📖 Bookish Thoughts
If you’re into sapphic gothic vibes with a touch of feminine fury and angst, this one might be for you. These two were so toxic and somehow it worked The writing is genuinely beautiful and I couldn’t stop reading!

💀 What You Can Expect
• Sapphic gothic
• Reincarnation
• Dark toxic romance
• Demon x witch
• Enemies to mostly lovers

🗓 Pub Date: November 25, 2025
Thank you to William Morrow and NetGalley for the ARC. All thoughts are my own.
📖 Final Score: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ (3.5, rounded up)

This was a wonderfully dark book with desire and suspense. Miriam was a fascinating character from the beginning and watching her evolve was truly an experience. Cybil/Esther/Rosamund was glorious, it was a making and unmaking and another sort of evolution. Esther was probably the most real of the lives and more of her could have been told. But this was an excellent novel with an ending you could have wished for, but not quite in the way you imagined.

Thank you NetGalley and HarperCollins Publishers for this ARC!
A stunning and beautifully devastating sapphic Faustian fantasy. Siegel has perfectly entwined this messed-up love story across centuries, and it will be a long time before I stop thinking about Miriam and Cybil’s story.
Wonderfully lyrical prose draws you through this book with ease, and I devoured this as quickly as shadows do souls. While perhaps a little rushed toward the end, in a way that made it feel I had relearn our main character too quickly, it is easily forgiven by the unforgettable conclusion that brought tears to my eyes.
This has a permanent place on my shelf and my recommendation list, and I am so excited to grab a physical copy on its full release.

This book will stick with you for days after you're done, you should get a copy for your shelves ASAP.

This book has been on my mind for days, even after turning the last page.

Richter and Harding are stuck in a battle of wit and longing over multiple lifetimes. Richter is adoring, provocative, and manipulating, incessant in her desires to have Harding as her own. Harding is morally strong and desperate to live a normal life, living in relative isolation to protect those around her. My initial opinion of Harding was that she is unlikable and self-pitying, but evolves into a strong, clever, and resilient protagonist. Over the course of the book, these characters grow into themselves with each rebirth, and their lives and personalities become more intertwined.

What I enjoyed most about this read was the parallelism of the lives lived by Harding. The through line in each lifetime was the treatment of the main character by men, both peer and father figure - a powerful woman is one to be feared. Instead of acknowledging the sheer power and strength of Harding's magic, people dismiss her as being cursed and undeserving of her magic.

The storytelling is fanciful and poetic, adding a dark whimsical quality to the novel. Although macabre at times, this story of longing is absorbing and beautiful. Thank you to the author, William Morrow, and NetGalley for providing this ARC in exchange for an honest review.

A TIMELESS RICH, LYRICAL, POETIC GOTHIC ROMANTASY

As Many Souls as Stars by Natasha Siegel is a faustian sapphic gothic historical fantasy. This novel is rich, lyrical, and brimming with poetic intensity. Natasha Siegel has crafted a story that reads like a haunting melody. Her writing has an almost ethereal quality, drawing readers into a world where light and shadow are inextricably bound.

This novel is a meditation on duality encompassing how light cannot exist without darkness, and how love is often tangled with resentment. Cybil, with her luminous soul, becomes an anchor across time, a constant flame that Miriam, made of shadows, cannot help but be drawn to. Their dynamic is magnetic: a love story braided with centuries of longing, bitterness, and inevitability

An obsessive and possessive demon stalks her prey across multiple lifetimes? Demon falls first? I ate this up. The book delivers. The Dark Romance girlies would LOVE this! Add it to you TBR IMMEDIATELY!

The creativity unique telling of the story reeled me in. As an avid mood reader I am sometimes unmotivated or uninterested in a book. No fault of the book but I can tell a book is going to capture me if it can motivate me to to want to read it. ( This is while i am in the middle of a reading slump!) The “magic system” in this book was amazing!

Cybil and Miriam's characters had so much depth and this isn't easy to accomplish i n such short amount of time sometimes. The pacing of the book was just right in progression to the rising towards the end where WOW...just WOW!

I can honestly say this is a story I will carry with me for a very, very long time. It has left a mark on me that is soul-deep. I can’t wait to get my hands on a physical copy for my TROPHY SHELF.

This book is perfect for readers who appreciate atmospheric storytelling, morally complex characters, and love stories that defy convention and time itself. A stunning achievement. A story that lingers long after the final page.

Quotes:

"You can have as many souls as stars, my love, and all those lives would be unhappy as the first"

She pictured her biting her lip hard enough to make it bleed pulling her hair until Cybil was gasping, pushing her against the trunk of the tree. Cybil felt as if her blood had gone molten, and her hand drifted between her legs. She pressed her fingers against herself, trembling, imagining Richter’s hand instead of her own. The fantasy was so clear in her mind she could hear that dark voice saying, My dear, if this was what you wanted, you need only have asked-“ - UMMMM HELLO! WHAT!!!!

Thanks to Netgalley for the gifted eARC in exchange for my honest review.

4.25 ⭐️
🌶️🌶️🌶️

Cybil Harding is a first daughter, cursed to bring ruin to those around her. Miriam Richter is an immortal creature of shadow, seeking to claim the incredible light that is Harding’s soul. After a cursed life meets an ill-fated end, Richter makes a deal with Harding, reincarnation in exchange for her soul, creating a deadly pursuit across three lifetimes.

The sapphic love story between Richter and Harding is truly haunting. Richter is a morally black, shadow mommy who wishes to feast upon Harding in every sense of the word.
The battle they share between love and hate, desire and fear is captivating.

This book is dark, moody, and mysterious. The wording while dense at times, was artistically written. The historical portions of this book were very interesting to me. I enjoyed meeting each version of Harding, and seeing how each time period affected her. You can tell the amount of work and love that went into researching each time period. From the clothing, the food, and the culture, you get a true painting of each era.

There were a few things I would have liked more of or to have seen play out differently. I would have liked more on the origins of Richter. I also would have liked a slightly different ending.

Overall, I highly recommend this book for those looking for a dark sapphic romance with fantasy elements.

The cover, while gorgeous, is deceiving: this book is dark and gothic with creepy occult blood magic. If that's your vibe, you must pick up this book!

Prose: 5 stars. It has been a long time since I've read such a gorgeously written book. I frequently stopped to reread passages because they were just so evocative and perfect.

Romance: 2 stars, generously. But I'm really not a dark romance girly. The chemistry between Harding and Richter was felt forced rather than compelling; however, the concept of hate sex is completely baffling to me and that's pretty much their whole dynamic, so I'm probably just the wrong audience.

Female rage: 4 stars. Nothing makes women's blood boil like a witch hunt, and Siegel expanded that tradition (and the characters' rebellions against it) in such a three-dimensional way.

Character work: 3.5 stars. Interesting that the feminism was so well done, and yet my favorite characters were all male. I wanted Isaac to have approximately 70x more speaking parts (I want a whole book about him), and I wanted Harding to grieve [redacted] at least a little. The FMCs themselves were well-developed, but not as colorful.

Overall: a better spooky gothic than romance; excellent nonetheless. A must-read for lovers of that genre. Worth the read just for the incredible prose (and Isaac's one-liners).

Blown away by this one. 5 stars.
And out of 50 books read so far this year, this is easily in the top 5.

Thank you NetGalley and William Morrow Books for this ARC in exchange for an honest review. Let’s get into it! *Will post on other socials closer to release date*

⚡️I went into this book blind, choosing it simply because the cover and title drew me in (and the top line of an endorsement said it was perfect for fans of The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue). I was a little hesitant about the comparison to my all time favorite book and of course there’s a always some tip-toeing when trying out a new-to-you author but I’m here to tell you, this DOES hold a flame to Addie LaRue and I WILL be picking up this author again.

⚡️This story, following a witch and a demon chase across centuries, was more than I could have hoped for. It was atmospheric, horrifying, beautiful, mysterious, intoxicating, transformative and impactful. Every page felt like walking in a vivid fever dream that you simultaneously love and fear.

⭐️ What I loved:
- The creativity and uniqueness. As an avid reader I am sometimes jaded. I go into books feeling like I’ve read it all (not my favorite trait). But this book gave me something I’ve yet to come across in this way. And it happened to be something I was so incredibly in love with.
- The writing. You don’t even want to know how much of this book I have highlighted. It was gorgeous and some of those quotes had me audibly gasping.
- The “magic system” in this book felt so realistic that I was really starting to question if I could achieve it too.
- Cybil and Miriam. Two of the most intoxicating characters I’ve read recently. They were given such depth in such a short amount of time. I could have followed their journey for 100 more pages. It felt their possibilities were endless.
- I enjoyed the pacing in this one. The book was a consistent uphill ride. It just got better and better. Typically books have a lull or slow period in between big parts but I felt only the first part was slower paced and afterwards the book took off.
- The ending. I won’t spoil but this gave me one of my favorite kind of endings. It’ll have me thinking about it for a long time.

💫 Overall, yes. Highly recommend. I do believe if you loved Addie LaRue then you will love this. But this is also for fans of magical realism, historical fiction, witch hunts, dark romance, feminine rage, and LQBTQ+ romance.

Trigger warnings (read at own risk):

This book does contain graphic violence/assault, death, toxic relationship dynamics, and anti-religious/god commentary.

Excuuuuuuuuse me?! I CANNOT wait to have this in my hands. I literally am so lucky to have been given an eARC.
I honestly didn’t know anything about the author beforehand, so I felt like I went into it pretty unbiased. Sapphics?! Demon?! Catsss?? Ummm sign me up!
This was so so good!

A sapphic game of cat and mouse played brutally between a witch and a demon that spans almost 300 years.

This has been one of the first dark romance stories I’ve read, and I’m so thankful it’s been a good introduction to the genre. This is more than just romance though. It’s exploring the difference between love and hatred, darkness and light, the power in humanity, femininity, exposing misogyny, coming into one’s own power… it’s just great. One I definitely intend to recommend.

who amongst us doesn’t want to be reincarnated over and over into a centuries-old deal with a sexy demon? cybil harding gets to have all the fun!

the comparison to addie larue was very apt, in my opinion, and as a certified addie lover i very much enjoyed delving into a work with a similar flavor — and the fact that it’s sapphic only makes it better! natasha siegel is such a beautiful writer, and i spent so much time highlighting line after line whenever a turn of phrase caught my eye. i adored her debut, solomon’s crown, and reading this has cemented me as an adoring fan. i loved everything about it!

This may possibly be my favorite book of all time. The darkness, the yearning, the suspense. This book is so good. I'm still crying as I type this. I read this in less than a day. Miriam is my new book wife. This book has been everything I've been searching for in terms of a dark sapphic romance.


As Many Souls as Stars is about a "demon", Miriam that consumes souls and a cursed witch, Cybil, from a long line of witches trying to find away to break the curse. Miriam tries to lure Cybil into making a deal with her in exchange for her soul and it leads to them to fall in love, betray each other, and play cat and mouse games over centuries.


I loved everything about this book. I'm madly deeply in love with Miriam. the way the yearning is described was so intense for me, it was just perfection. There's a little spice, but not much, this book strings you through, upping the intensity the entire way. It was so sexy. I highly, highly recommend reading this. It's so fantastic.

Not a typical genre I am drawn too but this book had incredible detail and story telling. There was never really a point that I could have predicted happening and I mean that in the most incredible way - familiarity created and then blown apart in so many ways. Loved the writing style!

“She pictured her biting her lip hard enough to make it bleed pulling her hair until Cybil was gasping, pushing her against the trunk of the tree. Cybil felt as if her blood had gone molten, and her hand drifted between her legs. She pressed her fingers against herself, trembling, imagining Richter’s hand instead of her own. The fantasy was so clear in her mind she could hear that dark voice saying, My dear, if this was what you wanted, you need only have asked-“ - HELLOOO WLW

Miriam Richter is a powerful shadow entity that was created by humans for their own personal gain. Cybil Harding is a first daughter, which is a curse in their family that the first daughter has powers but also destruction surrounding them constantly.

This story takes place in three different settings, each with the same person, different names, different time line, all in England. Miriam yearns to take Cybil’s soul after finding out who she was and the power that leaks from her. Cybil has always been alone, family and friend wise, and would always notice the shadows that cling to her. Then, Miriam made herself appear to Cybil and Cybil eventually made a deal out of desperation and hatred. This deal sparked a hunt and chase throughout centuries.

WOW, this story is just wow. The emotions were there and you can genuinely feel each emotion throughout the book. The character development is phenomenal and you become to love/hate and also understand both Cybil and Miriam. Their love is truly toxic, beautiful, and a cat and mouse dynamic. I did love the wlw representation and how the characters never shy away from it. The ending was truly something that I never expected and was shocked to say the least. I will be looking forward to reading more books from this author!

This book will be great for anyone that enjoys gothic romance, LGBTQIAP+ representation , and a strong fmc. This book also reminded me of One Dark Window and The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue with the shadow entities, so if you loved reading those two books, you would love reading this one as well.

Thank you to NetGalley, Natasha Siegel and William Morrow for the opportunity to read an Advanced Reader’s Copy (ARC) in exchange for my honest opinion.

I really enjoyed the gothic, dark and very queer feel for this book. I was honestly so pulled into the story right from the beginning and I couldn’t put it down. The way the author describes things is so captivating.

I very much enjoyed how the two FMC’s, Mariam and Cybil(Esther and Rosamund) were so fleshed out and how you could really connect with them. The toxic relationship they have threaded throughout 3 different lifetimes is so intriguing…I could feel the tension between them right from the beginning. I wasn’t sure throughout if I really liked Cybil/Esther/Rosamund but she was a very “human” character that you can just relate to and feel for. The way that Mariam kind of has to figure out all these new emotions she feels towards Cybil which she didn’t know she could feel.

The story was one that you don’t see much of but felt very thorough and was pretty easy to follow especially with the historical elements and magic. I did not see the ending coming but I feel like it was an interesting way to end it and hey, they ended up together (kind of) so i’m not that upset. The bits of horror was also a nice edition to the story.

Thank you Netgally and William Morrow books for this eARC for my honest review.

Ahhhh, Miriam creeped me out and this wasn’t for me. The soul eating was too close to cannibalism to me, I think, and that’s a scary topic for me. There was also a description of Miriam that her skin was pinned to her face??? 😟 She took different forms but I am too much of a wimp and couldn’t get the image out of my head.

I sincerely appreciate the advanced copy from the author, publisher, and NetGalley!

Check out this review on Fable
https://fable.co/review/dce27882-69da-4681-ab74-c76c80354635/share

As Many Souls as Stars is a powerful blend of historical fiction and personal resilience, weaving together themes of identity, persecution, and the strength of community. Siegel captures the emotional gravity of a time marked by fear and uncertainty while still managing to craft a story that feels deeply human and intimate.

The writing is both lyrical and accessible, drawing the reader into a world filled with difficult choices and quiet acts of bravery. Characters are developed with care, and while some moments lean a bit heavy on sentiment, the emotional core remains honest and impactful. The historical setting is vividly drawn without overwhelming the personal story, and the pacing stays consistent, allowing each major event to land with clarity.

The romance and relationships throughout are tender and nuanced, adding warmth and personal stakes to a story grounded in larger historical truths. While it doesn’t necessarily break new ground narratively, it delivers its message with conviction and heart.

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for the ARC.

Beautiful, sapphic, and Faustian—what more could you want?

As Many Souls as Stars hit all the right notes for me. I’ve been loving stories that follow souls meeting across lifetimes, and this one brought that concept to life with a darker, witchier twist that completely worked. The tone is gothic and moody, but what really drew me in was the aching, the longing—and the fact that it came from a character you wouldn’t expect to feel those things. Watching a villain unravel emotionally was one of the most compelling aspects of the book.

I’ve always been a sucker for a Faustian bargain, and this novel handled the theme in such a satisfying and inventive way. The twist at the end genuinely surprised me, and I loved how it recontextualized so much of what came before. It’s rare to be both enchanted and blindsided, but Natasha Siegel pulled it off beautifully.

This was my first book by Siegel, but it definitely won’t be my last. I can’t wait to explore more of her work.

Thank you to NetGalley and William Morrow for the advanced copy!

2.5 stars

I knew going into this that this book could go either way for me, and unfortunately it didn't go well, but it's still the kind of book I think a lot of people will enjoy.

As a First Daughter, Cybil Harding is cursed to bring death and destruction to all she touches, but her father is determined to end the family's curse once and for all. When her father's activities drawn the attention of a demon and a witch hunter comes to the house out for blood, Cybil makes a deal with the demon Miriam to be reborn and given another chance at breaking the curse, with Miriam consuming her soul if she fails.

I was a little worried off the bat because I like sapphic fantasy romances and demon deals but I don't tend to like anything witchy or gothic fantasies, so I knew the chances of me liking this were pretty 50/50. Unfortunately, I could tell almost immediately that I was going to fall on the negative side because it started off very witchy. The upsides are that it's pretty easy to read and in the last part of the book I thought the historical setting was great, but that couldn't save it.

I do think there are two genuine flaws to this book outside of my personal preferences. The first is just that the choice to tell this story linearly really makes it feel flat. I think if it had started on Cybil's second or third life and we got snapshots of what led them up until this point it would have been a much more actively compelling reading experience. The second is that Cybil and Miriam aren't super interesting characters and I think as a result of that there isn't really any chemistry and it feels very insta-love/lust. Both of them have moments. I think Miriam's exchange with Isaac in the second intermission was a brief moment where I felt like her character had some real color, but other than that she doesn't feel like she could exist outside of the story because all she thinks about is being a demon and all of her actions result from Cybil's actions. Cybil also has moments. I actually was starting to like her in the third part because I think she was more interesting for being jaded but that kind of ends up being a facade and she doesn't have much else going for her. The ending also felt like it was thought up last minute.

I have read a lot of really popular books that felt like this though, so actually I think a lot of people will like it. It's possible that I should just hit the ground running whenever I see a gothic fantasy romance because clearly this is not my subgenre.

Thank you to Natasha Siegel and William Morrow for this ARC in exchange for my full, honest review!

Happy reading!