From my instagram review with a round up of recent recommended reads:

-ANGELIKA FRANKENSTEIN MAKES HER MATCH by @sallythorneauthor

*She literally makes her perfect man, and he's the sweetest, hottest beta ever
*Available 9/26

Yes, Angelika quite literally "makes" her match—out of corpses.
This is not your typical romance. It's a delightful mash-up of genres, a Regency-era historical rom-com with gothic horror elements and some mystery. It is also very camp, a bit bonkers, sometimes macabre, and darkly humorous.
Angelika is the lovesick assistant to her older brother Victor Frankenstein. They are regulars at the morgue, trying to perfect their technique for reanimating the dead. Wealthy but spoiled and a bit odd, Angelika has been unlucky in love. She has no current suitors and fears being a spinster, so she has been trying to make herself a husband. She experiences insta-love the moment she lays eyes on a very handsome corpse. This time, her reanimation attempts are successful, and "Will" comes back to life. Unfortunately, he has amnesia, and rather than embark on a romance. He only wants to find out who he is. Stymied but not one to give in, Angelika tries to help him uncover his past, hoping it will bring them closer together.
This isn't a straight retelling of Frankenstein, and in the author's note, Thorne herself describes this as Frankenstein fan fic. So it's very different from her previous books, and you need to let go a little and suspend disbelief to inhabit the Frankenstein's world. But once you do, you'll find offbeat characters, witty banter, romance, a unique plot with an irreverent tone, and some laughs. My favorite character, Victor, was a fun eccentric, and I enjoyed his scenes. He and Angelica are both outspoken and hysterically honest.
If you're looking for a spooky season read that is a bit creepy but not horror (because you're a chicken like me) you might want to pick this one up!
Thank you to NetGalley, Avon Books and Harper Voyager for the gifted ARC; all opinions are mine.

This was such a refreshing and different read! I didn't think I would enjoy Frankenstein fan fiction so much, yet here we are. One star knocked off because it started off very fast paced, and I devoured the first two thirds of the book in one sitting, and then I kind of hit a wall. The banter was quick and witty, both between Angelika and her brother Victor and Angelika and her suitors, and I was so invested in finding out Will's former identity. The irony that the Frankenstein siblings don't believe in God, they play God, does not escape me. It was a similarly bonkers, off the wall style of story telling that reminded me of The Wisteria Society of Lady Scoundrels. Long serving housekeeper Mary's grandniece, well, Mary (yes, THAT Mary) coming to visit Blackthorne manor in the epilogue was a little contrived and corny, and I would have rather this have just been a different alternative to the Frankenstein story with a happy ending, instead of trying to rationalize why Angelika's existence has been erased from the work we all know. It felt like a one and done book, but I wish there was more! Please introduce all the regency and Victorian monsters!

This book is definitely different than the other books this author has written, but being a fan of Sally's, I was excited to give it a try. Starting off, I found the creativity amazing. The author did a really great job at setting up the characters' science backgrounds, experiments, and the opening morgue scene was hilarious.

When getting to the character development, I adored how Will inspired Angelika to change and reevaluate her values. I also think Angelika had a lot of relatability when it came to her love life- feeling like no one would ever actually understand or love her, trying to still be herself, and the struggles of wanting to find a partnership that she saw with others' relationships.

The romance was good, but not great. Will had some of the sweetest words that even made me blush and swoon, but I feel like the progression of their relationship didn't connect in some ways, even with the pining and "we can't be together" tension (mostly from Will's part.) I feel that all of the ingredients for a good romance book was there, but what was needed to make it great was missing. I didn't really feel emotionally connected to the characters- almost like I was indifferent. I didn't feel the pining or the want Angelika faced. The story I feel like just stated those things, glossed over them, and didn't help the reader also fall in love with the characters. Even the love triangle was uneventful and didn't give me any excitement or emotional response.

For the parts of the book that I liked, I'm giving it 3-3.5 stars, I just sadly did not find the book super captivating, or having the usual emotional connections that the author's other books have had. I think if the reader was given more descriptive non spoken moments (i.e. 2005 Pride and Prejudice- Mr. Darcy's hand!!!) or the romance without it feeling like it's been slightly rushed through, the story could've been a lot stronger. However, I did enjoy the story for what it was and I will still read more by this author in the future.

Based on the description, I was sure I was going to love this book, but I did not. I guess I went into it thinking it was going to be one thing and it turned out to be something completely different. I did enjoy noticing some of the references.to the actual Frankenstein book though. I also think I expected something else since I enjoyed a previous book by Sally Thorne.

Though beautiful, smart, and rich, Angelika Frankenstein is unsuccessful in love. She has a reputation for being odd and headstrong, fueled in part by frequent visits to the morgue with her brother Victor, which scares off the local men. As Victor’s lab assistant, she’s been aiding him in his mission to reanimate a corpse. She decides that they will put together her own re-assembled man, an ideal specimen, to hopefully fall in love with her. When Will comes to life, he has no memory of his past, and seemingly not much interest in marrying Angelika. She devotes herself to helping him discover his previous identity, knowing she may lose him in the process. Then another suitor enters the picture, further complicating matters for Angelika and Will.

I was in love with the fun premise of this unconventional rom-com, and it lived up to my expectations! This is the most twisted romance I’ve read in awhile. The characters were so lively (no pun intended, haha) and quick-witted. I kept thinking that this needs a film adaptation directed by Tim Burton. A perfectly delightful read, just in time for Halloween!

Read this if you’re interested in:
💀 Dark humor
🖤 Gothic romance
🔺 Love triangle
📖 Retelling of classic literature

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
5/5 stars

Thank you to Netgalley and the publishers for an advance review copy of this book in exchange for my honest review.

This was actually nuts. I really got the feeling that Angelika Frankenstein (the book AND the character) was written for shock value and to get talked about. I had a hard time connecting to Angelika because she was SUCH an extreme character right from the get-go. I think Thorne would have had a better time writing a story about Victor and Lizzie, because that was the only part of the story that had real heart and chemistry to me.

Read if you like Tiktok trendy books, monster romance, and weird weird weird vibes.

What a fun little morsel of weird! I wasn’t sure what to expect with this one, but I loved The Hating Game so much so I wanted to see what Sally would write with this. There’s less cutesy enemies to lovers bantering love story and more of a regency era English mystery after Frankenstein’s monster is created! Victor’s man (or monster?) runs away when created…. but Angelina’s doesn’t. A beloved sister and loyal assistant, Angelika is trying to conjure up a one true love. Angelika Frankenstein is eccentric like her brother, but she’s also sweet, smart and determined. She falls hard for pretty much everyone, which in turn has left her alone in the world with no one courting her. When she brings Will back to life to be her love, things don’t go exactly as she’d hoped. He has no memory of who he is, and he’s reluctant to be what she hopes he will be. Throughout the story we watch as Angelika tries to convince Will to be with her and marry her and love her as she loves him but he is broody and moody and throw an army captain in there who’s very interested in her and you have quite the story. A little bit mystery, a little bit gothic horror and a little bit romance, this book was sweet and I enjoyed the mystery of finding out who Will truly was and how it would pan out with Angelika. At first he was a bit too broody for me but he was brought back to life without consent if you think about it. But later on it becomes a story of acceptance and love and care between two people who are different for different reasons and know what they can give to the other.

I'm sorry, I genuinely thought I could suspend disbelief enough to find the quirky humor in this but its just too gross for me at the end of the day. There's something inherently creepy and off putting about romanticizing a story like "Frankenstein." Its impossible to get away from the horrifying implications of literally playing god with a human life, its just too massive and terrible of a concept to then insert a romantic, cutsie story of an obnoxious rich girl who wants to build her own husband.

Like the Frankenstein's aren't adorable nerds, they're a couple of megalomaniacs with delusions of grandeur and no thought for anything but their own mental superiority. They're literally trying to be gods. That's not cute and quirky, its terrifying.

I just couldn't get past that and no amount of quippy, regency dialogue or burning glances exchanged with reanimated corpses was able to help.

I'm a huge fan of Sally Thorne. The Hating Game is the gold standard for romance novels, IMO. However, this one wasn't for me. I liked the atmosphere and the time period, but I really could not get over the re-animated corpse thing. It was kind of cringy to read about how into this dead body Angelika was. Reanimated corpses don't really do it for me when it comes to things that are considered sexy. I would have been more on board if he was a ghost. Not for me, but it was well written and a unique idea. I can see people liking it even if I didn't.

I really tried, but 23% is all I can manage. The Hating Game brought me back to reading romance after a years long break, so I have a genuine affection for Sally Thorne. But this just absolutely did not work for me.

https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/4767088828

I would say 75% of the time if I’m reading and ARC I don’t read the synopsis beforehand. I had assumed prior that the title was just for dramatic effect, but no. Sally has written one of the most ridiculous romances ever and… I kinda liked it! This book was a hoot.

Angelika is a spoiled and horny brat who has way to much money as well as intellect. Half the time, I did not like her but was cracking up at her… sexual passion. That being said though, this book wasn’t very spicy at all. Such a shame 🌶

I’ll be honest. It was weird. It was unexpected. While it never fully sucked me in to the story (while interesting, the characters still lacked depth) I still wanted to know what would happen next.

This book is SO camp and a good chunk of it is really fun (and absurdly over the top). It’s a mix of Frankenstein and the campiest historical romance you’ve ever read.

This is obviously a re-telling of Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein, only in this version Victor is resurrecting dead bodies to find a husband and partner for his sister Angelika. Obviously, resurrecting someone for your personal gain is all kinds of morally wrong but this is a Frankenstein retelling so I digress.

The first 40% of the book I really, really enjoyed. Was it absurd? Absolutely but it was also quite fun and funny. However, at about the 50% mark the book becomes overrun with religious overtones, even making the love interest a Priest. While the Frankenstein’s make clear in the first half of the book they believe in science and fact by the end they are praying and with Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein being highly regarded as a critique of religion this felt like a really weird choice and I didn’t really like it, at all. Especially contrasting the ending of this novel with the original Frankenstein.

I’m giving this one 2.5 stars, it had such great potential for a great spooky read but just fell flat and was full of unexpected religious messaging and overtones.

Sally Thorne’s books are a mixed bag for me and this one, unfortunately was on the lower end.

Thank you so much to NetGalley and Avon for the E-ARC in exchange for an honest review!

Rounded up from 3.5 stars.

I requested this book because I am a sucker for Frankenstein. Shelley's original novel is a favorite, and I have a soft spot for almost all Frankenstein related media. I started reading this arc because I needed something fluffy as a palate cleanser after a couple of darker books in a row. Rom-coms are not typically my thing, and this book may not have even been a technically successful example of one, but boy oh boy was it fun to read. The darker emotional states that haunted the protagonist shocked me - typically feelings of being left behind, replaced, and profound loneliness are not ones I expect to be explored so deeply in a lighthearted book, but honestly, the depth of Angelika's emotions made her more likeable and relatable then she otherwise might have been. And with that comes the inevitable breakdown of Angelika's so-so characterization. While successfully portrayed as a downplayed genius, she insists both inwardly and outwardly on many occasions that she can take care of herself, thank you very much, and that that is the core of why - among her other eccentricities - men do not want to marry her. Actions however, prove otherwise as she spends much of the book being rescued against her will. She does however do a significant amount of rescuing in turn, but it does often feel like she's doing so in "womanly" ways - using her money charitably to help people in need, caretaking, etc. I would chalk it up to historical gender dynamics, but this book is not historical so much as it is simply set during the 19th century, the Gothic aesthetics and passions veneering modern sensibilities (in the main cast) and dialogue.
Now Angelika's suitors - a tale of two extremes. Will (her creation) was clearly the author's most special favorite boy. He's portrayed deeply and thoughtfully, with his inner life shining through. Christopher on the other hand was simply "the other one," a prop in the story to facilitate other goings on. That said, the other thing about my experience with this book is that despite my distaste for love triangle plots, this one felt much more tolerable, perhaps it was so simple and clear that the author's heart was not in writing the secondary love interest. When side characters had to urge and remind Angelika to keep her heart and mind open to Christopher's advance, it felt like the author was reminding herself to keep the book open to the "possibility" of Christopher being a threat to Will and Angelika.
While there's obviously a lot that I can - and have - nitpicked, I read the book in a single day. I enjoyed it immensely. It may not be a terribly successful novel from a technical standpoint, but it was a delightfully silly take on Frankenstein, not accurate to the text, per se, but original and frankly in the spirit of the creation himself requesting his own companion from his maker. I enjoyed the heck out of this book and will probably not only recommend it to library patrons looking for light and comedic reading, but will also probably buy a copy for my personal collection.

A very silly, quirky, interesting, and very disgusting at times book! I really enjoyed the humor and found it really fun though occasionally gross. It was also raunchy and shockingly very sexy. The morbid humor really suited the setting. I was thrilled to get this at the start of Halloween season from NetGalley! Loved it.

When I heard Sally Thorne, author of The Hating Game, wrote historical romance/Frankenstein fan fiction, I have to admit I did a double take! But you know what? It is absolutely delightful!! It’s also darkly funny, macabre, a bit wacky, romantic, and heartwarming. And it's only further proof that Sally Thorne can write literally anything and it will be brilliant.

I’ll admit that for the first 25% or so I really wasn’t sure about it. The dialogue and insta-love felt a little odd until I started getting Princess Bride vibes and then it all clicked and the story fell into place! Despite being based (very, very loosely) on a classic, this is a book that doesn’t take itself too seriously, but has enough substance and emotion to keep readers invested and hooked until the very end!

I found all the characters so thoroughly enjoyable and I laughed out loud so many times. The banter, especially between Victor and Jelly, is hysterical. I love how the Frankensteins are so completely irreverent and unapologetic, but they also have a soft side that is full of passion, sensitivity, and longing. I love Jelly’s growth as Will helps her to look beyond so many of her shortsighted, spoiled ways. The unraveling mystery kept me on the edge of my seat and I couldn’t wait to see how the story ended. I really just wanted to hug this book when I finished it!

Take the romance and humor of the Princess Bride, throw in some deliciously creepy Tim Burton vibes, and maybe a touch of Bridgerton steam and intrigue, and you have the recipe for this one-of-a-kind story. I think it will be a hit with historical romance and fantasy/sci-fi lovers alike, and especially for readers who enjoy spooky season and some dark humor. I rate this 4.5 stars, enthusiastically rounded up!

Thank you Avon Books and NetGalley for this ARC!

I was extremely excited for this based on the synopsis and the cover. Yet it just didn’t flow. It was just ehh. I ended up skimming a lot through this and thats saying a lot since it’s less that 400 pages. The only good thing in this was the bickering between Victor and Angelika. This had sooooo much potential in honestly so bummed.

Okay. I love Sally Thorne. I'd like to start out by saying that. But I just could not with this book. I normally give books at least 25% to catch my attention or before I choose to DNF it. But I read two chapters of this book and stopped. I wasn't a fan of the writing style. The characters. Any of it. It didn't pull me in whatsoever. There are many that truly love this book, so it just wasn't for me!

*First I would like to say thank you to NetGalley and Avon Books for allowing me to read an ARC in exchange for an honest review.*

Wow wow wow. I have been so excited for Sally Thorne's new novel because of my love for all things spooky and romantic. Angelika Frankenstein is a great main character that goes through a transformation of empathy and self-love as well as a journey toward love. I love that she's a horny mess of a woman because she knows what she wants, and if no one is going to step up to be her husband, why not make the perfect man. All goes well until the man she resurrects wants to leave her and find out who he was before his demise. Will, her intended betrothed, has a few clues as to who he was: he has an interest in botany, can read and write, and he is unusually handsome.

I had a hard time rooting for Angelika and Will in the beginning only because Will kept ensuring that he would not fall in love with his resurrector. Their relationship was hot and cold in ways that felt a bit tedious after the third or fourth time that they made up after Will insults her. There was also a brief appearance of a love triangle, but there is never any doubt who Angelika wants.

There was a lot of saucy moments and comments, but after reading Sally Thorne's other novels, I thought there would be more steam. I am all for her writing for a newsletter with spicier scenes for both Frankenstein siblings and their respective partners. I will be recommending this book for the next few months and hope that this will also get a film adaptation.

I couldn't finish this one. The concept was clever and original, but the execution was lacking. I loved Sally Thorne's "The Hating Game", but every publication since has been a disappointment, including this one.