I really wanted to like this book. The summary, the cover... my expectations were high. But from the start, I didn't like any of the human characters at all. Especially once I got to the middle and the relationships started.
The setting was beautiful and the goblin aspect was interesting. I wanted to know everything about Kit's family and the deal with the goblins. But, I didn't like Kit. Or Livy. Or Skye. Or Grady. And Skye/Grady really made me uncomfortable. The characters felt flat - especially Livy and Grady. Skye had some interesting moments, especially in the beginning with the descriptions of her struggling with the Goblin curse.
So, with that said and lovely writing aside, I had to put this away and not finish it.

I've loved Rossetti's poem since I first read it in high school and was interested to see what Molly Ringle would do with it as an inspiration. Overall I really liked the book. The allusions to the poem are very slight, but the bond between two sisters that is the backbone of the poem is there and it works. I would have liked to know more about the goblins, although I liked that Flowerwatch and Redring's stories were wrapped up in the end. There's plenty of romance, which isn't really my thing, but to me this is really more of a good urban fantasy that reminded me a bit of Raymond Feist's underrated Faerie Tale.

I received a copy through Netgalley.

In the Goblin's of Bellwater, sister's Skye and Livy live in Bellwater Washington, Skye is an artist, a budding graphic designer, working in a local coffee shop, her sister Livy works for the Forest Service. As young girls they'd always imagined their local woods contained more than just what you can see with their eyes. The Teenie Tinies they called them as children, and a few fractured memories of smelling wafts of sugar cookies, or coffee while walking through the forests around them. But that couldn't be real right?

Kit Sylvain, knows the dangers of the forest first hand, his own family wrapped into a thousand year curse. Doomed to bring the tribe of Goblins, tributes of gold every month. Or they would begin flexing their powers and messing with the human community. Gold in exchange for the safety of other's.
But this month Kit comes up short. Disdaining himself for the thievery he must commit, his payment comes up one day late.
And the Goblins begin to flex their muscles once again...
And Livy's sister Skye finds herself the newest victim of their curse.

Molly Ringle's Goblins of Bellwater gives you a classic feel of a dark fae curse. And that nothing is ever what it seems, above all listen to the terms of the deal, and never ever go off the path, no matter how tempting it may seem and always respect the elements of nature.
I throughly enjoyed this one! 3.5 stars.

I was really intrigued by this story, as I'm a huge fan of magical realism and fae stories. I also had never heard of the poem it was based off of, and when I looked it up, I was only more interested in learning what this book had to offer. I will say upfront that I am not a fan of NA books and actively try to avoid them. I find that the relationships can be shallow and focused primarily on meaningless sex, and that's just not what I look for in a book. However, I tried to be as objective as possible while reading this, and I ultimately walk away from it finding it a very solid, unique read which I fear will become forgettable.

Ringle established a palpable atmosphere rife with stunning imagery. I could very easily paint the picture of the tiny town, the nasty goblins, and the sullen characters. I'm a huge fan of books set in the Pacific Northwest, which is what originally drew me in. And I was not disappointed settings wise! The book unfortunately became very dialogue heavy during the middle of the story. When it broke away from that in the end, and the chase was on to save the characters from the goblins, the story came to life again. I just wish it had been able to keep the trajectory it established in the beginning throughout the story.

In terms of characters and relationships, this book fell into the trap that always makes me wary of NA books. The relationships established were very shallow, although Kit and Livy's relationship especially grew on me. However, I didn't like Skye and Grady's. It made sense that they had this very feral lust for each other as a result of a spell, but post-enchantment, it felt like things moved way too fast and they barely knew a thing about each other. They thought great sex would translate into a great relationship, and it's totally unrealistic that that was the outcome. No one in their position would walk away from such a trauma and immediately want to still be together. Healing takes time, and in this case, I expected a fair amount of isolation.

Once again, the tone and the imagery in this novel was incredible. I always wish that novels were more atmospheric, and this definitely met my expectations. It was a very fast paced read, and shorter than I expected, but not necessarily anticipatory. Which I find a good thing! The speed was amped up at the end just when it needed to be. I do wish there had been more development for the local fae, and fae history in general. Not just in relation to Kit and his ancestors, but to how these goblins came to be at all.

Overall, I enjoyed this book. It was unique in plot and conception, and I think New Adult readers will be all over this come publication. It may not have been my perfect cup of tea, but I certainly enjoyed the story I was given.

A try and fail though I will go and read "Goblin Market" where the seed for the book germinated. It was too bloated with setting and details that didn't pull me in. Atmosphere was trying to be created and layered, but it fell flat to me.

When twenty-something, Skye, falls into a near catatonic depression, her older sister, Livy, is at a loss to what could have happened to her. The answer? Goblins. Yup, they exist. And they exist in Bellwater, Washington. After this period of transition, Skye is destined to leave life as she knows it and join the goblins in the forest. Also entangled in the supernatural drama are cousins Kit and Grady—whose family has served as liaisons to the goblin tribe throughout history.

I've been on a kick with fairytale / folktale / mythology retellings this year and I really enjoyed The Goblins of Bellwater, which is a reinterpretation of the poem, "Goblin Market," by Christina Rossetti. "Goblins" captured my interest right away and was a fairly quick read due to its "un-put-downable-ness" <-- Totally just made up that word...

And if it helps sway you, the cover is GORGE.

Just a note: For me, this book walked the line between young adult and new adult. The themes are relatively dark and the sex scenes are more graphic than typical YA novels (but definitely not what you'd find in true blue adult novels).

Thank you Central Avenue Publishing and NetGalley for my ARC.

Goblins of Bellwater by Molly Ringle
How could I resist a book inspired by one of my all-time favorite pieces of writing, Christina Rossetti’s Goblin Market? Molly Ringle’s reimagined Market takes place in the forests of present day Washington State, where we are introduced to Kit Sylvain, a young man bound by a family curse to take care of a tribe of goblins. By “take care of” I mean provide them with gold or whatever else they want to prevent them from messing around with the nearby humans. Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn’t, since goblins are wily, deceitful creatures.

While Kit is tending to the goblins, sisters Skye and Livy Darwen have grown up in the small town of Bellwater, and spend hours exploring the forest, where they imagine “teeny-tinies” call to them. One day, Skye follows a path that wasn’t there before, drawn by the call of the “teeny-tinies,” which turn out to be goblins who ensnare her into their world. Kit, Livy, and Grady (Kit’s cousin who is unwittingly drawn into Skye’s drama) eventually come to understand that Skye has been cursed and join forces to keep her from becoming a goblin.

The story is fresh and engaging, and the characters well-written. Ringle skillfully develops four likable characters and weaves their stories together to an exciting, nerve-jangling ending. The story moves along at a rapid pace, with the current dilemma of Skye’s curse being nicely woven into the older story of how the goblins became attached to Kit’s family. I especially liked the fact that all four of our heroes were essentially saved by the first goblin “victim” who was snared so long ago. There’s an extraordinary amount of sex here, more than I expected, but it fits with the darker side of fairytales that few dare to tell, and creates a sizzling romantic side to an otherwise folklore/fantasy-heavy story.

I give Ringle props for taking an old story and hanging new skin on it. This will appeal to fantasy fans, for sure and would make an awesome graphic novel. Highly recommended.

The Goblins of Bellwater had a lot of potential and I feel it didn't live up to it. It had an intriguing premise and was set in a gorgeous location but fell short. The author's voice wasn't compelling and Livy and Grady felt like flat characters with Kit and Skye only slightly more rounded. I felt that they didn't have distinct personalities, but instead character outlines. The goblins--the most interesting element--made very few cameos and I didn't feel that meeting them helped the reader understand much. The story lagged in the middle and the ending felt rushed. In my opinion, The Goblins of Bellwater has a good foundation but needs another round of editing to smooth out some edges and round out the protagonists.

After seeing the gorgeous cover and reading the blurb, I knew I had to get my hands on this one.

Thanks to an ancient family agreement, Kit is bound to keep relations with the goblins for his entire life--a secret he doesn't exactly share with anyone. When a late gold delivery on his part ends up with an innocent young woman, Skye, being cursed, things get difficult. Especially when she ends up dragging his younger brother into the curse. Luckily, Livy, Skye's older sister, knows something is off and wants to help, but she's not sure what's even wrong, since Skye isn't allowed to explain anything. Somehow, Kit is going to have to accidentally stumble onto the real problem at heart. Too bad, time is running out.

First off, kudos to the cover designer! This one is so original and brings across the perfect atmosphere before the first page is read. Unfortunately, this was also by far my most favorite part of the book.

This is a retelling of Goblin Market by Christina Rossetti, and in many ways, does a great job at holding up to to it. The scene surrounding the goblins and their undertakings is beautiful and slightly haunting at the same time. Set in the mountains, the nature seeps off the page, bringing forest odors, sights and sounds to life. The situation that Kit finds himself in immediately draws in and demands sympathy, while the goblins come across as dangerous yet curiously interesting at the same time. None of this is fast moving, but slowly draws into the circumstances and characters, allowing the chance for the entire thing to gain depth.

But it was not for me.

Although the start is intriguing and lures in, as soon as Skye is hit with the curse, the creepy goblin side all but comes to a stand still until it suddenly picks up again toward the end. Skye is caught in a difficult spot; she's unable to express herself and is being drawn deeper and deeper into the curse. Her thoughts and feelings pull in, but the goblins themselves are left to the side--and just then when I really wanted to see more of them. Instead, an odd romance starts between Skye and Kit's brother as she accidently-ish draws him into her curse. The two are drawn to each other, but since this attraction is also influenced by the curse, it's hard for the real sparks to gain ground. And that despite all the 'tense' and 'nearing' scenes. This was also the main chunk of the book, which drown the creepy delight that the goblins could have played. As said, it just wasn't my thing even though the world and writing itself are actually interesting and, in many spots, very well done.

A couple saving graces were the flip-flop on girl/guy ages. The guys were younger than the girls, something not often seen. Also, the wonderful sisterly love Livy gives at the end to swing the curse around hits the heart full thrust and makes her, possibly, the best sister ever.

Although I can't give it a complete thumbs up, I realize that others do love this book and have to admit that it does have a lot of merit. Just not the kind I prefer to read.

Since first impressions are everything—and don’t you dare tell me not to judge a book by it’s cover because we all do it—this. Cover. Is. Gorgeous. I mean, look at it! Definitely what drove me to request it, at least. I went to take a peek at Ringle’s other books, and I have to say I had a suspicion this was her first properly published novel. It’s a terrible thing to say, especially since she has several other completed works published through different houses and formats that are no doubt fantastic. But, this was the only one with a clean, striking and professional looking cover, and I reiterate … it’s beautiful.

Paranormal isn’t something I usually read. I thought I did, but honestly, I think the last thing I read that had werewolves, vampires or faeries in it was a Cassandra Clare novel, which was a delight. Sarah J Maas’ A COURT OF THORNS AND ROSES doesn’t count because that is a fantasy masterpiece, faeries or not!

This was something quite different however. As Ringle says on her Twitter, it’s a paranormal romance where the love interest isn’t a supernatural creature. Any and all romance is found between the four main characters, all human from page one. Do not go into this expecting to read about some hottie goblin who is tired of immortality … because you ain’t getting that. They’re mean, ugly, and downright tricky, as goblins should be!

More into the specifics, this novel has four main characters and bounces around equally between each of their POVs. It was easy to follow, as Ringle keeps the start of each shift clear and transparent. However, what wrecked it for me was there was quite a bit of repetition in their thoughts and feelings. Sky thinks something one chapter, Livy voices it herself the next, then Kit wonders about the same thing in the chapter after. It got to be a bit much after a while. Like, I get it … they’re worried.


This is going to sound odd, but for a novel where almost nothing happens, I couldn’t put it down. I read a few chapters a day for a few days, then finished the last half of the book within twenty-four hours. Events unfold rather slowly, the character development, if you will, unfolding as a slow burn. The steady pacing carries throughout the novel until the last quarter or so, when the final event begins and things happen rapid-fire.

I will admit, it lost me a bit towards the end. Loathe to give away any spoilers, I will mention there is a section that involves a character having to battle through the four elements. This played out into an entire chapter of this character slogging through the bottom of the Puget Sound and pointing out everything she saw. It got old fast. And there were four chapters like that.

Overall, I quite enjoyed this. The story itself is highly unique. Ringle’s writing is solid and flows well. Her descriptions are fairly easy to picture. The relationships between characters was sweet and heartfelt, both romantic and familial. And I have to give mad props to any writer who uses the West Coast as a setting. The Cascadia region is home to me and I love seeing the geography I see everyday brought to a bigger audience.

Prior to reading my review, I'd just like to say that I devoured this book in one evening, just 4 hours is all it took to gobble this up!

A whimsical, fantastical and witty read, one that will have you questioning your love of fruit.

I'll be honest here, the cover drew me in first and then that synopsis... A twenty-something-year-old named Kit is the liaison for Goblins and per a deal made hundreds of years ago by his ancestors he must bring a certain weight of gold to the goblin tribe every month. But it doesn't stop there, this isn't a story wholly based off of Kit, there are three other individuals that get roped into this wonderful nonsense. Grady, Kit's cousin has come to stay with him, and there are two local girls, sisters Skye and Livy, that are drawn into the Goblins devious ways.

This all takes place in Puget Sound, Washington, which is written in such a way that I could almost smell the forest. I thoroughly enjoyed the creeptastic world that was depicted by the author, because inside of the forest there is another realm which belongs to the fae. Not all are sinister but the Goblinfolk are. I enjoyed the history of the goblinkind and where they came from, who they used to be.

Each character was unique, with their own plight. Did I overly connect with them? No, I don't think so. I was never really invested in them so much as what I was with the actual story, the core of the plot and I wanted to know what happened. There was something about the writing that seemed to serve as a disconnect for me and I can't quite place my finger on it, but don't take this as an "I didn't enjoy it," because I obviously did! I mean, I read it in FOUR hours. I ate it.

To sum it all up, it's a kooky goblin story that showcases just how important friends and family are and what they're willing to do to ensure their safety.

3.5 Savvy Crowns!

I enjoy fantasy and was looking forward reading about the goblins but the story was more about humans and less goblins. I admit that I could feel Skye' s frustration The he characters were well written.

Book: The Goblins of Bellwater
Author: Molly Ringle
Rating: 4 Out of 5 Stars

I would like to thank Netgalley and Central Avenue Publishing for providing me with this ARC.

I was actually surprised about this one. It has been coming across my Goodreads feed as a book recommendation. I checked it out and saw it was on Netgalley. I figured that I wouldn’t be a big fan of it, but I was wrong. I was quickly drawn into Molly’s amazing world and simply could not get out of it.

The book follows Kit, Livy, Skye, and Grady. They are all in their early twenties. I thought they were going to be younger, but don’t the characters’ ages make you think that this isn’t a young adult book. All the characters are well written and, yes, they do end up coupling up. It’s not a really lovely story and their romance is not the main focus.

The goblins are the main focus of the story. You will get swept into their magical world. They live in the woods of Washington State and are not very nice creatures. They are very capable of doing horrible things from their treetop village, which they do. The only way to keep them happy is by giving them gold to melt, which is Kit’s main job. If the goblins aren’t happy, then terrible things tend to happen to the locals, as Skye quickly finds out.


Okay, I know, I know...The plot line may not be the most attention getting, but there was just something about this one that I rather liked. Molly’s writing style and world building skills are just amazing. There was just something about her writing that made me feel as if I was a part of the world. It was very smooth and elegant with just the right mixture of adventure. Add in a rather magical world and you get an incredible world.

I am giving it a four star rating. I loved the creative nature of the book and its charm. It is a rather quick and easy read.

The Goblins of Bellwater will out October 1, 2017.

I received a free e-copy of the book via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. Thank you to the Publisher!

The Goblins of Bellwater is a fantasy story about four young people, in their twenties, who all come to be entangled in a Goblin curse in Bellwater, Washington. However, these are not your typical Goblins from The Labyrinth - there is no sexy David Bowie as a Goblin King. These are cunning, nasty, scary and despicable creatures, who lure people into their lair and do unspeakable things to them. This book is also nothing like Wintersong - while it has romance in it (and really sweet romance) it is not between a supernatural and a human.

It all begins one twilight evening, when Skye decides to call upon the magical creatures (disbelieving they actually exist) and they lure her into their lair and put an enchantment on her, as a retaliation for Kit (their human liaison) not bringing enough gold for them that month. Soon we find out that Kit's family has been under the goblin's curse for 3 generations and he has no idea how to break it. Meanwhile, Skye is becoming worse and worse, unable to speak, uninterested in painting, eating, taking care of herself. Her sister Livy is doing her best to take care of Skye, even getting Grady (Kit's cousin) to cook for Skye during the day. However, it will take all four of them to break the curse.

The book actually caught me unawares. I LOVED the descriptions and the lusciousness of the whole world. Miss Ringle stays true to the Victorian horror genre. The book is dark, suspenseful, still full of romance (as many Victorian novels are) and disturbing. The only difference in between Miss Ringle's book and those of the Victorian Horror genre, is that we have a female hero here, which I quite enjoyed. I also loved the fact that the characters were older, not your typical teenagers pouting at you the whole book.

Overall I think it is a clever book, full of lessons such as what it is to love and loose and how to take care of the environment. Furthermore, the older you get the harder it becomes to believe in the supernatural, and Miss Ringle did the supernatural so masterfully that it made me really think.

I will definitely be on the lookout for anything else she writes.

In all honesty, I would say this is more of a 3.5 rating. The beginning of the book captured my interest immediately. I totally enjoyed the descriptions of nature and the sleepy town of Bellwater. At first I really liked the characters I was introduced to too. But then as the main character, Skye, hooked up with Kit and then Kit's cousin, Grady, hooked up with Skye's sister, Olivia, I became a little annoyed. The dual relationships seemed kind of sophomoric, even though the characters were in their early twenties. In fact, I kept thinking that my 9th grade female students would really enjoy this book. I constantly see them reading paranormal romances. But the target audience is not necessarily high school teens because of the sex and profanity. Although I would say there is just a few f-bombs here and there and the sex is very ----responsible? If I had teenagers at home I would allow them to read this book after they were 16, I know I would have enjoyed it way more at that age then I did this past week as a forty something year old woman.

I would categorize this as New Adult. Interesting premise, although the Goblin Market tie-in was a bit of a stretch for me. I like the characters though, and thought the glimpses of the other fae were the most interesting part. I would recommend it to older teens and adults.

<i>ARC provided by the publisher via Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.</i>

This book was perfect. I was not entirely sure what to expect, but it delivered beautifully. It was everything it should have been.

If you grew up adoring poems like Christina Rosetti's "The Goblin Market," or identifying with Cecil Frances Alexander's "Dreams," or re-reading <i>A Midsummer's Night Dream</i>, this book is for you. If you grew up waiting for those fleeting movements from the corner of your eye to materialize into something faerie, but knowing never to accept something to eat, then you must read this book!

Kit knows all about the goblins in the forest. His carries the family curse, forced to steal and deliver gold for them to keep them in line. Skye and her sister Livy heard whispers in the forest growing up, but never believed. Until they were forced to. Kit's innocent bystander cousin, Grady, gets embroiled in the mess, too. This story focuses exclusively on these four characters and their travails with the goblins.

Despite, or perhaps because of, only having a cast of four character, Ringle creates very organic (and magically propelled) relationships between the four. This IS a romance, so be forewarned. However, the way she told this romance story was such a breath of fresh air compared with the insta-love, doesn't-make-any-sense romances of the YA books I've been reading lately. The romance in this story was... perfect. I could completely see it going down exactly that way in the real world. Thank you for that Ms. Ringle.

Nevertheless, the romance was not the central point of the story. It was perfectly balanced with the magic, which she also handled brilliantly. Ringle used an imaginary setting that could very well be any number of real towns and made it feel both real and magical at the same time. That same feeling you used to get walking through a quiet wood, affected by Nature.

The fae were wonderfully depicted. The magical rules were both familiar and internally consistent. <i>Beware of sudden paths that lead away from the main one.</i>

I only have one tiny little complaint: <spoiler>When Livy stepped off the fire path, she should not have been able to get back on. Those are the rules. Don't step off the path. If you do, its over. But, even though she burned herself, which I suppose was maybe a loophole the faeries were using to help her, she managed to just jump right back on the path.</spoiler> Other than that, I loved this book immensely, including all the paths these four characters had to travel.

Bonus: It is a standalone story (I think), which is just lovely in today's age of series after series.

If you are a fairy tale lover - tales of real faeries, not Disney fairies - then you MUST READ THIS BOOK.

<p>By Molly Ringle</p>

<p>A fascinating and compelling novel based off of Christina Rossetti&rsquo;s &ldquo;Goblin Market&rdquo; which is being rediscovered in several new forms and I love it. </p>

<p>Rating: 4/5</p>

<p>This urban-magical realism is perfectly done. The fae folk are all around us, including Bellwater, a small town off of Puget Sound. There, a goblin tribe frequently sets off magical trails to lure unsuspecting humans traipsing through the forest.
Kit's family has been cursed to serve as the liaison for the goblin and he begrudgingly hands over gold every month to try to placate them from hurting another human. He's been worn down from keeping the secret for so long. When he mets Livy, a local park ranger and fellow nature-lover, they immediately hit it off. It seems like the beginning of a romance novel except that Livy's younger sister is under a goblin spell and has accidentally brought Kit's younger cousin in it too. Now all four of them will have to fight to get free from the goblin's magic. </p>

<p> <b> What I Liked: </b> </p>
<p> -The magical realism. It's so odd to read about magical realism in a setting that is not the (US) South, but it works. There are elements of nature and fae folk and humans living alongside them without even knowing. </p>
<p> -The romance. I really enjoyed reading about Livy and Kit fall for each other based on mutual interests and genuinely liking each other. It was a great contrast to Skye and Grady's enchanted romance. I'm not a fan of insta-love, but enchanted insta-love is fascinating. I think their relationship was handled pretty well considering the spell and the consequences of their actions were talked over instead of pretending that falling in love (and sleeping with each other) under a spell wasn't exactly consensual. [PS I also liked that both Livy and Skye were older than their dates because it's addressed and is also not a big deal, even though we never see relationships with older women] </p>
<p> -I really enjoyed the gray morality of this book. The goblins weren't truly evil, they were much more complex. None of this is used to excuse their horrific behavior, but it's nice to read about how they came to be how they are instead of letting them become the archetype evil monster. I like that to an extent the goblins have agency in their actions and reactions, but from much of what we were able to gather, being terrible comes with being a goblin. </p>

In the Pacific Northwest, Kit works as an auto mechanic by day and tries to pacify the goblin tribe with gold on full moon nights. Despite all his efforts, they still lure humans into the forest and play their (sometimes deadly) tricks on them. When local resident Skye becomes mixed up in a goblin curse, then Kit, his cousin Grady, and Skye's sister Livy are also pulled into the conflict. Can four humans find a way to outwit a goblin leader who has been playing her tricks for centuries?

Unlike many urban fantasies, Ringle's tale does not have humans yearning to enter the other world. Instead, these humans want to hold onto their humanity, even though they are not sure how to do so. Mixing elements of tales about goblins, other fae, the flora and fauna of the Pacific Northwest, and a family curse, the story also deals with human problems like job hunting, dating, and pursuing dreams. The details of the setting are worked in cleverly through Livy's job with the Forest Service, as well as part of the trials the characters must go through to try and gain their freedom. Creatures from the treetops to the depths of Puget Sound make appearances, and sometime serve as the bodies of the fae.

It's not all despair and fighting against an unwanted fate. There are elements of humor sprinkled along the way to lighten the mood. Just imagine goblins demanding their own milk steamer so they can make fancy coffee, or a chain saw artist carrying off driftwood illegally while rangers look the other way because the artist is a part of the local color. What about the goblin tradition of being named for the first item they steal? In a modern world that could be real trouble for an immortal being. Imagine being called iPad forever. Eww!

Readers who enjoy urban fantasy and new takes on the traditional fairy dwellers of old tales should find plenty to enjoy in this original story of lovers, curses, and the strength of mortals when battling for those dearest to them.

A magical tale about supernatural creatures in a forest in Bellwater, Washington. A generations old family curse forces Kit to appease the local Goblin miscreants. If he doesn't keep them happy they are likely to get stroppy and cause trouble for the townsfolk. When Kit is unable to make his monthly tribute of gold the Goblins curse a local woman and chaos ensues.

After a strong beginning with the Goblin thugs the romance really takes over the story and you almost forget there were any Goblins. For me the romance was not very romantic and the sex was very unsexy, mainly consisting of clumsy groping and fumbling. It was slightly more believable regarding the Skye and Grady relationship but only because of the whole magic thing that was going on with them. However, once you get over the halfway point in the book the story picks up again and the romance is bearable.

Overall it is an entertaining read.