This is a little different read than the author’s usual books. The plot is unique and different while there are so many things that will freak you out. I really thought the book was dark, psychological, and filled with secrets, mystery, mental health, and romance.

Thanks to the Publisher.

Okay so the pacing starts off very slow, but stick with it!!! The pay off is amazing and blew me away. This is a fantastic blend of nasty and horror!

Grave Matter by Karina Halle

⭐️⭐️💀--I rounded up because this book gave me a nightmare but honestly it could have been the candy I ate before bed.

I wanted to love this book. Karina Halle? Yes, please. Spicy dark gothic vibes? Sign me up! But what I got was less "gripping dark tale" and more "mushroom overload with a side of mild disappointment."

Let’s get this out of the way: there’s spice. Plenty of it. If that’s all you’re after, you might enjoy yourself. But if you’re here for a gothic fantasy with actual substance, this one misses the mark. It promises “All the Things” but somehow manages to feel over the top and underwhelming at the same time.

And oh, the mushrooms. So. Many. Mushrooms. Honestly, I spent more time learning about fungi than feeling the dark, brooding atmosphere I signed up for. By the time the story finally leaned into those promised gothic vibes, I was already checked out.

There’s also a twist. But by the time we arrived, it fell so flat it might as well have been a pancake. No gasp, no shock, just...bleh.

If you’re into Dark Academia, let me save you some time: there are much better books in the subgenre. Grave Matter tries to blend dark, moody vibes with fantasy, sci-fi, and spice, but it lacks the depth and intrigue that make a story like this truly compelling.

Unless you’re specifically in the mood for mushrooms and spice, I’d say pass. And even then...proceed with caution.

I received this book from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

I really liked this book the suspense was amazing and I totally did not see the twist coming! This book was definitely more spicy then I usually read but I am not opposed to spicy. The spicy scenes were well written. Overall good book!

Thank you to NetGalley, Metal Blonde Books, and Karina Halle for an Advanced Reader's Copy of this title!

"Grave Matter" is a lush, rotting soil of a book in which psychological and physical body horror, kink, "it's you in every lifetime", the sentiment of "born to rot, forced to work", summer camp for grown-up nerds, ADHD, "Don't Stand So Close to Me" by the Police, the specific horror of people being able to record you 24/7, Vancouver British Columbia, "there's things in the woods", Ms. Piggy, and mushrooms all have space to spore.
Graduate student Sydney Denik gets a second lease on scientific discovery when she is accepted to a prestigious, but remote internship opportunity on Vancouver Island with a pharmaceutical company on the bleeding edge of Alzheimer's research. Things quickly start decaying from there and as the lines between reality and hallucination begin to blur, Sydney mut figure out what's real before the forest - or the Madrona foundation - can reclaim her.

This is a delight of a book in the sense that it feels like teetering the edge of allowing yourself a little sinful treat, and "maybe you need to go to therapy about things (IYKYK), in the best and most decadent way. It also produced the sentences, ""Okay, no worries", I tell them, playing it cool. I only say no worries when I am absolutely full of worries", which is a personal call-out if I've ever seen one.

I also REALLY appreciate the well-done trigger warnings at the beginning of the book - after getting a few books in a row that really would have benefitted from clear expectations, this was a refreshing surprise, and the way all books with sensitive topics should be written. I knew exactly what I was getting into without spoiling any part of the book, and was able to decide that I could read and enjoy the book without harming my mental health, which I appreciated.

This was my first Karina Halle book, and if the rest of her 80+ (!!!) works are remotely like this I will definitely be picking up more! As a fellow Canuck I also love supporting Canadian authors, so that's bonus points for me!

DNF @ 55%. I just can't make myself finish this and I'm so disappointed because it sounded really intriguing! There are many aspects I enjoyed but I do not care about the main characters enough. I have to say, I am curious about what exactly is going on and how it ends. I have a few theories and can't seem to find any spoiler reviews, so maybe I'll pick it up again in the future. Thank you Netgalley for the ARC!

A fantastic book that gives you goosebumps!

Grave Matter by Karina Halle is a gothic psychological thriller and was an absolute rollacoster but fun to read.

„Grave Matter“ is about Sydney Denik who gets a place/scholarship at the famous Madrona Foundation to work on Alzheimer's research.
What Sydney didn't expect were the many mysteries and eerie events that await her there. Dead animals that move, missing students and the mysterious professor who seems to be a little too interested in Sydney...

I didn't know exactly what kind of story to expect with Grave Matter, only that it would be a dark one. Karina outdid herself with this book though. I couldn't stop reading, even though I was breathless and my hands were shaking with excitement.

But what I liked best was the atmosphere of the story. It was dark and you felt like you were standing next to Sydney in the forest. As well as the vivid descriptions, the suspense was always part of the story and I just couldn't put the book down. I didn't see many twists and events coming and I haven't had that for a long time.

For me, "Grave Matter" is an absolute highlight and gets 5 out of 5 stars.

Thanks to Karina Halle and NetGalley for providing me with an ARC.

I am a city girl through and through, and stories like this reinforce that feeling every time. This was a fun little foray into the forest, and I'm happy to experience from afar, no real life sporror nightmares for me.

Grave Matter did a nice job of blending genres- Gothic with some dark academia and psychological thriller aspects, some “wait what?” sci fi moments, with some ecological horror and a dash of smut. I enjoy books that span several genres, and do it well.

I loved the diverse representation in this book too. The main character is neurodivergent and I felt SEEN. The characters had a wide variety of racial and ethnic backgrounds, and I loved that Halle didn't have white as the default (it irks me when an author point out if a character is Black, Japanese, etc. but never point out the white people as white… it's just assumed white is the default). It was acknowledged that the foundation was wrong to try taking over and experimenting on indigenous land.

Skip this one if you are sensitive to body horror, especially when it comes to animals.

WHAT did I just read?! 😅😅😅 okay, don’t get me wrong, I was ENGAGED. But what a mix of genres. I had absolutely not idea where this was going or how it would end. The twists were twisty. The sex was sexy. The science was sciency. I do think that at the end there may have been one too many “oh, they were drugged again” moments. Like maam. You gotta learn. I don’t know who I would recommend this too? I have one friend who loves mushrooms and the kinky reads, but aside from her this book was just so unique I’m not sure who else to recommend it to. Nonetheless, it was engaging and I wouldn’t discourage anyone from reading it.

This book was a wild descent into psychological chaos with consistent thoughts of “WTF” and I freaking loved it!

We have Sydney Denik, an aspiring mycologist who joins the Madrona Foundation on Vancouver Island. The foundation’s mission is Alzheimer’s research with fungi, but things don’t always appear as they seem. We have an isolated lodge (no internet/phones allowed), mysterious disappearances, and of course, a descent into madness. This was like Shutter Island meets Nocticadia with a dash of Mexican Gothic and I say that in the best way.

Sydney and Dr. Kincaid’s relationship is one rotted to the universe. Some love can’t be lost. Their romance was a bit of an angsty slow burn. There’s a cast of side characters that each harbor secrets but Munawar was my favorite side character with his punny fungi jokes. Syndey’s story involves secrets, betrayal, agency, and mental health, and I really appreciated her character. She quickly becomes an unreliable narrator, heightening the tension and ambiguity of the story. And Kincaid. Brooding, sexy, enigmatic. Whew! 😮‍💨

“𝘐 𝘢𝘮 𝘢 𝘧𝘰𝘰𝘭,” 𝘩𝘦 𝘮𝘶𝘳𝘮𝘶𝘳𝘴 𝘢𝘴 𝘩𝘦 𝘴𝘸𝘪𝘧𝘵𝘭𝘺 𝘶𝘯𝘥𝘰𝘦𝘴 𝘮𝘺 𝘴𝘩𝘪𝘳𝘵. “𝘐 𝘢𝘮 𝘣𝘶𝘵 𝘢 𝘸𝘦𝘢𝘬 𝘧𝘰𝘰𝘭 𝘸𝘩𝘦𝘯 𝘪𝘵 𝘤𝘰𝘮𝘦𝘴 𝘵𝘰 𝘺𝘰𝘶, 𝘴𝘸𝘦𝘦𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘢𝘳𝘵.”

Halle delves into themes of sanity, perception, and the ethical boundaries of scientific exploration. The atmosphere of the setting was superb for building dread. It’s solated and eerie. I had several “WTF” moments and about 15 different theories all of which were entirely wrong. Around 60% this book just takes off into the wild unknown.

This one kept me on edge though with unexpected twists and a decent amount of spice. I love a book that revolves around mycology and the mycelia in this one was WILD. 👀👀

Absolutely brilliant book!
I am a big fan of this author and love the writing style!
I cant wait to read more!

Professor x Student
Forced Proximity
He Falls First
Obsessed Hero
Haunted Forest
Women in STEM

Star Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️.5
Spice Rating: 🌶️🌶️🌶️

"He is my teacher.
I am his student.
He says he's the only one keeping me safe.
But every moment I'm with him, I feel I'm one step closer to danger."

First I want to say that I am super grateful that I was gifted a copy of this book from NetGalley. I requested it as my very first arc request from that site after this book had already released, and I really didn't think I would get it. lol But here I am, and I am SO grateful that I did.

Wes and Syd were a dynamic pair from the very beginning. The have this intense connection that draws them to each other, and it just makes you want them to get together so much more. Once they finally do, it's like fireworks, and the dynamic between them shifts in such a deliciously fun way.

This book was not at all what I expected in the best possible way. I knew it was dark academia, professor/student, horror/thriller vibes, and I was excited to read something different from what I've been reading lately. But this was something else entirely. It's very mysterious and macabre, and I was questioning from the very beginning what the actual f*ck was happening. It intrigued me so much. I knew something was slightly off, but as the reader, you don't really know why. It keeps you guessing, and I really enjoyed that. I had several ideas about what I thought was going on while reading this book, but I was wrong at almost every turn. And I loved it. I definitely was not prepared for that ending. Excellent read. I will definitely be looking to read more books from Karina Halle!

This book was filled with plot twists and turns I never seen coming. Also we need to take a moment to sit in silence and process Dr. Kincaid because… phew. Dark Academia isn’t a genre I dabble in a bunch but this book made me want to explore it more!

I just. Wow. This book blew me away. Every time I thought I knew where it was going, it made another turn that had me second guessing everything (and everyone). The ending was not what I expected, in a good way, and suddenly, SO many things all the way from the beginning to the end finally clicked into place in my brain. This book kept me on my toes and had me in its clutches until it came to an end. Love love love.

I really wanted to like this book however the execution just wasn’t right and it let the rest of the book down

This was a super interesting one, but it did live up to the hype of weird ass tropes. Smex scenes were fabulous, and started from the beginning with wet dreams, so you also get the tension of the slow burn relationship build (fab combo!). I have been specifically wanting a book set in rural Alaska (December vibes lol), but the scary mad scientist vibes were also spooky and interesting.

Overall rating:
2/5 ⭐️
🌶️/5

I really wanted to like this book. The premise had potential, but unfortunately, the execution fell short for me. Instead of building suspense or intrigue, the story often felt like it relied on superficial moments—more of a “hey, did you see that? Weird, right?” approach rather than creating a deeper, immersive experience.

The spicy scenes were also underwhelming. While I have no issue with kinks, including degradation, I felt this particular aspect was poorly handled and lacked the nuance or intensity it needed. Additionally, the plot was fairly predictable. While predictability isn’t inherently bad, in this case, it made the story feel dull and unengaging.

At under 300 pages, it should have been a quick read, but I found myself struggling to finish it. As someone who loves macabre, suspenseful thriller romances with a side of spice, this just didn’t hit the mark for me.

Me to me: "Oh this book looks great. Maybe spooky? Nice, let's try it."

Me to me once I read it: "what the FUCK was that?!"


Kudos. Fucking kudos, Halle. You blew my mind and I can't stop talking about it. I mean that ending was just 😤😤😤

Creepy. Gut-wrenching. Gloomy. Romantic. Psychotic. Insanely memorable.

Please read this book. Freak out with me. Everything about it was incredible. From the fungi research to the romance between Wes and Sydney. You'll giggle, yell, blush, growl, and scratch your head. But it's SO worth the ride.

Wow. This book kept me on my toes. It also creeped me out !! I was NOT expecting that plot twist. I would recommend this if you’re looking into getting into romantic suspense with mild horror.

While I think this book was really well written the premise didn't work well for me. From the offset the tension was building and it was obvious something else was going on but for me that made things a bit less believable in a way? The insta-lust romance also felt forced. Incredibly grateful for the opportunity to read and review this book!