What a thrilling read that I couldn't put down! The dark, atmospheric world Wees creates is both captivating and eerie, pulling me into a story full of twists and surprises. The characters were engaging and their journeys were as haunting as they were exciting. The blend of fantasy and suspense kept me on the edge of my seat, even if a few plot points felt a bit predictable.

"We choose which stories to tell our daughters, but not which ones they’ll believe."

Gemma, a girl living with her mother near a gateway to fairyland, often sneaks into the woods to explore despite her mother’s warnings. Virginia, Gemma’s mother, knows all too well the dangers of fairyland, and she’s willing to do anything to protect her daughter from it. But when Virginia is stolen away to fairyland, Gemma is the one who must save her mother.

This just did not keep my attention. The premise is promising, but the plot and writing are disjointed and wandering. It was a trial to even want to pick up this book, let alone get through it. The pacing was incredibly strange—a lot of attention would be given to a background moment, and then there would be something that should be a pivotal scene and it was just brushed over. There is so much telling instead of showing, and just what seems to be an overall lack of direction when it comes to this novel. Virginia’s chapters read as far too juvenile for an adult woman and she just wasn’t relatable, or likable, or really anything. This was pretty solidly a miss for me.


<b>3/5 stars</b>

Thank you to Netgalley for the arc.

Give it 3.5 stars

This book is about a mother and daughter and the supposed monsters in the woods. It's a duo POV with the mom and daughter. It kind of started off as the mother looking for this special mirror but that's not completely the plot of the book. Mostly , about fear and monsters in the woods and possibly monsters in humans.

"Yes, though the problem is not fear itself . It's what we do with it."

I don't know why this took me so long to finish. I liked it but I didn't love it. It might have been the writing.

I thoroughly enjoyed this story, although I did have to push through a bit at the beginning as I adjusted to the characters and story. Yet, as the story began to unfold, I found myself quite intrigued with each passing chapter. I had no predictions of what was to come, but even if I did, I would've been wrong.

Thank you to NetGalley, DelRay, and Alyssa Wees for an Advanced Reader's Copy of this title!

When I say I want dark fairytales, THIS is what I mean. "We Shall Be Monsters" is a lush, decaying, fantastical tale of longing, boyish fairy princes, mother-daughter generational conflict, "a heart's a heavy burden", regret, enchanted hairbrushes, rotting monsters, blood, entrapments, star-crossed everything, self-acceptance, things that scream in the night, antiques, beasties, death-trapping curses, unrequited love, growing into your own power, queens(s), and the deep dark things that hide in the forest and inside of us too.

I've heard this book variously characterized as a eldritch blend of "The Labyrinth", "Alice in Wonderland", "The Book of Lost Things", and "Brave", and I would also submit elements of "A Sorceress Comes To Call" by T. Kingfisher, "The Bear and the Nightingale" by Katherine Arden, and the vibes of some of Ghibli's works as well. The story is told through the back-and-forth narratives of Gemma, a soon-to-be-15-year-old who longs for the woods, and her mother Virginia, who is desperately trying to curb that longing as someone once tried with her. This in some ways is a tale of children and teenagers, but it's also a tale of gore, sharp teeth, and the rich and heady language of a storyteller cast in shadows and secrets, and I gave my name to the fairies and stepped into the mushroom circle in enjoying it.

Congratulations to Alyssa Wees on a fantastic Michigan spook show that has sat with me for days, and I can't wait to see what you come up with next!

🍏WE SHALL BE MONSTERS🍏 by @alyssa_wees is an enchanting new modern fairytale that I devoured with delight. Thank you to the author, @netgalley and the publisher, @delreybooks for the e-ARC.

🫐🫐🫐

This story follows Gemma, her mother Virginia and the grandmother Clarice and how the actions of each woman sends ripple effects into the lives of the next generation. Often, in their attempts at protecting their daughters, they run them right into the fate they were trying to avoid. It is about three generations of women losing each other and finding their way back.

Oh yeah and there are fairies and a Slit Witch and a Hunting Beast and magic and spells and enchanted objects as well. And of course, the woods themselves with all their secrets.

If "Be Bold, Be Bold, But Not Too Bold" and "Beware The Woods" are phrases that get your hackles up or if you have always wondered where we draw the line between hero and monster when both are spellbound by bloodlust, this one just might be for you!

I really loved this one and keep thinking about it often. It had all the things I look for in a fairytale and I would not be surprised if I revisit this one at some point. It came out in November and is on shelves now!

I really enjoyed the writing and even in the beginning i was extremley invested in the hairbrush and the woods! This book had a great plot and i will be picking up a physical copy!!!! So amazing.

Thank you Delrey and the author for an advanced copy of this book.

Wow. I think I finally understand when people are looking for atmospheric reads. This book was such a great read. The story was so captivating, the POVs were incredible. I even felt the pull to the woods. I was so invested in this, I loved every page.

Read if you like dark woodsy vibes.

I DNFed this at 29% because the story was really hard to get into or follow.

The different character voices sounded so similar that I forgot which POV I was reading multiple times. The pacing was really slow. I found the flashbacks within flashbacks confusing. The way it was written made it hard to tell when some events happened.

Thank you to NetGalley and Random House Publishing Group - Ballantine for the free ARC.

Wees crafts a dark delicious tale of the dangers in the woods, the work of daughters, mothers and monsters. Told in dual POV, the reader follows mother and daughter into woods full of magic. The story includes curses, witches, fairies, and seeking enchanted objects.

I loved the world building and the exploration of what we do for family, for love. I enjoyed that the story was dark but not fully horror. I liked that it didn't lean to hard on fairies, though they were present.

I did occasionally think that Gemma felt too young for the age she was supposed to be, but otherwise the characterization was well done.

What makes a monster? What makes a mother? I loved exploring this in this book.

Thank you Netgalley for the advance reader copy of We Shall Be Monsters by Alyssa Wees in exchange for an honest review. What a beautiful flip on a fairy tale. This story really delves into what it means to be a hero and a monster and the thin line in-between. Read this book in one day.

I was not expecting this book to be as good as it was. I could not put it down! This is the first book I have read by this author, and I was not disappointed. I think the characters and the plot were both so well done. I loved the mythical quality to it, and the societal emphasis on women. There is so much that i loved about this book that it is hard to list it all. It was so good! I highly recommend this one. I can't wait for more from the author.

Thank You Net Galley ARC and Random House Publishing - Ballantine

I don't know what I expected from this book, but wow. I absolutely loved it. I feel that the title is honestly perfect for it now that I've finished reading it. I loved the messages that were weaved in the story. There are a lot of statements made about how society treats women and the expectations that women have to deal with but under the guise of a mythical story. There are also some themes about how one views themselves and expectations we put on ourselves with I really liked. I genuinely enjoyed this book and rushed to finish it because I needed to know how it ended.

This was an interesting fairy tale. It weaved together both wonderous and dark things that came from the woods and brought up a good question about who the monsters are and who are the heroes, or whether there are heroes at all. Due to the actions of her mother (with her quest and meeting of a strange boy in the woods after being warned by her mother), Gemma ends up with a quest of her own, to both save her mom and find a special mirror. I really liked Gemma as a character. She is strong and determined and not put off by the strange things that happen when she enters the woods. There are many interesting characters like the woman in the tree, the wolf, and even the Slit witch (her history is fascinating!). It had dark bits more akin to Grimm fairytales and that worked well to balance the wonderous magic bits (like using a rib as a sword).

I enjoyed reading this story and finding out what Gemma is capable of and how stories may not have the ending of what was dreamed, it can still be happy.

We Shall be monsters caught my eye with its stunning cover and drew me in with its faerie filled plot.

What worked for me
1. story addressing complex topics including inter-generational trauma.
2.The Fey actually being a bit evil leans toward the folklore i grew up loving
3. As a standalone the narrative comes to a satisfying end
What didn't work as well
1. The pacing in the first third was a bit off
2. Dialogue could feel very stilted in places

Who I would recommend the title to

WE Shall be Monsters is a darkly rich read that many fans of stories such as for the wolf and for the throne will enjoy.

I featured this book in a new release video prior to publication and was very excited to read this. The description promises a folk-dripped story that centers around a curse and [my favorite] a quest!! Will update when final review posts, but I'm expecting 5 stars!

Love stories where the fairies are a little evil and intimidating. Reminded me of the Labyrinth in the best ways

The best description I can come up with for this book is “dark Alice in Wonderland, with themes of intergenerational trauma and bodily autonomy.”

The protagonist of this book is Gemma, who lives with her antique-shop-owner mother Virginia (Gigi). Their home/store is next to a “little strip of woods” in their small Michigan hometown, which Gemma and Gigi know is also a vast, ancient, dark fairy forest. At least Gigi knows something about it; what Gemma knows is that her mother is very, very clear with her that there are monsters in the woods, and Gemma must never, ever go into them.

Gemma, being a kid, ignores this warning. In fact, being a kid, she takes every opportunity to go into the woods precisely because of this warning . She sometimes encounters scary things, but she also encounters things like fairy princes that make her question her mother’s insistent warnings. Luckily (depending on your point of view) Gigi is able to lock Gemma’s memories of the woods away thanks to an enchanted hairbrush. The plot proper starts when Gemma sees her mom having a serious conversation with something that sure looks like a monster, which is interrupted by a being called the Slit Witch with talk of bargains entered into, debts owed, and Gemma’s not-far-off 15th birthday. Gemma sees Gigi taken into the woods, and replaced with a doppelgänger summoned by the Witch, and things proceed from there.

I called this book a “dark Alice in Wonderland” at the top, by which I meant it’s in the tradition of “person falls into a strange world where strange things happen.” Readers looking for a Sandersonian “magic system” aren’t going to be satisfied here; magic remains otherworldly and unknowable. Which is exactly as it should be for this story.

The story switches between Gemma’s and Gigi’s perspectives, and between the present and the not-so-distant past when Gigi was just reaching adulthood. Gigi’s mother, Gemma’s grandmother, also worked hard to keep her daughter out of the woods, though in different ways and for different (or not-so-different) reasons. Obviously those efforts weren’t really any more successful than Gigi’s own.

The title of the book speaks to the primary theme. Good and bad, hero or monster; these things are not always easy to identify, and not just at the surface level of the appearance of the “monster” Gemma sees Gigi talking to which I mentioned above. No one is entirely good or bad; people can do bad things (like, for example, stealing your daughter’s memories) for good or at least justifiable reasons. Things that seem defensible and even admirable can be nothing of the sort. And even the very worst of actions can come from a place that inspires empathy.

And, of course, there are some people who are simply irredeemable. The Slit Witch, I have to say, is one of the more terrifying beings I’ve ever read about. The author’s descriptions of her alone take an already good book to another level.

This was gripping and scary. Standalone as far as I know; there’s room for a sequel, but one isn’t necessary. I hope there isn’t one; the ending felt satisfying, appropriate, and well-earned.

I love escaping into a great dark fairytale. There isn’t any spice at all but there are wonderful adventures and trials. If you enjoy fairytales or dark fantasy you will enjoy this. I would recommend this for anyone 13yr and up that wants some fairytale experience.

# We Shall Be Monsters
# 11/30/2024 ~ 12/2/2024
# 5.0 / 5.0

firstly, thank you to the publisher for an arc!

i love when fantasy novels have dark, alluring, and dangerous FAE faeries, not SJMaas faeries (although those are great too!). i also appreciated the generational focus of mothers and daughters.