Unable to finish.

The premise of this book sounds so good and honestly I think I will try to pick it back up again in the future. But this book just didn't resonate with me at this point. It was hard for me to follow but I think there is definitely an audience for this book.


One positive though is the cover art is absolutely stunning.

Even if I liked the style of writing the story didn't keep my attention and it fell flat.
Not my cup of tea.
Many thanks to the publisher and Netgalley for this ARC, all opinions are mine

I really loved the idea of this book but the execution of it wasn't for me. I found the writing to be over wrought and it pulled away much of my enjoyment of the story. I think the author was aiming for a more classic style which I think can be such a hit for some but sadly it's not for me. Thank you so much for the opportunity to read. Three stars because it's not a bad book, just not a hit for my tastes.

I'm not sure what exactly I was reading, but I had to stop. I was so incredibly confused by this story. It was too descriptive and in a huge way. While the writing was beautiful, I had to keep re-reading sentences to figure out exactly what was being said. It definitely is written in a 19th century style, which I found very unique, but alas very hard to read.

Thank you to NetGalley and BHC Press for this ARC.

I usually love what this publisher puts out but this one just wasn't for me. So sorry!

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for my copy of this book in exchange for my honest review. I wish I could have loved it.

I went into this book with such excitement and high hopes. The description of this book gave me the excited tingles I only get when I read something I think could be a sleeper bestseller. The premise is both gothic horror and a bit of lore-horror - something I have been trying to uncover more of. However, from the very first page it felt like something was amiss.

I just kept pausing and saying to myself, “wait a minute.” I had to reread things over and over, I had to think about the words and try to make sure I understood what was going on, because I hardly could. The writing is so clunky and verbose it entirely distracts from the actual story. Furthermore, it is a writing style that does not compliment the storytelling in any way. In fact, it does the exact opposite. In spots where the narrator is explaining something that is suspicious and seems extraordinarily out of sorts the writing does help lend suspense or curiosity, instead I found myself distracted and overlooking what was meant to be a hint.

It was so awful that I couldn’t manage to move past the first chapter. I felt like I needed a drink. Like I had just tried to translate something from a language I don’t speak. That is how dense and detached the writing was. I realized at the end of the first chapter that if someone had asked me to summarize it, I would struggle to do so, I would question my own accuracy and if I had even gotten all the pertinent elements of the story,

I kept feeling like I was missing something. And I want to ask others who read the first chapter if they felt similarly, because it really did, it felt like I was missing something and I couldn’t figure out what it was or if there was even something there to miss to begin with.

In short: reading this book was like trying to recall a particularly memorable dream but, for whatever reason, when you try to tell about it your mind is a complete blank.

I received this from Netgalley.com.

"Enda sees phantom monks wandering the cemetery, it calls everything she and her apothecary husband, Keir, know into question."

Ok, what I liked: there is a great atmosphere of just plain gothic creepiness here. Enda is a strong and unusual mc. I mean really, how many grave diggers who are tortured by dead monks do you know? She works diligently to figure out what has happened and how it affects her life. On the opposite end of things, the writing was hard to read and process. It was very stilted and I kept losing track of who was who and what was what - and it unfortunately dragged down what could have been a great story.

2☆

I really tried, but I just couldn't get into this book. It had the possibility to be a beautifully written look into life, but I was honestly just confused. I read A LOT, but I didn't want to work as hard as this book was going to make me work.

Definitely an out of the ordinary read! Style is very different, almost prose-like, so almost like a reading "experience". Once I got into the flow of the writing style, definitely engaging story. If you want something a little different, this is the one.

I think that Stel Parad by Lisa Menzel is beautifully written and is a very complex puzzle which I had a hard time trying to solve. The story is narrated in first person by multiple characters with complex personalities these include Enda Hughes, Keir Hughes, Yabwe, Nontie Gates, Nanokas and Sugmuk. The events take place after an anonymous person leaves a curse pinned to the door of a church which leads to mysterious events which start to take over the town of Keepataw. I would recommend this book to those who like historical fiction with elements of mystery and supernatural beings.

I recieved an advanced copy for free, and this is my honest opinion.

Thanks to Netgalley for the ARC of this book. Unfortunately I didn't finish this book. Just couldn't keep my interest.

This book was like wading through treacle and I struggled to figure out what the main plot was? Slow, uninvolving, trudging, long-winded sentences and a total bore. Did not finish and could not get beyond 25%

Step Parad is a ghost story, of a gravedigger and a story of phantoms around the graveyard after a curse was left on the church door.

Unfortunately, Stel Parad was not the book for me. The synopsis makes it sound super intriguing, and I’m sure many will find it so, but the writing style was one I really struggled with. For a fairly short read, it felt much longer because the writing felt unnecessarily long, lots of extra descriptors without a lot of clarity towards the story. This made the story itself hard to follow, and I couldn’t really keep track of what was going on, and I quickly found myself losing interest because I was struggling to follow what was happening.

I have heard that this is meant to be turned into a show or movie, and I think it would translate well to that, as it feels like a more visual story than a written one. That style of story just doesn’t work for me, though I’m sure many will find it to be eerie and atmospheric.

This is a dazzling and rich novel that careens from fever-dreams to police drama to exploration of spiritualities and beliefs in min-19th century America. It's a novel to be read slowly and more than once, as multiple readings provide new insights into all of the connections the author makes across the novel's many narrators and events.

I could barely get through the first chapter. I am not even sure exactly what I read, except it had something to do with a gravedigger. It was almost like the author picked a bunch of descriptive words and just tossed them into sentences. It made zero sense, almost like it was written backward. A very bizarre and oddly written book.

Great book with an interesting story, I had a great time reading it and trying to put the pieces together on my own.

Lisa Menzel does a fantastic job of capturing a spooky ominous feel throughout the book, she definitely has a writing style all her own which I really enjoyed. Sometimes there is a little too much focus on atmosphere, so I would recommend this to someone with a fantastic imagination and ability to form mental images, this will work fantastically as a movie/tv series where less time can be spent describing the atmosphere.

All that being said it was a great and original story with a persistent gothic feel and I really enjoyed it once I adjusted to her unique writing style, I look forward to more of Lisa Menzel's work.

This is a very interesting book with a great idea and story, though it can be a little tough to follow. It's definitely the kind of book you need to give you full attention to in order to avoid feeling lost or confused on what's going on.

I tried really hard to read the first chapter in this book. It has many odd ways of descriptive writing, and is very long winded. I really got confused with what was happening to the woman and had to re-read it.
This is probably best suited for a university literature academic, but for a run of a mill reader it's a big no.
For the small amount I read, and I did try to read the middle of the book which was the same, I found this not to be a relaxing read, rather a Sherlock home detective whom was trying to work out what was going on.

Thank you Netgalley and Publisher for ARC