This book is wild—in the best way. Fairydale is like stepping into a twisted fairytale where everything beautiful has thorns. Veronica Lancet really knows how to write dark, intense stories that mess with your head and your heart.

The vibes are gothic, eerie, and super atmospheric, with a main character who gets pulled into a world that’s as dangerous as it is seductive. The romance is dark, obsessive, and definitely not soft—but if you love morally gray love interests and high-stakes emotions, you’re in for a ride.

It’s dramatic, a little unhinged, and totally addictive. Perfect for fans of dark romance who like their fairytales with teeth.

Overall, this qas a fine read for me. The characters were well developed and likable. The tropes were some of my favorites (touch her and die, found family, fated mates, slow burn). There's definitely a lot to like. I feel like the writing overall fell a little flat for me though. Its a pretty long book and I struggled with the pacing at times. Certain parts dragged on longer than they should then other exciting parts felt very rushed. It just didnt work for me.

Gothic fantasy vibes. Absolutely ate this up. Was slow at times but the plot was so engaging and unique. Loved this!!

I’m rounding up, because this is a 3.5 for me.

Pros: The characters were very well done. Lots of depth and layers to them. It had lots of fantasy tropes that I love. Fated mates. Touch her and die. Found family. Occult magic. Strong monster men. Paranormal touches. The slowburn did have some pretty great payoff..

Cons: It was not very well written and it’s entirely too long. After so much lead up, the ending felt rushed. Everything happened too easily and without enough details. I would have preferred this to be a duology or a series and allowed the author to flush out the ending a bit more. 700 pages leading up to a 10 page battle. It also was super cringe. The nicknames got tiresome and the spice was… odd.

I dk. This wasn’t bad. I enjoyed it. But For 750 pages I’m not sure I would recommend it to my friends. I don’t think it’s worth the effort.

Fairydale is truly unlike anything else I have ever experienced. It's a little bit long and sometimes feels uneven but because it is such a unique way to tell this story I am not too mad about it.

Thank you for the ARC!
I really really enjoyed this book! The story was super original and different than a lot of popular romantasy books. The MMC has so much love, yearning, touch her and 💀 and is an awesome morally grey character. The FMC was also so unique but really fun, relatable, and entertaining. It is a VERY long book but well worth the read. There are a ton of details and I knocked it down a star just because I felt like there were some things that were a bit fluffy and weren’t SUPER necessary to have in the book. But overall I loved the characters, plot, world building and overall story telling.
Language: f word and a few other explicit words
Spice: 4/5 on the spice scale but they are pretty easy to skip if they’re not your cup of tea.

Fairydale by Veronica Lancet
⭐️⭐️⭐️ (3 stars)

Thank you to NetGalley, the author, and Atria Books for allowing me free access to this eARC in exchange for my honest review.

Fairydale is a sweeping, gothic fantasy romance clocking in at 700+ pages and 31 hours of audiobook listening — and there’s no doubt Veronica Lancet has an incredible gift for worldbuilding and atmosphere. The haunting tone, immersive setting, and lyrical writing are the reason this book earned three stars from me. Her imagination is truly impressive, and the reincarnation storyline between the main characters is filled with emotion, tension, and beautifully written longing.

That said, I struggled with this one.

While I appreciated the creativity and emotional intensity, the book felt overly long and repetitive. The pacing dragged in places, and by the time I reached the epilogue, I was still left wondering: what exactly was the takeaway? The plot often deviated or circled back without resolution, which made it difficult to stay invested.

I really loved the main female character. In every timeline, she embodied strength, endurance, and wit — a truly likable heroine. But I had a much harder time connecting with the male lead. Though protective and devoted, he wasn’t particularly likable, and his actions (along with a few… questionable choices from the author, like a certain piercing) pulled me out of the story.

A few personal nitpicks: the overuse of the word “hot” felt jarring in a historical fantasy setting, and the sexualization of menstruation was uncomfortable and unnecessary. Some of those details disrupted the tone and felt out of place.

Ultimately, I think this will be a very polarizing read. Readers who love dark, intense, emotionally layered romances with reincarnation themes may love it. For me, the writing was stellar, but the execution of the plot and ending didn’t land.

This is absolutely wild but in the best way?? The plot is outstanding. The romance. I can quite literally say I have never read something like this before.

I’m pausing on 4stars, but will come back to complete my review when I’ve gathered all my thoughts!

Fairydale was captivating from the start. It is a gothic paranormal historical romance that takes place over multiple timelines and follows multiple POVs.

Darcy, our FMC, is an English Teacher who was an orphan in her childhood and learns of her biological father's passing. In order to receive her inheritance she must travel to Fairydale to attend his funeral. But upon arrival to Fairydale she starts to realize everything is not as it seems. Not only is the town and its inhabitants strange and obviously hiding something but she starts to have strange dreams of a man who lived long ago.

Amon, our MMC, is the epitome of "touch her and die". Not only is he obsessed but his level of yearning is what I want from every love interest moving forward.

I know for most people the size of this book was been off putting but the love story that spans across time with the paranormal and horror elements will keep you intrigued the whole way through. I will admit the middle starts to slow down but as everything starts to unfold the sheer size becomes worth it.

Thank you to Netgalley and Atria Books for the arc.

dnf at 36%

i hate dnf’ing books and VERY rarely dnf but this was genuinely just one of the most boring books i have ever picked up. this sounded like it would be right up my alley and ive heard all the rave reviews, but ive been trying to get through it for weeks and simply cannot keep reading this. its going absolutely no where it seems and is WAY too long. i don’t think ive actually read anything useful so far. there’s been a little bit of foreshadowing, but this is just too long and there’s too much filler that’s making waiting for the ball to drop very monotonous and boring.

thank you for the opportunity to read this book, but it was not for me.

(Previously read the indie version in February 2025)

*Thank you to NetGalley and Atria Books for the eARC of this book!*

Oh man, this book was even better the second time around! It is DEFINITELY an acquired taste, and I mean that in a positive way. You need to be in the mindset to never, and I mean NEVER guess what is going to happen next (whiplash at its best). And to also be committed to read a monster of a book (pun intended) at almost 800 pages. It is one of the most unique books I think I have ever read.

I don't think I can explain much more than what is written in the description of the book without giving too much away. We follow Darcy in the first timeline, who travels to Fairydale after receiving a letter from her now deceased biological father. She has been included in his will and must attend his funeral in Fairydale to receive his sizeable inheritance. What happens next is a wild ride of multiple characters, timelines and paranormal/supernatural entities.

Although I haven't read anything else by Veronica Lancet (yet), her writing is so beautifully done that to me this book didn't really feel as long as it was!

I appreciate the opportunity to read this but unfortunately I will not be finishing it as I could not get into the story.

I did both reading the book & listen to the audiobook, and I have many thoughts just as the book had many thoughts.

The language in the book is beautiful, I often found myself re-reading or re-listening to how descriptive the characters were when describing their feelings for one another. It’s a very long read and I often found myself getting bored or confused.

Audiobook, I hated the male voice, he sounded like Nigel Thornberry and Chapter 17, he was SO LOUD.

Anyways, it was a fun read but I can’t honestly tell you what it was about. There was just too much to remember, for me, too much to read, and toooo many breaks in between.

I seriously loved this story. It teeters then line between gothic fantasy and gothic horror so well. The characters were interesting and dynamic. The book was incredibly well written. This book with THIRVE once it’s republished and out in the world.

Fairydale is like nothing ive read before. The seamless blend of magic, fantasy and romance had me on the edge of my seat the whole way thru. This book may be thick but she doesn't ever feel like it. Veronica Lancet has done something with this novel that another author may have fell apart trying to do. The way she seamlessly blends mutiple time and story lines all into one perfect novel needs to be studied. I loved this book so much and I will not stop talking about it to my friends and followers.

I'm not sure what I was expecting from this book, but I don't think I ever would have been able to guess the plot. I definitely spent most of the book confused and at the edge of my seat (or bed, however you wanna look at it) but in an excited and anticipated kind of way. I was really interested in finding out where the story was going to go and how all of the little pieces connected which is good because this book is CHUNKY!

The pacing was just right for the majority of the story and the author feeds you information at just the right time to keep the energy going. There wasn't a single spot in the book that didn't keep my attention, however I do feel like the ending was a bit rushed and the conflict was resolved fairly quickly considering how much time we just spent building it all up. I also feel like maybe there could have been a sequel to help with how quick the story was wrapped because I for one wanted more of the happy ending and I would've been really interested in learning more about their relationship in this new generation and the politics of the world they are in.

Such a unique and beautifully written story!

Gothic and mysterious – the suspense in this novel is so intense!

This is absolutely not your typical romantic fantasy story – Veronica Lancet really delivered with this one! A must read in my opinion!

I have seen this book all over social media and have only ever heard good things about it. I wish I would've checked the reviews on GoodReads before requesting an ARC, as I think I would've decided to stay away. I think Fairydale had several things that worked really well for it. I thoroughly enjoyed the different timelines every few chapters and the bread crumbs leading the reader to come up with what's going on by the time the reveals begin. Unfortunately, I found the book to be about 300 pages too long, the writing cringe at moments, and the MMC's mannerisms oddand he gave me the ick. Fairydale had it's moments where I did find myself liking the plot and movement, but once I got to the halfway mark, I started to check out as the things I didn't like seemed to overtake anything positive I found. Obviously, Fairydale has a cult following so there are absolutely people out there who will LOVE this, I'm just not one of them.

Thank you to Atria, NetGalley, and the author for sending me an early copy.

This book was one of my most anticipated reads for this year, and I'm so happy to say that it lived up to the hype! What's better than 1 beautiful, breathtaking, and heart-wrenching romance? 3 of them in one story! In the beginning, this story captivated me with the psychological thriller and gothic vibes. There were so many mysterious things happening (or were they?) that kept me absorbed in the story. My loyalties to the characters kept shifting as more information was revealed, and I ultimately felt no one could be trusted. But the love story was on another level. A love that transcends time with the emotion of: I will find you in any lifetime and burn down the world for you. The love these two shared was unparalleled for me. The tension, yearning, thoughtfulness, protectiveness, and spice were done very well. However, there are some trigger warnings that the author included at the beginning of the book. I also listened to the audiobook, which is a duet narration, and I really loved the narrators. Although the middle of the book dragged for me, I felt the information and character development were critical for the story. Overall, this was a unique and bewitching story, and I thoroughly enjoyed it!

This book is a RIDE!
Edging on a creepy small town, our FMC is kept in the dark about almost everything. Completely oblivious to the magical world around her, the 1950s setting takes a unexpected toll when life turns out to be not what Darcy imagined. Take a stroll through Fairydale, and see if you can tell what’s real and what’s evil. The horrific and sometimes tall tales that comes out of one small town will shock you.

Coming out the other side, I had such a fun time with this read. The way the story was so different and touched on so many elements of a great fantasy romance, but remained so original.
This book was slightly difficult to get into, and caused a lot of confusion in the first 30% of the book. If you can make it past that, don’t stop because the journey has just begun.