I am so incredibly grateful for the opportunity to have received a physical advanced copy of Fairydale from the author and Atria Books! 🫶

Fairydale truly is ethereal and it’s such a beautiful story that will forever remain in my heart! 🥹🖤 It’s gothic, haunting, magical and brought me to a whole other world! 🫶 The world building is intricately complex with three different timelines and yet ties together so seamlessly like one putting together puzzle pieces for a puzzle! 🧩 Now I will say that this book is HUGE! 🙀🙊My physical edition of the book is 730 pages and I savored this book for five days because I didn’t want to let go or say goodbye! 🫶

This book brought me through the wringer of emotions! 😭💔😂🤭🔥🙊😱😤🥰 I cried, laughed, got angry, had my heart broken and put back together time and time again, smiled, blushed, screamed, got goosebumps, etc. Don’t even get me started on the love story because the love story is beautiful! 🥹❤️ It really is a love story that transcends across all time and is simply *chef’s kiss* 👩‍🍳💋

If you love gothic historical fantasy, a beautiful love story, slow burn, multiple timelines, touch her and ☠️, mystery, and a story that will bring you a beautiful and haunting ride then be sure to read this book! 🫶

First I would love to thank Author Veronica Lancet for writing such a beautiful, heartbreaking book. It’s truly one of my top 5 favorites of all time. Getting the extra surprise epilogue was such a sweet treat. I’d love to know more of their story later on!

What a wild ride!!!!! At times, I cried. At times, I laughed. At times, I was confused! The overarching love story was amazing, and I loved the different timelines. I did think the book was a bit long, but I don’t know what could be cut out! Definitely recommending this one to my fellow romantic fantasy lovers!

I loved the gothic atmosphere and how Fairydale itself felt alive with secrets. Darcy was easy to connect with, and the push and pull between Caleb and Amon kept me attention. The book is definitely a slow burn, and at times the felt longer than it needed to be. I also noticed a few errors, but the atmosphere and characters won me over.

Thanks to NetGalley and Atria Books for the chance to read Fairydale by Veronica Lancet. My opinions are my own.

Fairydale checks all of the dark romance boxes, so readers should definitely read the trigger warnings. This is a gothic, dark, historical romantasy. At times it sort of reminded me of Elena's complex relationship(s) with Stefan and Damon from the Vampire Diaries, but more dark and gritty. In a similar way, this story is meant to be a slow burn romance. It sort of felt like a slow burn but then became an insta-love way faster than it probably should have. I still liked the romance regardless. The author gives a lot of detail--most of it is to establish the history of the characters but also to develop this world. There were times when it felt detail heavy where being inundated with too many details took me out of the story. The excessive details also made the pacing super slow at times, which took away from the story for me. Some people may love that though. For a dark romance story, I was aware that the FMC was being gaslit because it felt intentional in the author's part. It also made the FMC's perspective feel unreliable at times, which fit the aesthetic of this story. There were moments where I was frustrated with the characters, but I think this was intentioned by the author as well...or I at least hope so.

I've sat on this review for a few days because I have a lot of mixed feelings on this book.

I’ll start with the things I liked about it. The beginning of the book had allll the right vibes. It has this gothic fantasy feel to it that was done so well! I will note, I didn’t realize at first that it was set in the 1950s (I didn’t pay attention to the date) and the initial gothic vibes made me think it was an older time. I was quickly adjusted to the modern time, but the first few chapters within the book didn’t read as the time to me. The vibes were great though! The book really has quite a few genres that it blends together throughout the book, with fantasy, history, some almost horror elements and sci fi as well. It is also very dark, with lots of gore and SA happening (so check the triggers and take care of yourself). It is also a complete story, so no need to wait for a sequel to come out, which is nice (but warning. It is long.)

Going off that, the world building in this was very intriguing. It covers a few time periods with some flashbacks and such, and with each of those we get a very immersive experience and a lot of great imagery. It has some really fun reincarnation elements, which I always love.

The characters were interesting as well, for the most part. The FMC is very naive and innocent at first, but she goes through a whole journey and grows A LOT in the book. Seeing everything through her perspective was really interesting as the beginning adds such mystery with how in the dark she is about the town. As the reader, we are only learning about it all with her, so there are some trippy moments and a lot of gaslighting going on while we try to figure out what really is happening. The MMC is also deliciously dark. He definitely has a past filled with bad deeds, but as you learn more about him, you understand his motivations.

The spice was also well done, both human and other? It definitely fits the bill for the dark romantasy smut if you’re looking for that!

Now on to my meh feelings. I initially rated the book 3.75-4 stars, but the more I thought about a few specific things, the more it dropped. I will add - I don’t think it is a bad book. I think a lot of people can and will enjoy it. I overall still liked the book and will be curious to talk to others about it. There were just a few things that I had critiques about.

The book was too long. Honestly? I wish it was a series. While it is nice to not have to wait for another book to come out, this one ended up tiring me out and losing my interest. It also felt like a totally different book at the end than the book we started with. I think if it had been broken up into three parts, the different genre/vibes would have made more sense and I wouldn’t have lost interest. Again, the beginning had this great gothic and mystery feel to the fantasy and I was really hooked into it, but the end felt like it lost a lot of that gothic spirit and became something else. It also felt like it was dragging for a bit there in the middle due to the length. The last third, I was so fatigued with the story and the new directions it was going with, I started to really lose steam. So while it is nice to not have to wait for another book to come out, this really would have been better for my engagement and attention span to have been split.

This is a dark fantasy with trigger warnings, so there was a lot of gore and things that I was expecting, but in my personal opinion, some of the violence was used as a plot device too often. There is SA throughout the book, which again, I was expecting, and I think it CAN be used in dark romance to tell part of the story, but this started to feel like the ONLY thing the author was using. It felt like (and again, this is my opinion) every interaction the FMC had with men (unless they were related to her) led to SA. And these were all convenient ways for the MMC to then come in and rescue her and murder the people who harmed her. One or two times? Okay, but it really just got to be a repetitive plot device that didn’t feel like it added anything to the story when it was the same copy paste SA/murder. I know a lot of other people will have no issue with this and say that it something normal and to be expected in dark romance, but I just find there is a way to use it well and this just felt like it was almost the author’s fall back to create drama instead of coming up with another traumatic thing. It isn’t a trigger for me, so it wasn’t like I was hating that it happened so often for that, it is just how it is used and whether it needs to be used so often or if it feels like a lack of imagination/creativity from the author. <spoiler> I also had a really hard time with the scene in her memory where the MMC SA’d her. While the other SA scenes aren’t explicit, this one was very in depth and on page, and then turned out it wasn’t even real. I know that it was a fabricated memory and didn’t happen, but I didn’t love that we then ended up having a ‘false’ memory/lie told about SA. When we live in a world where so often women aren’t believed and people try to claim they made it up, having a story line where it in fact was a false memory (spread by the villains), it just gave me ick feelings. </spoiler> .

Lastly - I have an issue with the whole moral, underlying message, reason for everything with the main characters at the end. This is spoiler to the ending, so proceed with caution. <spoiler> We find out in the last third of the book that they were never able to conceive and have children, even after she has been reincarnated multiple times, because her mother when she was her original self removed her womb and did some kind of magic so she can’t grow it back (even though she can grow back everything else). This led to like literally hundreds of years of turmoil between Amon and Sela/Lizzie/Darcy because they don’t communicate their feelings. She feels like she isn’t whole because she can’t have a child, she shuts him out at times and doesn’t express herself, and then he has his own feelings of not being able to care for her blah blah. I completely get that women who are unable to have their own children have strong emotions about it. I never want to discredit someone for feeling like that. Once again, it is the way that it is portrayed in this book that I had an issue with, because in the end, after however many reboots to her system, she is magically healed and they end up pregnant and yay happily ever after with the baby. It just felt like such an icky “message” in the end because they HAD adopted children and were supposed to be so in love and mates and obsessed with each other, but apparently that was not enough because they never conceived the child themselves. It just felt like it a) cheapened their love story and b) perpetuated the theory that women who can’t have children are broken and will never be whole (even after hundreds or thousands of years). </spoiler> .

So overall, the book had a lot of potential and was entertaining. I had a few specific things (that I had BIG feelings about) but they are things that are very specific to me and others might have zero issue with. I think this could be something a lot of people enjoy a lot!

This book reminds me of the past lives/doppelgangers of Elena and Stefan in the Vampire Diaries, and the book Bewitched by Laura Thalassa. I liked aspects of this book, but there were just too many issues I had with it.

I knew what was happening from the start of the book. However I still felt gaslit the whole time. I was going crazy as much as the FMC was. I also hate stalker romance, and tbh that's basically what this is. IDC if they were past lovers in last lives (I also didn't like Bewitched for that same reason). It's so unrealistic how she has this instalove for this random creepy guy..... So idk how the author and reviews are claiming this is a slow burn?! He litterally tells her "you're mine" from the very beginning. This man gave me the ick from the start, and it was really hard to like him after that. Don't get me wrong I love Damon Salvatore, but at least he owns up to what he does. I did not like the FMC and was so tired of being in her head.

The authors note rubbed me the wrong way, in the beginning. The "if you don't like my book, it's a you problem for not understanding"...... Is not how you win readers. This book had me gaslit the entire time, and it was so unnecessarily long, and I don't care if the author said she doesn't care if it's too long. It was. You should be open to critism.

I am grateful to netgalley for providing an eARC of this book in exchange for my honest opinion.

The Dyslexic Who Reads

Stars: ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
Spice: 🌶️🌶️🌶️
POV: First person
Gene: Gothic Historical Romantasy
Triggers: Open door sexual content, Death, Murder, fertility issues, rape (past not on page)
Read Time: Kindle said around 24 hours

What I loved about this book:
❤️ This book was deep and heavy, but that's also what makes it so fabulous! You really get into different worlds and different time periods with this one, and that takes time.

❤️ World building - I don't know if I've ever read anything that had such wonderful would building and there are so many different worlds to build in this one! It was rich and haunting and beautiful. @authorveronicalancet Does such a wonderful job at this! You are sucked into every world/time period and you can't wait to read more about each of them. It was complex and compelling. I was excited to read each one. It was like stories on top of stories. Chief Kiss!

❤️ The characters how do I even describe how astonishing they were? Once again they were so layered and deep and complex! There is just so much there that you're just going to have to trust me that it is well worth the read. I was just blown away.

❤️ The Story - It was SENSATIONAL! I try really hard not to put spoilers into my reviews and sometimes I find that really hard to do, and this is one of those instances. There is no one to explain this story with out spoiling some aspect of it.

What I thought could have been better:

🤔 Once again, really nothing. It's the perfect book if you want to dive into something deep and heavy. I do need a light fun palate cleanser after this one. This one showed up in my dreams!

Overall:
🔥 READ IT!

🐈Animal Fact - Inspired by Mr. Meow
A stray cat is a cat who lived indoors and was socialized to people at some point in her life, but has left or lost her home, or was abandoned, and no longer has regular human contact.

I got this book free from @netgalley for my honest review.

Fairydale by Veronica Lancet is a dark, gothic historical romance novel that had me reading at every spare moment. I cannot remember the last time I became so thoroughly immersed in a story and fell so deeply in love with the characters. I found it extremely powerful.
I absolutely loved everything about this book!
The fantasy, suspense, supernatural, romance, paranormal….
Amazing! 


Thank You NetGalley and Atria Books for your generosity and gifting me a copy of this amazing eARC!

I was told that this book was a gothic dark paranormal romance. Veronica Lancet knows how to set up atmosphere, because the town of Fairydale was haunting and mysterious in the best way. I felt that there were some contradition throught the book (or manybe it was my brain) but the time period would swing back and forth... But i mean back and forth from current 2025 time to different time periods even thought this is based to be in 50s. The gothic vibes were great, the dark aspect for me was non existent. I felt that there was a lot of licking which may be where people get the paranormal aspect (yes there is blood and had ghosts and gargoyles) but it just felt that there was a lot of her naivety that was overpowering the story.

I will 100% say this book is unique and that I have yet to read anything like it. It has elements of fantasy, gothic romance, historical, and paranormal fiction. It felt there there was too much or many too much that was trying to be accomplished in the book but was still a lot feel through. I still enjoyed this read it just seemed to be a little bogged down.

I’d say this was a unique story, but this book is 700 pages long or thirty-one hours on audio. While it was beautifully written, it was also very repetitive, scenes constantly blurred, and I felt that the tension fizzled 1/3 or the way through the book. I’m convinced if this had been cut by 300 pages, it might’ve been a five-star read.

There were a lot of "twists" that I caught onto in the first hint... or even 10% of the book. I felt that
the ending was a bit anticlimactic, but the epilogue was the perfect conclusion to this story. I had a hard time rating since I really enjoyed parts of the book but felt that it was overall way too long and drawn out, so I am going to split the difference at 3 stars. ⭐️

Thank you NetGalley for this ARC in exchange for my honest review.

Thank you for this ARC.

I was excited to get a chance to read this before it was traded republished.

It’s a gothic paranormal/fantasy romance.

It’s goes back and forth in different timelines. It takes a bit before it all comes together.

Where do I even start?!? This book has it all mystery, paranormal feeling aspects, fantasy, romance, reincarnation, history, dark atmosphere and so much more. The story starts with Darcy an orphan after her mother died when she was young, she has committed her life to becoming a teacher. One day she gets a package full of unusual things including a letter that says her father died and she is mentioned in the will and must go to Fairydale in order to claim her inheritance. This is where our story gets interesting, as soon as she enters this town she has multiple unusual encounters including one with Caleb Hale a broody mysterious man who she can’t help but be pulled towards. While’s she’s falling for Caleb during the day she has another she’s falling for at night Amon who she dreams about meeting as she lives the life of Elizabeth who was born 150 years in the past. How does this all tie to her and how does it call come together in the end? Read this book asap I adored every second of it!!

[arc review]
Thank you to NetGalley and Atria Books for providing an arc in exchange for an honest review.
Fairydale re-releases August 19, 2025

This story starts in 1955 when Darcy, an orphaned English teacher, is informed that her biological father has passed and has included her in his will.
To receive her inheritance, Darcy must spend two full months in the mysterious small town of Fairydale.

A gothic, paranormal romance with fated mates, reincarnation, and ancient evil — what could go wrong? A lot, apparently.

This story was beyond cyclical and had no merit being almost 800 pages long. There was no subtlety at all in regard to foreshadowing, so the need to preface things with an author’s note touting complex narrative threads and a plot so complicated that you can’t dare to skim the book, made zero sense.
The fmc was akin to a doormat, and the only plot device that Lancet wanted to utilize was rape, which became extremely gratuitous.
What baffles me the most in seeing a book go from indie to trad publishing, is still coming across a scene of blackface…

The first half of the book was a little slow and I had some issues keeping myself into reading it. The last half of the book though is where you start finding out all of the back information and it really picks up. It was a good book and I enjoyed reading it but it was hard to stay focused through some of it.

Thank you NetGalley and Atria books for the ARC for the re-release of this book. In someways this book deserves more stars, but in the end I settled on 3 as I think this book could have been edited down and still been really good. There’s multiple timelines with flashbacks and sometimes the flashbacks span several long chapters and so when the story comes back to the current time you can’t even remember where they left off. This was a dense and slow read for me. It does start to pick up in the last 40% of the book, but the pacing still makes it a slow read. It was good and it ends up being an epic love story, but I don’t see myself ever re-reading this in the future.

I tried to like this book, truly. The shock value in the prologue kind of offset the lyrical prose when it showed up. While I enjoyed the overall plot of a woman finally sitting out on an adventure of her own, I just could not engage in the story itself.

2.75

Thank you Netgalley for the ARC

I'm so mad at this book. It started off really promising. The idea behind the main plot is really interesting and it kept me guessing on who was lying, who was real, etc etc. I loved that there was a supernatural component and a time jump mixed in with the romance.

But the book is WAY TOO LONG. There is no way it needs to be 700 pages. The pacing just slowed to a crawl about half way and never recovered for me. Two of the later chapters were showing 51 minutes to read, which is absurd. I found myself skimming over the "in the past" chapters towards the end because I just didn't care, I wanted to know how the actual plot of the book ended.

Overall, once all the secrets were revealed about 75% into the book, I kind of didn't care anymore? I knew it would have an HEA so I lost interest.

To me, the book was just fine. I think I would've loved it if it were 200 pages less and kept the flashbacks shorter. It was really disappointing to invest so much time into reading it just to lose interest so late

This story owns my very heart and soul. Wholly. Irrevocably. Eternally.

Fairydale is one of the most epic and timeless love stories I have ever had the pleasure of experiencing and now re-experiencing in its traditionally published form. It is a hauntingly beautiful gothic, historical romance with elements of mystery, suspense, magic, trauma, betrayal, and above all, love.

Like many other reviewers, I truly believe this story is best experienced going in blind. But do note, this is a long and complex tale that spans multiple timelines and locations with a wide cast of characters. The first third of the book is slower paced as there is a world that needs to be built and explained. I assure you every detail has a purpose whether it becomes relevant later or contributes to the emotional impact the reader experiences. Trust the process. Trust the story. And trust Veronica to deliver a breathtaking romantic tale full of twists and turns. One that will have you yearning for that lost piece of your soul that will make you whole (if you haven’t already found love yet, of course!).

In terms of the romance, the love between our main characters is so palpable through the pages. The devotion, loyalty, and care they have for each other is just unmatched. I was kicking my feet at their tender moments and throwing my kindle around and yelling when they experienced devastating blows… I was fully invested in their relationship and it took the reading experience to a whole other level. But again, while the heart of this book is a romance, there is plenty of action, scheming, and untangling of lies that will keep you on your toes and trust me, you will never be able to predict what is going to happen next.

So add Fairydale to your TBR! You are not just reading a story, you are signing up for the ride of your life where you too will be completely immersed in Fairydale while experiencing the events through the eyes of the FMC Darcy. Get ready to rage, cry, swoon, break into pieces, and be put back together… over and over again as these characters are put through the wringer. I know it’s a chunky book. It is worth it. Also, the bonus epilogue in the new edition is a NEED.

My Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️

Spice Level: 🌶️🌶️

Kindle Unlimited: Yes

I want to preface this by saying that while I didn’t mind this book and it is the vibes I’m going for when I read a fantasy romance, I think this book fell flat in a lot of ways and is being a lotta bit overhyped on BookTok.

Let’s start with the good, this book has SO MUCH POTENTIAL. It was dark, it was gothic, it was fantasy romance, the vibes were there. I was so interested in the plot at first and really excited at trying to figure out what was going on. For the first half, this was easily a four star read.

Here’s where it fell off, one the writing is not great. I don’t mind a book where the writing isn’t great as long as I know that going into it and it’s clear that the author is intending for it to be just a fun time. This book was trying super hard to be on the level of Keri Lake.

About halfway through the MMC starts calling the FMC “lass” like she’s a freaking dog. He’s not Scottish…. It was random and then he wouldn’t STOP calling her “lass” I started getting so angry every time. It gave me such an ick.

The last thing is too much was going on. It was needlessly complicated. A paranormal dark gothic romance was enough, why add SciFi and historical fiction into it???

This book was a WILD ride. I read the synopsis but cannot say I knew what I was getting into. This story follows Darcy as she moves to a town called Fairydale to wait for the reading of her late father's estate, however mysteries begin to unravel in this small town. The gothic vibes in this book were so good. I was hooked for the first 30-40% of the book but then it began to lose me. There are a lot of plot twists which were interesting and the story definitely took unexpected turns.
There were some very graphic SA scenes and some of the spice was just not my cup of tea. I did like the MMC initially but he lost me by the end. This is a me thing, but it gives me the ick when he referred to her as "my female." Definitely make sure to check the trigger warnings because this book can get dark.
I think I may not be the correct audience for this book but I would love to read a gothic thriller by this author.

Thank you to NetGalley and Atria books for my e-ARC of this book!