I received an advanced reader copy of this book from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

This book reminded me a lot of Once Upon A Broken Heart, which I read recently and was very disappointed with. Much like that book, the Stars of Mount Quixx left much to be desired.

This book was described as a young adult fantasy with elements of found family, sisterly love and romance. I felt that while I could see the direction the author was heading, it ultimately didn’t deliver.

Personally, I felt the writing of this book to be extremely childish. It felt as if I were reading middle grade fiction versus a young adult fantasy. The characters all felt very young in terms of the way they spoke as well as their overall attitudes and personalities.

Overall, I think this was the biggest hurdle for me to overcome while trying to finish this book. I felt as though I was reading dialogue the whole time and that the majority of the story was told through overly quirky characters and their conversations rather than description.

While I knew going into this that there was going to be a spider/humanoid character I wasn’t aware they were going to be the main love interest. If I had known this from the book jacket I wouldn’t have requested this arc. It was an off putting love interest to say the least but the book didn’t have me rooting for the characters to get together at all.

Where this book did shine for me was the aspect of found family. I think this story would’ve been very successful had it focused more on the relationship between Connie and her sister Ivory and their connections with the town folk and less on the weird spider boyfriend.

Thank you to Netgalley & ECW press for an ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review.

This book, about two sisters moving into a small town in the shadow of a strange mountain, felt like it crept up from my childhood nostalgia and made a comfortable home in the present moment. It reminded me of all the odd little books I absorbed as a child, stories about relocation and small town mysteries, with whimsical magic and a sense of place that was both of our world and distinctly not. This book genuinely charmed me so much and felt like a continuation of all the odd books that had been my bread and butter growing up while still absolutely being its own vibrant and distinctive thing.

The atmosphere of the book was lovely, the ending was so perfectly delivered, and I was so utterly charmed by all of the characters (even Slanner by the end!). It felt deeply comfortable, like soup in the autumn, while still having vibrant characters and a story that dealed with harsh and true to life fears. It was just potent and lovely and I am going to hold this book close for ages.

Also!! For those who care, it was a genuine monster romance!! A whole nice genderfluid giant spider scientist and and an anxiety riddled perfectionist prep-school girl! Left me so genuinely delighted and happy! Huge kudos to this book for being so whimsical and so vibrant and lovely!