A haunting tale of forbidden love. There is a blend of mystery, romance, and the supernatural. I loved it!
Many thanks to Random House and to Netgalley for providing me with a galley in exchange for my honest opinion. .

In theory I should love this book. Angst, damaged characters, forbidden love, us-against-the-world storyline? Sign me up! That's my jam!

Unfortunately, this one kinda went off the rails though. First, it was just WAY too long. So much repetition, so much purple prose, so many unnecessary side characters. Second, the drama never ended - Nica and Rigel just seemed to move from one traumatic obstacle (often of their own making) to another, and it began to feel exhausting. Third, for someone who had a super-traumatic childhood caused by really bad people, you'd think that Nica would be a better judge of character - or at least more gun-shy around creepers. But nope, she was super naive and would just put herself in all kinds of obviously bad situations with clearly bad people. Finally, what exactly is Rigel's illness, and why does it make him act like a psychopath?

So, it had promise, but the execution could have been much better.

I honestly had a very hard time reading this book. I'm not sure if it's due to the translation or the author's writing style, but I found it not enjoyable to read. Additionally, I thought the plot wasn't very original. It felt very trope-y.

Thank you Netgalley and Penguin Random House for the opportunity to read this book.

I voluntarily read and reviewed an advanced copy of this book. All thoughts and opinions are my own. I enjoyed this and am looking forward to watch it on NEtflix

Thank you, Netgalley, the author, and Random House Publishing for the gifted e-book! ❤️ #gifted. My review is comprised of my honest thoughts.

No. Just no. I really tried. The writing is so rough and perhaps too artistic for me. It's just horrific. I have no idea why it was labeled romance.

This is really fascinating book. Nica and Regal both grew up in the same orphanage and are adopted by the same family. It’s so interesting to see how trauma and their new living arrangements affect them as they begin to have feelings for one another. There is such trauma in both their pasts. How Niva has dealt with her trauma is also interesting. It’s a haunting book.

From what I read of it, it doesn't seem like a bad book. I just think that I am not in the mood for it at all. Also the formatting of the book is messed up which isn't any one person's fault but it doesn't entice me to keep reading.

I’m not even trying to be nice when I was this: “The Tearsmith” is the combination of a badly translated book - my fellow non-English-speakers will understand - and the mind of a thirteen-year-old who's decided to write her first fanfic.

Like, there are so, so, so many cringe things going on, without mentioning all the inaccuracies, that I really wonder how is it possible for so many of you to consider this piece of garbage the “book of the year”.
Also, I hope you haven't missed the slightly subtle way in which she makes this feel “normal” only because they’re in the State of Alabama - even if it looks more like the Po Valley to me -, where even incest is basically allowed.

Just open a book that has the right to call itself that, for God’s sake.

Thanks to Random House Publishing Group - Ballantine and NetGalley, who provided me with a copy of this book in exchange for an honest opinion.

oh. my. goodness. this book was absolutely incredible!!!! i had so much fun reading this book. it was lovely and wonderful and amazing. thank you so much to netgalley for letting me read this book before the publication date!!!

This was just bad. I was hoping at first it was just translation issues, but I am realizing this is more of a not clearly marketing what this is issue. Worst being the strangely Twilight possessive-ness vibes it gave.

This book was a whirlwind and my thoughts about it varied while reading!

My initial impression of the writing was that this book would be more like a thriller, based on the author’s writing style, but gradually it shifted into more of a YA dark romance — which I didn’t realize existed until I read this. I totally would’ve been obsessed with this storyline at 15-17 years old, but some of the melodrama wasn’t my cup of tea as a 20-something-year-old woman.

*Content worth knowing about before picking up this book is mention of child abuse throughout the book, as the two main characters grew up in an orphanage ran by an abusive matron. There is also a theme of abandonment. At times, this story is heavy & may be hard for some to read.*

I found myself incredibly conflicted over how I felt about the story, and the complex relationship that blooms between Nica & Rigel. Forbidden love is a trope that is pretty popular, but the messiness of their situation (potential adoptive siblings) is a lot to take in. I was simultaneously rooting for them and cringing about the circumstances that led them there! I often had to remind myself that the main characters were 17/18 for the majority of the book, because they were facing such grown struggles & their dialogue felt more mature than young adult.

As things got messier and lines got blurred, I had a hard time putting this book down. At the 70% mark things take a turn and get pretty intense, I genuinely didn’t know how the book would end. There was drama right up until the epilogue!

All in all, I was entertained by this book & would rate it a 3.5 out of 5 stars! I’m rounding up to a 4 because it certainly consumed my attention while reading it, though it wasn’t fully my style of romance. I can see how it could be adapted for TV, as it read like romantic drama or telenovella!

Other notable tropes:
* Touch her and ☠️
* Forced proximity
* Healing trauma
* Lovable side characters
* Found family

Thank you to NetGalley and the publishers for an advanced copy of this book to read and honestly review.

I really enjoyed reading this, it had everything that I was looking for from this type of book. It uses the dark elements perfectly and had the character development that I was hoping for. Erin Doom wrote this perfectly and cared about what was going on with the characters in this world. The teens felt like real people and I was invested in what happened with them.

I absolutely love this story. The depth of the characters and the dialogue they both share to counter their traumas is beautiful. Five stars. Can’t wait to see the film adaptation.

Note to publisher: I do wish the formatting the ebook was sent in was done so in a way I had control over the font size and type. It was very hard to read because of that but didn’t take away from the story of course. Just took me longer to get through because I had to keep zooming in.

5 stars

The Tearsmith is a contemporary romance. It is a very slow building. There are time jumps and a number of flashbacks, there is bullying and a bit of enemies to lovers, forced proximity tropes in this story. This book is definitely on the darker side with quite a few hard topics and difficult situations. It had me in Tears about 75 percent of the time, both heartbreakingly sad tears and happy full of joy tears. This book will put you through the ringer with the emotional rollercoaster it is going to send you through, and I loved it. Please be mindful and check content warnings before picking this book up. The writing style for this book was perfect, it painted such an elaborate and emotional story, that it affected me at so many levels. I could not put this down. It had such an impact on me, and I was waiting and wanting to get that happy moment when things finally changed. There was a little bit of repetitiveness that happened, but it did not take away from this story.
Trigger warnings: child abuse, death of a loved one, bullying,
I received an ebook, via Netgalley. This review is my own honest opinion.

A unique read, a love story with some fantasy elements. It was a bit too long for me and I think some things were lost in translation but I'm looking forward to seeing this on Netflix!

*Thank you so much to the author, publisher, and NetGalley for the chance to review an ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review.*

2.5 stars rounded up. While the idea behind the story is beautiful, the book feels like it just goes on and on with no purpose. It easily could have been 150 pages shorter, if not more. The story moves slowly, the romantic relationship grumpy vs. Sunshine,touch her. You die is slow burn and is ok. There are a few short smutty scenes.

this was such a beautiful coming of age romance! I love that more and more international books are being translated to English, it gives a whole new perspective on reading. I definitely enjoyed and would recommend this!

I wanted to read something that would make me cry - this got it. Erin Doom was not holding her punches for Tearsmith. The adventure of going through the complex and difficult lives of two teenagers was a wild ride, especially as someone who is now an adult dealing with childhood trauma and what it is to unravel it. The fantasy elements was bizarre to me, but it's not like I didn't enjoy it. I think it was a great way to depict abuse - as horrible as that is.. Doom did a great job writing this and it was moving, heartbreaking, and interesting all at once.

An excellent dark romance with the step sibling trope portayed in such an interesting way.

The romantic tension in this is. It's insane. And it's incorporated so well in a general setting filled with impending sadness/doom. From the very start of the book you know. You're awaiting the most heavy trauma possible to unreveal itself regarding the past of the two MCs and their connection with each other both in the past and the present to be heavily affected by it. And this doom is delivered in a mind blowing way - seriously the angst in this book is SO well portayed I am going feral over it. The love being build while tragedy is revealed and strikes again and again - ugh it was Portayed perfectly