I loved the fantasy elements and the characters. and overall, was a really fun read! I’d highly recommend

Overall I did enjoy reading Another Beast’s skin. If you are interested in reading a fantasy book with magic, fae, parallel words... then you’re going to like this book. However I couldn’t connect with the characters and the relationship between Cade and Neysa felt forced. So if you are reading this book for the romance, you might find yourself disappointed.

I am always in for fae's stories and this book was specially attractive to me because the main character was not a teenager (a nice change!) however, most of the time she felt like one.

Although the premise seemed like something I'd enjoy I was unable to connect with the story and characters. The introduction is done too fast, we don't really get a chance to get to know the main characters before the big reveal. There is also too much info dump, and considering we didn't have the chance to get to connect with the characters it turned me off completely from the story.

The second part of the book is a bit chaotic, I'm honestly not sure what was going on. There's a lot of action that seems a bit pointless, and then there's a weird attempt of a love triangle. (Although it is pretty clear who's the real love interest.) The guy seems to not care about Neysa and suddenly they are crazy in love and destined to each other. The whole destiny thing is a bit cliché and it doesn't really seem to affect the main plot. I have to say the romance reminded me a lot of another series about faes.

It is a shame I didn't get to enjoy this book, the author did seem to have put a lot of thought into the world building and the premise was intriguing. However, the weird pace and too much tell don't show threw me out of the story.

There's a part of the book where a character speaks in Spanish. It's just a few lines but the very obvious grammatical mistakes lead me to believe there wasn't much editing, maybe with a good revision it could improve a lot and be far more enjoyable.

DNF at 65%

1.5 stars

There are many things that are not consistent in this story. The ideas are there, but the execution and the plot are quite underwhelming.

Neysa is 35 and divorced, yet I felt like I was reading the story of a young adult who’s somewhere between 18 years old and 22 years old. She (quickly) becomes friends with a group of locals, and they all just tell her their secrets with almost no prompting. They tell her their whole story, and of course, they also tell her that she’s fae, like them. She learns that the Veil between the human realm and the Fae realm is wearing thin, and it’s her job to fix it with a few magic crystals (because of course, she’s very special, and “not like the other girls”).

The first part of the book is disorganized. It hops from scene to scene with no transition and some things also just happened with no real explanation and were never talked about after, so it created some confusion. There is also kind of an info-dump at first, instead of a plot developing.
The characters are also quite flat and ordinary. On top of being bland and unoriginal, the main character seems to make many decisions in her life based on… nothing. You know the “I don't know why I did it, but I did" kind of decisions that did not help me connect with the characters at all.
The romance also seems juvenile, and not what I would expect from a 35 years old who’s been married before. There is a kind of love triangle, but it’s weird, and honestly, just a distraction from the main plot, especially since the characters are just bland and I don’t really care about them and who they end up with.

This book has potential, some ideas are good and with some editing, it would be better, but as it is right now, I couldn’t get into it and enjoy it at all.

Overall, I really liked Another Beast’s Skin. I had a hard time following at first, the beginning felt a little rushed and I wasn’t clear ok the characters relationships, or even how the main character ended up in England. This is eventually explained but at first I was super confused and just not invested. By chapter 8/9 I was totally into it!

The plot and overall storyline I really enjoyed. I liked the enemies to lovers, all of the realms and the fae world, and all of the travel they did. It was definitely a slow burn too which I loved! This was my first fae book and I have to say I really enjoyed it!

Being that it’s the 1st in the series I do have some questions about things, but I expect them to be answered as the series goes on so I don’t think they’re plot holes so far!

I think fans of ACOTAR, Shades of Magic, and Serpent & Dove would enjoy this book.

I have to admit that I almost DNF this book. I was 49% in and was going to just stop. It was just filled with front loaded information and very little action and I couldn’t take it...

I read a few other reviews and noted that some reviews that were 5 stars said the lower rated ones didn’t give it a full go and didn’t finish the novel.

So I decided to give it a try and finish it. Here are my thoughts...

I believe that front-loading information is a big no no when writing. All books have the introduction of what’s happening but the storyline moves on and the author cleverly writes in information. This novel had over 47% of front loaded information before real action started to actually happen.

After I was “caught up” on what the author needed me to be caught up on I liked the story. I love fae romances and this story has a lot of potential.

Did I think the story fall flat? Yes. Yes I did. The title is called Another Beast’s Skin and it implies that we are going to see the main character come out of the skin and growth and development is going to happen. Instead, we get her crossing a veil and she’s changed and she doesn’t know it. Where are the trials and tribulations? Where are the challenges and shedding of the skin?

I received an ARC copy from netgalley for review.

Based on the description of this book, I was expecting it to be interesting at the very least. Unfortunately I was let down by it. The two main issues I have with this book are the plot itself and the writing/editing. It did get better near the middle, however, I will say that I quickly realized this was also a book I normally would not have read.

With regards to the plot, I'm not entirely sure what it was. It seemed like things happened with no explanation and then were left alone later.

Part of the plot issue, for me, stems from the editing. I was ready to put the book down 15% in, however I wanted to continue in hopes that it did improve. The first half of the book is disjointed and seemingly hops from scene to scene with no transition, which can definitely leave the reader feeling lost and exhausted. The characters, to me, felt fairly flat. A lot of the decisions that characters made were explained "I don't know why I did it, but I did", and rather than feeling the emotions of the characters (or the characters themselves feeling emotions), I felt they were being stated rather than explained.

As I said before, part of this issue was resolved as the book went on, however, it seemed near the end that it became more disjointed again.

My final issue comes from the way the characters are treated and act. Often, they were treated not as people (for lack of a better word), but rather as objects of one another. This was especially prevalent in the relationship between Neysa and Cade. Personally, neither seems to care for the other below the surface (not to mention the 300 year age gap).

I think with some thorough editing, this book would improve. As I realized too late, this is not the kind of book I am fond of, but with edits, I think it would be enjoyable for someone who is a fan of this style of fantasy.

I received an ARC from NetGalley in return for an honest review.

For such an interesting synopsis, this book was a tad bit disappointing. The first half of this book was slow and rather than a developing plot, there was a lot of info dumping and confusion. While there was more action and the pacing picked up in the second half, it didn't feel like enough to make up for the start.

I also had a hard time distinguishing the characters. They didn't seem to have a fully fleshed out personality and I ended up getting them confused quite a bit. I did not like the "love triangle" and found it distracting from the plot that was there. I did enjoy how Neysa had a hobby, sword-fighting, that not a lot of people in books have, but it feel hard into the "not-like-other-girls" trope.

Overall, the lack of a complete ending left me...confused. I just wanted more.

This was a great story! I enjoyed escaping to the UK and learning all the dynamics within a family/combat cadre and how much they impact our world and the world we can't see because of the Veil that separates Fae from human. Nesya begins on this journey after losing her father and after her divorce. She's always had a sword strapped to her back and has always wondered why he father would be insistent that she learn to defend herself. When she meets Cade, Corra and Silas on her vacation she starts to learn what part she may play in a bigger universe than she ever knew was there.

I look forward to a sequel!!

This novel starts with Neysa, a heartbroken divorced woman of 35 who moves to England and makes some very unexpected acquaintances. Since the beginning , we understand that Neysa is more than meets the eye, The story is a fantasy romance. Those who love romances, will like the sex scenes. Those who don't, will loathe some of the first scenes, where we learn the exact color of everyone's eyes. Those who love fantasy, will certainly enjoy the plot. Although at the beginning it seems like a flat romance, the story takes unexpected turns and unravels a very interesting world building.

Unfortunately I had to stop reading this just before the half way point. In my opinion this read as author self insertion.

I am told in the story Neysa is 35, divorced, and had an adult career. The plot, however, leads me to believe she's somewhere between 18-21. She makes instant friends who a local group and who then spend an abundance of time with her and immediately tell her their secrets. Others around her treat her like a young adult and the romance does not read like a romance between experienced adults.
What I'm told about Neysas life makes me think we're in a fairly modern timeline, but everyone's super into sword play and that's never commented on as a unique hobby, there's also no mention of technology. The start of the book Neysa is meeting up with her new friends in a pub and wasn't sure which pub but didn't call or text to clarify? Yet her career means our timeline is at least past the 1980's.

Honestly my issues with the books are things that could have been solved fairly easily by a few notes from a good editor - mainly significantly aging down the main character, but those issues combined with the mass info dumps made this story not enjoyable for me.

I have received this ARC from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

Another Beast's Skin had potential to be a great book. It's just disappointing that nothing really happened in the first half of this book. We do get a ton of information dropped onto us though. So eventually the pace picks up and we get some action around the half-way mark. I just feel like the balance was off in this and if all the information was spread throughout the book - I think I would have liked this a lot more. It just felt like a lot to handle in the beginning in my opinion.

As for the characters, they were okay. I'll admit that some things still confuse me now about them but they were alright. Borderline likable but I couldn't really connect with them. Then there's the romance and eh, it was okay. Not really a big fan of love triangles but once that got out of the way - the book was more enjoyable.

I also wanted more than what I got (romance-wise) between two people. Maybe I will in the next book but I'm not sure at this point. They had their cute moments though.

In the end, I just have unanswered questions right now about how this actually ended.

I liked the overall story of this, it just started out so slow and gave us a huge information dump which really bogged it down. It was all telling and no showing and a poor choice. So much talk of the fae culture and history, especially at the beginning, will turn readers off. This should be spread out through the story and cut down as not all of it seemed that relevant.

I enjoyed seeing Neysa discovering who she is and what she's capable of. She's a strong woman and an awesome fighter. Her relationship with Cade was cute, although I wish we'd seen them together more. Her friendship with Silas was fun but I didn't like the bits of romance between them and felt it was unnecessary. They were always better as friends and going down that path felt off.

The ending sort of wrapped up but also left an opening. Now that we know about the fae and Neysa's heritage, maybe the next book will have more action?

I voluntarily read and reviewed this book. Thank you to GenZ Publishing and NetGalley for the copy.

The world building is definitely there, it's clear to see from all the nuance and information that's instantly to hand, but I've always preferred show to tell, and there was a lot of telling in this story. The action scenes were well described, but lacked emotional content, and while I liked the ideas and concepts, I never managed to engage with them properly.

thanks to netgalley and the publisher for providing me with the digital arc of this book in exchange for an honest review.

this book had pretty okay world-building but it just wasn't explained enough. the pacing was off; the first half of the book or so had too many info-dumps for my brain to handle i had to struggle to get through it. i was confused about what exactly happened because of poor execution and lack of a better pacing scheme. the romance was just not my favorite, i didn't vibe with it so it ruined the book for me and i wish it hadn't.

I was worried at first because the first about 25% of the book was just a character and information dump. I felt lost and was invested enough to care about the information given. After that point the writing changed and I was caught up in the story and characters. Story seemed to find it's feet and was steady paced. As I read further I really enjoyed Neysa and Caderyn's developing relationship. I am looking forward to the next one.

Thank you to NetGalley and GenZ Publishing for an eARC in exchange for an honest review.

In this book, a woman named Neysa moves to a small town in England, a country she had spent a lot of her childhood in and that she felt drawn to, despite being from the West Coast of the United States, after a messy divorce and the death of her beloved father. She makes friends easily there; friends who notice something about her that makes her a little more like them than it makes her like anybody else. So, they reveal themselves to be fae tasked with healing the rotting veil between the Fae and the human realms and ask her to help. In this process, Neysa learns a lot about herself, her father and her past.
Heed the following trigger warnings before deciding wether or not to read, TW: attempted rape, death

Another Beast's Skin was like shedding the skin of the world we live in to reveal a much more fantastic and exciting world beneath. Yes, it was THAT immersive.

The book was rather fast-paced, which kept me on my toes and my pages turning. I do think the beginning was pretty heavy on the amount of Information, but I was never bored or confused. Information was often given as a part of the action or in dialogue, which really helped make it digestable.

The Plot had everything I love, a sexy, brooding (but not assholeish) love interest, empowering female friendships, found family, a mystery, swords, and a cool, thought-out plot-twist and resolution that is amazingly written, and my favorite of all: dogs that are important and don't die! I can't wait to see what the next book will bring.

The Characters were detailed and interesting. A lot of relationships felt different than the molds we've grown used to, in a good way. I grew to care about what happened to and between them. They were diverse in sexuality, which I thought was done particularly well, although I do hope to see an actual enduring same-sex relationship in the next book (I might even have an idea who ;D) . Sadly, I had expected more in the direction of Characters of color. There were POC, don't get me wrong, but the main cast was overwhelmingly white. This and an extremely annoying fixation on the words male and female (which were repeated on almost every. single. page.) cost this book its fifth star.

I would be interested in the opinions of readers with celtic backgrounds, as there is obvious influence and I am very curious to see their thoughts and opinions.

I do highly recommend this book to anyone looking for an adult fantasy that will sweep you off your feet.

This Review will appear on my Instagram @/flybybooks later today

*I received this complimentary ARC from the publisher, courtesy of NetGalley, in exchange for an honest review*

Another Beast’s Skin follows Neysa as she moves to a rented cottage on the coast of England following her divorce. However, there is something mysterious about her landlord and his twin cousins (besides their attractiveness). Neysa comes to learn that they are from the fae realm and fights to help them protect the human and fae realm as the Veil between them becomes unstable.

This is an enjoyable adult fantasy/fae read. There is loads of slow-burn romance (but the actual ‘romancing’ was over too quickly). The plot line was predictable at times; however the character development and insights kept the storyline moving. I did find myself bored at some points due to the information-dump of politics/religion, etc which was used to help with the world building, however this as predominantly in the first half (making a slower read), and the last half was a very quick, adventurous and action-packed read. I can’t wait to see what happens next and highly recommend!

ANOTHER BEASTS SKIN - Jessika Grewe Glover

★★★☆☆

Neysa is a divorcée who escapes to coastal England when he father dies. Here she meets Corra, Silas and Cade and discovers they are emissaries from a Fae realm, charged with protecting and repairing the Veil between realms. The Veil is failing slowly, as the four crystals that kept the Veil secure have gone missing. Without them there would be catastrophic consequences for both realms!
In a race to protect everyone, Neysa must journey to find not only herself but also the crystals needed to repair the Veil.

Overall this book is a fascinating idea and I love the intriguing concept with the crystals. The story has some parts of wonderful world building and others I felt weren’t explained enough. The first third of this book was a bit of an informative overload and occasionally it was as though the story jumped all over the place and I was confused about what exactly happened. So I would have to reread just to double check.

It has great characters and in general fantastic relationship dynamics, however the forging of relationships in the beginning feels a bit rushed and I was a bit shocked at the Silas - Neysa messiness. I felt it wasn’t required and added little to the narrative.

I recommend this book if you delight in fantasy filled with magic, danger and romance.

I recieved an eARC via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

Thank you to Netgalley and GenZ Publishing for providing me with an ARC in exchange for my honest opinion.

I really wanted to love this book. The premise was fascinating and I loved all of the characters. The amount of worldbuilding and research that went into writing this blew my mind. I think that people interested in the fantasy aspect will love the book but those reading for the romance might find themselves disappointed.

Things I liked:
-The characters. Seriously, I absolutely fell in love with Corra, Silas, Neysa, Cade, Ewan, and even Reynard. Reynard actually might be my favorite character, despite his status as an antagonist. He was just so much fun and I love the little weasel, even if he was trying to kill/ capture the main characters. Neysa was a wonderful protagonist and I enjoyed being inside her head. Her training with weapons, especially swords and daggers, made me instantly like her.
-The relationship dynamics. I love reading about found families and Neysa definitely found her home with this small fae family. Reading about her befriending them and learning more about their personalities made me extremely happy. The twins have my heart and the humor/ bantering between them and the others actually had me laughing out loud.
-The writing/ world-building. I was genuinely interested in the world that Glover created and was intrigued by the concept of crystals being conduits for magic. I didn't mind the information dumping near the beginning because it was actually fascinating to learn more about the fae's world and history. I was a bit confused at certain points just because of how much information there was at once, though.

So why didn't I love the book?
-The romance. Despite my love for Cade and Neysa, I just couldn't connect with their relationship. It felt forced and wasn't well-developed at all. Their friendship was great and I loved their banter, but I need authors to stop writing books where the romance is only driven by this 'odd connection' that draws the characters together but has no other basis besides that. "Show don't tell" might be a cliche for writing advice, but this is definitely a situation where I wish the author had done so.
Not only that but the whole mess with Silas was extremely unnecessary, in my opinion, and didn't make much sense at any point in the story. Neysa and Cade also had no trust in each other, even near the end of the novel, and this made their romance even less believable. I was willing to overlook it at first, but as the story went on it annoyed me more and more.

All in all, I did enjoy reading Another Beast's Skin. If you're interested in reading a fantasy book with fae, sword fighting, magic, parallel worlds, and a quest to find magical crystals scattered across the globe, then this book is for you.