**Thanks for the ARC, Penguin House.**

Sadly, I did not connect with this book. I have read my fair share of dark romances, thrillers, ect., but this fell short. It didn't hold my attention, and I really wanted to like this! The summary sounds interesting, but the execution wasn't there.

The Tearsmith is a dark romance with flawed characters and heavy topics. Nica and Rigel are both orphans at the same orphanage. When, as teenagers, they are adopted into the same family, they are forced to address their past toxic relationship. This is an emotional character driven story. Nica is sweet and reserved while Rigel is aggressively mean to her. We get many flashbacks revealing the past of both Nica and Rigel which are heartbreaking. The story is slow paced and I found it hard to read at times because of the dark topics and unhealthy relationship between the two main characters. I can appreciate that there was a lot of past trauma and hoped for a more emotionally healthy ending for the two.

Thank you NetGalley and the publisher for the copy in exchange for my honest review.

This book was unexpected. I was compelled right from the start and could not help but connect to the characters. I will say that this book could do with a lot more editing. There's a lot of repetitive paragraphs that don't really add to the story.

Happy belated pub day to this gem of a piece, but ya’ll this book had no business ruining me the way that it did.

I received an early translated edition of this book through NetGalley and I can’t tell you enough how much I enjoyed this book, truly. Although, I think this could’ve been 200 pages less, Erin Doom created a masterpiece. Her way of writing was poetic and lyrical and you can’t help but fall in love with all of her characters.

“𝐼𝑡 𝑑𝑜𝑒𝑠𝑛’𝑡 𝑚𝑎𝑡𝑡𝑒𝑟 𝑖𝑓 𝑦𝑜𝑢 𝑎𝑟𝑒 𝑑𝑒𝑠𝑡𝑟𝑜𝑦𝑒𝑑. 𝐼𝑡 𝑑𝑜𝑒𝑠𝑛’𝑡 𝑚𝑎𝑡𝑡𝑒𝑟 𝑖𝑓 𝐼 𝑎𝑚. 𝑀𝑜𝑠𝑎𝑖𝑐𝑠 𝑎𝑟𝑒 𝑚𝑎𝑑𝑒 𝑜𝑢𝑡 𝑜𝑓 𝑠ℎ𝑎𝑡𝑡𝑒𝑟𝑒𝑑 𝑠ℎ𝑎𝑟𝑑𝑠 𝑜𝑓 𝑔𝑙𝑎𝑠𝑠, 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑙𝑜𝑜𝑘 ℎ𝑜𝑤 𝑤𝑜𝑛𝑑𝑟𝑜𝑢𝑠 𝑡ℎ𝑒𝑦 𝑎𝑟𝑒.”

It was a slow start, but then it picks up and you can’t help but be intrigued and enticed by Nica & Rigel and their story. Going into this book I wasn’t sure what to expect, or what kind of story we were going to get. But Tearsmith, more like Tearjerker on my soul.

“𝐼 𝑙𝑜𝑣𝑒 𝑦𝑜𝑢 𝑎𝑠 𝑜𝑛𝑙𝑦 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑠𝑡𝑎𝑟𝑠 𝑐𝑎𝑛 𝑙𝑜𝑣𝑒: 𝑓𝑟𝑜𝑚 𝑎 𝑑𝑖𝑠𝑡𝑎𝑛𝑐𝑒, 𝑖𝑛 𝑠𝑖𝑙𝑒𝑛𝑐𝑒, 𝑤𝑖𝑡ℎ𝑜𝑢𝑡 𝑒𝑣𝑒𝑟 𝑔𝑜𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑜𝑢𝑡.”

This book ruined me, and then put my pieces back together. The trauma both of these kids went through and yet managed to persevere and overcome it with the help of one another was just pure magic.

If there’s any book you pick up this year, put this one on your list. It happens to be coming to Netflix shortly and I know that’ll ruin me too.

“𝑃𝑒𝑟ℎ𝑎𝑝𝑠 𝑜𝑢𝑟 𝑔𝑟𝑒𝑎𝑡𝑒𝑠𝑡 𝑓𝑒𝑎𝑟 𝑖𝑠 𝑎𝑐𝑐𝑒𝑝𝑡𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑡ℎ𝑎𝑡 𝑠𝑜𝑚𝑒𝑜𝑛𝑒 𝑐𝑎𝑛 𝑡𝑟𝑢𝑙𝑦 𝑙𝑜𝑣𝑒 𝑢𝑠 𝑓𝑜𝑟 𝑤ℎ𝑜 𝑤𝑒 𝑎𝑟𝑒.”

Thank you to NetGalley and the author for an early copy of this book in exchange for my honest opinion.

This was phenomenal the writing was incredible and the story had me sobbing when it was over simply because I wanted more! I felt immersed in the story and completely attached to the characters.

I recently read a novel that promised to be a mix of fantasy and romance. However, as I read on, I discovered that it was a complex story about love and trauma. The story revolves around Nica and Rigel, two teenagers with a troubled past from the same orphanage. They must navigate their complicated relationship while living together. The story is fascinating and disturbing as the characters deal with deep-seated wounds and a forbidden attraction. While the book's character development is excellent, and the storytelling is engaging, I felt conflicted about its handling of sensitive themes like abuse. The writing style is ambitious but sometimes feels overdone, and the plot's coherence sometimes wavers. Despite its flaws, the novel's emotional depth and dark allure made it a memorable read.

4.25/5 ⭐️ - ARC

Ok THIS took me by complete surprise. I really did love this book and it’s one of those YA books that is somehow gripping for all ages. The character development was great and the writing was so lyrical and poetic. I thought it would get at times to be too much but nope I loved every single moment. The pure emotion that is in this is something else and it connects with everyone. Truly so good like I hope this blows up because it deserves it!!

3⭐️

Happy release day! I’m honestly still not 100% sure how I feel about this book. There are aspects I enjoyed, such as the poetic way it was written (and just Rigel in general). But I’m not too keen on the almost legally adopted brother and sister turned lovers. That part gave me the ick— but I also found the story pretty engaging and always wanted to know what was going to happen between them. I also really liked the side characters like Billie and Miki.

If you like dark romance, you’ll probably enjoy this one!

The bestselling international sensation, coming soon to Netflix, now in English for the first time—a dark, sexy, haunting novel of two very damaged teens who are taken in by the same family and forced to reckon with a destructive love that could be the undoing of them both

Well, that sounds very interesting. And it is.

This is the story of Nica and Rigel. Two orphans growing up in an orphanage under the terrifying warden in charge. They deal with abuse differently. Nica lives in imagination. Making friends with the smallest of creatures on the grounds.

Rigel is something of a puzzle. Does he hate her? Does he love her? Something is definitely wrong.

As teenagers they have lost the hope of being adopted until they meet Anna and Norma. They take them both and life gets better a bit at a time. But Rigel doesn’t. He seems to hate her even more. And the violent attacks on others is something she doesn’t understand.

Sharing trauma is a strong connection, but the connection these two have is magical. Haunting, and beautiful.

Unfortunately, they will have to face the past that haunts them before they can move forward.

I thought this was a sad and hopeful story. A fairy tale of what love and hope can do.

NetGalley/ Random House/Dell February 06,2024

I received a digital ARC of this book via Netgalley and the Publisher in exchange for an honest review. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

Dude, where do I even begin with this book? There was no plot line to this book. Absolutely no substance. Every chapter was Nica explaining how dark and dangerous Rigel was in a different way. Talking about this dark past they have but never going into detail about it. I don’t like DNFing books but I had to at 23%. It may be for someone else but it was not for me. I literally kept asking myself what is the point of this book? There’s pointless side characters who are very one dimensional who add nothing to the plot. They are just there to take up page space. Overall, I don’t think I’d ever recommend this book or give it another shot.

The formatting of the kindle version was broken. I couldn’t read it. Leaving five stars.

Thank you to NetGalley and Random House for the ARC.

“I wondered if it was better to be hated or loved by a monster.”

“The Tearsmith” by Erin Doom is about two orphans learning to live with their dark pasts. Nica, always the sweet girl, the one who cares for everyone and everything. Her only desire is to be adopted even though she is almost an adult, she will do anything to have her new parents want to keep her, because she is a good girl. Rigel, an introverted and talented orphan who hurts everyone near him. Both get adopted by the same couple and their hostility to each other might split apart their new family.

I seriously loved this book so much. It was so long, even though it didn’t need to be so big, but I was glued to every page. I found the plot predictable but not in a bad way because I liked how the author wrote the characters. Nica and Rigel’s backstories are so heartbreaking, and I just wanted both of them to get everything they wanted. I disliked how meek Nica was, but I understand it’s her trauma that was causing it. It’s a really good non fantasy romance and I would love to see it on tv. I gave it a 5 out of 5 stars.

-Multi POV
-Child Abuse/Trauma
-Mental Illness
-Bully Romance
-Coming-Of-Age
-Forbidden Romance

This book is unfortunately not for me. I'm not sure if it's the translation or how slow it moves.

This is a character driven book and I did enjoy the characters. The prose is lovely and I love a book with description. However, I think with the translation everything feels disjointed and stilted. It was hard for me to get into the book and connect to the characters.

I had to dnf this at 20% because it just wasn't going anywhere, causing me to loose interest. While it isn't a book for me I feel others might enjoy it.

Thank you to the publisher and Netgalley for an eARC of this title for my honest review.

I received an ARC from the publisher in exchange for an honest review

The Tearsmith by Erin Doom is a contemporary dark romantic story about two teens, Nica and Rigel, who grow up in the same orphanage and are taken in by the same couple. Nica strongly desires a family but she is afraid of Rigel because he’s been cold and distant for the entire time they’ve known each other. Meanwhile, Rigel is quietly obsessed with Nica but keeps his distance.

Going at a slower pace, The Tearsmith is very character-driven with multiple flashbacks, some switches from Nica’s first person POV to Rigel’s third person POV, and some heavy topics are featured. Rigel and Nica never felt like siblings to me as neither of them ever gave me the impression that they considered each other siblings or even really family.

Nica’s PTSD reactions to what happened in her childhood felt realistic to me as did Rigel’s reactions to his own situation. It can be hard to read and I did need to put the book down several times, but I never got the impression that the darker moments were for shock value or disrespectful to real life abuse cases.

Content warning for on the page depictions of child abuse and violence

I would recommend this to readers looking for a darker love story that is heavy on character and not so much plot and readers looking for slower pacing and longer books in the contemporary genre.

This book was difficult to get into but got more easier to read about a quarter of the way through ( which is hard considering how long the book is). This did not read like a normal romance novel, I would describe the writing style more along the lines of horror or a psychological thriller. The beginning of the book was so dark and moody, it made it hard to connect to the characters, even Nica the main character. There is context presented later in the book about the backstory of the characters (abuse, neglect, basically torture) that would have made the characters more understandable from the beginning, otherwise it felt like all of Nica's trauma was rooted just in Rigel bullying her as a child. Throughout most of the book the only characters I actually liked were Anna and Norman.
Most of the actual romance plot felt incestuous considering that Nica and Rigel were living as adoptive siblings throughout most of the book, even though they were not biological siblings it still felt wrong. And it definitely felt wrong considering how much angst and a few spicy scenes they shared together in their adoptive family's house. I was admittedly not rooting for them. I won't give away too much of the ending but I will say that by the end the circumstances are more understandable.
I'm fairly sure that is book was originally released in Italian, and is now being released in English, at least that is the version I was given. I feel like this book may have lost something stylistically in translation, like something was off but I couldn't pinpoint exactly how. I also unfortunately noticed a few spelling errors (I received an advance copy of this book, so I hope these are resolved before final publication), like apologise and organise, instead of apologize and organize. While I hope this was caught and edited, it felt sloppy to have made it this far in the first place.
Overall, I would not say this book was for me. I would say that this review is on the critical side, but I truly appreciate and want to thank Erin Doom and Random House Publishing Group for giving me access to this advance copy.

The Tearsmith by Erin Doom is a compelling young adult romance that delves into the depths of the characters' pasts and explores the risks they must face in order to build a future together. From the very first page, this enchanting novel captivated my attention and held it until the very end.

This book was a journey. I mean it was long. Very long. But I read it in 2 days because I became so immersed in these characters. The growth of Nica was so good. The love that overcame disfunction of trauma brought me to tears. I was sobbing when Anna told Nica she was the Sun. Full on sobbing.

Was this book for me? No.

Is this book for someone? Absolutely!

The Tearsmith is all angsty teenage slow burn with lots of depressing bits. I think the translation reminded me of watching a dubbed tv show, so this is totally going to slay for the Netflix audience. Sadly, reading it felt stilted and disjointing for me. So much of the book felt unnecessary for driving the plot. We do get a lot of insight into Nika and Rigel (love the names Btw) as it is written in dual POV but a lot of the “insights” weren’t there except for filler. What keeps you reading, even through the fluff, is the will they or won’t they. Wondering who will admit their feelings first and how it will affect their adoption. If you want to know the answers, you’ll have to read for yourself.

I would give this 2.5 stars because the author keeps you questioning and fans of After and My Fault will swoon for Nika and Rigel.

The Tearsmith is a harrowingly heartbreaking yet hopeful love story. Now translated for the first time in english, this dark, alluring, haunting novel tells the story of two deeply damaged kids falling in love. Rigel fell head over heals for Nico the age of five, only he never truly felt he was deserving after being abandoned at birth. Nico is the light for all that is good as he nicknames her "the moth".

Unbeknownst to their new adoptive family, Nico and Rigel have endured a harsh and cruel upbringing in the institution. Rigel is mysteriously handsome, smart and torn with what his hearts desires. Together for the first time in a loving environment, the darkness that has overshadowed their lives begins to fade. Their love story is messy and emotional concluding in a fairytale ending.

I'm clutching my heart as the wolf slinks into the shadows to let the light in!

Thank you, Random House Publishing Group - Ballantine, Dell

This book did not work for me. I felt it could have been trimmed by at least 250 pages. It could have used some real editing as it is full of melodramatic, flowery prose and unnecessary metaphors. There are pages upon pages of it and none of it helped to move the plot forward.

This was billed as a forbidden love story but really it was a tragedy. Two teenagers grew up in an abusive orphanage and then were placed in the same home to be adopted. But they fall in love instead. They both need very serious therapy and that’s barely touched on in the book.

I ended up skimming a lot and didn’t miss anything as the plot took so long to progress.