this was an intensely interesting read! i was very confused a lot of the time, but i have to say i did not see the plot twist coming. i was a little iffy about the romance for nearly the entire book, but i think the ending really ties it all together. i’m actually very happy with the twist and the ending and how everything was concluded. this was such a creepy, unsettling, mysterious read and i actually really loved it. it has me wanting to go back and reread it again knowing the context i know now, so that i can make connections i couldn’t have made before! overall a very enjoyable, interesting, and thought-provoking read that really makes you question morality and the lengths you would be willing to go in the name of ambition.

3.5⭐️

* Thank you to NetGalley and Metal Blonde Books for this e-arc *

This was a really run read. Halle has created an atmosphere that’s equally enticing, thrilling, disgusting and scary. Delicious. Not only that, I love a book that makes me question everything and everyone on the page. The story was fast paced and kept me interested in every chapter. It takes a lot to keep me engaged like that.

Though the chemistry between the FMC and MMC fell a bit flatter for me than I would’ve liked, I can totally understand why everyone would go feral for their relationship.

I absolutely adored Sydney as an FMC. She got shit done. And absolute A star for the neurodivergent rep and mention of other NDs too. Love to see representation in book genres that I like.

5 ⭐️ 3 🌶
This is my 2nd ever Karina Halle book and it’s another 5 stars. I’m blown away. The way this place is set has such an atmosphere of mystery, anticipation and fear. Spooked me the fuck out. Like I’ve never been so creeped out/scared reading a book in my life 👏🏼 To be fair, horror is not my usual genre but I loved it nonetheless. This book makes you unsure as to who or what to believe/trust. I have never been so psychologically fucked around. I was constantly questioning what and who to believe. It was so damn cool. The characters and world was so fleshed out with a loveable comedic side character to break up the serious tones. The romance? Intriguing, full of tension but also mystery. Morally grey too 🥵. Spice? Pretty damn good, with a bit of bdsm and some degradation. THE PLOT TWIST I NEVER SAW COMING?! GAGGED ME! The road leading up to the reveal was long and worth the wait! I ignored what my plans for the day were just to see it through 🤭 What I didn’t expect out of it? To get me so emotional and cry. Like such genuine pain. I’m obsessed with this book. What a roller coaster of emotions.
🌲👻🐻🖤🧬

This was a mysterious spicy & thrilling experience that has unreliable characters & narratives. It was well written it had me dreading & second guessing at every trun.
The endeding was so fun when all the puzzle pieces were finally put together. It's a love story...it's a cautious tale. Of what one person will do for love for my admiration and with ambition.

I loved all the scientific studies, names and processes. This would make a great movie.
I enjoyed this very much and even might of learned somethings.

My head is still spinning from this absolute mindblowing book! Grave Matter has to be one of the most fantastically twisted books I have ever read and I am obsessed to say the least! | 100% recommend you all read this!
With morally grey characters, dark academia with professor x student trope, some BDSM, and a haunted forest... what's not to love! I seriously urge everyone to read this!

Ahhh this book is so good!! I really enjoyed the gothic dark academia vibes. It is the perfect mix of plot, romance and spice.

holy fuck holy fuck holy fuck, this was so insane in the best of ways, i honestly thought i was starting to go fucking nuts there for a little while??? it’s like everything made sense but absolutely nothing actually made sense until the twisties at the end 🫠🫠🫠🫠

i had my theories through out and i was right but not in the way i thought everything would go down, the way it went down was 1000000x crazier than i had theorized!!!!

this was my first book of karina’s and it damn sure would be my last because this is the wildest ride of a book i have read recently and i had the time of my life binge reading it and silently freaking the hell out bc i had no one to run and scream to about what was happening 🤣🤣🤣 i literally cannot wait to force my friends to read this just so i can get all of their raw & unhinged reactions to this masterpiece

I absolutely love everything Karina Halle writes! This book was captivating and such a great ending! Love, love, love it!

Unsettling. addictive. Seductive and twisted. Karina Halle's Grave Matter is a gothic psychological thriller that combines elements of dark academia, science fiction, and horror romance. This was an incredible experience that was ideal for the spooky season!

Could not put this down!

This had me so confused…in all the right ways! I just couldn’t keep up with the plot twists and changes. I’m rarely left reeling with wanting to know the ending but this had me chasing pages!

This is what I need… DARK dark! Not only was there morally grey behaviour (and some super steamy BDSM, degradation and praise spice) the plot line merged onto a suspense/thriller psychological horror vibe.

As an ADHD babe, this also hit me on such a deeper level.

So addictive. So seductive. Sooo freakkinnn gooood! LOVED IT!! Get it on the TBR!

I recently finished “Grave Matter” by Karina Halle, and I find myself torn. I knew going in that this was a romance, but wow, this book would have been so much better without the romance and the sudden, intense (and somewhat overwhelming) spicy scenes.

The story of Sydney and her research on the island in Vancouver Island was phenomenal! I absolutely love fungi horror, and this book was exemplary in that genre. The plot was incredibly strong, and the characters were well-developed. However, the spicy scenes felt incredibly forced and randomly placed throughout the book.

I believe this could have been a new horror classic if Halle had stuck to the horror elements of the story. I still recommend it because of the strong plot and great characters. If you enjoy spicy books, this one might be perfect for you. But personally, I could have done without the romance.

Overall, I give it 4 stars.

OMG! What a thrilling adventure! I was completely captivated by every single part of this book. Each chapter was so engaging that I couldn't put it down. I found myself utterly enchanted by every aspect of this story. The author's detailed writing made me feel every emotion, as if I were watching a movie play out in my mind. This was my first book by this author, and now I'm determined to read every one of her books. I highly recommend adding this to your endless TBR list. I'm at a loss for words; all I can say is the haunting atmosphere, the spice, the unexpected twists, and the wild turns - they all came together perfectly in this thrilling read.

I LOVED this book! I have never read anything quite like it. There were multiple times where I would read through the page and/or turn the page and my mouth would be on the floor. Literally like :O haha. There were a few points throughout the book where I was like, "Wait, is this really happening? Or is this going to be revealed as a hallucination?". I could not wait to get to the ending to figure out what was going on.
The ending felt a little rushed to me and I would've liked to have more at the ending as well, as far as how the other students dealt with the trauma of what they experienced. I am glad that the main characters had their story wrapped up nicely, but I would've loved to have a little bit more of their life post-Madrona as well.

I received this book from NetGalley in exchange for my honest opinions.

"Grave Matter" is a thriller romance that half-worked for me: I was very intrigued by the thrills! Alas, the romance left me cold. Can a couple be called a "slowburn" if the main character was having graphic sex with her love interest in her dreams in the first chapter or so? And then.. multiple graphic chapter-long sex dreams? It didn't FEEL very slow-burn; it felt insta-lust, and the love interest was so generic that I just never connected with that part of the plot. The thriller part was competently done for about half the novel and went wildly off the rails. The whole thing left me with the opinion that this had potential but just didn't work in execution.

Well, that was some read!

I can't lie a third into this book, and I was ready to call it quits. At that point, Sydney, our main character, was floundering over her strange, almost Deja vú like feelings for Wes and I'd had enough of it, I couldn't see where the plotline was going?
Also, having read the whole book, those feelings changed when the author started to weave what was an EPIC plot at the end.
I'm very interested in mycology and have recently read Mexican Gothic and having purchased a book on mycology by Paul Stamets (look him up, just amazing), I was very keen to read this.

All the characters are well written, and the descriptions of the Madrona facility and surrounding landscapes are so well done that I felt I couldn't DNF this book, and I'm so glad I didn't.

I don't often read "sexy" romance books, but Grave Matter was promised to have some horror plot to it - particularly, fungi horror, which is a favorite of mine since The Last of Us (which is namedropped multiple times in the book). I'm glad I gave it a shot because in the end, though the sex scenes made me uncomfortable, I enjoyed the book overall.

The story starts with Sydney arriving at the Madrona Foundation's isolated research center off the west coast of Canada, and she immediately begins experiencing weird things. I appreciate Halle kicking things off immediately, as it sets an aura of unease that permeates the whole of the story from the start. And it's the atmosphere Halle excels at - I've lived in the Pacific Northwest so maybe that helped but Halle's description of the beautiful locale was so easily visualized. I lit a pine tree candle and played some soft rain sounds to really up the vibes and totally recommend that for this read (opposed to the recommend Spotify music list, which I felt was a bit much for the story). Even without my accessories though, I think I would have smelled the petrichor and felt the wind just from the writing.

The relationships are also mostly fine, though I take issue with the main relationship. I'm firmly on the side of Lauren, one of Sydney's new friends and fellow student who is also studying for the summer at Madrona. She teases Sydney about the attraction between her and Dr. Kincaid (lol at the pun in his name), and Sydney should know better, given a bad interaction with a former professor cost her her education BUT this girl just makes several dumb decisions. It's all explained but I still couldn't help but roll my eyes at times.

The relationship I took issue with was the main one, but that's mainly because I am most definitely NOT into degradation kinks, especially with uneven power dynamics. It was icky for me every time but to each their own so long as everyone involved is a consenting adult. But absolutely not for me, hence the removal of a star. Otherwise, I would have given this five stars as an effective and fun fungal horror story. Without the sex and more into the science body horror and this would've been five stars.

The horror is reminiscent of The Last of Us, which Halle mentions multiple times and has several characters be fans of - several of Sydney's cohort (and Sydney herself) are studying to be mycologists so it makes sense to me, but it still felt a little silly with how often it was mentioned lol Again, I just wish Halle gave us more of the horror. The scene with the bears on their hike was so tense! And Halle took care in researching the science, which makes it feel more real when the students are in class and learning about the magical Amanita excandesco. I love when writers do the leg work to make it feel real.

I have a hard time recommending this though because I'm unsure who to recommend it to. Is it romance, is it horror? I don't know who the overlap is in that venn diagram lol Me, I suppose, when the sexy times aren't my anti-kink *shrug*

It is a fast read though, and a fun atmospheric thriller.

4.5⭐ Rounded to 5⭐

This book took me on a psychological rollercoaster, and I loved every minute of it. Right from the beginning, Grave Matter sets an unsettling tone that’s hard to put your finger on, creating a constant undercurrent of dread that intensifies with every twist. The plot thickens with each new horror, and the slow-burn pacing, paired with the polished writing, makes it impossible to put down. I finished this in just two sittings because I had to know where it was all headed.

When the final twist hit, I found myself flipping back to all the subtle setup scenes carefully woven in from the start. It’s a brilliantly constructed plot that makes you want to comb through for details you missed. Grave Matter is an absolute must-read for anyone who loves a deeply psychological, unsettling thriller.

Sydney, the main character, is layered and fascinating. I loved being in her head and seeing her navigate each situation at the Madrona Foundation. Her relationship with Dr. Kincaid adds a thrilling, forbidden element to the story. Their dynamic, from his dual roles as her doctor and professor to the added spice, brought so much tension and intrigue. Kincaid was brilliant, dark, troubled and intense in all the right ways. The supporting characters are equally strong, each uniquely developed. Some will draw you in, while others keep you on edge, adding to the book’s eerie atmosphere.

The sex scenes are well written, touching on BDSM elements and tying into the psyche of Sydney. They never felt out of place or forced, placed perfectly along the timeline to break up the unease and horror distracting you only for a moment before you get a shocking reminder of being at the Madrona Foundation.

This book nails the balance of horror, sex, and plot. The Dark Academia vibes with the scientific angle isn’t something I’ve much of read before but fungi horror is my new favourite thing.

This was my first read from Halle but I’m excited to read more of her work.

As a final note, definitely check your triggers for this book. It's a hell of a ride. Gore, body horror, animal body horror, death, the list goes on.

HOLY COW!!! The memory loss, age-gap relationship, death, and suspense!!!! This book was a phenomenal read! I could not put it down!!! The chemistry between Sydney and Wes was electric from the start!!! And the bit of mystery while trying to put the pieces of what is, has and will happen had me on the edge of my seat!!!

*I received a free ARC from NetGalley*

While this was certainly entertaining,I’m can’t say that I really liked it. It didn’t know if it wanted to be a romance, a thriller, a supernatural horror, and it didn’t quite hit on any genre perfectly.

Sydney Denik, a mycologist student, got kicked out of Stanford after an incident with a professor occurred. Prior to that, she was accepted to a hard to get in program called The Madrona Foundation. Instead of saying that she no longer is a student she decides to go to further her career. While she’s there, she feels an attraction to a professor named Wes Kincaid, who is also her psychologist. She starts seeing things and hearing things from another student that makes her think something majorly bad is going on in the labs at the Madrona Foundation. Animals that look like zombies start appearing and she starts hearing and seeing ghosts. Will she discover what’s going on or will she face the same fate as prior students?

I will be honest, I thought the pacing was slow but it pulled through in the last half of the book. The plot twists gave me whiplash. It was so intriguing that it was hard to put down during the ending.

Read if you love:
* Sci-fi
* Women in stem
* Gothic horror
* Romance
* Professor/student