This was out of the norm for me to read but in the very best way possible. I normally stick with romance or fantasy but man did I devour this book. If they made this into a horror movie I would watch it in a heartbeat.

The writing was in such great detail that I felt like I was there in the woods with them. I caught myself at times yelling at the characters lol. I loved how she had us going back and forth between the past and the present not really knowing what had happened to each character. There were some really great twists that I did not see coming as well.

Fantastic read and I'm petitioning for this to be made into a movie even if it is a short film!

What happened to the rock band Queen Carrion?

Lead singer, Brynn Werner, goes missing while on a remote camping trip to the Umpqua Forest to chase her muse and write the final song for the upcoming album. A year later her bandmates go back to the forest in search of Brynn and closure, but what they find is more than they bargained for. The small, isolate cabin they have rented seems to have a sinister past, and they are starting to hear and see things in the forest. Will they find the truth about Brynn and the fate she met while searching for her muse? Or will they leave with an unimaginable story to tell; that is, if they can make it out alive.

The Midnight Muse is an amazing thriller that is bound to leave you with nightmares. A great tale of friendship and survival. Jo Kaplan has brought the imagination to life with the possibilities of "what if." What if there are things out there that we don't know about? What if there are studies going on under the watchful eye of big brother? And what if they get loose?

Queen Carrion is a band famous for having a cursed song that killed a fan in a nightclub. Queen Carrion, a band renowned for their lead singer vanishing in the woods, was never seen again. Queen Carrion, whose drummer, Harlow Sorenson, comes out of the woods after looking for her friend alone.

Queen Carrion should have been famous for the right reasons, but despite their talent, they are mostly known for the cursed performance where a fan died after a riot ensued during the show. Brynn Werner, the lead singer, claimed to be tapping into a very special Muse that called out to her, and which called her to the woods one weekend after all the dead collect in low places. However, Brynn Werner was never seen again, and the band was devastated as she was the soul of Queen Carrion. But no one took to her vanishing harder than Harlow Sorenson, Brynn's oldest friend. She spends much of her free time either drunk or searching, but nothing was ever found. The band decides to book a cabin in the woods to talk, but between the feeling of being watched, the strange trapdoor in the floor and the haunting song that keeps playing in the woods (and that sounds like Brynn Warner singing it), the weekend does not go as planned.

Midnight Muse is a perfect blend of horror, folklore, science, and mycelium dread. There are genuinely creepy vibes to this book, especially if you are not one to spend time in the woods. This was perfect, a must read.

Once again I was taken back into the horror world and I loved every second of it. When Brynn, the leader singer of the band Queen Carrion goes missing, her band mates come together a year later to try and determine what exactly happened to her.

I mean if anything says horror it's...." hey let's all meet up in the woods and stay in a cabin to discover why our former lead singer is no longer around." Cue scary and ominous music.

When I say horror you need to go ahead and strap yourself in for this ride because you're going to get all the gruesome details, the gorey stuff that just makes your stomach turn in all the best ways. True horror fans will appreciate every aspect of this book. Don't say I didn't warn you. This is 100% a 5 star read for me but I am a true horror fan to my very core. This book touched me deep down into my twisted soul. I need more books like this.

If you’re into body horror, eerie nature vibes, and the dread of an isolated cabin in the woods, this book nails it. The story follows the remaining members of Queen Carrion as they return to the spot their lead singer Brynn vanished, a remote cabin in the Oregon forest where the trees seem to hum with her voice.

What unfolds is a slow, creeping nightmare. The atmosphere is genuinely unsettling, and the horror feels rooted in both the body and the land. It's not just creepy, it's feral. The music element adds such a raw emotional layer, and the way the band dynamics shift under pressure makes it all the more compelling.

Honestly, if I were rating on vibes alone, this would already be a five-star read, but the combination of haunting storytelling, visceral horror, and character tension puts it completely over the top.

This kept me up! Both from the unsettling nature and the need to continue. I think that it was masterfully written, I felt the same tension as the characters. Eco horror and the known horror tropes really did it for me

I will admit that I am a judge a book by its cover kind of person. If it has a cool cover, I’m picking it up. This cover caught my eye on NetGalley, and I was lucky enough to be approved for the arc.
The plot was definitely interesting. I loved the Evil Dead meets The Ruins vibes. The pacing was a bit of a roller coaster. It dragged in the beginning and middle. It wasn’t until around the 20% mark that the story really kicked off—and boy, it KICKED OFF. I was completely hooked and tore through a big chunk of the book. But then it slowed down again, and the ending left me feeling a bit underwhelmed.
I enjoyed the characters, especially Thorn. He was definitely my favorite. Harlow was super irritating, but she knows it. We love a self-aware queen.
Overall, The Midnight Muse was a fine book. It has the spooky cabin in the woods feel to it that we all love. I’d recommend it if you’re in the mood for a unique plot with good horror vibes.

This is an EARLY review. Im 100% going to re read this fall/winter because this horror was so refreshing!! I had anxiety while reading this (in the best way possible)!!

I LOVED this book!

If you enjoy gory horror this is the book for you! I could totally see The Midnight Muse adapted into a horror movie!

*On the anniversary of the disappearance of their lead singer, the band gets together at the place she went missing. An isolated cabin in the woods. Something is lurking in the woods.... something that lured Brynn there.*

Thank you Netgalley, the publisher and Jo Kaplan for the opportunity to read an ARC of "The Midnight Muse"!

Firstly, I love fungi. So, when I saw the premise of this book I was very excited. I ended up enjoying this much more than I expected!

*Longer review to come*

My second horror read of the year ans j might just be adding horror to my really short list of favourite genres. The fine line being drawn to distinguish between being human and not is really intriguing and the overall story was captivating. Beautiful writing and I will be adding this to my physical library (I only buy books i absolutely love and this is one of them)
3 star read for me

I love body horror. I love botanical/mycelium based horror. I love how the story seamlessly includes supernatural horror in a modern environment without it feeling tacky or forced. I loved how the story included mixed media and non-linear timelines, jumping from the past to the present, including news articles and scientific documents and interviews. The story was fast paced, and truly anxiety inducing. The characters were all awful yet at the same time you were rooting for them to survive. I’m excited to see what Jo Kaplan does next.

Horror is my favorite genre but I found this one to be a little too gross for me. I couldn’t get past the necrophilia in the first part of the book. I’m so sorry, it’s just not for me.

I really loved this book and was hooked from the beginning!
It's gory, graphic, grotesque and will leave your mouth hanging open. I really enjoyed the different POV's, the time jumps and dynamics between the band members. Highly recommend!

Not a bad book in my opinion. At times it dragged on but ultimately I enjoyed reading this book!

The moody/gothic atmosphere was exactly what I’d hoped it would be.

Can’t wait for this book to be released!

The Midnight Muse by Jo Kaplan is a lush, eerie descent into grief, obsession, and fungal horror. Set against the haunting backdrop of an Oregon forest, it blends metal music vibes with creeping mycelial dread. Atmospheric, strange, and psychologically rich—a hypnotic read for fans of weird horror.

This is really, really good. Having found myself in a reading slump, this brought it all back to me. I enjoyed it immensely from the horror, to the claustrophobia to the undeniably goriness encased within. It's as refreshing as a cold drink on a roasting beach. Revitalising

I received this book through NetGalley for a review. The Midnight Muse is a gothic blend of body horror and paranormal activity. The story is written from multiple POVs. The story is complex, the character development is good, and the pace is fast if you love mystery/thriller/horror books.

I wanted to love this, being both a horror and featuring a cast of characters in a metal band but this just fell flat for me. I think in order to write a compelling fungi horror it needs to be more compelling to its rivals on the market. The horror aspect itself lends aspects from existing media without a unique and powerful development of those tales, and perhaps was too on the nose. The characters I struggled to connect with, in part because the metal aspect of the book seemed to try too hard to be subversive and cool. The first half of the book was much more compelling than the second half, and I wonder if structurally it would’ve worked better by seeding the novel with parts later to build tension?

I was so stoked to be able to read an ARC of this book. Brynn and her muse will stick with me forever. There was body horror, biology, witchcraft, metal music, multiple perspectives and more. Fantastic book and Im looking forward to reading more from this author.