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!

I have read many of Karinas books in the past, so I knew a bit about what to expect.. Good writing, and some spooky gore. This book was very aligned with my expectations. It definitely had the horroresque vibes to it with the details and grotesque descriptions of what was occurring and what the main character witnessed. I also loved the romantic dynamic between the FMC and MMC, and while I knew a twist was coming, It was not easy to fully predict what the twist would be or how it would play out. Overall, I really enjoyed this book.

I 👏🏻 loved 👏🏻 this 👏🏻 book 👏🏻

Horror romance x science fiction in a dark, gothic psychological thriller? Say less. I already had a Karina Halle obsession, but Grave Matter quickly became my favorite book by Halle so far. I went to university on Vancouver Island, and Karina encapsulated everything so perfectly I felt like I was back in Parksville on a foggy day. The twists, the spice, and the overwhelmingly ominous feeling made this book impossible to put down. The mental health rep was exceedingly well done and THAT ENDING?! My god. I loved it. Horror/psychological thriller romance isn’t a genre I gravitate to, but I fear Karina has kickstarted my next obsession.

Read this book if you like a slow burn, professor x student trope, and wondering WTF !?! (in the best way) is going on.

Tropes

🍄 Dark academia
🍄 Age gap
🍄 Forced proximity
🍄 Teacher x student
🍄 Chronic illness rep

**Thank you to Karina Halle, Metal Blonde Books & Netgally to the eARC in exchange for an honest review**

This was not a book that I enjoyed whatsoever. It was almost a DNF but I powered through. I did not care for the writing style and or the premise. I have read similar fantasy/science fiction plot lines that I thought were handled better and I just couldn't get behind the creepy, toxic relationship depicted - just not my jam.

This is my first book by this author so i didn't really know what to expect when going into it, but i was not disappointed at all.
The reviews for this book really do it justice, and i knew i wanted to read a copy of this when i saw the content warning list. It's a whole page long and covers things from off page deaths, animal deaths (also off page), gore, bdsm and torture. If that doesn't sound like a wild ride then i don't know what does.

This entire book was crazy from start to finish, with the pacing and momentum of the book really picking up at the halfway point. It did take me a little while to get into it properly, but once i did i was fully invested and couldn't put it down.

Things were a little hard to understand at the beginning becasue there was just so much explaining, and so much info dumping about the different types of wildlife/fungi/the island that they were on. I think it was all of this context and info right at the start of the book (and honestly up to the 25% mark) that makes it a little slower to get through.

The only problem i had, which was entirely on me, was that i didn't really connect with any of the characters. Maybe because the focus of the story wasn't actually on them but on this creepy island and all the weird things going on there?
I did like that there was such a wide variety of characters, and that they weren't all the 'good guys'. It was really cool to see just how manipulative some of them could be, and even more enjoyable when you saw a different side of them come out on the page simply because things weren't going their way.

I also didn't really understand the chemistry between Kincaid and Sydney, but maybe that was the point?
It just seemed like the obsession/romance between the two of them kind of came out of nowhere, same as all the spicy scenes. I don't know i just felt like i missed some kind of connecting moment that actually brought them together?

Everything about this just felt kind of off in some way, but now that i've finished the book and actually thought about it, i really do think that this was the intention. Things just didn't add up or make sense until the end, and with the pacing being so off you really lose all sense of time within the book until all of a sudden really intense and graphic things are happening again.

It was 'off' in the best way possible and a really enjoyable psychological thriller/romance.

I really enjoyed this and flew through it. Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for the opportunity to read this ARC!

Karina Halle can do no wrong!!!! Her books are so consistently great and easy reads!!! I loved this one so much!!

This book was absolutely wild from start to finish. It took me a while to get into it but once I did I was absolutely hooked. The plot twists? Insane. This book is the ultimate “wtf did I just read?” IN THE BEST WAY.

I’m giving this book a 2.5 ⭐️ rating because I liked the story but I couldn’t connect with Sydney, the FMC. I found her to be unreliable in her thought process and some of the things she said when she was referring to intimate details was just… not for me. Some of the spicey scenes seemed to happen at a time when they shouldn’t. They were just thrown in at random.
I didn’t find this story to be scary, gross in some places sure, but not scary. By the end of the book, I found myself not caring what happened to Sydney or Kincaid.

Thank you, NetGalley, for the opportunity to read this book.