This book did not let me down. I loved every moment of this book and when I was done I felt lost for a while. Looking forward to buying this book once it comes out.

I thought perhaps it would get easier. Little Eve is my third Catriona Ward book and I know from the first two that she writes amazingly detailed stories that make you feel like you are right there in the midst of whatever scene she has dreamed up. But come on, you would think by now I could write a decent review knowing that I somehow have to avoid all the spoilers that are scattered within the pages. I won't fall into that trap but whether or not I adequately convey how the story made me feel, well that is questionable at best.

Eve and Dinah live on the Isle of Altnaharra with two women, two other children, and their 'Uncle''. They are routinely starved and endure many tests deemed by 'Uncle' to assess their worthiness. Worthy for what you ask? Why to be ready for the end of the world when all of the impure people will perish and Uncle and those under his care will be the only survivors. Makes total sense right? Well, it does to these six brainwashed people, and the punishments for doubting are swift and severe.

But the book doesn't open here. It begins when a local merchant makes a delivery, yet discovers something shocking instead. Everyone is dead except for Dinah, who is barely alive, and a missing Eve. Dinah states that Eve is responsible, but we will need to journey to the past to discover why.

Dark, disturbing, eerie, and a tale that I dare you to be able to put down.A story where the layers are peeled away bit by bit, and a twist that I didn't see coming.

◇You might enjoy this if you like
-Cults
-Gothic settings
-Dual timeline and POV
-Snakes

Once again, Catriona Ward delivers. We witness Eve growing up on the coast of Scotland in the early 1900s under the watchful eye of Uncle. Uncle is preparing their found family for when ‘He’ is coming. He will deliver them of all their sins.

The setting was dark and mesmerizing, a perfect undertone for the story Ward gave us. Full of her usual twisty plot turns, the reader is constantly wondering which character they can really trust. Atmospheric, emotional, culty. Need I say more?

This book’s publish date is October 11th, and it will be the perfect spooky season read for all my fellow horror fans!

Thank you Macmillan-Tor/Forge, Tor Nightfire and netgalley for an advanced copy in exchange for an honest review!

Little Eve was first released in the UK in 2018. The book was a hit overseas and even won the Shirley Jackson award for best novel in 2018. After learning this, my interest was immediately piqued. I read and enjoyed both of award’s prior works, The Last House on Needless Streer and Sundial so I was very excited to read Little Eve.

Little Eve is set on a small island called Altnaharra that’s off the coast of Scotland. A small group consisting of 8 people live in a castle on Altnaharra and they are preparing for what they believe is the end of the world. The group is led by ‘Uncle’ who speaks through and sees visions from the great ‘addler’ who will save this clan from the demise of the world. Among the clan is little Eve who will do anything to stand out to the addler. But after a sacred ceremony goes terribly wrong little Eve and all of the secrets hidden on Altnaharra will be brought to light.

The book is told from Evelyn and Dinah’s point of view with alternating timelines.

Since Little Eve was written several years before The Last House on Needless Street so it was interesting to see how Catriona award’s writing has evolved. There are a few darker parts but I wouldn’t classify this one as horror. Instead, Little Eve is more of a gothic thriller.

This one wasn’t a hit for me but it wasn’t entirely a miss either. I enjoyed the creepy atmosphere and the twist was well written. I also was very satisfied with the ending. But there are a lot of very slow parts that were a bit redundant, I even contemplated not finishing it a few times. However, I do think readers who enjoy thrillers about cults or any of Ward’s prior works will love Little Eve.

Little Eve by Catriona award will be available in the United States on October 11, 2022. Many thanks to Netgalley and Tor Nightfire for the arc in exchange for an honest review.

Part gothic, part cult thriller, this story had a little bit of everything. I did struggle in parts to keep timelines/perspectives straight, but otherwise it was a solidly pleasant read.

Little Eve took me a minute to get into due to the writing style, but once I got used to it I was hooked. This is a gothic tale revolving around a cult, and is told from the perspective of Eve in 1917 and Dinah in 1921 after a major event in the cult. This story was twisty, dark, and left me guessing what would happen until the very end. The end has me shook, and I totally didn’t see it coming. Rating 4/5 due to the writing style, not totally my cup of tea but the story was 👌🏻👌🏻

Little Eve is the story of Eve, an orphan living with a cult on a remote Scottish isle in the early 1900s.
I really enjoyed this book. The beginning seemed to drag a little, but I was soon pulled in. The story moved along nicely, with enough detail to paint a desolate picture of the lives the kids in the cult lived, but no so much as to drag the story down. The fate of the cult members is revealed early on, and the events leading up to that are slowly uncovered with the perfect amount of suspense. The characters are well developed and I genuinely liked (or hated) them. There are many layers to the story and I'm not quite sure what category to put it in-part horror, historical fiction, part thriller-but it is just a good Gothic tale that is well told.
Thank you to NetGalley for the ARC of this book

Add this one to your 2022 Spooky Season TBR immediately!

'Little Eve' is a masterfully crafted literary gothic infused to the brim with Catriona Ward's trademark stomach-dropping twists and reveals. Anyone who talks to me about books or reads reviews knows that I've been a ringer for calling twist endings for years, but Ward has such an uncanny talent for laying incredibly believable misdirection and using all her literary skills with plotting and narrative styles to keep readers guessing without leaving them hopeless confused. Each hard turn in the story feels so well earned. The blend of multiple unreliable narrators, multiple timelines, and the clasic choice of opening with the discovery of a murder is so well executed that I was barely able to put this book down for important things like work and sleep. I was so invested in every aspect of the story and characters that taking breaks from reading it left me restless.

Outside of techinal mastery, 'Little Eve' is so full of heart and perfectly eerie vibes that it is the perfect read for autumn, winter, or any old stormy night. Ward's reverence for her homeland is obvious in every harsh but poignant description of the island of Altnaharra. That, added to the stark violence and the attention to detail she pays to the time period— from clothes all the way to forensic science of the time— creates such an atmospheric and immersive reading experience that is transportive and at times viscerally jarring. There were times when 'Little Eve' felt like the kind of tragedy you hate to witness but cannot bring yourself to look away from. The constant reminders of the power of a familial bond, the way each character is deeply sympathetic, and the very fleeting softer moments serve as a fantastic emotional and thematic foil to the more disturbing aspects of this book.

It's a genuine shock to me that Catriona Ward's sophomore novel wasn't overly well recieved when it was first published in the UK. Maybe sometimes great things need to sit with us a while before we can really appreciate them. Ward more than deserves the Shirley Jackson Award and British Fantasy Award for Best Horror that 'Little Eve' won. The vibes are exactly the right balance of suspenseful, heart-rending, and decidedly creey. I absolutely recommend this one for IndieNext and LibraryReads nominations, it's practically a perfect twisty literary gothic and I think I won't be able to stop thinking about for a long time.

Between 'Little Eve' and 'Sundial,' it's safe to say that Catriona Ward is an autoread author for me now! I'll immediately be picking up 'The House on Needless Street' to catch up.

Representatives of Tor Publishing reached out to me with an offer of a complimentary e-arc of 'Little Eve' in exchange for an honest review and I am so thrilled that I accepted. 'Little Eve' has easily been one of my favourite reads of 2022 so far and I cannot wait until it releases in North America in October so that I can bully all my friends into reading it too.

Horror novels for me, I find, are more spectacle than story, but Little Eve surprised me. Not only by providing an excellent writing style that sets a chilling atmosphere, but the story is so well plotted that it genuinely took me off guard. I’m rarely caught unawares by twists or misdirections, but this one had so many seamlessly woven through you never truly feel as if you’re standing on solid ground. Much like the main perspectives you read from, you can never trust what you think you know. I loved the setting, and how thematically well done it was, I’d give this an award for best horror novel too.

I started Little Eve on a windy night at a vacation rental overlooking a lake and that was either a terrible idea or an amazing one. Terrible because I was immediately creeped out by the dark gothic tone and amazing because I was easily immersed in the dark gothic setting in a story that begins with the discovery of murder.

Little Eve is a true historical gothic story very similar to Rebecca. The closest read-alike I can come up with is The Thirteenth Tale although I think this one needs a lot more trigger warnings. I couldn’t quite figure out what was happening at the beginning but that confusion drew me in and kept me compelled to keep turning the pages. I actually don’t want to say anything about the plot because this is a book to experience. So many twists and turns and unexpected reveals that made this completely engrossing.

Thank you to Netgalley,and the publisher for a chance to review this.

This is my second book from Catriona Ward. I'm shocked I was so let down,and disappointed with this one. Her first book I read ' The Last House on Needless Street' was really gripping,and kept me going.
This one, I was let down. I didn't connect with the story at all. I got lost, and kept wanting to put the book down. For me, it might of been the time period that might of been an issue for me.
I know a lot of other people liked it, and I really wanted to like it too, but I just struggled through it. I guess not all can be winners right?

I do hope 'Sundial' reads more like "Needless Street" I will be giving that one a chance.

Off the battered coast of Scotland is a little island known as Altnaharra. Here lives a small group of individuals, maybe even a bit of a family, who are fairly private and have minimal contact with the townspeople on the mainland. It's been a while since they've been seen or heard from, and it's quickly discovered why. Their bodies are discovered in a strange configuration, bird-ridden, their right eyes taken from their sockets. But one is missing. What horror happened here? The story goes much deeper than what the surface suggests: sacred ceremonies, powers gained, the end of the world, but also betrayal, family, and sacrifice.

What I loved:
- I love that Cat Ward continues to "do it again." This is everything I love in a horror novel! Horror and suspense, cultish themes, solid twists, a good heap of the gothic, and multiple POVs (one in the past moving forward along the timeline leading to the big reveals, and one in the present after all is said and done).
- I loved the characters. The villain(s) were exactly that, and I readily cheered for those who were vulnerable that they would come out on top strong conquerors. There were characters to connect to, love, and root for, and other characters to hate and wish for their demise.
- Cat's writing style is fantastic. She has a very unique voice that seems to separate her from mainstream horror novelists, and her stories never seem to lack that 'extra' element, that something special that puts the story in a level above the usual. She expertly weaves storylines in a tapestry that isn't so convoluted that the reader would get lost, but that is complex enough that we spend much of the novel working to unweave her tale (in the best sense) and find little nuggets of twists and reveals along the way. And just when you think you've got it all figured out, you missed a thread.
- Cat knows how to build up a tense, gothic atmosphere. Things aren't right immediately, and we all know it, even before anything is revealed. And things continue to not feel right, because she continues to shows us that things are off. I love when tension builds in horror novel like this - that looming sense of feeling a little bit smothered and choked by the gloom and the wrongness, but not too much ... just enough. Just enough of the eerie and the wrong that we can't stop reading until we find out what that tap is behind the door, or what that itch is that needs to be scratched. And even when we think we've discovered it, something else comes creeping up behind.

What I didn't love:
- I love being able to write these kind of reviews where I get to this part and can say confidently, "There wasn't really anything I didn't love," and that's that.

Overall:
All of the stars. I. Love. Catriona Ward. She has turned into an autobuy/autoread author for me, 100%. The first book I read of hers was The Last House on Needless Street, and oh, what an instant fan I became! Then came Sundial, which was entirely different but oh, so good. And here we are with Little Eve, another entirely different read but that, in every way, delivers on suspense, gothic horror, and cultish vibes. I read this one for the first time in August of 2021 (UK edition published by Gollancz), but it's being published now in the States by Tor Nightfire and so I just HAD to revisit it. Put Cat Ward on your auto-buy list. I loved this story, the characters, the way it was all woven together and delivered, and that it was such a great reading experience. It's a book I'll be passing off to every friend that can handle it!

A huge thank you, as always, to Netgalley and Tor Nightfire for the e-ARC! This one publishes October 11, 2022!

The formatting of this book made it almost unreadable, obviously this wouldn't be a problem with the finished copy. Aside from that, while I loved The Last House on Needless Street and Sundial, Little Eve didn't draw me in like the previous two books.

The Queen of the creepiest horror stories is back. Little Eve was actually Catriona's second book and is horrifically creepy and similar to SUNDIAL and THE LAST HOUSE ON NEEDLESS STREET. As always, there are twists within twists and a heavy gothic atmosphere that encompasses the entire story.

Little Eve, opens with a scene of horror. We learn soon after that Eve and Dinah are two orphan girls living in tiny cult community in the early 1900's on the Isle of Altnaharra in Scotland. The cult leader, "Uncle" has very strict rules and keeps the girls and other women very isolated from the real world. Uncle has the "family" continuously practice rituals preparing for the end of days. As Eve begins to wonder about the outside world and whether Uncle's teachings are truly "right," Uncle tightens his control and imparts more and more inhumane punishments. What should Eve do to escape? If you like Creepy Supernatural tales, twisty thrillers that will keep you up at night (and haunt your during the day) or just loved Ward's past work, Little Eve is the book for you!
#Macmillan #Tor.Forge #Tor #NetGalley #LittleEve #CatrionaWard

Little Eve by Catriona Ward is a Must Read… soooo good! A Brilliantly written Gothic Mystery Horror with twists and wtf moments.
The story Starts with a gruesome scene that takes place on New Years in 1921. The story is told back and forth from the past to the future, mostly told from two ‘sisters’ Dinah and Eve. It is set in Scotland on the isle of Altnaharra with a small cult-like ‘family’ ran by a man they call ‘Uncle’.
There are many secrets, ceremonies, betrayals, murders and much much more.
I highly recommend. Little Eve is released in the U.S. on October 11, 2022.
Thank you NetGalley & Macmillan- Tor/Forge for the ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Catriona Ward with another book written just for me! My first exposure to her was with the excellent SUNDIAL which I read earlier this year, and this novel didn't disappoint. I understand completely how this won a Shirley Jackson award; Little Eve was a fever dream that never let up. A chilling Gothic, complete with crumbling seaside castle and unreliable narrator, I had trouble putting down my galley copy.

Full of twists and turns and a palpable sense of dread that never lets up. The setting was incredible, I felt like I could smell the ruined castle of Altnaharra and head the barking of the sea lions.

FFO gothics, psychological horror, cults

Give it up for Catriona Ward and Little Eve! This is my first book of hers but I have heard amazing things about Needless Street so am glad I got the chance to check this one out on NetGalley!

I had a hard time at the start of this novel getting my bearings with the writing style and the language as it was used in the 1920s. But once I got used to that this novel had me HOOKED.

Little Eve is the disturbing, dark, mysterious story of a cult-like ‘family’ living on the isle of Altnaharra and preparing for the day in which He comes. When the town butcher comes to the isle to deliver a parcel of meat he discovers a grizzly scene in which all but one are dead. We then dive into the past to unravel the events that led us to that fateful night.

This was probably my absolute favourite ending of the horrors/mysteries that I have read. It was beautiful and did not leave me wishing for more.

Alternating between two timelines, Little Eve follows Eve and Dinah, who grew up together on the island of Altnaharra under the creepy, watchful eye of cult leader "Uncle." We meet Eve as a child--an active member of the adder-worshipping cult--and Dinah as a haunted adult, the only survivor of the gruesome mass murder that wiped out all other Altnaharra residents. Though the book contains instances of pagan rituals and sinister hallucinations, the real horror stems from the Uncle character, who employs evil tactics of emotional manipulation, physical and psychological violence, and fear-mongering to maintain complete control over what he calls his "family."

A dark exploration of fact versus fiction and reality versus manipulation that challenges the dichotomy between past and present. Because even though years have passed since Dinah made it off the island, it never really freed her. Dinah's enduring trauma is far more chilling than any of the gothic tropes or plot devices.

Thank you NetGalley for the ARC. This book is dark, eerie and full of mystery. Unfortunately for me there were parts I didn’t like and I ended up struggling to finish it. Perhaps it was the writing style as I can’t really flaw the plot. It just didn’t do it for me.

Wow! This was more of a thrill ride than I was prepared for and I loved it! Dark, atmospheric and a strong sense of the hidden corners of the human psyche - I couldn’t put it down. It made me question everything I was reading, and while I guessed one of the ending plot twists, it still solidly would be a 4.5 ⭐️ read for me. Ward writes in a way which makes you feel every twisted thought, every drop of rain, every cold intention, as if it was your own.