I've had to sit and digest this one for a little bit before I wrote a review to get my full thoughts in order cause oh boy were there a lot about Bury Our Bones in the Midnight Soil. Spoiler: they're all good thoughts.

Oh V.E. Schwab, the woman you are, this was beautiful.

Bury Our Bones in the Midnight Soils follows three timelines across centuries, Santo Domingo de la Calzada in 1532, London in 1837 and Boston in 2019. All three timelines grow together and twist into big gnarled roots that form one big chunky tree of beautiful prose. The branches coming off of each character in the story create little intricacies that create shadows of real people, in real places, doing very real things. Other than turning each other into vampires but more on that later.

What I really loved about this was that, although Schwab has described this as her "angsty lesbian vampire" novel, all of these characters are intricate, they love, they're jealous, and they're angry. They all exist in that morally grey zone, none of these characters are inherently good or evil, they just do things because it's what feels right and there should be more of this!! Give me more!!

The vampire aspect was really well done. So often, it's difficult to write vampires without it being cheesy (I'm looking at you Twilight) or making it so that it doesn't sound like something that has already been done. Whilst, in my head, this was reminiscent of S.T Gibson, it's not a mirror so it stands up beautifully on it's own. Each character has their own distinct voice without it being too distracting or sounding out of place because of the difference in set time.

Huge huge fan of what V.E. Schwab and S.T. Gibson are personally doing for the angsty gay supernaturals at the moment and I wouldn't have it any other way.

Another amazing book from V E Schwab!! The setting makes the book from the start and the plot is enrapturing throughout. Would definitely recommend

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for an arc of this book!

I was so excited when this book was announced as I loved Schwab’s books so was intrigued for this one. I love stories with vampires and this one did it so well. The different timelines interwove with each other so well and I had a great time with all of the characters. The structure of the story as well of the pacing was done very well and kept me entertained the entire book.

I adored this book and already have several people that I would personally recommend it to! Sapphic, Vampires, and VE Schwab's beautiful writing! What's not to love??

I've loved everything I've read by VE Schwab so far. And everything she writes just feels so different, completely different vibes.
Fantastic book by an ever fantastic author!

I’ve loved basically all of V.E. Schwab’s adult books—she’s one of my favorite authors. She has such a talent for creating atmosphere without overloading the prose with flowery descriptions, and that holds true here. That said, vampires aren’t really my favorite, and I struggled a little at first with the jumping timelines and perspectives. The pace definitely started off slower, but by halfway through, I was completely hooked, eager to see how all the narratives connected. This is definitely a very character driven book. It’s a powerful portrayal of female angst and hunger.

You can definitely see hints of Addie LaRue in this one, and it also gave me A Dowry of Blood vibes. Schwab’s writing is always something I look forward to, and I’ll read anything she puts out. This one didn’t quite have that extra something to make it a full five-star read for me, but it was still fantastic.

I am a huge Schwab fan and I’ll admit that for the first 20% I was unsure if I’d like the book, by 30% I liked it and by 50% I was hooked.

I found I struggled to initially keep up with the change of person and timelines and found it confusing (it also didn’t help as it reminded me so much of Lucy Undying which I was not a huge fan of) BUT then all of the pieces started falling into place and I loved it - definitely carry on if you’re feeling unsure.


If you loved a dowry of blood, and education in malice or hunger stone you will love this!

Brief summary: two lesbian vampires play cat and mouse for a century and some poor depressed girl gets caught in the middle.

In 1532 Maria is given in marriage to a man she hates. Her sole purpose to provide him an heir. When she meets The Widow, Maria finds a way to be free. A new identity and a new life beckons. A long life.
In present day Alice wakes up after a one night stand feeling different. Her life has been blighted by grief and now she faces a new battle.
The stories of Maria and Alice are separated by centuries but they are inextricably linked. A phenomenal story, that gripped me from the first page!

Thank you so much to the publisher and to NetGalley for the chance to read this.
Schwab has done it once more! The way the author is able to capture you with immersive writing and weave magic into words is amazing.

Schwab has done it again. She managed to write such a simple yet elegant story. At the heart of it, this book is about love. Love and loss and grief and rage. I initially liked Sabine, I found her interesting and complex. I especially enjoyed the scenes with her and other vampires, her time in Venice was my favourite. As the book carried on, I felt the very subtle shift in her character and found myself desperately wanting to read on and understand what was happening.

Charlotte on the other hand, took awhile to warm to. But yet again, a credit to Schwab’s talent for writing beautiful multi dimensional characters, I found myself rooting for her. Alice too, although I found that Alice’s chapters didn’t leave as much of an impression on me as Lottie and Sabine’s.

This book read like a tapestry, the scenes were vivid, the characters rich and every single description was dripping with life. I really didn’t want it to end. I loved every single second of reading this and I loved losing myself in this world of midnights and stolen memories.

I think my entire review for this book could be summed up as “I love it when women…”

This is so beautifully written I just know I’ll be thinking about it for days and someday it will make an absolutely stunning movie. The characters are all so well fleshed out that I have the most vivid images of them in my mind. We follow three women buried in the same soil, and what grows from it is just breathtaking.

As a Pan Macmillan employee I had heard lots of great things from my colleagues about this story of toxic lesbian vampires. I love how VE Schwab does different time periods and the way she describes the scenery - like the warmth that light can bring or how a room changes when a person enters it. The pacing is a little slow for the first two thirds but the last section is great.

Bury Our Bones in the Midnight Soil by V.E. Schwab is haunting, lyrical, and utterly mesmerizing. From the first page, I was pulled into Schwab’s signature blend of melancholy and magic, where every sentence feels like it was carefully carved from darkness and longing. The story unfolds like a ghostly whisper, carrying themes of love, loss, and the inevitability of time in a way that lingers long after the final word.

What I love most is Schwab’s ability to make the supernatural feel deeply human. The characters, though shrouded in mystery, feel achingly real, and the atmosphere is thick with quiet sorrow and aching beauty. I found myself rereading certain passages just to savor the way she weaves words together.

If you love stories that feel like poetry and ghosts that haunt more than just the page, this one is for you. Schwab has once again proven that she knows exactly how to reach into a reader’s chest and leave fingerprints on their heart.

Thank you to NetGalley and Pan Macmillan for providing me an arc of this book in exchange for my honest review!

I really love V.E Schwab as a writer, the way the writing pulls you in and keeps you engaged and intrigued is one of my favourite things. While I loved the premise of this book and the plot, I did find it very slow paced which I can appreciate there are two different storylines going so it's completely understandable but for me it just didn't work, If you are able to get through the first 200 pages though the last part certainly does pick up and moves rather quickly with the action and I found myself enjoying it a lot.

It is a really beautiful story and you can see how much V.E Schwab has put into telling the story of these characters and I know some will absolutely love it for the lesbian Vampire story it is.

Thank you so much to NetGalley and the publisher for the chance to read this before publication, these are my honest thoughts.

TOXIC LESBIAN VAMPIRES !!! 🩸💀📚🍷🌑🏳️‍🌈

My most anticipated read of the year did not disappoint. I've been waiting to read Bury Our Bones in the Midnight Soil since 2023 when Schwab was writing it and talked about her "toxic lesbian vampires" when we saw her in Leeds.

* I was gifted an early copy in exchange for an honest review 🫡

I could say this book is like Killing Eve meets Anne Rice meets the Invisible Life of Addie LaRue. But that wouldn't quite be accurate. Bury Our Bones in the Midnight Soil is a deeply rich and unique take on the vampire novel. Eerily familiar and refreshingly new.

I've always loved Schwab's style of writing, but something about the prose in Bury Our Bones is so magical, it practically sings. From Spain to Paris to London to Boston, this tragic tale spans centuries and thousands of miles.

Just when I thought I had a grip on where it was going, the story took a sharp turn. It takes you by the hand down familiar corridors only to suddenly find yourself at the top of a dark staircase, a pressure on your back.

It's about how people can have similar wounds but in different shapes. It's about humanity and how it gets eroded away. It's about the stories we get to tell, and the ones others try to tell for us. It's about hunger.

It's about control. The control men have had over women throughout history. Women taking back that control. The control loved ones have over us, healthy and toxic equally. Taking control over your own story.

I loved my time spent in these pages and I highly recommend it to anyone who loves a bit of darkness.

Bury Our Bones in the Midnight Soil by V.E. Schwab is out 10th June 2025 💀

Bury Our Bones in the Midnight Soil is an atmospheric, multi-timeline novel following three young women whose lives intertwine across centuries. Set in Santo Domingo de la Calzada (1532), London (1837), and Boston (2019), their stories grow like roots in the same soil—twisting, reaching, and, eventually, biting. The way these stories knitted together was so clever and compelling, revealing unexpected connections and echoes across time.

Of the three perspectives, I found Maria’s the most engaging. Walking in her shoes and witnessing how she reshaped her identity, choosing another name and forging her own path, was fascinating. We have bold, defiant women making dangerous/toxic choices, resisting the expectations forced upon them. We have insecurities, grief, loneliness, hunger, and desire, all threaded through their lives in ways that felt both raw and haunting. Schwab’s writing, as expected, was beautifully crafted, enhancing the eerie, gothic undertones.

However, the book did have its downsides. The pacing felt slow, particularly near the end, making it drag more than I would have liked. I also struggled to connect with Alice’s storyline throughout the book, which made her sections less compelling for me. However, near the end, I understood.
While the structure of the novel was intricate and well-executed, the overall experience didn’t fully grip me.

If you enjoy slow-burn, intricately woven historical fiction with a gothic touch, lesbian vampires, this might be worth a read. While it wasn’t a standout for me, it had moments of brilliance—especially in how these women’s lives intertwined across time.

Haunting, atmospheric, and beautifully written—V.E. Schwab once again delivers a story that lingers long after the final page. Dark, poetic, and full of emotion, this book is a masterpiece of gothic storytelling.

If you'd told me I'd accidentally read a 544 page book about toxic lesbian vampires I'd be like, 'nah bro, I don't have the attention span for that'.

I devoured this book. I let it slowly build and build and kept thinking, 'this doesn't seem toxic...this doesn't seem toxic...'

And then

Oh

This is horrifically toxic. This is all the toxic. This is women through history. This is the worst kind of revenge. This is no one right. Just lots of people living in shades of grey and then... wrong, wrong, wrong.

Read it. It's a treat. It's Lost soul and the Vampire chronicles but with female rage at the forefront. Beautiful.

Actual rating: 3.5 stars

This was a really hard book for me to review - I loved The Near Witch and Gallant and so was really hoping to love this as well but it just fell a bit short for me.

The opening few chapters I was absolutely hooked, Schwab's writing is absolutely stunning - a lyrical, gothic style that drew me in, even if not much was happening at the beginning. But then not much happened for the rest of the book as well and I just struggled to get excited about reading on. This is very much a slow-burn and if you are happy to read a book just for the writing and to read about the character's lives then you'll probably enjoy this, but I was hoping for something a bit bigger to pull us through and it just never really came.

5⭐️

Thanks to NetGalley and Pan Macmillan for this eArc.

Characters: 5/5
Setting: 5/5
Plot: 5/5
Themes: 5/5
Emotional: 5/5
Enjoyment: 5/5

This book was everything I wanted it to be. As someone who liked Addie Larue, but didn’t love it, I was a little worried that another character driven book by V.E. Schwab wouldn’t grab me, but I absolutely devoured this and loved every second of it.

The characters are so well written and thought out, and I absolutely loved each one (I mean… I also loved to hate a certain character…) I thought the prose was just fantastic and it kept me hooked every time I picked up my Kindle, and the way each characters individual stories intertwined with each other was just absolutely brilliant. I did think the ending was a little abrupt, but that may just be because I was so immersed in the story I never wanted it to end!

I felt so many emotions whilst reading, particularly anger and sorrow and I just have to give props to Schwab for being able to illicit such strong emotions from me as usually when I read I don’t tend to feel so strongly but there’s just something about her writing that brings out all the emotions in me!

I thoroughly enjoyed the book, and would recommend to absolutely everyone. V. E. Schwab has been my favourite author for a while now and I will read anything she writes, whether that be a novel or the phone book!