This was such a page-turner! I had so much fun reading it and just could not put it down. I loved this world and these characters so much so keeping this spoiler-free is a STRUGGLE. Just know that there is angst and monsters and they literally went through hell together. Swoon.

Bonus points for fantastic autism and body diversity rep. Additional bonus points for just being so beautiful. The cover is gorgeous and the internal formatting was done so well and added to the immersive experience of the story.

If you’re looking for the perfect weekend read with romance, monsters, and a journey through the depths of hell, this is it!

Thank you so much to Page Street YA and NetGalley for this eARC. All opinions are my own.

Thank you to Netgalley for providing me with an ARC.
SPOILERS TO FOLLOW

"May as well sin."
AND WHAT A GLORIOUS SIN IT IS. *CHEFS KISSES* This book has it ALL, an autistic fat girl descending into a hell, a hot almost-prince who is also autistic (at least to my knowledge he is? I could be wrong). Said girl professing her love for the now monstrous almost-prince! The almost-prince doing EVERYTHING in his power to protect her. *chefs kisses again* The world building in this story was immaculate. The religion that they follow and the rules of the Lia/holy objects was really cool too. Some of it felt like it was based off Greek mythos and also Catholicism but I could be wrong. That's just how I felt about things like the oil and the way they talked about sins in the book. The different circles/levels of hell was very interesting too!

I enjoyed how Alesta was this badass monster hunter/inventor who was always trying to prove herself and hide her love for her best friend. Kyr was very sweet and adorable and loyal. I love him so much. They paired together so well and their chemistry together was amazing. I also really liked the side characters too like Rina and Lor (MICO YOU KNOW WHAT YOU DID). I was glad to see the two girls together in the end as well!! And the ending for Lia and Aria GAH IT WAS PERFECT.

I'm definitely buying a physical copy of this story!

Alesta is constantly trying to convince the kingdom of her worth and it resonated so deeply and on so many levels. She rarely sees her own value as she tries to prove herself by caring for her ailing grandmother, and inventing useful tools. Her best friend, Kyrian, is heir to the throne, but neither seems to care about the impending appointment.

However, Alesta creates an invention which goes awry, injuring another noble. Kyrian takes the blame and is tithed to the monsters in her place. Alesta doesn’t even realize what has happened as her grandmother falls ill at the same time and she is not informed of Kyrian’s fate. .

There is so much going on with this book in so many great ways. The characters are complex and they develop and mature throughout the novel. Though this is YA, I think there are some mature themes even adults can resonate with and I am glad to see a neurodivergent main character take the monsters by the horns. I want to thank NetGalley and the publisher for allowing me an advanced reader copy of this book in exchange for an honest review. I highly recommend and hope it continues to find its audience.

To a Darker Shore follows Alesta on an epic journey to save her best friend Kyrian.

I really struggled to get into this book, but once I made it through the first part, I was hooked in. I was really enjoying the premise and I loved the world. I felt like the dialogue was natural and well done and the twists were also really fun!

During the middle of the book, I was struggling a little and found things to be a somewhat boring. The fourth section of the story helped solidify the 4 stars. The ending really delivered!

I also love the plus-size MC and representation throughout the book! Overall, a really fun YA romantasy!

Thank you to Netgalley and Page Street for providing me with the ARC.

First things first, I saw a few people say that this had elements of body horror in it, and having just finished I don't really see that; so if that's something you're worried about I would not be. Now onto the actual review. Initially I wasn't sure I was actually going to finish this book, because the first 10-20% was a little bit of a slog to get through. It's not a long book but it felt like it took me longer to read than it should have, and I was actually confused enough initially that I re-read the first chapter in an effort to clear some things up. Personally I think it could have benefited from a glossary, because there were just enough things that were not real in our world that I lost track of what they were from time to time. So when you start this book, be aware of that. Once I kind of got past that hump it did flow smoother, but I still wouldn't call it a fast read. I loved the rep in this book; autism, fat rep, LGBTQ, all of it was excellent, and all of it felt genuine. The plot was also an interesting one, having a Dante's INFERNO feel too it, but including other elements. I have to say that some of the big reveals (most of them actually) weren't super shocking to me, but that didn't stop the story from being an enjoyable one. I also really appreciated the dual POV that we got. How Schwartz weaved her message of being who you really are is okay and not changing yourself for society was a great one. I think the main things that kept me from rating this a full 5 stars are 1) the slow start, 2) how quickly the last 20% seemed to go, and 3) the repetitiveness of some of it. I've already addressed my first issue, but along with the slow start I feel like so much just happened in the last 20%. Like SO much. I feel like at least a few of those elements could have been brought in earlier so that the back end wasn't quite so busy. The ending itself was also slightly abrupt. I don't want to give it all away, but the main conflict at the end seemed slightly rushed, and once it was resolved it was just done. I think the epilogue could have been expanded a little more too, because I did have some questions about things. As for my third point there were a few things we were kind of beaten over the head with; I know others said it was Alesta and how we were constantly reminded she was larger and unattractive, but for me it was Kyr and how he was such a monster and deserving of what happened to him. Even when he WAS a monster he didn't deserve it, and by the end while Alesta seemed to realize her "flaws" were not something that needed to be taken away I didn't see that from Kyr, which I felt kind of negated the message a bit. Despite those things I still ended up enjoying it quite a bit, and I hope that this book ends up getting more attention that I have a feeling it will. On my end I will certainly recommend it to anyone who I think will enjoy it (I think fans of Andrew Joseph White might find something they like here, even though the books aren't INSANELY alike), and I'm now curious to check out Schwartz's debut novel, as well as anything she puts out next.

To a Darker Shore expertly balances darkness—angst, societal ostracization, body shaming, and more—with light—a determined heroine, loving romances, and acceptance.

In this book, quite literally, you follow the protagonists Alestra and Kyr to hell and back. The two occupy very different social stratum, but their POVs reveal that both chafe against parental and societal expectations, the strict moral hierarchy imposed by their island’s religion, and their inability to fully understand themselves. From the start, I knew they would be childhood friends to lovers, but that didn’t damage my investment in their friendship, nor did it make their growing feelings for one another feel any less natural. That said, Schwartz does not neglect their other relationships. I particularly enjoyed Alestra’s bond with Rina, as it further proved the falseness of appearances in their world.

There were just so many cool facets of the story that I haven’t seen in YA before. Alestra is a headstrong inventor while Kyr is introverted and prone to self-consciousness; the hypocrisy of religion that physically manifests as monstrousness!; the underworld is a physical place with its own share of douches and shifty figures.

As with most YA, the plot itself wasn’t groundbreaking or unpredictable, but it didn’t distance me from the story. Overall, nothing is black and white in To a Darker Shore, and I admire the extent to which the story supports critical thinking and self-trust.

AAAAAAAAAH THIS WAS FANTASTIC

It was giving Hadestown x Florence and the Machine x Medieval romance x Hozier?????

PLUS SIZE AND AUTISM REP TOO.

I FELL IN LOVE. Everyone go read this ASAP.

Thank you to NetGalley as well as my tour group for this ARC in exchange for my honest review!!

The beginning was a little slow, but I love the world building here. The MCs of Lessie and Kyr were very strong. I loved the plus size and autistic rep. They were also just so cute together. This gives “love you to hell and back” a real meaning. Lessie would risk everything to avenge Kyrian and then bring him back when she knew he was alive. Even if he was a monster. They could be monsters together. It was so sweet. The side characters of Rina and Lor were also very sweet. The bad guy was obviously the bad guy but it didn’t take away from how much I hated them. I found myself becoming attached to everyone and hoping for their survival and safety.

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️.5/5

To A Darker Shore is a sweeping, beautifully monstrous story that hooked me from the first page.

This story was lovely. I loved the characters, the journey through hell, and the monsters. It was creative and fun, with beautiful romances and hope woven throughout. TADS was wonderfully inclusive YA and felt like This Vicious Grace meets Hadestown. The prose was lyrical and enrapturing. I highly recommend TADS!

Thank you to the publisher for the free ARC!

Alesta is a peasant girl with a brilliant mind. Plus-sized and autistic, she never quite fit in with her community - her only friend being Kyrian, a fellow autist and the reluctant heir to the throne. Bound together by their deep understanding of one another, they're ripped apart when Kyrian is tithed in her place - chosen as sacrifice to appease the evil god threatening the realm. Devastated and rage-filled, Alesta undertakes a quest to the infernal island to avenge him, only to find him alive but monstrously transformed. Together, they fight to bring about a revolutionary peace, and make reparations for the mistakes of their kingdom.

I really enjoyed this book! I'm not a huge romance person, but Alesta and Kyr's relationship was maddeningly compelling. Great autistic representation, with some prominent 2SLGBTQ+ relationships as well. I found the worldbuilding to be very strong - with a whole pantheon of gods, demons, and lore helping to drive the narrative.

This was a fantastic read! Schwartz is quickly becoming an auto-buy for me. what’s not to love about this book? Dark intrigue, a romance that has all the simmering tension, so much angst, and demisexual representation ??? Inject it into my veins (I did). Readers are going to be obsessed with this one.

I loved this story! I loved all the detail put into the world building, I loved the characters and their voices, and the sweet ending. I loved the twist and the timing of its execution. The autistic rep was fantastic. It had some good queer rep too. Overall a fantastic story!

Educator note: This would be great for a class where students were reading some older classic tales and could then do an assignment looking at how those stories influenced a modern book like this one.

<i>First, a thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for allowing me to read an eARC of this book.</i>

This book just didn’t resonate with me as much as it did for others, judging by the reviews.

I really appreciate the representation - that was one of the best parts of this book! - but the actual execution of plot, character development, and prose fell flat for me.

The story just felt sort of all over the place and the “wrap up” at the end felt forced and frankly a little unnecessary; but I don’t need a book to finished all wrapped up with a bow tie to make me happy.

I think this book is important for what it stands for and its representation, and I’m not necessarily against reading something else by this author; I think that a lot of YA is just only meh to me. I think part of this is my age - but points above are still relevant regardless.

If you’re interested I would say go for it - but for me, this was just an okay book.

3.5/5 rounding up to 4.

This one was actually pretty good! YA Fantasy has been VERY hit or miss for me, so I was genuinely surprised I enjoyed this one as much as I did, especially since I had a rough time getting through the first 20%.

Definitely a fan of the autistic and "fat" character representation! The story was interesting enough and had a unique way of combining fantasy and mythology elements to tell a new story. I think this going to be a hit among folks looking for more diversity in the books they read, particularly in the fantasy genre where the main characters tend to all be very similar. I think the characterizations and the way we explored them was VERY well done, and a much needed addition to the genre.

However, this was VERY slow until the last maybe 20% for me, and I was bored a LOT while reading it--The first 15% could have been cut down to 5-7% in length and I don't think anything would have been lost to the story. There are definitely areas where the writing feels less polished, and we kind of beat a dead horse after awhile making SURE you know that the FMC is "fat and ugly." I've noticed this a lot in YA novels recently when we're breaking out of the mold of the "gorgeous FMC who's great at everything" and instead have someone who is unconventionally attractive/ugly/fat/different--we have to hear about it every two pages to make sure we get it (looking at you too, Starling House!).

Personally, I was pulled out of the story too much due to the pacing and inconsistent writing/repetitive character descriptions and thoughts to say I LOVED it. I think we could have used another round of editing to adjust the pacing and phrasing of large sections of the book, and I would have liked it a lot more. But I still generally enjoyed it and think that for folks that LOVE YA fantasy stories, this will be a great read!

Thank you Netgalley and Page Street Publishing for the opportunity to read an ARC of this book!

This has such a spectacular premise. I love a Dante's Inferno retelling with religious trauma/eroticism, monster romance, queer love, autistic rep with some horror elements??? The idea was so good. However, the execution was tremendously poor. The writing style very much just gave fanfiction and it unfortunately lost me.

Alesta is constantly trying to convince the kingdom of her worth and it resonated so deeply and on so many levels. She rarely sees her own value as she tries to prove herself by caring for her ailing grandmother, and inventing useful tools. Her best friend, Kyrian, is heir to the throne, but neither seems to care about the impending appointment.

However, Alesta creates an invention which goes awry, injuring another noble. Kyrian takes the blame and is tithed to the monsters in her place. Alesta doesn’t even realize what has happened as her grandmother falls ill at the same time and she is not informed of Kyrian’s fate. .

There is so much going on with this book in so many great ways. The characters are complex and they develop and mature throughout the novel. Though this is YA, I think there are some mature themes even adults can resonate with and I am glad to see a neurodivergent main character take the monsters by the horns. I want to thank NetGalley and the publisher for allowing me an advanced reader copy of this book in exchange for an honest review. I highly recommend and hope it continues to find its audience.

A big thank you to NetGalley for allowing me to read the ARC for this book.

“He would follow her even to the sky that hated him, to the world that burned”. -Kyr

This book seemed heavily inspired by stories like “Dante’s Inferno”, the myth of Orpheus and Eurydice, the tale of Saint George and the Dragon, and even a little bit of “Beauty and the Beast” to name a few.

I also noticed lots of themes revolving around this book, in particular the issues that arise from religion, and the biases that occur in society based off how someone looks or how they sexually identify themselves.

This book also dealt with themes of mental illness- at least in my opinion. Without spoiling anything, this book reminded me of a quote from the philosopher Nietzsche and how if ‘you gaze long enough into the abyss, the abyss will gaze back into you’- or basically if you fight enough monsters, you need to be weary that you don’t become one.

I appreciated that there was an autistic main character and there was LGBTQ+ representation. Overall, I really enjoyed this book, and recommend it to anyone who finds themselves unworthy of love, for whatever reason.

A gorgeously written, deeply romantic YA fantasy with a strong autistic heroine who goes to hell and back to save her best friend and take on an unjust system--along with a lot of monsters! To A Darker Shore touches on a lot of heavy topics and addresses them well, while also being a beautiful and action-packed read. I've been looking forward to this Dante's Inferno-inspired novel for awhile and it did not disappoint!

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the arc! Opinions are my own.

This one is being promoted as Hadestown meets Dante’s Inferno with an autistic main character who is also plus size which we don’t see that often in fantasy. So in this world, if you are not deemed worthy, you are fed to a monster and our main character creates an invention in hopes to be seen as useful but things don’t go as planned and she travels to hell in to try and end these totally mad sacrifices. This was a lot of fun and really different.

Living in a kingdom where the country’s poor get sacrificed to appease the infernal monster across the poison sea in hell, Alesta, who’s poor, plus-size and autistic hasn’t got a lot going for her. When her attempt to prove herself goes awry, her best friend and heir to the throne—Kyrian—decides to take the blame and ends up being tithed in her place.

Determined to end the sacrifices forever and get back at the monsters who killed her friend, Alesta travels to the depth of hell only to find her friend alive—but monstrously transformed.

Confronted with the truth about the tithings that threatens to turn their worlds upside down, Alesta and Kyrian must stick together to figure out how to save everyone and not lose each other in the process.

To a Darker Shore has an incredible premise with all the goodies YA readers love: angst, monsters, dangerous adventures, an unexpected monstrous childhood-friends-to-lovers romance with loads of pining and fantastic representation (both MCs are autistic). Alesta and Kyrian’s story will pull you in for sure.

While I loved the set up and the world-building, the pacing did meander a lot of times.

To be fair though, I struggle with pacing in pretty much every fantasy book so keep that in mind.

There’s a difference between things happening and them actually having an impact and while the first half of the story featured a lot of the further, the latter was often absent and thus made me feel overwhelmed with everything going on while not giving me a lot to work through at the same time. This changes after a pretty big reveal but to get to that point was tough at times.

The pacing may not have been the greatest but the characters surely were. Alesta and Kyr’s story fascinated me and the switching POVs kept me invested throughout. Their storylines gave us deeper insights into what motivates them and why they act the way they do (which counteracted the meandering pacing beautifully). I love stories where you can really see the characters taking care of each other and the fierce protective vibes from both Alesta and Kyr had me grinning at times. That protectiveness also gives ample space for discussing and pondering what it means to be worthy or valuable or good enough in society and how to accept yourself and let go of that notion that you have to be useful to be accepted, valued and loved. An important message that is sure to resonate with (younger) readers.

Lovers of fantasy stories with original premises and the friends to lovers trope with a monstrous twist will rejoice at getting their hands on To a Darker Shore.