I was really excited about the premise of this book—gay, horror, and monsters? Sign me up. But unfortunately, the pacing was too slow for my taste, and the main character’s attitude started to wear on me pretty early. By the halfway point, I found myself avoiding picking it back up. On top of that, the e-galley had quite a few formatting and editing issues, which made the reading experience even harder to stay engaged with. I might give the audiobook a try when it’s released, but the print version just didn’t work for me.

So, the description of this book immediately interested me as someone who really loves horror and wanted to find more queer horror. And Veal definitely gave me some of that while also leaving me hanging in a few aspects.
I really enjoyed the main characters we got in this, their complexity, the realism in the relationships (especially in the fact they don't always get along, they have flaws, they rub each other the wrong way but they still love each other), the descriptions of their hardships (whether that's poor parental relationships, depression, grief, etc.) and the way we get to feel Lawrence's yearning for Franky (it felt very real at times how she was trying to get close and fluster her but then it would veer into the 'too intense') However, I was a little disappointed in the way the characters only seem to exist in each other's orbit and the somewhat cheesy dialogue we get (especially near the end). We rarely ever hear about their lives outside of the 'monster hunt' or Lawrence's fixation on Franky. I really wish we could have gotten more about Stasia and Lawrence's classes or anything about Pippa other than her grieving Penelope. I understand it may have distracted from the focus or been difficult with the POV but I wanted to understand them better.
We also don't get much about the town/other characters (which I can kind of understand because aligning yourself with Franky makes you an outcast) but I just felt a little lost whenever they went somewhere or talked about the school because it felt barely there.
The story was quick and had really good moments of dread and fear, when you'd feel the characters right on the edge of their demise and be right there with them but I did find myself getting distracted by some minor inconsistencies in plot (mostly around seasons/weather) and found it hard to gauge how much time had passed at any given moment.
(I will say the epilogue made me want to remove a full star from this review, it really felt unnecessary and frustrating. It didn't add what I think the author wanted it to add and kind of pulled the whole thing down for me when I had pretty much enjoyed the ride to that point.)

Thank you to NetGalley for the ARC in exchange for an honest review!

The strong takeaways: this book was written by a woman who loves women. And this book was also written by a woman who Goes To Therapy.
I loved 70 percent of this. I wish Nolan was comfortable enough to linger in the liminal horror space. Fight the urge to wrap everything up in a neat little bow! Fight it!
The good: real gift for dialogue here. Keen understanding and conveyance of what makes women hot. Good at ratcheting up the spooks.
The less good: the prose purples. The Therapizing from every character gets a little cloying. Especially when it happens in moments of extreme pain - would you really tell a monster that <spoiler>all you ever wanted was validation, even if it came at the cost of other women? Would you really? Right after it cut up one of your friends, would you be articulating your innermost emotions like that? </spoiler> And the pacing felt a little off. I got 70 percent of the way through the book before it felt like we were hitting our stride. There are reasons for that, I guess… but I’d have preferred to spread out the action. Overall, this is good for people who love gay horror, but wish every metaphor was painstakingly explained to them.

Thank you so much to the publisher for sending me this title as an e-arc! This is one of the best horror books I've ever read. Although the plot was brilliant and full of well-timed and tense twists, it is second to me to the fantastic set of characters. All four of the girls are fully fleshed-out and loveable, with the writer giving such a clear picture of all of their backstory and motivations- it really feels like these are real girls jumping off the page, and their relationships are so realistic and enjoyable. This is a gorgeous exploration of trauma, grief, misogyny, and queerness all narrowed down into the lives of these girls who you can't help but be fully invested in. The romance and yearning was so well-written and felt completely real, the writer has a huge talent in description and metaphor as well as character building. The way the writer managed to do all of this against a slightly silly backdrop with comic elements mixed in is brilliant, the story itself felt very reminiscent of Scooby Doo silliness mixed with major gut-punches and commentary on powerful and emotional issues. Franky Delores is one of my all-time favourite characters and I will be talking about this novel for a very long time

I really enjoyed this one! Atmospheric with great characters, I devoured this as quick as I could. Highly recommended!

The premise of this book is so wonderful and unique. This author has an incredible imagination but needs to work on technical skill and execution.

Seeing a group of lesbian characters in the story was wonderful, it was healing. I enjoyed the plot, I loved the elements of the story and that's why I requested an ARC, because I read the synopsis and was absolutely hooked.

Unfortunately, the potential tied to the concept of the story wasn't realised due to an unfortunate amount of telling instead of showing, which stole the magic from multiple scenes. While most of the horror elements managed to still be enjoyable despite this writing style, the romantic elements of the story were the parts that suffered the most. I did not feel the chemistry, I was told that the characters had chemistry. (Just trust me bro)

With all of that in mind, I could have still given the book a higher rating, however my ARC copy was also absolutely littered with mistakes. Spelling errors, gramatical errors, formatting errors. Each "chapter" had a strange formatting issue wherein the first letter would be on a different line and the chapter title would be in all caps, tacked onto the end of a previous paragraph without a line break let alone a page break. This story needs serious, thorough editing before it goes to final print!

With extensive editing this could be 3 stars, but as is I couldn't give it higher than 2.

Veal is what happens when you throw Frankenstein, a queer friend group, unresolved trauma, and small-town murder vibes into a blender—and honestly, it works.
We follow Lawrence, who’s looking for a fresh start (and probably a therapist) in a place called Mistaken Point. She drags her best friend Stasia along, and as they try to adjust to their new school and the unsettling energy of the town, they hear whispers of young women turning up dead under suspiciously gruesome circumstances. Super casual.

Lawrence gets a job at the local arcade (because nothing says “coping” like skee-ball and murder rumors), where she meets Franky—the brooding, emotionally armored boss—and Pippa, the resident jokester with more going on under the surface than she lets on. Lawrence develops a bit of a thing for Franky, who is convinced there’s a literal monster preying on women in Mistaken Point—and maybe, just maybe, that monster is her dad. Naturally, the girls band together to go full monster-hunting squad.

The book is well-paced, with a solid murder mystery anchoring the plot, but what really shines is the character work. Each girl has her own baggage, and the story takes the time to unpack it—especially Pippa, who totally stole the show for me. She hides behind humor, but there’s a lot of guilt and loyalty driving her, particularly in how she’s been quietly watching over Franky since everything went to hell.

Yes, the ending was a little predictable (you’ll probably see the twist coming), but the journey getting there was so full of heart, tension, and queer love that I didn’t mind. There’s urban legend energy, emotional unraveling, and a big messy monster chase—and it all comes together into something that feels honest, weird, and deeply human.

I could have highlighted every single word in this book. Astounding - normalized a lot of the ways I feel. Like women are meant for men. Their entire lives based upon how to serve them, please them, boost their moods and confidence. Revolving around men. But what about the women who don't care? Not just queer women - women who know their self worth, their importance in this world, their pride and confidence.
Veal takes it on - they die. Consumed by angry men, men who hate women -- all accepted by society.
Lawrence refuses to break - or even bend. With her bestie, Stasia, these two 24 yo grad students move to a murder capital - Mistaken Point.
While juggling classes, Lawrence lands a job at the local arcade - quickly becoming enraptured with the owner, Frankie. Her father recently convicted of the string of cruel and horrific murders, several women between ages 19 and 28. Like veal, kept chained and allowed no growth.
Just an amazing queer horror commentary.

Veal: trapped in a box, restricted from growth. The title of this book perfectly describes the story (namely, our protagonists and the murdered girls found all over town).

Veal is a sapphic horror story centered around enduring and surviving childhood/family trauma and creating your own found family. I loved the premise of this book- I loved that it took place in Canada, I love lesbian horror, loved that there were no male protagonists, and loved that it followed four lesbians friends: two who escaped their own trauma to move to Mistaken Point for a fresh start, and two that cannot seem to escape their home and trauma in Mistaken Point. Mistaken point is described as "the kind of place a monster thrives - feasting on a diet of girls, forever twenty-three, stunted from growth like veal."

However, I was pretty bummed that the bulk of the story (truthfully about 70% of the book) was focused on Lawrence's instant overwhelming, simp-like obsession with Franky. At first, it's because Franky is hot. Eventually, Lawrence decides she likes Franky's off-putting demeanor and her extremely evident psychological trauma because she doubles down on pursuing Franky. Meanwhile, Franky is chronically annoyed and all over the place with her emotions, obsessed with finding a monster she believes is stalking women of the town but most people have never seen this monster, much to Franky's agitation. In addition to the near constant inner monologue of Lawrence pining over Franky, the book also had a recurring men-are-bad theme that popped up periodically. Which honestly.... fair. This female reviewer knows the cruelty of men all too well how some men can suck and fuck with your life, job, and body.

I was a bit disappointed that the book contained very little actual horror. However, the book also sort of tells you early on, or at least drops a lot of hints, that this monster may not be what it seems. (MARKED AS SPOILER ON GOODREADS): Specifically, "maybe it's (the monster) is a metaphor for misogyny."

That being said!! The book contained some very entertaining one liners and actually made me laugh a few times. I also really enjoyed the happy ending and I found myself genuinely wishing them well in the future.

Thank you, NetGalley and ECW Press, for the eARC!!!

I DNF’d this book around the halfway mark. I didn’t feel that Veal was approaching its point in a timely enough manner, at least for me personally. I was intrigued by the description comparing Veal to Twin Peaks, but I found that it didn’t quite scratch that itch, at least not from the amount I read.

Review posted to Goodreads:
3.5 stars rounded up

Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for the ARC!
I really enjoyed the Summerween slasher-like atmosphere that this built up while still exploring the nuances of each of the main characters. I did feel like the pacing was slow, which made it harder to get into for me at times.

I want to start out by thanking netgalley for sending me a copy of this to read! I always appreciate the opportunity.

Now with that being said, I am also deeply confused at what was going on with the formatting of this e-copy. I'm wondering if I was maybe sent a bad copy because the formatting of this made it unreadable. There seemed to be no rhyme or reason to the paragraph breaks and every few pages I would get a section where there weren't any breaks at all? Certain words would also have line breaks in between them which made me feel like I was having a stroke while reading them. So I can only hope this is an issue with my copy or e-reader because this'll need a heavy round of editing before the publishing date otherwise.

The formatting issues combined with the writing style made this a very tough read so I did have to dnf around the 20% mark unfortunately. I hate to be overly negative and really don't want to punch down on a new author but that was simply my honest experience reading this and it wasn't an enjoyable one.

The premise was really interesting, which is why I wanted to give it a shot! I love twin peaks and usually anything inspired by it, but I wasn't getting the atmosphere comparison at all here really. I guess because it's a small town with secrets brewing beyond the surface but the writing style didn't really hone in on that atmosphere much. Maybe it does later on when I'm sure some of the darker aspects of this story are revealed, but I will never know.

I would be willing to give this another shot if the formatting is fixed. The premise is super cool and while I didn't love the style of prose, I did find the main character's struggle with homophobia and marginalization in a small town setting very relatable.

3.75 rounded up

this was a wonderful read! i’m so thankful to have gotten this arc from netgalley and simon & schuster, i devoured this

the world was rich, the characters were relatable, the dialogue was fantastic and the horror elements were perfectly eerie. seeing butch lesbians represented in a “butch is my gender” way is always so beautiful to me, and having TWO of them in one book is so fun. i love horror books that make a tangible monster out of personal traumas and this one did it perfectly.

my only qualm with the book was the speed. i felt like—even as a queer person myself—the “die for you” devotion that lawrence has for franky seemed a little unrealistic after 6-10 weeks (especially since they rarely touch and don’t kiss). it would’ve been more believable if they had been something like pen-pals as children that just lost touch, or if lawrence had spent over a year in that town before things started happening. while i did find the simping lesbian behavior cute, it just wasn’t realistic for me and sometimes took me out of it. would’ve been a solid 4 or 4.5 if this hadn’t been the case.

*Veal* by Mackenzie Nolan completely rattled me—in the best way. From the opening pages, there’s an underlying unease that creeps in and slowly coils tighter with every chapter. I went in expecting disturbing, and I definitely got that—but what surprised me was how thoughtful and haunting it was beyond the surface-level horror.

The writing is raw and deliberate. Every word feels intentional, like it's pressing on a bruise you didn't know you had. Nolan builds dread not with cheap tricks but with the steady unraveling of truth, memory, and identity. There’s something deeply intimate about the way the story unfolds, like you’re eavesdropping on something you were never meant to hear.

What really stuck with me was the atmosphere—claustrophobic, visceral, and unnervingly quiet at times. It’s not loud horror; it’s the kind that gnaws at you slowly. And while the plot kept me flipping pages, it was the emotional depth and grotesque beauty of the world that really lingered.

*Veal* is not an easy read, but it’s an unforgettable one. It made me uncomfortable, reflective, and completely absorbed. I’m still trying to shake it off—and I’m not sure I want to.

I really enjoyed this story. Loved the characters and their interactions with each other. Loved the suspense and drama of it all. The ending was perfection.

I enjoyed this sapphic, creature/grief horror. It hit some great notes: found family, how trauma and grief shape us, the strength of friendship and how connecting with other women makes us stronger.

There were moments when the writing felt a little repetitive and lacked some depth, but other moments when the narrative soared and the characters felt whole and human.

I loved the ending; it was full of “good for her” moments. I also loved the chemistry between Lawrence, Franky, Pippa, and Anastasia. I loved how they all saw the best and worst in each other and still loved one another through it. It felt like a very good and accurate depiction of friendship between women.

Overall, I would recommend Veal to anyone looking for a creature horror that weaves a lot of grief and trauma into the story and anyone who is looking for a solid “good for her” (or in this case them) novel.

Horrifically gory and terrifying, but at the same time, hopelessly romantic and touching? Huge thank you to ECW Press & NetGalley for this advanced copy!

This queer monster horror is actually such a thrilling and shockingly emotional tale of harrowing grief, letting go of past trauma and bonding with kindred souls who truly see you— despite the wounds you're trying to heal from. 🖤

I really enjoyed this one, and as a fellow Newfoundlander, I'm excited to read more horror gems from Mackenzie! 👀👏🏻

Wow! What an enthralling read from start to finish. The pacing was great, I never felt that my interest was waning, I couldn’t wait to see what happened next.
The only thing that bothered me at times was the dialogue coming off as unrealistic. I’m not sure what I found more hard to believe, a monster or the amount of lesbians in the same town who were only somewhat toxic to each other. As a Canadian and a lesbian who loves horror, this really did scratch the itch.

Thank you to the author and NetGalley for giving me an ARC.

This book had a lot of strengths. It captured the small-town vibe perfectly, with an unsettling and creepy atmosphere, an unsolved mystery, and a closed-off community that knows more than its letting on. Lawrence and Stasia were both really good characters. I really liked their dynamic and the depth of their affection for each other was shown as the narrative progressed. I liked the first-person narrative as it meant I got to know Lawrence better, but it did feel limiting at times.

I felt like I didn't get to know the characters as well as I would have liked. There was a lot of aspects in this novel, and sometimes the characters took a backseat and the narrative took over. It meant I couldn't connect to the characters as much as I would have liked, and so I gave it four stars.

Overall, a really cool premise, with an intriguing atmosphere, and a unique sapphic romance.

Veal by Mackenzie Nolan is a captivating debut that blends elements of horror, queer camaraderie, and dark academia into a compelling narrative. Set in the eerie town of Mistaken Point, the story follows Delores "Lawrence" Franklin and her friends as they delve into a series of grisly murders, uncovering unsettling truths about womanhood and urban legends. Nolan's writing is sharp and atmospheric. This novel is a must-read for fans of genre-blending tales with rich character dynamics and a touch of the supernatural.