faeries and a hidden war, her life is turned upside down. Things get even more crazy when Verve's father is mysteriously murdered-- except no one believes it happened. Verve is soon whisked away by one of the faeries that her father warned her about, and it will take all of her wits and stubbornness to survive.

In a lot of ways, BRITTLE is very reminiscent of A COURT OF THORNS AND ROSES. A girl, who is also the breadwinner of her family, is unwillingly dragged into the world of Faerie and forced to live with a mysterious fae, who seems to have a thing for her. Sound familiar? And just to be clear, I mean that in the best possible way; I LOVED that series. But BRITTLE also adds its own particular flavor to the story, especially with the more formal Victorian-style language. It was a beautifully written book, filled with emotion and enough adventure to keep you on your toes.

I also very much enjoyed the worldbuilding. The author did an amazing job describing her magic system. I particularly loved how she tied it in to something a reader could easily perceive. For example, she added in bursts of smells (like citrus and coffee) as an after effect of spell casting. I would have appreciated a little bit more detail into traditional fae logic (can they lie, for instance?) but overall, I understood the world that the author set up.

My one major gripe with the novel was the pacing of the romance. The romantic male lead (who, like in ACOTAR, is not the one who initially kidnaps her) falls in love with the protagonist remarkably quickly. The author kind of pushes that to the side by mentioning that fae "fall in love quickly," which, given traditional fae lore about faeries stealing people for beauty, I can accept. However, Verve falls in love with him fairly quickly too. It also doesn't feel like there's a ton of development leading up to her falling in love with him; it felt more like I blinked between one page and the next and the love was reciprocated. There was a lot of stuff going on in this novel, so I can understand how the romance fell to the wayside a little bit. My recommendation would probably have been to spread out the romance so that she fell for him in a later novel (since we know there is at least going to be a sequel). That way we would get to sit with the characters a little more and feel out their chemistry.

That said, I did really enjoy the book, and I would recommend that others read it. So, obviously, the romance didn't bother me that much.

4 Stars!

When I read Beth Overmyer’s The Goblets Immortal series, I was hooked by a vibrant, new (to me, at least) fantasy author. The series left me wanting for more and I was happy to see her return with the start of a new series in Brittle. These novel kicks off the Blade and Bone series and I was eager to see what Overmyer had in store with this new world.



Verve wanted nothing more than to be strong for her family when she found the evidence of her father’s murder. The problem, however, is that no one believed her. She tries to move forward, though, and becomes the family’s provider. Then she gets taken away to the land of the fairies and nothing will ever be the same again.



Verve finds herself in Letorheas, that land of the fairies, with no idea what she is supposed to know that makes her so important. She had some strange messages from a couple of her father’s associates that hinted at something, but she did not know what. The adventure is just starting, however, as she is rescued from the evil fae lord and begins a mad dash across the lands of the fae and the humans. Along the way, she learns of the magic dagger that can end immortal life, whose location her father had knowledge of, meets new friends, and maybe even finds love. With the fate of the world on her shoulders, nothing will ever be the same again.



Brittle comes across as a bit of an odd book as it sets out to establish a new world, but there is so much action in such little space that the world-building never takes the forefront. This seemed a bit odd in the first book of a series and I felt almost as if I was missing something. Things moved a little too quickly, especially at the beginning, and this made it hard to get invested in the characters as much as I would have liked. This is a bit surprising as there is usually more depth in a series than a standalone novel since the writer knows there is more time to develop the characters and build the world. Maybe Overmyer has plans to further develop this in the next book, but it left me wanting for more in the opening act.



Brittle is, quite simply, and entertaining and fast read. One of the reasons I wandered away from the genre is that it seemed to be often full of books that were more interested in world-building than story telling. There is a market for that, to be sure, but it is not my preference as I think you cannot have story development at the sake of a good story. Overmyer may have crafted a novel that moves a bit too quick for some readers, but it worked well for me. There was enough development of the world and characters to satisfy me, although I will admit that I am not a fan of any of the male characters who seem a bit one-dimensional and manipulative, and the story moves along at a fast pace. Brittle is not a perfect fantasy novel, but it is a good way to spend a couple hours in a world that is far removed from our own. Recommended, and I am interested to see where Overmyer will take us next.



I would like to thank Flame Tree Press and NetGalley for this review copy. Brittle is scheduled to be released on August 15, 2023.

Reading this book was like reading a poor imitation of ACOTAR. The similarities between the two books were crazy. It's like the author read it and decided to rewrite the story with a few minor changes. Olive reminded me so much of Alis that I felt like I was reading ACOTAR again.

Even if I was to ignore that, it doesn't really make the book more enjoyable for me. Verve, our main character, was such an awful character. She had absolutely no redeeming features. Verve just had a nasty temper, was constantly rude to every single person she met, and we were told that 'she is not like other girls.' She made stupid mistakes and decisions over and over again, and I wanted to scream. I couldn't stand her and had no idea why 2 men would be in love with her as she was miserable.

Speaking of love, the romance in this book was just poor, I hate even calling it romance because it did not even come close. Dacre was constantly cruel to Verve, and then he would flip and attempt to be kind to her. We then learn he's in love with her as fae fall in love quickly. It was a poor reason for it.

Then, in the second half of the book, she is with Fenn, who also suddenly falls in love with her despite them never really having a real conversation or spending any time getting to know each other. It wasn't at all believable, and I was so confused by how this could ever be described as a romance?

I felt that the writing started out very slow, and nothing much happened in the first 50%, and then suddenly we get to the second half of the book, and it's all go! The ending was super, super rushed, and condensed into a number of pages. I actually had no real idea what the book was meant to be about in the end? The description of the book talks about her fathers murder which was barely focused on in the beginning and then completely ignored. Then we hear about a prophecy, which again, there is no explanation for it, and it isn't expanded on. Multiple times throughout the book, Fenn is referred to as the Rogue Prince, and we are not once told why or what he has done for all other fae to hate and fear him. Nothing really made sense. It was like the author had multiple ideas and just attempted to mash them together into one book.

This, for me, was a really disappointing read, and I didn't enjoy it enough to want to pick up any sequels to learn how it ends.

Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for this ARC.

What an addictive story! It started out a bit slow and uncertain but once the plot got going, I was hooked. The story has this eerie faerie feel throughout and I like that it’s familiar but original at the same time.

I really like the main character Verve, she’s courageous and strong. She’s got wits and isn’t instantly charmed by all the male attention. The male characters are interesting and written in a way that Verve and the reader can’t be quite sure what’s really going on.

The end had a lot of action, but it felt a bit rushed and almost anticlimactic. I’m hoping the rest of the series bring forth some epic enemies and battles.

But this book had so many elements I love that these minor issues I had mainly with the pacing didn’t really bother me that much. I’m a sucker for a strong female character, especially with a powerful fated destiny.

I really enjoyed this book and I can’t wait to find out how things develop throughout the series!

DNF at 35%

I really wanted to love this book! It started out very interesting, but then became so incredibly boring. The characters had no depth, they weren’t interesting. The plot began to make no sense and was just strange.

This one is not for me, sadly.

Thanks to author Beth Overmyer, Flame Tree Press, and Netgalley for an ARC in exchange for an honest review!

Brittle was a promising idea that fell flat.

Mostly in the main character, Verve. Verve is dull, uninspired, and fairly useless. She makes awful decisions over and over again, never seeming to learn from her mistakes. She is not cunning, fun, or relatable. Things happen to her and she’s dragged around.

The two main male characters are underdeveloped. They have no redeeming qualities or complex storylines.

The magic system is way too overpowered. It keeps Verve in the dark, and because the story is told only from her perspective, it keeps the reader in the dark as well. There are no moments of foreshadowing to keep a reader hooked. I’m not even sure what that would look like since the book ended, and I still really don’t know who the antagonist was supposed to be or what any antagonist’s motivations might be.

The pacing was way too slow in the beginning. It didn’t feel like the plot developed much in the first 50%.

This book felt underdeveloped, and it ended in a strange way with seemingly no setup for a sequel, despite being the first book of a series. Other reviewers have called it an ACOTAR ripoff, but it’s not even that good.

Another faerie-flavored fantasy series that cobbles together all of the known elements of the genre in an unappealing package.

Verve is so dim and gutless that it was a painful drag from start to finish. She has no sense of agency. Every event is a thing that happens to her; nothing that she truly decides for herself.

When I wasn’t bored, I was annoyed. There seems to be no consistency with any characters. Verve has a temper. Why didn’t I see it except in times when the plot called for it? Fenn is one of the most powerful beings in the realm yet struggles in battle when the plot requires. Marriage is important enough to change a fae’s magical status but not official enough to have names as a requisite.

Why don’t we know more about the war in the human realm? What time period am I supposed to be imagining? Why are characters falling in love with Verve despite her being one of the dullest minds I’d ever encountered? What makes her special beyond her conveniently fitting into an ancient prophecy?

The dialogue is contrived. The pacing is too fast in some places and too slow in others. The prose is basic with just enough to follow the plot and no sense of the different realms we’re thrown into.

I’m over stories about an unremarkable sister who acts like she’s the OG feminist (at least in comparison to the vague historical setting) with one neglectful parent and another beloved but absent parent, and is caught between handsome men who are either friend or foe.

Overmyer shows knowledge of the tropes yet does nothing new or fresh to make this anything other than a clichéd parody. Very appealing cover art though.

I was excited to read this book after reading the synopsis for it on NetGalley. It was a quick read, and I was able to finish it in a day. The ending wraps up in a bit of a cliffhanger, so I am assuming this will be a duet or trilogy.

I liked the main character Verity “Verve” and how she asked questions that I thought were relevant to her situations. She was thoughtful in how she tried to get out of her situation when she was taken to Faerie. The overall plot felt very predictable to me, and I found myself gettin frustrated with the continued use of certain descriptions.

I received a free copy of this ARC in exchange for an honest review

This is an acquired taste, especially given the use of fae. This story of gaslighting into a fantasy world with friendly faces fake and true ultimately comes up too short. Not only does it feel rather abrupt just as it unfolds but everything goes by too quickly and one never gets to smell the roses of the world or enjoy what is unfolding between the characters, although Dacre is a pissant and the story thankfully gets points for actually acknowledging he is a pissant rather than going the cliched route Fenn isn’t that interesting either and the truth of what happened to Verve’s father and the subsequent events are never really explored or given a satisfactory conclusion.

When I first read the synopsis for Beth Overmyer’s Brittle, I was intrigued by the premise. When I finally got around to it, I was looking to read something fun and romantic with plenty of fantasy—fae specific—themes. Unfortunately, Brittle didn’t work for me. The beginning was very fast paced, but I almost wished the story had slowed down a little so I could get a better feel for the characters before the turning point kick-started the adventure. And, after almost a hundred pages, I wasn’t enjoying the story as much as I should have, and I realized I just wasn’t the right reader for the story. That being said, I encourage readers to check out other reviews and make up their own minds about whether or not they want to read Brittle.

Thanks to the publisher and NetGalley for the eARC!