Bury Our Bones in the Midnight Soil. @veschwab OUT NOW

I’ve just spent the last day & 1/2 mesmerized by this book. VE Schwab’s writing is like no other and their latest masterpiece follows the story of three lesbian vampires whose fates are tied to the midnight soil. Definitely one of my most anticipated reads, and one you are likely seeing a lot on booksta this week.

If you like sapphic vampires, toxic love stories, slow moving character development and deep yearning, you will likely love this book as much as I did. This is not a plot heavy book, but rather a story to savor in the reading, in the prose, in the moments. A story that will get you thinking, long after it’s over, and one I will likely return to more than once.

For me, I thought the book comes to an appropriate (if not somewhat predictable) ending, but I should note that some readers have disagreed on this. For me, it’s the experience over the conclusion, and the lives lived over their ending.

Schwab signed all of the first printing copies ( a huge undertaking in itself) so I would not hesitate to grab a copy asap.

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Thanks to @torbooks for eARC access through @netgalley.

🧛‍♀️🧛‍♀️🧛‍♀️🧛‍♀️🧛‍♀️🧛‍♀️🧛‍♀️🧛‍♀️🧛‍♀️🧛‍♀️🧛‍♀️


#buryourbonesinthemidnightsoil #veschwab #sapphicvampires #vampires #pride #fivestarbooks #highlyanticipatedbooks

There is nothing I look forward to more than a new V.E. Schwab book and Bury Our Bones in the Midnight Soil absolutely lived up to those oversized expectations.

Told in multiple timelines and POVs, Bury Our Bones in the Midnight Soil leads the reader blindly, in the best way possible, into a fantastical story of vampires, love, rage, and feminism. While Schwab herself has billed this as her "toxic vampire lesbian" book, I think this story is best gone into blind. It is dark, it is atmospheric, and it is powerful. I am blown away.

This book is everything I hoped for, strong women,, intertwined stories, and a story that truly has some bite to it. It’s hauntingly atmospheric with a mix of gothic,, romantic, and historical vibes. It was impossible to put down and I must admit that I purchased a hard copy as soon as I finished it.

“The point is we find ways to hold on to who we were in hopes it will keep us from becoming someone else.”

Bury our Bones in the Midnight Soil follows 3 women from very different backgrounds. They each have their own stories but they are connected through hunger, love and rage.

This book is full of delectable writing, female rage and incredible storytelling. I was a bit nervous about the multiple point of views all in different times and places but Schwab pulled it off seamlessly.

I went into this book only knowing the synopsis (which doesn’t specify much) so I was pleasantly surprised by the vampire aspect of the book.

The writing style is gorgeous and it was very easy to be swept away by the stories. I was equally attached to all of the POVs which made this a quick and easy read.

I feel like the story got a bit slow towards the middle/end and turned out a bit anticlimactic/unbelievable. I also wished it brought something more to the vampire genre. I know how creative this author is and wanted more of a twist. However, I did appreciate the author doing something different and entering a new space.

Perfect for fans of The Vampire Diaries and other works by V.E. Schwab.

Thank you NetGalley and Tor Publishing Group for an eARC in exchange for an honest review!

4 Stars

This book had its ups and downs. It’s beautifully written, but it just feels dragged out to me…especially the end.

I don’t know how to explain the feeling of reading this book—only that it consumed me in the most haunting, beautiful way.

Bury Our Bones in the Midnight Soil follows three women across different centuries—María (1530s Spain), Charlotte (1830s London), and Alice (2019 Boston)—all of whom are desperate to escape the cages the world built for them.

This isn’t your typical vampire book—it’s dark, queer, and emotional. V.E. Schwab writes about how immortality breaks you. The relationships in this book are messy, manipulative, obsessive… and completely gripping.

And the writing? Absolutely stunning. Every sentence feels poetic and raw. I found myself highlighting constantly—there are so many lines that quietly gut you and make you think deeper about the world.

If you’re a fan of morally gray characters, slow-burn emotional horror, or just stories that don’t flinch when love turns dangerous—this one’s going to stay with you.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the ARC. I will be thinking about this book for a very, very long time.

Before starting this, I assumed it would be a straightforward vampire novel. And it does feature vampires. But it’s also a story about grief. And a bit of a love story, too.

Young Maria is chafing on her family’s estate, with nothing to look forward to but perhaps a marriage that might bring her riches. When she spots a widow traveling freely on her own, Maria doesn’t realize at the time what a major impact it will have on her future.

I really enjoyed all the characters in this book, even the ones with ulterior motives that weren’t very nice. I don’t think a sequel is in the works, but it would be interesting to read a follow up!

Thank you to the author, publisher, and NetGalley for an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

“After all, what grows in the midnight soil is not a different flower, only a bolder bloom.” 🌹🌹🌹

Werewolves, ghosts, haunted houses, and vampires—2025 is nailing it when it comes to the paranormal. 🧛‍♀️

While it took me a lil bit to really get into a groove, by midway I was absolutely devouring this book.

Spanning centuries and continents, Bury our Bones is epic in scale (just like Addie). And like Addie, it really makes you makes you think about love, loneliness, relationships, and our humanity.

I went into this blind and let me tell you, it did not disappoint! Sapphic , lesbian, vampires. Literally couldn’t ask for anything better

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

Hello, toxic lesbian vampires.

This was such an intoxicating book, full of lush and sensual details, darkness and light. I normally fly through a book I’m loving, but this one I needed to slowly savor. The story immerses us in longing, obsession, grief, desire, terror, revenge…all finely wrought in gorgeous prose.

This book isn’t as much about the plot as it is the feeling, a multitude of emotions and sensations, and so many questions.

What is freedom worth? Is it truly freedom if you can no longer fully experience all the senses of being alive? What would you do with centuries of time? Would you tire of existing?

I rounded this one up from 4.5 just because the ending left me a little hollow, but it’s definitely one I’ll be re-reading in hard copy, just a beautiful reading experience.

Thank you so much to Tor for the gifted ebook!

Thank you NetGalley for the e-arc.

What to say about this book? The writing was so captivating. The story was so intriguing. The book was so beautiful. I knew less than 25% of the way through that this would be a 5 star read and it was. I loved each character. I truly felt each of their pain. I love how VE Schwab was able to write the span of 500 years in such a way that I was able to clearly visualize each time period as if I had been there myself. It's gonna be a minute before I stop thinking about this one.

While I don't think this was Schwab's best, I had fun with this book.
The concept of soul-rot could have been explored more. Alice's story felt unnecessary and under utilized. I would have rather seen more from Charlotte.

Absolutely spectacular!!! This novel evoked a range of emotions; the female rage is beautifully depicted. I devoured it.

The story follows three women who become vampires and their experiences with the midnight soil. I was captivated by all three POVs, although admittedly, Alice’s was my least favorite until halfway through.

Be warned — once you pass the 70%, it will be impossible to stop reading. I stayed up way too late to finish this.

Thank you, Tor Publishing and Leo PR, for my ARC!

I loved this sapphic toxic lesbian vampire monster of a book. As always, the lyrical style of the writing is impeccable. This is a character-driven slow burn that is worth its weight in gold. Readers of The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue will love this!

3.5⭐️
3 women, 5 centuries, and destructions in their wakes.

It all started with a girl who wanted to be free, and didn’t waste the chance she got. Her name was Maria, but she hated that name. So since she’s “changed”, she claimed the name of her first victim: Sabine. Centuries passed, she met new people of her kind and learned a lot of new things. She had no particular purpose in her life, at that point. Until she met a girl named Charlotte. Then centuries later, another girl named Alice also caught in-between them.

This isn’t a romantic story at all. It’s about obsession and insatiable hunger. It’s very slow paced and too long IMO, but I admit I was intrigued. I loved the vivid atmospheric setting and the strong characterization. Couldn’t say I like the characters, though. Maybe I slightly prefer Charlotte over the other 2. But anyway! I couldn’t connect with Alice’s backstory, I almost always zoned out each time she’s having flashbacks and by the time I reached the end I don’t think it’s that relevant to the plot either.

5 centuries is not a short time, I was skeptical at how easy they got away with what they did. Surely it’s long enough to make people wonder and talk? Especially since they didn’t change their names at all. The story was woven too closely around the 3 main characters personal problems, it’s like the other aspects didn’t exist. Like at least give some scenes when they’re having external problem? And what’s with the chapter numbers always restart for every POV?? What’s the reasoning behind this?

So yeah. Generally it was just okay for me. At least it’s interesting enough to keep me reading & listening, clearly not a small feat considering it’s quite a long book.

I support women's rights AND women's wrongs.

Burry Our Bones in the Midnight Soil follows toxic lesbian vampires across three centuries... Maria in 1532 Spain, Charlotte in 1827 London, and Alice in 2019 Boston. Though the modern storyline, which follows Alice, a Scottish grad student, gets off to a slow start, eventually the stories intertwine in an absolutely entralling way that had me forgiving the slow beginning. Every character is deeply flawed and beautifully written. I loved that the novel played with vampire lore in a way that felt both true to form and also something entirely new. I will be thinking about this book forever.

Loved the first 75% of this book but the ending lost me unfortunately. Wasn’t entirely sure where Schwab was headed or what sort of message she was sending. Which is a shame because I like Lottie’s and Sabine’s POVs and think the vampire rules were cool but the ending really let me down

I hate to say it since I was SO excited about this book, but I didn't love it.

I love the style of Victoria Schwab's writing, and Bury Our Bones in the Midnight Soil was one of my most anticipated releases of 2025. I was super excited to have been granted an ARC back in October of 2024, but as I picked it up time and time again between then and now, the story continually failed to suck me in, and inevitably, I switched to reading other things time and time again. In mid-March, I made a concerted effort to get this read and reviewed well before the release date...and, well, here we are, ON the release date, and I have just finally finished reading it because I felt like I HAD to finally get it done.

Now, after having read it all, I feel very much the same way about Bury Our Bones in the Midnight Soil that I felt about The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue, so if you loved that one, there's a good chance that you will also love this one, too.

To me, it felt like a lot of pretty writing in an overly long and repetitive story where not much really happens, and I just wished it had been so much more than it was. I thought the pacing was off (it was all over the place - speeding through moments I wanted to last and lingering for WAY too long on some of the slower and more mundane parts), and I think that if this book lost 100 or so pages, it wouldn't suffer whatsoever.

The second half of the book was more interesting to me than the first half, but it still wasn't enough to change my initial opinion, and the ending left me feeling totally underwhelmed.

I'm giving this one 3 stars because the writing IS beautiful (which is to be expected from Schwab), and I really appreciate what she was trying to do here, but it just fell flat for me in the end.

Well, this lived up to the "toxic lesbian vampire" label. I feel like I will be unpacking it for a few days, but it does a good job of creating lore that incorporates some of the familiar vampire tropes while also creating fresh elements that create something new. I enjoyed Schwab's focus on the women's lives and stories, both from before and then after they were turned, and I liked that at a certain point, we stopped hearing things from certain perspectives as the characters changed. The approach Schwab takes with the slow decay and loss of the things that make us human gives depth to her vampires and makes them more interesting than either a full "they're evil and inhuman" or "awww no, they're just misunderstood creatures" approaches. I'm always going to be here for Schwab's work and this one did not disappoint.

Thank you to Tor and NetGalley for the opportunity to read Bury Our Bones in the Midnight Soil early in exchange for a review.

The year is 1532, and Maria wants more from her life than the marriage and family planned for her. The year is 2019, and Alice feels alone and unsure what exactly her future holds. The year is 1827, and Charlotte feels like a prisoner to her fate. These women want more than what they are destined for, and they're willing to fight for it - teeth bared.

V. E. Schwab is one of my favourite authors and I am always so thrilled to delve into her world again. Reading one of their books is like a cold drink of water after a long walk in a hot place. Sometimes I don't even realize how badly I've been craving it until it's in my body. Her writing is so lyrical and immersive that I was there the entire time, a first-hand observer to the stories and experiences of these women. For me, their books always read more like movies, in that I can see everything unfurling before me in technicolour. Our protagonists are easy to root for, and our "villain" is so well-created that I sympathized with her the entire way. These are women, fighting for more than table scraps, gouging their stories into the book of life with a knife.

Did I mention: everyone is gay! The vampires are fearsome and vicious, the land is watered in blood and Schwab's prose is so lush I could taste the iron on my lips. I cannot sing enough praise for this book, so I'll stop trying. V. E. Schwab, you have my entire heart.

CW blood, violence, murder, death, emotional & domestic abuse, sex (some questionable consent)