This was a book I really, really wanted to like but unfortunately it just didn’t live up to my expectations. It was written incredibly well, and the character development was superb, but the plot just didn’t engage me. I‘ll still check out other work by the same author though. This one sadly just wasn’t for me.

Eve’s Rib is a concrete domestic suspense with a soupcon of black magic. The number of secrets woven throughout the novel are intriguing.

After losing her son under tragic circumstances, Eve has struggled to come to terms with his loss. Her marriage to Richard is on rocky ground, and her relationship with their daughter Abbey is highly strained. Secrets from Eve’s past threaten to be revealed five years after her son’s death. How far will Eve go to protect her daughter? There’s always a price for dark magic, and the Ragman wants his due!

Told from the perspective of Eve, Richard and Abbey, this story initially is relatively slow-moving, emphasising and echoing the tense atmosphere in the household. The three unreliable protagonists are unlikeable, yet you can't help but want to know more and more about them. You will question everything that comes from their mouths, and as the story develops, you won’t know who to believe. You will constantly be doubting the characters’ motives and actions.

My favourite character, though I thoroughly despised her, is young Abbey. Her diary entries are truly disturbing. She’s inconsiderate, self-centred and egotistical, yet some revelations about her are shocking.

Echoing the biblical symbolism in the title, the emphasis is on Eve and Abbey’s tumultuous mother/daughter relationship. Eve’s Rib is a book about the consequences of dark magic, grief - the loss of not only a family member, but also the fracturing of the family unit when all communication breaks down.

Solidly creepy and atmospheric, with a haunting conclusion. This is a book you won’t forget in a hurry.

Thank you to Dundurn Press, Netgalley, and the author for the ARC. Eve's Rib is due for publication on October 18, 2022.

I was drawn to this book by the titles and the cover. I know, I know,  generally not a good idea to go off covers but I figured it was worth it, especially when I read the description. And when I read the author's note at the beginning of the book, I was even more intrigued.

Eve's Rib is a solid domestic thriller/family drama with an added element of "magick" in the traditional sense - not stage magic or illusion, but honest to goodness witchcraft - and it is an element that is interesting, but I felt that the novel could have worked well without it in some ways.

That being said, it is there and it does have a part to play, particularly in the later parts, and especially as we reach the climactic scene near the end of the book.

This is a slow burn, told in alternating sections by three unreliable narrators. The story unfolds with small reveals throughout, and eventually all parts converge and we're shown the "truth" we've been seeking out. But in all that was good, I felt that a lot was lost, left behind, or flat out ignored. And on reflection, I think that was kind if the point. I think you have to read this novel and see the symbolism and metaphor within it to truly appreciate what the author is trying to achieve...

I don't want to spoil anything here for prospective readers. This can be read and enjoyed as a straightforward thriller, and my initial thoughts on it were from that perspective. Yet I find myself peeling back layers, connecting threads and considering the quite intense, deep themes that run throughout this book, along with the symbolism and metaphor, days after I gasped in shock-horror at the revelations on the final pages, which seemed, at the time to be far simpler than they have now become.

As a reader, I find that is a good thing, and hope it is the author's intention to provide a story that can be enjoyed both as a "standard" thriller and as something else entirely. If not, and you decide to give this one a go, you won't regret it either way.

My initial thoughts on this book were very superficial and that was reflected by my original rating for this as 3.5 stars, and an overall CAWPILE rating of 6.42. On reflection, my ratings are now as follows.

Star Rating: 4

CAWPILE Rating: 7.71/10

Characters: 7/10
Atmosphere: 7/10
Writing: 9/10
Plot: 8/10
Intrigue: 8/10
Logic: 7/10
Enjoyment: 8/10

Eve's Rib publishes on 18th October 2022

Many thanks to the author, Dundurn Press and Netgalley for the ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Thank you to Netgalley and Dundurn Press, for the chance to read Eve's Rib in exchange for an honest review.

I was initially drawn to this book based on the striking cover and title.

This was a fairly unique book in that it cycled through the view points of the family members to push the story forward. It's the story of a family struggling to reconstruct themselves after the loss of a child. Each narrator is harboring dark secrets unknown to the others. It explores the lives of Eve, a witch struggling with the loss of her powers and the regret of conceding to darker arts to conceive her first child. Richard, her husband who escapes into the arms of a coworker. And Abby, an angsty teenager whose diary we get a glimpse of.

Overall, this is a fast-paced, witchy thriller with supernatural elements. It's a little clunky, but overall a fun read.

Oh wow I loved this. Like the ability to make me gasp on the second last page. Fabulous. I loved all the witchiness and murder. I loved not knowing who was actually the reliable narrator. The three points of view, especially the diary entries from Abbey really helped this. I truly had no idea where this book was going to go but I adored the journey it took me on. I’d highly recommend it for a spooky season read.

Eve has lost her son in a tragic accident . This causes Eve to become overprotective of her teenage daughter, Abbey who appears to be evil. As five years go by, Eve struggles with her guilt and grief on the day her son died. Her husband doesn’t understand. Eve was desperate for a child so she went to the Ragman. Ragmen dwells in the dark side of magic. She doesn’t tell anyone that she went to him. When bad things happen to anyone who gets in Abbey’s way, Eve must deal with what she fears — her daughter. Will she be able to do what she must do?

There is domestic suspense with a touch of black magic. The secrets intrigued me. There are secrets that even Eve doesn’t know such as her husband’s secrets. It is creepy and atmospheric. It has an ending that could haunt you. It is an ending I won’t forget.

This was a disturbing examination of the relationships between mothers and daughters, but with witchcraft.
I couldn't put it down even though it made me so super uncomfortable.
I will probably never recover from the ending.

Creepily fitting for the book release to be in the fall, probably will read again next Halloween season.

TW Child Death, Fertility Issues & Miscarriage; Bullying; Suicide; Violence to Animals

Normally I'm all for putting a little bit of magic into an otherwise regular tale, especially when it comes to suspense and thrillers. This however, just didn't work for me, and I'm kinda sad it didn't.

Eve's Rib is set to be published on October 18, 2022. Thank you to Dundurn Press, Netgalley, and the author for the ARC.

This novel does the unreliable narrator really well. The story moved at a good pace and I liked how the author revealed parts of the plot that were not explained earlier in the novel as the book progressed, so there were always small reveals throughout the story. While I wasn't always a fan of how Abbey's POV was written, it didn't detract from the story and paid off at the end.

Thank you, Netgalley and Dundurn Press, for the chance to read this in exchange for an honest review.

I wanted this book to work for me so badly, especially with the comparison to Lisa Jewell and Ruth Ware, two of my favorite authors, but it just fell completely flat. I sadly don't think that comparison held up very well.

I think my biggest problem with it was the narration. At no point did any of it feel believable or like it brought me into the story. I felt no connection with any of the characters or anything that made me want to continue reading. It was incredibly tough for me to get through.

The beginning dragged. I was hopeful that the different narrations would help pick up the story, but I never felt like any of them had a particularly unique voice? Instead of building tension and mistrust, it honestly became tiring hearing each of the characters complain about the other in their narrations. Eve's chapters didn't sound much different from Richard's, and Abbey's sounded like what someone older would think a teenage girl would think/say, if that makes any sense. It didn't sound believable, but like I was reading something forced. Overall, I had trouble empathizing with any of the characters.

Overall, the anticipation and tension didn't work for me. Maybe it had something to do with the characters, but it never felt like I cared enough once the big reveal came. Everything felt surface-level and not as deeply explored as I wanted it to be. And I think it had some problems with telling and not showing. I sadly just don't believe this story was for me. I see it has some other great reviews, so I'm hopeful that other readers will enjoy it more than I did.

This is a great story that keeps you on the edge of your seat from beginning to end. Being a mom is already an impossibly hard job, but when you throw in a mom who thinks the worst of a child it takes the storyline to an entirely different dark place. This was my first book by the Author, C.S. O'Cinneide and it won't be my last! Between the Authors writing style and the way all the characters unfold the story all comes together with three different POVs. This is a book I can see myself coming back to reread.

Thank you NetGalley for the eARC to review.

I was excited to read this book, intrigued by the cover, the inclusion of magic, and the use of unreliable narrators. Unfortunately I couldn’t stand ANY of these flat, dumb characters—they all make extremely irrational decisions over and over, not to mention there is very little character development, so I just didn’t care about them at all. The bad guy isn’t developed well enough to feel appropriately scary, so what was intended to be a big, dramatic climax felt contrived and quite dumb. Also, Abbey is SUCH a bitch, and Richard such a pig, that I didn’t care if they went over the cliff or not. Even Eve, our main character and eventual heroine (I guess), just didn’t do anything for me. Because of the title, and the constant mentioning of her broken rib, I kept expecting something very significant to come of that. But she just.. has a broken rib the whole book. I actually kept forgetting that this was a “magical” story; the use of magic feels like a prop that the author throws in when she needs to explain something away. Certain scenes essential to the story that should have been fleshed out more were confusingly concise. I see from the reviews that a lot of people have liked or even loved this book, but it was not for me.

Great story!!! The more I read the more I enjoyed this book. It seemed like a run of the mill mystery and/or science fiction, until the last half of the book. Sometimes it can be very difficult for a mom to think the worst of the child, until everything is pointing to them. And even then we sometimes can not face what our child is.
I feel this would be an amazing book for book club or somebody who want to read something fresh.

this was actually a book written so perfectly for me with all my favourite tropes of complicated family relationships and an on the edge of your seat thriller and magic!!!! god i love a bit of magic

i absolutely devoured this - i thought it was excellently written and the changing of pov characters and tenses really suited the story and helped lay out exactly what was happening. the ending was a real switch up too which i really loved.

i will be thinking about this book for a while i think.

Thank you Dundurn Press and NetGalley for the ARC of this novel. Eve's Rib is the first novel I have read from C.S. O'Cinneide, but it will not be my last. The story is told from three POV Eve, her daughter Abbey and her husband Richard. We watch while their life unfolds and learn that everyone has secrets and different feelings about what is happening in their lives. Enjoy going along with them while the story unfolds and be careful who you believe.

I received a copy of Eve’s Rib on NetGalley for an honest review.

This thriller is about a family that is tearing apart after the tragic accidental death of their son. This is compounded by Eve making a deal with a shady being (a sort of stand-in for the devil) as it’s shown through the book, she’s a sort of witch with various powers that she uses to little effect on the plot except for after years of miscarriages, she finally has Abbey. Now Abbey is almost 18, and Eve feels as if there might be something wrong with her daughter.

With the grief of her son dragging on her, with her husband doing what every man does when he spends hours at work and feels his wife isn’t the woman he married or pulling her own work and feeling guilty while he does it, Eve finds her life spiraling out of control.

I’m going to be upfront here. I did not like this book. The beginning dragged. There appeared to be too much information given to me. A lot appeared either useless information, wallowing in emotion, or red herrings. In other words, the first 50% dragged, and I found myself thinking that even if the end was a banger like other reviewers seemed to think, I wouldn’t be able to force myself to go back and read the first part to figure out where the characters were lying or leaving out important information in the retelling of their lives.

And then the ending happened. And everything I have to complain about from the beginning to the end feels like it would be a spoiler so I can’t write much more except to say that instead of making me have to evaluate and say that I loved the book and wanted to force myself to read the slow beginning just to pick up what I’d missed in the setup from all the lies, I hated the book and all the characters all the more because I felt like I’d been lied to about what the book was on a fundamental level.

That said. To leave this on a positive note. The best part of this book had to be Abbey’s diary pages. They revealed the sort of character that I dreaded meeting in high school and that I’d never want to meet in real life, but she had a great antagonistic voice within the book itself. The way she wrote, and what you could start to put together was fascinating, and I loved every moment of reading her entries. If this was a book that followed her life, I think I’d fall in love. She’s not a good person, but she’s a strong personality.

Thank you netgalley and Dundurn Press for the chance to read this book.

When you sell your soul to the devil, or in this case Ragman, you spend the rest of your life questioning if your own child is suffering the consequences. Follow Eve as she tries to understand if Abbey is pure evil, or just all in her head. Lots of plot twists to keep you turning pages.

TW Child Death, Fertility Issues & Miscarriage; Bullying; Suicide; Violence to Animals

After losing her son under tragic circumstances, Eve has struggled to come to terms with his loss. Her marriage to Richard is on very rocky ground and her relationship with their daughter Abbey is very strained. Secrets from Eve’s past threaten to be revealed five years after her son’s death. How far will Eve go to protect her daughter? There’s always a price for dark magic… and the Ragman wants his due..

Told from the perspective of Eve, Richard and Abbey, this story initially is quite slow-moving, emphasising and echoing the extremely tense atmosphere in the household. I’ve never met three more unreliable protagonists and I found it really hard to like any of them. You question everything that comes out of their mouths and as the story develops, you won’t know who to believe. The author excelled at throwing in plenty of red herrings to keep you constantly doubting the characters’ motives and actions.

I enjoyed the supernatural/occult elements but would have loved to seen more of this within the story as I think it would have given the extra “umph” needed to make the book even more exciting and tense.

My favourite character (even though I thoroughly despised her) is young Abbey. Her diary entries are truly disturbing and I would be terrified of her in real life! She’s a selfish, self-centred egotistical little madam but I will still shocked at some revelations about her!

With the biblical symbolism in the title, the emphasis on Eve and Abbey’s tumultuous mother/daughter relationship was definitely delivered in this book. This is a book about the consequences of dark magic, grief and the loss of not only a family member, but also the fracturing of the family unit when all communication breaks down.

3 stars ( I would have loved a bit more magic… the ending was pretty epic 🫣)

Thanks to NetGalley & Dundurn Press for the arc. Eve’s Rib is out 18th October

Thriller meets magic - really enjoyable read that I finished in 24 hours. Some good characters throughout and written from 3 perspectives. 3.5 stars, rounded up to 4. Thanks NetGalley for the ARC.