Thank you to the publishers and netgalley! This is a reimagining focusing on Lilith who is thought to be Adam's first wife. Lilith challenges gender norms and makes for a strong character. The other characters didn't feel as thought out which left the story feeling a bit slow in the middle. Read if your a fan of Circe or enjoy women empowered mythology retellings!

To give a brief summary: Yahweh and Asherah create Adam and Lilith, but Yahweh turns against Asherah (the Mother Goddess) just as Adam turns against Lilith; Yahweh and Adam want power and women that will obey them, so Asherah is locked away and Lilith is banished from the Garden of Eden. Thus begins Lilith's long and torturous journey to save the Mother Goddess and spread Her teachings among humanity — that man and woman are equal, that there is no afterlife for nothing lives forever and we must enjoy the lives we have been given, and that we must live in harmony with each other and with the earth. Lilith meets many central religious/historical figures along the way, like Jezebel and Mary Magdalene.

eminist reimagining of ancient creation myths, focusing on the character of Lilith, who is traditionally portrayed as Adam's first wife. The book takes readers on a journey from her expulsion from Eden through millennia of history as she seeks to restore balance and equality in the world.

Lilith is portrayed here as a strong and independent character who defies traditional gender roles. I appreciated the plot's originality and the way it challenges the conventional narrative of Lilith as a demon or antagonist.

While Lilith is a well-developed character, some secondary characters needed more work. The pace tended to lag in the middle of the story. I struggled to maintain interest at times.

I think this book would appeal to readers who enjoy feminist retellings of mythological stories.

Unfortunately I had to DNF this one. This book felt like a bone to pick - a little spiteful, bitter and maybe even a bit of a chip on it's shoulder. I was excited to read about an autonomous, feminist woman and instead felt i was reading about an arrogant busy body with something to prove. Couldn't get past about 1/4 of the way through. Absolutely loved the concept of this retelling and this GORGEOUS cover but this one was not my cup of tea.

Thank you to the author, the publisher and netgalley for the e-ARC

It had its good moments at the beginning but the writing style just wasn’t for me unfortunately. I might give it a second chance later but for now i’m gonna pass.

This book surprised me. My first impression was "where is this story going?" as the introduction to Lilith is immediate and takes a unique spin on a biblical tone. We follow Lilith and see from her perspective the significant events of the bible (adam/eve, noah and his sons, jesus arrival, elijah to name some) but all through the eyes of Lilith expereinces it all and highlights the contributions that were centered around women but then ignore, villianized, or negatively spun by men who wrote the words. Having attended parochial school trhough grade 8, I found this fictional perspective fascinating. Why does it seem most women in the bible are negative "examples" and that only pious, obidient women are recorded with positive words? Marmery does a great job weaving a fictional but possible women orientened timeline into the events of the bible. I also enjoyed this through audio and found the reader quite excellent. I feel she brings needed tone to the words and would highly recommend listening vs reading.

2.5 Stars Rounded Up

Although the story had a lot of potential and seemed very interesting, unfortunately, it didn't quite meet my expectations. The writing was good and there were some captivating and emotionally moving moments. The concept of seeing the harmful and male-dominated moments of history and religion through Lilith's perspective was fascinating. However, the story felt choppy and disorganized, making it difficult to follow at times. If I hadn't listened to the book at 2x speed, I think the story could have become boring.

Thank you, NetGalley for the chance to read this book in exchange for an honest review.

Sounded promising and was well-written, but was not, in the end, pertinent to my reading interests.

I knew I was going to pay for reading so many five star books.

This book is horrible! I love Lilith but this is a complete disservice to her.

Booksource: Netgalley in exchange for review.

3-3.5 stars

Gorgeous cover and a great concept. Unfortunately, as much as I appreciated what the writer was trying to do, I just didn’t love the story the way I hoped I would, especially based on some of the comparisons made in the initial blurbs. It wasn’t a bad book (it did have some great lines and messages), just not my favourite one of its type. I’ll still be interested in seeing what the writer comes out with next.

I’m torn in how I fully feel about this book. At the heart of my personal spiritual practice are Lilith and Asherah. It is thrilling and rare to see the two Goddesses as the heroines of a novel. In that light, I’d give this book all the stars possible! The writing itself was poetic and dreamy, but I found it so difficult to follow the story line. It is told in such a disjointed choppy way, I rarely knew what was happening at any particular moment. I spent more time confused than I I did engaged with the plot.

I struggled to want to pick the book back up, but also Lilith! Asherah! Surely I HAD to finish this book! This is THE book I would normally block out the world to finish.

So I bought the audiobook… the narrator has the most beautiful accent and I thought for sure this is was my path through. It’s been weeks and I’m still struggling to motivate myself to finish it. At some point I have to give up and admit that, thought the subject is definitely my cup of tea, the story telling has left a bitter taste in my mouth.

5 stars for having the insight to tell her story, 2 stars for the execution.

"Lilith" by Nikki Marmery offers a feminist reimagining of ancient creation myths, focusing on the character of Lilith, who is traditionally portrayed as Adam's first wife. The book takes readers on a journey from her expulsion from Eden through millennia of history as she seeks to restore balance and equality in the world.

Lilith is portrayed here as a strong and independent character who defies traditional gender roles. I appreciated the plot's originality and the way it challenges the conventional narrative of Lilith as a demon or antagonist.

While Lilith is a well-developed character, some secondary characters needed more work. The pace tended to lag in the middle of the story. I struggled to maintain interest at times.

I think this book would appeal to readers who enjoy feminist retellings of mythological stories.

I did have mixed feelings about the book and realize that it may not be for everyone.

When I first read the synopsis to this book I was intrigued. I grew up in a religious household, knew the bible stories back and forth, but never really thought about how the women in these stories were treated. Didn't really even know about Lilith until watching "Supernatural" years later. So immediately I was sucked into this when I read the stories I grew up with, but entirely turned on their heads. I loved the spin that the author put on things. However, the writing was a little odd. I had trouble with following what was going on, and while I would get the general gist of things, I feel like there are sections of the book that I blindly searched through, not really registering the words I was reading. The premise of the book is great, and the book has fantastic bones, it just wasn't a complete hit for me.

I LOVED the concept of this story, and the first few chapters absolutely had me hooked. As we went along the vague storytelling style lost me a little bit, but I would still really recommend this to people who love books like Circe and Kaikeyi.

As someone whose not religious I wanted to read this book because it seemed so interesting and different to my current views. I grew up as a Christian and so I had only heard stories of Lilith and her being a demon so this was such turn on the story.

This book was well-written, but it didn’t totally sustain my interest I definitely found my mind wandering and thinking about other things. I wanted to know how it ended, but I just wanted to know sooner lol.

If you enjoy retellings and books that make you see from a different view point you may enjoy this one!

Enjoyed this reframing of biblical history through the lens of the forgotten and vilified Lilith and how the book calls out the misogyny of the institution of religion.

I LOVED the first section of this book—the feminist look at the oft-overlooked figure of Lilith, her thoughts about Adam and Eve, was delightful and refreshing. Unfortunately it lost me after 20%. I wasn’t invested after that point. I felt like this would have been an excellent short story or novella but didn’t need a full novel.

To be transparent I DNF'd this book about half way through. I'm still giving it 2 stars because I actually didn't hate it, and the premise on its own is unique and compelling, it just didn't deliver on it's promise. I wasn't able to stay focused on this book or invested in the story.
I found the writing to be a bit choppy and and the playing out for the story to be clunky. I think the premise has great potential, but could probably benefit from being handled with a lighter, more exploratory, and less "girlboss-y" touch.

Nikki Marmey tells the life of Lilith, the first woman in Jewish folklore.
In the Garden of Eden, Lilith and Adam are equal. They live peacefully in the Garden of Eden until Adam decides Lilith should submit to his will. Lilith refuses: she has eaten from the Tree of Knowledge and knows that there must be balance in the world. God punishes her by relegating her to “demon status,” and she must watch as Eve is both created and subjugated. But Lilith knows there is another power at work: Asherah, God's wife and the Queen of Heaven. Eve and Asherah begin a journey that travels from the Tanakh to the New Testament.
I loved the respect given back to the Biblical women. Bringing in Jezebel and Mary Magdalene and giving them authority was especially powerful. These women have been demonized and have been diminished in their roles in history. Religion has been used for too long to keep women submissive even though their own teachings contradict this idea.

But Lilith’s search for a prophet to preach about Asherah is pointless for the story. Why does Lilith need someone else to preach for her? How does she become lesser to another woman? And why does she have to preach about this prophet instead of the goddess she follows? I was especially confused when the ending was rushed and nowhere near as nuanced as the rest of the book. The latter quarter of the book left me with a bad taste in my mouth.
Marmey’s novel starts strong but leaves me disappointed.

Publication Date: October 17
I received an ARC for review; all opinions are my own.

As much as I love mythological retellings, especially from the feminine point of view, I will be the first to admit that biblical stories are not something that I know well. I remember some from my time growing up Catholic, but I've long since left that behind me in my adult life. However, since there are so many retellings of Greek myths, it is refreshing to see a different take on a retelling.

My only complaint is that the writing style of this author was very hard for me to get into. It seemed rather... choppy? It just wasn't flowing natural for me, reading wise. But the story behind it kept me pushing through the actual writing style. I did enjoy the story. Without getting too into beliefs and such, I'll say that religion does tend to be very centered on men, much like a lot of history, which I think is part of what I always had a problem with in my younger years. There was nothing to appeal to me, a girl, in this world full of men telling women what they can and cannot do. So stories like this, that try to pull that other point of view... they appeal to me.

It for sure isn't for everyone. I can see some very religious people being offended by it. For sure skip it if you're that religious. However, if you're like me and don't buy into religion, then give it a try and push through the writing if the sytle bothers you. I'll leave you with one quote from the book that spoke to me:

"I wonder: will a woman's message ever be heard? Or will it always be too weak, too angry, too impassioned? Too irrelevant for all mankind (by which they mean: for men)?"