this book is a mix of gothic, horror, fantasy and paranormal fiction and with its three different timelines it will have you questioning what’s going on!? in the town fairydale we follow the fmc darcy as she she comes to this new town to discuss ther estranged fathers will— which doesn’t exactly go as planned, so she must stay in this town… but as she does things are not as they seem with many unsettling things happening to her darcy begins to experience dreams about a mysterious man who she finds herself drawn too and captivated by but she is torn as she also meets a mysterious man in this town of fairydale. and soon she’s finds herself in a web of lies and secrets— i can not say more as you should go into this book blind just as i had to really get the effect of these twist!! as for my thoughts on this book i just feel like so much was happening all at once and it was hard to keep track. which may have been the point to show reader what darcy was going through but it just threw me off a bit. also i just feel like some of the scene just stuck out and didn’t fit with what was happening— but overall it was a decent book with amazing character and character building and a great love story i would definitely recommend to fantasy readers looking for something new because i’ve never read anything like this!!

I have been seeing hype around Fairydale for months and I was worried this would be overhyped but OH. MY. GOSH! I totally get the hype now and I fear this will become my entire personality. This love story left me feeling so full but empty at the same time. This gothic fantasy left me longing for more and feeling every emotion possible. Darcy is one of my favorite FMC’s and Amon has been added to my list of book boyfriends!

Ok, I was confused for a lot of this book, but it was one of those confusing things that you need to continue because it is so intriguing and boy oh boy was I right!!!
My first Veronica Lancet book.
I am so sad that my friend recommended it a lot but I couldn’t continue 😭

Started: 06/08/2025
DNF: 08/11/2025
Rating: ⭐️⭐️.5
Spice: 🌶️🌶️

I was confused for the majority of this book but it was so interesting and intriguing.

I am officially DNFing this book at 56%
It is good, i like the writing and I really wanted to continue but I feel like I have been reading this book for forever and nothing happens!! I just wished there was a novella written alongside it. It would have been way better

This standalone was such a crazy ride. Even though it’s a long book, I read it so quickly!

Set in 1955, it follows Darcy, an orphaned teacher who travels to the eerie coastal town of Fairydale to attend the funeral of the father she never knew and claim her inheritance.

The atmosphere is pure gothic, with two very different men, brooding Caleb and the ghostly nobleman Amon, pulling Darcy into their worlds.

This book blends historical romance with fantasy, paranormal, and horror elements.

It takes some time to piece together what’s really happening, the payoff is so worth it!

Thank you NetGalley and Atria for the gifted copy!

This is one of the BEST standalone fantasy books I have ever had the pleasure of reading. Thank you so much to the author, Veronica Lancet and Atria books for this gifted ARC. Everything about this story is so unique!

I really enjoyed the wild ride that is this book. It had mystery, suspense, family drama, and overall spookiness. I enjoyed learning little truths while the main character did. It was surprising and utterly unpredictable. It is an AMAZING spooky season read with to-die-for dark romance. This story was a solid 4.5 out of 5 read for me! The spice in this book was good, but not all scenes were my cup of tea. I won't yuck the yum though and will say that i just kinda ignored the parts I didn't like ( I only mention this for the trigger warnings). It changed nothing for me as far as the story line, so if you're a bit more on the conservative side with your dark romance, I think this will still be in your wheelhouse. I will be looking for more dark romances from this author in the future!

It took me about six months to finish this book, which I think says a lot about its pacing. The story is quite slow, and there were many times I felt confused—especially with the constant shifts back and forth in time. That said, I truly appreciate the author’s incredible attention to detail. At times, it felt like I was watching a movie unfold in my mind, which speaks to the strength of her writing.

I really enjoyed the originality of the love story—it’s unlike anything I’ve read before. However, there were certain moments, like that period scene (if you know, you know), that completely pulled me out of the story. Around the 80% mark, I ended up skipping ahead to the final chapters. At that point, I still had six hours left in the audiobook, but I felt the story could have been wrapped up much sooner.

Overall, I’m grateful to have received this netgalley arc, and I can see the potential for this to be an amazing series if it were tightened up. The detail is beautiful, but sometimes less is more.

Holy Crap.
This book was dark and twisty but literally so beautifully written. 12/10 recommend this book and I couldn't put it down. I can't wait to read more of this!

truly a 6 star read. I was intimidated by this book solely by the length. but I am so happy I read it. I would say the first 10-12 chapters are a lot of background, aesthetic, & story building. which is why I can see that people DNF it. but in my opinion, it was easy to continue, the story starts to really grip you. then you simply can't put it down. there's a lot of overlapping things, but it all comes together in the most beautiful, heartbreaking but heart-warming way.

*the bonus epilogue was a perfect closure*

Fairydale by Veronica Lancet had me hooked from the first page. I was so eager to see the way the story unfolded with each mysterious and emotionally charged twist. I loved how deeply I got to experience the confusion and unraveling right alongside Darcy, the FMC, across multiple timelines and past lives. The gothic horror and supernatural elements gave the story a rich and immersive atmosphere that reminded me of Anne Rice’s The Witching Hour. This, paired with the complex family dynamics and a chilling mystery, provided everything I love in a dark, gripping read.

If you love morally grey MMCs, gothic historical romance, and creepy small-town mysteries, this book should be on your radar. It's the perfect read for the rapidly approaching fall and spooky season.

Yes, there were a few slower moments, but I was too invested to care. I absolutely had to know how everything played out. Veronica’s writing is captivating and beautifully eerie, and this story will definitely stay with me.

Just a heads-up: be sure to check the trigger warnings before diving in.

I'm disappointed to not be able to provide a more positive review of this book - I've heard so much about Fairydale, and hoped that I'd add it to my list of favorite books.

The book began wonderfully for me - I was immediately captivated by Darcy's story, and the incredibly off-putting energy in Fairydale. I was hungry to know more about the town, Darcy's connection to it, and the reason for the odd behavior of everyone she interacted with.

I love multiple timelines, and enjoyed the glimpses into the past that we were able to see through Darcy's dreams. The complexity of the timelines was by far my favorite part of this book - I enjoyed putting together the pieces of Darcy's puzzle and trying to determine what exactly was going on in the dark corners in Fairydale.

I love a reincarnation story, especially a love reincarnation story, so that component also gripped me. Sela was by far my favorite character - she was a total badass and had some great lines.

This book fell apart for me in three major ways.

First, the use of rape as a plot device really put me off - it was completely unnecessary to the story. It was impossible for me to find the main love interest appealing after we are told multiple times that he raped our female main character - even after that was walked back and found to be false, it made me feel incredibly uneasy and soured my opinion of the book.

After Darcy is afraid Caleb raped her in the cabin in the woods, he tells her that it wasn't true and she's not remembering correctly. She challenges her own memory, but ultimately, without any actual evidence that she was not raped after he comes on insanely strong to her, she agrees to go on a date with him. Alarm bells.

And after Darcy expresses fear that Caleb raped her, he continues to press her in an intense way, ultimately showing her paintings of the two of them having sex. My question here is if his whole plan in following Lydia's vision hinges on him not scaring Darcy off, why would he show her paintings of them having sex, knowing that she's already scared of him? He simply could not have thought of a more heart-warming way to remind her of their past, like, I don't know, showing her the specific flowers he apparently went to the ends of the earth to get for her in their past life? Which were housed in the same space in the mansion as the sexual paintings?

Lastly, we did not need a scene where Darcy watches Amon rape Elizabeth through the coven's "memory." I already did not like Caleb/Amon at this point, and watching this scene, though I suspected it was a false memory, pushed me over the edge on this book. There was no reason to include a scene depicting our main love interest raping our main character, there are a thousand different ways the coven could have just as efficiently sowed doubt in Darcy's mind on Amon's intentions.

It felt like the use of rape and sexuality was for shock value, and it completely alienated me from the book.

The next issue I had while reading this book is that so much is told to us, instead of shown to us. When we aren't given enough information along the way and there are plot holes, Darcy/Elizabeth/Sela simply just let us know that Amon told them a series of facts that explain away why they're doing something, or why something in their world works the way it does. It wasn't built into the flow of the book, it was explained away via Darcy via Amon. It didn't feel seamless - much could have been trimmed in this book to allow for more world-bulding.

These issues were percolating by the time I got to the marriage ceremony between Sela and Amon. While much of this book was a fever-dream, I was actually unsure if I read the description of the face paint correctly. Our white, pale-haired, and pale-blue-eyes-they're-basically-white main male character entirely covers his face in black paint, adding white paint to his eyes and red paint to his lips. Then they laugh about how "funny" he looks. This was such an odd detail to include about this world's customs, and I'm not certain about this author's intent here. It seems way too bizarre to be accidental, but I would highly encourage the author to look into minstrel show makeup, as this is the first thought I had while reading our whiter-than-white MMC apply a full face of black paint to his skin. The addition of white to his eyes and red to his lips is so incredibly spot-on to historically-racist makeup used in blackface minstrel shows that I found it difficult to believe this was an accident. If it was, I would highly recommend altering this, once again, unnecessary detail in this book. I tried to look up whether or not this usage of colors is done in wedding or important ceremonies in other cultures, and didn't find anything that resembled this, which made me feel more confused about why this specific color palette was chosen for our very white main leads. I would find it incredibly difficult to ever imagine writing a white character covering his whole face in black paint, and it seems like someone should have called this out at some point in the editing journey.

I probably could have moved on from the repetitive descriptions and the telling instead of showing, but the unnecessary use of rape as a plot device and the white character painting his face black prevented me from enjoying this book.

The premise as a whole, multiple timelines, reincarnation plot, and use of magic could have been so compelling if we didn't have any of the above issues.

My ARC was provided by the publisher via Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

why was this 770 pages?? this oen would probably have been a lot better if it was like... 350? but even without that... the guys are kinda creepy, the nicknames are awful, the twists are quite frankly ridiculous, the reactions are nonsensical.... nothing about this one worked for me, and it is VERY rare for me to say that.

Thank you Atria books and Netgallery for allowing me to read this FUCKING GEM! Verdict: 4 Stars (and a Dramatic Sigh)
Fairydale is a relentlessly atmospheric, dripping-in-history romance that will glue you to the page—until the length and Darcy’s chill demeanor test your patience. It’s like diving headfirst into a baroque painting, complete with a ghostly lover and the faint scent of danger (and maybe some “darlin’s” you'll want to unfriend). You'll gasp, cringe, swoon, question your grip on reality... and maybe, just maybe, call in sick to finish it.
Darcy O’Sullivan
* A Boston-born orphan and English teacher, drawn to Fairydale after learning of her biological father’s demise—and the attached condition that she must attend his funeral to earn her inheritance
Caleb Hale
* Daytime suitor with brooding vibes, member of the notorious Hale family. He’s intense, dangerous, and skillfully nudges Darcy out of her safe, prim background into sensuous territory
Amon d’Artan
* Not just a dream visitor—he’s a charming nobleman from two centuries ago with a swagger that belongs in gothic poetry

700 pages. OVER 700 pages and somehow the ending was rushed. Let me tell ya, if your book takes 400 pages to start making sense and the most pivotal part of the book is the last 10 pages, something has gone awry.

I can’t recall a situation in which I’ve read a book with so much promise that simultaneously went so horribly wrong. Frankly, I think the author bit off more than they could chew. There were just too many character threads introduced in the first half of the book, that I’m 0% shocked so many were left dangling.

In fact the first half of the book and the second half of the book are entirely different genres. The first half is a gothic historical romance and the second half is sci-fi monster erotica? Ok there’s more nuance there obviously but MY GOD that’s just too many things for one book. Do less.

There are entire characters and subplots that could have been cut and it wouldn’t have materially changed the book at all. In fact the Pierces, Mr. Vaughan, fucking ALLISON (sorry you were forgotten and Darcy never took you to England. Fuck Darcy) could all have been cut. They served no purpose. Caleb Hale served no purpose. Actually the Hales in general other than Rhiannon served no purpose. But the characters with real motives, with real threads that needed more exploring (Elora, Ambrosius, Abel) we got jackshit.

Then we have the FMC and MMC themselves. Darcy is boring. Elizabeth is naive. Sela and only Sela is a worthy version. AND WE DONT MEET SELA UNTIL 300 PAGES IN…I mean come ON. And tragically you will not find me swooning over Amon anytime soon. Fated mates and reincarnated lovers are both fun tropes that I never tire of. Insta love I find less appealing and it just didn’t work for me here. Amon is controlling to a fault. It’s not cute. It’s not romantic. His possessiveness gave me the ick. You’ve been together for thousands of years and another man kisses Sela’s hand and you blow up the whole plan. Insecurity is not appealing even in the hottest of hot men.

I have more questions than answers and that, does not a good novel make. I’d have given it 1⭐️ but the smut was fun so it gets 2⭐️s by the skin of its teeth. However, introducing monster erotica 92% into the book is fucking uncalled for…I don’t do monster erotica but what was I gonna do with 8% left of a 750 book, QUIT. Nice try Veronica Lancet.

Thanks to Atria Books and NetGalley for this eARC. I’m always grateful, even when the book isn’t quite for me.

Thank you netgalley and Atria books so much for this Arc. I have not felt so satisfied after reading a book in such a long time and Fairydale had absolutely everything I could have wanted. This was such a beautifully detailed, epic romance and I loved every minute of reading it. It's Gothic. It's horror, it's got fantasy and paranormal and horror elements and it is absolutely one of the top tier books I have read. Thank you again so much.

This is a book I will think about for the rest of my life. I literally went on a journey and it was the long but I was never bored. This book sucked me in from page one and had me completely hypnotized. Incredible story, characters, writing just phenomenal.
I recommend going into this book blind all you need to know is: it's a gothic paranormal fantasy romance that's a little out there. We follow Darcy who gets invited to Fairydale because her father who she had no contact with or knew passed away and she is on the will. When she gets there odd things start happening.
Will definitely be reading more from this author and need to read more gothic romance books asap!

Thank you to NetGalley and Atria Books for the e-ARC of this book’s re-release.

I went into this one with high expectations after reading so many glowing reviews, but unfortunately, I had to DNF at around 45%. The story was putting me into a slump, and I just couldn’t push through any longer. I struggled to connect with the characters, and some of the romance—particularly with the first MMC introduced—felt too rushed for my taste. The initial storyline they began with simply wasn’t for me.

That said, I can see how this book might appeal to other readers. It delivers on gothic atmosphere and leaves you with unanswered questions that could keep someone hooked. For me, the multiple timelines became confusing; I had trouble keeping track of who was who and how the threads connected. In a book over 700 pages, the idea of untangling that for the remainder of the story felt daunting.

The writing itself wasn’t terrible, but it leaned toward mediocre for me, and I often had to re-read passages to reorient myself in the plot.

Overall, I’d rate this one a 2.5. It has potential, and I think readers who enjoy immersive gothic stories with sprawling timelines might love it. Sadly, it just wasn’t the right fit for me.

Thank you again to NetGalley and Atria Books for the e-ARC in exchange for my honest thoughts.

ARC review: Fairydale by Veronica Lancet

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️✨
🌶️🌶️🌶️

If you are looking for a heart-achingly tragic love story that spans thousands of years, where the mmc expresses his love for the fmc in the most profound, poetics ways (and will quite literally find her in every lifetime) then this book is for you.

We follow 3 different women—Darcy, Elizabeth, and Sela—through their lives in different times and worlds, each ending in gruesome and tragic ways. My confusion grew the more I learned about them, and the more I learned, the more I tried to piece together their story and how they could all possibly be linked together. in the beginning of the book, i had a hard time connecting with the main characters and what their relationship was supposed to be, but their chemistry definitely grows the more we learn about their past with the other two female main characters.

the vibe and aura of the town and the overall story was definitely dark, mysterious, and gothic. it very much reminded me of The Brother’s Grimm with how gory and creepy it could be. there is an aspect of this book that kind of gaslights you in a way, because you don’t know what’s real and what’s not real until the last 20% or so, and that’s when all the puzzle pieces begin to click together and everything makes sense again.

overall, the journey that this book took me on was very much worth it in the end. every detail in every long chapter was very necessary to get me to the end so i could feel the all the feelings 🥹

Thank you to NetGalley and Atria Books for this ARC in exchange for my honest review 🩶

Fairydale is less a simple gothic romance and more a labyrinth every chapter pulling you deeper into an unsettling mix of beauty and dread. I rooted for Darcy every step of the way The further you read, the more tangled it gets, in that “I have no idea what’s coming next, but I have to know” kind of way. Darcy’s story feels like a lifetime of trials packed into one book betrayal after betrayal, danger at every turn, but I love the entire story, I had fun reading it.

Fairydale by Veronica Lancet
Rating: ★ ★ ★ ★/5
Spice: ♥︎ ♥︎ ♥︎ ♥︎/5

This book is long and a little disorienting at first, but that’s part of its magic. It’s dark, weird, romantic, and unpredictable in a way that kept me reading just to see what twist was next. And yes… the ending spice gets WILD.

Read this if you enjoy:
• Gothic romance
• Love through lifetimes
• Broody + protective love interests
• Small coastal town dripping with secrets
• Mystery woven with paranormal elements

I listened to the audiobook in tandem with reading the book. I did not like this book. It gave me horror movie vibes where the person ignores every red flag coming their way. It was also very confusing and difficult to follow. I would not recommend this book.

I had high expectations for this one given how popular it has become, and went into it with an open mind despite being over 700 pages which felt really daunting. Unfortunately, I wound up DNF’ing. I really really tried - but the length of the book makes it feel too drawn out and unnecessary. I had a hard time connecting with the characters and the writing has a lot of room for improvement. Overall, just not for me.
Thank you NetGalley for the opportunity to read an eARC in exchange for my honest review.