After the death of her father, Merrick is summoned to her home, Norland House. Upon arrival she finds her sister in a state unlike herself and unexpected guests as well. Alongside that, there are holes in the borders, allowing phantoms to come in, and the fires are not doing well to hold them back. When the world seems untrustworthy and against her, will Merrick be able to save Norland house and find a husband?

This was a fun read, I enjoyed it quite a bit. There were a few times Merrick annoyed me with the way she reacted to certain situations and people and the choices she made, but given her age, I suppose some of them make sense. Despite that though I still found myself shaking my head at her.

I’m glad she managed to evolve a bit at the end. She stayed pretty strong throughout the story though, I liked how well she knew how to use her weapons against the phantoms. Regardless of her decisions too, she was pretty smart and it was interesting reading along as she unraveled different truths.

If you enjoy a good story with a bit of action, discovery, monsters and a decent bit of romance, I recommend giving this book a chance!

Thank you NetGalley and Delacorte Press for the chance to read an arc of this atmospheric read.

This was a fun dark fantasy/paranormal read. The relationship between the sisters is just so heartwarming and I just loved reading about them and their dynamics. As a mainly horror reader, this was quite an interesting take on monsters and I just have to say I truly liked it. It was cool, atmospheric and felt like a fever dream. Highly recommend!

This is so unique! It’s based on Austen’s “Sense and Sensibility”, but it veers off into its own territory right from the beginning. A mist has begun to take over England, only held at bay through strategically placed lanterns, which sentries patrol nightly.

Merrick Darling is on her way back to her Manor upon learning of her father’s death. Only the Manorborn are immune to the mist’s effects—everyone else is transformed into Phantoms, killing machines driven by an insatiable hunger for human flesh.

Something’s wrong with Darling Manor. Who can be trusted? Can Merrick figure out who is a true ally in time to save the estate?

Thank you to NetGalley and Delacorte Press. I am writing this review voluntarily.

This book was a bit of a slow start but once it hit about 30% it definitely picked up and I couldn't put it down. I loved the writing style, the descriptive language the author used was beautiful and made envisioning the scenes so much easier for me.

I love mystery books and this book was the perfect mixture of mystery and gothic fantasy. Between the setting of a creepy manor with a transforming mist surrounding it, to the monstrous Phantoms that cause terror.

Though I thought the end was bouncing a bit all over the place at times, I felt it all came together in the end. I loved Merrick, seeing her come back home and realizing not everything was as it seemed and trying to find the truth and navigating politics along the way.

Romantic and magical, this book was everything I was looking for in a romantasy. I highly recommend this for those looking for magic and romance and suspense.

If Jane Austen wrote Game of Thrones, it would be The Monstrous Kind by Lydia Gregovic. The beginning drive into Sussex for Merrick felt set to the original music for American Horror Story: Coven. The middle is filled with complex political intrigue, sibling rivalry, parental pressure, classism, corruption of power, inbreeding disguised as "good breeding...." It had everything, and I want more.
This book is marketed as a YA, but it does not feel YA from the complicated, political structure to the elevated language. This book truly felt like an adult Romantasy missing the spice. The ages of the characters are a little ambiguous, but since Merrick's choices are marriage or marriage, it is a little confusing why this would be seen as YA when that's not a modern, relatable teen dilemma. The ending was also trying to do a bit too much at once, but I'll forgive the last 4% when the first 96% was a wild ride I was thrilled to be on. I would happily read everything else in this universe.
Thank you very much to NetGalley and Random House Children's Delacorte Press for this impressive ARC!

"The Monstrous Kind" by Lydia Gregovic is a spellbinding blend of gothic horror and regency romance that reimagines Austen's "Sense and Sensibility" in a world teeming with peril. The atmospheric tension of the toxic fog and lurking Phantoms beautifully contrasts with the societal constraints and pressures faced by Merrick and Essie Darling. This book is a dark, twisty delight that captures the struggle for survival in a crumbling world, all while navigating complex family dynamics and societal intrigue. Gregovic's vivid writing brings the eerie setting and nuanced characters to life, making this a must-read for fans of romantasy and gothic tales. If you love your regency dramas with a side of monsters and a dash of suspense, "The Monstrous Kind" is the perfect addition to your bookshelf.

I think this book will have an audience that will LOVE it; unfortunately, I am not part of that audience. I think that marketing this as a retelling/taking inspiration from other books might not have been the best idea. While the themes may be somewhat similar, it was not strong enough for me to see any sort of association without knowing what it was marketed like. This doesn't really work out for the author because then readers go in with an anticipation of something and getting something completely different.

I found it really hard to get into the story because I just couldn't bring myself to feel connect to our MC. The pacing also felt a bit off at times where it was definitely dragging but didn't need to. Ultimately, I think this book has a good amount of potential but it's not for me (and that's okay!).

I wanted to love this, I really did. But I did not love it.

I adore Jane Austen's Sense and Sensibility, but this book is only very very loosely "inspired" by it. Very loosely. The plot is somewhat like a more original Pride and Prejudice and Zombies, but without the original brilliance of the parts of P&P that survived the alteration.

The Monstrous Kind is very slow moving. The narrator, Merrick, is a complete idiot who does too much eavesdropping. (She is nothing like the intelligent but impetuous Marianne.) Her house, family, servants, people are all always in grave danger, but she keeps leaving her weapon behind. She several times makes rash decisions that she is lucky to survive. Her sister is even more unlikable and doesn't even have a fun romance to make her more interesting.

The attraction between Merrick and Killian is very predictable, and too argumentative to mirror Marianne and Colonel Brandon. The carrying on with polite society and manners while danger literally creeps up to you just didn't work for me. (I wanted it to!)

So overall, a disappointment. I read an advance reader copy from Netgalley.

I absolutely loved this gothic fantasy! I was on the edge of my seat and still every twist and turn and betrayal had me reeling! What a great debut, I can’t wait to read more from this author!

Thank you to Random House Children’s publisher and NetGalley for this Arc in exchange for an honest review

I wish this would’ve been for me. However, as much as it pains me, this is something I had to DNF. I think it’s something that one day I could pick back up, but not right now.

4.5 stars, rounded up | This was such a great read! I adored the complex characters and the constant twists and turns that the plot took. I was worried it was going to feel rushed, but I thought the pacing was really well done. Overall, I really enjoyed it, and am already looking forward to any sequels!

If you took Bridgerton and mixed it with a Chloe Gong book, and added a slip of the Lady Janies, then that's what you get here. It's a clever adaptation, though at times it's hard to see where exactly Austen comes into play. A fun romp!

I wanted to love this book more than I did. I love Jane Austen, and I am no stranger to writing that is more complex and dense (I was an English major), but I found myself bored at times. I was interested in the Manorborn and the Phantoms, but I felt like I didn't get enough world building to make me care about the world. I didn't connect with many of the characters except for Killian. He was the most dynamic with his back story and how he helped Merrick. While there were some sweet moments between Merrick and Killian, I definitely wanted and needed more to make this feel like romance.

This was an interesting read. I really loved that it combined romantasy, gothic and regency elements and thought the plot was very intriguing. The characters were dynamic but frustrating at times. Overall this was a fun and intriguing read.

The Monstrous Kind is a richly atmospheric, dark novel loosely inspired by Jane Austen’s Sense and Sensibility. In this alternate version, a terrifying nothingness called the Grayscape is encroaching on people’s land, populated by terrifying Phantoms, which can turn their victims into more Phantoms. Only the Manorlords are immune to the Grayscape and claim to protect commoners from the creeping mist and being turned into Phantoms. Upon the death of their father Silas, sisters Estella and Merrick Darling are reunited. Estella has been working to hold the manor estate together, while Merrick has been in the capital trying to secure an advantageous marriage. As in the source novel, tensions between the two sisters make up a significant portion of the plot. However, this has less to do with differences in personality and perspective and more to do with the results of Merrick’s departure and Estella’s status as the heir to the estate. I found the drama and suspense, as well as the plot twists in the latter half of the novel, fairly compelling and enjoyable.
However, I was somewhat put off by the lack of character depth. For example, we never get a real explanation as to why Merrick actually wants to be Manor Lord, but much of the conflict between her and Estella, as well as much of the politics around eligible matches, hinges on this. Additionally, Merrick is ostensibly based on Marianne Dashwood, and in her own narration claims to be a deeply emotional and expressive person, but we don’t actually see much evidence of this. For the most part Merrick simply floats through the story as a vessel for the plot. Similarly, our main love interest, Killian Brandon, seems just too perfect to me. He’s already gone through all his character development off the page and arrives on the scene fully formed as an ideal man. I would have preferred to see him working through more of his past explicitly. I also struggled as someone who deeply relates to Eleanor Dashwood to see her character be utterly slandered in the way this book does.
Overall, I certainly don’t regret reading this book. Parts of it were very entertaining and kept my interest well. If the thought of a gothic fantasy Jane Austen retelling appeals to you, this is certainly worth a try, but it goes down more like candy than a substantive meal.

I was intrigued by the premise of a gothic regency story, but unfortunately I didn’t really connect with the characters, especially Merrick. She was stupidly naive at times and made many decisions that were questionable to say the least. For the Phantoms being super powerful enemies, they were barely in the story. This felt very similar in some ways to the <i>Defy the Night</i> series I finished earlier this year. I would have liked more gothic elements, but the stakes never seemed very high and the story got somewhat bogged down by the romance.

The Monstrous Kind by Lydia Gregovic is a beautifully crafted gothic fantasy that transports readers to mist-cloaked manors, introduces them to unearthly monsters, reveals disturbing family secrets, and weaves a dark thread of forbidden romance. This novel encapsulates everything I seek in a book.

The Monstrous Kind is a perfect fit for readers who adore gothic, atmospheric monster stories with family dynamics, sibling love in a lush world of dark magic and mystery. Fans of Jane Austen's Sense and Sensibility would appreciate what Lydia Gregovic has done in this book. Looking forward to more books from this author.

Romantasy is my favorite so the moment I read this description I ran to sign up to read this!
I don't usually go for the regency type of stories but I really enjoyed this book!