2.25 Stars

Riccardo is struggling to write his first novel when he is notified his grandmother has died and he has inherited her estate...and butterfly collection. Upon arriving at the estate, the staff are acting shifty and he finds a manuscript outlining the strange and dark story of his grandmother's life.

While the premise had promise, the execution of this story was sadly lacking for me. The balance of Riccardo's actions vs the manuscript is about 20/80, leaving me feeling disconnected from Riccardo as the main character and leading to a lack of suspense related to the Act 3 plot twist. The writing had a tendency to tell the reader how they should feel about the characters and events without genuinely building those feelings. The interesting elements of the plot are not introduced until the second half of the book, leaving the first half of the book with slow pacing and a lack of intrigue.

Overall, I would not recommend this book.

Struggling author Riccardo has not heard from or seen his family for many years when a surprise visit reveals that his grandmother, Perihan, has passed away and left him her villa in Milan. Returning to his childhood home, everything is not as it appeared in the photographs he was shown. As he prepares for his grandmother’s funeral and settles down into the house, it becomes clear that something more creepy is going on.

The pacing of “Their Monstrous Hearts” was a bit slow often, and I struggled with maintaining interest in the narrative at those times. The premise was intriguing and I could see the gothic influence in the narrative and setting. I enjoyed the flashback elements, as well as the inclusion of Perihan’s manuscript. As some other reviewers have mentioned, the varying lengths of chapters also threw me off sometimes.

This cover is so eye-catching. It also has actual meaning in the story. I'll admit to being initially put off by this author's writing style. It's very conversationalist, if English was your second language and a bit stream-of-consciousness which I usually hate. About the author Yiğit Turhan who was born in Turkey, Google Books says he is "a lifelong reader [who] owes his love of horror to his grandmother and the films she shared with him. He has previously published a horror novel in Turkish. He lives in Milan, Italy, where he holds a C-suite role at a renowned fashion house. This is his English-language debut." My previous assumptions about the style made more sense after researching this. I like also that his Grandmother shared her love of horror with him. I find it necessary to state that here because other US readers should expect a certain international flair to the writing going in. I found the writing style gave the story a certain cinematic quality in an art nouveau, nior kind of way.

Pushing through, the plotline begins to find it's legs. This premise is unusual which I quite liked. Perihan, lives in a villa in Milan, who after shopping for her birthday returns to discover her entire house encapsulated by butterflies and surrounded by onlookers. After her death the villa and belongings pass to her indigent grandson Riccardo and the game is afoot. The idea of him discovering this old gothic villa that he almost has no memory of is intriguing and what pressed me to continue reading. I love books where the houses themselves become characters. I tried. I really did. The style and pacing honestly drove me nutty even skimming parts but I did skim through to that outrageouly good ending. It reminded me of The Witch of Painted Sorrows by M.J. Rose.

I'm just not the right reader for this book. Harlequin Trade Publishing is putting out a gorgeous limited first edition with stunning red sprayed edges. It's a challenging read. If you're a fan of slow burn horror give this a try yourself.

Wicked cool cover. Interesting concept at its bones, but unfortunately, was a boring execution. The writing in this was just… sorta bad. Overly detailed, yet felt like I was learning nothing important. The characters were also just blah. I think if you look at the beginning and ending - there’s potential, but then everything you have to read to get you there is so dull it’s not worth the ride.

I had trouble following this one along at first, and I’m not sure if it was because I was just listening on audio (the narration moved back and forth between present and the past via a journal), or if we’re supposed to be confused by what’s going on the same way the main character is.
Because as we got towards the end, it suddenly made sense and WOW that ending is vicious. In short, the main character moves to his recently deceased grandma’s house in Italy, because she left him her butterflies.
This goes from a tale of a sweet grandma who maybe cared for her grandson more than he realized, to a surprise revelation of just what kind of character the grandmother was. There’s also all the suspicious staff of the house, and as he’s reading the journal his grandma wrote, it’s in such detail he mistakens in for a fantasy novel mixed with real life. Because there’s no way… right?

My confusion was going to lead me to give a lower rating, but that ending redeemed it in my opinion and I was like wait that’s kind of brilliant.

Thank you Harlequin Audio for the listen!

The audio for this book was phenomenal! I loved the narrator's voices and how well they were able to portray the emotions of the characters.
While I loved the narrators, I thought the story was OKAY. The plot was incredibly interesting and something so very different from anything else I'd ever read, I was hoping for a bit more in the gruesome department. Overall though, I highly recommend this audiobook/book!

Riccardo, a struggling author suffering from writer's block, is about to be broke and homeless on the streets of Milan unless he can come up with a new book idea. All hope is lost until a mysterious man knocks on his door explaining to him that the grandmother he hasn't seen nor heard from in decades has recently passed and has left everything, including her home, to Riccardo himself. With nothing left to lose and everything to gain, Riccardo finds himself in a household that he has not seen since childhood. Upon arrival to the estate, Riccardo finds his grandmother's manuscript written just for him with stories of parties, immortality, immigration, hardships and how he grandmother made a life for herself. Things begin to take a dark turn when Riccardo beings to realize that he might not have only inherited the estate, but also inherited all of his grandmother's friends that are lurking about speaking in whispers and obsessing over some "ritual" and the manuscript that Riccardo has in his possession. Once Riccardo begins to read the manuscript he is quickly drawn into the tales his grandmother has woven and beings to realize maybe not everything is as it seems.

While the book has a great premise, and the story sounds alluring, the author left much to be desired. For 90% of the book we are continuously reading Perihan's manuscript, leaving not much to be established outside of the manuscript itself. I was really hoping the author would have wrapped up Perihan's manuscript early on in the story so we could have had a more thrilling story revolving around the manuscript, instead of the manuscript being the entire story. We get bits and pieces of some "ritual" but there is really nothing developed further than that and there is no ritual described throughout the manuscript until the very ending. The characters, all except Perihan, are significantly underdeveloped due to the fact that the book doesn't highlight on any other story other than the story of Perihan's life. There is also a large pacing issue with the book. We have chapters that are 2-5 pages long and then some that span 50+ pages.
The author also added a lot of filler content when the story could have developed around Perihan's friends. The circus storyline left a lot to be desired, and if it hadn't been added in the plot would not have changed much in my opinion. The love interest between Riccardo and Lorenzo was thrown in weirdly and felt out of place. The ending honestly wasn't a big shock either due to the fact that we are being told what the ritual was, it would have been a bigger shock to the readers if we didn't have an in depth over view of what the ritual was meant to accomplish prior to the ritual actually being completed. The ending is really where things begin to pick up, but in order to get to the ending you have to force yourself through a rather boring story.
I wouldn't classify this as a horror, as there is not much of a horror aspect to it. Maybe an adult fiction/fantasy with some thrilling aspects. The "monster" isn't even really described as some terrible monster, more of just a misshapen human for a majority of the time, or a very large caterpillar.

I had to unfortunately DNF this at 56% as this book was unfortunately not working for me. A few parts of the writing was a bit clunky in its prose, but the story wasn’t drawing me in enough for it to not be noticeable. I never connected with the main character or cared what he thought, and found his grandmother’s parts a bit tedious to get through. I also realize that there might be an explanation by the end of this novel, but as it is I simply couldn’t get into the grandmother’s characterization or the insistence that a monarch butterfly acting strange was something of divine origins. Perhaps at some point I will come back to this story and see if I can at least finish to find out the reasoning for everything that’s happened in the book.

I read the majority of this book through audiobook, and didn’t find either narrator to be a terribly bad fit. I did find the way the man voicing the main character occasionally emphasized an accent while speaking to, at times, make it a bit difficult to pay attention (and, while no fault of either, both speakers spoke at slightly different paces so I had to adjust the speed I was listening every time they switched) but overall I don’t believe either contributed to the fact that I felt uninvested in this story.

Perhaps if I eventually try reading this physically, I might be able to avoid the clunky “tell in absurd detail everything that is going on” prose. This book absolutely has potential, however, and I think that once the writing is no longer a barrier I would enjoy it a great deal more.

Thank you to Netgalley and Harlequin Trade Publishing for providing this e-ARC.

Thank you Netgalley for my copy! This wasn't what I was expecting (in a good way) and I enjoyed the mixture of culture, mystery and suspense. I look forward to the next!

I am voluntarily leaving my honest opinion of this book.

What a twist!

This book starts out so slow that I almost DNF'd it. I am glad that I held out. It follows 20-year-old failing author Riccardo as he heads to Milan to bury his estranged grandmother, Perihan. Once he arrives at the home he has now inherited, he finds things to be a bit off. Acquiring a journal his grandmother wrote, he discovers some disturbing family secrets and becomes a piece in a game he wants no part of.

The first few chapters of this book are painfully slow, but once it gets going, it moves at a decent enough pace for the story, with the last two to three chapters moving at breakneck speeds. I am glad I had the privilege of receiving both the e-book and audio versions. If I only had the ebook, the DNF bug would have won, and I would have missed out on a good time. This ended up being quite creepy and left me with my mouth agape.

Luca John Filiz and Tina Nakhleh Falkenbury did a good job narrating this story and bringing the characters to life. Their voices were so relaxing that I had to focus to avoid drifting off.

Thank you to Netgalley, Harlequin Trade Publishing | MIRA, and Yigit Turhan for the ARC of this book.

I love the cover of this book! When I first saw it, I instantly knew I had to read this book. This is definitely a slow burn horror story. Normally this would not be my kind of book but the writing is really good. All the build up is so worth the last part of the book. I also loved that this took place in Milan.

"Their Monstrous Hearts" transports us to Milan, where struggling author Riccardo inherits his grandmother Perihan's house after her death. What begins as a potential creative retreat transforms when he discovers her manuscript—a tale weaving together drugs, parties, immortality, immigration, and eccentricity. As Perihan's enigmatic friends reveal their obsession with the manuscript and a mysterious "ritual," Riccardo finds himself drawn deeper into uncovering his grandmother's secretive past, her inexplicable wealth, and her carefully crafted reputation.

Despite its promising premise and relatively modest length of 320 pages, the novel suffers from significant pacing issues. Reading sessions that should have progressed the story substantially felt stagnant, creating the impression of a much lengthier work. The narrative remained largely inactive until the climactic twist, by which point my investment in the outcome had considerably diminished.

The character development falls short of expectations. Riccardo lacks a compelling arc that would make his journey meaningful while supporting characters—including the enigmatic Perihan, circus-connected Maurizio, and Lorenzo and Barbara—remain underdeveloped. The dialogue often feels artificial, creating further distance between the reader and the narrative. Some characters are there but their presence does not change anything for the plot (Cristina, Lorenzo, Barbara, Licia...). The book could have had Perihan alive but on the verge of death and the big plot twist and reveal would not have changed whatsoever, it could have been only her and Riccardo, probably Maurizio and the plot would still be the same and that's a huge fault where you can change big chunks of a book and the main story bits would remain.

While "Their Monstrous Hearts" presents intriguing concepts and symbolism, these elements never fully integrate into a cohesive narrative. Rather than allowing readers to naturally process the themes, the novel presents its ideas without sufficient narrative foundation. The result is a book with considerable potential that unfortunately doesn't deliver the engaging story promised by its fascinating premise.

This book follows Riccardo, a struggling writer, currently living in Paris. One day as he is trying to deal with his writer's block, he hears a knock on the door. At first hesitant to open it as he thinks it is his landlord asking for his overdue rent, he sees it is someone from his past, an old friend of his grandmothers. The man proceeds to tell him that his grandmother, Perihan, has passed away and that Riccardo is now the owner of her house in Milan. He first refuses to go, but then when he realizes he has nothing left in Paris and he thinks this might help with his writer's block, he hops on the train to Milan. However, when he gets to the house in Milan, things start to feel weird. First off, the house is not as grand as it once appeared in his past. He goes to investigate in his grandmother's room and discovers a manuscript of a book that says Riccardo. As he goes through the manuscript, he begins to unravel the dangerous secrets his grandma had, and soon becomes desperate to leave this all behind, but it doesn't end up being easy for him.

I really enjoyed this book. The pace is a bit slow though, so I definitely understand a lot of peoples complaints, but the imagery was excellent and I personally found it interesting to learn more and more about Perihan's background. I liked that the book was about the lengths someone would go to perserve their dreams. This book is more creepy I would say than scary, and definitely magical realism. The end was definitely the strongest part of the story as things came together - at some points in the book, you were like wtf is going on, but the end it all melds together.

This was such a great concept, but unfortunately, it didn't quite succeed with some major pacing issues.

Riccardo is a struggling twenty-year-old writer who is about to get evicted and lose everything, when a stranger shows up to tell him his aunt Perihan has died and left him her villa and everything in it. With nothing to lose but debts, he goes to her funeral and starts feeling like something is not quite right.

And he is right - the butterflies his aunt collected are lovely, for sure, but also creepy AF. So is the rest of the house and the manuscript he finds. And things slowly (very, very slowly) descend into a full horror show with a twist ending.

Loved the plot and denouement, but the writing needed some tidying up. Most of the book drags, with sad Riccardo and tiresome Perihan just taking their sweet time to get us to the important part. The ending is very soapy, but I would have loved a few more pages after everything happens.

1 🌟 and I should have DNF’d but didn’t so I can accurately report that it does not get better. I was really excited for this horror release but unfortunately none of it worked for me. Specifically:

• The characters: not one was fleshed out or likable. We got the most insight into Perihan through her manuscript but reading it bored me. Our MMC Ricardo had no depth and his actions made little to no sense.

• The structure: I think my biggest qualm is that we spend most of this book in flashbacks of memories or in the recounting of Perihan’s life, leaving little narrative of what’s going on in the present. And the fact that we read the manuscript all the way until the 90% mark left so little time for the ending to be revealed. We’d sometimes have flashbacks within the manuscript and I would just get so lost or annoyed that even the memory wasn’t even progressing in an interesting way?

• The writing style: I found the writing style to be very choppy and resulted in no flow to the story. We’d have some short chapters and then chapters that are 50+ pages long. Ultimately, the writing was uninteresting and did not make me care about the story and only my own sheer force of will helped me to finish the book.

I hope that if you decide to pick-up this book that you have a different reading experience but I will not be recommending it.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for my ARC in exchange for my honest review 🫶🏼

A very unique and enjoyable story. I’m not gonna lie, I was ready to DNF the book at the beginning because of how slow it was, but as it started to pick up it really started to get interesting. The grandmother’s story really stole the show and in all honestly I was more interested in her than the main protagonist. I greatly enjoyed reading her story and the twist at the end was great! Would definitely recommend!

This story takes us to the beautiful country of Italy, and the horrors that come from family secrets. It’s a slow burn mystery that has you enthralled and engaged until the very end.

Turhan’s writing brings us into a world of intrigue, fantasy, and magic-with darker undertones. His prose lingers on the edge of poetic-giving us a vivid picture of Riccardo’s life, and the current state of the home he remembers. The author also draws us into a story embodied in this story-the tale Perihan left for Riccardo. It’s defies logic and reason-stepping into the fantastical, but also the dangerous. And as we follow Riccardo on his journey of discovery, the danger becomes more apparent and unnerving. And the surprise ending seals the deal.

I enjoyed this gothic-esque, morbid tale of life, death, and sinister desire. This is a nice edition to the horror genre. And you’ll never look at butterflies the same way again.

Their Monstrous Hearts
by Yigit Turhan
Suspense Fantasy
NetGalley eARC
Pub Date: Apr 8, 2025
Harlequin Trade
Ages: 15+

Suffering from writer's block, Riccardo is about to become homeless because he can't pay his bills. Then a man knocks on his door telling him that his grandmother has died and Riccardo has inherited her estate.

But when he goes to his grandmother's home for the funeral, a place he hasn't been since childhood, he finds that his grandmother's friends lurk in the house.

While exploring his grandmother's room, he finds a notebook; within it is what he believes is a manuscript, but as he reads, he begins to wonder if there is more to his grandmother's story.


I can say that the ending of this story was a good twist, but getting there was long, slow, and boring. Yes, I can understand why the author did it this way, but all of it, especially the grandmother's POV needs a lot of dressing up. More showing because as is, it's telling. Ninety percent is the grandmother's manuscript which reads more like a diary. (The blurb says diary, Riccardo claims it's a manuscript.)

Also, this is listed as horror: Nah... it's not scary, it's more suspense with a dusting of fantasy.

I should have DNFed, but I skimmed to finish...

1 Star

As much as I enjoyed the mystery around the grandmother, there simply wasn't enough suspense to keep me hooked or a strong enough protagonist to relate to. I DNFd at about 30%, partially due to being uninvested and partly due to the narrator. It was unclear why the audio only featured accents for dialogue and not for the entire novel, which would have been more immersive. More than that, the pacing was too slow after such a promising initial scene with the butterflies, and it was difficult to discern what kind of themes the author wanted to convey. I just needed more tension and more compelling characters.

*just for the arc copy sending to kindle* the formatting is super wonky. There is also weird spacing between every instance of the letters F & L being next to each other. I swear the author used so many instances of words with these letters. It was extremely distracting while reading.

The setting- I enjoyed the setting of the story. The house was a perfect backdrop to the vibes of the story. It’s very atmospheric. My main complaint is that we went back and forth between what was happening around our main character, and what was happening in his grandmothers manuscript. It wasn’t always clear when the manuscript stopped and I found myself having to reread some sections to clear confusion at times

The plot- The story overall was very slow especially in the middle. I wish there was more buildup of the horror elements. It almost felt like magical realism for the majority of the story. There was the barest amount of horror until the last part of the book. I also just didn’t find the mystery to be very compelling. There was just a lot going on and it felt disorganized at times.

The Characters- I didn’t really vibe with any of the characters in this story. None of them felt very relatable to me. I just didn’t really care what happened to them in the end.

I found myself really slogging through this one. There were some interesting elements but all together it didn’t fully work for me. Overall I probably wouldn’t go out of my way to recommend.