I DNFed this book about 20% into it. I just couldn’t get with the spooky vibes after awhile and I just wasn’t enjoying the story. No real fault of the book.

I had a hard time staying interested throughout this book: too much felt recycled, too much of a focus on an instaluv, and a lot of really stupid people. Stop me if you have heard this before: feisty girl with unique snowflake power that makes her an outcast, no one tells her how to use it so she has to go through 'power up' scenes, all the adults are corrupt or useless and who could have saved her a lot of time and danger if they had just told her key facts, girl meets hot emo boy from 'the other side', has to go on a journey to save a loved one, add in secret birth mystery for the girl that makes her super powerful...and yeah, every YA fantasy of the last five years.

Story: Everline wants to be a good warden doing her job of protecting their enclave from the vicious monsters of the night, known as verspertine. But she is an outcast - born of a mother who dishonored her vows and helped the vespertine weak havoc on their town. Her father barely acknowledges her and worst of all, she has no magic power like everyone else. But an action of hers results in her best friend being kidnapped by the vespertine and so she goes out to find her friend and bring her home before it is too late. Along the way, she meets the mysterious vespertine hot emo boy Ravel - who looks human despite having vespertine qualities. Will he help her or kill her?

So, our heroine isn't that bright and this is one of those stories where the heroine will walk into a gunfight with a butter knife and everything will work out for her in the end. Most of the book is a long journey of the hot emo boy protecting her while she slowly discovers shocking (to no one) twists about emo boy and herself. Not a lot happens except for emo boy making snarky comebacks, smirking, or snarling and our heroine deciding to make yet another incredibly foolish action.

The premise and worldbuilding are very recycled. Narrow claustrophobic world, monsters that are an uninspiring vampire/werewolf hybrid (even with glowing skin), and the setting is the typical European medieval monastery/cloister/gothic village. I imagine we would get more info on how the world became like this but for this first book, the author was too busy repeating the same lore info and same scenes over and over. Reading/listening to this book was like watching your kid brother play the Dark Souls games - it's dreary, monochromatic, and not very exciting.

I listened to the audio version and the narrator was fine - she couldn't elevate the material but she didn't make it worse, either. It's about what I would expect from this type of YA fantasy romance. Reviewed from an advance reader copy provided by the publisher.

3.5 stars
Thank you Macmillan Audio and NetGalley for an ARC of Unholy Terrors in exchange of my honest review.

This is a YA Fantasy that has a good premise but not well flushed execution.


Everline, our FMC, is devoted to be a warden, but feels that, due to her mother betrayal to the order, has to prove herself extra hard to her strict father while at the same time is curious about the “monsters” they need to slay. However, when her best friend is captured by the vespertines (the said monsters) she deploy a plan to capture one of them and use him as a bargaining tool.

This book is a enemies to lovers fantasy with a forbidden romance that I believe a lot of people will like. My issue was the lack of consequences for the character’s actions. Specially short-term consequences, since they are “threatened” by superiors but nothing actually happens. That just makes the stakes of the book be all for nothing.
Additionally, some relationships were not very well developed. The FMC and her sister had this jealousy/envy feelings of one another but it completely changed at some point when they went to search for the missing friend. In fact I think her sister is the most under-developed character because at one moment she disliked the FMC, then she was protective of her and in the next page we learn she was in love with someone close to the FMC without any previous hit or foreshadowing. Then she let her sister go to the most dangerous place with their sworn enemy.. like.. what?

The cover of the book screams adult fantasy but honestly it does not bring the complexity of such at all.

Every time I thought this book was about to end and leave me stranded with a cliff hanger, the story moved on with yet another twist and turns! This could easily have been a series, but I’m not sure if there is more to follow.

I was a little bit lost at several points because the world-building wasn’t entirely cohesive, Ex: I think there were multiple locations identified as “the chapel” and a lot of the time I wasn’t totally sure where exactly the characters were because they travelled quickly between locations that previously took days. If there were more in the series, I would definitely read them.

I loved the audio narration.

It's hard for me to pin down my thoughts on this one. I had trouble staying immersed in the story and found myself having to go back and replay chapters often. I just don't think I ever got pulled in and I didn't feel as connected to the characters as I normally do. Everline was the most developed as the main character and I didn't dislike her but the rest of the characters had no real depth. The concept was good but I would have liked more background information and world building. It also felt like it could have been much shorter and still kept the plot.

Thank you NetGalley & Macmillan Audio for the ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Oh man. This book was not for me.

Let’s start with a synopsis:
Everline Blackthorn has devoted her life to the wardens - warriors who dedicate their lives to protecting their people from monsters called the Vespertine.

Everline crosses lines she’s not supposed to and finds herself in need of help from a Vespertine named Ravel who kidnapped one of her friends. He is the only one who knows where she is and how to get there safely.

On their journey to retrieve her friend, Everline starts to discover that there is much more to the Vespertine and her own history than what her father has told her.

Things I liked about the book:
* the potential of the story
* The descriptions of the Vespertine
* The setting
* The narration

Review:

This book (in my opinion) was not good. I found myself bored with a story that had so much potential but just fell flat. The characters lack substance and the “dangerous journey” Everline and Ravel go on lacked basically any real danger. There was hardly any action for a quest that was supposed to be high stakes and the action that we do get wasn’t worth the read.
Another thing I didn’t like was the romance. I don’t understand it. There is hardly anything going for these two in terms of substantial attraction that goes beyond lust. This plot point was unnecessary and felt like it was only there to appeal to the people of BookTok.
I also didn’t like the way Everline’s relationship with her sister was written. They hate each other in the beginning and then suddenly they’re pouring their hearts out to each other and are best friends… real relationships don’t work like that.
Lastly, I really wanted more scenes of Everline working through her issues with her father. Their relationship is also one that started very rocky and then abruptly turned loving and understanding with very little page time. That’s something that bothered me since wanting to be loved by her father is something Everline struggles with throughout the book.

In closing, I think it is obvious that I did not enjoy this book. I still recommend giving it a read since my dislike for it doesn’t mean another reader won’t enjoy it.

I rated this book 2/5 ⭐️⭐️

Unholy Terrors by Lyndall Clipstone
4/5 Stars
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

•••Spoiler free review below•••

Everline has sworn her life to protecting against the monstrous vespertine and she does so without the usual magic that the wardens of her station possess. After one too many strange occurrences, Everline decides to investigate the vespertines and what is happening in the moorland. The only problem? If she wants passage through the land, she must team up with one of the vespertine and offer him something in return. The only thing worse than allowing a vespertine to feed from you is falling in love with one.

This was a captivating fantasy with a focus on the romance as opposed to the plot. While that aspect might not appease everyone, I enjoyed it! We have some goth warrior girls wielding bone and blood magic in a vast wasteland and a monstrous boy leading them to their friend. What's not to obsess over?

Read this book if you like:
- creepy, gothic vibes
- vivid descriptions
- enemies to lovers
- powerful, blood drinking monsters

Unholy Terrors will be released October 17th and if it's not already on your tbr, it should be!
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Special thanks to Macmillan Audio for sharing a free copy with me in exchange for my honest opinions.

Thanks to NetGalley and Macmillan Audio for the advanced copy of this title.

First of all the narration was great., there are some titles that you should read and some you should listen to, and I genuinely think this book would be enjoyable for either.

Second of all, I saw some people that DNFed this and were really critical, so I was worried going into it, but I honestly had a great time.

I think the writing was great. I never felt like I was being "told" I always felt like I was being "shown" and I thought the world building was unique. Maybe not groundbreaking, or fully original, but it felt like it had been thought out but wasn't horribly convoluted so you had to make notes to understand an entirely new world.

I actually assumed this was going to be a series and thought I was going to get a slight cliffhanger but it appears to be a standalone, which I won't lie, made me like this even more.

I think there might be some people who find the ending frustrating but I LOVED it. Not everything is wrapped up perfectly. We kind of end right at the height of things. We aren't shown the fall out and the cooperation, but it's also not ending at this beautiful moment where everything is perfect. We end with the world looking new and uncertain, where our characters are trying to form some type of alliances, but don't necessarily trust each other, and that goes for EVERYONE. We end with SO MUCH possibility.

I loved it.

If you thought Lakesedge was good, then buckle up buttercup, because this is Clipstone's best yet!

Everline's story digs beautifully into the relationships of a father, sister, best friend, and monster boy lover, and how they all shape her motivations and who she is as a person.

It also examines the theme of needing to know where you came from and where you belong in a world that doesn't quite know what to do with you.

This book was riveting, dark, gothic and bloody in the best way possible!

This has gotten me into spooky season mode! I really enjoyed the gothic atmosphere of this story. However, there’s a lot of repetitive use of phrases that were hard to overlook. The internal monologues were a bit long-winded at times but the audiobook helped keep my attention. I probably would’ve been tempted to glaze over them if I had read it traditionally. I liked the characters enough but could never connect with any of them or the relationships that developed on a deeper level. I also wanted more of the world and how it functions. I was initially intrigued by the conflict between Warden and Vespertine but ultimately felt underwhelmed in the end. I personally didn’t feel there were any high stakes or anticipation. The narration itself captured the atmosphere and characters nicely.
Thank you Macmillan audio for the arc in exchange for an honest review.