Cosy, quirky historical romance. I absolutely loved the character development and overall vibe of this book.

Coming at you with a “controversial” choice! This book had such divided opinions , (which is what caught my eye). The romance community has been absolutely salivating over the Hating Game, and to see such divided opinions on this one… I knew it was my time to read it!

BLURB: Clever and odd Angelika has been called a lot of things, but boring is not one of them. Tired of the predictable society men, she decides now is the time to use her scientists brothers latest experiment to her benefit. Creating the perfect man! If only it were that easy… because who would have guessed it, her life is about to get a lot more complicated!

My thoughts, if you’re going to enter this book expecting the Hating Game, this is not that…. Think of this as the “hot topic cousin” to that book. I see a lot of people comparing this to twilight, with “two hot guys vying for our heroine”, but we know right away who wins her heart…. The half dead cold hearted one 😉

Another thing this book reminds me of, is a Tim Burton romance, where a lot of whimsical gothic mayhem occurs. That being said, I’m completely removing The Hating Game when I think about this book (I feel like you have to, or you’ll be disappointed). This book is the perfect piece of chaotic fluff to read around Halloween, or just when you’re feeling your inner chaotic gothic queen.

Heat Level: 🔥🔥

Unfortunately, this one didn't do it for me. While the premise sounded interesting, I found my mind wandering throughout the reading and just not fully engaged with the characters. There was an awful lot of focus on the creation's member...and I just couldn't get behind that, even for a romance. The Hating Game is still the standout title for this author, and while I will most likely try reading another Sally Thorne, I'm not sure that I'll recommend this one.

3.75 Stars rounded up

This book is a romantic retelling of Frankenstein like you've never seen. An aged and increasingly desperate spinster of 24, Angelika Frankenstein is determined to find a husband by any means necessary. No matter what she does none of the matches she's tried to make have risen to the challenge, they were all lacking spark. Everything changes one night when she is out with her brother and sees the most handsome man she's ever seen before, and knows deep in her soul that she has found her mate. She wants his body, and with the exchange of a few coins, the mortuary director is more than willing to let her have him. A couple hours and a few hundred stitches later lightning strikes the newly formed duo and their chemistry is instantly electric. Unfortunately for the both of them her cold,calm collection of mystery man meat has morals and won't make his move until getting closure from his previous life. Absurdity ensues.

I really liked how quirky and fun the characters in the book are. They are brilliant but also incredibly progressive and free spirited and the kind of people you want to befriend. Angelika is the kind of friend that always gets you into trouble but always talks your way out of it too. The romance is present but not super in your face and the tie in with Mary Shelley was brilliantly done.

This sounded like such a great story, but it was strange and disturbing, and I don't think the romance really worked here. Angelika's character was kind of insufferable, the whole couple of chapters dedicated to Will's penis, the strange competition between Will and Chris, it all just became too much. It's definitely a unique retelling, and the nod to Mary Shelley at the end was nice, but this was just too weird.

This was so different and I love it for that. It was like nothing I've ever read; whimsical, fresh and new, but with Thorne's writing that you just can't put down. I read it less than 24 hours and as usual I just love the way she writes romantic tension. This was ridiculous in the best way but also very swoony. And even though I guessed some aspects of the story, there was still so much that I had no idea about. It's fun to read a story where you have no idea how they are going to resolve it. I had such a great time In this world.

I think I have to officially admit I find Sally Thorne to be overrated, A third round purchase for most libraries

I really wanted to love this story, because The Hating Game is still up there on my favorites list, and I enjoyed her other romcoms as well. But unfortunately, I just couldn’t get into it. I tried forcing myself to read it multiple times, but could never get past the first few chapters.

There is nothing specifically wrong with it, and maybe someday I’ll come back to it, but right now it’s just not the book for me!

I love Sally Thorne and have read most of her books. This one, however, was not my favorite. It seemed like Thorne was trying too hard to turn the classic Frankenstein into a romance. It just wasn't what I was hoping it was going to be.

I wasn’t able to get to this book before it was archived. But I love the author so I likely will love it. I purchased a copy when it hit shelves.

Has Sally Thorne been a closet evangelist this entire time?

First, I have to acknowledge how absolutely bonkers this plot is. This reminded me quite a bit of a much more dark and deranged spin on Sarah Hogle’s latest book with the Hero being the embodiment of holiday spirit come to life. Obviously the premise is very different, but if I had no idea, I would have guessed this was written by Sarah Hogle way before Sally Thorne.

I have some glaring issues that are at the forefront of my mind after finishing this. The biggest one has to be the in your face religious overtones that I could have done without. Initially I was kind of happily surprised that the Frankensteins were atheist or at least that there could be some positive or at least not negative portrayal of anti-religion. But pretty quickly that evolved into a bizarre message of a girl not allowed to have her own beliefs and being a spoiled selfish heiress until a priest shows up and teaches her to be compassionate and generous and that she is allowed to believe in God. It read as though only Christians have a generous heart and the problem with Angelika originally was that she was an atheist. Puzzlingly, the final resolution ends up being scientific (I guess) and not prayer related, though prayer is also a huge part of the prior pages. It was just confusing.

The religious aspects really end up taking over in the last part of the book in the form of lots of on page prayer. And deciding whether being with someone means you have to forsake your religion. Honestly I’m not sure what the takeaway was supposed to be. I think on some level this was maybe a nod to Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein and the concept of “playing God” and the lesson being not to do so and instead to trust in prayer. But at the same time, the repercussions of her playing God are brushed away time and time again.

We are reminded frequently of how much physical pain Will is in because of being brought back to life. But that is just ignored in the next sentence with them making sex eyes at each other and Angelika coming on to him. I was never satisfied that she actually felt remorse for creating him.

Which leads to the next big issue. Angelika’s persistent pursuit of Will was cringeworthy and just gross. If the roles were reversed and Will created a perfect version of a woman with huge tits and a big butt and was constantly salivating over her even with her telling him she was not interested repeatedly, this wouldn’t even have been published. It was frankly predatory and made me uneasy especially given the fact he was penniless and didn’t know who he was and she was definitely in a position of power.

The characterization of Angelika also changed throughout the book. Initially, we are told she’s odd and generally hated in the community, that no one is interested in marrying her and we even have men yelling at her hatefully outside the morgue. But eventually, every man around is in love with her and wants to marry her. She is described as some ethereal fairy queen with mesmerizing beauty and it just didn’t make much sense with how we initially knew her. She has deep insecurities because no one wants her, yet, she is the most beautiful woman around and everyone knows it. Again, it just didn’t make sense.

And then Angelika just seemed pretty unstable to me. She brings a dead man to life with the hope he will love her but gets angry that he is concerned he may have a family he needs to take care of that miss him. She cries so much. She cries every time she gets rejected by this guy who literally doesn’t know her and she won’t stop coming on to him despite him saying no. How does no one call her on the fact she keeps saying she loves this guy she doesn’t know but she can’t acknowledge that he just wants to figure out what his name is before he marries her. You don’t love him. You couldn’t even leave his perfectly adequate penis attached.

Oh and for the love of God, women can be fulfilled by children, but they also can be fulfilled without them. There was so much emphasis on the fact that she couldn’t be with him if he was infertile and that she couldn’t pick the other love interest because she didn’t want to gallivant the world she just wanted to have babies in a shack.

But this wasn’t bad per se. Someone out there could definitely love and appreciate this story. I liked the writing at times. I have to hand it to Sally Thorne that she writes some amazing one liners and I definitely snickered a few times. And I was engaged to keep reading. But I really could have done without the preachy overarching themes and the uncomfortable lack of actual consent.

Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for an eARC. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

Not my cup of tea… I really wanted to like it but it was wayyyy too fanfictioney for my taste. It had it’s moments but it’s definitely a no for me

Angelika Frankenstein Makes Her Match by Sally Throne was a highly enjoyable read and I think it will bring almost everybody who reads it a little joy.

I DNF'd this book very quickly. Thorne's work has been a hit or miss for me historically but this was just very different.

It was just a strange premise and I could not get into it enough to finish.

This is definitely the strangest book I've read this year, but it was definitely enjoyable. Angelika, the lonely sister of Victor Frankenstein, sets about creating her perfect man from the perfect pieces of a variety of corpses. When her creation is miraculously resurrected, he has no memory of his past life. Wanting to convince herself that he doesn't have a family mourning him, they start investigating his past life. I found it funny, angsty, and little quirky. The only thing I didn't like was a bit of an unnecessary love triangle that starts to happen in the middle of the book. I'd still recommend it if you're looking for a fun rom-com that doesn't take itself too seriously.

I was shocked at how bad Angelika Frankenstein Makes Her Match by Sally Thorne was. I expected it to be a little strange, but this book was extremely uncomfortable and honestly pretty gross for me. Angelika creates her ideal man from body parts she steals from the morgue. She finds a handsome man’s body, but his manhood is way too small for her so she finds a big one from another corpse and sews it on. After he comes to life, he’s in excruciating pain from what she has done. And apparently the fact that she forces him into a relationship with her that he doesn’t want, objectifies him, strips away his humanity, and will not allow him to not love her is supposed to be funny and romantic. This is in no way, shape, or form romantic. It’s disgusting. This man is not a new person like in Mary Shelley’s book, which this book is very loosely inspired by. He recovers memories from his former life and mourns for that loss. The physical and emotional pain of coming back to life but to one he does not want, where he has not consented to surgical enhancements, and is not allowed to make any of his own decisions is, quite frankly, upsetting. Everything he feels for and about Angelika is quite literally against his will. I was honestly worried I was going to get to a scene where she actually forces him to consummate their relationship. I DNFed at 15%. I just never expected this from this author.

Super cute fantasy romance. It was a bit silly at times, but that didn’t stop me from enjoying it. I mean, she creates herself the perfect Himbo. Can’t be mad at that. The characters were cute and the dialogue was snappy. It also had nice spicy scenes. Would definitely recommend for a quick, easy read.

Once you get past the whole “making a partner from parts even though she was attracted to the whole Will she saw in a morgue” thing (and it took me a bit to get there), it’s a wild romp. I could not see how this was going to end with a happily ever after, so that made getting there that much more satisfying.

While I've loved all of Thorne's other books, the premise of this one just wasn't for me. I had a hard time relating to any of the characters.

Absolutely loved it! Such a unique take on Frankenstein but the female version and add in romance. Quirky, funny, and absolutely a delight. Sally Thorne you've done it again.