🍏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.

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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.

A dark modern day fairytale full of fae and other magical creatures. 4 stars! Absolutely brilliant. The world building, relationships between the mother and daughter, and a magical forest this was quite the adventure.

I think one of my most bizarre reading habits is that I cannot read an Alyssa Wees book in one sitting. Which is insane, because I am so drawn into her worlds, and I can't stop thinking about the books when I'm not reading them.

What is it about an enchanted wood that draws a girl in? One is taught to fear it, shown the monsters that lurk inside. The other has her memories taken, and is made to forget it. Yet both can't resist the lure of the woods and what lurks inside them, even if there are monsters.

I don't have the words for this book. It's amazing and beautiful, and so captivating. I want to talk about these books so badly, to share just how... how... how much they contain. It truly is a fairy tale for adults, for those days when you want, need, the magic and the wonder. The beauty and the horror, because there is something unsettling in Wees' worlds she builds, yet at the same time they are absolutely stunning.

It's not even that I can share quotes, because I can't break quotes down enough to capture what's being said, the emotion and grit that encompasses everything. I did send a page or two to a couple of friends, even though I knew they wouldn't understand without the background. Luckily, the book is out, so if I show up at your house with a copy of Nocturnal and We Shall Be Monsters, you've been warned. I'll try to leave instead of making myself comfortable and reading the book to you.

I think that's the best I can say. That you should read this book, because it can't be talked about properly enough. Maybe once you have, when we've both been into the beyond and back, then we'll have words for the experience together.

Wow. I've been completely blown away by this.

Loved the premise! Enjoyed the characters and the setting. For once I enjoyed the dual perspective especially the mom’s because I was very confused in the beginning.

“Where did a hero end and a monster begin?”

We Shall Be Monsters is a dark fairy tale for the folks who sought adventure in the nature of their surroundings. Gemma was always warned away from the woods behind her house, yet still she finds herself drawn to them time and time again. One night Gemma’s mother is taken into the woods by a witch and her monster. It’s up to Gemma to find her mother and save her from the witch’s curse.

I love that the author chose to tell this story using two POVs during different timelines. We really get to know Gemma and Virginia this way, and feel the connection between mother and daughter. I do think that the first half of this novel was much stronger than the second. More than once I found myself zoning out towards the end and having to go back and reread. Thankfully, I did enjoy this author’s writing style. The imagery was beautiful and it was so easy to visualize the woods in which this story takes place. I loved all of the mythical creatures and wish we got to see more of the fairies during happier times.

Thank you to NetGalley and Del Rey for a review copy. I’ll definitely read from this author again and look forward to checking out her backlist.

While this started out interesting, I quickly found myself loosing interest. I tried to stick it out but unfortunately I am going to DNF.