Thank you to Netgalley, 404 Ink publishing and Genevieve Jagger for providing me with an ARC of this debut book and giving me the opportunity to review it honestly

⭐️⭐️⭐️ + 0.5
3.5/5 stars

Fragile Animals by Genevieve Jagger follows Noelle, ex-Catholic, as she navigates her life now that she is haunted by her religious upbringing and traumatic relationship with her Mother. Plagued by memories, and seeking complete retribution that at times she is not sure that she deserves. Noelle travels away from her everyday life to the small secluded town of Bute, where she meets Moses, a vampire and develops a sort of co-dependent sexual relationship with him as they both live in the wake of their past lives.

This book goes back and forth between the present and memories: moments with her Mother ( the narcissistic She), moments that plague Noelle with regret, quieter moments with her Father (dad, not to be confused with Father), and moments where she has always felt the ever watching eye of Him (God). The story shows contrasting moments between She and Miss Fraser, between her past lovers and Moses, everything lead her here to unpack a life that she was deeply unhappy in; Noelle is at the same time very sentimental but also very unattached.

She is tumbling over memories but they are waves that keep knocking her down. She is trying to live a life without immense guilt, but it seems as though every moment for her reminds her of something that she must confess for.

Genevieve's writing is really something special, every moment described so intensely that it feels as though you're living it. Feeling the happiness, disgust, sadness, or sickness that Noelle feels in the moment. Everything was done so well, intertwining the past and the present, making them connect in a way you might have not imagined as they seamlessly blend together, where you sometimes confuse where the moment starts and ends as Noelle remembers things.

There were moments that I frankly wish I felt a little bit less, I would put the book down and need to focus on something else to get the feeling away from me, but in my opinion that just means it was impressive writing. (Any and all mentions of bodily movements, phlegm, and pubes could have been reduced and still gotten the point across, in my opinion).

If you love literary fiction, with subtle elements of fantasy/supernatural/horror, I think that you would really enjoy this book. Dealing with Catholic guilt, sexuality, family trauma, and so much more in this easily devoured (pun intended) debut novel.

From the book summary, I definitely went into this book with different expectations of how it was in reality, but that’s not a bad thing. I originally thought this story would lean more heavily into the supernatural, but the supernatural was definitely a side element to this story, used to push the storyline of Noelle dealing with her trauma. Parts of it slowed (which is why my rating is just under four stars), as the story built, but the ending really picked up for me, and I really enjoyed stories of Noelle's past as it explained a bit more of why she feels the way she does now. I am not typically drawn towards books with horror elements to them, so this was a really interesting break from what I have been reading as of late.

There are some quotes in this book that I marked down and will be thinking about for a while to come, I think. Thank you again Netgalley!

A beautifully lyrical debut. This book took me out of a reading slump. I have to say it isn’t necessarily a book I’d usually pick up but I think it’s unlocked a new genre for me. I loved the storytelling style, with parts of Noelle’s past being revealed as she propels through her narrative in the present. Did I mention how pretty the writing was? I’ve never read a book about religious trauma but even as an atheist I felt Noelle’s conflict about the church deeply. I still can’t get over that this was a debut!!! I’m definitely going to keep updated with Genevieve Jagger in the future. One final mention about the stunning prose!
If you’re a lit fic/fem fic fan then you’ll love this!!

4.5 stars ✨ thank you to NetGalley, 404 ink and Genevieve Jagger, the queen herself, for an advanced copy of this book.

I was interested in this as soon as I read “ex catholic woman” and “vampire” in the same sentence. Initially, I didn’t think this book was going to hit as hard as it did, but boy did it do exactly that. It’s so much deeper than I anticipated, it had me questioning my own morals along with the decisions that the main character Noelle made throughout her life and her relationship with people and Catholicism.

I loved how gross this book was. When our vampire character was introduced, it wasn’t giving Edward Cullen nor Dracula, it was giving sick, dirty, malnourished - in the best way. When our main characters finally kiss, Noelle describes his lips as dry and cracked and his mouth to taste foul which is exactly what I expected from him. Genevieve, you did that. 🍷

My favourite part of the story was definitely the analogy between believing in the existence of vampires and believing in religious dogmas, that is, why is it so hard to believe that vampires exist, but easy to believe that Noah built an arc for all animals or that one guy who was stuck in a whale for a number of days?

I loved this to bits and I can’t wait to read more of Genevieve Jagger 🩸

This took me quite awhile to read, but I really needed it to process what’s written here. This book was excellent but it is so packed with fraught emotion. It had so many elements that were in my wheelhouse - processing trauma related to religion, figuring out sexuality, sharing a B&B with a grungy vampire. It really hit on everything. It’s no surprise I loved this. The way this was written, uncovering the main character’s past, it was intriguing and emotional. By the end, Noelle was someone I wanted to protect and nurture. This book made my heart hurt!

A difficult read for me to keep going back to. The author has some great imagery and themes, but I couldn't get attached to the main character, and the book felt split into two different kinds of books. I didn't find the writing itself "dense," but the plot was - there were many themes that the reader needs to interpret and suss out between the past and present. There was a lot of visceral imagery that reminded me of Ottessa Moshfegh. I'd be interested in seeing more work from this author, but at the same time, I'm not sure this is a book that leaves a lasting impression for me.

My thanks go to NetGalley and 404 Ink for a review copy of this book in exchange for my honest feedback.

Set against the backdrop of the small Scottish island Bute, Fragile Animals follows young poet Noelle, as she looks to escape from the bustle of daily life in an attempt to find inspiration and motivation for her second book of poetry. She stays at a weird little boarding house, hosted by Miss Fraser. Noelle assumed that she would be the only guest at the house, however Miss Fraser has taken in one more lodger, a man named Moses. He lurches around the pages of the book until we quickly come to find that he is anything but normal. Moses is a vampire, and Noelle’s interest in him leads to the opening of wounds, both physical and mental, that leave our narrator in a situation where she must reckon with her religious past.

From the outset, you can see that Noelle is weak and lost. She seems completely influenced by any sense of authority and is wilfully accepting of any hierarchy of power that she encounters. Her need for intimacy and care is noticeable, and the reader can only make guesses at how she has arrived at the character traits she holds. Meeting Moses, our bewildering, all-limbs vampire, Noelle spots an opportunity to open up about her life – the life that she is running away from. She begins by exchanging ex-lover stories with Moses, with the both of them describing their previous love-interests in intimate detail. Quickly, however, Noelle begins to give in to Moses completely, and opens up about her whole history.

Noelle grew up Catholic, with her mother and father both incorporating strict religious values on her upbringing. That strict upbringing would usually give a child structure and support in their development, however various events take place for Noelle and her parents – dark and secretive events – that demolish the very values that she was told to follow. Losing those values, being slapped in the face with a realisation that her parents were not who they said they were, removes all trust from Noelle’s life. It is incredibly difficult for a person to regain the ability of trust when it has been eradicated to such extreme levels. The constant searching for a return to trust makes Noelle fragile, and I feel Jagger shows this fragility perfectly in the initial pages. While her character feels unexplained to start, we can immediately see that the unexplained has its place in earlier traumas.

Fragile Animals is introspective throughout, and that can feel tiresome at certain moments. The majority of these tiring episodes come at the very middle of the book, as, for a large portion, we have no narrative movement. Numerous chapters stack up back-to-back with focus being placed on flashbacks to earlier moments in Noelle’s life. It is understandable. – to be expected – that these flashbacks would be incorporated, as they are central to what drives the book and the building of a fully fleshed out character study. I only feel that swifter pace, or at least a partial splitting up of flashback to flashback, would have helped for the book’s enjoyment and removed any sense of a slog that can sometimes creep in at the halfway point.

A quick nod must be given to the use of birds as a theme throughout the book. Birds have an elegance in their movement – in their image and character. They have the freedom to roam and soar the skies without any shackles holding them down. Noelle sees and acknowledges various birds throughout the novel, and as they sweep the skies without care or worry, Noelle is stuck with the constant reminders of her upbringing, unable to shake the histories of her personal life. Where Noelle matches with the birds is in their fragility. They may be elegant, but it takes very little to break a bird. Just as it takes almost nothing to break the character of Noelle. To me, she finds a certain solace and connection to the birds with this fragile nature, and her escape from constant pain and hurt could be found if only she is able to shake past bruises of life and embrace her natural elegance.

The book, and Genevieve Jagger herself, meet the mark of a perfectly fitting literary fiction novel. With narrative taking a backdrop to the study of the human condition, Jagger’s skill as a writer is bound to carry you through a dark and twisted tale of deception, sinful acts, and the need for forgiveness and acceptance for withheld guilt. Fragile Animals is at once both quietly gothic, with the creaks and coldness that leave you frozen and hooked to the tale, whilst being loudly raw in its vivid portrayal of religious guilt taken on as a child having debilitating effects until much further on in life.

It wasn't exactly what I was expecting based on the description and it was a bit slow to start but the more I read of this book the more I enjoyed it and I'm really glad I stuck with it. The way that the relationships in the book are written and explored was beautiful. It was bleak, tragic, haunting, raw, I think that this is one I'm gonna find myself thinking back on for quite a while.

I'm absolutely obsessed with how deep and complex the relationships were described to be in this book. And every kind of relationship really - friendship, family, faith and Religion, sexuality, substances etc etc. This was a slow read for me that did pick up the pace right towards the end when we got to know more about the relationship I personally was most invested in - Noly and Lomie. I loved the ways in which Noelle found acceptance and closure over all of the different things that had happened to her. I loved the spiritual non-religious parts and the atypical relationships she found herself in that made her question what she thought she knew about the world from growing up with God and what she would go on to learn as someone independent from that. Beautifully written, tender, emotional, a bit sexy and just an all round banger. Thank you NetGalley and 404 Ink for the ARC!

I really liked this book, and I think the world-building and character creation worked great together. I found them to be dynamic and very entertaining to read. I was looking forward to this book and it did not disappoint, I can't wait for it to come out so that I can have a physical copy of it. It was like nothing I've read before and I find it's gothic elements to be new and refreshing compared to others I've read recently

I really wanted to like this, especially as an ex- Catholic. I just could not get past a lot of the gross and unnecessary imagery that was presented in the book. However, I commend the author for having the courage to speak about how being raised in this faith does affect you as an adult.

3.25 stars. The topics covered in this book range from trauma, religion, and mommy issues, all entangled in a vampire tale. Noelle was not my favorite fmc, like girl please wash your hair. My favorite character was actually the bed and breakfast owner, who was an eclectic lady with traditional values housing a vampire and a poet.

Overall, this is a great debut novel and I can definitely see Genevieve Jagger entering the disturbing girly book sector with Ottessa Moshfegh, Mona Awad, and Melissa Broder.

Thank you, NetGalley and 404 Ink for an advanced copy of this novel,

This is for weird girls, and weird girls only!

I am absolutely mind boggled that this is a debut novel, like what? Jagger does something I so rarely see done, she’s managed to reinvent the vampire genre into something beyond lust and the desire for immortality, instead it’s used as a device to assess her life and reflect on what’s causing her pain so that she may live her own life. Not to mention Noelle is most definitely autistic and being ADHD myself those two often get lumped together because the symptoms are so similar. It was refreshing to read from the point of view of a character that was unlike anything I’d ever read in fiction, originally unique without giving too much focus on unnecessary details, this is very focused on the human psyche and evaluating caustic detail. I admired how easily she weaves our main characters trauma into the story effortlessly, no less part of the story than the random turn of events at hand. Her prose is unmatched I could only ever dream of describing feeling as she does. Religious trauma is very prevalent throughout the novel, providing context for our main character’s actions and internal struggle to no longer be leashed by something she no longer necessarily believes in. I think we all suffer at the hands of our parents in one form or another, however we all have a parent in mind that made our journey from adolescence into adulthood a little less than spectacular. I personally have a lot of issues with my mother and this spoke to that heavily, in Fragile Animals we see Noelle’s mother as vain and impassive to her child’s need, very consumed by her own conception of self that she neglects any identity her child might have. It’s all too real and paints an already vivid picture of the long term affects a child might bear in life, suffering the consequences of a selfish parent. I can’t give this enough praise, you’ll have to read it for yourself and highlight all of its passages. The ending paragraph left chills down my spine, and reminded me that it’s so powerful to unburden yourself from your own guilt of simply living your life.

Thank you NetGalley, Genevieve Jagger, and 404 Ink for this ARC in exchange for a review!

Thank you to NetGalley and 404Ink for this advance reader’s copy in exchange for an honest review!

oh my god. the way i have no words for this review because this book stunned me from the first page.

the ingenuity, the rawness, the heart, the confusion, the honesty. all of it had me in such a grip from the very first word. will definitely be buying a physical copy once this publishes. a total stunner. if i could give it 20 stars, i would.


Rating: 5/5 stars

Fragile Animals is a literary fiction novel with a dash of horror; the story of a young woman coming to terms with the religious, familial and sexual trauma of her past. Anyone expecting a vampire novel should know that this isn’t a supernatural love story but a gut-wrenching, animalistic but humane relationship based on confession and forgiveness. I felt so much sympathy and sorrow for Noelle’s condition.

Genevieve Jagger’s prose is stunning, I haven’t come across a debut novel that is this beautifully written in a while. The slow-burn style of storytelling that builds to a climax is very much up my street, but may not suit anyone looking for a little more ‘action’.

I look forward to reading what Jagger writes next!

For a longer review, check out April 2024’s episode of Fresh Blood on the Evolution of Horror podcast Patreon.

I loved this book. I was very drawn to the concept of it and it did not disappoint. I don't read a lot of vampire fiction, but what I have read of the genre is a very romanticised view of the vampire, but this book instead paints the vampire as a creature that is simultaneously decaying and seductive to our protagonist who herself is in a state of decay as she is struggling to come to terms with her sexuality as a woman who was raised catholic but who has a complicated relationship with her faith.

I liked the way the narrative of the book unfolded - hints at Noelle's past and the events that have brought her to the present are hinted at throughout the story, only to be revealed later in full. I thought that this style of storytelling was masterfully crafted, giving the reader just enough to keep them reading and trying to piece together Noelle's past and revealing the events that happened before it drags on too long.

I will definitely be recommending this book and I'd like to also say how much I love the cover art, it's beautiful!

Thanks to netgalley and the publisher for allowing me to read this in advance.

It reminded me of MYORAR and all the music by The Last Dinner Party. Absolutely impossible to put down!

The way Noelle craved touch and affection due to her childhood made me weep and seeing the small ways in which characters show kindness in this was almost too much for me to bear and yet I was absolutely blazing through this. The symbolism in this was amazing - I loved the way the idea of confession in the Catholic faith was portrayed through her conversations with Moses. The last chapter made me bawl and the whole thing was just stunning. Highly recommend!

Thank you to NetGalley for this ARC.

This is about a young writer who goes to the Island of Bute in Scotland by herself to try and find some time to write her poetry. She ends up staying at a really weird boarding house with a strange older man who is a lot darker and more dangerous than he at first seems. The book deals a lot with Catholic guilt as the protagonist is an ex-Catholic and she reckons with how religion and the breakdown of her family life has always been linked. She consistently flashes back to the times in her life when the church was the reason for her own moral failings and emotional breakdowns. Whilst I loved both the flashbacks and the relationship between her and the guy, I struggled slightly to mesh the two in my head even though they both worked well thematically in the book. But sometimes it felt like a book of two halves. The pacing was also quite slow and so I wasn’t as addicted to this as I wanted to be. But it’s certainly an interesting and modern take on the supernatural and I’m glad there was a real religious examination in here too.

‘It is all the pain I’ve ever wanted, and it hurts.’ Noelle is a 23 year old Scottish woman recently sacked from her position as a hotel cleaner. A heavy drinker with a lacklustre future she decides to take a trip to the Isle of Bute to clear her head. There she meets and discusses her previous relationships, her poetry, and reflects on the choices and actions of herself and others which led her to the present day. I’m inclined to note that Fragile Animals is much more than the vampire romance novels we see currently. Jagger’s ability to question morality, Catholicism, queerness, and sacrilege is done so poignantly through the interiority of Noelle that her internal monologues and flashbacks to her past come to exquisite and devastating climax. The complexity of what we give and take from other people, continually renewing or sucking from those around us is the perfect contrast to the material vampire of the text.

I love books that deal with religion in an interesting way, or that offer commentary beyond the theological, and more about the emotional impact that conservative religion leaves on a person. In the case of Catholicism, the focus is on guilt, and of God being the one true spiritual and moral “father figure” one follows. The comparison the character of Noelle draws to her own mother here was something I found especially profound.

With lots of dry humour and great observations about relationships of all kinds, not just romantic, this was a really surprising read. It can be a little bit dense but in the very best way, full of interesting prose and imagery.

The flashbacks were well-paced and done well, and the evolution of Noelle forms the backbone of this story - her coming to terms with who she is, and what she wants. I absolutely enjoyed this one, and would easily recommend!

This novel was so haunting and beautifully written, definitely the definition of sad girl literary fiction. Noelle was complex, despite the shortness of the book. The exploration of her relationship with her mom, Moses, Lomie, and catholicism were so well-paced and written. Moses, representing everything she was taught to fear, and their carnal, animalistic relationship was compelling; I definitely wanted more of them. I enjoyed the way her mom's pronouns were capitalized to show how she revered her and how their complicated, toxic relationship was described. The relationships with Lomie and Lorne are used to talk about queerness and religious trauma, which was also well-done and believeable. Overall, an amazing read!