Between the cover and the description, I was extremely excited for this book. I expected a high stakes plot mixed with some folk horror. Instead, The Cherished has a choppy narration style and a plot that doesn't feel consistent to the summary. It also deals poorly with mental health related topics. I feel like with some more editing this could be a decent book but, personally, I had to DNF.

Thank you NetGalley and Harper Collins Children’s Publishing for this eARC.

The cover first stole my attention as it is simply stunning. I had high hopes for this book. It was, unfortunately a letdown. I struggled to get into it and was too bored to continue.

I will likely purchase a copy when it is released to place on my “The Cover Made Me Do It” shelf. The cover really is that enchanting!

Please read the book and form your own opiniins.

I am very disappointed in this tale. It moves slow. I found some parts offensive. It is poorly written. I am truly surprised Harper Teens is publishing this tale. I laid this book aside several times but finally forced myself to complete it.

Thank you so much to NetGalley and the publisher for an opportunity to read an ARC of this book, but I just cannot get into it. The writing style just isn't for me- it felt all over the place and I could not connect with it. I really wanted to like this one since I love horror but I was unable to finish it.

Honestly had very high expectations on the book as it was listed in the most requested category, I'm not sure if its my exposure to much gruesome and thrilling writings.. I couldn't get back behind this story. I liked the concept of this book and what it did with faerie lore quite a lot. It was interesting, and I liked the way it was clearly tied in to the history of the town and the family. However, this is currently being billed as a “visceral horror thriller in the vein of Midsommar” and it was decidedly NOT that. This work leaves a lot to be desired. I like the premise and thought the setting would be interesting, but I didn’t feel that it was executed well. I know this work is an advanced copy and not the final product, but this are an absurd number of negative things that detracted from my reading experience.

Thanks to Netgalley and Harper Collins for this advanced reader copy. This was a peculiar book and, at times, tough to decipher. There are many characters and a storyline that surrounds a house. Pay attention to the letter and its contents.

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for allowing me to read this eARC!

First, this is a beautiful cover! I was in awe of it everytime I went to read the book. BUT, I agree with a few of the reviews I have seen. The way the author describes mental illness and race can definitely be taken as ableist and offensive. There should have been better editing and honestly, some of that could been edited out considering how poorly it was done. I also agree that this book was SUPERRR slow and hard to get into for at least 40-50% of the book. I can definitely appreciate the way the fairies were written, as their evil and mischievous selves and there was vivid imagery painted. I enjoyed some of it, but a lot was hard to overlook. Also...Abigail sucked.

This book had so much potential but ultimately fell flat for me. The mother daughter dynamic was rough and written immaturely at times. The overall “villains” of the story felt ableist in writing and it made me more sad than anything. It felt a bit outdated.

This book was terrible. It was hard for me to get through it to be honest. I couldn’t wait for it to be over. The synopsis was so intriguing but the author failed at executing it in a way that readers would enjoy

Was such a lovely book! The writing and the imagery you can picture in your mind while reading was everything I need in a book

Thanks to NetGalley for a copy of this, but I wish I’d read the reviews before requesting it.

Similar to other reviewers, I did not appreciate the author’s descriptions of mental illness and race in this “book”. The characterizations were misguided at best and ableist and offensive. The writing itself also feels like someone’s poorly written fan fiction; the plot is all over the place, the MC hates their family, and is the epitome of “not like other girls”. Additionally, the useless parents/adults who rely on a child to solve their problems is a major mark against this.

My biggest frustration, however, comes from the fact that the “villains” in this are abused and mutilated children who are seen as inhuman monsters that must be destroyed. That just does not work for me.

I wanted to like this. I really did, but I really struggled with this book.

While the idea is very of original and sounds intriguing , it was not executed very well. I found the pacing of the book to be odd and it didn’t really pick up until 60-70% in. The first 2/3 of the story was slow and felt like it was filler- material.

The writing style just personally wasn’t for me.
With the pub date being in April 2023, I’m hopeful that there is time to critique some things.

Not the biggest fan. The synopsis sounded good and the cover is soooo cute. But it just didnt connect with me.

This was perfection. We have typical mother and daughter issues. our protagonist clearly loves her mom and is so annoyed with her. I loved their dynamic.
Then you have the estranged grandma leaving this girl a whole house to deal with. The house has a million issues and then you discover it has a very serious issue this girl can't quite understand, and neither can her mom who is focused on the obvious issues.
Mom almost loses her baby and our girl has to go back to the house alone to figure things out.
There are a lot of funny lines and some super scary stuff. It was amazing. Will there be a second book? I would read a series of these.

Okay so the cover of this book is so cute. I wanna buy it just based on that.
But the story was kind of ehhh. I wish I liked it more. But I am so grateful for the ARC.

I was very curious and interested about the premise. But when reading, the way the writing style changed constantly from short and stilted to long winded and run-on, I wasn't sure if this was supposed to be reflective of the character and we had an unreliable narrator on our ands or not. Honestly, it was a struggle to get through this book and it is not one I would recommend to patrons.

As always, thank you to NetGalley for this ARC! So, I had just finished reading Wilder Girls when I got approved for this ARC and lo and behold, the blurb says that it’s perfect for people who enjoyed Wilder Girls. Unfortunately, I didn’t love this book as much as I hoped to. I found the pacing to hold back the true potential of this book. It seemed to take a really long time for things to truly pick up in this story which is unfortunate because when they finally do pick up, it’s magical. I also didn’t really find myself connecting with any characters and actually found myself really disliking Abigail in particular. I know, I know. We’re seeing a mom from a teen’s perspective, so it is a bit skewed. But Abigail was truly a bit insufferable. This book spent so much time focusing on a poor mother-daughter relationship that it didn’t have enough time to really showcase the true mystery and magic that it was all about. The second half of the book does pick up speed and make up for certain things in some ways. However certain repeating comments made about weight and race/skin color were also extremely off putting. Unfortunately, I don’t think this was the book for me.

This book needs very serious, editing, both on the flow of the narrative, and also the way in which it approaches the subject matter. I some of the things in this book, make it feel far older than it should be.

Horrifying and feminist, THE CHERISHED brought so much nuance and freshness to the table. I think this one will stick around with people for a while.

I really wanted to like this book but it just wasn’t for me. This story has a lot of potential but needs some filling out.