Nothing Sally writes will ever come close to the Hating Game.

I've realized that the more I read her books--lucy and josh really set my expectations high for Sally, so when she doesn't nail it...well, it's even more disappointing.

Overall I think the book is a fun and cute read, but it lacks the spice and heart that the hating game did. To be honest, I find that to be the case with all of her books post THG. they're fine, but not great.

The only thought in my brain after I finished this book was "WTF did I just read?" and I don't necessarily mean that in a bad way. I can see why this book has gotten mixed reviews, because it's unlike any romance novel I've ever read. It pulls from historical romance (and historical fiction in general) and of course is a little bit sci-fi, and there is SO MUCH PLOT. I have to applaud Sally Thorne for essentially writing "Frankenstein" fan fiction in a novel form, but there was too much going on here for me at times. That said, this was a fun spooky season read, and even though I can't say if I loved or even liked this book, I certainly had a good time reading it.

Angelika spends her time helping her brother Victor in his groundbreaking experiment to bring a reassembled man back to life. With no suitors in her past or future, she embarks on her own journey to bring the perfect man back for herself.

🪄 I enjoyed the more laugh out loud moments then spooky vibes of this book

🔮 The overall messaging in this book is sweet. The classic don’t judge a book by its cover, and the more meaningful be kind to others, help others in need

I liked this book but didn’t love it. Overall it was a bit to far out there for me, but I’m looking forward to other reviews on it!

Thank you to @harpercollinsca for my copy

I was....very disappointed. I wanted to love it, and I have really enjoyed Thorne's past books, but this one was just....weird. And not in a "great, I love weird!" way. The premise wasn't quirkily unbelievable, it was just jumped-the-shark unbelievable and that made it too distracting to enjoy. Alas.

This was… fine.

I had high hopes for this book, and at times it was genuinely enjoyable. However, Angelika, our heroine was really really hard to like, or empathize with, or even care about. She was so self-absorbed, and so annoying. While she could have been written as a flawed, but multi-dimensional smart and sassy genius, she instead came across more like an annoying, personality-less Girlboss ™️.

“Will” also had NO personality. Literally none. I genuinely wanted to skip every internal monologue of his, he was so full and lacklustre. Also, I thought I was ready, but I was in no way prepared for the amount of referenced towards the erect penis of what was once a cadaver, lol.

The love triangle frustrated me. <spoiler>At one point Angelika gets mad because she thinks Christopher is trying to change her - when he’s really just saying “be who you want at home, but there will be times when we’ll have to ascribe to society’s expectations, just as you do now” - and “Will” actually did try to change her by being like “you’re a bad person, try to give a shit about someone else.” Christopher seemed like the perfect match, especially when compared to our resurrected dullard, “Will”, however then obviously when Angelika chooses “Will” we suddenly see some of Christopher’s less appealing traits. While it’s fine if a character chooses the love interest I like less, in this story Angelika doesn’t give him a chance, and he’s barely a factor in the story… It feels like he was included just to have a love triangle, and it didn’t add anything to the story.

The concept was SO fun though, so I give Sally Thorne so many points for inventiveness.

Sorry for my delayed feedback! We carried this in the store and was super fun to hand sell this Fall! Thanks for the chance to preview, so we could tell our customers all about it!

Angelika Frankenstein is the assistant to her brother Victor in all of his experiments. When he wants to bring a man back to life, Angelika joins in on the fun. She hasn’t been able to find an appropriate suitor and now she’s run out of men in her town, so she decides to choose her own corpse to bring back to life. However, the man who she revives is more focused on figuring out his identity from before he died than being her husband. Though he is her perfect match, Angelika does everything she can to help him discover his former life.

I loved the premise of this book, but it wasn’t executed as well as I expected. The romance between Angelika and Will, her creation, was stilted and forced. One minute they would be kissing, and the next minute he would tell her why they couldn’t be together. This happened over and over again, so it was tiring to read.

The other characters tried to be quirky but I didn’t feel that they stood out on their own. Some of the side characters didn’t really serve a purpose to move the plot forward. Those storylines could have been cut shorter to make the story more concise.

Angelika Frankenstein Makes Her Match wasn’t what I hoped it would be.

Thank you HarperCollins Canada for giving me a copy of this book.

I really tried with this one but it was a DNF for me. I thought the premise was interesting, but I just couldn't get into it.

I am a HUGE fan of the Hating Game and have been looking forward to the latest from Sally Thorne. This is a tough one for me to review. Partially because I don’t really enjoy period romances, and partly because I just couldn’t buy in to the story. I liked the idea of the Frankenstein siblings working together to reanimate corpses. Who wouldn’t want to create the perfect man?
I went into the story knowing that it was going to be over the top, but I was interested in the story anyway. There were a lot religious references that were inserted into the story that were off-putting to me. Once the true identity of the love interest was revealed I found myself wishing that the story had taken a different path.
There were some cute parts of the story and seeing Angelika grow as a person was a nice touch. This story just wasn’t for me but I am sure it would appeal to others.

2.5 ⭐️

Thanks to NetGalley for the advanced copy in exchange for an honest review.

loved the spooky scenery, but i just could not fall in love with the characters…the romance felt forced and not genuine!

Thanks to Avon for the copy of this book!

This was an interesting take on Frankenstein, and I really enjoyed the first 20% of the book where Angelika is making her perfect man and bringing him to life. Yes, it's weird, but it was also working. After that, I felt like the book dragged in a lot of places, but would pick back up occasionally. I think this is really perfect for a very specific reader niche who love both historical romance and fantasy, and appreciate a strong female character. It was fun to read around Halloween!

This one is bananas but I cannot bring myself to finish it because I cannot stand the main character. Shes supposed to be brilliant but then is like I will make my own man. When he lives I cannot root for them because the power dynamoc s so gross. Like she made him, she controls anything he owns, like I don't want them together. I woulld not recommend this book to others because it gives me icky feelings.

First, I think that there should be a huge disclaimer out there that this book does not fall into Sally Thorne's typical contemporary romance. Do not expect that. It's not being advertised as that. I think the title of this book is enough to suggest that it's going to be different but I think to get full enjoyment of this story, go into this novel expecting for it to be strange and unusual.

As you can imagine from my introduction and preface, I thought this book was different and extremely fun. It's not a story that you expect to read and I loved how unique it is. Especially how unique it is within the romance genre as a whole.

I loved the atmosphere and setting of this story as well. It made for the perfect read heading into the spooky season.

I really have to applaud Sally Thorne for writing something so uniquely different. I like how it doesn't compare to her other works and it was a fun experience.

Angelika Frankenstein is the younger sister of scientist Victor Frankenstein. She has lived a some what sheltered life and has been unable to find a proper suitor. One ight when she is helping her bother gather the pieces for his next experiment, an idea forms that if she can't find the perfect made perhaps she can make him. When her ground breaking scientific miracle comes to live the last thing on his mind is romance. He has amnesia and is determined to uncover his past before making any decisions about his future. Angelika decides to aide him in his quest. Along the way she begins to question her decision to attempt to alter fate and finds that the journey may be as life changing for her as it is for reformed man.

Angelika Frankenstein Makes Her Match honestly left me feeling a bit conflicted. The main characters did have chemistry between them but, all of it felt so awkward. The fact that Angelika had literally pick out every piece of this man who she's calling Will - discarding anything she deemed not useful or unattractive really stuck out to me. It was very stringy and I like when she was called for it. It was even better when she started calling herself out for it.

There is a bit of a triangle between Angelika, Will and someone from Will's past. The other man is a true gentleman and can easily woo any woman who crosses his path. When he sets his eyes on Angelika, it was a good distraction and a way to get Will to show some jealousy. Honestly it felt like such a plot device. I knew who was going to end up together. And it unfolded just about how I expected it too.

The one saving grace about all of this is that there is some character growth shown by Angelika. As a more sheltered individual she was always in her brothers shadow. She felt she was too weird and perhaps too clever for her own good or for anyone to accept her. Through this experience with Will, Angelika starts finding her confidence and desire to break away from her brother's shadow. This also forces her to brother to see her in a new light and acknowledge her scientific experiences.

Angelika Frankenstein Makes Her Match was not exactly what I had expected. There was no real straight path for the plot - it was a bit all over the place. Maybe it was because everything was pieced together and the characters were trying to find their way? Suspended believe is an important element to have as a reader for this story. Plus, there is also a little bit of cheesiness. All in all, it does work out in the end but it is a bit of a weird journey to get there.

Rating: 3.5 Stars

This was an extremely fun and witty take on a classic! I was thinking this would be more of a sappy romance, but quickly found out that this book is full of snark and sass! I absolute loved it!

This book is the perfect book for spooky season. It was witty and wacky in all the best ways. I absolutely devoured this book and loved every second of it. The way the concept of Frankenstein was reimagined into this novel was perfect and the romance filled my heart. Not only did I fall in love with Angelika, but I fell in love with the entire Frankenstein family and all of their quirks. I would strongly recommend this book to anyone who loves spooky silly romances.

I was hooked by the first paragraphs. Really enjoyed the author’s descriptive writing style. Funny, sweet, and a thoroughly enjoyable read.

As much as I expected this book to be different compared to Sally Thorne’s previous works, I somehow managed to still be surprised? On the surface, this is a quirky, eccentric romance that is perfect for spooky season. It gave me quite a few chuckles, the Frankenstein’s truly are strange but in a kind of endearing way? That being said, the longer I digested this the more I discovered that I have some mixed feelings about how Angelika treated her love interest, Will, and well just about Angelika period.

**WARNING** Mild spoilers here so do not keep reading if you don’t want to see them!!

A recurring theme in this book is how Will, despite being reanimated during one of Victor and Angelika’s “experiments”, is his own person and would be allowed to leave their house if he so chose. However, Angelika repeatedly keeps information from him that would otherwise give him hints as to who he was in his previous life and emotionally manipulates him into staying in other instances. All of this was rather contradictory, not to mention she reanimated the guy to basically beg/force him to love her and become her husband… We get a love triangle along the way, which was really unnecessary in my opinion… And I also got a mild case of whiplash when Will finally gives in to Angelika’s desires and she goes from desperate for love to mad at him because she thinks he’s only doing things out of obligation and not because he’s head over heels for her.

There are also some religious undertones to the story that led to characters being shamed. It was a bit much especially since Angelika spends her time doing things out of shame to gain favour with Will and then she turns around and begs him to sleep with her. Also not too fond of the old Pastor shaming Will into doing his duty so he can rest and die… *laughs awkwardly*…

Thank you to Harper Collins Canada and NetGalley for the ARC. All opinions are my own.

This was such a cute retelling of Frankenstein and a great read for Fall. I like how Angelika is such a strong woman and comes by her own when it comes to science.

I like how the story tackles themes of religion and science and how sometimes there's a distinct and not-so-distinct line.

As a Frankenstein lover and a fan of Sally Thorne, I was really ready for this. And unfortunately, she did not take it in a direction that made this story redeemable at all. I'm here for a villain redemption arc (remember, Frankenstein is the monster!) but I need to see something from the onset that makes it seem feasible. Angelika was just awful off the bat, and everything just got unfortunately weird and offputting from there. Huge disappointment.