This book fits into so many different genre boxes, sci-fi, dark academia, horror, and romance all into one. Who would think that mushrooms could be so scary? I already didn't like them, but now I'm thoroughly terrified by them.

Madrona Research Foundation is on the cusp of finding a cure for alzheimer's. They're into the final stages and, once again, recruit some of the brightest student minds in various backgrounds in the field to help them with their research and testing. Sydney is amongst those students with her love of all things fungi. After landing herself in trouble at college, getting selected to help at Madrona is a blessing, or so she thought. Sydney manages to fall hard for her teacher and psychologist, and things start to get confusing for Syd as she starts to questioning just what's real and what's not.

I can't even stand how good this book is. It was hot, sad, wholesome, and beyond creepy. I will be purchasing this book for me and others. I need to listen to it too. I am as obsessed with this book as the doctor is with our protagonist.
I will never recover from the twists, or the weird romance, or the animals. I might have some trauma from this book.

Thank you Net galley for allowing me to receive this book. It did take me a little bit to pick it up being a mood reader but once i did, i could not put it down. This book had everything i needed was missing in a book. It kept me on my toes and kept me wanting more. I thought about it, i dreamt about it and i couldn’t stop talking about it. The feelings that i felt while reading were intense and i repeatedly kept screaming, saying wtf and was in shock. I did not expect any of the twists even though i tried to making guesses. I feel like everyone needs to read this for the storyline alone because WOW. PLEASE READ TRIGGERS as it does have some things that might bother you but wow 5 ⭐️

Grave Matter took me on a wild ride! It was dark, suspenseful, thrilling and intriguing! It was very different from anything else I’ve read and I couldn’t put it down until I had ALL the answers.

Sydney is a fungi scientist who landed a dream position working alongside other grad students for the Madrona Foundation on a remote area of Vancouver Island. The foundation is doing promising Alzheimer research. She has had some shake ups in her life so this new opportunity gives her a fresh start. However, she starts experiencing some strange things on the island and she finds that she is incredibly drawn to her professor/psychologist, Kincaid.

The story is only told through Sydney’s POV, so as readers we aren’t privy to anyone else’s experience on the island. It was really exciting to figure out what was actually happening. I wasn’t sure what other characters I could trust or if Sydney herself was even a reliable narrator. It was kind of disorienting. I felt like I was experiencing Sydney's confusion along with her. The whole time I was reading, I had a million theories of where the story was going to go. There was some absolutely twisted stuff going on and I wanted to know every detail.

This book was such a fun reading experience! I can’t wait to read more by this author.

WOW JUST WO00OWWW.
this book reminded me a lot of nocticadia at first but then the story went completely different and it's SOO UNIQUE
OMG
the plotwists are just mindblowing, I had so many moments where l was absolutely speechless...
BIG RECOMMENDATION!

What is exactly is happening? I wasn't sure so I just had to keep reading. A creepy and atmospheric descriptive read for sure. I knew there was something more happening with the FMC behind the scenes and couldn't put my finger on it, but was still thoroughly surprised in the ending.

“Grave Matter,” by Karina Halle

I didn’t like this book. I thought the plot and some characters were good, but they were overshadowed in my head by the main character. She bothered me soooo much. She came off as a giant pick me girl and super cringe. She was defensive and self-absorbed. She didn’t want someone to create a cure for ADHD because she likes to struggle with it (because let’s be real, having anxiety about time blindness is a struggle), she doesn’t want anyone else to have it, even though you have free will to take any medication kindof solidified that she was so annoying. To have a college student hoping to be a scientist to cure diseases and to be so blind to the benefits because it’s not exactly what you want means you picked the wrong field. I just couldn’t get over it. 2 out of 5 stars, not for me.

Thank you for the free copy, Netgalley.

Thank you NetGalley for the e-arc of this book. I see why everyone has enjoyed is but also to say it’s not for everyone, if you love dark academia and mystery then definitely pick up this book. Sadly this book took about 25% to get into the story I came really close to DNF’ing the book, but I believe that those that loved Nocticadia would also enjoy Grave Matters. The story revolves around the mfc who quickly falls for her professor/therapist who she finds out that he likes watching her they her bedroom window at night.

🔹Age gap
🔹professor/student love affair
🔹the dead don’t stay dead.

A smutty mystery book.

Was this a good book, eh.

Was the smutty, angsty, dark, brooding, murdery vibes present, yes.

It was a wild ride. I saw the twist coming but didn’t see how it happened till it was explained. I love mystery’s apparently so I gave it an extra star for that.

I was so excited going into this book! I wasn’t completely sure of what was going to happen so as I was reading I went further into this world. The scary vibes were keeping me hooked and the story was so unique. I wasn’t completely sure dying to know how it ended. The freaking plot twist hit so hard out of nowhere and once that happened the book moved so fast unraveling to the end. I absolutely devoured this book. It says sci-fi which I’m not into but it felt more like paranormal that’s explained by science 😂. I felt so many emotions especially at the end and I’ll just reiterate how spooky this was as well. Please read this!!

M Night Shyamalan meets dark romance!

That was a fun ride! I went into this, kind of unsure what it would be, and for 80% of the book I still had no idea what was going on, but in a way that kept me hooked!

🍄🍄🍄

The premise: Grad student, Sydney, at a low point in her life, joins a remote research facility, Madrona, where they are doing groundbreaking research around Alzheimer’s.

Whilst there, she becomes lost in the mystery and almost supernatural occurrences of the institute. As well as becoming caught up and obsessed with her professor, Kincaid.

🍄🍄🍄

Normally, I find sci fi hit or miss, depending on how it’s approached, but I found myself strangely interested in fungi thanks to this book! It was clear the level of research that Halle had put into the topic!!

And I loved the discussion around ADHD / neurodivergence in the book. Which I believe is reflective of Halle, herself, from her afterword. It’s a recurring theme throughout the book, and pushes the idea that Sydney’s neurodivergence is what actually makes her mind brilliant for science.

And Sydney’s mind itself made the the narration. At points she is an unreliable narrator, and you find yourself as lost as she is with what’s going on, trying to piece together together what is real and what isn’t. It definitely added to the mystery! And whilst there were some twists that I saw coming, the overall motive and reason behind them really surprised me!

And finally the romance! I really like the development of Sydney and Kincaid. Whilst it develops fast, and there is an element of obsession (which makes sense, the more you read), it doesn’t feel too forced and inappropriate, despite the power dynamics between the two. As a couple, they do really click, and it isn’t just the sexually aspect driving their relationship. That being said the spice is hot! And kicks off quite quickly due to Sydney’s dreams.

All in all, I’d recommend this if you like a slightly darker romance, with some psychological horror and minor sci fi elements! Although to reassure, it’s not too heavy, and you can definitely still read this at night and sleep peacefully!

And I will definitely me keeping an eye out for Karina Halle’s other books!

I love a book that makes me feel insane!!
Also love a book with neurodiverse representation!!
But them together and I have a grand time!!
The ability for me to feel like I was going crazy along with the main character was wild! I know what I read but was second guessing myself!
The main character is so endearing and you want to love her and all her faults! You want her to win!
The twist in this book i could not see coming and i love when I feel gobsmacked!
100% recommend checking this out and suggest buckling up for the wild ride!!

This book had a great plot with intriguing characters. I’ll definitely be looking out for more from this author.

First time reading anything by this author. Now after finishing I immediately need to look up all her work.

This books was phenomenal. Thought provoking. I was in love with the doctor myself by the end.

I thought that this book was more of a horror novel; I think the premise was really good and I did enjoy it, but the heavy romance aspects I wasn't expecting and I didn't really love.

DNF @ 24%

Syd is an aspiring mycologist looking for her second chance with the Madrona Foundation, which does promising Alzheimer's research with mushrooms that grow on a fog-shrouded inlet on Vancouver Island that the foundation leases from nearby indigenous tribes.

Unfortunately, I really could not connect with this story even though I really appreciated the ADHD representation and I love forced proximity romance and closed circle mysteries.

It's gothic horror, so it does move slow as molasses at the start, but I really couldn't push myself through to get to the apparently better final 1/3 of the book.

The first steamy scene is a dream sequence that happens way earlier in the book than I expected and went from 0 to 100 very fast. That pulled me out of the story first. I also didn't really buy the chemistry between those two characters, it felt very forced to me. (Telling--especially from one of Syd's friends at the lodge--instead of showing.)

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

I found this book a bit slow for my taste. I was honestly expecting something very different from what I got most likely based on the other book of this author's that I have read (namely "Smut" its a great book if you haven't read it yet you should). I was intrigued with the vibes that this books reviews and blurbs were giving; horror romance. I have not read anything in this kind of genre so I think I was expecting it to follow more along the route of horror erotica and that is not the way it went. It is spicy and there is something about the way that Karina Halle writes her spicy scenes that just works for me. The biggest detriment to my rating with this book was that it had some slow pacing at times. This could be all subjective though because I didn't expect so much world building/horror lore needing to be laid out before the plot could get moving. I think the spicy scenes kind of carried the reader through these slower spots. I really enjoyed the horror story part of this book and I loved the spice but I feel like I would have liked them more if they had been separate books. I only partially solved the mystery of the island and I love when I can be surprised but by the time I got into the horror side of the story I felt like the spice kind of interrupted. If I re-read this book I will probably just read either the spicy parts or skip the spicy parts and read it like a straight up horror novel.

I absolutely loved this one, it had amazing representation and a very unique viewpoint. Had me hooked from the first page all up until the last!

Welcome to the Madrona Foundation: where the forests are creepy, the ghosts are restless, and the romance is as dark as the fog-shrouded inlet.

Karina Halle does it again with Grave Matter, a spine-tingling mix of horror, romance, and science fiction that will have you questioning everything, including whether you really want to hang out in the woods anymore.

Sydney Denik is an aspiring mycologist (yes, mushrooms are important!) looking for a fresh start after a messy past. What better way to reboot your life than joining a top-notch research foundation on Vancouver Island?

Well, just about anything else, as it turns out. The isolated lodge might be brimming with brilliant minds, but it’s also crawling with terrifying secrets: missing students, mid-summer snowstorms, and oh yeah….zombie animals.

And then there’s the resident psychologist. Dark, brooding, and totally off-limits, he’s impossible to resist, even as it becomes clear he’s hiding more than his feelings. (We love a morally ambiguous love interest with a tortured soul.)

What I loved:

* Gothic vibes for days. Foggy forests, haunted hallways, and an overwhelming sense of what is even going on?!
* A heroine who’s smart, determined, and just the right amount of reckless, Sydney’s unraveling is as compelling as it is terrifying.
* A romance that’s deliciously forbidden, with chemistry that burns through all the creepy tension.
* Halle’s signature blend of lush prose, relentless suspense, and twists that’ll make you gasp.

By the time you hit the final pages, you’ll be clutching your blanket, cursing the darkness, and secretly hoping for a sequel.

If you’re into dark academia with a sci-fi twist, toxic secrets, and forbidden love, Grave Matter will grip you from start to finish.

Caution: Read it with the lights on. And maybe stay away from mushrooms for a while.

4.5 ⭐️ rounded up
Once I picked up this book I really struggled with putting it back down. I loved the dark romance meets psychological sci-fi triller concept. Some of the twists really take you for a ride and there's a lot of gaslighting from the staff that gives the book a foreboding feeling. Again, it’s easy to get pulled into this story and I enjoyed this storyline a lot, who would have though that mushrooms would be so fascinating?
This was my first Karina Halle book (though I have several on my TBR) and will not be my last.
Thank you NetGalley for the electronic Advance Reader Copy, all opinions are my own.

Submitted to Amazon as well.