This book was amazing. VE Schwab is a wordsmith, her writing is beautiful and haunting. Her characters were tragic and yet you wish they would get the happy ending. Loved it.

I absolutely adored Addie laRue and am lowkey obsessed with that book and highly obsessed with the ending of that incredible novel, So it's hard for me to feel less enthusiastic about this book and all that the author has professed to be so important to her.
Schwab's writing is every bit as perfectly honed in all her lush details, but much of the historical portions of the book felt like a retread of The Invisible Life of Addie laRue, all while happening at a remarkably slow pace. I found myself reading it in small bits and pieces instead of devouring it because I struggled with the pace and how Alice was a tough character to enjoy by comparison. Still a fan, but not as solid as I had hoped.

In Santo Domingo de la Calzada, 1532, Maria isn’t interested in what her family wants from her. She likes being free, but her older brother has other plans for her and, soon, Maria is taken far from home to be married. Married life doesn’t agree with her, with a husband that only wants her to carry his heir. But Maria meets an alluring woman that sets her life on an alternate path. Feeling like she has no other option, Maria makes a desperate and irrevocable choice. She emerges a new woman and takes a new name and now she is unstoppable.

In London, 1827, Charlotte lives a quiet life on her family’s estate and wants for nothing. When she is caught in a forbidden, intimate moment with a friend, Charlotte is sent to London to live with her aunt, who has a great disdain for Charlotte. But Charlotte’s thoughts still don’t align with society when the person she wants to spend the most time with is a young widow that tempts Charlotte in ways she never imagined. But Charlotte will unknowingly trade one type of captivity for another, and freedom comes with a cost.

In Boston, 2019, Alice has arrived from Scotland to attend college. She wants to study and explore and be someone new. A one-night stand with an alluring woman changes everything about Alice and she won’t stop until she has answers with a strong side of revenge.

This is my first V.E. Schwab book and I am aware the author has an enthusiastic following. I was really intrigued by the sound and style of the blurb. I was caught up in learning about the strong female characters here and the lives they have led. I don’t read that much historical fiction, but I enjoyed the fully immersive and visual scenes with light touches of history that were on display here. The story covers hundreds of years of time in snapshots and large jumps in time, as we learn of the characters’ histories and fates.

It’s difficult to discuss the book, as one of the characters has a name change and that part is best discovered as you read. Maria, Charlotte, and Alice are intertwined, even though centuries separate their births. I was extremely involved in this book, until I started to wonder what the plot was. We learn a lot about the characters at a little more than surface level and I was looking for more in-depth character development. Many of the choices the characters make aren’t explored in detail and I wanted to know more about them. This isn’t a true love story, although there are romantic elements at each stage of the book. By the end, it was difficult to say that I liked any of the characters and, after 550+ pages, I wanted a bit more from the ending. I did appreciate the visuals and atmosphere the book offered, but did want more from the plot and the characters. I am glad I got to try a book by this author and would consider another.

Haunting. Atmospheric. Sultry.

Bury Our Bones in the Midnight Soil transports readers into the lives of three vampires as they navigate their respective timelines, societies, circumstances, expectations, and troubles. Echoes of one another's stories reverberate through the narrative of each of our toxic lesbian vampires, and VE Schwab tells their stories with diligent historical context (and just the right amount of spookiness).

The stories of Sabine, Charlotte, and Alice are filled with layers upon layers of grief, rage, fear, femininity, power, betrayal, and nuance. We're gifted their tale in only the way VE Schwab can provide, with a carefully crafted atmosphere, vivid storytelling, and meticulous detail.

Highly recommend for a rainy day, a glass of red, and maybe a trip to the garden at night.

**Thank you to Tor Books and VE Schwab for an early copy of BOBITMS and the opportunity to leave my honest, voluntary review! All thoughts and opinions are my own.**

V.E. Schwab has done it again. I adore everything she writes, but this book? This book wrecked me in the best way. It’s haunting, beautiful, aching with rage, love, and longing — and it’s the kind of story that lingers long after the last page.

You must read this with a glass of wine, a cozy blanket, and someone you love on speed dial. Trust me, you're going to need all three. An instant favorite.

I've been excited about this book since the moment I learned of its conceptualization. I am a huge fan of all of V. E. Schwab's works, including their newsletters.

Let me start by affirming that if you love:

Schwab's writing style
The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue
Slow paced, character driven plot
Vampires
Lesbian Vampires
Toxic lesbian Vampires
The new Interview With a Vampire t.v. show

You will likely also love Bury Our Bones in the Midnight Soil.

This book beautifully weaves three women's life stories together spanning over 500 years. I love the way that Schwab recounts history in these century spanning works. We discover how our characters come to be vampires and how their lives are intertwined. The themes are feminine rage, sapphic love, self discovery, grief, and how far we're willing to go in the name of self preservation.

The vampire lore is unique and iconic. These vampires have elements of gothic romance minus being outwardly grotesque. Without giving too much away I loved how these vampires survive, what powers and weaknesses they have, and what threats they face.

SPOILER FOR THE ENDING DO NOT READ ANY FURTHER IF YOU DO NOT WANT THE ENDING TO BE SPOILED FOR YOU
==================================================================================================================================================================================================================================================================================================================================================================================================================================================================================================================================================================================================================================================================================================================================================================================================================================================================================================================================================================

The ending to the book felt out of place for me. We spent the entirety of the book hearing these women's origin stories, and we have a brand new vampire, Alice, who somehow manages to take out two centuries old, cunning, cutthroat, ruthless vampire's with little to no morality left in them. Unless the message was that in the end Charlotte and Sabine's detachment from their humanity was ultimately their downfall, it just seemed rushed and Alice's plot armor enabled her to come out the other side. I'm curious to see what other reader's thoughts are on the ending. For that alone I'm rating it 4.5/5 rounded up to 5 because I just love Schwab, their writing, and who they are as a person. Thank you Netgalley for the ARC.

VE Schwab and vampires?! Yes please, is there anything this gothic author can't do? Fans of VE Schwabs will certainly BITE into this one. (see what I did there?)

This book is incredibly intense and emotional. And even though it falls into the realm of fantasy/ fiction, I do not think that is the over-arcing vibe of the book. Yes, we are dealing with lesbian vampires and we do have some yearning and betrayal, but I think this is far more about the characters and their relationships.

Each woman in this story is seeking for a level of power or control in what is a male-dominated world. We span ages in history to glimpse their lives and each seems to burn with a want or need for more than the world around them wants to give. I feel as though the author is writing each woman in a very raw way to give the scenes a sense of poetry and darkness. They are flawed and more real rather than being cookie-cutter perfect. They obsess and unravel at times.

think It's hard to put into words because I feel as though the overall plot is a bit flimsy. However, the writing is incredibly well done and the reader (if this resonates with them) will feel a ton of emotions as they work through these relationships. I do find the ending to be really good and intense. You may be left with a bit of a book hang over.

This is my first adult book by V.E Schwab and I am in love with her writing here!
Is it life, if there is never death to balance it? Or is its brevity what makes it beautiful?" Ugh, yes.

found it so atmospheric and the yearning was what really sold it for me. I'm a sucker for anything vampire (yes, still) so this really hit all the plot points for me.

I would definitely recommend this!

𝘽𝙪𝙧𝙮 𝙊𝙪𝙧 𝘽𝙤𝙣𝙚𝙨 𝙞𝙣 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙈𝙞𝙙𝙣𝙞𝙜𝙝𝙩 𝙎𝙤𝙞𝙡 𝙗𝙮 𝙑.𝙀. 𝙎𝙘𝙝𝙬𝙖𝙗 is a slow, elegant unraveling of hunger, grief, power and freedom across centuries. V. E. Schwab weaves the lives of three women into a haunting tapestry of longing and transformation. There’s María in 1532 Spain, Charlotte in 1827 London, and Alice in modern-day Boston. Each woman’s story feels grounded in her own time, yet they echo one another. The threads between them are delicate but powerful.

The author’s writing here is lyrical and deliberate. The novel isn’t concerned with action for the sake of momentum. Schwab doesn’t give us vampires that seduce or terrorize in the usual way. Instead, she offers something more intimate.

I must admit that halfway in I started to find the book a bit long. Some parts meandered, and I found myself wishing it had tightened its focus just a little. But then I settled into it realising this was probably a deliberate choice by the author because she excels in world-building and atmosphere.

This is not your typical vampire novel. So, if you like character-driven gothic horror, this one’s worth your time. Solid 4.5 stars!!

Thanks to Netgalley and the publishers for sending a digital ARC in exchange for an honest review.

This is the story of Lottie, which is intertwined with the story of Alice, which began because of Sabine who was once Maria. We only get one life…or so the saying goes. Some of us get many lives for hundreds of years. However, that can also be unsatisfying and sometimes very lonely. So how do we choose to live these lives, particularly if the person living has been buried in the midnight soil and could perhaps live for hundreds of years?

Reading a book about vampire lesbians was not on my BINGO card this year, but now I have done it. Schwab’s writing continues to be all absorbing. Even though this is not a book topic I would normally choose, it was a fantastic read.

Was the writing pretty? Yes.
Was the writing repetitive AF? Also yes.

It kills me to give this book two stars -- I wanted to love it SO MUCH and was so bored by the end. I really hoped for (and expected!) Schwab to switch up the vampire lore/tropes and come up with something spectacular and unique, but these ladies did all the same dumb stuff as every other vampire. It all felt very Anne Rice meets Twilight with the sexy vampires in period costumes running amok and having Big Feelings… but everybody’s a lesbian so I guess that’s different?

I will still read whatever Schwab writes next - she’s written too many things I absolutely love (Vicious, Darker Shade of Magic, Cassidy Blake) to ever stop reading her books, but this one is definitely not being added to my faves. (And pleeeeease let the next thing published be the third Vicious book...!!! please?)

🥀 Goodness, I was certainly intrigued by this. It’s a story that, while nearly 600 pages, keeps moving. I was always interested and looked forward to picking it up, but by the end, it felt a bit like… nothing happened?

🥀 What I DID love:
- the travel through centuries
- the three distinct MC’s and their different approaches to life
- the changing attitudes toward LGBTQ people as time went on (though it was made clear the fight is not over)

🥀 I was hoping to feel the magic of Addie LaRue again and this just wasn’t it for me. I’ve seen others say it’s their favorite book of the year and they were completely swept up so PLEASE remember I’m just one person. Also, I read this during a stressful time so maybe I couldn’t get wrapped up for my own reasons.

Enthralling from start to finish, it was hard to out the book down, and I cannot recommend a better way to read this than staying up until 3am every night, in the quiet darkness, reading about the lives and unlives of three women rotting and tangled, twisted together and making each other bleed with their thorns. I adored Sabine, and grew to like Alice over the book, and ah, so much to say about Charlotte—that I won’t to avoid spoilery things. This is a slow burn book—not in the romantic sense, but in the sense you walk down a winding path and through every turn you know something will happen, but you can’t quite see what it is—until you’re right at the end and you know, you know what’s coming, and it’s so incredibly satisfying to be vindicated. I heavily recommend this book, I received this arc but trust me, the hardcover is already sitting on my shelf, and what an amazing addition it is. Truly, I will be telling everyone I can to read this for a proper, dark and seductive read.

Thank you TOR Publishing Group, V.E Schwab and Netgalley for this ARC in exchange for my review.

Bury Our Bones in the Midnight Soil is one of the most unique vampire stories I have ever read. The writing is eerie and atmospheric, but also deeply emotional and full of grief. The story spans hundreds of years and the lives of three different women and how they become entangled in each others story. You can really feel the weight of time as these women live through multiple lives and watch countless others pass them by. The slow erosion of identity, connection and meaning is written so beautifully and painfully and adds a unique take on immortality. The writing is absolutely stunning and reimagines the vampire mythos without leaning into the usual oversexualized tropes.

“Bury my bones in the midnight soil, plant them shallow but water them deep, and in my place will grow a feral rose, soft red petals hiding sharp white teeth.”

I feel like I lived through 400 years and countless lives along with these characters and this story is going to stick with me for a very long time. Beautifully haunting - must read.

Absolutely stunning, following 3 generations of vampires (new and old) from Sabine nee Maria, Charlotte aka Lottie, and Alice, one wants freedom, one wants love, one wants revenge and in the soil their seeds are intertwined till they bloom and flow. I was so enamored by the worldbuilding and the intertwining stories as well as the changes to lore.

Thank you to TOR Books and V.E. Schwab for this #gifted copy of Bury Our Bones in the Midnight Soil.

V.E. Schwab has an unmatched ability to craft stories that are both lyrically dark and emotionally devastating. Bury Our Bones in the Midnight Soil is a sweeping, savage, and stunning vampire tale that pulled me in and never let go.

🩸 What did I love the most?
Now this is how you write a vampire novel. We’re talking:
🧛‍♀️ Gruesome origin stories
🩸 Vivid, brutal turning scenes
🥀 Emotional, bloody feeding moments
🪞 Deep reflections on mortality, queerness, and rage

It’s horror, yes, but it’s also coming-of-age, feminist, and achingly queer. Schwab weaves themes of identity, desire, and transformation into something both tender and terrifying.

🩸 What to expect:
👭 Sapphic vampires
🧠 Psychological horror
⏳ Fluctuating timelines + multiple POVs
💀 Feminine rage
🌕 Gothic horror meets dark fantasy

⏳ How was the pace?
Despite the 500+ page count, I never felt the urge to skim or put it down. Schwab balances introspective character work with visceral action and emotional tension. I genuinely wanted to call in sick to finish this.

🩸 Do I recommend it?
Absolutely. One of my favorite things? A beloved character slowly becoming irredeemable, while a quiet side figure unexpectedly stole the entire story. Schwab’s morally complex characters are unforgettable, and this might just be one of her best.

🩸 Perfect for fans of:
📚 Leigh Bardugo (The Familiar)
📚 T. Kingfisher (What Feasts at Night)
📚 Silvia Moreno-Garcia (Certain Dark Things)

🩸 Mood: 🕯️ Gothic | 🖤 Morally gray | 🌒 Haunting | 💋 Sensual horror

🩸 Read if you like:
🧛‍♀️ Queer vampire fiction
🎭 Dark, character-driven fantasy
🌲 Gothic horror with blood and bite
📚 Literary horror that lingers
🔥 Slow burn tension + identity shifts

Santo Domingo de la Calzada, 1532. A woman trapped in a challenging marriage craves the freedom a different life can offer. She's used many names, but Sabine is the one that fits her best. In a world that has taken so much from her, she decides to take back. In 2019 Boston, as a college freshman Alice is trying to make a new life for herself, which is going well until the day she wakes up dead. Her only link seems to be to the mysterious Charlotte who she hooked up with after a party. Alice wants answers, Charlotte wants peace, and Sabine still wants revenge 500 years later. What is eternity without someone to love and possess?

You'll see a lot of comps to Dowry of Blood for this, but with a modern setting for a portion of the book, it also evokes Lucy Undying for me, with the feel of Addie LaRue's walk across centuries and filled with more feminine rage. Vampire lore is about power and sexuality at its core, and VE Schwab uses those familiar themes to drive this sapphic tale. It's hard to write a longer review without revealing spoilers, and in a book like this that unwinds the deeper you read, the joy is in savoring the slowly unfolding and crossing storylines.

I featured Bury Our Bones in the Midnight Soil in my June 2025 new releases video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6q31xhbo1tE, and though I have not read it yet, I am so excited to and expect 5 stars! I will update here when I post a follow up review or vlog.

I finished this book last week and I am still reeling—it might just be my favorite book of the year. Bury Our Bones in the Midnight Soil is most of all a story of hunger and sapphic yearning. Following three women across centuries, V.E. Schwab spins a vampiric tale that explores the lines between love and hate, of life and death, of beginnings and endings. It is hard to pin down exactly what this book is—drawing on magical realism, horror, and romance, it keeps you captivated until the very end. This book is also just very queer in a way that goes far beyond the romantic relationships, something we always need more of. Moreover, I really felt this book. The anger, the passion, the desire, all of it jumps off of the page and buries itself into your chest. I will be raving about this book forever, so of course everyone should read it. More specifically, if you loved Schwab’s other work The Invisible Life of Addie La Rue, I think will devour this one.