At first, I was sucked into this story. I needed to know what happened and who the monster was. As the story went on, I felt like I was missing something. It might just be me, but this is a great story.

this one, while slow to start, was a wild ride. first off, the level of queer yearning here was spectacular. never have i seen such an authentically depicted ebb and flow of doomed attraction between characters in fiction, let alone literary horror. there were some sections i felt could've been a tad more fleshed out, or that the allegory could have been a bit less heavy handed, but the way this was written was sweeping, poetic, and ominous. spooky sapphics gotta pick this one up.

This book had a lot of elements that I eat up in a book, such as explorations of trauma, obsession, and complicated friendship dynamics. It’s also sapphic and offers strong social commentary and I can appreciate when a horror/thriller book gets me scared and gets me thinking at the same time. This has the potential to become a darling in the “weird girl” book genre.

Veal blends horror, queer themes, friendship, and fear in a compelling way. There’s tension all through, whether the monster is real, what people believe, how trauma shapes the characters. I appreciated the strong character development, especially of Lawrence and Franky, and the book offers sharp social critique alongside its scares.

3.5 Stars.
I enjoyed this read, the ladies were all quite different while the plot was a little predictable in the end. Themes that were touched upon were also fun to interact with as the reader. Overall, I did enjoy, I suppose that I just was left wanting more as the reader.
Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the ARC.

Thank you so much Net Galley for an ARC of "Veal"! Spoiler free review:

"Caribener up girls. Let's go find that asshole."

An experimental horror in a small town, "Veal" explores the monstrosities of family abuse and trauma. We see two sides of obsession. One, as our main character Lawrence falls in love HARD with her new boss, Franky. And the second, Franky is obsessed with hunting down the monster who killed all of the girls her father was sent to jail for. Bring in their two best friends, and we have a quartet of clever, funny, lesbians. 

Lawrence and Stacia are navigating moving to this small town, primarily as a means of escaping their lives, and especially their mothers. Meanwhile, Pippa and Franky have to deal with the changes that happen to childhood friendships, processing abuse, and feeling trapped in a small town where everyone judges Franky for what they think her father did.

Overall, I enjoyed this book. While the ARC had a few formatting issues and typos, it wasn't anything that took me out of the story. The characters felt very realistic, like girls I went to art school or have worked with. The pacing was great, and I think this was the perfect length. The atmosphere and setting of the town, and the arcade in particular was great, super visual. 

During the reading experience, I really enjoyed the conversation about whether the monster was real or not. I liked the uncertainty and the sense of fear it created. But ultimately, when I wasn't reading, and was talking about the book, I felt a bit frustrated by not knowing if the monster was just a representation of misogyny or not. I both loved and disliked the ending in equal measure. The only pacin  issue ai had was with the final few pages feeling too fast.

Overall, I really liked this one, and will be recommending it!

3.5 stars!

A lot of this really, really worked for me. The pacing, the eerie vibes of the setting, the gorgeous prose, well done suspense/action sequences, and of course, the queer camaraderie - as promised in the description blurb. While Lawrence's insta-love for Franky wasn't my favorite and never quite made sense to me, the yearning in this book is done so well and written so beautifully, it's hard for me to even complain about it.

Some of the dialogue struggled to read as natural, and it took me out of the story at times. I appreciate the heart of this novel and the themes it was centered on, though it did feel a tad too on the nose in some parts. I think some points could have been driven home in a more subtle fashion and the message still would have gotten across in a meaningful way. Overall a lot of it felt like it could have been polished just a bit more, but it was still a fun time, and an enjoyable read. A solid debut and I'll definitely be watching for more from this author.

This was so good! A group of fantastic characters, a chilling storyline, and an intriguing mystery that brought the narrative together.

Veal follows Lawrence who decides to start afresh in a new town, but soon discovers the town is know for grisly murders of countless young women. She then meets Franky in her job at the local arcade, who is convinced a monster is responsible for the murders. What follows is a book of monster hunting and friendship, with both characters having to face inner demons, as well as the ones seemingly lurking within the town.

It’s atmospheric and utterly compelling, giving the perfect balance of eerie vibes and supportive relationships, in an immersive setting which I absolutely loved. There’s commentary on trauma, familial relationships, love and grief, alongside thought-provoking reflections on girlhood and misogyny that made this such an incredible read. It also has a genuinely brilliant storyline which kept me guessing and provided the level of horror I wanted.

Honestly, the perfect sapphic horror to pick up this October!

Thank you to the publisher for gifting me a copy 😊

This was everything I didn’t know I needed. I went into Veal by Mackenzie Nolan completely blind, where you meet Delores “Lawrence” Franklin and her best friend, Anastasia Lanes. They have just moved to Mistaken Point for grad school, lured there by the need to outrun their families and a slight obsession with true crime. Mistaken Point is the site of a recent, brutal serial killer, and something about the whole town feels off.

When Lawrence meets Franky and Pippa at her new job at Franklin’s Funhouse, a horror story of sapphic yearning, unchecked rage and trauma, mommy issues, daddy issues, and womanhood decentered from men unfurls in front of us.

This was the weird girl, feminist horror read I have been yearning for! Everything about it was a five star read for me. The characters, the dialogue, the multilayered storytelling of a serial killer, a romance, friendships, and trauma—everything artfully intertwined to answer the question: Who and/or what is a monster?

It reminded me of some of my favorite horror media, including Twin Peaks, The Decent, Barbarian, Smile, Such Sharp Teeth, and more. I wanted to hug everyone and be their friends and help them fight monsters and work in an arcade. And maybe encourage everyone to go to therapy?

Overall, I will not be shutting up about this one.

Thank you to ECW Press for the ARC! This book is out October 14, just in time to fit into your spooky season TBR.

Two best friends, Lawrence and Stasia, move to a small town together to start grad school. What is supposed to be a fresh start away from old jobs, families that do not accept their sexualities, is somewhat hampered by what at first appears to be small town standoffishness and weirdness towards newcomers. But is that really all there is to it? Why does Stasia manage to find connection with the town’s people, when they literally cross the street to avoid Lawrence? Why is Lawrence’s boss, Frankie, obsessed with the disappearances and murders of young women that happened in town? And why does nobody really seem to care when more women start disappearing?
I really enjoyed the characters and the character building and development here. A group of four lesbians trying to solve the unsolved murders of young women in a town where misogyny stops any serious investigation by the powers that be is certainly an interesting premise. It was also intriguing to see the interactions of four very different lesbians with different approaches to their queerness, from trying to be otherwise as conforming as possible to railing against a sexist system constantly and facing the societal repercussions for it.
However, some of the explorations of oppression presented here seemed a bit underexplored to me. When Frankie is harassed for being an amputee, ableism is not mentioned and instead the harassment is only blamed on sexism. In general, intersectionality was not explored. Any oppression experienced by the main characters was solely due to misogyny with only a very small exploration of class. Trans identity is mentioned once, when a character assumes the main character may be transmasculine, something which is shot down with disdain, race is mentioned as the town is described as very white and both Stasia and Pippa might be non-white, but if they face any additional pressure due to being women of color, this is not explored. The only intersectionality that is explored is that of lesbian sexuality and the way lesbians face additional pressures and harassment from heteropatriarchal societies for not being with men.
I enjoyed the relationship between Lawrence and Frankie, their push-and-pull was intriguing to read and I love unhinged lesbians. I struggled a bit with Lawrence’s immediate obsession as well as her messy internal monologues about becoming a monster to attract Frankie’s attention in the context of the rather cutesy banter that was going on otherwise at first, but once I just accepted that the difference would feel jarring, it was fine. If the author ever wants to write something were there is more focus on the unhinged lesbians I’d love to read it though, because that was fun.
All in all, I enjoyed this story, but it is not the thrilling monster hunt I was expecting. Instead, it is more of a character study of women deeply hurt by patriarchal violence. The story explores misogyny and lesbophobia well, but feels a little one-dimensional in its exploration of it as intersections of oppression are not explored. I did really enjoy the ending and all in all, it was fine.

TW: ableism, csa (past, threat), child abuse (physical, psychological), homophobia, injury, sexism, sexual assault (past), suicide mention (past – considered, joked about)

A great monster adventure and horror novel. I cared about the characters throughout and found the plot predictable but entertaining. Some character inconsistencies (one moment they are fighting, the next they are laughing,) but this does not take away from how enjoyable this book was.

I very much liked the idea of this book, and the themes it was exploring around being a woman, and queerness and men being the worst. However, it took a VERY long time to grab me, I think that’s due to the clunky writing - there were so many metaphors on top of metaphors. Almost like readers aren’t smart enough to understand the subtext of what’s going on. In other parts, I felt like information was glazed over too quickly - I felt like I didn’t really have that much back story for Lawrence, even though it’s her POV. Why did I want more but also less at the same time?

Delores "Lawrence" Franklin is on the run from her failed corporate career and her perpetually disappointed mother. But when she meets the beautiful but beleaguered Franky at her new arcade job, Lawrence's fresh start turns into a full-on monster quest—literally. As Lawrence and Franky’s relationship blooms, we go along with them to answer the plot’s central question: is her father a disturbed, misogynist murderer, or is something larger, more monstrous at play?

As with real anything in the horror genre, there are scenes of violence and viscera that I think, if handled poorly, could easily turn off some readers. However, Nolan’s lyrical descriptions and irreverent humor create a near-perfect balance that lures you in, with a stunningly ambiguous ending that I personally adored.

Overall, VEAL is a campy yet poignant take on the horrors of misogyny that I can't stop thinking about (and likely won’t for some time!) I wasn’t familiar with Mackenzie Nolan’s work prior to requesting this DRC, but I will absolutely be following her authorial career from here on out!

thank you to netgalley and ecw for this arc! on the surface, this book should have been an incredible read for me. the synopsis immediately made me want to read and the plot is so unique and fun. however, i had some real issues with this one. it took me forever to get into it (i seriously considered marking this a dnf at only 15% through, and that was just the beginning) and it didn’t hold my attention at all. every time i thought i really liked a character, they would say or do something that would change my mind completely. the writing style also read as incredibly clunky to me. i don’t want to be overly critical, as this is a debut novel and i can still see some potential, but this one just didn’t offer a great reading experience for me.

The prose is snappy and fun, but also so lyrical and lovely at other times, especially when Lawrence describes Frankie. Her yearning is beautifully written, I kept finding myself highlighting parts of her inner monologue haha
Very suspenseful and engaging read overall, I loved the characters! Thank you for the ARC!

The symbolism and grittiness of this novel are really what drew me in. The dynamic between the two main characters is what pulls you into the story.

I enjoyed this book, I liked the writing and the characters but I wasn’t satisfied by the ending it could have been a bit more fleshed out.

"veal" is an ambitious sapphic horror novel that balances creature feature weirdness with the emotional weight of trauma, girlhood, and community. i liked this book in theory more than i liked it in practice, though there's plenty here to appreciate.

my favorite part was the relationship between lawrence and franky. their dynamic felt complicated in a way that rang true. franky is so wrapped up in her own trauma and obsession with the town's history of murdered girls that she can't really commit to a relationship, even though there are glimpses of flirtation between them. the book does a good job showing how unprocessed trauma makes it hard to form connections, and i appreciated that lawrence's interest wasn't instantly reciprocated. that said, the ending felt rushed. their relationship, which had simmered and stumbled through the bulk of the novel, suddenly snapped into something more romantic without the emotional groundwork fully built up. i wanted to feel that connection deepen, but it just sort of happened.

i'm also not much of a creature person, which made some of the more horror-leaning sections feel slow for me. it felt like the characters spent most of the book talking about the creature instead of actually encountering it. i kept waiting for something to happen. the premise suggests this constant threat hanging over the town, but most of the plot revolves around hunting and hypothesizing rather than actual danger. which, you know, i get. given the twist. but even one or two flashbacks to the original murders might have made franky's fixation feel more immediate. as it stands, the monster is mostly discussed rather than experienced.

tonally, this walks a line between dreamy and heavy-handed. there are moments of sharp insight, especially around the themes of queerness, womanhood, and isolation, but some of the narrative choices felt a little too "explained." i didn't need the book to tell me that certain characters mirrored each other or that this was a commentary on this or that. it's more satisfying to come to those realizations naturally. i do think the concept is really promising, and i love a cast of weird queer girls trying to solve a monster mystery in a town that doesn't care about them. i just wish there had been a bit more depth — more lore, more detail, more action.

in the end, i think this will hit harder for readers who love creature metaphors and can get on board with a slower burn, more emotionally internal kind of horror. for me, it had strong ideas and good bones, but i wanted just a little more meat on them.

Thank you to NetGalley and Mackenzie Nolan for allowing me to read this ARC!
In all honesty, I was a little bummed about this one. It sounded so good, but it just felt like it took forever to get going. Don’t get me wrong — it was good and very original — it just seemed to drag in parts. That said, I do believe it’s worth the read, and I’ll still be adding it to my personal library once it’s released. I recommend you do the same!

The idea was there . . . it was. However, I found the delivery to be lacking. Mackenzie Nolan really forces the themes and metaphors down your throat, telling rather than showing readers what she wants you to know. This was my biggest issue with the story. I don’t need you to keep coming back to the same conversations to continue to explain things that you should let readers figure out for themselves.

Not to mention two of the main characters are in graduate school, while the other two have been through some serious trauma, and yet they all act like children most of the time. Some of their conversations are thought out and deep, while some come across as whiny and child-like. It gave me whiplash.

I also found the “monster hunting” to be very surface level. The characters talk a lot about catching this so-called monster, and very little time being productive in their hunt. It took a good third of the way through the story to even mention the monster, which is the main plot point?

While the author has some incredibly beautiful prose sprinkled throughout the story, they are few and far between and do not fit the overall tone of her writing. Many of these moments involve explaining Lawrence’s obsession with Franky as a consuming hunger. I fully understand the motivation behind this choice, but it’s a little too on the nose. The overall group dynamic between the characters I would have liked explored more in-depth. Their character development, especially as a group, falls flat.

I don’t want to say that there was nothing I liked about the story. I enjoyed the overall premise, the cozy vibe of the arcade in which three of the girls work, and the grisly crimes that haunt the town. Having a women-centered, LGBTQ+ horror novel that really focuses on relationships between women is one of my favorite kinds of stories. And it was enjoyable, I just wish the plot, characters and writing were more consistent.

Thank you to the author, Mackenzie Nolan, and NetGalley for the ARC.